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Beaches Grand Sport 02/06/2004
Reviewers Rating:  Great
We spent a week (December 20 ñ December 27, 2003) in Jamaica at Beaches Grand Sport and Sandals Ocho Rios. This was our tenth trip to Jamaica and our second to Beaches Grand Sport. We were at Beaches Grand Sport when it was called Ciboney in late December/early January of 1996/1997 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 have also been to Sandals Negril and Sandals Antigua, so we have a good idea what Beaches/Sandals have 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 leg room. We purchased the ìExecutive Classî seats ($199 each, return) at the front of the plane. This only entitles you to the ìlargerî seats and the use of the Executive check-in; drinks still have to be purchased and the meal was the same for all passengers.
We arrived in Montego Bay at about 7PM and it took about 15 minutes to clear customs and get to the Sandals/Beaches desk for the bus ride. We did carry-on luggage, which allowed us to clear customs very quickly. There were a number of other couples on our plane that were going to one of the Sandals or Grand Sport resorts as well, so it took about another 30 minutes before we were off on the supposed 2 hour + ride to the resort. I have to mention that there was a driving rainstorm when we landed and it had been raining all day in Jamaica which was hampering all travel on the island. We had a great driver and it still took us about 3 hours to get to Beaches Grand Sport. Along the way, we passed numerous other buses that were stranded in the middle of the roads and were surrounded by water! Little did we know at the time that this ìrainstormî would cause us major inconvenience for the first four (4) days/nights of our vacation.
We arrived at the resort at about 11PM and were greeted by the staff with cold towels and champagne. In about 15 minutes we were off to our villa. We are Sandals Signature Guests, so I was assuming that we would be upgraded into one of the villas and that did occur. We were taken in the golf jitney to Villa 49, room 258 (second floor) which is the villa that is at the highest elevation on the property and has probably the best view of all the rooms/villas.
I will now take the time and explain the inconvenience that we faced for our first four (4) days and nights at Grand Sport. The bottom line was that we had NO WATER in our villa when we needed it! The problem was due to all the rain the island had been getting, coupled with the location of our villa (at the top of the hill), causing water pressure problems. The first morning, we awoke to having no water in the villa to even flush the toilet or wash our faces. We did get a little when we came back from breakfast, enough to wash our faces and say to ourselves that they will have the problem fixed by this afternoon for showering. Well, one of us was able to shower and I was half through my shower when we lost the water again. This continued for four days and finally we asked to be moved and we ended up at Sandals Ocho Rios for our final 2 days and 3 nights. As you can imagine, this was a major inconvenience for us, but we are seasoned travelers, so we made the most out of it and still enjoyed our vacation.
We have been compensated for from Sandals/Beaches to our satisfaction. It took a few letters (e-mails) back and forth, but the result was satisfactory for us.
As we have said, we look for service and food quality from our vacations so that is where we will concentrate on describing both Grand Sport and Sandals Ocho Rios (SOR).
Staff and Service
We found the staff at both Grand Sport & SOR to be quite good. The staff at Grand Sport seemed to be a little younger than the staff at SOR and that did at some times translate into the service at Grand Sport not being as efficient as at SOR.
Food and Beverage Selection
Food
The food at both resorts was better than we expected based on our prior visits to Sandals. We ate all of our breakfasts at Grand Sport in the Market Place and there was a more than adequate variety for us. AT SOR, all of our breakfasts were eaten at Bayside. We are not big breakfast eaters, but do enjoy lots of fresh fruit and cereal and both resorts had plenty of both.
For lunches, we ate all of our lunches at Bayside at SOR! Iíll explain why that happened. We were always at the Grand Sport beach and for lunch they had a lot to offer, but most of it was ìfastî food stuff at the outdoor grill, which was decent but we preferred to walk the couple of hundred yards to SOR and have their lunch buffet at Bayside. It was much simpler than catching the shuttle back to Grand Sport and eating in the Market Place.
For our evening dinning, we split our time between Grand Sport (2), SOR (3) and once at Sandals Dunnís River. Even though we were here for 7 nights, arriving at 11PM doesnít give you much dining options other than the pool grill.
