This was our first trip outside the United States and our
first trip without our children. We’ve
wanted to go to Jamaica for a couple years and finally made the decision to
go. The question however was
where to stay. We looked at
Sandals and some other resorts plus the Super Clubs resorts.
We chose to go to GL Braco at first because of the village atmosphere
and after reading several trip reports realized that we had made the correct
choice. I want to thank Martha
and Denny for their web sites, as they were extremely helpful in making our
decision as to where to stay and to everyone who contributed to them.
Now; onto the report. We had booked a 7-night stay from
January 19th through the 26th. We left Chicago at 6:30 am and had a direct flight to
Jamaica on Air Jamaica. The flight went great other than a short time of
turbulence and we arrived at Sangster about 11:30.
I really liked our flight schedule since we had all afternoon to spend
at Braco when we arrived and didn’t have to leave the resort until 3:00 the
day we left since we had a 6:15 flight.
We went with friends of ours and met another couple from
Indiana in the airport that was going to Jamaica for the 6th time.
This was their 3rd time to Braco.
It was really nice to meet with people that “knew the ropes”.
We got through immigration no problem and the Superclubs
people were there to make us feel at home.
We waited about 20 minutes or so for the van to take us to Braco.
The ride was fine once we got used to driving on the wrong side of the
road and goats walking out in front of the vehicle.
Actually, our new friends from Indiana mentioned that this was one of
the best drivers they had experienced.
Check in went fine with the customary champagne and cool
towel. We had a garden view room
on the textile side. The room was
very nice just as pictured in the brochures.
We arrived on a Wednesday and so after getting checked in
and looking around a little we went back to the room to get ready for the
beach party. The party was great
with all the tables set on the beach and really great food.
The entertainment was good with quite a variety from limbo contests to
fire eating. One of our friends
won a bottle of rum for winning one of the couple contests. That evening we went and listened to some of the Karoke
performances and then over to the disco.
The disco was nice but the music was kind of loud.
We thought about going to the au natural side sometime during the trip
and at the disco talked with a couple that had been at Braco before about
going over to the au natural side. The
trip reports we read helped reassure us and also this couple answered a couple
questions we had. So, after
leaving the disco we went over to the Au Natural hot tub.
What everyone had said was right.
After feeling a little uncomfortable for a few minutes, you realized
that nobody cares and you just start meeting new friends and enjoying
yourself. Going to the hot tub each evening about 11:00 until 1:00 or
2:00 soon became an evening ritual. It’s
hard to explain how great it is being in the hot tub with friends talking and
getting to know each other while looking up at the stars.
Thursday: Got
up about 8:30 and ordered room service, muffins and bagels.
Put out the room service card the night before and they had it brought
to us when we had asked. Beach
from about 9:30 to 12:30. Lunch
at Nanny’s Jerk Pit. My wife
doesn’t like hot food so she had the jerk chicken without the sauce.
I had the sauce and thought it was great.
Also had jerk burgers several times during the trip.
They were great. Went to Dunn’s River Falls in the afternoon.
This was nice and I suppose everyone should at least do this once.
We ate at Victoria’s Market that evening; watched the entertainment
and then went to the disco for the pajama party.
Pretty tame dress at the party with about 30 people.
Left about 12:00 to the hot tub and then back to LaPasta about 1:30 for
pizza.
Friday: Went
to Victoria’s Market for breakfast and brought back breakfast to the room
for Alice. Spent most of the day
on the beach, playing volleyball and snacking between the Jerk Pit and room
service. Temperature was
generally in the low 80’s most of the trip but today was a little windy so
left the beach to go to the pool.
Had the street party this evening.
This was unbelievable. With
the trees lit and tables in the downtown area on the streets.
We’re not very big seafood people but the lobster was great and the
desert table made the choice of what to choose, oh so difficult.
Following the dinner they had the street dance and several dancing
contests. We stayed and partied
until about 11:30 and then the nightly trek to the hot tub for a couple hours.
