TRIP REPORT

Grand Lido Braco (brack’-oh)

May 25-June 1, 2003

Bill and Carol

Departure:

We left Newark on-time at 7:15 am Sunday via Air Jamaica flight 018 flying first-class on a plane less than half-full. The trip was uneventful. The flight attendants were very pleasant, and provided very good service throughout the aircraft and a decent breakfast. Even economy seats got free champagne and Jamaican Red Stripe beer. We arrived on-time in Montego Bay at 9:45 am island time (an hour behind NY this time of year), quickly got thru customs and immigration, and found the Super Clubs booth outside the immigration exit. Within thirty minutes we were on a minibus, the only passengers, headed to Braco. The ride was exactly an hour on a very rough road, which got us to the club at 11:30 am.

Arrival:

Tamika (who was terrific throughout our stay, working both at the front desk and at the au naturel pool) met us on arrival and got us drinks. We immediately asked if we could get an early check-in (normal check-in is at 3:00 pm), and sure enough right after lunch our room was ready. Right after arrival, Tamika had said we needed to get our reservations made for Piacere and MunaHana, so she took us to the concierge. What no one told us in advance was that they accept advance reservations by email, so even though we were the first to arrive on Sunday, we did not get our preferred days and times. On the other hand, we had requested an au naturel one-bedroom ground-floor suite in Block B (the building between the beach and pool) and got it. The resort was less than half full, so that probably had something to do with getting early check-in and our preferred room location.

Restaurants:

Let’s first hit the meals. We were very satisfied throughout the week. We are from NYC, and the "French" restaurant, Piacere, stacked up well with some of our favorites in the city. We ate there twice. The menu was the same all week, but there was a good variety. For example, appetizers included goat cheese, escargot, salmon crepes, and calamari rings. We tried those and all were excellent. There were three soups: Caribbean crayfish bisque, cold melon soup, and onion soup. The crayfish bisque was tasty but a bit watery (no cream); the onion soup was good. There were two salads, and they were fine but a bit light on the dressing for my taste. The mixed-greens salad was served in a light pastry shell, a nice touch. Entrees were outstanding. We tried the red snapper, salmon, and beef tournedos. It is very rare to get tender beef in the Caribbean, but Braco had it. Serving sizes were a bit on the small side, typical of French restaurants. Desserts were incredible. The lemongrass crème brulee was the best I ever had, and very generous, and the grilled carmelized banana with raisin ice cream was also wonderful. We were sorry to see that the chocolate pianos and harps that we had on previous Grand Lido visits over the years were absent. On our second visit, the chef came out and introduced himself to everyone, asking our opinions of our dinners. Nice touch, as was the live violin music. We went once to MunaHana, the Japanese restaurant. There, we were seated in groups of eight around a grill with a ‘Japanese’ chef who looked suspiciously Jamaican, but who was quite competent. The sushi, fish, steak, chicken and shrimp were fine, but Japanese is not our favorite, so we can’t really judge it. The other main restaurant is Victoria's Market, which is a very good buffet for breakfast with omelet station, all the usual breakfast items including wonderful ultra-fresh, warm bakery items. The chocolate croissants were especially good, but mysteriously disappeared mid-week, not to reappear. The only buffet item that we thought was not up to par was the eggs benedict, which was not prepared fresh to order, but pre-cooked, assembled on an untoasted English muffin, and kept warm. Let your imagination roam. Here is where we can give a hint, though. Breakfast buffet items included good-quality smoked salmon, smoked whitefish, fruit, melon, and cheeses. After breakfast we made two plates of these items, asked the staff to wrap with saran, and then put them in the frig in our room for a late afternoon snack. At lunchtime, Victoria's Market serves from a menu, with sandwiches and entree items. We only ate there twice, and most items were good, but the hamburger patties bring Clara Peller of Wendy’s "Where’s the beef?" fame to mind. The ketchup, by the way, was Jamaican and very sweet, rather than vinegary. Dinner was also served there from a menu and was quite good with a nice selection. On Friday, a street buffet was held with the expected items, but also some interesting Caribbean dishes. I tried the goat curry, lamb stew, and braised ox-tail and they were very good. There was a terrific dessert bar. There is also Nanny’s Jerk Pit which drew a good crowd at lunchtime. It is located by the prude pool, and we did not go there. Most of our lunches were at the au naturel pool bar which cooked and served lunch from the room service menu most days, but which had a nice little buffet several days. It seemed that most of us on the au naturel side had lunch there. They would serve right at your lounge or you could sit at tables by the bar or sit in the pool.

