Sandals Negril Jamaica Day 5 2025

We were looking forward to Thursday all week. We had planned to go to Beaches Negril! The weather was beautiful! Not too humid. We went to the front desk, and they called a taxi. As we left, security took our names (I think...). It was a short taxi ride. When we got to Beaches, I'm pretty certain security took our names/room #. 

At the front desk we got a map and headed out. Of course, I didn't actually get a chance to look at the map before we started moving. We were thinking about lunch, most of the food stuff was just starting to open. We kind of walked all over. I think we found some chairs on the beach, then went to the water slides (the left one, as you're standing at the top) was pretty intense, and it's the one Rob went down. Or maybe it was reversed. LOL.). While we were reading the rules, trying to see if I was tall enough, a friendly staff member joked with us we were too tall. He was great! He used to work at Sandals but wanted more excited. After the slides, we asked him where a washroom was. He started taking us all over, eventually at where he said the cleaning staff had washing machines, but it seemed they were gone now. We laughed. Bathroom! Restroom? Aaaah! That he knew. I wish I could remember his name. Alex? He had been a maintenance engineer and wanted a more rewarding job, working more with the people. He wasn't very old but I think he said he had been at Sandals for 7 years.

Photos are kind of random order, because it's all a blur now.

The food trucks by the beach opened and we went for the chicken tenders. Yummy.  Just be mindful of the seagulls!

Main pool, it was so big!

Standing at the in pool bar, looking at their buffet restaurant. It's interesting that there are steps that go into the pool, but there's a railing up. There's also netting all along that side, so the birds can't get in. Why can't Sandals do that?

We sat at the bar and the woman beside me asked for something not sweet, a little sour. What the bartended suggested sounded good, and refreshing, so I asked for it too. I had seen sour green apple syrup at the bars, but every time I say I want something not sweet, or with that syrup, they add so much other stuff that it's not really green apple anymore and it's almost sweet. I started talking with the lady, telling her we had come over from Sandals. She asked what we thought. We were honest--we felt it was a little run down and some cases of poor/slow service. She said she was a travel agent and had been in a tour group yesterday, which had seen by the pool. She said she got that impression too. It's not that it's run down--falling down--but it's just...not sparkling new, just a lot of little things, like the urinal next to Perla that was plugged and flooding the washroom for three days. Sinks not installed so they line up. Chips in the stucco. Worn paint. The lady was quite happy with Beaches though. 
 

While we were in the pool, some Sesame Street characters came by. I don't know why, but it was kind of cool to see, even as adults with no young kids there! 

I can't imagine being in one of those character suits in this weather!

We went in a hot tub briefly, but it was too sunny. The pool deck was also quite warm. There were quite a few loungers available, though mostly in the sun. This is very different from the main pool at Sandals. There, the butlers get to reserve loungers at 6am for their clients. There's not very many to begin with. Yet of course, when you go, most of the loungers are empty, with just a book and towel. Yet, there's no body in the pool. At the main pool at Sandals, we would have to put our towel and bag/shoes on the garden wall at the back, or on the half way separating the lobby.  If they had cubbies to stash stuff, that would be very helpful. We don't lounge by the pool, but we need a spot for our stuff.

We spent a LOT of time in the lazy river. Why do adult only resorts not have lazy rivers? They're so much fun. We were the only adults in it most of the time. And any other adults had children with them.

The children's water park area looked like fun!

There were lots of different options along the beach. We started out under an almond tree and then realized it was not a good option, so we kept walking, and found these loungers under a palapa. There were some HUGE palapas, some with activity stations, some with loungers. The butler day beds were also pretty awesome looking.

Look at how deep the beach is! Look at the turquoise water! No sea grass here! 

You can see that island just down from Sandals. 

The swim area was all one area, much larger than Sandals, even if you combine their areas. The only downside was it was further from the lounger to the water, and there were quite a few boats just on the other side of the ropes offering tubing, parasailing, etc. They weren't bothersome, but it felt odd ignoring them.

I noticed these trays up in the rafters of the palapa! Why? We also noticed that these ones were real grass, while the ones at Sandals were artificial. A staff member (the gardener?) told us the grass ones only last 6 months.

Those are the butler palapas at the front right.

Looks like they were setting up for a big wedding. Imagine how great that would be!

