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Coouples Ocho Rios 02/18/2003
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
Couples Ocho Rios
We just returned from spending a week (February 1 ñ February 8, 2003) in Jamaica at Couples Ocho Rios. This was our ninth trip to Jamaica and our second to Couples Ocho Rios. We were at Couples Ocho Rios in late February/early March of 1992 and spent 2 weeks there on that visit. We are ìexperiencedî sun travelers as we have been going to the Caribbean, Mexico and South America for the past 25 years, sometimes twice per year. We appreciate ìgood/fineî dinning, so when we travel, food and service are our top priorities and to a lesser extent the rooms of the resort as we like to spend our time enjoying the beach and what the resort/island has to offer.
We booked this vacation with Air Canada Vacations out of Winnipeg. This was a direct flight on a ìrealî airplane. What I mean by ìrealî airplane is that this plane is used regularly on scheduled flights, so the seats have lots of legroom. We purchased the ìExecutive Classî seats ($199 each, return) at the front of the plane. One thing that we did notice was that this was the first time in a number of years that there was an ìopenî bar for all travelers on the plane which was a nice touch.
We arrived in Montego Bay at about 6:15PM and it took about 15 minutes to clear customs and get to the Couples desk for the bus ride. We did carry-on luggage, which allowed us to clear customs very quickly. There were 3 other couples on our plane that were going to Couples as well, so it took about another 30 minutes before we were off on the 2 hour + ride to the resort. As returning guests, we were entitled to a free flight to the resort but because of the lack of runway lights at Ocho Rios, we were told that Couples would fly us back to Montego Bay for our return flight. I told the bus driver that we were all Canadians and that he should stop somewhere for cheap beers as our dollar is only worth about .66US. We made the Red Stripe stop after about 10 minutes from the airport and this time we stopped at a gasoline convenience store (Esso, around the Holiday Inn) and the beers were the cheapest that we have ever paid. The beers were $1US as opposed to the usual $2-$3US at some bar along the way.
We arrived at the resort at about 9:30PM and were greeted by the staff with cold towels and champagne. In about 15 minutes we were off to our room.
As we have said, we look for service and food quality from our vacations so that is where we will concentrate on describing Couples Ocho Rios.
Staff and Service
We found the staff at Couples Ocho Rios to be very friendly and polite and very willing to help out in any way they could. The service industry in Jamaica is no different than that in North America in that we noticed that NO ONE that we met from our previous visit was still at Couples OR.
One thing that we have noticed in our travels in Jamaica is that a polite îpleaseî and the use of the servers name goes a long way in getting the best possible service.
Service throughout the resort was consistently good. The best service from a restaurant perspective was at Le Gourmet with The Veranda and Bayside coming in a close second. The Patio for breakfast and lunch was a little slow and inconsistent and could use a little improvement.
Drink service was the best at the Piano Bar. At the main bar at the Patio, service was a little lacking. At the Patio bar at night time there were up to 5 bartenders and other times only one which made getting your drinks a little frustrating. Overall the service was good.
Food and Beverage Selection
Food
The food at Couples OR is some of the best we have had at any ìall-inclusiveî resort in the Caribbean. We stayed at Grand Lido Braco in December 2002 (about 7 weeks prior to our trip) and we can honestly say that the food quality was as good or slightly better than Grand Lido Braco EXCEPT for Bracoís Piacere restaurant. The pastry Chef at Couples should receive a medal. The desserts were the best that we have had in any resort including the Grand Lido properties.
Le Gourmet
Le Gourmet is the only restaurant that required advance reservations. They can be made up to 2 days in advance at the Guest Services desk in the Lobby. You have a choice of 3 seating: 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30. The 7:30 seating fills up fast, so book early or expect to eat at 6:30 or 8:30.Preparation and service was great and the food quality superb. We ate here twice. The first time we had the Rack of Lamb and the Salmon (Atlantic) in phyllo pastry as entrees. They were great. Please take note that the Salmon is cooked just until it is done! What I mean by that is that it is almost like sushi but cooked, so if you donít like Salmon Sushi, donít order the Salmon. For appetizers, we had the escargot which was to die for and a shrimp, scallop and mussel combination in a red sauce that was excellent as well. They had the usual soups and salads as well as desserts that were so decadent.
