| Author | Message | ||
| Okcouple |
We just returned from our first trip to Jamaica, Couples and CN (8-1 to 8-7). The experience from the moment we entered the Couples lounge at the airport, to the moment we got into the taxi to leave the resort was nothing short of amazing and wonderful. The thoughts and memories shared below from our trip are woefully inadequate to completely describe the experience. (I’ve left out a discussion of food and drink for two reasons. First, there is so much to experience with the food and drink, and so much of each is offered by CN, that it would take far too much time to describe it all. Second, I’ve read enough reviews of the food and drinks by others that, when viewed in light of my own experiences, seems to make it more of a “to each his own” preference than anything else at Couples. My short opinion on the food and drink: like everything else, it is all incredible!) We went to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We anticipated a nice, relaxing romantic trip, and ended up with all that and so much more. The pictures on internet, the postings on the message boards, and the information from friends who had been to CN previously cannot fully capture what this place has to offer. For those of you who are about to go for your first time, you are about to have the opportunity for the experience of a lifetime. It’s all more than we could have asked for or imagined, from the beach, the pools, the rooms, the watersports, to the food and drinks, the views, the romance, the memories. But as much as Couples has to offer by way of its facilities and amenities, it offers even more by placing you in the midst of wonderful couples from all over the US and Europe. My wife and I started to think that these people were all personally interviewed and selected by Couples to specifically be with us for our stay, and we hope to share with them emails and some of the pictures of our time together: the couple from South Carolina, who could be some of our best friends if we lived by them; the incomparable couple from Hialeah, Florida, who we fell in love with; the charmingly sweet couple from the UK, who thoroughly engaged us with every conversation; the gang of newlyweds from every compass point, such as Fort Wayne, Portland, Fresno, who treated us like contemporaries, even though we were old enough to be their parents! the group from Texas, especially one couple who gave us some unforgettable memories on the Cat Cruise at the cliffs! the great couple from Alabama, who invited us to join in their sweet marriage ceremony on the beach at CN and shared a wonderful dinner with us at the Heliconia on our last night, our “taxi” friends who rode with us to the resort from the airport, and then ate with us at Otahiete along with another enjoyable couple from Georgia. If you are social at all, you will find yourself overindulging in conversations and fun with the people there. If you’re not social, or when you need those romantic times alone, there is plenty of space at the beach, pools and hot tubs to be by yourselves. In fact, my wife and I commented that it seemed most of the time as we looked around like the resort was only half full. We never felt crowded, anywhere, or at anytime (except when we packed the piano bar to laugh ourselves absolutely silly during Karaoke night!... so that was a good thing). We especially enjoyed meeting up with the group of couples that became "the gang" on the Cat Cruise, and at the hot tub by the Heliconia every night around sundown. It was the perfect way to end the daytime, and get ready for the nighttime. There was always someone there ready to “buy” a round of drinks for the gang in the hot tub! The Cat Cruise was also loaded with fun. Everyone starts off the cruise seated and quietly visiting and enjoying the sights, but by the time the cruise returns to CN before sundown, everyone is dancing and having a blast. And sure, we all know the rum punch is partly to blame for the loss of decorum. For us, the trip back was one hugely entertaining and hysterically funny party, and one of the highlights of our trip. We stayed in room 6204. This was a deluxe beachfront room in the building immediately to the left of the Cassava Terrace (as you are facing the beach from the lobby). The views of the beach from this building are amazing. There is less foliage behind this building than most of the others, and the view directly looks out to beach by the wedding area. The trees line up perfectly to give you nearly unobstructed views of the gorgeous sunsets. On the second floor, you don’t really notice the people walking by below, and you are not up in the tops of the trees. All in all, it seemed picture perfect to us. In fact, while we were sailing around the bay in the hobie cat, we noticed we could see most of our building nearly the entire time. It spills right out to the beach, hot tub and pool, and is just steps away from the Cassava Terrace and just a few more steps to the lobby and piano bar. It is on the opposite side from the watersports, but the