Jamaica - Ocho Rios 2012

We're back in chilly Illinois after a very nice week in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We stayed at Sandals Royal Plantation, which is a couples-only resort we've been to several times over the last 11 years. This is one of the smaller hotels in the Sandals chain with only 70+ rooms, but offers superior food and service over the other properties. You also have access to one of the largest Sandals properties, Grande Riviera, which is a quick walk down the beach (but Grande Riviera guests can't access Royal Plantation). This gives you all the activities, dining options, and privacy you want.

When we arrive in Jamaica we always have grandiose plans of taking a few tours - and Ocho Rios is a great town for a lot of nature-based tours. But then we settle in on the beach and don't go anywhere. We only left property once - and that was by catamaran from the resort. It only really counts because we docked for a half hour at Dunn's River Falls to let a seasick lady off the boat. We did actually go to the spa twice. Both treatments were couple's massages where we were in the same room together. The first massage was a basic massage, but the second one involved hot lava shells. Nice.

Cocktail Hour favorites: Cosmos and baked coconut slivers

Our dining experiences included room service breakfast most mornings, Japanese cook-in-front-of-you, lobster BLTs, great fresh fish, and really good jerk pork at lunch. This particular week there were many Europeans at the resort and they were excited to try the traditional Thanksgiving buffet the hotel offered. We ate seafood that night.

We'll note that one of our new cameras had a really easy to use panorama feature so expect to see more of those style photos in future posts. We lost one camera on this trip. Dave gave Holly the underwater camera while Paddle Boarding and she dropped it into the water while trying to secure it. She didn't know that is didn't float..... Luckily most photos were downloaded to the iPad that morning and we bring backup cameras with us (Learned this on a Disney trip).