The second time that we ate here was the returning guests dinner and the entr饠served was ìBlackenedî Cajun chicken with similarly done shrimp.
This is an excellent restaurant.
Beach Party & Gala/Pool Buffet
We did not get to attend the Saturday night Pool side Gala dinner buffet as we didnít arrive at the resort until about 9:30PM on Saturday. Couples Ocho Rios also does a Beach Party on Wednesdays which was the same night as the returning guests dinner, so we missed the Beach Party as well. We didnít lose any sleep by missing these 2 events as we prefer a la carte dinning for our evening meal and that is one of the mandatory features of any resort that we look for when planning our vacation. We can tolerate a couple of Gala/Beach evenings if done properly.
The best that we have experienced in our travels has been at Grand Lido Sans Souci. Now they know how to do a Beach Party (Buffet) and a Gala (Buffet) evening!
The Veranda
This is the main continental restaurant located opposite to Le Gourmet inside a set of double doors just off the main lobby. The menu changed daily and the selection was very good. We ate here 3 times and our conclusion about this restaurant was that the food quality/presentation was as good as Le Gourmet with slightly less attentive service. The choice of entrees that we had over the 3 visits ranged from an excellent top sirloin steak (in a pepper sauce) with a lobster tail, Rack of Lamb, Lamb chops, a Turkey breast parmigan that you could cut with your fork to an excellent leek and mushroom pie (vegetarian). The desserts were excellent and one night I had one of their flaming coffees which was also very good. The presentation and quality was very good and if we were staying any more than the 7 days, we would probably end up eating here most of the time.
Calabash (The Patio)
This is the area where breakfasts and lunches are served buffet style and then in the evening, it converts into the Calabash Jamaican restaurant.
The breakfasts were the usual buffet fare with an omelet station with the normal fixings includes crab and other more exotic fixings a couple of days. There was a ìsmoothyî station where they would make fruit shakes out of whatever fruits you wanted. The chocolate croissants were out of this world.
For lunch, the usual stuff was there with salads and different meats, pizzas and a sandwich area where they would make custom sandwiches. There was always freshly grilled fish, usually snapper, which was consistently excellent.
For both breakfast and lunch, this was the first resort that we can remember, that always had some real Jamaican food available. Itís nice to have that option as we have been to many Jamaican resorts and you seldom see authentic Jamaican food being served.
In the evenings the Calabash serves Jamaican fare from stews to shrimp, to beef, chicken, and fish dishes. We never made it to this restaurant for dinner.
Bayside
This is Coupleís Italian restaurant that sits out on the ocean. There is full served menu with a dessert self serve bar. We ate here once. They normally have a special pasta sauce offered daily and when we were there it was smoked chicken with artichoke hearts. We both had that sauce with different pasta. The appetizers that we had were a shrimp in a puntanesca sauce which was not that spicey. Overall it was an excellent meal and one of the waiters, Everton, sang for our table. This is a very romantic setting for a restaurant.
The Beach Grill
This is the grill on the lower level of the Patio (waterís edge) that serves a very limited menu of cheese burgers (very good, I think I ate about 10 of them over the course of the week), vegetarian pizzas, Jerk chicken and pork, grilled chicken sandwiches, self serve Nachos (Lays brand) with cheese or salsa and of course, French fries. The grill opens at 11AM and is open until breakfast is served the next morning. For all you fast food ìjunkiesî, this is more than passable for that time when you need a ìFIXî.