length of the walk was never considered an inconvenience, especially since you pass by three separate bars to get there (if you know what I mean). The room itself was all, and more, we could have asked for. The rooms were cleaned and supplied perfectly everyday and every time, and turn down service was such a nice touch. The bed was quite comfortable, and the hot water in the shower was constant and steady. And, the flat panel TV had a great picture, so we found the room more than relaxing during the afternoon rains. Most of our daytime energy was spent in the watersports area. We selected CN for our trip specifically based on good things we heard about the watersports in Bloody Bay and the excellent watersports team there. There was not a single disappointment in what we found. Waterskiing is available for the first timer, novice, or expert. If you’ve never tried skiing before, the guys are great at giving you the chance to learn. They are very patient and helpful with first time skiers, wakeboarders or kneeboarders. The water in the bay is very calm in the first part of the morning, and as you ski, you can see clear to the bottom, which is very cool. They have two skis, slaloms, wake board, and knee board. The sailing is fantastic. They have plenty of hobie cats, kayaks, windsurfing and a sunfish to sail or play to your heart’s delight. The wind in the bay picks up mid-morning, and stays fairly steady into the afternoon. Again, if you’ve never sailed before, they offer instructions, and if things don’t go well, they are there to help out. We’ve sailed many times, but had a series of minor unfortunate events (some of our own making while goofing off!) and they were right there to help us out each time. One sailing trip was especially fun, as we were at the edge of the bay and were being shadowed for quite some time by a porpoise who kept coming up out of the water just about 10 feet away from us. It was so cool! The snorkeling is fun, too. It doesn’t take long to go out and back, but while you are at the spot for snorkeling, there are plenty of fish and other things to see among the coral, including the sunken cannon and anchor. The watersports team: Brian, Desmond, Yukari aka Captain Chemical, Yuri, Zeko, and the rest, go above and beyond the call of duty to make the watersports experience fun and enjoyable. We didn’t do the beginner’s dive, but those who did said it was an awesome experience, and once again, the watersports guys were very helpful. One couple staying at CN for two weeks were experienced divers and did a dive trip almost everyday. I don’t know if we will have the good fortune and opportunity to go back to CN. We know we would love to experience it all again. Our neighbors and everyone else we’ve met who are “repeaters” to the Couples experience tell us that we definitely will be back. Thomas Wolfe, who wrote, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” certainly didn’t know about Couples Negril. One thing I know: when we “went home to Couples Negril,” we fully discovered both within ourselves and as a couple the love and hope and passion that makes a 25 year marriage worth celebrating. Rick & Susan (email us at j.martin7@cox.net if you were there with us, and we will share our pics) | ||
| Sailorjo |
Thank you both so much for such an a beautiful review and Congratulations to you both for 25 years of marriage! My husband and I are addicted to this message board and you made our Sunday morning! We leave in November for our first trip to CN and can barely contain our excitement, we are driving our families crazy talking about it!  From your review and all the many others we have read, we know this will be a vacation of a lifetime for us. Thanks again! | ||
| Okcouple |
Sailorjo, Best wishes to you both on your first trip to CN. You won't be disappointed. Everything is good, mon! | ||
| Maxernie |
What a great review. So glad you had such a wonderful time at CN & love it as much as we do. Now you know that "Once You Go You Know" is true. It's our vision of what PARADISE is & hardly a days goes by that we don't think about it & wish we were there on that gorgeous beach. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & probably the 100th time is just as fun as the first time so keep saving your pennies & make sure to make it back ASAP. I keep telling my husband ..... "it's cheaper than therapy & alot more fun". We spent our 27th anniversary at CN last September. Congrats on #25!!! | ||
| Shari_and_james |
I just love your review. It always puzzles me when people look down upon the social aspect of Couples resorts and think everyone should keep to themselves. You just meet the best people there! Don't worry because yes you WILL go back and I recommend trying the other resorts also. | ||
| Wcollinstx |
Hey guys.... Wendy & Preston here. It was great to meet you guys - it was a wonderful week. Next time (summer of 2010) we're going to CTI - are y'all in? I'll get an email out to you. (look for wendycollinssmith @ yahoo dot com) | ||
| Maximac |