Room service is available twenty-four hours from the clubhouse near the au naturel pool. It takes thirty minutes (no matter whether they are doing anything or not) but there is a nice selection such as pizzas, wings (good), potato skins (good), baby lamb chops (really good, but tell them you want six or eight, otherwise you just get four), burgers (as before), grilled ham and cheese (good), and a few other items that we did not try. One day nothing on the menu appealed to my wife, who is a fanatic for tuna salad sandwiches (not on the menu). One was made for her at the Victoria's Market restaurant and brought over. That’s great service, something that we saw throughout our stay. Room service delivers anywhere, pool, room, or beach.

Bars:

The pool bar was fine, stocked with good quality liquors such as JW Red, JW Black, Dewars and J&B scotches, Jim Beam, Canadian Club, Absolut, and a bunch of other good names. Rolling Rock, Red Stripe, and Red Stripe Light were available, the latter two on tap. The bartenders were OK, but not particularly personable, and added little to the ambiance. The bar was livened up considerably around 11:00 am when either Tamika or Steve, or both, came to run some activities. They were very good, but they had a tough time of it as most of us just wanted to veg, but they did get us into some games at the in-water portion of the bar, handing out bottles of rum generously. A highlight for the women was Steve dancing on the bar in his very skimpy and clingy bikini. Everyone liked him. Carl alternated with Steve, but Carl was not as well liked – a little too pushy and sarcastic, and there was another girl who alternated with Tamika who didn’t do well with the crowd. I also didn’t much care for her singing religious songs a capella at the pool on Sundays. She had a good voice, but I can get my religion at home and I sensed some guests were uncomfortable with it. We did go a couple of times to the bar at the prude pool, and here again we got some extra service. One evening before dinner we went there for drinks and my wife wanted some fruit and cheese. They did not have any, but one of the waiters went over to the restaurant and in minutes had a plate for us. We found out later that it was a Victoria's Market dessert item that he grabbed and brought over. Kudos on that one!

Room:

Our room, a one-bedroom suite, looked recently repainted and was very nice and ultra clean. It had a frig, which on our second day got stocked with, beer, water, and soda. The room also had red wine and a coffee maker. The bedroom end opened onto the beach and the living room opened onto the pool, which was great. One thing you have to watch out for is that if you have the door at the pool end locked, and go out the back door and close it, or the wind closes it, you are locked out, naked! I think it was not worth the extra money for the one bedroom, and next time would just get the junior suite.

Pools, Spas, Beaches:

The au naturel pool is the largest such pool I have ever seen and kept very clean. The water was sparkling clear. The pool does need some refurbishment to the bottom (paint and cement chipped off), but this would require closing the pool, so I can understand their not correcting the problem. I have read previous reports stating there is a shortage of lounges, but I counted over 100, many with umbrellas. The au naturel section has fifty-two rooms, so that seemed about right. There were also lots of floats, and, I might add there were plenty of towels. The pool water got warm, I would guess upper 80s. There are two spas by the au naturel pool. One is very large, seating perhaps forty to fifty or so. The other is more standard size and nestled in the woods, very dimly lit, for whatever activities that it might attract after dark. I could tell you, but you can figure it out for yourself.

