Reviews of CTI - From Other Cites Wildly Differ - Repeaters Please Clarify

[Chi-Visit]

Hello All

We are booked at CTI. And all of the reviews on the message board are great. [I] love the tips and feedback about the resort. I sounds like it will be a wonderful romantic vacation. Now, I guess I would expect that from a Couples sight i.e. great reviews. But there are some that have critiques and comments as well. I know that the couples staff also reviews the posts. I am very excited about the vacation and hope like others that Couples will be our new favorite vacation spot for years to come.

But in going a bit of additional research I have read alot of not so good reviews about CTI, on TA and other sites especially CTI (although they have just done a large remodel). These reviews more than one are sighting that the excursions are limited due to weather or just that the Staff does not want to bring down the equipment, that there are rooms that smell bad. That the AU Island is not always open and sometimes before a wedding not stocked. That top shelf liquor is very limited and that each bar has a daily bottle limit even though it is an all inclusive so they run out of top shelf everyday. Well I have not been to CTI so I though I would ask if the repeaters on this board could comment and hopefully lessen these wildly differing reviews. I know everyone has an opinion and there are even suggestions that negative reviews are plans from competitors. I just want to have a great romantic vacation with my other half and want my mind at ease that the money we have spent was done so wisely.

Can the regulars shed some light to the truth or falsity of these claims?

[Randandbets]

I can't tell you that nothing has ever gone wrong for someone that has visited CTI. Yes, sometimes you can not go to the Nude Island because the weather is bad. That has improved a lot with the new transfer boat. We have never experienced a shortage of liqour. That is not to say they may not have run out of something sometime. That is also not to imply that they have every kind of booze you could ever dream up. The bars in the rooms are new, I am sure you could drink all of your favorite and it not be restocked for you immediatly. They do have a lot of guests and I am sure they can't run from room to room restocking booze. If you are having withdrawals, go down to one of the bars and get a drink. we have had ants in our room because we left food out. No bad smell ever. Yep, I am sure something has not been perfect for us, we are however booked for trip 5 next July. Thats because we go again as soon as we can afford to.
Randy

[dandj]

The bars have always been stocked with top shelf liquor every time we have been there. There is no limit as far as I'm aware. Staff have gone out of their way to go and get fresh supplies for us when they have run out of something. As far as the weather shutting things down, we always go in October and in seven stays the red flag has only gone up for part of one day.

[bowmanswell]

If you are booked then the hardest part of your vacation has been completed. (Choosing where to go).

The next hardest part is relaxing and enjoying the trip you planed and actually let it happen. The most often thing you see with every disappointed vacationer is the failure to let it go and relax.

My wife and I have been to each of the Couple's properties and CTI 6 times. If you let yourself and your spouse you will experience the following:
1. A great JAMAICIAN vacation
2. A beautiful property with two secluded beaches (main and island)
3. Exciting excursions if you choose (I would recommend scuba especially if you never have done it)
4. 24-hour -7-days a week great food-drinks-snacks
5. Creating a Jamaican family at CTI that what you to return and that you want to come back to over and over again. (Get to know them, they will get to know you and remember you)
6. Most importantly reconnecting with your spouse in many ways

OR:
If you choose not to relax and choose to blame the Sun coming up you can experience:
1. Weather that is out of yours and their control
2. Food or Drink that may be out because of popularity or limited access because it's Jamaica
3. A STAFF member (a person that you think doesn’t have a name)
4. Additional stress trying to get the sun to set on your schedule, the frogs and birds to sing only when you want, and water not to create humidity in closed spaces.

CTI is a great location and vacation. You can't beat the ambiance to help the romance, the great prices to help the stress, and the country to get you away from it all.

Love Jamaica and enjoy each other and CTI.

[jayrayuf]

I think reading reviews can be helpful but you need to read between the lines. Sometimes the reviewer sounds like they would find something to complain about anywhere, or I'm wary when it's overly glowing OR negative and they've only left 1 review on that site ever. I also sometimes click on the reviewer's profile to see where else they've been and their other reviews, it will give you an idea where they typically travel and what their basis of comparison is.

We went to CTI several years ago for our honeymoon and enjoyed it. It is a smaller resort but we loved the quality of food and alcohol provided, and the laidback vibe. We prefer CSA now because we like the longer beach, but everyone has different priorities.