Hey OK! Thanks so much for the sweet & kind words about our ceremony. You and the crew that stuck out the rain just made us so happy. Stay tuned for some pics. What a great review! Maxernie is right, it is cheaper than therapy and a lot more fun! If other couples would put the energy and money into a "retreat" at Couples, I see where it could literally save their marriage. We have been sooo blessed with great people in our path... you guys are no exception. Keep that "home fire" burning, y'all!  | ||
| Swatersfm |
Hello there! Sarah and Ben from Charlotte NC here. Last week was awesome. Great review! I'd love to see your pics. I'll shoot you an email soon. Hi Wendy and Preston! xxoo | ||
| Jim_and_mariann |
Rick and Susan I loved your email too. We went to CN for the first time on our 25th and spent an entire year talking about it and we have been back every year for a total of four now. Memories you make at CN are forever . That is the beauty of it. It is expensive to go but the place makes me want to work hard to save up enough to go back again. | ||
| Okcouple |
Hi Wendy & Preston! What a week it was, huh? I loved seeing the OU hat, too! Not sure when our next trip will be, but it won't be soon enough. We'll look for your email. | ||
| Okcouple |
Mark & Max, you guys are so special. We're so happy for you in your life together. We can't wait to see the wedding pics! Sarah & Ben, you guys are pretty cool, and it was such a pleasure to meet you as we waited for our shot at the cake & champagne after the wedding. Wasn't the Cat Cruise awesome?! We're working on the pics. Part of our camera equipment was on the bag the airline lost on our way home. We just called and they found it in Miami with all the tags ripped off. We'll be lucky if anything of value is still left in it! Keep in touch, everyone! | ||
| Robear |
Very helpful post. We are going to CN oct 6 and from the sounds of it will have a BLAST. We are in our mid 40's and it will be our honeymoon(getting married oct4)First time at an all-inclusive. Hope to meet some great people. We booked an oceanview room and were told that there usually is a room upgrade for honeymooners.Not that it will matter. I find that reading these posts answer a lot of questions I had about what to expect. Thanks | ||
| Okcouple |
Best wishes to you, Robear! It was our first time at an all inclusive, and we were amazed at the quality of everything, including the service. Meeting people was so much fun. The easiest conversation starters for my wife and I to talk with other couples were, "where are you from?" and "are you here celebrating, or just having a really cool vacation?" One piece of advice: write down other peoples email addresses in more than one place! I wrote them on one scrap of paper, and now I cannot find the darn thing! And, when you return, post your review, too, so others can learn about CN the same way you and I both did! | ||
| Tommywommy |
Okcouple....Wonderful review of an outstanding resort..I am so glad you two enjoyed your visit. Couples has the world's greatest guests..I love meeting strangers at Couples and turning them into life long hugging friends. Again...Great review Hugs | ||
| Caligirl78 |
Okcouple: Thanks for the great review! We are going to be at CN 5/3-5/10 next year for our honeymoon. It will be his first trip out of the country, and both our first trips to an all inclusive resort. Having this message board has helped greatly in what we should expect. Your review was very helpful as to what the resort is like and what to expect. It really makes me want to count the days down to the wedding (May 2, 2009) even more, so that we can get on the plane and relax once at CN. We can’t wait to get there. | ||
| Okcouple |
I agree, Tommywommy ... strangers turn to friends so quickly at Couples, that you hardly even remember the moment they were strangers! When we first arrived at CN we saw several groups of people talking so openly and friendly that we thought they must have traveled together... only to discover ourselves later in those same friendly groups! Caligirl... I can't imagine the level of excitement and anticipation you will achieve over the next 9 months... sort of a pregnancy gestation! Good luck girl!! Hugs to all! | ||
| Macsaggie2 |
Okcouple - Thanks also for that great review - we will return for our third time to CN in 17 short days - You and Tommy are so right about the relationships we form as an extra bonus of our time at Couples. Just this morning while reading the message board I received an email from a friend we met at CN 8 years ago!! They are still very dear to our hearts! Again great review - thanks! Mac | ||
| Stevejanice1983 |
Okcouple - We will be at CN from 10/8 - 10/18 (45 days...but who's counting!) for our 1st trip to Jamaica and we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary also. Thanks for the review...we are even more excited now. We are starting to plan our packing list. Is there anything you forgot to bring that you wish you had? Is there anything you brought that you didn't need? Any other advice for us newbies? |