Couples Sans Souci

Vacationed here for the 8th time and it was another fantastic trip. I’ll break down each part, so please excuse the long post. TRAVEL: We connected in Miami from DFW and landed at Ian Fleming in Ocho Rios. This was the first time we’ve flown into here and it was great. Only a 20 minute ride to CSS. From landing to the van took about 15 minutes. CHECK IN: Easy and flawless as usual. Front desk is always welcoming with a cool towel and champagne. ROOM: Werequested a bottom floor room in B block and we received what we requested, B 105. Room was clean, cool and decorated nicely. It’s nice being on the bottom floor to be near everything without the hassle of stairs. View to beach was unobstructed. CONSTRUCTION: When getting the email, I was concerned about noise. No issues with annoying noise or construction issues. GROUNDS: the grounds crew are the unsung heroes of CSS. Absolutely beautiful landscape. MAIN BEACH BAR: The temporary set up works great. Lloyd is an outstanding bartender. Always ready with shots and drink suggestions. RESTAURANTS: We dined at Casanova twice and Bella Vista 3 times. Both were really good but we prefer the old Bella Vista to the new Asian food menu. Casanova was outstanding as usual. Great service and food. We had breakfast every morning at Palazzina each morning. The omelette is a must try. JAMAICA NIGHT: Wonderful food and entertainment. Man doing fire tricks is always entertaining as well as the singing entertainment. McHugh is a great host as always. He’s an outstanding MC. NIGHTLY ENTERTAINMENT: The best we saw was the Bob Marley tribute. Incredible performer with all the classics. REPEATERS DINNER: great meal of surf and turf. The new GM was introduced and briefly spoke. We dined with Racine which is always great. POOL and BEACH: We spent the majority of our time at SSB. Bartenders, entertainment team and food was outstanding. Great group of guests all friendly. We saw some old friends and made new ones. Although CSS has many things that bring us back, SSB is the main draw for us. OVERALL: Even with the construction ongoing our stay was great. It seems as if every attempt is being made during construction to make it a non issue for the guests. Kudos to the administration for all the care and details. CSS has endeared itself to us due to its outstanding employees. We are hoping the new management does not change the atmosphere of this wonderful resort. It’s a great place for couples to reconnect and relax.

The Sans Souci resort in Ocho Rios was a pleasant experience. Our stay was a short week, including a two day travel but it was worth it. The Charlie spa was excellent and the staff was superb; Ruth & Alicia were the best! The food was excellent at Casanova and the buffet style lunch & breakfast and the other restaurant was also very good, lots of variety. Although there was some construction on-site it didn’t affect much of the guests. The mineral pool and grotto are what made the trip for my husband and me. I would recommend this resort for anyone interested in feeling rejuvenated. Thanks to all the staff, truly professional and kind.

The property is beautiful I will give them that, staff are friendly, however hotel needs some serious management. Steps leading to our room was filled with scuff marks, the room was beautiful until I found a dirty sock on the bench at the end of the bed. Ice tong placed in the room was heavily rusty and nozzle of ice machine is filled with mildew. Minibar was fully stocked so that's a plus. Ordered room service for lunch meal was hot and okay however room service for dinner was a disappointment ordered grilled chicken and chicken pasta, grilled chicken and rice came cold temperature was atleast 22°C, the pasta was hot but has no flavour it was just bland. Breakfast at the buffet was okay, room service breakfast was okay as well. Went to the bar across from the buffet maintenance work is needed the ceiling fan is heavily rusty and ceiling and lights are filled with cobwebs, being that the bar is close to the sea regular maintenance is required for these areas. Nickeisha the Front Desk manager she was the highlight of our stay she happily sorted out our issues and rectified them as well. Oh the next morning when I woke up to take a shower I was greeted by an army of ants you may want to have pest control checking rooms and having them on a routine inspection. I probly will visit again hopefully the issues will be rectified. FYI I'm not fond with with food and beverage staff wearing jewelry I would take it that those staff have food handlers and the last I checked wearing of jewelry for food handlers is not permitted.