The green flag was sweet. I didn't notice a yellow flag at Sandals.

At some point in the afternoon, we went to the Mexican restaurant, Mariachi. You have to be dry to sit inside. We fibbed a little. The waitress didn't seem too friendly at first, but by the end, she was! Our food was good, but the salad/nacho bar was almost bare. We didn't think we were too late for lunch, so it was surprising. Then we went to Yo-Yo's, frozen yoghurt. It was really good. The staff was amazing, so patient with the kids that came in. 

At some point, Rob was getting too hot, so we asked at the front desk if there was anywhere air conditioned that we could go. At Sandals, there's the Club lounge for club level guests, but we usually just go to our room. Of course, we couldn't here. They pointed us to the concierge lounge, and it was heavenly. We just lounged, they brought us water, we chatted a little about how much we were enjoying our day. 

Refreshed, we continued our exploration. We had dinner reservations at Yaku, the Peruvian restaurant. It was a bit of a challenge to find it. It's on the second floor in the main building. The giant main buffet did not seem to be open this day. 

The first thing we learned is that the menu is served family style. Now, Beaches is a family resort. Sandals is not. There was SO much food. Each dish is basically made to serve 4, I think.

I wasn't going to have a cocktail, but decided to give one a try. This is their signature cocktail, the Pisco Sour. It was quite good!

Dishes are divided into Small, Medium, and Large plates. For Small, we got tequeños de pollo, and I honestly don't really remember what else. There were these little skewers of meat, but I don't see them on the menu. We got the Peruvian beef stir-fry and the Chinese fried rice, so two dishes had rice. I wanted to try ceviche, but none of the items on the menu were ceviche. I do think I had the salad with the hearts of palm. All the food was good, but way too much for two people.

I loved the wall decor--twisted and braided yarn hanging. And this little flocked fellow!

This is the Suspiro de Limeña. I'm pretty sure it was good. 

It had been a tiring day and we wanted to get back to Sandals for the evening show--the fire show on the beach, and buffet. Earlier in the day, Rob noticed his room card was missing. We went to the front desk, and they did have a Sandals card turned in. However, there's no name on (like there is on a cruise sea pass card). The desk called Sandals, but there was no way to verify it was Rob's and they wouldn't give it to him. After dinner, we went back to the desk to get the taxi, and he asked again. No one else had come looking for a Sandals card. We said we'd give it to the Sandals front desk if it didn't work on our room. Of course it worked. Rob figures he lost it on the wild water slide.

Note to others--if you're wearing a Tilley's hat with a secret compartment in the inside crown, do not put your paper US money there and then go swimming. It was a little embarrassing paying for the taxi and tip with soggy money!

A foggy shot of the buffet. I don't think we knew about the buffet actually, or we probably would have chose a different day for Beaches. 

It's hard to photograph a fire show!

I believe there was also a DJ, and a dance competition for the men. It was fun, but we were pretty exhausted.  Beaches was amazing. Yes, we heard a couple crying kids, and watched some siblings beat each other up on the beach, but it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. It made us wish we had taken our kids to something when they were younger...but at the same time, we know that would not be a very relaxing holiday and frankly, our few trips/cruises were intentionally with out the kids, since I spent so much time with them already. I hope someday we'll have grandchildren and we can take them here...or somewhere similar.

 

Sandals Negril Jamaica, Day 4 2025

 Day 4 was Wednesday, Oct 15. 

The morning started with the same breakfast entertainment. This was not adding to the relaxed, upscale ambience we thought we'd have here. 

We finally got to take the garden tour. We'd tried one day but I think we slept in, the day before there was some rain, so we were excited to do it finally. One reason we chose  this resort is because of the mature landscaping. We looked at newer resorts and they felt so bare, too much concrete, not enough shade. The grounds were one of the things we really did enjoy here. 

The tour guide was the gardener, Simone. There was just us, and another lady who turned out to live about 30 minutes from us! 

I really liked these corkscrew plants! They're crotons, which you can have as indoor plants here. I have one, but it's not a corkscrew. The more sunlight they get, the more red they get.

This is a Peregrina, or Spicy Jatropha, according to Google. I wish I had taken notes, or filmed the guide. It was sometimes hard to understand--between the accent and the plant names I don't know, my memory was not working.