Saturday: Alice and I did the morning power walk and decided we were better at a power stroll. Took a tennis lesson. I expected that they would just have someone local and was surprised to find that they had the woman’s tennis coach from Brown University. I realized how badly I needed lessons but also learned a lot.
Also played golf on the Braco course.
Small par3 course with one par4. It’s
not great but I could never play in January in northern Illinois so just
swinging the club was great. Alice
stayed at the pool and beach most of the day.
She also decided to do some windsailing and really enjoyed it.
She had the opportunity to watch a couple get married. It seemed there were at least two couples a day getting
married or repeating vows. I
played in the table tennis tournament but since I was the only one who showed
up I played with one of the entertainment staff for awhile.
Had dinner at the Japanese restaurant.
We had made reservations for both the Japanese and French restaurant
the same day we arrived. We ate
with our friends and also a couple from Sweden.
The preparation was nicely done but we did notice a difference between
chefs. Ours did a nice job but
the man cooking at another table was more entertaining and seemed more
enthusiastic in his preparation. The
food tasted great. Walked the
beach with Alice in the evening, back to the hot tub and then pizza about
1:00.
From here on the days just seem to blend together.
Basically it was, wake up about 8:00, have breakfast, pool and beach,
lunch, more pool and beach, back to the room from about 4:30 to 6:00, meet
friends about 6:00 then dinner at about 7:00, watch the entertainment till
about 10:00, hit the disco, Karoke or piano bar till about 11:00 or so, pizza
or other snack and head to the hot tub till about 1:30 to 2:00.
We really weren’t planning to get into a routine but if you must we
figured this wasn’t a bad one to get into.
The following are some general observations concerning
our experiences with the resort and the people who work here.
Of the eight days we stayed there was really only one day
where it rained most of the day. A
couple days it was cloudy but usually only partly cloudy and a couple days
there was not a cloud in the sky. The
week before we arrived we were told they had some of the coldest weather in
recent memory. Because of that
the pool temperatures were cool but later in the week warmed up so that you
could spend some time in the pool.
Dinner at the French Restaurant was just great.
The presentation was fantastic and the service superb.
The food was just as we had read in previous trip reports.
The only problem I had was that I ate too much at the Jerk Pit before
dinner and so don’t think I could appreciate the meal as much as I would
have liked. If it were offered,
we would certainly recommend the crème Brulee for desert.
We also especially enjoyed the harpist that was playing during dinner.
While there Alice took part in some of the exercise
classes. She did Tai Bo one day,
aqua aerobics another and step aerobics another.
While she was doing this I was on the treadmill.
It certainly is nice to exercise overlooking the crystal clear water.
The instructor was one of the greatest people.
His name is Mike and Alice really enjoyed his enthusiasm and the way he
taught the classes.
Be sure to participate in the mixology class. KC
did our class and she was just great. What
a wonderful person. I won’t say
any more as you need to experience this fun event yourself.
I did the manicure and Alice did both the manicure and
pedicure. She really liked it and
was pleased with the lady who did the work.
On Tuesday afternoon they were showing people how to make
togas for the toga party that evening. The
party was pretty well attended with about 70 people.
It was nice at both the pajama and toga party that you weren’t
allowed in without the appropriate attire although there were a couple older
guys at the toga party without a toga.
If you go to Braco be sure to say hello to Tamika who is
a waitress at Victoria’s Market. She
is only 19 but so mature for her age. She
was a joy to talk to while we had dinner.
Ashley was as usual great and did a very nice job singing.
The entertainment overall was very good most evenings.
While we didn’t have much of an opportunity to visit with Renard, his
presence was always around.
We went to Braco to just relax and have fun.
Not only did we do that but also we were fortunate to meet the most
wonderful people. Those that
worked at the resort and those visiting.
I really believe that if you go with the idea to just relax, have fun
and visit with people that you will have a great time.
We met couples from Sweden, Indiana, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, Maine.
I think I can best sum up this trip by the following: I asked Alice the second day about IF we come back next year and she said, “what do you mean IF?” Seems as if any financial decisions made now are prefaced by “How will this affect our saving for Jamaica”