Grand Lido...

It looks like the Grand Lido is fully operational, now. Anyone been and have thoughts? The Tripadvisor reviews look good, though they seem to be obsessed with the fitness staff for some reason. Any chance of nude snorkeling while there?

Grand lido what?

There's only one Grand Lido now, in Negril. Haven't been there myself in the current iteration, to know much about it. I guess, without knowing, that HUGE resort they built where the rest of Grand Lido was, has been completed?

The Grand Lido is a sub-part of the huge Royalton complex in Negril, Jamaica. There's the Royalton, Royalton Hideaway, which is adults only, and the Grand Lido, which is clothing optional. The Grand Lido is small, only 26 rooms, but you have all of the other resort facilities available. We booked May 7-12, so we'll see. The resort looks very nice. There's even butler service, though I'm not clear if that's personal butlers or just for the area. We've been to Hidden Beach and were not really that impressed for the price they charge, so we're looking for an alternative. The Tripadvisor reviews for the Grand Lido are beyond bizarre. There seems to be an absolute obsession with Andre, the fitness instructor. Most reviews seem to talk mostly about him and the fitness activities. There's not much about the resort itself other than generic praise.

For a long time it was really a work in progress, but now it's supposed to be all done now including the bar, beach grill, and hot tub. Clothing optional and other resort customers are not allowed. Custom wrist band color, for what I understand. The rooms appear to be much nicer than those at Hidden Beach and all of the facilities are brand new, so we're hoping for a luxury experience.

OK, like I said, I didn't know whether the resort was all done yet. Would appreciate hearing back after your trip.

Hmmm. Good to here it exists and hope it does well.

For a week in July middle of low season, $575/night for the cheapest room.

My mental bogie is about 350-400 high season and 250-300 low season on SXM per day andgoing to orient.

450 would be my stretch and Id have to pysche myself for alot of day booze drinking and buffets.
I can buy a lot of beer, booze and food on SXM.
Boy, I hate to sound cheap.

It's certainly not a low-end resort. With a Travelocity package and coupon, we can in around $450 a night in May for a swim-up suite. It's less expensive than Hidden Beach, but certainly on the high end of places we have stayed. We decided it was worth the extra $600 for the trip vs. what we would pay to stay a Hedonism.

We tend to alternate between all-inclusive and not all-inclusive. We recently returned from Aruba where we did an AirBNB which ran about $200 a night. The all-inclusives are not really cheaper. But, there's something to be said for putting the wallet away and not worrying about the cost of that drink or activity. We find it worth a premium, but are by no means always go that route.

We just got back from our trip to the Grand Lido. I'm putting a more detailed review on TripAdvisor, but thought I would add some observations for this group.

They made a big deal when we got there that they are au natural, meaning you must be nude in the pools or hot tub. For the most part, all men were nude and some of the women. Most women wore either a swim-suit or bikini bottoms. I think that's just fine, but I don't know why they make a big deal about a policy they don't enforce. Occupancy was pretty low, though that's to be expected in May.

Even though there isn't a beach, that swimming area is great. We saw lots of fish, a small ray, starfish, and tons of vegetation and coral and the water was wonderfully warm. We spent a lot of time in there.

We've been to Hidden Beach. This is a whole other level above Hidden Beach. The food was better (though you had to put on clothes), the rooms were much nicer, the pool was nicer, and the service was much better. Okay, it doesn't have a nude beach, but Hidden Beach has a nude beach that's not really swimable, and I'll take swimable over sand any day.

Hi. Whatever you post on TripAdvisor, you could copy and paste here?? Thanks.

Thanks for the review Chazo. We are booked for September and are looking forward to it.

I do have one question. In the evenings, can a guy wear shorts and t shirt for dinner, or do I need long pants and collared shirts?

Thanks.

There are three dress codes ranging from resort casual to evening elegant. The minimum is resort casual and applies to the buffet and sometimes some of the other restaurants like Ocean Point. There shorts and t-shirts are just fine. Most of the restaurants are evening elegant for dinner, which means long pants and collared shirts. That said, we routinely saw people in those restaurants in shorts and t-shirts. The dress code was only laxly enforced. The only times we saw anyone turned away for dress code reasons they were wearing swimsuits and cover-ups.

One night a week is the Grand Lido manager night and they have an party with drinks and a buffet by the pool. Strangely enough, that event is "evening elegant", but it was rained out, anyway, when we were there. Not sure what they are thinking there.

Thanks for the response. Guess I'll have to bring more than I had hoped to bring.

Glad to hear you enjoyed GLN. We were looking forward to a change and I found a deal I couldn't pass up.

We were due for a change. Have done Couples Sans Souci the past 5 years. Always enjoyed it but this past spring we we would arrive at Sunset Beach are 8:30 am daily and could never find a shady spot. Everything was already taken by then. Less of a crowd will be great.

We go to CSS in April and I just looked at prices for the same week and it is 200. More a day at Grand Lido

Last week, Castaways Travel had GLN for 185 per person per night for the next few months. CSS was 220 when I looked.