There is only one thing you forgot to tell us about Jamaica...how hard it would be to come back to reality!

We had a wonderful time & will definitely want to do an all-inclusive again. What a great way to vacation! Les is afraid now that we will walk out of a restaurant & forget to pay the bill, we got so used to doing that in Ocho Rios. It was great being able to eat & drink at any time, day or night, & not have to think about what the bill would be. We drank champagne the entire evening on Sept 9th, which was our 24th anniversary. The following day, I discovered mango daiquiris-what a great way to get vitamin C + tipsy at the same time!

The building was intriguing, I loved that it was so old and had so much character; you can't buy that kind of charm. I loved the furniture in our room, the bed was just massive. All the furnishings, upholstery and draperies continued the "British plantation" theme throughout the buildings. I am a firm believer that one's surroundings can influence one's mood & I am in love with this sort of "look" anyway, so I was a real pushover for this place. The windows and doors to the public areas were always open and the ocean breeze kept everything so cool and refreshed. The windows and doors had to be the originals, they were so heavily built and substantial. (Having worked in the "home center" industry previously, Les & I both pay attention to these things.) The floors were a beautiful yellow/cream/ochre terrazzo tiles & the walls were a paler yellow, the woodwork was either mahogany or painted white...the accessorizing colors were green and red & brown. In any other setting the palm-tree print on the draperies in the rooms would have looked kitschy or tacky, but in this setting, it was absolutely the perfect theme.

The layout of the resort was very practical, it had good "flow" and not many places where foot traffic could bottle-neck and become a problem.

And then there were the people! What lovely, charming, friendly and smiling bunch of folks. We never, ever felt like we were less than welcome anyplace that we went. The staff at the resort were so great, they would literally bend over backward to see that your every request was not only met, but exceeded. I can't begin to say enough about them. Claudia, of the entertainment staff was the sweetest person I've ever met, we will never forget her. She would actually seek us out and make a special effort to talk to us and keep us informed about events and happenings at the resort. I just wanted to bring her home with me. A darling girl by the name of Tellechia waited on us several times and we got to talk to her a little bit and find out about her background. Howard, also on the entertainment staff, rode with us to downtown Ocho Rios, this man is a true people person, he had everyone in stitches the whole time.

I must admit, it took me about 24 hours to start enjoying myself, my ears were all plugged up and I couldn't hear what anyone was saying and the view from our room could have been better, plus, it was so humid...I was in a real bad mood for a while. But, my ears cleared up the next morning.

We ate breakfast on our balcony and watched the hummingbirds hovering around the shrimp flowers and the waves rolling in past the palm trees, who could be in a bad mood after all that???

How soon can we go back?

Sincerely,
Les and Judy Sires