Hi Guys! I (Amy) just got back from my honeymoon! I couldn’t wait to share with you all about my time in Jamaica! I thought it would be fun to show some pictures, and talk about what I learned there. Since I know a lot of our brides either have their wedding there or go there for a honeymoon!
Dan and I stayed at a Sandals resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica called Sandals Ochi. First off look at this picture, isn’t it gorgeous here?!
Our resort was all inclusive, which means food AND alcohol is INCLUDED. First honeymoon tip from me; go to an all inclusive resort, trust me. The food was awesome! I had steak every night and I’m not sorry about it. :p Breakfast was always a buffet, and they had some Jamaican dishes, regular breakfast food, and a whole table of bread! Lunch usually was pizza, jerk chicken, hamburgers, and some fish. They also had ice cream, cookies and popcorn that you could snack on. For dinner you could order an appetizer, entree and dessert. You could even order more food if you wanted! They don’t know your life, order more! I really loved the presentation of the food, it was so pretty! Below is a picture of a red velvet cupcake in a rum sauce. YUMM
There was a bar open at all hours, so you could literally get alcohol anytime of the day. It was always 5 O’Clock there. I sound like an alcoholic and I think I’m okay with that. Speaking of drinking, you can have whatever you want. You want a blended drink? Well gurllll have one! You want a long island ice tea? BE MY GUEST! I basically lived on dirty bananas, which one of my good friends told me about (thanks Stacey!). My favorite bar was the swim up ones! Chill in the pool and get a drink. Ahh this is the life. Below is a picture of one of the pools with swim up bars.
The rooms were nice, ours wasn’t anything super special we were kinda cheap on that aspect.
They do however offer nicer rooms, and butler service rooms for a fee obviously. To be honest the scenery was so gorgeous I didn’t care what our room looked like. The coolest part was coming back to our room and seeing the creation they made completely out of towels!
One night they actually made towels look like a person sitting in our bed. They turned all of the lights off and put some music on. I stumbled to the lamp to turn it on and screamed! They put my dress in a pillow and made a head out of towels and put my sunglasses and my hat on it! They even used towels for the arms and legs! It was fantastic.
We got a full body massage, and uhm. Did you know you have to be completely naked? Yes? Well, imagine walking a half mile in a robe that barely covers ANYTHING. We walked by several guests and employees holding our robes and guess what? IT WAS THE WINDIEST DAY THERE. So yeah, that was fun. :p They take you on the dock by the water, just a few feet away from swimmers in the ocean. You have to “gracefully” take your robe off without flashing anyone, and lay on your stomach on the table. Did I mention this is by the hotel who has an ocean view? So a few floors up can see the whole show. Pretty sure all of Jamaica saw my naughty bits. Opps. But in all honesty after they start the massage, you don’t care. You don’t care that only and ONLY a sheet is covering you. It was AMAZING! They do your back, they do your legs front and back, they do your arms front and back, and they do your neck, which hurt a little bit. The therapists even rub your head, face, and feet and wow doesn’t feel good!
I have to LOL at this picture we look like we are dead. See the guests swimming? Yep.
So after the massage I start to wonder how the hell I am going to get this robe back on without giving all of Jamaica a show. They have you lay on your back and help keep the sheet covering you, and yeah you can imagine how that did NOT work out. #ItWasAShow
Once you are covered (well mostly) in your robe, they have you and your partner sit in comfy chairs by the ocean. It really is beautiful. They also give you a drink called “chamberry” which is cranberry and champagne. DELICIOUS. All in all it was amazing! Totally recommend especially on your honeymoon! So romantic!
Swimming in the ocean for the first time I was TERRIFIED, I didn’t know what those shallow waters could be packin’. I basically hung off of Dan like a monkey the entire time in the water. The next time in the water wasn’t bad at all. I felt completely fine and was scared I even didn’t mind the fish swimming around my feet. The weather felt good, but it was hot AF. The cool ocean felt amazing! It was very calming and ended up being my favorite part of our trip. I cannot wait to swim in the ocean again.
One afternoon they decided to “force” us to have fun. The employees got everyone out of the pool and on to the sandy beach. They handed us a plastic bag filled with pink/green/salmon colored powder. The DJ got us all huddled in a circle and was telling us to shake the powder out on his count. Dan and I were snap dab in the middle of everyone, here is what we looked like after:
It was so cool because the employees themselves had powder all over them, and were dancing with us. Sounds like a fun job right? ;) Although I did feel a little like I was on spring break, but with couples instead of singles. It was so much fun though! I have always wanted to do the color run, so this was a close alternative.
We did the Aquatrikes and uhmm, it was not as easy as it looks. It was a little fun, but mostly hard to pedal and extremely hard if you have short legs like I do. I didn’t take a picture of it because I knew we looked ridiculous and not cute. So below is a Sandals picture of their Aquatrikes so you get the idea.
Thing I learned
- Don’t do a currency exchange! American money is wanted way more than Jamaican! Which duh seems obvious, but we were stupid and got a currency exchange. There may not be tipping at the resort but there is tipping for the people who handle your bags, and for your diver to your resort. They weren’t too happy when I handed them Jamaican money.
- GO TO ORIENTATION. We didn’t. Why? Because we are DUMB AMERICANS WHO THINK WE KNOW EVERYTHING. Real talk though, we thought we would be able to find everything on our own. NOPE. We were lost half of the time, couldn’t find places and when we asked where something was we STILL got lost. Trust me. Go to orientation and learn about the resort. You’ll thank me later.
- They drive on the left side of the road! I did not know this! I also didn’t really know much about Jamaica before we went there, probably should have done some research.
- Don’t leave the resort, which you wouldn’t want to anyways! There is so much to do and see! They even have buses to transport you to another attraction! So there is even more to do! They won’t exactly let you leave the resort anyways. Just an act of precaution.
- Everyone is SO FRIENDLY! Yes, including guests! The staff is very fun and friendly! They have so much fun, I almost want to quit Bombshell and go work there (only half joking :P)! The staff makes drinks for themselves, they party with you, swim with you, and even play games with you! They really force you to have fun! It’s impossible not to!
- Restaurants are only open at certain times and certain days. So the first thing we learned was to use the Sandals “Footprints” newspaper. It tells you times of breakfast, lunch and dinner, and what places you can eat at. It also lists the activities of that day and night. What we didn’t realize until the second to the last day is that even though the newspaper is 3 pages only ONE page pertained to our resort. Would have been nice to know that the first night so we wouldn’t be so confused. UGH.
- Some restaurants have dress codes. My husband gets so hot already, I wasn’t about to have him wear long dress pants, a long sleeved shirt and dress shoes! So I didn’t pack it, I had no idea we would be needed them! So make sure you pack accordingly.
- Bring goggles and a snorkeler for the ocean. I SOOO wish we would have brought this! They did have some at the resort you could buy but they were so expensive! It would have been so cool to see everything underneath the water!
- Bring a selfie stick. Okay Okay, I know I make fun of them too. But, honestly it would have been nice to have one so we could also get us and the scenery. Also, almost everyone had one so it’s not that weird.
Here are some more scenery pictures:
And this was our turtle friend who liked to chill on the waterfall;
All in all, we had a BLAST! I cannot wait to go back! I came back so refreshed and relaxed! Best place for some R&R. It was the best vacation I have ever been on, and it was so awesome to spend it with my new husband. <3
Talk soon!
- Amy
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