This was THE best weekend I have ever had. I surprised my friends by picking them all up in a limo that took us to Logan. We checked in for our flight on Air Jamaica, we left right on time, had a wonderful breakfast on the plane, and arrived in Montego Bay 15 minutes early! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
We made it through immigration and customs in a flash because we only brought carry-ons with us. Kirk, our spectacular taxi driver, was waiting at the curb for us, loaded us into his new air conditioned van and off we went to Negril. The road is a little bit better than it was 2 years ago, but not enough to save a lot of time. But that's ok because we chatted with Kirk the entire ride out to Negril and found him to be a wonderful guy! His company name is "Kirk Malcolm Taxi Service" and his cell phone number is 1-876-378-1468. It cost us $17.50 each person each way, plus we gave him a BIG tip because he is so awesome! You can't go wrong with Kirk as your driver! He also does tours and shopping trips, so please give him a call.
We arrived at Legends approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes later and checked into our rooms. They messed up our reservations - our 2 rooms were supposed to be next to each other, but they had one room on the "beach" side and one room on the "garden" side - which requires walking across Norman Manley Boulevard to get to your room and back. Not a safe thing to have to do. They gave us a complimentary dinner to make up for the goof up and promised to move the 2 other girls back onto the "beach" side the next day. Plus, our room had ants all over the place and our air conditioner was non-functional. Ugh. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Sick.gif" alt="" />
I had ordered flowers to be delivered to our rooms from Floral Fantasy Jamaica and they were absolutely gorgeous! More beautiful than I could have ever hoped for. Their website is
Floral Fantasies Jamaica. What a nice suprise! The girls loved them.
We immediately changed into our bathing suits and headed onto the beach. Not a chair to be found at Legends. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Mad.gif" alt="" /> And not one of their staff even showed the slightest interest in assisting us, so we walked next door to the left, claimed 4 green lounge chairs in front of Kuyaba and from that point on the weekend only got better. Collin was our waiter on the beach and he catered to our every desire with a HUGE smile, great sense of humor and genuine personality. Orett was one of the glass bottom boat captains at Kuyaba who took us on a fun snorkeling cruise Saturday morning and an awesome sunset booze cruise on our last night.
Kimberley and I had our hair braided by Connie and Anne of Anne's Hair Braiding which was just a short walk South down the beach. They did a wonderful job and, oh, what a difference. It drops your body temperature down about 5 degrees cooler not having all that hair stuck to you. Plus you don't need to worry about having to style it, or it getting "mussed up" from the water and/or wind.
We ate all of our meals at Kuyaba, with the exception of 1 breakfast and our "complimentary" meal at Legends. Complimentary, but you are limited to what you can have. Such a deal. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif" alt="" /> They had no lettuce for salad, no Rasta Lasagna and no lobster that night. ugh.
All of the food at Kuyaba was delicious. We had conch on linguine with garlic and white wine, grilled snapper with rice and vegetables, tuna melt sandwiches with fries, you name it. Mouthwatering and very inexpensive! And served by our waitress, Hyacinth, with a big, warm and friendly smile! The hotel at Kuyaba is also VERY nice and CLEAN! Check out their website:
Kuyaba We will definitely be staying at Kuyaba next trip - NOT LEGENDS!
Collin kept the drinks flowing the entire time we were on the beach, and he and Orett would set up our chairs every morning under the thatched hut and reserve them just for us. They also did a wonderful job "protecting" us from unwanted attention and harassment from beach vendors.
We called Kirk on Saturday to pick us up to go to the craft market for some shopping and then on to Rick's Cafe to watch the sunset. He arrived right on time and, as always, was an absolute pleasure to spend time with.
We went to Bourbon Beach (three hotels down on the left from Kuyaba) on Saturday night and listened to a pretty good reggae band. Sunday night Collin set up a wonderful dinner for us on the beach, under the thatched hut, with linens, candelight, flowers and music. We all dressed up and went barefoot to dinner. The ultimate in luxury - dining on the beach with your toes in the sand being serenaded by a 3-man accoustic reggae band. UNREAL! This is the stuff that dreams are made of. After dinner we all walked down the beach with Orett and Collin and had a great time at Alfred's Ocean Palace. The reggae band that was playing was called "A OK" and they were fantastic! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" /> What a really cool place! We had a ball! We finally made it back to our rooms at around 3:00 a.m. only because we had to get up early to pack to go home. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />
Kirk picked us up on time and drove us back to MoBay for our flight home. We were very sad, but promised to be back VERY soon!
We had the best time and we can't wait to go back. This report is rather condensed because I could have just rambled on and on about the great weekend. But, if you are planning on a trip to Negril, PLEASE stay at Kuyaba, use Kirk's taxi service, and tell Collin, Orett, Hyacinth and Kirk that Maura, Kathy, Kimberley and "Leslie" said HELLO!
I almost forgot. I rented an international cell phone from
Ace Telecom to take with us for emergencies and such. I chose the "free phone - pay for minutes only" option. It was delivered 2 days before we left for Negril (just as I had requested) and it worked wonderfully the entire time we were there. Their rates are excellent and you just return the phone when you get home with their pre-paid Fed Ex label. No problem mon!
Maura <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />
