Jamaican Me Crazy - Take II

In the lobby after supper.

Because we had arrived a day late, we asked if we could extend our stay one night...sure, for $600.  We don't think it would've been an issue had it not been Christmas.  They say it is their busiest time of year, which surprised us a little, and boy, did they go all out for it.  They had the decorations just like we would and even had the Christmas music playing in the lobby area.  The day we arrived, we cracked up seeing all the blow-up decorations of Santa, Snowmen, etc., in the resort lawns. Towards the end of our week there, there was a bunch of hustle and bustle preparing for the guests that would be arriving the week of Christmas.  I've always thought it would be sad to not be at home for Christmas...I'm now having second thoughts...as long as my family was with me.

We didn't actually meet our day butler, but our night guy was all over it.  He had our supper reservations in order and even surprised us one night with a fancy bubble bath and bottle of champagne (they knew we were there celebrating our 20th anniversary).  We didn't know this, however, and were at one of the nightly shows so we took some pictures and appreciated the gesture...gave him a good tip later on too!

If you look closely, you'll see the white slippers.  We each had a set of slippers and a white plush robe for the week.  Jay absolutely loved these slippers.  It cracked me up.  As soon as we got in our room, he would slip his on.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that.

It took us a couple of nights, but we also figured out what it meant to have our beds turned down.  That was pretty nice as well.  Someone would come into your room in the evening and get all the decorative pillows and such off the bed.  We usually had rose petals and some design made out of a towel on the bed too.  It's the little things...

I could go on and on at how nice the resort was.  It was just like the pictures and a very relaxing atmosphere.  If you heard these phrases once, you heard them a hundred times, "There are no problems in Jamaica, only solutions."  "Yeah, mon, no problem."  "No worries."  They push a relaxing experience and you feel it.  We felt welcome and not rushed at all.  It was quite inviting.

One of the best parts of it all - their native language is English.  They have their own dialect, but where we were, it was all English - except for some of the foreign guests who didn't speak English.  That made it a little tricky sometimes for the Entertainment Staff.  We would hear them trying to communicate with French people and it was funny.

One evening when we went out for supper, there were random people in red vests walking around handing out surveys.  We took the survey, gave the resort high marks and turned it in, not having a clue what it was all about.  Later on before the show, Stella (our favorite) and Thunder (hilarious guy with dreadlocks and the clearest blue eyes ever) were nearby in almost a panic.  They stopped their conversation (in their dialect because they realized it was rude) and invited us to join their chit-chat.

Apparently, the red vests were there evaluating the resort and the Entertainment Staff.  You would've thought they were coming to execute these poor people.  Stella and Thunder were in total panic freak-out mode.  They were scared to death that they were going to get poor remarks and lose their jobs.  It was sad, frankly, because they did such an outstanding job and we hated to see them feel this way. The good news was their best show of the week, Boogie Nights, was on the agenda.  After seeing it, we knew there was NO way, they could have received negative markings.

Mr. Clean goes swimming.

A couple curious things - I received at least three comments on my hair.  I feel like my haircut is pretty common in these parts, but as I looked around, no one else (even the Americans) had haircuts like mine.  I thought that was wild!  Kudos to my hairdresser, Michaelle!

Mr. Clean gets Jamaican dreads.

The other thing that just cracked me up, a couple of the staff kept referring to Jay as "Mr. Clean."  Funny, that even down there, they knew who Mr. Clean was.

Looking towards the sea from the balcony off the lobby.

The balcony off the lobby.

All the food was delicious.  Jay is a seafood and jerk eater, I am not.  This was no problem, mon.  I ate steak, delicious steak, every single night.  I don't know what they do to their cattle down there, but it was heavenly.  We ate some sort of beef at the Italian restaurant and it was to die for.  Had we eaten there earlier in the week, we probably would've asked to go back.  There was a nightly buffet at the Cornwall, the Port Maria outdoor restaurant became the Jamaican restaurant at night, a Surf and Turf, Japanese and Italian restaurant.  We think there was another one, but we didn't go there.

Oh, this is a hoot - the Japanese Restaurant with the hibachi grills - the chefs were Jamaican! Funny stuff.  It was still delicious.

Jerk chicken & pork on the beach

Jay thoroughly enjoyed the jerk pork, jerk chicken, etc.  I tried it a couple times, but it was just way too spicy for me.  When food burns my mouth and lips because of seasoning and not temperature, I'm out. There was plenty of other stuff for me to eat.   One day they did a cooking show out on the beach and then everyone was welcome to eat lunch there.  Jay dove right in.  I tried it, but (see earlier comment) - off to the Port Maria outdoor buffet I went.

Racquel & I

Our favorite waitress in the pool/beach area was Racquel.  She was such a sweetheart, skinny as a rail and walked with a slight limp.  Jay picked up on it right away.  She was trying hard to hide it, but if you watched close enough, you could see it.  She was a doll.  Jay figures she was probably in pain most of the time though she didn't let on.  We tipped her well, and she found us every single day with a smile.  I'll take that.  She is looking forward to our next visit and so am I!

Jay and I both agree that we must bring our kids to some type of resort like this, here or there.  They would love it and we would love to have them experience it...though we were happy being on our own this time around.  We definitely were spoiled though - it might be hard to take our travel experience down a few notches.  In the weeks preceding our trip, our kids moaned and groaned about us leaving them behind.  I told Madolyn, "When you have been married 20 years, you can go to Jamaica."  Ha, in this day and age, we've earned this!

To be continued...