July 20 - 24
We were headed to Miami and the Keys when our travel agency, Judy at Go Classy, called to inform us of this great deal to Jamaica. Changing our agenda, we headed back to the Lido for the 9th time, but first time during the summer months. We had a wonderful time. We flew from Atlanta to MBJ and then took Tim Air straight to the Lido. Clithy and Natalie greeted of us promptly. We were in our room at 12:30 and on the beach by 1:00. It really doesn’t take much to please my husband and myself. We just enjoy relaxation away from everything. Even though it was hotter than normal, the sun was out every day, the water was blue, and the sand was still white, and the people who were there were great company. Robert was still cooking his delicious chops and chicken, Sherries and Verna were still serving drinks of your choice with smiles on their faces. Colleen, the concierge, took care of booking the catamaran cruise, and Stacea met us with warm, caring service every morning for breakfast. She was even very kind to get cold milk for my husband because his coffee was too hot. It was good to see Sheldon and his big infectious smile at the main bar still entertaining the guest with the bottles. Barbara, Sharon and Roberto were about doing a great job checking to see that people were being taken care of, the grounds were being kept up and making sure it is the best all-inclusive hotel, as far as we are concerned, in the Caribbean. However, they were never too busy to stop and talk with the guests. We also enjoyed closing each evening off in the piano bar with Ike.
Normally we come either in February or December. This time of year is a bit different. All the restaurants are not open every night. However the property did have special food events planned on the evenings they weren’t opened. The food was still exquisite! We did have a super meal at the Japanese restaurant, Jamaican Restaurant, and the French Restaurant. Lunch, usually is with Robert at the co bar. We also love to eat at the Timberhouse.
It is wonderful how these folks will do anything for you if you treat them with respect. We feel like they’re family and the Lido is a home away from home.

Although the Bloody Bay location and beaches were beautiful, the rooms were on the small side and showed some aging. Be prepared for housekeeping problems with the staff. Also, the massage person had me take off my gold chain, then shortly after moved me to another room. When I was brought back to the original room, the $1,000 gold chain was missing (probably stolen by one of the staff). The resort investigated but did nothing else.

I read a number of reviews before going to this resort. My friends and I choose this resort back in February and we are sad that we did, we should have gone with the other recommendations. We stayed there from July 15 to July 19, 2008. This is long but hits on the major areas when staying at this resort.

HOTEL:
The resort needs some serious renovations. The rooms are very outdated, the balcony are really small and need work as well. The bathrooms have been updated but honestly it needs to be done again. The bed linen were awful, very thin and every day when we would get into the bed I had a differnt set of holes in the sheets.

We had air conditioning leaking problems, so they replaced the sofa that had water damage. Then we woke up at 6 am because there were ants in the bed, all over our luggage and all over out bathroom items. We did not have any doors, windows or food open and they were all over the room. Coming from somewhere around bar area. When I called the front desk they told me they would send someone to spray but that person did not get in before 9 am! You have got to be kidding me! Fortunately I travel with some cleaning supplies, we opened up the doors, shook out the things that were not in our suitcases and cleaned as much as we could.

When I asked to speak with a manager of duty I was told there was not manager on the property. Again, you mean a resort this large does not have managers 24 hours, I don't believe that. Well moving on we head out for breakfast around 7 am to get out of the room. We had packed up everything and waited until 9 am to see some kind of manager. When one came in they moved us to another room, and quickly began disinfecting our prev room. (Our new room was only a few doors down)

Needless to say even being moved I did not sleep well and found myself always looking around in the room for ants.

FOOD:
The food was okay. Some days better than others. The japanese/italian restaurant was by far the best, but not open everyday. The breakfast was not bad, but I would have liked to have seen more caribbean fare. There is only one place on the entire property to get 24 hour food and it takes a while to receive your order. We placed an order and it took exactly 22 minutes to arrive.

ENTERTAINMENT:
If you are looking for night life at the resort, again only on certain nights. Since we had such a large party we really were the entertainment for the evening. Participating with the house band, if not for us there were probably 20 persons around for the nightly entertainment.

I will say that if you want to leave the property the house shuttle is available 24 hours to take you elsewhere. This is not a free service, but it is available. About $30 per person to get around. Again nightlife is not very exciting unless you go with a group of people and make your own fun.

BEACH:
The water is great, however here we go again, a number of the beach chairs are broken. Every morning we begin looking for the chairs that had all the legs and the backs worked propertly. The cushions stay out all night long so they are mildew. We each had to put 3 towels on one chair so we would not have touch the mildew. The water sports/beach staff were great, but again I want to sit in a chair that I know will not be lopsided and a cushion that is not filled with mildew. The cushions are filled with mildew because they stay out all night. The nude side of the beach is really rocky and not many persons sit on that side. It is just not a comfortable spot.

OTHER:
This resort needs major renovating. We will not be returning to the resort unless some major renovations are made.

Also since we were across the street from Hedonism II (owned by Super Clubs) we took a tour of that property and those rooms again are really outdated. The tour guide said the only upgrades they made to those rooms happend last year when they added flat screen tv's to the rooms. All the rooms have been the same since the 80's and it shows.

So althoght the all inclusive is a great concept it has a lot of hit/misses. Mostly for us misses. We were all very disappointed with this property but again made the best out of our stay.

I have also sent a very detailed letter to Super Clubs Corporate office in Hollywood Florida about our stay.

My husband and myself decided to get married at the Grand Lido Negril. Our stay was amazing until we returned to the States to find out that our Credit Card information was duplicated and ran up all over Jamaica (mostly Kingston). We only used our card once at check in for the $200 room incidental charge when we handed our card to Garry. We then locked our card in the safe and didn't use it the entire time we were in Jamaica. Therefore we are certain that our information was copied by a staff member of the GLN front desk. The management at the GLN has done nothing to try to compensate us for this major inconvenience. When we returned the worst thing we had to do was contact our friends and family to ensure that their identiy was not stolen as well.
The best part of the GLN was most of the staff. They were completly phenomenal and were very attentive to make sure that our vacation was the best!
Our word of advice is to not hand over your card to anyone. Make sure you are with them when they run it; otherwise you will come home to sloppy mess. Trust us this will take significant time and effort to repair the damages if you are not cautious of everyone!