The au naturel beach was very nice, with lots of lounges and trees. There was no sharp drop off when you walked into the water, which was great. The water got to five or so feet deep as you walked out toward the breakwater. The Caribbean Sea could be rough, but that breakwater, about a hundred fifty feet off the beach, caught most of the waves and left just a ripple in the swimming area. We were able to snorkel along the rocks each morning, when the waves and wind were calmest. We took our own snorkels and masks, but borrowed fins from Braco. There were plenty of fins available, but they were short of masks. Our own equipment, which we kept on our back patio, mysteriously disappeared on the morning of the au naturel snorkel trip. Fortunately we had not planned to go on the trip, and just as mysteriously our gear showed up in a bucket of water by the pool later in the day. The water was quite clear, and of course, warm. Felt like low 80s. There was a paddleboat and a couple of kayaks on the au naturel beach. The security guard did a great job of keeping the gawkers from the other side away. There were none. The au naturel pool and beach are just that. They are not clothing optional, they are nude, which made everyone much more comfortable. Many years ago at Grand Lido Negril, the prude pool was closed for repairs and everyone used the au naturel pool. Au naturel and prude were mixed at the same pool and it was uncomfortable for everyone. Eventually, the prudes mostly stayed away. We did not spend any time at the Braco prude pool or the prude beach, but the beach was larger than the au naturel beach and had the watersports shack. The prude pool, by the way, is much smaller and more crowded with fewer lounges for more guests. It also has a smaller hot tub.

Entertainment:

Entertainment has never been a strong feature at Grand Lidos and this was no exception. They had some local musical groups perform, which were OK, but not very many guests hung around. The disco opened at 10:30 pm. There was the usual toga party and pajama party. On Saturday night they did Saturday Night Fever music. Many of us found the volume in the disco to be far too loud, even painful. Now we are not that old, and we don’t mind some volume, but this was

way overboard. In fact, there were more people listening to the music outside of the disco than inside. Grand Lido has not gotten the word on hearing damage.

Ambiance:

The guests ranged from thirties to sixties, with a few younger ones who seemed a bit out of place to us. At the au naturel pool, the average age seemed in the low forties, and at the prude pool a little younger. Most were Americans and Canadians, but the resort caters also to the Germans, who were just starting to arrive on summer holiday as we left. One of the pool bartenders commented that they really don’t like the Germans, and that the Americans are much nicer to them. Other staffers chimed in, saying the Germans treat them like servants while the Americans treat them more as equals and are much friendlier. The staff and guests mingled very well. Like Club Med in some ways, but without the attitude. Staff members never looked down at the ground when passing you – they always said hello.

Overall:

This was our first time at Braco, but we have been to other SuperClubs such as Grand Lido Negril twice, Hedo II twice, and the old Jamaica-Jamaica, which I think is now a Breezes. We think that Braco is the best of the Grand Lidos and the best beach resort we have even been to. In addition to SuperClubs we have been to many Club Meds, including Europe, and many of the Marriott and other hotel resorts. We also go frequently to South Beach. While we liked many things about Braco, we would have to say that one of the best parts was the attitude of the staff. Nothing was impossible for them, and virtually all were friendly, including the maids and groundskeepers. I mentioned the sandwich, but one afternoon the pool bar and clubhouse were out of JW Black and within minutes a full glass of it was brought over from the main bar and handed to my wife along with a glass of ice. Nicely done.

The only thing that was annoying were the late-night mosquitos, so small that you didn’t see them, or even feel them, but which made their presence felt after a hard rain, particularly near the spas. The resort did not appear to be spraying adequately for them (I think I smelled spraying once), so be sure to take repellent if you plan late night use of the spas..

One other thing that I should mention is that SuperClubs has a sunshine guarantee, which means that if there is a day with no sunshine you are eligible for a voucher for a free future night. I say eligible because it seems that you have to ask for the voucher to get it. Several people mentioned that no one told them about it.

Overall, therefore, we rank Grand Lido Braco at the top of the best resorts we have ever been to, and by far the best resort with separate au naturel facilities. My wife likes to dress for dinner and dancing, so the so-called clothing optional resorts are not an option for us. Grab your repellent and go to Braco. It is worth the money!

Departure:

Our flight was not until 7:15 pm and the resort was nice enough to let us delay checkout until 4:00 pm., when we departed for the airport, tanned, well rested, well-fed (I gained seven pounds and my wife six pounds), and ready to plan our revisit in the fall.

Sorry, but due to a heavy travel schedule, I am not available for contact or additional information.