[Fluffin]

We never had any issue with the liquor being restocked, no funny smells anywhere that we found and we did not hit the Island.

I will have to agree that the water sports guys will come up with anyexcuse under the sun NOT to carry the Hobie Cats from off the hill. ALL other equipment was always available the entire 7 days we were there.

[Wally]

You must remember that this message board is moderated and not all posts make it. Just sayin'......

[Vickyj]

We just returned from trip #6. We have NEVER had a room that smelled bad. The Piano bar used to smell musty but it was opened up during the day to allow the breezes through. Water sports was up every day but one while we were there and it was very stormy. This was the first Red flag day in 6 trips. No island weddings this year, only one last year and it was the day we arrived, so it didn't effect us. No problems getting what we wanted to drink including martinis at the main bar. Except for the one red flag day, the island has been open and had liquor. If they run out, they call for more and water sports brings it out.

[Wendy Borie]

Nick and I have been going to CTI, used to be Couples Ocho Rios, for 11 years. I am not sure who is sending these posts. I can only tell you that we have never had a problem there. The staff is TOP notch! We have never had a problem getting a drink request, including top shelf brands. The food is heavenly. Most of the rooms open up to the ocean. Yes, sometimes there has been a musty odor in the piano bar. People, this is the caribbean, with high humidity. This is the only room that I have ever noticed anything. It sure never stopped us from Martinis or sing along activities. You will fall in love with CTI. Just got back a month ago. As always, it was terrific! Tell Byron and Kirk, Sarge says hi!

[Chi-Visit]

Thank you all for posting. I am not a very picky person. It takes alot for me to be upset. I just want a relaxing vacation with limited problems. No one can control the weather, we can only control what and how we choose to enjoy our time. I have traveled many many places, stayed at all types of hotels. We even has a great time at a RIU in Puerto Vallarta. I have heard a much lower quality hotel then Couples. I just want to make sure we have a great vacation in perportion to the money we spent. It sounds like couples is wonderful the people are nice, yes there may be a couple issues with the rooms as they are a bit plain but you are all right, every tropical vacation I have taken who wants to spend time in the rooms. I have heard that the food is to die for and the staff is wonderful. I am kind of a do it yourself person, to to be waiting on the slightest will just be heaven.

On another note, have you ever posted a critisim and it was rejected by the staff that monitors this cite?

- Cortne

[rsmith2078]

Just returned yesterday from 3rd CTI trip (4th Couples Trip)...Still LOVE the staff from check-in to all meals to entertainment absolutely top notch, still LOVE the food although Bayside is our favorite we ate at each twice and it was superb even the private island dinner was fantastic depsite the logistics invovled, still LOVE the view from Premier Ocean although we usually do garden becasue we are rarely in the room. NEVER have experienced ants or any other type of bugs, only on the "island" did I find a more limited selection of booze but the creative and wonderful bartenders make you forget almost immediately. We did have 2 red flag days (first time ever) but they were happy to transfer to CSS for a day trip if the "nude experience" was on your day time agenda. On appropriate days the Hobie cats were running never experienced an unnecessary "no" answer for anything. Even the Catamaran ran using an alternative pick-up location. We used a red flag day to enjoy Dunn's River since there the weather is of no concern. The red drink flags were in action and the Entertainment was top notch not that I would expect any less from Katie and her supervisor Ava!!! Loved the addition of Moses and the new and improved Silver Birds show!!!

For those torn between CTI and CSS I would highly suggest using the day trips offerred on M, W, F so that you can have your cake and eat it too for picture opportunities and change of scenary but man I would not want to maneiuver all those steps for an entire vacation especially at night. The turn down service is great, so don't skip that by using your do not disturb, sometimes you even get a nice creative surprise!!!

There were a few negatives this trip although it would not at all change my opinion nor my booked vacation for July of 2013 back to CTI. So let's test the negative side of the post to see if there is a monitor issue. I will share them in hopes that Couples will address the concerns so that they continue to be a top notch resort!

