Jamaica Part 2

A little about my Jamaica

I’m back! But before I get into details about my visit to the Iberostar Resort, as I promised, I’m going to share some of the things that I like about Jamaica. When I first visited Jamaica I was 20 years old. I went with 9 other young ladies and we stayed for 10 days. That’s a long time to visit a place for the first time. I was so young so it didn’t matter but I had such a wonderful time! The time flew by! When the 10 days were up we wanted to extend the time! We weren’t ready to leave! This was about 22 years ago, however, one thing that stood out for me; that I remember from that time as well as others was the tranquility of the island; the laid back – “no problem mon” – attitude. I was addicted and I knew Jamaica would be an island that I would continue to visit for the rest of my life. I love reggae music (and soca) so if you put those things together – peace, relaxation and irie tunes, one can’t go wrong!

A few Activities
We spent a full night at SunSplash; the big yearly reggae music event in Jamaica (now called Sumfest). By “full night” I mean we slept at the concert and had breakfast there in the morning. We couldn't leave at any point because of course they saved all of the artist we wanted to see for last.
We did the usual tourist things like, Dunn’s River Falls


and the 7 mile beach in Negril, ending the evening with an awesome sunset at Rick’s Café.





During other visits, I sailed on sunset cruises, marveled at the coral under the glass bottom boat excursion, experienced the thrill of a jet ski, fun rides on the infamous banana boat located on Negril’s 7 mile beach (I highly recommend the banana boat!) and partied hard at beach parties.

Food – focusing on chicken
The food in Jamaica is not like the Jamaican style food one might eat here in the U.S. and other parts of the world (that’s just my opinion). For example, Jerk chicken in Jamaica is so much tastier! Why, you ask?..... Because they use pimento wood. “Pimento wood is what gives true jerk cooking its unique flavor. The chicken grills on a bed of wet pimento leaves and sticks. The smoking wood infuses the meat, to the bone, with robust flavor. Aromatic with deep citrusy and smoky notes, the wood makes all the difference in the world.” urbandictionary.com.
I’m more of a curry chicken woman actually but if the jerk is cooked right (juicy and nicely seasoned as above) I’m just as happy. During my visits I didn’t need to eat in fancy places all of the time. That’s the somewhat unique thing about Jamaica, you can get a meal just about anywhere along the road; and a good one too! 20 years ago I was fine with dining in the back of some shack as long as the food was good! Today, at the ripe age of 40 something, it’s a different story. I don’t mind the shack but I do need a white linen cloth experience at some point during the trip.

*The 2010 Sumfest will be held in Montego Bay July 18 – 24.
Call Island Breeze Travel for details and reservations!
Email: islandbreezetravel@gmail.com
Phone: (516) 223-3821

Jamaica

I’ve been in the travel business for 21 years now. Because of my love for the Caribbean, I gave birth to Island Breeze Travel in April of 1992.

So where have I been in the Caribbean? I will begin with Jamaica because this is the island that I love the most. I have so many wonderful and memorable experiences in Jamaica that it would take many blogs to describe them all. The 5 times that I’ve visited Jamaica I stayed in the Montego Bay and Runaway Bay areas
The first 2 times that I visited Jamaica I stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree in Montego Bay. I liked it then and I like it even better today. I felt at home at that hotel; very laid back atmosphere. The third and fourth time I stayed at Portside Villas in Runaway Bay (a few minutes from the Ocho Rios area). Portside Villas was a very nice and quaint hotel; again that laid back feeling made it feel like home. It’s currently up for sale though.

My latest visit was this past October with my family under sad circumstances. Trevor we love you and you will always be missed. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I love traveling with my family especially the ones I was with on this trip! I love the family bonding!
Toward the end of the trip I was able to see some new resorts as well as a refurbished resort.
Today I will feature the RIU, Montego Bay:
Note: all photos you see are personal photos.




The RIU Montego Bay, an all inclusive resort, is about 1 year and a few months old. The entire hotel is painted in my favorite color, purple. Well it’s really lavender. It’s pretty big and spread out. It’s the typical all inclusive property where you can get snacks and drinks (alcohol and non-alcohol) at anytime and of course all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) are included. All inclusive resorts are definitely on the rise throughout the Caribbean. Gone are the days where you have to pay for each item or activity. You pay one price up front and "forget about it!"



Every Tuesday is a beach party and jerk chicken is served on the beach every day.

I love to see a room with tasteful décor but I have to say that I was not that impressed with the bedding and the curtains at this property. However, it is clean, neat and spacious so I can overlook the blah brown bedspread and curtain combo. The philosophy of the RIU chain is that one should not be spending too much time in the room anyway. What I did like was the bar. Yes, it’s in the room! The picture that I took of the room came out very dark so I won't post it. However, I did take a picture of the bar!

There’s lots to do at the RIU. There is a 24 hour sports bar, an awsome internet cafe and a game room with a pool table to name a few. The resort is very pleasing to the eye.

