As a requirement to stay on top of changes in areas and resorts, we travel quite often. We stayed at Beaches Negril for the first time from 11/24-11/29 and I wanted to offer you my take on the property, especially in comparison to other available family resorts.

Physical Plant - This resort is in generally good shape and is currently going thru room renovations to bring them into the 21st century. Otherwise, it's a clean resort that will be even better post-renovations. Pools were nice. Restaurants clean. Beach/ocean were perfect.

Rooms - We stayed in a 2-bedroom butler room which was not renovated yet. Although clean, it really lacked in areas such as the bathrooms which were old and badly in need of renovation. Also, the beds were very high off of the floor, which was surprising given that it's a family resort with many guests having small children. During out stay we toured the entire resort and saw other rooms also....I would definitely not recommend a family of 4 in the lowest catagory Deluxe room, unless the family was comfortable sleeping on 2 double beds....
there was really no room for cots with the king configuration. We also
saw some recently renovated rooms that looked nicer than the rooms we stayed in and would recommend to try to request one of those rooms.

Food - Was somewhat disappointed with the quality and variety of food at the resort, especially for adults. The breakfast buffet had minimal
changes on a daily basis. The beach grill used pre-formed breaded chicken patties for their chicken burgers instead of real chicken breasts. Kiminos, their Tapinyaki restaurant, lacked the entertainment
that we had experienced at other Sandals properties. The best meals we had were at the Mill Restaurant on non-buffet nights. The Beach Party also had very good food and entertainment (even though it was moved to the pool area when we were there). Even the ice cream, which is always popular at Beaches, wasn't very good....it tasted different eeach day - depending on who was mixing it I guess?

For children, the food was fine....plenty of options for them and not a single complaint. We even ordered food like PB&J and grilled cheese from restaurants where it wasn't on the menu, and never had any issues
in getting it.

Service - Beaches (and Sandals) really shine in this area. Unlike other Jamaican resorts, the staff at the resort really tries to be super friendly and efficient. Most of the restaurants employ a swarm service approach, which although slightly disorganized, is really efficient....in any given meal, we might be assisted by 5-10 different
staff...everyone from cocktail servers to the restaurant managers.....
sometimes, we couldn't even tell who exactly our waiter was since so many people were helping. Service in other areas (bars, activities, check-in, housekeeping, kids club, even Beach security, etc.) were all
super. They really take pride in their service. Our only service issues on the entire trip were with the Water Services pair in charge of the non-motorized water equipment on the beach - 2 very lazy individuals.

Children Activities - For children aged 2-8, this resort is excellent.
Kids club is really managed well. Lazy river and family pool provide hours of additional entertainment. Our children had an absolute blast (3 and 5). Couldn't pick a better resort if you have children in this age group....all of the staff really try to make the little folks feel
at home. Character breakfast is a must do.

For older children/teens, the resort really tries to offer activities for them also, including the X-box center (with a new larger facility currently finishing construction), Waterslides (2 - very fast, 1 in complete darkness), and Pirates Activities (teen club). We didn't see many teens there during our visit, but would imagine them having plenty to do.

For adults acitivies, outside of daily watersports (snorkle, scuba, kayak, etc.), and the kids stuff like lazy river above, this resort really lacked in adult entertainment. Funny thing is, we really didn't
miss it. I assume most adults are just enjoying how much fun they're kids are having and aren't disappointed in the fact that there is very little for them to do. That being said, I would never, ever recommend this resort to adults without children.....there are sooooo many better adult-oriented resorts.

Other notes -
Red Lane Spa that was recently built is the nicest in Negril....
Wi-fi is now available in the lobby and soon in other areas of the resort. Internet via TV and wired-room connections are available in most rooms.

Their beach is one of the widest/nicest along the best beach in Jamaica. Drive took about 80 minutes in each direction with minimal traffic.

I have over 400 pics of the resort, characters, events, etc. If you are looking for anything specific, please feel free to drop me a line and I'll do my best to answer.

For more information call me at 888-990-TRIP or email me at Mitch at TripGuy.com