My Wife said YES, now CN or CSA?

[PermanentVacashun]

Okay I should know the answer and my heart calls for CN since we were there last August.
My wife asked me last night if we wanted to go back to Jamaica (no brainer-- I buy red stripe weekly, found ting at a Caribbean store, and haven't taken off my Rasta beads in 8 months), only issue is she really wants to try someting new.

We are mainly about the beach so its gotta be Negril.

Question for the experts who have been to both:

Will CSA fill our hearts like CN did? Or will we long for CN?
Let the loyalty war start...

respect
PV

[DoBo]

We are having the same issue, although we went to CSA first and loved it so are 'scared' to try CN.

My question is, has anyone been to both and actually fell in love with the place they tried second? My thought is that you will always gravitate to the Couples you tried first.....I could be wrong, though.

[RDYJMJM]

PermanentVacashun

Try doing a split! Problem solved.

[ChrisNDeb]

We just returned from our first trip to Jamaica and stayed at CSA. I would not hesitate to go back and actually don't know if I want to venture anywhere else. Within just a couple of days we decided that we will be coming back...without question! :-)

[Pamela]

We've been to all four of the Couples Resorts; CN is our favorite, and we've been guests there 13 times. We stayed at CSA in 2008, however, and had a wonderful time. If your wife wants to try something new, then try CSA. You might like it better than CN, but even if you don't, you won't be disappointed and will still have a great time.

[Blondie]

For us it would be CN. Every year I say "mayby we should try CSA" he says "no, why fix something that is not broken" to which I respond with "but wouldn't it be nice to try something new" and his response is always "Lover, how can you improve on perfection". My response - book at CN.

I have to admit, I am a little scared to try CSA myself, so I think we will do the day pass and check it out.

We love CN so much, and the thing is that when we step off the shuttle there is such a sense of euphoria, of home, of welcome. You step over to the balcony with your glass of champagne look out over the pool, the swim up bar and the clear blue Caribbean beyond and there is a sense of peace, warmth and welcome. I think I would miss that.

[Billy_Audra]

For DoBO..........
It is possible, we fell in love with the second Couples resort we tried. We went to CN first and loved it...beautiful beach, great staff, tremendous food and drink. We were not able to return for 3-4 years and when we went back, we went with friends who were going to CTI (COR at the time). This summer wil be our third consecutive year to return to CTI. CTI spoke to our heart from the first moment we arrived there. I don't want to take anything away from CN as it is a great place, but CTI matches our personality. That being said, there is still something inside of me that wants to experience CSA and CSS. I know we can do a day pass to CSS (and will this summer), but I think you need more than a day to experience a resort and get the true vibe of the place. My dilemma is not, will I have a good time or truly enjoy, or even fall in love more with another resort, but how do I convince myself to give up even one moment of time at CTI because we love CTI that much.

[rjammin]

We just returned on 4/9 from 9 days at CSA. It was our first time at CSA but we stayed at both CN & CSS 2 times. It was a tough decision to go to CSA because we love the other 2 equally for different reasons. Beach at CN, grounds at CSS primarily. After reading the message board religiously for the last year, we were so convinced the we would love CSA the most, I booked it for 2011 before we even went to take advantage of the $500 credit. After we got back we thought about it for a week or so and decided to switch next years trip from CSA to CN. Don't get me wrong, CSA was also great in it's own way but it just didn't have the feel of the other 2 to us. CN & CSS are smaller and, we feel, a little more intimate than CSA. It's all a matter of personal preference and you can't go wrong at any Couples resort. Hit them all and then find your "home".

[ShanDean76]

We have been to three Couples resorts. We made one trip to CTI (before it was CTI), three trips to Couples Negril, and then decided to try Couples Swept Away. We found that we liked Swept Away the best just because it was more spread out and allowed for very long walks even within the resort. You cannot go wrong with either choice and it is possible to fall in love with a Couples resort other than your first.

[jimcarol]

We went to CN before CSA, and loved CN. But in all truthfulness, we fell in love with CSA over CN. Our 2 main reasons are we love the longer beach for walking and exploring. The second reason is you can get rooms right on the beach. Hope this helps.

[NeedBlueWater]

We've been to both and loved both. CN first, then CSA and have another CN tripped booked. We are probably going to alternate between the two from now on.

You already know everything about CN.

CSA is great for easy access to all that Long Bay has to offer in terms of shops and bars. We get a better feel for the Jamaican culture there with our long walks down the beach and back. You get some of that at CN, but we felt it more at CSA. There seem to be more beach vendors around at CSA and that concerns some people. Not a problem for us though.

[knd]

Are having the same problem!! We went to CSA first and absolutely loved it! Thought we should try all the Couples resorts so tried CSS but were disappointed. We missed the beach. So we thought we'd try CN next. "Scared" like you since we wished we would've gone to CSA instead of CSS. But CN's beach looks really nice. We will miss Seagrapes at CSA though! There are many that have been to CSA and CN so maybe they can help more. Good luck!!

