Our vacation got off to a rocky start as our Air Jamaica 727 had an indicator light
that refuse to go green. After 2 separate OKs from the ground crew and the paper work
involved we took off 2 hours late. We had hoped to arrive at Braco by 1:00 P.M. but now
that was l ooking more like 3:30 P.M ,a virtual loss of the day. We arrived at MoBay
airport and were whisked off on our van to Braco. The ride took a about 75 minutes. I
didn't look at the time when we left so that is a guess.
Turning into the resort we the first thing you see is the nine hole golf course. There
were two guests passing by carrying there clubs and not wearing shirts. Obviously the
collared shirt rule was waved. We pulled up to the main lobby and were greeted with
champagne and a quick check in. A social director escorted us to our junior suite on the
au-naturel section of the resort. The first thing you notice when we entered the suite are
the French doors to the balcony overlooking the beach. Wow. Needless to say those doors
were kept open all day everyday we were there. The room has a TV, phone, couch(pullout
bed), coffee table, dresser, desk, king size bed and two end tables. There is also a small
kitchenette thingy with a sink, fridge(stocked with sodas and Red Stripe), and two burners
which we didn't try. Out on the balcony are two low sitting chairs with a table. This is
where we enjoyed our room service breakfasts. The first floor suited have patios from
which you can walk right out onto the beach. Very nice.
The nude pool is huge. It is hard to describe and impossible to photograph. It has a three
main cove areas. The first part has a large swimming area and this is where the pool bar
is. This where you will meet Chester, the best bartender at the resort. Please mention to
Chester that read about him on the Internet The bar is also staffed with a full time grill
cook. This is also where the resort sends its social directors to round up some folks for
trivia, mixology, volleyball and the ever popular all over tan contest. From the pool bar
area you can float under the bridge to the gazebo and see the pool volleyball area on your
left. Straight ahead is a small island, which is great to float around. After passing the
island is another large swimming area which has a very cool beach type decline into the
water. There is no shortage of chairs, tables, chair floats or mat floats. Behind the pool
near the volleyball area is the big hot tub. It is built on a deck and can seat lots of
folks. Everyone seemed to end up in the hot tub at the end of the day. We were in there
with as many 20 people and there was still plenty of room. The only problem was that it
was a little too hot, temperature hot that is. There is also a small intimate hot tub in
the trees which can hold about six. Its big problem was the pebbles leading up to it. Not
fun for the feet. That reminds me, the cement work all over Braco is not kind to the feet.
The nude beach is where everybody seemed to start out. The water and the winds were a
little calmer before lunch. There are plenty of chair and shade on the beach. No need to
get your spot early. There is also a towel box right on the beach, where you can get all
the clean towels you need. The beach is a mixture of sand and crushed coral. This
combination works well with the north coast breeze however, as we were not sand blasted
with the fluffy sand like we were at Breezes RB last year. There are some rocks at the
water's edge and in the water. The resort sent two guys to rake the rocks away every
morning. Large rocks have been arranged to create a cove off the beach which made for
great swimming and floating. The snorkeling off the beach was better than I expected. We
saw a large variety of small fish, some flounder, shell fish but the highlight were the
squid passing through. I recommend water shoes when snorkeling, but you don't need them
just to swim. There are snorkel boats which go out every day, and a scuba group too, but
we never tried any of those. Also because of the wind there were no water sport boats
going out. So if you really need your water sports, you should think about going to
Negril instead.
There is also a clubhouse with 24 hour bar and food service. This is where room service is
prepared. You can even order room service right to the pool. The bar will even provide you
with red stripe to bring back to your room fridge.
Braco provides a variety of eating alternatives. The Italian restaurant and bakery is open
until 2:00 A.M. and offers a terrific brick oven pizza. Nanny's Jerk Pit offers the
authentic Jamaican foods such as jerk pork and curry goat. Victoria's Market serves a
breakfast and lunch buffet and a sit down dinner. Braco's flagship restaurant is Piacere.
It is a fine French restaurant specializing in white glove treatment, good wine and good
food. Finally there is Stir Crazy which is the newest restaurant at the resort. It
actually opened while we were there, and we got to have dinner on its second night of
operation. Since its so new I'll make an attempt at a restaurant review.
Stir Crazy is a Jamaican experiment with Japanese BeniHana style cooking. Reservations are
required and can be made with the concierge in the main lobby. The dress is a nice casual.
There are five tables/cooking stations which seat six people each. Superclubs hired a
Japanese chef from Canada to train the Jamaican guys and assist in opening the restaurant.
While we were there they were staggering the tables so the chefs can movearound. As for
the food, it is plentiful. You get a nice salad and sushi (excellent sushi) prior to the
main course where you get your choice of chicken, beef or seafood. My wife had the chicken
and I had the seafood. Both were very good and served with stir fried vegetables and rice.
The service was terrific too as the guys were constantly filling our wine glasses,
bringing us warm saki, and making sure we were having a great experience.
My overall impression of the Braco eating experience is that they offer a nice variety of
good food at any hour. The service sometimes lapses but I feel that it is not as awful as
some previous travelers have noted. Hopefully that means they are learning.
The night-life at Braco is pretty quiet. Except for the pajama party and the Friday night
street dance its a quiet resort at night. The only time we saw the disco crowded was for
the pajama/bare as you dare party. Some folks did get bare, but there was nothing sexual
going on. There is always a band and dancing Victoria's Market after dinner, which was
quite nice.
Other worthy mentionables are the gym overlooking the sea, bike rides throught the
village, nature walks, and the complementary manicure and pedicure. There is also a piano
in the main bar, pool tables, ping pong tables, slot machines, and a TV room and more.
Grand Lido Braco exceeded all of our expectations for this trip. Coming here we had fears
of bad beaches and poor service. We experienced neither. I must also say that I believe we
were lucky in that we met such great people while we were there. We came home with a fist
full of email addresses, home addresses and phone numbers.
In closing and so as not to sound like a super club flunky, I must mention the fact that
the resort booked in a large group and inconvenienced the other guests while trying to
cater to them. They also did a poor job of enforcing the undress code on the nude side.
This was also because of that group, as some of them were placed in nude side
accomodations but refused to move the short distance to the prude side. This caused
awkward moments for all the guests. Since the nude side is marketed as such and the
company charges extra to stay on that side, then the least they could do is provide the
environment they try to sell in the brochure.