Beaches Boscobel Ocho Rios Jamaica March 2011

In late December we decided we really, really wanted to try a Beaches Resort.  Beaches Resorts are  marketed as being the ultimate all inclusive resorts for families.  In addition to kids clubs, sesame street shows and characters, they have water parks with water slides for kids of all ages.  Mat is always bugging me about picking a resort that has a good pool area with fun things to do for Calie. (aka. some water slides for him).  We settled on the beaches resort in Jamaica that had just been closed for 3 months for a renovation.  In the months leading up to our trip I was extremely nervous, as we were trying something new.

This time packing was a little different traveling with a 4 month old instead of a 2 month old.  Bailey had begun eating baby food and cereal once per day. Since we were traveling to another country and had limited access to shopping, I decided to pack everything she would need. I packed all the baby food in a large tupperware bin in the middle of the suitcase and prayed that it wouldn't explode during travel.

We had a long day of traveling and once again came very close to missing our connection in the Philadelphia airport.  Once in Jamaica, we made it through immigration and customs and found our way to the private transfer.  We decided to book a private transfer as the ride from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios was about 2 hours. It was a beautiful drive along the cost and our driver was very informative but it was long! 

We got to the resort and the grounds and lobby were beautiful, but I was still nervous. So remember my last blog and how I said traveling with me could be difficult, due to my profession? Well it never fails!  My in-laws came with us, which was great.  We had requested, upon booking and during my three phone calls and emails to re-confirm, connecting rooms. Each time I was told yes that there were many connecting rooms in our category and the request had been noted.  Well guess what..we didn't have connecting rooms or even rooms beside eachother.  I ended up being 'that' person that my staff writes nasty notes about in the log book. But eventually after our second night they moved us to a room much more convenient to my in-laws. I guess the waterslides that kept both Calie and Mat entertained for hours each day made up for the mess up with our room.

Our days were spent at the beach and waterslides in the mornings, lunch at the barbecue hut (we I found my love for Jerk Chicken) and hot tub or patio in the afternoon.

Although a different country and resort, we seemed to slip into the same type of schedule each day as we did in mexico.  My favorite time of day was at about 3pm when Bailey needed a nap, Calie needed some quiet time watching a movie and we needed some patio time with red stripe.  Since this was a kid friendly resort there was no beer in our mini fridge, but we found the guy responsible for stocking it and gave him $10, we had red stripe in our fridge every afternoon!

As you can see the water slides were a hit. We spent most of our time at the middle slides which were just right for Calie. Although we took our share of turns going down them.  They had big kid slides too, but we only tried those a few times, each time Calie would want to try them and she was no where near tall enough!

Bailey spent her days lounging in the stroller, watching her big sister play via the baby bjorn and getting her cheeks pinched by all the sesame street characters.

My favorite part of our Beaches experience, was what they call a 'night, night tuck-in' you pick the character of your choice and they come to read you a book and tuck you into bed! It was so great and we didn't tell Calie it was happening so she was so surprised when Abby Cadabby showed up at the door!

 

On our 2nd to last day, Mat got one of the beach activity guys to take him and Calie out on a Hobie Cat.  They went out and around the point, so I couldn't see them and were gone for like half an hour, of course I started worrying. Apparently he took them to this beach down from the resort with no one and let them jump off and go swimming  - they both loved it!



I have been about 3 months trying to get this blog completed - so I am posting it as is and letting the pictures below speak for themselves.  The end result is we had a GREAT time and I would go back in a heartbeat!  I loved Jamaica and can't wait to go back sometime SOON!