Breezes Rio Bueno Trip Report

Background:

Couple of forty somethings, the first week in June 2010. First trip to Breezes Rio Bueno, second visit to Jamaica and very experienced with au natural resorts, beaches and facilities.

The Island:

First visited Jamaica over 10 years ago while on a cruise and we told ourselves if we were ever to come back we would be staying put on a resort and would not venture out into the island. Generally Jamaica is very poor and dirty. The people hound, pester and trick the tourists out of their money almost forcibly trying to get you to buy their souvenirs.

We heard about the gang violence in Kingston, but, we were flying into Montego Bay on the opposite side of the island. Walking out of the terminal you cannot miss the Superclubs’ reception area where you provide your travel vouchers to get assigned transportation to the hotel, very straight forward. If you are willing to pay $11 or so for a beer there are vendors just outside and you are allowed to drink on the bus. The busman will stop mid trip at a bar for to get another beer or two and make sure you start the vacation out on the right foot. The busman was very talkative, informative and funny. Even though the resort is all inclusive with tips included, we tipped him because he made the 40 minute trip so enjoyable. We met some couples going to our resort and others going to Hedo, all friendly and having a good time.

The Resort:

Checking in is simple, but, if you arrive early you will not be given your room until 3:00 pm. This hardly made any sense to us because they weren’t even close to capacity so we know there were plenty of empty rooms. It wasn’t about to bother us, they looked after our luggage while we slipped down to the pool bar and had a few more drinks.

The resort is split into two sections; Braco Village which is au natural (nude) and the rest of the resort often referred to as the textile side. The front desk announces this during a brief orientation during check in and those staying on the au natural side are branded with wrist bands. This didn’t bother us at all although I can see how it might bothersome. The thing that did bother us was that for anyone staying on the textile side they would have to pay $85 per day to visit the au natural side. Those staying at Braco Village have free roam of the entire property, properly dressed on the textile side of course. We understand this cost is because of all the extra amenities offered on the au natural side that aren’t available on the textile side, but, this really discourages people who might want to try being nude for the first time. We talked with several couples who probably would have joined us on the au natural side if it weren’t for the steep price. I’d suggest one free day pass per couple staying on the textile side. That way they would get more people trying it and I’d bet that once they tried it they would then be willing to pay the extra $85. Amenities offered on the au natural side not available on the textile side include a 24-hour bar, 24-hour room service, free mini-bar in room, beach service, larger pool, nicer rooms, extra beach towels and no tan lines.

The Rooms:

The rooms are not 4-star hotel rooms more three star, but, all rooms on the au natural side are beach front with either a porch or balcony looking directly out into the ocean. They have a nice 6 head shower. The beds are too firm for our tastes. This didn’t bother us much because having a super nice room isn’t one of our priorities because we don’t plan on spending much time in our room when we are on vacation.

The Pools:

The pool on the textile side is large. The pool on the au natural side is huge. The pool on the au natural side includes a pool bar the seats 10 or so people, a volleyball court, basket ball hoop and an end that daylights out to lounge chairs. There are easily 60 or more lounge chairs with umbrellas surrounding pool side. There is a 30 person hot tub adjacent to the pool on the au natural side that is heated to 102 degrees. The pool was cleaned daily and the temperature was cool and comfortable.

Technically while sunning or swimming on the au natural side it is all nude, not clothing optional. But she likes the skimpy bathing suit bottoms sometimes as did some of the other girls and everyone covered up to some degree during lunch or when moving around. Clothing optional was not a problem all week save for one occasion near the end of our trip when a security type lady appeared out of nowhere and asked us to take off her swimsuit, told her she must be completely nude and asked if we had a room on this side of the property (she’d taken off her wrist band). We thought this was very strange until a conversation later with a much older lady who recently arrived who announces that she made it her personal business to notify the resort if she sees anyone with a swimsuit or anyone that doesn’t look like they belong on this side of the resort.

Rant: Really? You make it your personal business to tell another woman to take off what amounts to less than 4 square inches of material? Do you wonder why nudist numbers are declining and struggling to get younger members? If you are so worried about what everyone else is doing try striking up a conversation or join in a game of volleyball.

The Beaches:

The beaches are fine. There is enough fine sand for strolling and relaxing, it does get rocking about 10 to 15 feet into the water and there are sea urchins living in the rocks. You just have to be careful when swimming or snorkeling. Snorkeling is great in the mornings, plenty of palm trees and umbrellas for shade.

Activities:

Here I’d like to mention that the resort was struggling to stay at 25% capacity. Whether the economy, time of year or the crime in Kingston the resort was pretty much dead during our entire stay. As such the entertainment staff had trouble keeping the daily activities going although they were always outgoing, positive and funny. We can just imagine how much fun would have been had if there were 4 times as many couples, although the quiet time was nice too. The highlights of the day were the afternoon volleyball games in the pool and the drinking games going on at the pool bar.

There is an executive 9-hole 3 par golf course that is included in the all inclusive price, although you will have to rent clubs and buy balls if you didn’t bring your own. It was super hot and we were glad to have brought the water and sunscreen.

Diving is also included for certified divers and is a must. They go out twice a day Monday through Friday. They will also provide certification in the pool for an extra cost. The corals have lots of purple and plenty of marine life.

Food:

We had breakfast everyday in the Victoria Market. It was buffet style, but, you could get made to order omelets and eggs. The banana pancakes were surprisingly yummy.

The French restaurant is a formal attire 4 course meal, candle lit and romantic. It was fun to dress up, but, I thought the beef was a little tuff and we opted out of returning a second night for something more relaxed.

The Japanese restaurant was the best. We ate there twice for sushi and hibachi. It was loads of fun, great way to meet people and the food was delicious.

The Italian restaurant was good. We ate there once and had the lasagna. The lasagna was good, but, the top noodle was burned enough to make it uneatable. If they could just pay attention to details like this it could be a much better restaurant.

For lunch the au natural side had cook-out style plates and sandwiches which were pretty good, but, we soon learned it was almost better to order the room service wings and nachos which they would bring to you poolside. They ran out of the famous lamb chops the day before we arrived and never got anymore while we were there, so we missed out.

Nightlife:

If we could change one thing it would be the nightlife. The au natural side has a 24-hour open bar, but, no activities are regularly scheduled and often the place was empty. We suspect it may have something to do with the low occupancy and everyone else seemed to go over to the textile side which had regularly scheduled activities. They should have theme nights with bands and games on the au natural side. It’s a lot more fun to have toga parties and pajama nights when it’s ok to show a little skin.

Extras:

There is a little box on the voucher that asks if you are getting married or celebrating an anniversary. I crossed it out and put Birthday instead. When we got to our room there were chocolates and Champaign. I stopped in the crosier’s office one day and asked about a birthday cake for a little surprise party, I had brought some balloons and decorations with me, it showed up on time at the bar with champagne. There were never any problems when we requested a bottle of champagne or wine wherever we were.

Summary:

4 out of 5 stars.

We would definitely recommend that the resort spend more time organizing and planning the night life on the au natural side. We’re sure the day activities would be a lot better with higher occupancy, the effort was there. We would encourage the resort to realize that a lot of travelers would be willing to try au natural and something like a free day pass would go a long way in promoting people to use the au natural side and would make money in the long run.

Other than a couple of improvements to promote the au natural side the facilities, food, staff, pools beaches and activities were well worth the visit.