THE FOLLOWING TRIP REPORT WAS PREPARED BY BILL SMITH AND POSTED HERE WITH HIS PERMISSION<br><br>This is our third trip to Jamaica, we have been to COUPLES Ocho Rios and <br>COUPLES Negril...So this time we decided to try<br>GRAND LIDO BRACO. There June 9-16,2000. GLB is approximately an hour drive <br>from Montego Bay.<br><br>Other trip reports give excellent descriptions of the lay out of Braco, I will <br>give you a brief overview of the resort. Grand Lido Braco is actually two <br>resorts in one, textile side and a au natural side (not clothing optional). <br>Entering the main gate you will drive pass a golf course and tennis courts, <br>arriving at the Town Hall Reception center. Separating the textile from the <br>au natural side is the Village. The Village consist of several small shops, <br>the La Pasta Restaurant, Piacere (French) Restaurant, Disco, Main Bar and <br>Piano Bar, Victoria Market Restaurant (serves breakfast buffets, lunch buffets <br>and a la carte at night, along with nightly entertainment), Nanny's Jerk Pit <br>Restaurant and Japanese Restaurant. There is also a gym and spa. Vendors set <br>up on the streets to sell crafts each day. Off to the side of Victoria Market <br>is the main textile pool and swim up bar/ with a small hot tub. The textile <br>room side, located to the right of the Village, consists of 12 Blocks of <br>rooms plus a Clubhouse & hot tub. Blocks 1-6 are Beach front rooms and <br>Blocks 7-12 are Garden view or Ocean view rooms, all with coffee pots, no <br>refrigerators. The textile side has its' own beach along with a wedding <br>gazebo.<br>The Au Natural side is located to the left of the Village, consist of two <br>Blocks of rooms. There are three types of rooms for this side:<br>Jr. Beach front Suites consisting of one room one bath, A One Bedroom Beach <br>front Suite consisting of two rooms and 1 1/2 baths, and A Luxury One <br>Bedroom Suite consisting of two rooms and 2 baths, all with refrigerators and <br>coffee pots The au natural side has the hugest winding pool in Jamaica with a <br>swim up bar, plus a land bar next to the pool. The pool is so large that you <br>can either be by yourself (for first timers doing the au natural experience) <br>or be around others. There are plenty of lounge chairs and floats around the <br>pool, also on the beach. There are two hot tubs on this side, one is small <br>(hidden in foliage) and the other is huge (could hold<br>40 people) located near the pool. This side also has its' own clubhouse for <br>ordering snacks and drinks,(anytime of the day or night), plus an au natural <br>tennis court on this side, too. This side also has its own au natural beach, <br>completely separate from the textile beach. The foliage and outer appearance <br>of the room blocks on au natural side are much nicer than the textile side.<br><br>Braco offers several water sports, such as diving, snorkeling, wind surfing, <br>kayaking, water skiing and glass bottom boat rides. Most of these activities <br>were cancelled during our stay due to windy conditions. This was no problem <br>for us, cause we loved to vegetate around the au natural pool, talk to others <br>and stay cool with the warm breezes blowing from the ocean. There is always a <br>constant breeze at Braco. Braco offers numerous off site excursions such as <br>Ocho Rios Shopping trips, Dunns River Falls trip, Martha Brae Rafting, Horse <br>Back Riding (textile or au natural), these will cost extra ranging from $30 to <br>$65 US. On Friday night, there is a Street Buffet and Dance; on Monday night <br>there is a Toga Party at the Disco; on Wednesday night there is a Beach <br>Buffet/Party and Entertainment; and on Thursday night there is a PJ "Dare to <br>Bare" Party at the Disco, along with nightly entertainment at Victoria Market <br>around 9:30 pm. Activity staff post daily schedule of events for both sides, <br>but don't hold your breath, not all activities happen; remember your in <br>Jamaica & NO PROBLEM MON.