Family Vacation in Negril Jamaica

About a week ago, we returned home to Chicago from our family vacation.

This November, we chose Jamaica.

It’s been about 3 years since we last went and that being said, our children are 3 years older. (Not us…just them!) We always have a good time but with them older means a little more fun and a little more relaxing.Anyhow, our travel agent Penny knowing us and what we like and our budget recommended us to stay at the Royalton Negril, a newer resort. Penny is of Penny Sheldon Travel and has been our agent forever- like the last 16 years. We stayed in Building 1 in the Diamond Club. That included several amenities such as a private pool and beach area and an assigned butler. It also included a Diamond Club lounge, which was a place to sit, cool off, have a bite to eat or drink from the snack bar or pour yourself a shot of whiskey or rum from the mini bar. It also provided check-in/out services for guests in the Diamond Club buildings. Our accommodations were nice. It’s not too easy traveling with a family of 5 but our room worked for us. There was one King Bed, one pull out sofa bed and then a full length chaise lounge and adequate storage. So everyone had a comfortable spot to sleep and closet/drawer space. 2 Televisions, mini-fridge, mirrored pocket doors that could be easily used to divide the space into 2 for privacy, jacuzzi tub, double sink and a double rain shower (lovely) and a nice sized balcony.

We are not really tough to please. We just love a great spacious beach, good food, clean surrounding and pretty decent service. Other than that, we know how to have a good time and make the most of our time.

Overall, the property (from our vantage point) was pretty clean and well maintained.

Beach/Pool

Plenty of lounge chairs, beach beds available for everyone. Like all resorts I have been to, there is the rule of no reserving or holding chairs. And like all places, people still do and the resort staff does nothing about it. But, I do. So if we notice there are towels and no people, we move the towels and set up. No problem at all for us finding a preferable spot to lounge. The beachfront is beautiful and spanned the entire length of the property, about a mile long. But you could easily walk beyond the property and enjoy the entire coastline. The beach was calm and shallow enough to enjoy with younger non-swimmers but deep and active enough for the more experienced swimmers and adults.

Food and Entertainment

Overall the food was pretty good. I enjoyed the Gourmet Marche International Buffet the most honestly. Our favorite servers were the Aaron and the singing cowboy (whose name we forgot.) They were very thoughtful, friendly and provided the best service for our family. Grazie, the Italian restaurant was pretty good too. There was a little confusion when we arrived as far as what time they opened and who was our server. But once it was cleared up, the head server came and apologized and everything went pretty well and everyone’s food was great. As a couple, we went to Dorado on the Hideaway and really enjoyed the experience, the service and the food. Unfortunately, we did not get the quality of food we expected from both Calypso and Zen restaurants. And Hunter steakhouse was out of several options the night we dined there. Room service was great and timely.

The resort provides entertainment throughout the day for adults and kids and there are nightly shows for everyone as well. We did not participate in all the all the activities. We did do a couple of the shows at night. The Micheal Jackson show and the Steel Drum show were great and very entertaining.

There are also many free watersports you can take part in and other water activities ($) to participate in. The vendors walk the beach so if you don’t know about them, you will.

Fitness

If you want to get a good workout in while on vacation, this resort really makes it easy. There are daily aqua-classes in both outdoor pools, there are fitness challenges, sunrise and sunset yoga, dance lessons, and more outside. And the best part is the instructors come around and warmly welcome you to join in the activities. No intimidation at all. That is what made me go ahead and try it. I cannot tell you how many vacations we go on and I say, “I’m gone do the boot-camp or go use the treadmill in the morning,” and NEVER follow through and do it. I actually looked forward to working out while here. The gym here is unlike any other resort. Its modern and clean and really inviting. The fitness team at Royalton Negril have a fan!! I would go back just to workout with them!!

Kids/Teen Camp

When we travel with the kids, which is always lol, we always look for quality in the kids programs as well. We are generally very satisfied and comfortable. Although it’s taken some time, we know how it works, what to ask, who to look for etc. Plus, I know my kids can call me from a cell phone or vice versa, so I’m more at ease. My background in childcare helps as well and keeps the staff on their toes when it comes to me and our babies. I don’t care how old they are. My twins are at the age though where they are kinda stuck in the middle. Kids camp is for kids up to 12 years and then Teen Club is for kids 13-17 years. The twins were the oldest in the camp and the camps activities were kinda babyish for them for the most part. So after going for 1 or 2 activities, I did not make them go back. My oldest though enjoyed the Teen Club so he went a few times on his own or midday. There were not too many teens there so he got to do pretty much whatever he wanted with the Club’s instructor. They did a few outdoor and water activities and then indoors they played video games, played pool and table tennis. My children are also at the age and maturity level where they can go into a restaurant together, order, eat and behave- which they did.

Diamond Club Butler Service

To be completely honest, we really didn’t need Butler service at all. Our Butler Dorrett is a nice woman who had all the best intentions and always made herself available but we really didn’t use her as butler much. She did however get us to our room, made us aware of a few things our room category had to offer and made reservations for our meals. She also was able to track down my younger son’s jacket, which was left in the trunk of the shuttle van than we took from the airport. Our other Butler was Kadeem, who was pretty cool but never was around. On the morning we were to check out Dorrett was off. The 1 and only thing we confirmed with Kadeem to do was to have us and our luggage picked up by 10 am from building 1 to the main building for checkout and to catch the shuttle at 10:45 am. He never showed up and we never heard from him. So my family and I drug our luggage across half the resort to the main building in the hot Jamaica sun with our Chicago weather clothes on. Not horrible, but Dang. Of all times to drop the ball Kadeem, leaving us hanging on the way out was the worst, lol. Needless to say, we didn’t leave a tip for him because he wasn’t around to get his envelope.

No resort is perfect. So naturally we had a few hiccups here and there. The entire restaurant crew was very welcoming and friendly, the fitness team is awesome, the vibe team are entertaining and friendly, the checkin process and concierge was smooth and the property is beautiful. The bar and housekeeping services were a bit slow even on the Diamond Club side. I feel the other staff members working could be a bit more friendly and at least speak when face to face with guests. We have experiences at other resorts where the entire staff treats you like family and I think this is the only area where Royalton Negril could make a change and make a big difference in overall guest satisfaction. I could go on and on about our experience but I will stop here and say~~

We enjoyed our vacation. We will plan to go back soon and would recommend to friends.

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