This is a long review. However, highlights are great food, gorgeous tropical setting, great beach, free water sports, clean with lovely staff. Loads of private romantic spots. Amazing hotel. Men - take at least 1 pair of pants! Getting there From our experience, the vital is anything from a 1 hour 40 minute to 3 hour drive from Montego Bay airport (traffic dependant). What’s really great is that they have their own transport facilities, which includes a little waiting area in the arrivals area with a limited bar and their own toilets, which is great, especially if you’re arriving after a long flight. The wait for transport was only around 20 minutes. The hotel then provides their own transport back to the airport. This is true if coming in via Kingston too from speaking to other guests. With this in mind, be very careful when booking via Tui, as they’re quite happy to charge you a ridiculous amount for ‘private transfer’ when you already have it! Rooms This hotel is relatively small in terms of rooms with only 150, spread across blocks A to G. The pictures don’t particularly do it justice, but this resort kind of has 2 sections, that being made up of blocks A-C that are behind the main beach with the main lawn in front of them, along with Bella Vista/Asian restaurant/beach bar and Palazzina restaurant, D & E on the hillside, and then F & G up on the top area near to main reception, entertainment area and Casanova restaurant and Ballon Bar. Accessibility between all of these areas in via a series of walkways made up of both ramps and steps. There is also the back way that takes up past some of the catering and staff facilities too, and via this route, they run a shuttle service using a van to take people between the areas. However from block F to walk down the back way to Palezzina restaurant where breakfast is served took us 5 minutes, if that, so it’s really not far once you get your bearings. We upgraded our room to an Ocean Suite with a sea view. This was situated in F block and this was comprised with a lower floor where reception and the coffee shop was, with 2 floors above with rooms. The view was great, being able to see over towards Ocho Rios too and the mountains due to the angle of the building whilst still having the sea in clear view. The room was really spacious, with a super king bed, decent sized mini bar, bath robes, a double shower, spacious balcony with a day bed in addition to chairs and a table, plenty of space to store your clothing and my wife found the lighting in the bathroom fine for doing her makeup. The room had a great view of the entertainment area and meant that if we didn’t want to sit around with other guests, we could retreat to our balcony and watch from there. The music was finished by around 2215 each night, so this wasn’t an issue. In relation to the minibar, you can use a link on their website once you’re a guest to select what you want it stocked with. Some basic spirits are included, but they do this on a bottle exchange, so you basically get one at a time, which we didn’t find to be an issue. My wife found the wine supplied as part of the mini bar nice too. Room service can be ordered via the same method, but I found that by calling the speed dial on the phone in the room allowed me to order things not on the online menu, such as picking my own toppings for a pizza. Staff The staff here are all fantastic. Everyone was smiling and made us feel completely welcome and at home. There’s a no tipping policy here, although I did give some discrete tips here and there as I believe staff can get in trouble for accepting them. We found our cleaner Josephine really friendly and she did an amazing job keeping our room tip top everyday whilst we were there, returning in the evening to do a turn down service too, which was really nice. Other staff to mention are Roshane @ martini bar, Nataliee @ pool bar, Alex @ ballon bar, Lloyd @ beach bar, Tia @ ballon bar, Deschanel @ Bella Vista, Amos & Lemar bar tenders, Keyvon @ breakfast, Shanakaye Jamaica night server, Phillip @ Palazzina. We were also caught in a little rain one day and one of the maintenance guys shouted to us before disappearing and reappearing with an umbrella for us, which I thought was really kind of him. There’s also the bloke who comes on site several times a week wandering around early evening playing the saxophone. He’s a nice guy and happy to talk to you. Restaurants Casanova - need to book in advance, serves Caribbean fusion food, which was really good. Even though it’s only open certain nights they do still alternate their menu. Had fillet steak here each time, which was cooked to perfection. For men YOU NEED TO WEAR LONG PANTS and you will be turned away if you don’t. I know loads of places say they do this, but it’s actually enforced here. This is the only place we were offered the Chairman’s wine list, and on declining, the waiter wasn’t pushy in the slightest. Bella