The boats at CTI desperatly need an overall. The Pontoon was a great idea however it is already not running and awaiting parts for the 9 days we were there, or the red flag might not have made the same impact. The dive boat also struggled a few times, but don't worry divers they used a work around with the Snorkel boat and or the CSS boat, however for those wanting to glass bottom boat or snorkel there were a few adjustments they had to be willing to overlook. We love the vibe and look of CTI but there are some areas where touch up paint would bring the fresh look back. The island was having a water line problem this didn't close the island but it did require a willingness to forgo blended drinks and the use of a fresh water bucket to operate the potty properly it was easy enough with a big barrell of water and a quick dunk of a small bucket in order to flush. Stuff happens anywhere and everywhere so no blame only stating facts. The glass bottom boat needed a thorough cleaning of the glass. The beach could have been raked with a little more urgency to ensure a beautiful experience especially since there isn't too much beach but this seemed to only effect the area closest to the watersports area. The new extra laps requirement for the resort scuba seems silly. As a diver if the point is to determine comfortablity in the water then reserve the yes or no for the ocean dive based on what happens in the dive pool this is a much better indicator than whether or not you can swim hand over head in the pool for the extended laps considering you NEVER dive using this skill/technique.

Some of my favorite friends had been sent on vacation however I want to give a huge shout out to Janice (BJ) from watersports who was a delightful female version of Divemaster Collin whom we missed desparatly although it was a nice surprise when he showed up to do a fun dive with 4 of us repeaters even during his vacation. We would love to see Janice (BJ) become a permanent addition to the Dive team. She was impeccably professional, patient, and geniunely excited to help share her passion for diving!!!

So there it is another trip in the books and eagerly awating July 19th 2013!!!

[lvmcgill]

I see pros and cons posted here all the time. I really don't think the moderators would choose not to post an unfavorable review. There are plenty of Couples fans who will respond to those with counter-points. And I truly believe the staff would use those reviews to improve things. I think the moderators are there just to look for things that might be offensive. We've all been on forums before where it seems one or two people are just looking for a fight or something so it's good that this one is moderated.

[jamaicamecrazy]

There was so much that we loved about CTI. Was it 100% perfect? No, but then really, what ever is? I have noted all the good about CTI many times here, but I will also state the less than perfect. First and foremost, the biggest negatives for us had nothing to do with CTI at all - 1) I got sick from a sickie on the plane trip down, 2) we had bad weather - cool, cloudy and windy for several days, which shut down the water sports. Nothing can be done about that. We appreciate that they try to keep people safe. However, one day, just a few hours after talking to the dive staff and having them give us an update that the boat wouldn’t go out that day, we saw (from our spots at the swim-up bar pool) a few people and staff wade out to the dive boat and off it went. We shrugged it off, doubting the conditions were very good. Plus I wasn’t 100% better anyway. Maybe those guests were really pushy about going diving. Who knows. I did have trouble getting the merlot wine a couple times, and they couldn’t make the fancy martinis I had at CSA, but no biggie. There was lots of other choices. On the flip side they made me special concoctions with lime and honey when I got sick. The pools were very cold. Being not heated and having cold weather makes for chilly pools. The island was also closed for a couple days. A lot of people thought it was the weather, but it seemed they used that time of poor conditions to close the island to build the new dock there (this was Dec/Jan 2011). When it opened it wasn’t fully running, but some new friends we made (multi repeaters) made the best of it and got beer loaded into those water jugs and off they went. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a few bad reviews came from that time frame, but not from us. Overall the good.. the great... so outweighed the bad that all we could think about was how fabulous it was. The room was clean, the view was amazing, the resort was clean, the beach was raked, The hot tubs were hot (a good thing with poor weather), the staff were so friendly, we made lots of new friends, the food was delicious... that’s what is most important.

[ct ti fan]

Pointing out the obvious, but 1040 excellent or very good review compared to 93 poor or terrible on TA. Many people only post when they are disappointed too, so there are many, many times more satisfied CTI patrons than disappointed.

[clkbjk]

CTI is a terrific resort- the only problems I had whilst there, was that I ate too much all week, drank too much one afternoon and missed dinner and I got too much sun one day and developed heat rash. On the other hand, all the food was too fantastic to turn down, the free flowing drinks were amazing (especially the whole coconut filled with rum!!) and I came home with a gorgeous tan!!!! Enjoy!!!!

[Wally]

On another note, have you ever posted a critisim and it was rejected by the staff that monitors this cite?

Yes, many times. Although with Couples, there isn't very much to criticize. We love CN and go every year.

[Chi-Visit]

Good it is as I thought more positives then negatives, I guess it is true don't let one bad apple spoil the bunch. Thank you again everyone for the comments, I can't wait for our vacation. I hope to become repeaters just like the rest of you. One can only dream.