[caviargal]

CSA was my first Couples and I stayed there even before it was a Couples and loved it! I also enjoyed Sans Souci but never felt the pull there I did for CSA.

Then we tried CN for one night at the end of a trip to another resort, not Couples, and LOVED it. We are booked for next month and next fall, and those were trips originally booked for CSA.

I am really glad we tried CN and part of the charm may be the smaller size, more like the original CSA in terms of number of rooms.

There are things I prefer about CSA and I will know more next month but my husband, who had only been to CSA and no other Couples resort, really was charmed by CN.

So it is possible, yes.

[misdeb]

I have been to both CN and CSA many times. CN is my favorite. CSA is great, but it is quite a bit larger. Beach wise, they are the same.
You will have a great time at whichever one you choose.

[Ruminiscing]

PV,

I say "spice it up and try someting new". I'd be glad she wants to do some-ting new with something old!

Enjoy! Would love to read your review and comparison when you get back.

[Summervillecutie]

I haven't been to CN but I have been to CSA and CSS. I went to CSS first and CSA second and actually preferred CSA though both were wonderful. I really don't think there is a bad choice at these four resorts, however, I will caution you that no matter what don't compare while there as it will take away from your experience. Be in the moment. (pops open a Red Stripe)

[r&cford]

For us it would be CN. Every year I say "mayby we should try CSA" he says "no, why fix something that is not broken" to which I respond with "but wouldn't it be nice to try something new" and his response is always "Lover, how can you improve on perfection". My response - book at CN.

I have to admit, I am a little scared to try CSA myself, so I think we will do the day pass and check it out.

We love CN so much, and the thing is that when we step off the shuttle there is such a sense of euphoria, of home, of welcome. You step over to the balcony with your glass of champagne look out over the pool, the swim up bar and the clear blue Caribbean beyond and there is a sense of peace, warmth and welcome. I think I would miss that.

I have the exact same problem in my house, except the other way around. We fell in LOVE with CSA and I asked my dh about trying CN...We're going back to CSA in 12 days! lol

[PermanentVacashun]

PV,

I say "spice it up and try someting new". I'd be glad she wants to do some-ting new with something old!

Enjoy! Would love to read your review and comparison when you get back.

Ruminiscing... love it.

thanks for all the replies everyone,,,,appreciate all the help, its 4 months away but this board will keep me occupied till then...
dreaming of Bloody Bay or Long bay, I think I'll need to do a split 7 days 1; 3 at the other if I can make it work... I think
RDYJMJM nailed the solution for me......

respect,

PV

[IACouple]

We did CN for the day on trading places. CSA is the best resort of the two for us. We did not even consider CN for this vacataion.

[Heather_&_Mark]

First of all, congratulations on your engagement! That is wonderful. Do you plan to get married at Couples or will you be honeymooning?

My husband and I went to Couples Ocho Rios (now CTI) in May 2001 and were wed there. We spent 6 nights there and then flew to Negril on a tiny puddle jumper (awesome!) and spent 6 nights at Couples Negril. I like to say we were married in Ocho Rios and honeymooned in Negril!!

I originally wanted to only go to CSA, but at that time they didn't have a swim up bar which was a major criteria for my husband! Now we are finally returning home to Jamaica and are staying at CSA this May for our anniversary.

We loved both CTI and CN for different reasons and they are totally different resorts with different vibes. You simply can't go wrong with any of the Couples resorts I am sure. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding a destination wedding. Best of luck to you both as you start your new lives together!

Heather

[Beach-bum]

You have a wonderful wife!!!!

[calgontakemeaway]

Did CN first, went to CSS second....back to CN the next year and wished we would have stayed with CSS. Only benefits to CN vs CSS was dive staff and sea creatures seen on dive....CSS won out on everything else.

[steveg52]

Hi PV,
We've never been to CN but did visit CTI first and enjoyed our stay very much. We wanted to do a split but for some reason back then it was discontinued for a period of time. Well our travel agent told us how beautiful the Negril beaches were so since we enjoyed the Couples experience so much we tried CSA in Dec of 08. BAM we fell in love with CSA and so did our friends who were on the first CTI trip with us. We were floored by the awesome grounds, which my wife seemed to get lost in when she ventured out alone. Although as soon as I pointed out some landmarks to her she was good to go. If you think that you'd enjoy a nice stroll through the grounds to get to your destination I say go to CSA. If you enjoy everything centrally located then stick with CN. Just my two cents worth.
Enjoy your time in Paradise whatever you decide!
Steve

[gary butkus]

cn for sure

[Wally]

Not to worry!

We also love CN. We did a split last January with a week CN first followed by a week at CTI. We didn't care for CTI and wanted to go back to CN. We asked if we could and were told: "Of course you can." They set it all up and we were back at CN the next morning. We had to pay for the transfer, but if you don't like CSA, the transfer back to CN (about 5 minutes) will be be snap.

With customer service like this, no wonder they have such a high rate of return guests.