Couples Swept Away

The resort was really enjoyable and located on a beautiful spot of the 7 mile beach. As a fitness junkie I was especially pleased with the wide range of fitness and sports activities being offered; beach bootcamp, abs workouts, spinning, a 700m running track to avoid you from having to use the dread mill, excellent tennis clinic etc. The local Jamaican trainers were all amazing and made you work hard on the classes! One trainer even volunteered to write up a workout routine for me for the two days he was off before our personal trainer session and left me a letter in reception with an awesome workout plan! Unfortunately I didn’t catch his name to be able to extend my thank you personally to him. Only disappointing part when it comes to the fitness offering were the visiting trainers from US, Canada, etc who were not specifically fit themselves and their classes were nowhere near on par with the local trainers’! I can’t even understand the logic of bringing them over when the local guys are so good at what they do! Aside from the sports; food in the resort was generally good and varied. Feathers is really worth going, some dishes in the Asian restaurant were a bit so and so. Patios could use more variety; at one point I think they had the same lunch menu for 4 days in a row! The water activities options were very good and the lifeguards leading the snorkeling and glassbotttom rides were an absolute joy! The animation team I thought was a bit dull compared to some other resorts I’ve been to and they didn’t seem very comfortable on stage announcing the performers. Music and bands were really enjoyable, I especially liked a band with two trumpets and some other instruments that they arranged to jam on the beach on Christmas Day. Also some lovely violin been played on the background during breakfast some mornings. One big minus is that the visitors, mainly Americans I guess, have a habit of reserving their sun loungers already middle of the night! I have never experienced this in any other beach location to this extreme extent! My boyfriend happened to wake up some mornings at 5.30, going for an early walk and already before sunrise most of the spots on the beach were reserved. The staff should really interfere with this practice somehow. We stayed in Atrium room and really liked the room type, only negative with the room being that since the windows have no glass, you end up getting cigarette smell into your room from passers-by. Service in general was really friendly, main exception being the beach-side grill where I never got a smile from any of the staff and they seemed very uninterested in being there or to serve you. I typically don’t like to travel to the same location twice but am already tempted to return to Negril and Couples! If they only took some action against the hogging of the sun loungers, got rid of the visiting fitness instructors (of had a higher demand level for them) and increased the variety of food variety in Patois, the stay would be even more positive!

Room was great and wonderful view of the ocean. Everything was kept very clean and everyone was helpful and gracious. Food was excellent and many choices. There were numerous activities , something for everyone, and the beach was just like the pictures , amazing

This was my first trip Negril but not to Jamaica. It was definitely worth the extra drive to stay outside of Montego Bay. CSA is lovely. We took a boat ride by some of the other resorts on the beach and CSA was so much lusher and greener than the others. I loved all of the trees and plants. The water is gorgeous, still and clear. There are hammocks hanging here and there, tiki bars, and petite cats that are quite friendly. We never used either of the pools because the ocean was so wonderful. The chair cushions double as ocean floats which make for a very relaxing experience. We did not pay for an ocean view room, but we still got a partial view from the balcony. It looked to me as if all of the rooms would have some glimpse of ocean, albeit some with much better views and bigger decks. We did not have a tv in our room. I saw some that did. As others have noted, the rooms are open air. You have shutters with no glass. I liked waking up to the sound of the ocean, but you also hear people. It was fine for us but if you like to sleep in, this may bother you. The bed was comfortable. The restaurants were all fine (we tried them all). We’re vegetarians and all of the restaurants had at least one option but the buffet by far had the most options for us. Our least favorite meal was at the Asian restaurant. The ambiance was lovely, though. The fine dining restaurant does not have any view, which was a bit disappointing. It was also very cold. The portions are tiny so order at least something from every course. The evening entertainment is rather Americanized. I wish they had more current reggae music. The piano bar wasn’t quite my thing but I can see how others would really enjoy it. The martini bar was our favorite. The sunset cruise was fun. The glass boat tour was also interesting. I was glad that the captain made sure to point out the damage done to the reef by sunscreen. They tell all snorkelers to apply sunscreen at least an hour prior to visiting the reef to try to protect against bleaching. I wish they would put reef-safe sunscreen in the rooms. This would be a nice touch that would probably be more effective in ensuring their guests don’t cause further damage. We had a great Hobie cat lesson. We tried the waterskiing as well. The sports center is across the road. It has a nice walking path, Olympic pool, numerous racquet sport courts, a fitness room, and a bar. The resort felt very safe. They have security and there is staff everywhere. Yes there is a continuous parade of people trying to sell you things but they stay on a narrow strip of the beach and don’t harass you if you say no or ignore them. CSA includes airport transfers which was nice. Our driver on the way back was really informative about local life in Jamaica. We bought the VIP airport lounge on the way back. I think it was about $35/person and was well worth it. They had a full bar, very good food, nice magazines you can take on the plane and wifi.