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Grand Lido Braco 12/22/01
Reviewers Rating:  Great
Having returned from a marvelous trip to Couples Negril in November, my husband and I began scrambling to plan for another trip for spring break. CN had been divine but we wanted to try a different resort and a different part of Jamaica. Money was also an issue, though we wanted all inclusive and adults only. Our travel agent told us about the "Super Surprise" deal with SuperClubs. It was a very good price--she said almost as good as she could get as a travel agent. I was very nervous about the thought of getting Hedonism II because of its raunchy reputation. So we did the SS+ which left off Hedo II for a little more money. After doing some research, though, we heard much worse reports on Breezes MoBay. We decided to change our option to leave that resort off for these reasons: 1)It had a reputation for bad food and bad service and a public beach, 2)it was in MoBay which seemed like a nasty city when we were on our last trip 3)Hedo II though raunchy was in Negril which we loved and also had a prude side option, and 4)we figured that Hedo II would be full of spring breakers and booked up. SS+ puts you in a resort with last minute vacancies-thus the good price-you don't know where you are going until the week before you leave. Needless to say, I fretted and worried until we finally heard that we were getting Grand Lido Braco! I was thrilled for that has a rep of being a world class resort. I wish that this board had the option of 3 and 1/2 stars because this was a very nice resort. But having been to Couples Negril, it just didn't have the same atmosphere of great service, friendly people, and excellent food. The beach was nowhere near as nice and it was man made and rocky. I have heard that if Au Natural is your bag that this is the nicest resort in the Caribbean and it may be. But I am more of a textile kind of girl. To each his own. Food: Lots of choices but nothing outstanding except for Piacere the French restaurant. We had a very tough steak at the terrace restaurant and my husband got sick from the way too spicy jerk sauce at Nanny's. The buffets were nice but not as nice as CN--no smoothies and flies all over due to lack of covered dishes. Service: We arrived very late at night due to terrible flights from American Airlines. There was no champagne or wet towel that I have read about in other trip reports, just a lackadaisical greeting. Beautiful lobby though. The drink service was terrible. The bartenders were surly and would ignore you--gave up many times. I found this amazing in a resort with the reputation of GLB! We would get the same cold shoulder at the italian restaurant, often waiting 15-20 minutes for a menu or acknowledgement. Piacere was the exception with outstanding service and food! There was very nice entertainment from a Cuban group. My husband is a classical guitarist so he really enjoyed talking to them and hearing their story. We never made it to the Japanese restaurant. The bright spots were the street party with excellent lobster and the beach picnic with incredible entertainment. On a "sunburned" day we took a trip down the Martha Brae which was very relaxing but overpriced. We enjoyed our raft guide who told us a lot about jamaican wildlife and culture--and how much he wanted to get to the States! We couldn't afford the gourd he carved but tipped him $8 which was all I brought. Room: We did get an excellent room which was nice since we were SS+ people. It was 2nd floor ocean front and we usually slept with the sliding glass door open to hear the surf--awesome! Decorated very pretty and nice little balcony. 24 hour room service--very slow, and free laundry service which we never used because it took 2 days. I did enjoy the complimentary manicure and pedicure. Atmosphere: The vacationers here seemed very snooty and competitive. We found very few people to interact with in contrast with C Negril where everyone seemed to be open and friendly. We met a sad little Russian girl with a strange story...her travelling companion had $5,000 stolen from the room safe and left her there alone. Because of the language difference we never understood why anyone would have $5000 at an all inclusive resort but we spent some time with her so she wouldn't be so lonely. She was thrilled when it was time to go home. Water sports: Too windy to do much other than snorkel--the AN beach had the best of the two beaches...I saw a manta ray and some pretty tropical fish. If you were an accomplished sailor you could handle the sunfish but we didn't want to try it in that wind. Overall, we found the resort lacking in service and friendliness and the food was average. While I might return on a SS+, I would NEVER pay the regular price to return there. I am leery of the other superclubs now as well. We are returning to Couples Negril and are interested in trying Swept Away also.
Mary Beth Barr
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