This is our third trip to Jamaica, we have been to COUPLES Ocho Rios and COUPLES Negril...So this time we decided to try GRAND LIDO BRACO. GLB is approximately an hour drive from Montego Bay.
Other trip reports give excellent descriptions of the lay out of Braco, I will give you a brief overview of the resort. Grand Lido Braco is actually two resorts in one, textile side and a au natural side. Entering the main gate you will drive pass a golf course and tennis courts, arriving at the Town Hall Reception center. Separating the textile from the au natural side is the Village. The Village consist of several small shops, the La Pasta Restaurant, Piacere (French) Restaurant, Disco, Main Bar and Piano Bar, Victoria Market Restaurant (serves breakfast buffets, lunch buffets and a la carte at night, along with nightly entertainment), Nanny's Jerk Pit Restaurant and Japanese Restaurant. There is also a gym and spa. Vendors set up on the streets to sell crafts each day. Off to the side of Victoria Market is the main textile pool and swim up bar/ with a small hot tub. The textile room side, located to the right of the Village, consists of 12 Blocks of rooms plus a Clubhouse & hot tub. Blocks 1-6 are Beach front rooms and Blocks 7-12 are Garden view or Ocean view rooms, all with coffee pots, no refrigerators. The textile side has its' own beach along with a wedding gazebo. The Au Natural side is located to the left of the Village, consist of two Blocks of rooms. There are three types of rooms for this side: Jr. Beach front Suites consisting of one room one bath, A One Bedroom Beach front Suite consisting of two rooms and 1 1/2 baths, and A Luxury One Bedroom Suite consisting of two rooms and 2 baths, all with refrigerators and coffee pots The au natural side has the hugest winding pool in Jamaica with a swim up bar, plus a land bar next to the pool. The pool is so large that you can either be by yourself (for first timers doing the au natural experience) or be around others. There are plenty of lounge chairs and floats around the pool, also on the beach. There are two hot tubs on this side, one is small (hidden in foliage) and the other is huge (could hold 40 people) located near the pool. This side also has its' own clubhouse for ordering snacks and drinks,(anytime of the day or night), plus an au natural tennis court on this side, too. This side also has its own au natural beach, completely separate from the textile beach. The foliage and outer appearance of the room blocks on au natural side are much nicer than the textile side.
Braco offers several water sports, such as diving, snorkeling, wind surfing, kayaking, water skiing and glass bottom boat rides. Most of these activities were cancelled during our stay due to windy conditions. This was no problem for us, cause we loved to vegetate around the au natural pool, talk to others and stay cool with the warm breezes blowing from the ocean. There is always a constant breeze at Braco. Braco offers numerous off site excursions such as Ocho Rios Shopping trips, Dunns River Falls trip, Martha Brae Rafting, Horse Back Riding (textile or au natural), these will cost extra ranging from $30 to $65 US. On Friday night, there is a Street Buffet and Dance; on Monday night there is a Toga Party at the Disco; on Wednesday night there is a Beach Buffet/Party and Entertainment; and on Thursday night there is a PJ "Dare to Bare" Party at the Disco, along with nightly entertainment at Victoria Market around 9:30 pm. Activity staff post daily schedule of events for both sides, but don't hold your breath, not all activities happen; remember your in Jamaica & NO PROBLEM MON.
I am not going to bore you with our airplane trip from New Orleans. After we landed,late Friday afternoon, we went to the Super clubs desk and within minutes we were on a shuttle headed to Braco. It was a very nice ride, within one hour we were pulling into the front gates at Grand Lido Braco. When we got off the bus, we were given a moist towel and a glass of champagne. Check in was a breeze, since our agent, Dan Hill, had advanced us a lot of the paperwork to fill out prior to our arrival. We received our room keys and safe key, within minutes, a porter was taking us and our luggage to our room,we headed from the lobby, to the left going towards the au natural side. We passed Block A, then proceeded past the au natural pool ( this was the largest pool we have ever seen). We booked Jr. Beach Front Suite, but surprisingly , we were upgraded to a two room Beach front Suite second floor, located in Block B, across from the club house. When the porter opened the door, there was a bottle of Champagne on ice, and a cheese tray on the table. The porter showed us how to operate the a/c, showed us where the iron was and so on. The first room of our suite had a couch, two chairs,a coffee table, a TV, a small desk, a phone,a radio/cass/cd player, a half bath, a refrigerator (that was stocked with beer, red stripe and miller lite, water, soft drinks) and coffee pot. The second part of the suite, had a full bath with hair dryer (if you need a strong hair dryer, bring one from home), a king size bed, a TV, a dresser and two night stands,a phone and a radio/cass/cd unit. The floors were tile, on each side of the bed was carpeted mats. On the bed was a towel fanned out with several flowers placed on it, along with several flowers in the bathroom. The french doors opened up to a large balcony with two wooden chairs and table. A beautiful view of the beach and ocean. I could not have asked for any better maid service, ours was impeccable, always a very clean room, plenty of towels and refrigerator was always stocked with beer, sodas and water..
