Couples Sans Souci

We booked this hotel having been four years previously, not because we loved it then but more because we quite liked it then and couldn’t find anywhere that looked very much better. But the same reservations from back then remained, to be joined by several more. We still found the restaurants limited and monotonous and really disliked that they closed all the restaurants every Tuesday and Friday forcing you to go to the outdoor lawn dinner galas on those nights. One of those in our two week stay would have been fine but not four. The staff in the restaurants and bars were largely miserable, disinterested and seemed to not want to be there. Then I lost count of the amount of times I had to ask for wine top ups. That should be better. The beach remains small and crowded with very shallow sea bathing. The condition of the hotel has become very poor. The gardens are not sufficiently maintained and the communal stairs and passageways to the rooms are tatty and scruffy with the exterior walls flaky and unsightly. An enormous makeover is desperately needed. The rooms themselves are a good size, well appointed and in decent decorative order. The Casanova restaurant is of a decent quality with a pleasing ambiance but also suffers from mixed service. In the other restaurants much of the food is served like warm to cold with limited change to what is offered. We started skipping breakfast as we found the offering at Pallazina so poor. The entertainment was not bad and there were a lot of activities laid on, some pretty good. Our arrival was poor. No welcome drink or cold towels as with other hotels and quite time consuming and chaotic. The software producing room keys was down so we had to go to our room with no key. That was 11.00pm and 12 hours later they still couldn’t give us a key so we had to wait at breakfast to eventually be brought keys. On the first night at 11.00pm we had to call maintenance within minutes as our ground floor patio doors wouldn’t lock which was a security risk. To be fair they quite quickly took us to another room which we remained at as the doors locked. I like a few things about this hotel but nowhere enough and there’s no way I’d ever return.

We stayed in February for a romantic wedding anniversary getaway. The resort grounds are well kept, clean and spacious. There are private nooks in various spots. We got the beach front room on block B, lovely view, comfy bed, only issue was the shower. The shower head were partially clogged, so the few that worked, the water was like a jet. Had to shower using a trickle. Also the hot water was always available, cold water not so much. The general beach is smaller, but we had no trouble getting a pair of chairs, same at the pool area. The breakfast and lunch was good, dinner at palazzina not so much. Entertainment was there but it wasn't at a disturbing volume, this is not a party hotel. The water sports are all free, we enjoyed the hobie cat ride, we got a water sports staff member to operate the sail - big up to 'Jack Sparrow of the Sea', he also gave us a history lesson on the famous turtle that once lived at the resort. Overall we enjoyed our stay, staff was friendly and accommodating. Several of the guests were repeat visits and they were friendly too. We would return again, if only for the water activities. That was a blast.

We stayed at Couples San Souci for 10 nights from late January to early February and celebrated our wedding anniversary during our stay. Location/Beaches/Pools The location is beautiful sitting in a small north facing bay with the beach looking out onto the bay. However this beach is quite small for the size of the hotel which means there is little space between loungers. There is a second beach, Sunset Beach, but this is reserved for nude sunbathing. The water in the bay is shallow and for the first 6 days of our stay was flat calm. However on the sixth day of our stay a strong northerly wind started which drove the sea strongly into the bay with sizeable waves and with this came large amounts of seaweed which was deposited on the beach. Initially this meant the complete beach was un-useable and even after great clearance efforts by the staff a third of the beach was covered in seaweed. There are 2 pools with limited lounging around them but we cannot comment on these as we did not use either. Our Room/Housekeeping Our room, a Premier Ocean Suite, was one of the best rooms we have ever stayed in with a comfortable king sized bed, plenty of storage space and a well designed large bathroom. We also enjoyed the large balcony with 2 comfortable loungers. The only minus was the lukewarm shower! Our housekeeper, Jacqueline, was a delight and put up ballons and created a towel “cake” to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Restaurants There are 3 restaurants: • Palazinna for breakfast, lunch and dinner • Beach Grill for lunch which then becomes Bella Vista for dinner • Casanova for dinner We tried the Beach Grill for lunch on our first day and were disappointed in the menu offered so went for the buffet lunch at Palazinna for the rest of our stay. We initially enjoyed the buffet but it became somewhat repetitive over the duration of our stay. We had dinner at all three resturants and enjoyed our meals at Casanova and Bella Vista but found the Palazzina offering disappointing. However, over our 10 night stay we started to struggle with a lack of variety in the menus at each restaurant. But our biggest issue with the restaurants was the service, or rather lack of it especially where it came to keeping our drinks (other than water) refreshed. We frequently had to chase the staff for more wine. At the same time, they were very keen to take our plates even if we had just paused eating. Bars We used 3 of the 7 bars the resorts claims to have, the Beach Bar, Balloon Bar and Martini Bar. The Beach Bar is open almost all day and we used this during the day where it was easy to sit at the bar and get into conversation with other guests. The Balloon Bar opens mid-afternoon and we used this in the evenings. We tried the Martini Bar one evening, it is only open in the evenings, and again it was easy to get into conversation with other guests but did not try it again as we are not great martini drinkers and there were no other drinks available. Entertainment The entertainment was very good and varied from a solo artist singing late in the evening on the beach to jazz singers backed by the excellent house band to the Hatfield Cultural Group performing traditional dances. Events There is a manager’s cocktail party every Monday evening and buffet dinners on the main lawn on Tuesdays and Fridays with entertainment following. (Note: The 3 restaurants are closed on these days so the only alternative is room service on these days.) We attended 2 cocktail parties but were not approached by any management and at the second the cocktail provided was a fizzy soft drink. The buffet dinners were of a reasonable standard but as it was night my wife found it difficult to read the notices saying what each dish was due to inadequate lighting. Overall We enjoyed our stay at Couples San Souci even though our last few days were badly impacted by unseasonably cool, wet and windy weather. However, those few days also meant there was more emphasis on the services provided by the hotel over those provided by nature. While the hotel tried to work around the inclement weather, this unfortunately exposed the shortcomings in the service provided. And it is the service that makes a true 5 start hotel and currently Couples San Souci falls somewhat short of this standard.