Orchids (GS)
One of our best meals on this trip was had here. The only complaint we had with the restaurant is that it is too ìbrightî! They should tone down the lighting a little, like it was when it was Ciboney. Anyway, we had an excellent Asian starter plate which consisted of chicken satays, pot stickers and spring rolls with different dipping sauces. Very tasty.
For entrees, we had the Red curry shrimp and the Beef Adobo. We had to switch entrees as the Red curry shrimp was too spicy for my wife, but just right for me. The beef was excellent, done just right and the potato ìau gratinî was phenomenal!
For dessert, we had this banana spring roll with ice cream that had as many calories as our entire entrees had. All the items on the menu have the calorie count beside them so you know how many calories you are not supposed to eat.
Excellent meal with service to match. You should be aware that they strictly enforce the dress code here. No denim of any kind including womenís skirts, no running shoes or sandals (for men).We saw quite a few people turned away because of what they were wearing.
San Gennaro (GS) This is the Italian restaurant at the beach club that you require reservations for. No problems with making reservation and we spoke with one of the few remaining Ciboney employees who was our waiter.
They had an excellent anti-pasta bar with many choices of different olives, artichoke hearts, etc and we also ordered a plate of Calamari with marinara sauce which was very good as well as a Caesar salad. We never saw any romaine lettuce the entire week, mostly iceberg which makes a so-so Caesar.
For our entrees, we ordered the cheese ravioli (red basil sauce) and baked snapper fillet in parchment. Both were average at best. The ravioli was pretty much tasteless even with the basil sauce and the snapper was also tasteless.
We didnít go hungry as we ordered the Tiramisu and it was good and lots of it. If we had to rate this meal compared to all the others, this one was the second least favorite of ours.
Valentinoís (SOR)
This is the Italian restaurant at SOR and it requires reservations and it is very small. We were fortunate enough to get reservations for Christmas dinner here and it turned out to be our best meal of the vacation (it didnít hurt that we ordered 2 bottles of wine from the ìrealî wine list which were miles ahead of the house wines)
They also had an anti-pasta bar which was good but not quite as extensive as San Gennaroís. We ordered a large plate of their Calamari (there were four of us at the table) and it was even better than at San Gerranoís. We ordered the beef fillet which was done perfectly after I sent it back twice, we were joking with the waitress as she said the second time that she was going to get someone else to cook it this time and it came back perfect. We also ordered the rack of lamb which was excellent.
As this was one of our diner companionís birthday, they brought us out a special chocolate cake and sang Happy Birthday for him. Great meal, lots of wine, great dinner companions, adds up to our best meal.
Internationale Room (SDR)
This meal at SDR was our least favorite of the vacation. The room is very beautiful with the A/C running at full blast, so for the ladies, bring a sweater or some kind of cover up to use. We ordered the crab cakes for appetizers and they were good, followed by their mixed green salad which was pretty tasteless from a dressing perspective. For entrees, we ordered the fish special which was a salmon fillet grilled and the seafood linguine. The salmon was just okay and the seafood linguine had no shrimp in it but the waiter immediately went to the kitchen and had them grill a bowl full of shrimp for the dish. The only dessert that we ordered was this chocolate cake which was very dry (old). What really started the meal off to a bad start was the waiter brought over a bottle of Italian red wine and told us that this was their special pour for the evening. I took one look at it (if it was from Italy, I did not recognize the region) and told him to pour me a little to sample. As soon as he poured it, I could tell that it had turned (spoiled). I told him to check the rest of the bottles and he came back in about 5 minutes and told me that they would not be serving any of that wine. More on SDR later.
Bayside(SOR)
We had two (2) very good meals here as well as the service was very good. Our first meal here was as a result of there being no returneeís dinner at Grand Sport for the week we were there. We didnít find this out until after the returneeís cocktail party when they told us to go to the Beach Buffet party and get something to eat, NOT! So, we just left and walked over to SOR to eat.