We hurriedly unpacked and headed for the Street Buffet and Dance. We meet several other couples from the yahoo & dennyp board. The buffet was spread out around in the center of the village. There was plenty of food for everyone's taste. I had no problem with the service from the drink waiters or anyone else. After the meal, there was a big street dance. Later we went back to our room, placed the room service breakfast menu on the door knob and requested delivery at 7:45 to 8:00am . Delivery was very prompt, there was more food on the tray than two people could have eaten, after that we tailored down the menu. Each day we were there, delivery was prompt, never late. Each morning, I would have a couple cups of coffee on the balcony and leave Deborah, my wife, in the room (she is not a big breakfast eater) and I would head down to Victorias Market for breakfast. There was all types of food for breakfast, from fruits, eggs benedict, made to order omelets, pancakes, bacon, sausage, some Jamaican dishes, and plenty of pastries. Service at Victorias for breakfast was fantastic. If your water glass, juice glass or coffee was half empty, a person was there refilling it, you never had to look for a waiter.
Saturday we checked out the rest of the resort, found out where all the restaurants were, made reservations for the French and Japanese, found Nanny's Jerk Pit, the main bar, the disco and them proceeded to check out the textile pool and walked around looking at the textile side. There were several shops located in the town square. Finally looked at the crafts the vendors had to offer.
Saturday and Sunday we laid around the pool. The resort furnished plenty of beach towels at the pool bar. We talked to other guest, met Chester & Carlon, the bar tenders for the au natural side. Everyone was extremely friendly and talkative on this side compared to the textile side. In fact the only times that we wandered to the textile side was for the restaurants at night, cause our side had everything we could want from food at the clubhouse to the grill at the pool bar which fixed lamb chops and jerk chicken for lunch. We had a chance to meet Cynthia, the fruit lady. She was wonderful to talk to. There was a resident artist, Tyronne, who painted beautiful pictures of scenery on the au natural side. In fact he impressed us, to the point, we purchased one of his paintings. We knew that he actually painted it, compared to those the vendors sold. From other trip reports, I have read where people burned/made a cd and left it with the resort. I decided to make one, with older reggae songs, current Latino songs and mambo songs; called it "Jammin at Braco 2000". The guest, along with the staff loved it, they played it over the pool speakers numerous times during the day. It is now part of Braco's music collection.
Sunday we had reservations at Piacere (French) Restaurant. Dress code was more formal, required jacket and long pants for men and women, nice dress. The service was impeccable, the food was excellent, and wine was perfect, a Chilean variety. This is quite an experience. Our waiter Ellerton was extremely nice. Monday night another couple we met on the yahoo board join us with reservations at the Japanese Restaurant. Again the food was great, and service was impeccable. We liked it so much, we made another reservation there before leaving on Friday.
Monday, just another day of laying around the pool, talking with everyone and walking on the beach. I would strongly suggest bringing water shoes if you are planning on walking in the ocean, very rocky bottom. We picked Joseph to be Mayor for our side. He was a fantastic guy. I had brought with us a bunch of temporary tattoos. Everyone wanted one, so Joseph pinned me with the name " Tattoo Man". We all had a blast with them. Monday afternoon, Drink Mixology was held at the swim up bar, it was hilarious. Monday night was Toga Night at the Disco, everyone got their toga sheets after the nightly entertainment at Victoria Market, went back to their rooms to get dressed. At the Toga Party, I would say that 97% of the people were from the au natural side and 3% from the textile side. After the dance, a lot of guest ended up in the hot tub on au natural side, partying till 4 in the morning.
Next several days just ran together, having fun around the pool and the beach. On Wednesday, Tamika, activity staff member held body painting class. Several guys painted bikini's on their wives, from a distance they looked real. Wednesday night they moved the Beach Buffet/Party to Victoria Market due to chance of rain. The entertainment was good and the food was fair, nothing unusual.
On Thursday, Braco had a buffet for the people on the au natural side, they set it up around the bar at the pool. It was great, in fact, better food than at Victoria Market. There was salads, baked fish in a sauce, chicken, grilled lamb chops, jerk seasoned steaks, and deserts. We didn't make the PJ Party that night, but understood it was fairly tame. Friday, well it was time to pack and check out, but we had a few hours, that we laid around the pool and had a last minute chance to talk to people that we had met. Friday, we also had a chance to eat at the La Pasta Restaurant before our shuttle left. Both of us had the seafood pizza, that was fantastic, highly recommend this one.
Over all the service on the au natural side was excellent, from maid service, room service, bar tenders, & club house. A person could not have asked for any better treatment or service. The service and food, we found at the other restaurants, was excellent. Especially the French, the Japanese, & Nanny's Jerk Pit. Victoria Market, the breakfast buffet was good along with service,at night when it was a la carte, the food was displayed very nice, but no taste, but service was good.
This was our first time at Braco, will not be our last. It was well worth the extra we paid to stay on the au natural side ($1500 per person, land rate for 7 nights), it was nice to just walk out of your room without clothes on and be at the pool, instead of paying less for the textile side, getting dressed and walking over to this side. The au natural side was the best of any resort that we have been to.
Bill and Deborah Smith bsmith@msdh.state.ms.us