Grand Lido Negril Trip Report 2001

Let me start by saying that I was so impressed with the Grand Lido Negril that I will no longer stay anywhere else in the Caribbean, except, possibly, at the other two Grand Lido's in Jamaica. While that may seem a little short sighted, the fact of the matter is that there was nothing that I would change about the resort to make it better. For me, it is the perfect resort. Also, it relaxed me in a way that I have never been relaxed on vacation before (I actually think my heart stopped beating a few times).

There may be a better resort in the Caribbean, but I figure why should I chance it when I have a known perfect commodity already.

Before I get to the meat of the review, let me clarify my opening remarks. I don't mean to say that the Grand Lido Negril has the best of anything in any category. What makes it so good, however, is that no matter how you choose to rank resorts, the Grand Lido would be in the top 10, and most likely in the top 5. The result is that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. There simply are not any areas where the Lido does not excel.

What this means, for example, is that if you are on your honeymoon, you might want to choose Ladera in St. Lucia for the ultimate in romance...but you couldn't go wrong by choosing the Grand Lido. And, if you wanted more than just Romance on your honeymoon, the Grand Lido would be the better choice.

Speaking of romance, my wife and I renewed our vows while we were there. More on this later.

As far as our background goes, my wife and I are in our late 30's and have 3 children (who did not go on the trip...you must be 16 or older to stay at the resort). This was my third all-inclusive resort, and my wife's first. We've traveled fairly extensively and have been to many places in the Caribbean.

When you first walk into the lobby of the Grand Lido Negril you get a taste of what's in store for you for the rest of your trip. Your bags are left at the entrance (to be later taken to your room) and you are escorted to a sitting area while the staff checks you in. At this point you are given drinks and just sit back and enjoy the view.

You enter the lobby via a long open corridor that has a shallow pool w/fountains on one side. From there you enter an open octagonal room with Greek marble columns supporting it. Paintings from local artists adorn the walls. Past this room is the sitting area where you wait to be checked in. There is another pool with a large water- powered wheel turning in it. You also overlook the main dining area and bar.

The main dining area is the central location of the hotel. You always eat breakfast and lunch here. For special events (like the manager's party on Mondays) you also eat dinner here. There are also three restaurants to the side - the French, the Italian (where you have the option of eating inside or outside), and the Cafe Lido. I'm not sure of the exact dress requirements for the last two, but the French restaurant requires a jacket. I did, however, eat outside of the Italian restaurant and inside of Cafe Lido without shoes or pants.

Note, if you want the food from the French restaurant, but don't want to wear a jacket, you can sit outside of the Italian restaurant in your bathing suit and have the French restaurant food delivered to you.

These aren't your only choices for food, however. The Grand Lido Negril has three 24-hour restaurants that also deliver room service. And these are full menus serving everything from bar food (burgers, wings, onion rings, etc.) to deserts to "real food" (e.g., lamb chops) to salads and soups. You can eat at these restaurants (each of which has a hot tub for relaxing in) or have it delivered to your room...24 hours/day!

Also centered around the main dining area are a Piano Bar, Disco, and Slot Machines/Game room. Past the main dining area is the main pool (and hot tub) and then the ocean.

There is an excellent Spa and pretty nice Gift Shop at the resort. Neither is included in the "all-inclusive" rate at the hotel, although a free pedicure and manicure does come with your reservation. With the exception of hair styling, you can charge whatever you purchase here to your room. There is also another hot tub at the spa.

There are a lot of Water Sports at the hotel and most, if not all, are free. Unfortunately my wife and I did not partake in any of them so I can't give any details, but I do know that they have scuba lessons and diving, kayaks, paddle boats, wind surfing. You can also do jet skiing and parasailing, although these are not through the resort and cost extra.

Another "water sport" is Princess Grace's yacht, which is anchored at the resort. Several times a week (possibly daily when it is busy) you can take a cruise around the island in it. Like everything else, there is no charge for this.

You can get married or renew your vows at the resort. There is no charge for this and you get the service, a small cake, and champagne. If you want their professional photographer to take pictures, you must pay based on the package requested. This is relatively inexpensive, however, as packages start at $225 for about 40 pictures. Of course you can take your own pictures for free.

The ceremony can be in a gazebo, in front of a beautiful tree, or on Princess Grace's yacht. When we renewed our vows we chose the gazebo. The ceremony was amazing...it was better than our original wedding. The words the minister said, the sincerity in his voice, and the presence of the friends we had met down there really made it special.

The next day we were best man and maid of honor for a couple we met down there. They were married on the yacht and that was a very romantic ceremony.

The resort spreads out in two "wings" from the main restaurant. Each wing consists of three blocks of rooms. To the left is the nude beach and to the right is the clothed beach. Our room was on the clothing side, but we spent all of our time on the nude side. When we return, we will request a room on the nude side.

Both sides are beautiful and have gorgeous views and beaches. The only real difference is that the nude side has a little more shade and is more conducive to just laying around. What made us prefer the nude side, however, was the people. On the clothing side, the people pretty much stayed to themselves. There was much more of a "party" atmosphere on the nude side. We did, however, make good friends from both sides.

A quick note about the nude side. There were all body types from incredibly in shape to incredibly out of shape - for both men and women. There was nothing to make you feel self-conscious, no sexual atmosphere, and no pressure to get nude. While most of the people were fully nude at all times, there were some women who were just topless, and times when some people stayed fully clothed. There was no gawking of any kind.

From what I could see the rooms were all about the same. Cable TV, radio/CD player, AC, patio doors leading to a balcony or patio, large bathroom, sunken "living room" area. The rooms were quite spacious.

Two other quick things I'll mention about the resort. There is no tipping. No one asks you for a tip and no one looks like they expect a tip. That being said, you will want to tip because of the incredible service you get. The only place where I have received better service is at a Four Seasons, and then just barely.

The second thing is that when you are told "no", that doesn't really mean no. For example, you can supposedly only eat at the French restaurant once during your stay and reservations are required. If you try to get around this you will be told no. That's ok, just ask again...and possibly one more time...and you will get an "ok, no problem, man". We actually did this with several things, the end result being we always ended up with what we wanted.

To get to the resort you can fly or take a bus. The bus ride is very long (> 2.5 hours) as opposed to the plane ride which is 15min. I would strongly advise flying. It will cost you between $120 and $150 each way for two people and there are several choices for airlines. We flew Air Link and round trip for the two of us was $240 (tax included). Note that if you pay with a credit card they will add a 5% surcharge. The planes leave from a smaller airport right next to the main airport. When you leave customs you will see lots of people who will take you to this smaller airport. There is no charge for this. Ditto on the flight back, where you will be taken to the main airport as part of your ticket price. You land right next to the Grand Lido and they will pick you up for the short 5 min ride to the resort...again, no charge.

We did do a tour of Hedonism II which is directly across the street from the Grand Lido Negril. It was night and day. The grounds were not as nice, the rooms were horrible (and there's no TV if that is important to you), and it seemed very dirty. In the main dining are there was a soda machine (like in a fast food place) that was covered with bees. These resorts are not equivalent.

I want to end this report by talking about the people that we met while we were there. We have always met people when we travel - many we still keep in touch with - so meeting friends is something that we expect to do when we go on vacation. However, we have never met a larger collection of friends than we did here. In fact, we have made plan to return next December and meet most of them again. This is a first for us.