Overall, the resort is very nice and I give it 3 1/2 conch shells.
1/2




Next..... Iberostar, Montego Bay

A Long Time Coming

Yes I know... this blog should have been the first one to be published; serving as an introduction to "The Caribbean Experience!" Bare with me as I get used to this blog experience!

This blog has been a long time coming. It took me awhile to get on the blog bandwagon but I’m here and I hope it will be a rewarding experience for me as well as my followers. All credit goes to Dale Ottley. I was very inspired by her blog and I thought, “hey, I can do this! I’m passionate about travel so I need to share that passion!” Dale, thank you for helping me with getting The Caribbean Experience up and running!

A little bit about me
I began my travel experiences from inside the womb. My mother worked for an airline so we traveled often during my younger years. The place we visited the most was Bermuda. This is my mother’s birth place and the tiny island where the majority of my family still lives.

I traveled many times with my aunts and of course my mother. I always enjoyed traveling with my family. We always had great bonding moments filled with lots of laughter, mainly because of the things I got myself into. We visited London a few times, where I fell off of the double decker bus and got my shoe lace caught in the escalator at Harrods. We had the great pleasure of going on a Safari in Kenya where we nearly froze to death at the Tree Tops Lodge. We watched the sane buffalo skip, hop and prance back and forth all day and night at the salt lick. However, the rest of the Safari was superb. Shortly after returning home I learned that I contracted Erythema nodosum. At the time I had no idea what this was. I thought it to be some kind of disease that was afflicted on me due to the combination of mosquito bites and the loads of medication that we had to take prior and during the trip. Later I learned that it is a type of skin inflammation. Ok, so TMI (too much information)…. moving along. But none the less, it was one of the most exciting trips so far with great bonding moments with the family.

I visited Cuba for a couple of hours. This trip was against my will. We, my grandmother, mother and I were high jacked and that was no laughing matter to a 12 year old. I was just trying to get to Disney World! In spite of the fear though, two good things came from this frightening experience: 1. The best plane food I ever had (upon departure from Cuba) and……2. Some great bonding moments with my family.

I have not traveled to Europe or Africa since childhood. One day I will return. However the region that I’m most passionate about is the Caribbean. I am in love with the Caribbean islands which is why I do what I do; sell the experience.

Sandals Emerald Bay, Exuma

Hello friends, family, current and future clients of Island Breeze Travel!

Welcome to my blog! More information about me is coming soon. In the meantime, one of the reasons I decided to create a blog is because I want to be able to share my love of the Caribbean. With blogging I am able to speak openly about my travel experiences and experiences that I'm looking forward to having. I especially hope that this can be an open forum for Caribbean travel discussions.

For my first blog I'd like to share an experience I had recently on the Lady Sandals; a 135 foot yacht that belongs to the CEO of the Sandals Resort chain. It's previous owner was Nicholas Cage who had to sell it back due to financial difficulties. For those of you unfamiliar to the Sandals chain, just make a note that you need to get to one of the many resorts at sometime in your life. The Sandals chain has resorts on the Caribbean islands of Jamaica (where Butch Stewart began his mega empire), Antigua, Bahamas and St. Lucia. This couples only resort offers a very wide range of ammenities with luxury accommodations. A definite must visit!

Ok so back to the yacht.....Lady Sandals is primarly used to host Travel Agent information sessions along with a very nice breakfast or lunch and a tour of the yacht. Since I'm not use to the yacht life style, I found the experience delightful! I'm sure that those that are use to yacht life would think that this particular yacht was just small and ok. I loved it and wished that it would have left the dock to do some Caribbean island hopping. No such luck! They kicked me off after a delicious lunch and said I had to go home.

The reason for the visit was to learn about a great new property on the out island of Exuma. Sandals Emerald Bay, Great Exuma is the worlds first all butler service, all oceanfront resort. I was told that Exuma has the clearest water in the world. Because I have not seen the water myself, I guess I have to take their word. Formerly the Four Seasons Resort, the new Sandals has 183 all butler suite rooms; a junior suite being the lowest category. When it's all said and done, this 500 acre property will have a total of 17 different room categories. There's also an 18 hole Greg Norman golf course, 6 signature holes with dramatic features. It is situated near a very large mariner that holds up to 163 yachts; larger than the mariner at the Atlantis Resort in Nassau. I have to say, my son and I walked through the Atlantis mariner a couple of years ago and it was fabulous! I felt like part of the elite while strolling through there! I can't even imagine what the Exuma mariner would feel like!

Because of the clear blue water, Exuma is excellent for scuba diving and snorkeling as well as a host of other water sports. A full dive program will be available when the property opens.

If you're looking for anything other than diving and a variety of water sports, you may not want to stay here. However, just experiencing the butler service alone with a guaranteed water/ocean view is enough to get me there!


This resort will open on January 22, 2010