For our first meal there, we had the Oysters Rockefeller (minus the oysters) and their regular salad. The Oysters Rockefeller was quite humorous. The waiter said that they were out of oysters but they were substituting mussels. I said to him because mussels are much smaller, I would like a dozen as opposed to 6, and he broke up laughing (not sure what struck as so funny). We compromised with him bringing me 8 of them. He was fantastic and the meal/service just got better from there. The dessert was a decadent chocolate truffle cake and thereís another story there with me and the waiter but Iíll save that one for him and me.
The second meal we had at SOR was the SOR returneeís dinner. When we finally transferred to SOR from Grand Sport, I found out that it was the night of the returneeís dinner. We just had enough time to check-in, put on some nice clothes and make it to Bayside by 7PM.
This meal was very good as well. The appetizer was a seafood queseadilla followed by a roasted duck salad, followed by an entr饠of lobster in puff pastry with beef fillet and finally a cheese cake. There were maybe 20 of us at the dinner. Excellent all around at SOR.
The Beach Grills (SOR and GS)
This is the grill on the lower level of Bayside (just above the waterís edge) and at Grand Sport, the hut beside the towel shack. Not being that into fast foods, we seldom ate at either of them. At Grand Sport, they did have the best onion rings that I have ever tasted as well as their seafood wraps were good also.
Beverages
The beverage selection not as extensive as other high end ìall-inclusiveî resorts we have stayed at. They had a few different kinds of Scotch (Chivas, JW Black), VO or Canadian Club (no Crown Royal), Jack Daniels and Jim Beam, the usual gins(Tanqueray and Beefeater), Absolute vodka if you asked for it and most liqueurs. The beer was Red Stripe and Red Stripe Lite on draft in the bars. No other beers were offered. I am not a beer drinker but Sandals/Beaches should offer some kind of alternatives to Red Stripe in the evenings in bottles.
The wines available were adequate. They had a Chardonnay, Cabernet/Merlot blend from Chile which I drank most nights. They do have a wine list (that doesnít cost extra) at SOR that we were given in Valentinos, but from my very trusted opinion, stick to the Chilean ones. For champagne, they had a low end French (Brut) which was barely drinkable (some kind of Wycliffe). The wine for purchase list was adequate and it only took me until the third bottle to find one that they had in stock.
Rooms
Our villa at Grand Sport, villa 49, room 258, was more than adequate. The one bedroom suite was very clean and the maid did a very good job looking after the room. The view from this villa is the best that the resort has to offer (true ocean view) and it was very quiet. The walk to the villa is the farthest distance that you can walk in the resort and itís all uphill! We never took the golf jitney and enjoyed the walk.
Our room at SOR was a premium room in the Bamboo Grove block on the second floor (room 306). The room was very large and the only thing that was in need of refurbishing was the bathroom. It was still clean, but looking a little tired.
Entertainment There was nightly entertainment in the outdoor theatre at SOR from 9:30 to 11:00, 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, or too tired to stay up. At Grand Sport, we attended Karaoke night at Nicole nightclub and it was a laugh. The house band at Grand Sport was very good also, but there was very little room in the Manor Bar to dance and it was pretty crowded in there most nights.
Beaches
We spent most of our time at the Beach Club at Grand Sport even when we transferred to SOR. It just seemed to be a little more spread out compared to SOR and it was easier to find the sun in the afternoon.
We did spend one whole day at Sandals Dunnís River. If you want beach and pools, this is the place for you. The pools are huge and even at Christmas, it was not crowded. The crowd at SDR seemed to be slightly more mature than at both SOR and Grand Sport. Sandals provides a shuttle service between the two properties from about 8AM until about 10PM. Over the lunch break, there is about a 2-3hour break between shuttles.
Conclusion
This was our tenth time to Jamaica and even with the NO WATER problem, we did enjoy our visit. The question has to be asked is Grand Sport as good as Ciboney was before? No it isnít BUT maybe thatís why Ciboney went bankrupt. If we had to choose between a Sandals/Beaches property in Ocho Rios to return to, we would probably stay at Sandals Ocho Rios, but go to Sandals Dunns River during the day for the beach and enjoy the varied dinning options of the three (3) resorts. .
Babs
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