Vista is the restaurant at the beach bar. Here you can get lunch which is served to you from a menu consisting of Jamaican fare plus hotdogs and burgers etc. Really decent. In the evening, it turns into an Asian restaurant serving what I’d say was predominately Chinese food with some Indian inspirations too. It’s really romantic Sat by the sea and the food is delicious. Again, only being open certain nights, they change their menu too, so even though they are a smaller number of restaurants here, it doesn’t matter as you’ve got loads of choice. Then from 2300-0600 it opens back up as a burger type place. Palazzina is where you have breakfast each day as a buffet, with a great selection available. They make changes to some of the menu each day, but staples such as fruit, bacon etc is always available. You can return for diner, again buffet style, with daily themes. All the food we tried was great. I was impressed with the pastry in the quiches they did, and there were some great choices from the freshly prepared section in addition to fresh wood fired pizza. All the hot buffet food was actually hot too, which was great to find. In the evening, you can then come here without a reservation for an evening meal. The main course is a la carte and again, some really decent food. In the whole, the food at this hotel is brilliant. There wasn’t a single thing that either of us tried that wasn’t nice. There’s also a coffee shop and a veggie place, but we didn’t try either. Bars The pool bar/swim up at the main pool was good, with the entertainment staff coming here in the afternoons to run quizzes and other games. There’s no pressure to get involved but the staff are fun and lively. There’s also the beach bar at Bella Vista. This is a great little spot with great views of the little cove and sea. They have 2 TVs here that they can play sport on, but they’re not in your face and we didn’t find that it spoiled the ambience. This bar is open until late too. There’s also the Ballon Bar, which is available every night till late. They have different pianists on who generally manage to get the whole bar singing along. If you’re into things like this, they do have a white party here one night a week. On certain nights, the Martini Bar opens. This is on one of the terraces just down from the main entertainment area/ Ballon Bar. They make refresh potent martinis here in a lovely romantic tropical setting. We found it nice and quite and it to be a great place for a pre diner drink. Entertainment Being adults only, the entertainment is decent. They have a house band that supports different acts that cover genres such as reggae, jazz, and older classics. This is hosted at the main entertainment area near reception/Casanova/Balloon bar. However, on other nights, the entertainment is on the main lawn down near Palezzina, Bella Vista, and this included an activate show, steal drum show and the Jamaican night, which is held every Friday. The Jamaican night involves all guests coming together on shared tables of 6 (we found that not all tables were used so you could be on your own if you wanted). You seat yourself where you want so there’s no rush to get there bang in 1830. The Buffett on the lawn opens around 1845 with staff on the hot stations serving you lovely Jamaican cooked meats, there’s also sushi, salads, cold pastas and potatoes and deserts. One of the entertainment team is the host and they do some games with willing guests before a live act comes on. We saw a great female singer one week and a fun Reggae act the other. The event is followed by a beach party with a fire. A big selling point about this hotel is the all inclusive water sports. Some things you can do on the day, such as sea kayaking and sea bikes. You have to sign up 24 hours before at the waters port shack for water skiing, scuba diving, glass bottom boat or glass bottom boat with snorkelling. If you’ve not got your scuba licence, they do classes in the main pool. There’s a coral reefs just out from the hotel, in addition to a sunken boat you can go and explore. There’s also wind surfing and a pedalo. Pools and grounds We used the main pool and the other pool near the veggie bar, which was much quieter and more romantic with a waterfall in sight. All the sun loungers have soft mats on them that double up as floaties in the pool that you can relax on. Towels are available at the main pool from the water sports shack and from a help yourself bin at the other pool. In addition, there’s a little natural spring pool which is great for helping to alleviate a hangover. In addition, there’s a couple of lovely jacuzzis that are in great spots, especially the one behind the veggie bar pool. The beach is great too, with white sand and the water is lovely and warm. You’re able to walk out easily without the water coming too high so it’s great for people who aren’t that confident in the sea. Again, there’s loads of loungers