This is more of a comparison report of our experience
with GL Negril and GL Braco. Our
heart is in Negril and our mind is in Braco.
I hope Denny keeps our Grand Lido Negril report so you
can read it first. See Rick &
Patricia GL Negril – 10/98. It
was the second from the top of the list and because of the date, it is getting
old. I think he keeps it because
it has good content about getting (my) wife to a nude beach. If you are a man, you will probably print it for your wife to
read. It may or may not change
her mind about C/O beaches. My
wife now prefers the “correct” side of the beach (see end of this report
for definition of correct)
Our first nude beach experience was at Grand Lido Negril
in November 1998. We went back
there in November 1999. We went
to Grand Lido Braco November 1st through the 8th, 2000.
We used GoClassy Tours again, our third time.
I got more aggressive at trying to find a better price and without
success, again. Maybe I will learn this next year to just email them to book
it. They get a lot of press in
Trip Reports so this is just one more...atta-boy.
Overall we think Negril is 5-star and Braco is 4-star.
The difference is little things, they tell me, and we did experience
the difference. At Negril we
never had to ask for juice refill during breakfast.
At Braco we did almost every morning, especially Sunday when the
regular manager was not on duty. He
is probably one of the best dining room managers I have every witnessed but he
had a busy room with a lot of trainees. Please
understand that the differences between 5-star and 4-star most people would
not notice. I did look for the
differences because last year the new manager at GL Negril explained the real
differences to look for in a 5-star. While
I do notice them, my nose is not up in the air and I am very happy with
either.
Braco had ALL the booze...virtually every brand from
around the world, including Baileys. Most
trip reports complain about these resorts having Jamaica only selections.
And, for-your-information, you must try O’Rileys Jamaican Rum Creme
next to Baileys. I think you will
like Jamaican a lot more. It is smoother and creamier.
OK, the wine selection still is weak, but WITH food it is pretty good.
Braco has the Village. This is a real nice atmosphere.
You have the permanent shops. You
have the daily vendors. These do
change daily. We did not believe
it and I came back the next day to “negotiate more” to find he was not
back. I made a mistake over a
buck for a carving we really wanted.
It was nice to find Zantac in the store (about $6 US for a 6 tablet
box) because I do tend to overeat spicy.
We did not try all the food. Some was better than Negril and some was less but only a
little. The French and Japanese
restaurants were training some Cubans for the opening of a SuperClub in their
country in January 2001. I have
not seen or heard anything about this elsewhere.
The lady cooking at the C/O bar had some attitude days.
And, back to the little things...I ordered a hamburger.
I said so a couple times. I
got a spicy chicken burger. She
knew what she was doing but did not tell anyone she was out of beef burgers. That is very irritating.
I was not offered the option of another choice.
Beach? Well,
the nude beach at Braco is big like the textile beach at Negril.
Really big!
Pool? Really
big! The pool area is huge but we spent all our time on the beach.
When you have so much space people spread out.
There was a lot less of the getting-to-know-other-people thing going
on. We did see at least 6 couples
we met at Negril. We talked with
them some but definitely less. At
Negril, you simply are closer and that closeness promotes talking.
Sure, Negril has some space away from the center of things, but Braco
is very large. We did not feel
like the resort was even half full but in fact it was totally booked full.
I am told it is a man made beach. The only part that is somewhat obvious is the jetties or
breakers. The breeze was constant
during our visit. Some would call
it a wind. It had the waves
splashing on and over the breakers that are about a football field distance
out from the shoreline. We would
snorkel just inside these and had a nice time.
Many of the outer snorkel trips were canceled due to high winds and
waves.
Beach. Try
to imagine this: The waves are crashing into shore...out there about 300 feet
away. At the same time you are
swimming or sunning at the edge of a calm water shoreline. Really different and we loved it. Some trip-reports tell of the winds of Braco.
I noticed that we felt virtually no breeze once we moved away from the
beach side of the buildings. If
the wind had been blowing more than 25 mph, we might have moved to the pool
area. It was blowing almost that
hard the first two days and was not a problem to be right on the beach.
(empty drink cups would then blow over).
Oh, and speaking of drink cups, pack an insulated cup for your drinks.
