Couples Swept Away

This was our 15th Caribbean holiday from the UK so I feel we are pretty well versed in what to expect. For whichever country / island we visit we normally choose from one of the top 20 Tripadvisor travellor ranked hotels and Swept Away falls outside of the top 20 but we could not resist the location or the perfect layout of the hotel and its large grounds. Transfers from Montego Bay: Walking through departures our very first encounter was to be offered freshly burned ganga which we kindly declined. Swept Away has its own lounge and bar at the airport supplying all inclusive drinks whilst you await your transfer. The transfers are a long and bumpy 1.5 hours, not the best after a longhaul flight and sleep deprivation, but absolutely worth it when you see what stunning beauty Negril has in store for you. The Location: Perfect, stunning, beautiful. The west facing 7 mile beach is second only to the Maldives and matches Cuba as our joint favourite beach location. Absolute paradise with shallow (and usually) calm crystal clear waters. Some of our sunset photos are so incredible we suspect people will think we edited or photo-shopped them, just wow. The Hotel and room: Definitely tired in a number of places but we liked the traditional carribean charm and decor. The main lobby reception is a little underwhelming but functional. The overall layout of the resort is perfect for us with a nice 400 metre walk between the main restaurants and lots of winding paths through the gardens, it never feels crowded and we liked the way the rooms were seemingly randomly scattered across the resort as opposed to the modern approach of high rise blocks crammed full of guests. The overall complex has a lot of charm and feels right for the location, but it definitely needs a little more in the way of maintenance. We chose an Atrium room, it was a good size with a very large balcony complete with large sofa and hammock, but with no glass windows we struggled to sleep on the first few nights - Road noise is loud especially with the current trend that has everyone installing pops and bangs devices to their exhausts. We were woken up a handful of times by trucks fitted with these systems that sound like machine gun fire, but louder! Aside from that the tree frogs are also very loud and it took 2 or 3 nights to get used to them. The problem goes away if you drink enough before bed, but the hotel really needs to consider installing proper windows to all rooms. Sports / fitness complex: Looks very tired but perfectly functional. If you want absolute peace and quiet you can lounge around the olympic pool and more or less have the place to yourself. The Staff: As Brits we like the no-tippinig policy. It removes the need to constantly carry cash everywhere and find somewhere to hide it each time you go for a dip, and it removes the awkwardness of knowing how much to tip and when to tip since Brits generally only tip for exceptional service, whereas in the past we've often noticed tipping as a means to queue jump at bars or obtain preferential service in advance. For us, this policy helped us relax a little more without constantly worrying about tipping. As a whole the staff were excellent throughout - service ranged from good to very good, every member of staff we encountered was friendly and welcoming. It would be unfair to pinpoint specific names, literally every staff member was good to us and as representatives of their Country, they should all be extremely proud. We felt welcomed and comfortable throughout our stay, and I don't think we've ever stayed at a Carribean resort before without coming across a staff member that's let the side down. Top marks. The other guests: Virtually everyone was friendly, said good morning when crossing paths, no complaints here. Obviously there's always one idiot staying at any hotel, but we didn't witness anything offensive (but be prepared for the odd spliff smoker) and overall the 'vibe' was positive for the duration of our stay. The Security: Generally excellent. Felt safe at all times. Security will take your details when you leave the Swept Away beach limits, same thing if you leave the resort by taxi etc. Of the security staff Alphonso was very pleasant to talk to, a real gentleman who didn't seem to miss anything. He even covered up all our belongings when a rain storm passed over while we were in the sea. This is absolutely above and beyond what you would expect from a Security Guard - he was brilliant and we always felt comfortable leaving our belongings on the beach when he was around. The Beach: Incredible, one of the best in the world. We also liked the informal layout of the palapas that could give as much or as little privacy as you wished. However it is worth noting by 06:30am to 7am guests have reserved all the prime spot palapas. We generally hate this sort of thing but eventually had to resort to doing the same. That said, there is plenty of loungers so there's always somewhere to lay at any time of the day, only that you might struggle to find one with adequate shade around it. The (two) Pools: The what? Why sit around a pool when you have that stunning beach on your doorstep. It was low season and there were always loungers and umbrellas available around at least 1 of the 2 pools at any time of the day. We also liked how spaced apart the loungers were so you are never on top of people and always have some level of privacy. The pools were nice and clean. The food: Tough one this. Food was generally good and the variety was reasonable, maybe on par with what was typical in top Caribbean Hotels 10-15 years ago. But definitely not up to the standards of any other 5 star resort we've been to in the last 7 years. Breakfast became pretty dull by the 3rd morning, lunch a la carte's were on par with expectations and despite the limited repetative menus we loved the "fast food" in the Cabana Grill (their Jerk Burgers were fantastic). Evening meals were the main downfall, just not enough choice or quality even in the speciality restaurants, definitely inadequate for a 2 week stay. We were also disappointed in the lack of authentic jamaican food. I was hoping to stuff my face with curried goat every day, but it was only available once during our stay on the Jamaican themed night, and still didn't taste quite as good as what was available in local restaurants off the resort. Back to that Jamaican themed night - credit where it's due the variety of food was fantastic, but you can't try all of it in a single meal time, maybe this needs to be spread across multiple days. Entertainment: Plenty to do watersports wise during the day. Various other activities going on for those who want to stay active all the time. Evening entertainment was lacking. No shows like other resorts, and whilst shows at any Caribbean resort can get repetitive once you've seen a few, Swept Away had nothing of the sort. There were singers on stage almost every night, and very good ones at that, which offers a nice background ambience, but it would be a stretch to say we felt entertained on any evening throughout our stay. If nothing else at least it allowed for early enough nights that we would be awake in time to reserve a palapa!!! Everything else I can think of: Lighting is poor inside all buildings including the rooms. Drop something in your room and you almost certainly need a torch to find it again. Saw many people using mobile phone torches to read menus in the restaurants etc. It would be nice to see what you are eating as well! Lighting inside the buildings absolutely needs improvement. Outside the buildings is fine - all the paths are lit adequately enough that you can see where you need to go, yet not overly bright that it disturbs you when in your room. Cats - Lots of friendly cats on the resort. All look healthy, clean and well fed. We found this to be a positive feature and definitely have some great memories of some of the antics the cats got up to (like the one that jumps out of trees in front of you, then runs off into the distance to find another tree to repeat the process). If you hate cats this might be a problem. There's probably around 25 to 30 cats living on the resort but from what we saw everyone loved them. Overall Jamaica has really charmed us, cannot believe we'd never considered going before, we will absolutely be back. Will we return to this hotel? We'd like to due to all the positives I've mentioned, in particular the location, staff and overall resort layout, but there's too many areas that need improvement and updating which makes Swept Away feel a little weak from a value for money perspective, so until those improvements have been done, we'll likely try to search out another resort for our next Jamaica holiday. Read less