Chris - September, 2012
September 1-5, 2012
Overview:
We booked the resort through a Groupon deal, and found the resort to be a nice value for the money. Although showing its age, the resort is clean, cozy, and well maintained. As with many resorts, the friendly and attentive staff really made the experience. Low occupancy in September limited guest interaction and participation in entertainment, but we were travelling with friends, so that was not a problem for us. Our stay was 4 nights. We spent one day on an excursion, had a massage one day, and spent the other days mostly relaxing. We enjoyed the nude beach during the day, and confirmed with the staff that nudity in the hot tub was not a problem. This resort might be a good candidate for a takeover, and in fact we overheard a conversation between a guest and management on that very topic.
With the small number of guests (at least in low season), this is definitely a bring your own party type of resort. The rooms are not luxury, but are clean (I would put them below N-Resort, and even Hedo). We used this resort as a start to our trip, with 4 out of 11 nights spent here. We would definitely consider coming back, especially with a group of friends.
Location:
Club Ambiance is located in Runaway Bay, about an hour drive from the airport. This location makes it a good starting point for excursions such as Dunn’s River Falls in Ocho Rios, Dolphin Cove, and the Green Grotto (which is within 3 miles).
Rooms:
We stayed in the “Deluxe” room category, which are upstairs rooms in the main building over the dining room and game room. Rooms are fairly basic, with plain tile, and some slightly miss-matched furniture. Each room has its own balcony, good for reading a book. Beds are comfortable, linens are not the highest quality, but passible. Pillows were lumpy. The bathroom was fairly large with a tub/shower combo. With the curved slick bottom of the tub, the rubber bath mat was a necessity for shower safety. The rooms are showing their age, and are quite plain, but overall clean and better than some I’ve stayed in. The best feature was the air conditioning, which kept the room cool, and we even had to turn the temperature up at one point. Not sure I’ve seen that elsewhere in Jamaica. No vent in the bathroom though, so we kept the bathroom door open when not in the room. Rooms 14 & 15 are slightly larger and nicer and larger than the other rooms, and sort of off to themselves at one end, worth asking if you can get one of these.
Beaches:
Although only 15 miles or so past Falmouth, this location did not have the constant overpowering wind that N-Resort gets. That wind kept us behind plexi-glass barriers at the pool most days while at N, not the case at Club Ambiance. We found the beaches relaxing with a gentle breeze. There are 2 beach areas on either side of the pier, with a small section of one side reserved for nude sunbathing. This section has a dozen or so lounge chairs, and is separated from the rest by lattice on the beach. When you wander out into the water from this beach, you are visible to the rest of the beach on that side, and possibly to the bar. This was not a problem for us though, we enjoyed the nude beach each day of our visit. There were topless sunbathers on other areas of the beach each day.
Snorkeling is right in front of the resort, and a resort guide will lead you out of the breakwater on one side of the resort, over an old shipwreck, and back into the other side of the resort.
I would rate these beaches better than those at N-Resort, or the nude side of Hedo.
Food:
Food is served in the main dining room, or at an outdoor grill across a courtyard from the main room. Breakfast includes a buffet with fresh fruit, hot dishes, and a grill where you can get pancakes or an omelet. The lunch and dinner buffet usually had some local flavors with fish, chicken, and roast beef or other meat. There were different meal nights, including Jerk Chicken on the beach, BBQ night at the courtyard grill, and the option of a-la-cart steak and lobster. We opted for this (at an extra charge) one night and it was quite good.
While we were there with very low occupancy, only the main bar and the disco bar in the evening were open. There is a pool bar and bar on the pier that open with more guests in the resort.