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2015 Jamaica November 15-22 Couples San Souci

In September, We booked our trip with David Parker at all the way travel. We have used David since 2001 for trips to Jamaica and Mexico. He has always done a great job for us. We booked the week of November 15-22 2015 at couples san souci.

We have been to Jamaica 18 times since 1997. Our very first trip was to Couples Ocho Rios…which is now Couples Tower Ilse. But we have not been back to a Couples property. We have not been to Jamaica since 2012…so we were excited to be returning. We left our house on Saturday and drove to the Hilton airport in stl. We had a late lunch. I broke my sunglasses so we drove to Walmart and I bought a pair for $5. We spent the night...got up at 2:30 am to get ready for our flight to Jamaica. We left stl at 5am...flew to Chicago. I bought some coach sunglasses at sunglass hut...$175. We left Chicago at 8. We watched the movie ant man which was surprisingly very good! This was the emptiest flight I think we have ever taken. We had breakfast on the plane. We arrived Montego Bay 12:30. Samantha from club mobay was there to meet us. We breezed through immigration....got our bags...checked in at the couples lounge and had a rum punch at club mobay and were on the bus at 1:10. Steve got us our traditional margaritas at Margarita Ville to drink on the drive to the resort we passed Braco and I admit...I had tears. Club Mobay was worth the $80.... Plus we tipped Samantha and the luggage handler.

We arrived Couples San Souci at 2:50. We did stop on the way for a bathroom break. One person got off...it took about 2 minutes. We tipped the driver.

Check in at the resort was a breeze. ....Very efficient. We were assigned room a4....ground level overlooking the Bella vista pool. The room is very clean and new and white. The bathroom is huge. We have a nice living room. There is no desk for a computer station….so we used the mini bar. We have a nice patio. The room has a few things that are not finished….and the water is problematic… sometimes hot sometimes not….sometimes disgustingly cloudy…They are still working on the water lines so I think this is affecting the water clarity and pressure and temperature. The Internet is very fast...no code is needed…. But sometimes it disappears and I have a hard time reconnecting.

We went to sunset beach and had a drink. It was more crowded than I anticipated. It was very nice. I thought we would have a view of it from our room...but we don't. It is very private except for the fisherman accessing the white river….but the guards are always watching them. We explored the resort…discovered the turtles and ducks and pelicans on the lake….and the peacock that roams freely. We found Krackers and Anita…beautiful birds.

We had drinks at the martini bar. It is our goal to try everyone on the menu. We ate dinner at Bella vista. We both had the pork. It was ok. The photographer took our picture. They offer photo packages which we will purchase.

Monday....we had breakfast at palazzina....a nice spread...but I had egg shells in my scrambled eggs. We got chairs at the pool. We had a nice view of the Caribbean Sea as well. There is a river that flows right into the sea…the white river. The water is cold. The beach is nice...but the water is pretty rocky. We had lunch at the pool grill...cheeseburgers. The bar is nice…but there is only bar tender…so sometimes the wait for a drink is quite long. I wish they had a self-serve beer and some snacks available. It would help out the bartenders. Not really a complaint…just a suggestion.

We left the pool about 4pm just in time for a downpour. We went to the gift shop and bought a twisted palm necklace for $50. They only have silver and no matching earrings. We went to the manager’s cocktail party at 6 in the balloon bar. Then we had dinner at Casanova at 7. The dinner was mediocre and the service was extremely slow. Dinner was at 7 but we did not get our entrees until almost 9. It was explained to us that with the renovations at Palazzina…all the cooking is done at Casanova….so the staff is quite stressed and the kitchen is quite slow. Many people have told us that we should not judge the food and service by this trip. We went to the steel drum band presentation at 9:30 and had flaming bob Marley’s at the Bella vista bar. We went to bed about 11.

