Grand Lido Braco Trip Report (and a little about Couples Ocho Rios)
We made our first trip to Grand Lido Braco on Feb 5, 2005 and spent a total of eight wonderful days and nights there. What a place! Pleasure after pleasure. We got back last night burned to a crisp from the sun, at least ten pounds heavier from huge meals and endless cocktails, and muscles aching from pool volleyball. This is our second trip to an all-inclusive in Jamaica – last year at the same time we went to Couples Ocho Rios (which we also loved). Please excuse the inevitable comparisons. Here are our impressions:
Airport and trip to Braco. The only advice here is that you are rushed through customs and onto the bus so quickly that there is no time to use the bathroom, so tend to that before you get off the plane. The one hour ride is rather enjoyable (I’m probably the first person to say this in a trip report!), bumpy and colorful. Makes you realize that many people have a way of life a lot different than our own.
Check-In. Somehow our minibus arrived at the same time as a large group of German tourists. We ended up in a conference room with a German-speaking welcome, and missed out on the champagne and hot towels. But the whole thing went quickly, and we were in our room twenty minutes after arrival.
The rooms. Rooms were light and airy, the bed comfortable. We didn’t see an insect in the room all week. There was plenty of hot water, it came out in the tub and sink like a fire hose. I wish the plumbing in my house was that good. TV had Cinemax with continual movies, ESPN and the major US networks. Here is a huge plus: Calls to the US were 81 cents per minute from our room phone. Last year at Couples we were astonished to find that a ten minute call home cost $75, which seems typical in Jamaica as a lot of talk in the message boards is given to the use of cell phones and/or calling cards. So we were able to call home every day for about the same $$ as one call would have cost last year at Couples. Now for my first complaint: We had a beachfront room in the 600 building, which is at the very end on the textile side. Our room overlooked the all-night beach bar, and it got too noisy to leave the balcony doors open late at night. Plus there was noise from the cooking vent-fan that pretty much drowned out the pounding-surf noise that is so romantic, and this fan was on 24/7. So you might want to avoid building 600 if you like to leave your doors open. We spent our days on the nude side (more about that later), so had to make the walk back and forth, which was no problem. The rooms on the nude side are far more expensive. Next year we’ll do it the same way, IMHO the extra cost of those rooms is not worth it.
Night life. Can’t have a trip report without commenting on this, but we went to bed early every night. That’s just us. There are theme nights such as pajama night, toga night, etc, but we didn’t see any of it.
Food. Just great. Breakfast at Victoria Market is a fine way to start the day, and Nanny’s Jerk Pit at lunch. Jerk pork and ice cold Red Stripe is a great combination. I have to say that the food at Couples was just as good. Maybe better in that the specialty restaurants at Couples are larger. The French restaurant at COR is big enough that you could eat there every night if you want. I talked to some people who could not get a reservation at Piacere as it was booked all week. Luckily our travel agent (Denny/Go Classy) was on the ball and got us in there with advance reservations. Our best meal of the week: The sushi bar at the Japanese restaurant. We love sushi, and this was the best we’ve ever had. Our compliments to O’Neill, the sushi chef.
The nude side. It’s huge, combining a very large pool and beach, a clubhouse and two bars. It was great fun, and it’s been said in every trip report that people are friendlier there, and it’s true. I have to say, though, that as an au naturel facility I liked Tower Island at Couples better. The ambience on the island is incredible, much smaller and more intimate. It was even easier to meet people there as the swim-up bar is the focus. At GLB the swim-up bar on the A/N side was hardly used at all. But there are some issues with Tower Isle. First is accessibility: They close it when the weather is windy (which it often is in Jamaica). That only happened one day when we were there, but we felt like we were cheated out of a day’s vacation. A second problem with Tower Isle is that it’s so small that it’s susceptible to “take-over” groups. That happened the last day we were there, when a big group came onto the island and made things a bit uncomfortable for some who were not part of the group. The A/N facility at GLB is so big I can’t imagine that to be a problem. Activities at GLB au naturel were fun. For the first time in my life I played nude bocce and pool volleyball. The “must-be-nude” rule is 95% effective. We saw a few people who sat around in bathing suits and/or street clothes for long periods of time. But once when my wife put on a cover-up because she was cold, a lady staff member asked her to remove it. After my wife mooned her the staff member agreed that she could keep it on until she warmed up.
Other stuff: There is a nine-hole golf course at GLB. It’s a shame, but we saw very few people use it. It’s not the prettiest course I’ve ever seen, but was in good shape. And the price is right – free to resort guests. There are also tennis courts, two in the middle of the golf course which saw some use, and another one near the nude pool, which not one person used all week that we saw. There is also a huge soccer field (also well maintained) on the golf course which was not used. I can’t imagine GLB guests getting a full-field soccer game together. One thing disappointing was that there was a bit of trash on the extreme ends of the beach. One of the most romantic spots at GLB is the rocky end of the nude beach, but there was a lot of trash there. With such a big staff at GLB, why don’t they send a crew to clean it up? Three guys with a truck could do it in an hour.
Where do we go next year? Hopefully four days at Couples Ocho Rios, then four at Grand Lido Braco.
Respect,
Alan & Lisa