Couples San Souci Trip Report

Carol, I suck at trip reports. But here is my experience and what I feel notable to someone looking for alternatives to Club O.

We were annual visitors to Club O, so this year we set out like everyone else trying to find a replacement vacation resort for our nude beach fix. From research and reviews we chose Couples San Souci. This was our first trip to San Souci and our 5th trip to Jamaica.

The resort is a beautiful 1st class resort. I could not find any maintenance issues. The grounds and gardens are kept immaculate. The rooms are spacious, well-appointed and the Azalea block we stayed in was updated recently. The staff is well trained and mostly hospitable. The food is mostly Caribbean and Jamaican inspired. The best thing I can say is its ok. I didn’t have anything that was really well prepared. It was just ok, but definitely not the best you will find at All-inclusive resorts in this price range.

We went for the nude beach and that’s where we spent our 7 days. The nude beach has its own pool, swim up bar, hot tub, bar and grill. It is pretty small at approximately 200 yards long. The beach has 8 or 10 palapas and a mixture of sea grape and palm trees for shade. Finding shade was not a problem. We were told they recently added 125 loungers to the beach because of the great increase in business since Hurricane Irma. I would say there were about 200 loungers on the beach with maybe another 24 around the pool. There were 100 to 200 people on the nude beach each day. The textile beach had 20 to 40 people each day. The textile beach is far bigger and far nicer than the nude beach. The nude beach is actually on the east, descending bank of the White River. When sitting on the beach, you are looking out at the Caribbean but the mouth of the river is between you and the Caribbean. The water is ice cold and only a few brave souls went into the water each day. The nude beach is blocked from the prevailing easterly winds by a peninsula that juts out into the sea that separates the two beaches. It can get very warm at times during the day. The main beach is far enough away from the river that the water is Caribbean warm and patrons actually go into the water there.

The folks we talked to on the nude beach were mostly displaced Club O patrons. We were told that before Irma the nude beach saw 10 to 30 people per day. The resort has added new rest rooms to the nude side. They are adding more palapas and loungers. There are plans to build a bigger grill and bar. They know where the increased business has come from and they are working to keep the business.

I enjoyed my stay and probably will return next year. If Club O returns at some time in the future I don’t see this resort as being significant competition for the business.

Thanks for a report!

There are about 50 chairs around the nude pool....plus there are several tables and chairs for dining at the pool buffet. There are probably 10 palm trees for shade on the beach...and 15 palapas. The beach is approximately 200 yards across and equally as deep. I counted 15 rows of chairs.....many many more than usual.

The resort only holds 300 people and it was not full. We saw about 40 people at the main pool and beach and about 10 people at the mineral pool.

The nude beach was in the best shape i have ever seen it. There is usually a very large sandbar between the river and the sea....it was non existent most days. As a result....it was also much less rocky than on previous trips to CSS.

The new bathroom was already in the works before the hurricane....and the plans have always been to expand the kitchen area into what were the old bathrooms.

The A and B buildings were renovated in 2015. Buildings D-G will be renovated in 2019.

CSS has been the main resort picking up the patrons from other closed resorts...like Grand lido Braco, Like Hedo 3, like Grand lido Negril...business has been steadily increasing for the past 7 years.....the hurricane that destroyed Club Orient this past summer...certainly left many nudists homeless. Pierre...knows that if club orient rebuilds...most of those folks will go back to club orient. If hidden Beach builds a place in Jamaica....he could stand to lose a substantial amount of customers. It is my understanding that his vision for CSS is not to promote nudity...but rather to promote COUPLES.

I just wanted to clarify a couple of things.