and chairs to sit on. We never had an issue finding a lounger next to any of the pools or at the beach. We also appreciated that none of the other guests were using their own speakers near the pools, which was great as this can be a bit encroaching on your peace and quiet. We also found that this was very much a couples hotel, with no rowdy groups, another great point. There is an Au natural beach that is separate and fenced off. This has its own pool, bar and restaurant. We didn’t use this area, but as some guests do, it really thins out the amount of people in the other areas, meaning the hotel is nice and quiet and peaceful. My wife had noticed this area in the reviews and was slightly out off, but it’s kept completely separate and won’t cause you any issues if that’s not your thing. There’s a lake over at the side of A block that has loads of turtles in it. If you go and throw some fruit in they’ll soon coming flocking to you, even taking foot out of your hand. In addition, there’s various birds and lots of hermit crabs (be mindful where you step as you’ll see their burrows and they toddle about in the grass so are easy to step on). There’s also a parrot who’s still learning to speak called Sunny Ray. Again, you can go and feed him fruit. There’s really well maintained tennis courts the other side of the lake. They have equipment there to use if you fancy a game. My only slight complaint about this area is that when you try and do a circular walk of the lake you end up on a gravel road that links back round that’s used as a maintenance area. I insert that such things are needed, but it would be nice if the lovely garden was continued right the way round (this is an incredibly small point and not one to put you off booking!). The sea front gym and man made beach area was undergoing renovations whilst we were there (although I never saw any work being done which wasn’t an issue as it meant there was no noise). The gym has been relocated to another building in the car park. It was a bit small and cramped but it was air conditioned, lots of free weights and machines with towels available. Some of the treadmills could do with servicing though as the belts slipped on a couple mid run. Excursions You can book excursions via a desk in the lobby. This is really handy as the lady explains what each entails and you can pay on checking out. Also, TUI don’t send a rep here, so the fact that the hotels helps you with this is great. We did two double trips. We found that all trips were available everyday. The first was Blue Hole plus Dunns Fall River. This cost $300 for 2 and included a pick up in a small van with 1 other couple. We were taken to Blue Hole first, which was about a 25 minute drive away. You can leave all your belongings in the van for safe keeping. They put you with a guide and a photographer. You then walk up the side of a series of waterfalls before jumping into the pool at the bottom of each on your way back down. They give you a life vest but I saw other groups not wearing these. A person took their own phone in a waterproof case only to loose it in the water. A man kindly went down to retrieve it for her…but this cost her $30. Be prepared for a shake down from the photographer too. He clearly weighs you up and decides what he can get away with asking for the photos he takes. Agreeing a price beforehand maybe worthwhile. He also takes cash (I was daft enough to pay him $60 for about 10 pictures that he uploaded to my phone there and then). The guide will also want a tip. We then went to Dunn Falls River, which was around another 25 minute drive. Again, you can leave your belongings in the van but there are lockers available inside the grounds. This is a lot more professional with us being left in a waiting area for a sufficiently sized group and we were given a guide and photographer. However, we were told straight up that photos and a video would cost $40. We were then taken as a group down to the beach and then climbed back up the waterfall as a group. It took about an hour. The first section is definitely the hardest, and my wife who was quite apprehensive about this and not very confident she would be able to do it still managed it. The guide and photographer are great with helping you and giving you some great photo opportunities. On completion we paid for our photos via bank card and these were sent to us the following day without issue. Be aware though that you could just do this on your own as opposed to a group, which loads of people were doing. Your driver will be waiting for you at the end anyway, so it’s no issue if you don’t fancy doing it as a group with a photographer. Be mindful that as you leave this place they walk you through a little area that has loads of little shops with locals trying to sell you various wares. DON’T TELL THEM YOUR NAME OR WHERE YOU’RE FROM as they’ll carve this in something and insist you buy it. Also keep your hands