My wife and I stayed at this resort from February 2 to February 9, 2026. We were originally booked to stay at the Royalton Hideaway in Montego Bay, but that resort was apparently devastated by Hurricane Mellissa and won't open until at least September 2026. Our travel agent then recommended Couple Sans Souci Pros: Beautiful location of resort; very picturesque setting. We loved watching the waves rolling in each day. Oceanview Suite was outstanding, easily one of the best suites we have ever had! We were in the “B Block, Room B107, on ground level, which was important to us Cleanliness – very good - room, grounds, restaurants, etc. Service – excellent - by all staff Comfort – very nice - bed allowed for very good sleep quality. Our ground-level suite with a patio was huge!! Food: Palazzina – buffet restaurant, no reservations needed – food was generally very good with a decent variety of stuff for breakfast and lunch, and two dinners we had there. Wine and drinks were included with lunch and dinner, and champagne with breakfast. Bella Vista – Asian restaurant, reservations required for dinner but not for lunch – title was somewhat deceiving because they had much more than Asian food. We were lucky because on our first night there, they had the weekly lobster tail meal on the menu. We had most of our dinners at this restaurant. Food and services were very good. Wine and drinks were included with lunch and dinner. Casanova – Formal restaurant with dress code, reservations required – we had one dinner there, and that one time dinner was enough. The food was more gourmet-ish but was not much better than the dinners at the other restaurants. Service was good, and it was fun to dress up nicely for one dinner. Other snack places and beach shacks – we did not use them. Bars: Our main bar was the one on the beach adjacent to the Bella Vista restaurant. They had top shelf liquor in addition to tap beer and bottled soda. Of course we had Bob Marleys, pina collates, wine and other drinks like bourbon on the rocks and Captain Morgan rum. Very friendly bartenders. We did not use the swim-up bar because we did not use that pool and enjoyed the beach instead. Activities (from the resort) – We only did the glass-bottom boat ride. There were people who went scuba diving, and a few went snorkeling. It was mostly too windy to go out on the ocean in small boats, but a couple of days were calm. We saw people with kayaks and small wind sails from the resort when the wind was calmer. Mini-Bar in room – was stocked daily, although we didn’t use it much Entertainment – The Caribbean Festival was fun and entertaining. Friday Feb. 6th was Bob Marley’s birthday, and they had a great Bob Marley tribute band for the entertainment. The lead singer had long dreadlocks and could have been Bob Marley’s brother. Sunset Bay Beach (au natural beach) – clothing was required after 5:30 PM. We did not go there during the day, but I went in the evening twice around sunset for some photos of the sunset and the ocean waves (no people!!!) We did not use the bar or snack shack at this beach. Super Bowl Party (Feb. 8th) – The resort set up a big TV monitor and set up tents with tables and chairs and a huge BBQ cookout for an outdoor Super Bowl Party. Was a lot of fun, even though we had dinner at the Bella Vista restaurant during the game. We could watch the game from our outdoor seating table at the restaurant. This party was only a few steps from the patio for our ground level ocean view suite. Elevator - There was an elevator in a tower to get from the main lower level of the resort to the upper level. Still had to climb up and down a few flights of short stairways, but the elevator was great. Cons: There was not very many cons. Couples had a lounge at the airport in Montego Bay, very clearly marked. We had a beer, then got on their shuttle bus. The Couples shuttle ride from/to the airport was 1 hour 45 minutes long. But at least it was their own shuttle and had no other stops other than Sans Souci and Tower Isle. The driving time actually went by kind of fast, as we took in all the scenery. Surprisingly, not a lot of destruction from Hurricane Melissa was visible. The driver gave us much information during the trip. Because of its location, there were many steps and stairways at this resort. There were steps in the Palazzina restaurant to get to and from the buffet, so you had to be very careful on the steps, which we were. We saw one elderly person fall but did not get hurt. We were VERY HAPPY to have a ground-level suite near the main beach, very close to the Palazzina and Bella Vista restaurants and their bars. There were many stairways, and an elevator (which was great!), to get up to the lobby, small café, Balloon Bar and Casanova restaurant. There were shuttle buses you could call by phone to pick you up in front of your room block, and take you up the hill also, and take you back when you needed to return. That was very nice and saved some walking and climbing!! Compared to the Royalton Hideaway resorts we stayed at in Negril and Montego Bar, Couples Sans Souci was less than half the overall size. I’m torn between the larger resorts, which had larger restaurants with more food variety, and larger beaches, vs. a smaller, more intimate resort. We paid more for the Couples Sans Souci resort than a Royalton Hideaway, but for the type of suite we got, compared to Diamond Club at the Royalton Hideaway, we considered the extra cost money well spent.

Lovely resort with the most amazing staff who welcome you with smiles and try to accommodate any wish you might have! Everything was 10 out of 10 except maybe the room service could have had a better choice of items. Special thank you to the following staff members who made out stay extra special with their personality and service: Tasheba; Romario; Lloyd; O'shea and the lady at the healthy juice bar at the mineral pool!