Couples Sans Souci

All day on January 19th, Sans Souci hosted an event with music on one of their beaches so loud it could be heard all the way down the coast. This rudeness and disrespectful behaviour continued on into the night ending at about 1am with the loudest fireworks display I have ever witnessed. We could not sleep through it. Despite complaints initiated from local hotel management, the Duty Manager at Sans Souci said there was nothing he could do about it. Obviously financial revenue was more important to them than being respectful and responsible neighbours. Shameful behaviour particularly considering the great efforts Jamaicans are taking to encourage the return of visitors post hurricane.

Morons set off gigantic fireworks display at 1am without letting any of the neighborhood resorts know. %#$&@!!! You fill in the blanks.

We rate all the hotel staff 100%. We could not fault them at all. 4 in particular stood out- Miguel, Alex and ‘Captain’ Christopher from the beach and Tashiba from the restaurant. All really lovely, friendly people who made us feel welcome and at home there. Housekeeping was brilliant and also the hotel nurse. Sorry, we don’t have their names. I suffered an injury towards the end of our holiday and i was looked after by all. Everyone was caring and friendly. They could not do enough to help. I would like to thank everyone for being so attentive and helpful. Even the guys on the beach who came over and chatted, making me laugh helped towards my recovery 😊 The food and drinks were excellent. The meals we had in Casanova were the best we have ever eaten in an all inclusive hotel. It was fine dining at its best. It was refreshing to be able book restaurants of our choice more than once during our stay. Hotel room was the biggest we have ever stayed in and we had a great sea view. Hotel, rooms and outdoor areas were spotlessly clean and well maintained. We would not hesitate to visit again, as we loved every second of our holiday.

I was really close to giving this resort 5 stars. The positive reviews are correct. This is a lovely hideaway. The food was mostly good, and a few times great. The boutique nature of the resort is much appreciated. The room was awesome. The evening entertainment on most nights was great. Again, I was “this close” (holding fingers closely together) to giving CSS five stars. I gave it 4 stars because a huge selling point for us was that they (according to other reviews and their own website) service you while you are sitting on the beach (regularly bring you drinks, etc). That did not happen. Other reviewers spoke about a flag system to let them know that you needed a drink. The official website of CSS even talks about this service. That was a big reason why we stayed there. Bottom line, there was no flag or any other system to call for a drink. The staff came around sporadically. Example, if we were at the beach from 9 am to 5 pm, someone would come around maybe 3 times over that 8 hour period to ask if we wanted a drink. There was no way to signal that we wanted another drink. We picked this resort because of that supposed feature. The resort failed in this regard. We could have stayed at several other resorts that were a lot less expensive simply because they also do not do a great job providing you with drink service at the beach. Also, most of the “bartenders” did not even know how to make even the cocktails that were on the resort’s own “featured cocktails” menu. They couldn’t bartend their way out of a wet paper bag. Typically, the “bartender” would have to look at the menu to see the ingredients. They would then “guess” how much of each ingredient to use. It was like “cocktail roulette”. But in a bad and disappointing way. A couple of times it was great (read: accurate) but most of the time the proportions of the ingredients were so out of whack, that it did not taste right. Some were downright horrible. Some were undrinkable. The only exception to this was the Balloon Bar. The main bartender there (an older Gentleman) is a great bartender. He knows his stuff! He was the only talented bartender at the resort. Also, I would ask for basic cocktails that every bartender should know. When he was not there, or if I was at any other bar except the Balloon Bar, they were confused. They had no idea how to make even basic, classic cocktails. I had to google it and tell them the ingredients and amounts. By day 3, I had given up and I had limited my “cocktail” to only be a rum a Coke, knowing that they could not mess that up. Other than that, it was great. I sincerely hope that the management takes this seriously. If someone is going to be a bartender, they need to know how to make, at a minimum, your resort’s signature cocktails and the basic, classic cocktails. You should have a book for the with the exact ratios of the ingredients to ensure they get it right.

Where do I start? This resort is advertised as a 5 star property and it would be generous giving it a 3. The resort is old and tired and badly in need of upgrades. To start with a few positives: airport pick up was organized with no issues.(be prepared for a 2 hour drive in traffic). Check in was very welcoming and organized including luggage delivery to our room. Our king size bed was very comfortable. The grounds are absolutely spectacular and well kept. For the most part staff were wonderful. Carol who makes the breakfast omelettes is a joy! New Year’s Eve celebrations were fabulous and very well done. The cocktail party, main event and entertainment were extraordinary despite the weather not cooperating. The Bella Vista restaurant was consistently good with wonderful service. Now for the negatives: we expected so much more of the buildings, pools, beach and food after looking at the pics on their website. The buildings are tired and in need of renovations. Our room needed a deep clean right down to mildew in the shower. When you reserve you get an email as to what you would like stocked in your complimentary mini bar. When we arrived our choices were not present. We reached out to the front desk, we used their app, we spoke to beverage staff and finally the day before we left we were able to get some of what we requested. Unfortunately some of the bottles had been previously opened so therefore we did not consume them for obvious reasons. We mostly used the AN pool and beach. The pool and hot tub maintenance were lacking. Most days you could not see through the cloudy water to the bottom of the hot tub. The lounge chairs are equipped with floatie type pads. They were filthy and covered in mildew. The pool bar always ran out of plastic glasses. By mid day everything was served in a tumbler including wine. The selection of drinks were limited when they ran out of stock and there were no non alcohol beers to be had. The beach was intermittently raked but garbage persisted in the sand. Food: breakfast is served buffet style with an omelette station in Palazzina. It is repetitious and unless you get an omelette items in the chafing dishes are lukewarm at best. It is the same food daily. Staff don’t work as a team. You may get a coffee cup when you sit down but getting it filled with coffee is another story. The higher end Casanova restaurant was a total disappointment. The menu is fabulous and the food is tasty; however, the food was consistently cold and the service was either slow or non existent. The restaurant was consistently obviously short staffed. The gym is small and cramped due to it being relocated as the original facility has structural damage. This is understandable however the equipment is very dated and needs to be replaced. Most of the issues we encountered were brought up to senior staff yet after an 8 day stay we noticed no improvement to even the basic issues. This resort was a very expensive 3 star experience. Overall it is a one and done for us.