Couples Swept Away

We returned to this resort having stayed here in April this year. It was a late booking with only the Atrium rooms or Garden rooms available, so we booked the Atrium room. After the first night we changed room to the Garden room as the nightly entertainment of crickets and tree frogs, kept us awake most of the night. we know this is to be expected as we are in the tropics. If you are a light sleeper you may consider this level room, as they have glass along with the shutters. We previously stayed in the Beach Front Verandah rooms which are also really quiet, with the location being perfect. A lot of the rooms are being updated, and I am sure they will be lovely when completed. Reception : Missed the usual Jamaican greeting, a lovely smile and welcome ! Thank you for the room change, even though it was a room downgrade at our request. Restaurants: Only Lemongrass and Feathers were open for the week. However, you could only have one reservation during the week to either one. Dinner at Feathers was very good along with the service. The Patois Patio was only open on the Sunday we arrived and for the Comeback Dinner the following night. I must say we missed this restaurant for the reminder of our stay, as the dinner menus here were excellent. It was closed for the remainder of the stay. The Palms buffet restaurant was ok for breakfast and for lunch. Dinner choices were limited and don`t be late as the options go very quick. We had lobster dinner here on Saturday night and it was really really good ! Not sure what is going on with the staff, but it was a mixed bag in terms of politeness. We always said good morning as we do in our everyday life, but on two occasions were totally ignored and the facial expression said a lot. We did not go to Lemongrass so no comment. Cabana Grill and Sea Grapes were a good option for a light lunch. Beach Bars: Two out of three beach bars were open. I found the staff were not very polite when approached, and were more engaged with each other to a point of you being ignored. It did not matter if you left a tip, the service remained the same. It was not like this at previous visits to Couples Swept Away I might add, where you were at least greeted with a smile by the more mature staff. An attitude adjustment in customer service may be needed to address this ! Water sports : Only went paddle boarding, but all the usual activities were available. On one occasion a windsurfer got into trouble and a customer swam out to help him back. The waters ports staff need to be a little more attentive to whats going on. Dive shop : This is one of the best dive shops I have used, and I have been to many ! Big shout out to everyone including Shaggy, Anthony, and the rest of the crew. These guys are really excellent, and really enjoy diving with them. Catamaran cruise: Excellent and highly recommended, lovely late afternoon cruise around the coast to Ricks Cafe, perfect way to end the day ! Location : Set on Seven Mile beach the location is second to none. The water is calm and clear, and you can walk this beach easily. The vendors can bother you a little but you just be polite and decline and they don`t bother you after that. Overall we had a lovely stay, and would probably return. I know we had some issues with some of the staff, but I am sure that this can be addressed by management. Looking forward to our next visit ! Read less

Currently at this hotel which started well given we had to rearrange to visit this hotel after TUI informed us that our first choice hotel was closed 2 weeks before we travelled. We enjoyed our first alla carte meal which was amazing, we felt this would continue as we used all the available restaurants during our stay. We were then informed that this restaurant was closed with immediate effect due to it being off season a numbers in the hotel were low, however the hotel suggested we would benefit from this as they could concentrate their efforts elsewhere, which if you read on it will be apparent this is not the case. The restaurant in question also boasted an ala carte breakfast menu which was one of the reasons we settled for this resort. The second evening we used a different restaurant only to find a number of key dishes were unavailable leaving what was a very limited choice. We then chose to use the buffet offering, we arrived at the restaurant planning to eat at 20.00, it was quickly obvious there was an obvious lack of food available even though service was due to continue until 22.00, some replenishment of the dishes happened although not nearly enough to service the demand. Breakfast and lunch have a fairly small selection but, although we have only been here 4 days, we have found sufficient to eat. Most of the staff are brilliant although it appears there are some who are less invested. Last night I was asked to clear my glasses from our table by the bartender as we headed to bed. A night earlier I had to resort to waving a napkin to gain someone's attention as they appeared to be more absorbed with the entertainment than their job. This is not a 5* resort based on the above. On a plus side, the free trips and watersports are excellent however we have no idea if this will be changed due to their initial out of season reasoning. Think twice guys at the moment, it isn't currently worth the 7K we have forked out for it!! Read less