You will probably use it when you do spend time out on the beach.
They do sell a nice one in the “logo” shop if you forget.
We had the kind, like the logo shop I think, whereby the insulator
slips off the bottom to become a beer can cooler.
Red Stripe fit in ours just right.
We are slow drinkers so I am glad some trip report mentioned this idea.
The breeze kept us from sweating a lot.
The sound of the waves lulled us into bliss and lethargy.
The calm water was great for floating and cooling off.
The warning I have is that if you do sit there for more than an hour,
you may not move the rest of the day. It
is hypnotic and you have been warned. It
took us several days to read a single book.
I am talking 8-hour days. It
took me almost 40 hours to read a 400-page book. Can you imagine only 10 pages per hour...nobody reads that
slowly...except on Braco beach. The
sounds of the ocean waves and the warm breeze simply flushed my brain and
body. I have been back to work 5
days now and still trying to come back up to speed.
We did not go over to the textile beach side during the
day. Our evening walks through
that sides of the resort were very nice.
I would highly recommend this side to anyone wanting an exceptional
vacation. It appears to be better
than Negril but may have more restricted views of the ocean from the rooms
from ground floor. The beach area
looked wonderful at night.
Things we like best:
Braco, size of beach and space to be by ourselves when we
want that quiet day. We like to
walk the beach several times a day and here it is a nice long walk.
I started this report by saying our mind is in Braco.
The reason in mostly because it has the Jamaican Village thing going
for it and the whole resort layout just gives you more space to walk
around...more of a small town like feel.
In the evenings we would leave our room and walk into town for dinner.
As we approached town, the street changed to cobblestone into the
square with it’s water fountain and then around the corner to the restaurant
district. The other reason I say
my mind is in Braco is because I feel it was left there on the beach. The breeze and ocean sound took it. One minor
negative/positive here is that we did see a couple talked to about being
dressed in the nude area. It was
explained gently that they should respect/participate in the clothing style
represented by this side of the resort. The
resort provides another side for those that prefer to enjoy their beach and
pool time with their clothes on. He
was very good about what he said and his approach.
They kept their clothes on and took an extra long lunch hour before
going to their room...on the nude side ground floor.
I don’t remember seeing them again and it is probably because they
were there to be nude, too, and I simply did not recognize them with their
clothes on. People wearing
clothes do tend to stand out on a nude beach.
Things we like best:
Negril, size of the beach and closeness with other
people. The smaller offering has
it’s own appeal that we still like. I
started this report saying my heart is in Negril because of a lot of personal
reasons. I think it just feels
more like home than a house. There
are big differences when you describe your home to someone rather than
describing a house you might be selling.
A home is where you make your life and raise a family.
Hard to say much more about our heart being in Negril.
I will say that we really missed taking a Hobie Catamaran out for a
lazy sail around Bloody Bay (Blue Lagoon).
All Braco has is sailing sea kayak type things that appeared to be
single person use and I did not see any being used all week.
We did see a few people struggle with sailing surfboard and all were
rescued right after falling and not getting the sail back up.
All were wearing life jackets that I assume the resort or common sense
caused them to wear. All were
probably very athletic and in shape, too.
Negril has a better snorkel experience waiting for us.
And, I could go on about the minor differences in the
food, or rooms, or whatever, but suffice it to say, we will have a hard time
deciding which is better for us. I
will let you in on a little secret. I
think we will go back to Braco in 2001 for our typical week.
THEN, we will do what I saw a few others doing...BOTH.
We will go for 10 days and split them between each.
Or, we will find some other warm destination that will cost more or
less. Or we will...only we will know...this is my last trip report for those
looking for paradise.
Expect to pay a little more for Negril.
I hear it has achieved 5-star status.
It deserves it. If you go to Negril, take the little 4 seat airplane
(de-plane, de-plane) into Negril. Three
can go because one seat is for the pilot.
If you go to Braco, your only option is the drive and the road is just
fine...better if you watch the scenery.
Speaking of driving...Jamaicans drive on the CORRECT side of the road. I had it explained to me that there is a right side and a correct side. (not left side). What does that have to do with resorts and my wife? You may notice that as you enter GL Negril or GL Braco, the nude beach is on the “correct” side of the resort.