This is a Heliconia plant, commonly known as a false bird-of-paradise, or lobster claw. I don't know what makes it different from a real bird-of-paradise.

This is a caladium plant. They were quite large, and a great example of how you can fill a garden with non-flowering plants to fill spaces, and it not be boring.

This is a white wax begonia. While the flowers weren't much bigger than begonias at home, the leaves and plants were huge. 

This is a mulberry! You know the nursery rhyme/song, "Here we go Round the Mulberry Bush." It was cool to see. I believe this was between the water sports centre and the building towards the road.

This is a Monstera deliciosa, also known as Swiss Cheese Plant! There are several types of Monstera here. Another great filler plant!

This is a purple heart plant. The orange flowers behind it are lantana--a common summer annual here.

This is a Giant Taro, also known as Elephant Ear plant.

Madagascar periwinkle, also known as annual vinca. I believe this was next to the Sundowner restaurant.

This is Simone, the gardener that did the tour. I believe she said she's been working there for 7 years. At the end of the tour, she took us to the fish pond/gazebo behind the Paradise building. The property has a lot of almond trees, and she was able to crack one open so we could sample a raw almond. I had been wondering what the fruit was that was dropping from trees all along the beach. The trees are very different from the almond tree that we had in our backyard when I was young. Simone also sang us a song, 

After the tour, Rob went back to the room to recuperate from the heat.  It had been fine when we started the tour, but then the humidity and temperature went up significantly. I went back outside to take more photos. I really admired this tree. The one on the right is a Traveler's Palm, which is not a true palm, but related to the bird-of-paradise plant and bananas. It's located behind the Paradise building, in the "indent" (if you look at the map, you'll understand). It doesn't look all that impressive here, but it was huge.

This is a vine that reaches higher than the third floor of the Paradise building (back side). It was amazing. I believe she called it a "chicken leg" or "drumstick" vine. I can't find any info though. Most of what Google gives me is for a small water fine, or squash plants. This was neither. It was massive! It was cool to see the backside of the vine as we walk along the corridor. We were surprised though that there weren't birds nesting in it.

This is unfortunately, what I kept facing when I tried to take pictures! It's so humid that the camera fogs up when you go from inside to outside.

What I didn't realize about this tree is that the pink leaves are not the flower. Sort of like poinsettias. The flower is actually the yellow part!

I always thought the placement of this bush was odd. It was all alone, on the lawn in front of the Bamboo Grove building, near the wedding gazebo next to the beach. 

What did we do after this? I don't have many photos. I do have this one:

Using our complimentary bottle of red wine (anniversary gift) and juice from the mini bar, we made hotel room sangria. It was ....okay. I think it poured rain this afternoon. Perhaps this was the day we tried to do the water bikes but there was a few thunder rumbles in the mountains so the water staff said no.

Simone picked a few flowers for us during the tour. This is a swamp lily. Google's not being helpful, but I'm pretty sure that's what I found out.

This is a plumeria, also known as frangipani. They were quite common. I like how the petals overlap.

This is a hibiscus. I hadn't realized just how long the stamen (?) was. Look at the very end of it, it looks like a multi eyed snail LOL. 

This is me in my Vera dress, with hibiscus print. To read the saga of the dress, check out my blog. 

For dinner, we went to Barefoot by the Sea. The staff were wonderful!

This is the Blackened Blue Marlin. The menu says rice and broccoli. I asked for no rice, but I'm not sure what happened with the vegetables. I can't remember the appetizers we had. Probably the coconut shrimp.

I can't see what Rob has, I think it was the Seafood Your Way. 

Ackee and white chocolate cheesecake. It was nice. I loved the smaller size.

The Paradise building at night. I can't imagine what it was like before they put the roof over the balconies. It must have been so sunny in the afternoon, and terrible during the rain!

The evening entertainment was a white party on the beach. 

Here's that traveler's palm again. This is taken from the third floor corridor, so it gives a better idea of the size. 

It might seem crazy that I can't remember exactly what we did, or what we ate. Our goal for the trip was to rest, relax, reconnect. We find that on cruises we tend to be so busy, going to all the activities. Not this time. Also, I hadn't plan to take this long to blog the whole trip!! I've just been so busy.