<br><br>I am not going to bore you with our airplane trip from New Orleans. After we <br>landed,late Friday afternoon, we went to the Super clubs desk and within <br>minutes we were on a shuttle headed to Braco. It was a very nice ride, within <br>one hour we were pulling into the front gates at Grand Lido Braco. When we <br>got off the bus, we were given a moist towel and a glass of champagne. Check <br>in was a breeze, since our agent, Dan Hill, had advanced us a lot of the <br>paperwork to fill out prior to our arrival. We received our room keys and safe <br>key, within minutes, a porter was taking us and our luggage to our room,we <br>headed from the lobby, to the left going towards the au natural side. We <br>passed Block A, then proceeded past the au natural pool ( this was the largest <br>pool we have ever seen). We booked Jr. Beach Front Suite, but surprisingly , <br>we were upgraded to a two room Beach front Suite second floor, located in <br>Block B, across from the club house. When the porter opened the door, there <br>was a bottle of Champagne on ice, and a cheese tray on the table. The porter <br>showed us how to operate the a/c, showed us where the iron was and so on. The <br>first room of our suite had a couch, two chairs,a coffee table, a TV, a small <br>desk, a phone,a radio/cass/cd player, a half bath, a refrigerator (that was <br>stocked with beer, red stripe and miller lite, water, soft drinks) and coffee <br>pot. The second part of the suite, had a full bath with hair dryer (if you <br>need a strong hair dryer, bring one from home), a king size bed, a TV, a <br>dresser and two night stands,a phone and a radio/cass/cd unit. The floors <br>were tile, on each side of the bed was carpeted mats. On the bed was a towel <br>fanned out with several flowers placed on it, along with several flowers in <br>the bathroom. The french doors opened up to a large balcony with two wooden <br>chairs and table. A beautiful view of the beach and ocean. I could not have <br>asked for any better maid service, ours was impeccable, always a very clean <br>room, plenty of towels and refrigerator was always stocked with beer, sodas <br>and water.. <br><br>We hurriedly unpacked and headed for the Street Buffet and Dance. We meet <br>several other couples from the yahoo & dennyp board. The buffet was spread <br>out around in the center of the village. There was plenty of food for <br>everyone's taste. I had no problem with the service from the drink waiters or <br>anyone else. After the meal, there was a big street dance. Later we went <br>back to our room, placed the room service breakfast menu on the door knob and <br>requested delivery at 7:45 to 8:00am . Delivery was very prompt, there was <br>more food on the tray than two people could have eaten, after that we tailored <br>down the menu. Each day we were there, delivery was prompt, never late. <br>Each morning, I would have a couple cups of coffee on the balcony and leave <br>Deborah, my wife, in the room (she is not a big breakfast eater) and I would <br>head down to Victorias Market for breakfast. There was all types of food for <br>breakfast, from fruits, eggs benedict, made to order omelets, pancakes, bacon, <br>sausage, some Jamaican dishes, and plenty of pastries. Service at Victorias <br>for breakfast was fantastic. If your water glass, juice glass or coffee was <br>half empty, a person was there refilling it, you never had to look for a <br>waiter. <br><br>Saturday we checked out the rest of the resort, found out where all the <br>restaurants were, made reservations for the French and Japanese, found <br>Nanny's Jerk Pit, the main bar, the disco and them proceeded to check out <br>the textile pool and walked around looking at the textile side. There were <br>several shops located in the town square. Finally looked at the crafts the <br>vendors had to offer.<br><br>Saturday and Sunday we laid around the pool. The resort furnished plenty of <br>beach towels at the pool bar. We talked to other<br>guest, met Chester & Carlon, the bar tenders for the au natural side. <br>Everyone was extremely friendly and talkative on this side compared to the <br>textile side. In fact the only times that we wandered to the textile side <br>was for the restaurants at night, cause our side had everything we could want <br>from food at the clubhouse to the grill at the pool bar which fixed lamb chops <br>and jerk chicken for lunch. We had a chance to meet Cynthia, the fruit lady. <br>She was wonderful to talk to. There was a resident artist, Tyronne, who <br>painted beautiful pictures of scenery on the au natural side. In fact he <br>impressed us, to the point, we purchased one of his paintings. We knew that he <br>actually painted it, compared to those the vendors sold. From other trip <br>reports, I have read where people burned/made a cd and left it with the <br>resort. I decided to make one, with older reggae songs, current Latino songs <br>and mambo songs; called it "Jammin at Braco 2000". The guest, along with the <br>staff loved it, they played it over the pool speakers numerous times during <br>the day. It is now part of Braco's music collection.