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Guests' Letters
Jo-Ann
Turning
. . . Blue Vista Villa, July '02
Prem:
Thank you for your email. We had a very nice vacation at Silver Sands. It was probably the most relaxing vacation we ever had. We only left the villa 5 times during the week, and each time it was to take a walk to the beach in the morning.
When we arrived at the airport we were happy to have our driver waiting for us with nice cold drinks. We had gotten up at 4am that morning and our 10 month old daughter was so exhausted from the flight, but she cooperated and stayed pleasant during the 45 minute ride to Silver Sands.
"Inez and Brenda were wonderful
and really took good care of us. Your office staff was
pleasant and helpful..."
"We loved the pool and enjoyed
the comfortable lounge chairs on the patio- that we
literally stayed in all week!"
Gazebo on the jetty.
Footpath to the beach.
I was a little disappointed that the crib and highchair we
requested was not at the villa upon our arrival, since Anna
REALLY needed a nap. Inez called the office to remind them
about it, and we had it within an hour or two - so we had a
chance to take a dip in the pool and cool off a bit, change
our clothes and then make up Anna's bed for her
nap.
Later that night we took a walk to the beach and again had a little disappointment that we couldn't easily use our stroller for Anna. The roads were SO bumpy and then, when we got to the pathway to the beach, found that there were a lot of big stairs to go down, so we had to carry everything up and down the stairs. We never used the stroller again during the week and so it was a little inconvenient to have to carry Anna and our beach bag, towels, etc. all the way to the beach - instead of easily being able to push everything in the stroller.
Inez and Brenda were wonderful. We were a little apprehensive about having a cook and housekeeper, since we are definitely not accustomed to this service - but it turned out to be so nice - - they'd just ring the little bell when a meal was ready and we would come running. All the food was delicious. And Inez did a great job of shopping for our food for the week based on our likes/and dislikes that we provided before we arrived. We gave her a list of a few more things we needed, and also she returned a few items I told her we wouldn't use - and she had her son deliver it to our house that night - -now that's SERVICE! It was a little awkward settling the bill- since it was given to us in Jamaican dollars and we only had US$. We told her we could give her a credit card #, or just give her cash to settle it - but without having the exact exchange rate handy - it was hard to figure out. But I ended up estimating and gave her cash to settle the bill. If a more "automated" system could be set up that maybe would tell you Jamaican and US$ amounts on the food bill, that would be really helpful. Just an fyi, we spent $235 USD for food for the week, which was about 15-18$ pp per day. Very reasonable! And we ate good! Fruit salad, toast and eggs, omelets, pancakes, bacon, etc. for breakfast, and for dinners: green salad (great dressing that Inez made each day) vegetables, like twice baked potatoes, green beans, rice and beans, along with steak, bbq chicken, jerk chicken, fried chicken, spaghetti with an awesome meat sauce, and even cakes and pies for dessert! oh and of course fried banana's too! They were great!
One other minor complaint, which I know is just due to bad timing on our part, was the noise while we were there! They are in the process of paving the road, so every day between 9-5 we heard loud dump trucks going up and down the street, and worse there were about 10-15 workers using shovels on the road, so we had the banging and metal scraping noise going on all day! I was so happy when Sunday finally came and we realized they didn't work on that day! But if it will improve the road condition, thus allowing people to use strollers, it's obviously a nice improvement. The roads were horrible with HUGE potholes that you had to be so careful walking, especially when carrying our daughter!
One night we also lost power for about an hour - which panicked me since it was after office hours and we weren't sure if it was just US or the whole neighborhood. It turned out to be everyone --and luckily it came back on quickly. I would've been lost without the air conditioning - and more importantly the water!! I couldn't believe I couldn't use the water when the power was out. Last minor complaint was our car for our return trip to the airport was about 20 min late. Of course, this isn't that much time, but when you have a 10 month old and everything revolves around her nap and eating schedule, we were just a little anxious to get moving. Mark, the driver, made it up to us and stopped at McDonald's on the way, so we could grab a quick bite to eat before our flight. I'm so glad we stopped, since our flight was delayed.
