Trip Report
- Breezes Golf and Beach Resort
Runaway Bay,
Jamaica Dates
11/21/00-11/27/00
Who are we?
Married with children (kids stayed home this time!)
We are in our forties
We have been to Jamaica many times before (most times to
Hedonism II in Negril) and love it there!
We fly to Jamaica on Air Jamaica from BWI in Baltimore,
MD. It is about a 90 minute drive
from our home in Northern Virginia. We
are closer to Dulles, but prefer AirJamaica due to the direct, non-stop flight
to MoBay.
We left BWI pretty much on time and arrived at Sangster
in MoBay pretty much on time. The
flight on AirJam was excellent, as was the Champagne Breakfast with Mimosas
and a decent movie. We have flown
AirJamaica five times now and they have earned our business back each time.
Once at Sangster things slow down a bit, but not too bad.
Immigration, baggage claim, customs, and then on to the SuperClubs
Desk. We checked in with them,
and they were expecting us. The
wait to get going is about 15 minutes just long enough for a restroom stop
and a Red Stripe.
Transport to the resort was on a JUTA bus that was comfortable and air-conditioned. We stopped for drinks and restrooms about 45 minutes into the ride . We arrived at Breezes Runaway Bay about 1hour and
20 minutes after leaving MoBay (that included a short
stop on the way!).
Arrival.
The front desk staff was efficient and friendly.
Our rooms were ready even though check-in technically was not until 3
PM. We had requested to be in the
same building and were assigned rooms in the same hallway of building 2000.
Our friends
were in RM 2214 and we were in 2230.
The rooms were beautiful and clean.
We booked the lowest priced rooms (which I am told are the same, but
face the resort side fences rather than pool or gardens.
Booking with GoClassy Tours (they are the BEST!) allows a free room
upgrade IF available. I would
imagine that most times they are not available but our rooms were clearly
upgrades as we had prime rooms overlooking the pool.
In the rooms upon arrival we found a bottle of champagne on ice and a
swan made from folded towels on the bed- sprinkled with fragrant flower
petals. Nice touch!
Each room had a firm and comfortable over-sized King bed. The air-conditioning worked perfectly.
We watched little TV, but it was nice to have and it had CNN, HBO, and about a dozen other channels.
A sliding glass door opened onto a balcony that
overlooked the pool. This
was the nicest room we have stayed in at an all-inclusive.
I imagine it might not seem so good if compared to a room at a more
expensive Lido Resort, but compared to Hedonism II, Boscobel Beach (R.I.P.),
and several Club Meds ....it
was the best we had seen.
The beach is excellent. The sand is more tan than white (it is whiter in Negril, Cancun, Bahamas) but the water was the equal of any we had seen. It is clear, warm, and clean. Visibility was excellent for snorkeling and diving. The beach seemed to have enough chairs to go around. Towels can be tough to get at certain times of the day and there are plenty other times. There is a small nude beach located at one end of the main beach. It is small, but nice. It has a hot tub (small, nothing like at Hedo II!) and a self-service bar that seemed to be kept well-stocked with booze, mixers, juices, soft drinks, and a beer tap.
One drawback of the nude beach is its located next to
the border with FDR (a family resort) and often times families with kids use
the beach area there. No one
seems to mind or make a big deal of it though.
Windsurfing, sailing, snorkeling, and other stuff is
available on the main beach. Two
days the wind was too strong to do most of the water sports though.
The pool is beautiful, large, and clean. It is surrounded by very nice lounge chairs. It has pool volleyball at one end. This is a good place to catch some sun if the beach area is too windy.
Most of the pool is quite deep considering there is no
diving board.
Overall the food was very good. We ate most of our meals in the main buffet terrace and found
good food at all meals. Highlights
were the made-to-order omelets in the morning, the marinated grilled shrimp at
dinner, and a great Turkey and stuffing dinner on Thanksgiving.
Every meal has a fantastic array of fresh fruits, salads,
and desserts. We always
came a little early to dinner to get at table with a good view of the stage
for evening entertainment.
There is a Beach Grill that serves hotdogs, hamburgers,
french fries, and excellent Jerk Chicken.
It opens around 11:00 am but does not usually have jerk chicken until
12:30 or later. We often had jerk
chicken instead of the buffet lunch or took a plate of it up to the terrace to
have with the buffet.
Martinos is their Italian restaurant that is by
reservation only. It is very
similar to Pastafari at Hedonism II but is a bit more fancy.
It reminded me a little of the adults only restaurant at Boscobel Beach
(R.I.P.) called Allegro. It is air-conditioned and very nice inside. The
antipasto and salad bar is great and the dinners were fancy, but good.
We ate there one night and then stuck to teh buffet. We preferred the
buffet because I hate to get dressed up for dinner on vacation (they require
long pants and shirt with collar for men).
The meal was a little too lengthy (almost two hours to get all the
courses done). It is very good
though and a nice option if you get tired of the buffet.
We did not.
There is also a pre-dinner snack by the beach bar in the
evenings and a High Tea every day as well.
We played golf every morning. It is a short bumpy shuttle ride over to the course which is
right across the street. We left
our clubs there the first day so we would not have to lug them back and forth.
Greens fees are included for Breezes guests but caddies are mandatory
and not included. It is about $14
for the caddie fee plus a tip is expected (and well earned!) by the caddie.
I used the same caddie every day and recommend him.
He is Wesley Brown and he is caddie number 6. Be sure to buy him a beer or two during the round of golf!
We walked every day, but carts are available at extra cost.
The course is nice. It is
challenging (for me!) mainly because the par fours are so long (all of them
well over 400 yards).
Since we have been to Hedonism II so many times it is maybe not fair to judge the activities. Few resorts compare to Hedonism II in overall energy. The theme parties at Breezes were not as well attended as at Hedo and the outfits were a LOT more conservative and the Pajama Party. The wet tee shirt contest was cancelled due to lack of interest (well, lack of female interest!).
Otherwise the entertainment was good. The resident band is very good and the shows are quite good.
The piano bar at night starts slow and then gets going
well later.
Drinks and bar service were very good here.
There always seemed to be enough bartenders who were smiling and
pleasant. At times though they do
get swamped by a crowd (especially the beach bar) but then a short walk to the
lobby bar solves that, we never had to wait there.
We always have (and recommend) taken our own LARGE insulated mugs to
get extra large drinks mixed in. They
last longer, stay colder, and the travel mug lids keep sand out.
Our flight home was overbooked and we got bumped off
the plane. That is always
a risk flying around a holiday like we did.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving was a busy time for all the airlines.
AirJamaica was apologetic and quickly sent us with vouchers to the
Sunset Beach Resort, a moderate all-inclusive in MoBay.
It was not the same level at Breezes Runaway Bay , but it was nice.
In addition to transfers, meals, drinks, and a night at Sunset beach we
were each given a voucher for $200 off our next AjrJamaybe flight.
I have been compensated better (and worse) by other airlines in the
past. So one more sunny day in
MoBay and we were back home. We
will most definitely go back one day. It
is a great resort for the price.
If you have specific questions not addressed here feel
free to email us at rhall50@erols.com