<br><br>Sunday we had reservations at Piacere (French) Restaurant. Dress code was more <br>formal, required jacket and long pants for men and women, nice dress. The <br>service was impeccable, the food was excellent, and wine was perfect, a <br>Chilean variety. This is quite an experience. Our waiter Ellerton was <br>extremely nice. Monday night another couple we met on the yahoo board join us <br>with reservations at the Japanese Restaurant. Again the food was great, and <br>service was impeccable. We liked it so much, we made another reservation <br>there before leaving on Friday.<br><br>Monday, just another day of laying around the pool, talking with everyone and <br>walking on the beach. I would strongly suggest bringing water shoes if you are <br>planning on walking in the ocean, very rocky bottom. We picked Joseph to be <br>Mayor for our side. He was a fantastic guy. I had brought with us a bunch of <br>temporary tattoos. Everyone wanted one, so Joseph pinned me with the name " <br>Tattoo Man". We all had a blast with them. Monday afternoon, Drink <br>Mixology was held at the swim up bar, it was hilarious. Tuesday night was Toga <br>Night at the Disco, everyone got their toga sheets after the nightly <br>entertainment at Victoria Market, went back to their rooms to get dressed. At <br>the Toga Party, I would say that 97% of the people were from the au natural <br>side and 3% from the textile side. After the dance, a lot of guest ended up <br>in the hot tub on au natural side, partying till 4 in the morning.<br><br>Next several days just ran together, having fun around the pool and the beach. <br>On Wednesday, Tamika, activity staff member held body painting class. Several <br>guys painted bikini's on their wives, from a distance they looked real. <br>Wednesday night they moved the Beach Buffet/Party to Victoria Market due to <br>chance of rain. The entertainment was good and the food was fair, nothing <br>unusual.<br><br>On Thursday, Braco had a buffet for the people on the au natural side, they <br>set it up around the bar at the pool. It was great, in fact, better food than <br>at Victoria Market. There was salads, baked fish in a sauce, chicken, grilled <br>lamb chops, jerk seasoned steaks, and deserts. We didn't make the PJ Party <br>that night, but understood it was fairly tame. Friday, well it was time to <br>pack and check out, but we had a few hours, that we laid around the pool and <br>had a last minute chance to talk to people that we had met. Friday, we also <br>had a chance to eat at the La Pasta Restaurant before our shuttle left. Both <br>of us had the seafood pizza, that was fantastic, highly recommend this one.<br><br>Over all the service on the au natural side was excellent, from maid service, <br>room service, bar tenders, & club house. A person could not have asked for any <br>better treatment or service. The service and food, we found at the other <br>restaurants, was excellent. Especially the French, the Japanese, & Nanny's <br>Jerk Pit. Victoria Market, the breakfast buffet was good along with <br>service,at night when it was a la carte, the food was displayed very nice, <br>but no taste, but service was good. In my opinion, the entertainment at <br>Victoria Market could have been better, since this is a superclub; COUPLES <br>resorts had more professional type of entertainment.<br><br>This was our first time at Braco, will not be our last. It was well worth <br>the extra we paid to stay on the au natural side ($1500 per person, land rate <br>for 7 nights), it was nice to just walk out of your room without clothes on <br>and be at the pool, instead of paying less for the textile side, getting <br>dressed and walking over to this side. The au natural side was the best of <br>any resort that we have been to.<br><br>Bill and Deborah Smith<br>bsmith@msdh.state.ms.us<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Carol_Hill on 8/18/00 05:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