AVOID THIS HOTEL Currently at CSA resort and this is our 4th day. Our experience to date has been very poor. After a fabulous first night with 5* dining, the resort chose to close an A La carte restaurant with immediate effect due to being out of season. No prior notification by hotel or tour operator. No substitute A La carte breakfast, instead only a very poor limited breakfast buffet & 2 x A La carte restaurants left & “Palms” which offer A La carte & buffet dining. First night at Palms A La carte they had run out of some menu items by 20:00 and the whole menu by 21:00 with the exception of the pasta station. The 2nd night at the buffet the food ran out at 19:50pm. So after limiting the numbers of restaurants they clearly couldn’t cope / had capacity in the other restaurants, unless you chose to dine at 18:30. Food isnt the only issue, the beach bar had no rum for the majority of the day (which I found amazing considering Jamaica being the largest rum producer). Drinks - offering local brands opposed to premium. Whilst activities are very good the substandard food & drinks doesn’t qualify a 5 star let alone a 4 star. I suggest you book elsewhere Read less

Just returned on Sunday from CSA Please do yourself a favor and don't look at the facebook reviews and stick to Tripadvisor-facebook reviews are very skewed and not exactly a diversity of opinions. This was our 5th time in Jamaica, typically only staying at larger resorts. The Bahia in runaway, Iberostar in Mobay, Riu in Ochi and Royalton in Negril. This was our first time leaving our kids and we only went for 4 days. -The couples lounge at the airport is really lackluster and honestly you should just book a private taxi instead of their shuttle, its a nice to have but we wainted about 40 mins for it. -It took 1hr30 to get to the resort, they offer a stop but everyone on our bus declined, we had about 10 people total on the bus all going to CSA. -It was low season so check-in was fast. Our rooms were not ready so we went to have a bite to eat the Palms. Rooms were ready by 2ish. Rooms -We opted for the TV free Atrium suites. Lovely room however there is no glass on the windows, and there are a lot of windows. Its not a typical all inclusive room where its just a balcony. Theres windows everywhere. So if you open the wooden shutters the AC escapes but it gives you light, and no privacy. If you close the shutters you get AC but no light and its very dark, my only complaint was the lack of light in the rooms. Hard to even do your makeup. I also notices lots of tiny ants on the counter tops-this was handled with a call to tell them to spray the room again, and i just sprayed some off on the counters. Its very noisy, even in block 22 where we were, cats fighting people coughing, coconuts falling and the treefrogs all night. You do get use to it, and the long beach days will have you out by 10pm. Food -Food was really good, I would say above average from your typical resort. We had lobster soup, lamb chops, patties. So many healthy options its crazy, its very clean. You could get fish tacos (made to order) or a buddha bowl with quinoa beans and corn at the veggie bars. The Jerk chicken at the scotch bonnet beach bar sucked, and that was disappointing...but being from Toronto I know where to satisfy that need, but still unacceptable being in Jamaica! Drinks were all good! Black Label, Tanqueray, Bombay, Patron Silver, Appleton it was all good and premium. Drinks are mostly hand shaken and freshly made depending on what you order. Two fancy restaurants-Feathers (men need pants) and Lemongrass. Lemongrass is awesome , its like Indian and Asian inspired..Butter Chicken and Pad thai lol Beach Speaks for itself, crystal clear. Saw tons of Starfish as walking into water, and almost everyday we saw a stingray just swim on by, for me this beach was at par with Varadero and Paradise Island on its best day ( I do still think Cuba has the nicest water). There is beach service with a red flag, but its so close to the bar that we didnt require it. Entertainment -There is not Michael Jackson show here! Just live music during dinner which is really nice, at the Palms Buffet...and then after its done it goes to the Piano bar...was not really for us. There is a club there where we plugged in our own music and just danced with some other people. But the Piano bar guy is great...Its just a lot of Karaoke if thats your thing..and not to Caribbean music lol. I think because of the demographic of people here and it being low season that was just the vibe. After 10pm we struggled to find something to do. There was a white party one night but wasn't busy at all. Room service- was only there for breakfast ...they do the rooms around 12ish...and then again 6pm-9pm they come to do turn down. Mini bar was full stocked, and so was the bar selection we made online with Romance perks (you can sign up as soon as you are booked) . We had a Catamaran cruise that was included but it was about 2.5 hours with only drinks, and we didnt want to kill a day considering we were there for only 4 days, they also gave us a free sunset photoshoot if its your anniversary we also skipped lol We did a massage off the resort towards the margaritaville side of the beach, with a lady name Estelle...it was more of a physio session than a calm massage lol. She fixed something, I just dont know what yet lol. We paid $100 for two 60min massages and tipped $20. Tipping is done and accepted , we just did it discreetly. There is no where at the resort nor is it said to "not tip" . So in my opinion do what works for you. Also the cats are not a hinderance at all, I am not a cat fan at all, but they didn't bother me. But I did choose a room on the second floor to avoid them coming onto my porch. We will be back to this resort but maybe splurge and get a beachfront second floor just to try something new. Loved the experience! Read less