Beverages
The beverage selection was pretty much the same as most high end ìall-inclusiveî resorts. They had all different kinds of Scotch (Chivas, JW Black), Crown Royal, VO, Canadian Club, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Tanqueray and Beefeater Gins, Smirnoff and Absolute vodkas, Dubonnet, etc and most liqueurs including cognacs. The beer was Red Stripe and Red Stripe Lite on draft in the bars. There was Miller Lite and Coors Lite available at most bars in cans and you could get Red Stripe and Red Stripe Lite as well as Heineken in bottles in the Piano Bar. This was the first resort in Jamaica that had so much ìLiteî beer offered!
The wines available were adequate. They had 2 different Chardonnays: one from France (more oak taste) and one from Chile (less Oak). I preferred the one from Chile. They had a Cabernet from Chile, a Merlot from Chile and a Valpolicella 1998 from Italy. The Valpolicella was by far the best red and was only available at Bayside if you asked for it. The Chilean wines were Gato Negro which are low end but drinkable. You should be able to buy them at home for around $6 a bottle. All were very drinkable from a house wine perspective. At least there was no more Jamaican swill. For champagne, they had a low end French (Brut) which was drinkable. We saw no evidence that you could purchase any higher end wines but over the years we have learned that if the resort has additional wines available for purchase, you end of paying at least 3 times the price back home and the storage of the wines is questionable. The wines at Couples were definitely not as good as the wines available at any of the Grand Lido properties.
Rooms
All rooms at Couples Ocho Rios are in some state of being renovated. We stayed in room ì220î which is in the oldest part of the hotel. For some mysterious reason, our room did not have a telephone in it. We found this to be rather humorous as every time that we told someone who worked at the resort, they couldnít believe that there was not a phone in our room. A phone did arrive on our second last day.
The view from our balcony (which was huge) was great, a picture perfect view of Tower Isle. The room looked like it had just been renovated and that we were the first persons to stay in it. There was a new tub and tile surround as well as a new vanity and sink. The furniture looked new, consisting of light wood dresser/tv stand, desk, and night table , two wicker chairs and yellow bedspread with yellow headboard and yellow window valance. The room was very attractive with a light airy feel. The room had a large walk-in closet and there was tile on all the floors. Having been to the Caribbean so many times, we prefer tiled floors as this cuts down on the ìmustyî smell which this room had none! The water pressure was a little erratic but we got used to it. The bed was very comfortable and the air-conditioning was very adequate. We found that we would run the air-conditioning during the day, then when we went to sleep, shut it off and just run the overhead ceiling fan.
We slept very well as the sounds of the ocean were very soothing and the room was one of quietest that we have ever stayed in.
Other rooms we saw in the resort did have carpeting and had dark wood furniture with four poster beds. Weíre not sure if this is the ìoldî look of the resort or the new.
Entertainment
There was nightly entertainment in the Patio from 9:30 to 10:30, with a house band that played before and after ShowTime. Entertainment consisted usually of a cabaret style singer and dancers. We did not attend many of these shows as we were too busy socializing, but we did catch the traditional Staff/Guest talent show which was quite good. The sound system in the Patio was loud and ìscratchyî sounding and this is one of the reasons we didnít stay to listen to the entertainment.
Fitness Centre
The fitness center was air-conditioned and faced the beach, providing a great view while working out. It consisted of three treadmills, 2 stationary bikes, a couple of stair climbers, a number of weight machines, and free weights. More than adequate for us.
Conclusion
This was our ninth time to Jamaica and we were very pleased with this visit. This was the second time only that we have returned to the same resort twice. As a result of this, we probably will not return for a couple of years and that has nothing to do with Couples Ocho Rios. You only go around once in a lifetime, so there are many other places to experience in the world.
I know there has been a lot of discussion on the numerous message boards concerning the age of Couples Ocho Rios compared to the newer Couples Negril. This property is very well maintained and it has a certain ìcharacterî. If you want new then maybe this resort is not for you but for us, the food and service is second to none which is what we look for when going on vacation.
Gary & Norine
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Gary Babaluk
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