We loved the pool and enjoyed the comfortable lounge chairs on the patio- that we literally stayed in all week! Mostly in the shade since the sun was so intense, I was afraid I was getting sun poisoning! We went the beach very early each morning - between 7-8:30am and had the whole beach to ourselves - no one else was awake yet! It was wonderfully peaceful and the water was magnificent. The early morning was the best time to go to the beach, since during the day it gets VERY windy and the second you step out of the water, you have sand sticking all over you. My husband and I were OK, but it was hard on our daughter and she was getting it in her eyes and mouth.... so we never went to the beach mid or late day. We did try to go to the welcome party on Friday night, but must have gotten there too early - I wasn't sure of the time -- and it was close to Anna's bedtime so we ended up walking back to the house instead. We ate at the grill down at the beach one day and it was delicious and the staff there was very friendly and helpful. The staff in the convenience store weren't that friendly, but I only visited two times to buy phone cards and few snacks, etc. Although I almost felt like I was bothering them into making them work.
I thought your internet site was so well organized and thorough that it made it easy to plan our vacation. We were specifically looking for a beautiful warm place to relax for a week. We didn't want to have to sightsee or go out to restaurants to eat, since we knew we would have limitations traveling with our 10 month old daughter. We didn't want to be stuck somewhere in a resort with hotel rooms that we would have to sit in while our daughter napped during the day and tip toe around quietly while she was sleeping. At the Blue Vista, we had a separate bedroom for her and brought our monitor wherever we went in the house or by the pool and got to spend quality time just relaxing and enjoying each other. The house is quite sound proof, because Anna is usually a very light sleeper, but with all the road construction and with Inez and Brenda banging around in the kitchen, Anna never heard a thing - -the hum of the ceiling fan and air conditioner lulled her to sleep. I would recommend Silver Sands to someone who was looking for this exact same type of vacation. I personally wouldn't come back, not because we didn't have a good time, but because we've been to Jamaica two times now and feel we have experienced it - and so now we'll move on to try somewhere new.
Inez and Brenda were wonderful and really took good care of us. Your office staff was pleasant and helpful with anything we needed, and stopped by one day to check on us.
For anyone deciding on traveling there, I would just point out a few blunt details so their expectations are ready for their arrival. It's HOT, and without the entire house having air conditioning - if you are used to using it at home - like we are, it was hard to adjust at first without having it. I panicked the first night and really wondered if we would survive the week in the heat without air conditioning - but we soon adjusted to the nice breezes that went through the house and it turned out to be not so bad. Also, Silver Sands is not a pristinely manicured impeccably landscaped resort. So if you are expecting to drive into a grand entrance and get this overwhelming feeling of being in a resort area, it's not like that at all. It's like being in a neighborhood in Jamaica that has all sorts of vegetation and beautiful flowers trees and shrubs that grow along all the houses, but it's individually maintained, and it's not uniform throughout the whole place. Each house is different. Finally, there were tons of bugs everywhere.... beetles, mosquitos (which attacked my legs unforgiveably - but yet never bit my husband or daughter once?!?), butterflies, flies, and other unknown things flying throughout the house and outside. One night we even had two lizards crawling on our dining room wall! We delicately "shoo-ed" them out of the house, but I did hope that they weren't in the bedrooms and was a little uneasy that night! I just think this information should be shared, so someone doesn't travel their and get a surprise. I know several people who would've immediately left for the Ritz Carlton the minute they saw the lizard!
I have attached several pictures (we took close to 150!!) from our trip and we'd love to see them posted on your website, along with our comments. I have to say that reading the guest comments from others who stayed at Silver Sands, and at the Blue Vista, in particular, was the reason we ultimately decided to book this vacation. I did even email one of your ambassadors who said they traveled with children, just to ask them a few questions and they promptly emailed me back.
So, this information is very helpful.....And thank you for your personal attention. It definitely is a good selling point of Silver Sands. You feel important - and not just like another reservation!
Please feel free to email me back if you need any further clarification about my comments.
Sincerely,
Jerry, Jo-Ann and Anna Turning
New Jersey, USA
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