Tuesday...we had room service for breakfast....then took pictures around the resort. I got a 55 minute Swedish massage at 2pm from Ruth...$120…it was good but certainly not the best massage I have ever had…and it was certainly overpriced compared to the cost of a good massage at home. I discovered that I had forgotten to bring a chain to wear my pendants on….so we went to the jewel box to buy a gold chain. They would not sell me just a chain….so Steve bought me a beautiful diamond necklace. We bought a rock by watersports and had it painted…cost was $30. We placed it at sunset beach. We ate lunch at palazzina. Tonight was the beach party. It rained again at 4pm for about an hour and the beach party was held inside pallazina.

Wednesday...we had room service for breakfast. We had lunch at palazzina. We went to the martini bar before the repeaters party. We had lobster and steak. The lobster was excellent. Shelly from entertainment sat at our table. She has only been at the resort 4 weeks. It lightly rained.

Thursday…we had breakfast at palazzina. We enjoyed watching all the kitty cats beg for food….and we of course could not resist sharing our food with them. We locked ourselves out of our room and had to have security come and let us in. I found claw by the rocks while I fed the turtles and ducks. Claw is a cute little mascot for a group I belong to. They play this fun game of hiding claw and posting clues to find him. I hid claw again and posted a hint on the group. We had lunch at palazzina. We went to the martini bar at 5 and Clive was there…he did a beautiful job playing his flute and saxophone. We have nearly gone through the whole martini menu. We also had dinner at palazzina at 7. I confess I do not understand why reservations are needed for a buffet but oh well. We went to the Bella vista bar after dinner. I emailed David parker at all the way travel to ask him about a deal we had been hearing about…book next year at this year’s rate. David emailed back and lower rate than we paid this trip for the same week in 2016…so we booked it!

Friday…we had breakfast at palazzina. We also had lunch at palazzina. We had dinner at the starlight gala. It looked beautiful. …and the meal was the best we have had so far! The entertainers were silhouette. They did a fine job…though there were lots of technical issues. It rained midway through the show and they called it off.

Saturday…we had breakfast at Palizzina. We had lunch at SSB grill and we had dinner at Bella vista. It was our last evening and we had a table right next to the water. It was lovely….though the food was not great.

Sunday…we had breakfast at palizzina. Our bags had to be out at 8:30. We settled our account….bought our pictures…$290 for the CD of 50 photos…one 8x10 in a couples frame….and were on the bus at 9:30. We checked in at American Airlines…and then went to the club Mobay representative who ushered us quickly through the line. We got to club Mobay…had some drinks and some food…..and we ordered a cheeseburger from margarita Ville to take on the plane. Club Mobay was very nice and worth the price. Our flight left a little late…we cleared customs in Chicago with no issues….and checked into the admirals club. Our flight to STL was delayed. We got home about 11:30 pm….extremely tired.

The countdown is on for the next visit in November 2016. We were very pleased with the facilities and confident all of the kinks from the remodeling will be non-issues next year. I cannot say one staff member stood out over the others. They were all friendly and accommodating.
The resort is truly beautiful…..there are a lot of stairs and twists and turns to get from one end to the other….but even with my recent knee replacement…it was no issue. There was some concern about a private bar being right next door to building A. We heard lots of workers doing construction there during the day….but not once did we hear loud music or see cars parked along the road. In other words…..there was no issue at all. We did hear some of the workers singing as they worked….and it pretty well summed up the entire trip…..everything is IRIE.

Thanks for the report. Do you have any pictures of your room or of the resort? Sounds like you weren't real excited with the food. If and when we go back to Jamaica, I would definitely do Club Mo Bay at the END anyway. We didn't need it when we arrived last time. I personally was never interested in San Souci because of the stairs, as I have a lot of problems with my knees.

Steve will have to post pictures for you...I don't know how to do it....but we took lots of pictures of the room.

club mobay was great both ways.

I had a knee replacement in April...and the stairs were not an issue for me.

OK, if Steve needs help with the pictures, let me know.

Our Room

The Nude Pool

The Nude Beach

The "A" Building where we stayed

Us the first evening

Very nice pictures! May be a place to add to our wish list!
Thanks for posting....

Looks very nice!!! Thanks so much for posting! I definitely can see what you meant about no place to put the computer. Kind of stupid design there.

The "new pool" looks great.

Thanks for sharing.