in your pockets so they can’t put anything in your hands that they then expect payment for. As much as Jamaica is a beautiful place there is still lots of poverty here so expect these types of tactics. Water shoes are essential for this trip in addition to towels and some cash. The drive back to the hotel was another 20 minutes or so. Total trip time was around 4 hours I think. Our second day was a trip to Martha Brae (bamboo rafting) and the Illuminous Lagoon/Glistening water. This cost $330 for 2. Again, we were picked up in a mini van with another couple around 1330. It’s then around a 1 hour 20 minute drive to Martha Brae. Once there there’s toilets and a bar where you’re offered a complimentary drink that actually cost you money??? You can also buy drinks to take with you on the trip. Your given life vests and taken to the river and placed on a bamboo raft. You don’t actually step in the water, so you can wear what you feel comfortable in. Sit does get hot though and you’re in and out of the sun as you mosey down the river. You have a bloke who likes you down the river. It’s lovely and peaceful and the bloke will speak to you about the environment. There’s a couple of people who have stalls along the way who will call you over but there’s no obligation to stop. The first was a Rasta man selling shells and red stripe. The journey takes about an hour and towards the end the bloke polling will explain how they don’t get daily work so they whittle wood. He’ll then sell you said item and include a tip. We paid $40 cash and the other couple in our van paid $45. You then get off the raft to find your driver waiting. They then take you to the Glistening water lagoon. This is about 20 minutes away. Here you’re places in a restaurant/bar with toilets. We had a few beers but other had food and it looked alright and the prices were ok. They accepted cash or card. You are here for quite a while until it goes dark. As it does, some crazy bloke comes out to perform his glass walking and fire show. He’s basically a little mad Jamaican guy who charges round shouting and doing his thing. After a few beers, I found this quite funny. You then get placed on a boat and taken out into the lagoon. The boat is anchored and you can then enter the water. Again, there’s a photographer taking pictures of you but you can get your partner to do this front he boat if you have a decent camera. This experience was incredible. Seeing the microbes illuminate as you swim through then is amazing. As you pull your arm out of the water they shimmer and sparkle as the microbes are still on you but they go out very quickly. They’re not dangerous and it’s a very magical experience. Be mindful that although the water is only up to your chest, the current is surprisingly strong, your in the dark, and the sand under your feet feeling like standing in really wet bread dough; it sort of sucks at your feet’s whilst maintaining your weight. So you don’t get stuck but it’s a very odd feeling. I personally liked it 😂. This is quite a short experience with you getting back in the boat after about 25 minutes to be taken back to shore. Again, water shoes are essential for this one if you’re getting in the water. We then got the van back to the hotel, with this taking about 1 hour and 25 minutes with us getting back not long before 2200. This is a long day but was nice and relaxing and you get to do an experience that is only available in 4 places on earth.

The team at Couples San Souci are 5* this is one of the friendliest Caribbean resorts we have visited all of the staff here work very hard to ensure you have the best time. There are so many to mention so I won't list the names. Beach is perfect for relaxing with beach service, drinks to sunbed, cold towels and fruit a nice touch. Two swimming pools including a mineral pool and the hidden mineral grotto (freezing cold plunge pool) whirlpools are throughout the resort, garden areas are extremely well cared for along with the lake where you will see turtles and pelicans perfect for an early morning run. Fitness classes were very well organised and aquafit was a great option. San Souci also offer a complimentary glass bottom boat trip just let them know the day before. All of the food options here were excellent we enjoyed Casanova (Gentleman must wear long trousers) Bella Vista and Palazzina in the evenings, the buffet lunch was very good something for everyone and Charlies bar offered vegetarian and vegan lunch options at your sunbed (mineral pool) Massages were reasonably priced, very relaxing and the location of the treatment room was stunning. The ocean front suite was so spacious and the mini bar is welcome after a day in the sunshine. Great to be provided with a reusable water bottle. We liked the fact there are no wristbands to wear and unlimited beach towels! We would highly recommend this resort and hope to return again - thank you for a wonderful stay :)