Before I get into the details of our trip I want to state that my family had an absolute blast at the Starfish and in Jamaica. All of my comments are going to be made in regards to only Room 546 and my experiences within the resort and country. Other people’s experiences may vary from ours.

Day 1.

July 16th.

Could not sleep at all. I had a bad feeling all day on the 15th as we got ready. About 4:15 AM we got the call that our connection in Miami to Montego Bay had been cancelled. Wonderful American Airlines made one half assed attempt to get us another flight that day, but ultimately we were booked on a flight the next day, which arrived in Montego Bay at 7PM. Called Sky Auction to let them know to contact the Starfish. I had called the Starfish but was told they could not do anything on their end. Called Wentworth to tell him not to go to the airport, and gave him our new flight number and arrival on 7/17. Called our travel insurance company for a claim form.

Day 2.

July 17th

All is good. Flight from Dallas to Miami went well, other than the agent at check in at DFW would not issue our connecting boarding passes. Shopped a bit in the airport, got our boarding passes and left Miami about 30 minutes late. Landed around 7:30PM in Montego Bay. Immigrations and Customs went very quick as we were the only flight. Found Wentworth and waited for him to bring the van around. No one tried to take our bags or anything, we just rolled them out and we were on our way.

Nice drive to the Starfish. Not much to see in the dark, but we had a nice talk with Wentworth, made our excursion plans, and arrived at the resort. Check-in was long. Of course there was no record of Sky Auction calling them about our delay. They did find us a room, and we grabbed a drink and went up to the room. Someone was going to come up and move the two twin beds together since they gave away our original room. Everyone at check-in was polite and accommodating. By this time it was 9PM and we needed to eat. Down to the buffet, which was fairly sparse considering they were close to shutting down, but we managed to find enough to get us by until snacks. Walked the property and drank. I had purposely not bought any Appleton rum prior to the trip. I wanted my first one to be in Jamaica. Interesting taste. I usually drink the Bacardi Special (I don’t like the light) but this was a very different taste. Was not sure I liked it. After a few more, I was hooked. It definitely grows on you. Since we had the daughter in tow, we made our way back to the room about midnight after a quick bite from the snack bar.

The Room.

546

We got our resort reserved through Sky Auction. We got a room commensurate with the price we paid. Since we were already a day late checking in and it was late, I did not even bother with asking for any upgrades. If you care about your balcony view, this is not the room for you. Actually this side of the resort is not for you. We did not care, but if this is important to you, then you might want to avoid it. We overlooked the generators and fans and such. We were on the balcony long enough to put wet stuff on the chairs and that’s about it. You can hear the noise from the big fans but honestly, it did not affect us. We were usually dead tired when we got to the room. Again, if you think the noise will bother you, avoid this side of the hotel area.

The room was fine for our purposes. The floor does get a bit grimy and the beds are hard, but not enough to be a real issue. No one ever came to move to beds, so I unplugged the lamp, moved the nightstand and pushed the beds together. Took about 1 minute.

The bathroom was fine, but the water pressure was interesting. The water in the sink came out with such force you would think it was ready to burst. The shower, however, had very little pressure. If you turned the hot water on only, all the way up, you would get slightly warm water that varied in pressure from light to slight. Note that it will take you awhile to rinse shampoo from your hair! Again, this may not be the case in every room, but it was the case in 546.

Day 3

July 18

Up around 7:30 AM as we have some catching up to do! Breakfast was breakfast. I’m not much of a breakfast person, but everything tasted good and there were plenty of selections. Now down to the beach…FINALLY! No problem finding three loungers under a nice palapa close to the water. Actually, we never had a problem getting a lounger anywhere at any time of the day during our stay. Towels seemed to be in abundance, but we brought our own, so I can’t say whether they ever ran out. I can’t tell you enough how safe everything was. You can leave your stuff anywhere and no one will bother it. Anyway, back to the beach. Not that it has anything to do with the resort, but due to the impending weather, I was never able to show my daughter the famous Caribbean crystal clear water, as the wind and waves were both pretty intense. Kept the temps and humidity low, but I was disappointed not to be able to show her this. All in all the water was warm and we had fun in the waves. Also, they have these big plastic rings with a tarp in the middle that you can take out and float around on. We had a blast with one of those. The skies were overcast and soon the rain would come. About half way through our first beach day I began to wonder if anyone would EVER offer me drugs! Not that I wanted any, but I kept reading that I would be offered it constantly. Here I am and I can’t get anyone to offer me drugs? Do I not look cool enough?

Lunch was jerk chicken and vegetable patties at the grill. The beer was cold, the mixed drinks were strong, and the wife and I sampled everything. I avoided the super sweet drinks, but never had a weak drink. Actually some were very strong.

Spent the better part of the day on the beach. Met a real nice guy selling the bamboo mugs on the beach. I forgot his name, but he walked with a crutch and it took him forever to get from one end to the other. Bought a couple of mugs off of him and each day he would stop every time he passed just to talk and thank us. Actually, everyone selling on the beach was very nice and respectful. Security only lets a few on at a time, so it’s not like an endless line of people selling. Finally, someone offered me drugs. I passed, but felt better about myself. Again, when offered drugs, I simply declined and expained I was with my family. They would see my wife and daughter, we would fist bump some respect and off they went. Also met Alexander, who is at Shop 9 in the Bamboo Village, who made us a great plaque. I knew I wanted something personal carved and he did a great job. Each day, I would wander over to the village and he would be there carving away. Again, no one in the Bamboo Village ever asked me to look in their shops or anything, they would find Alex if he was not in his shop, as they all knew who I was and why I was there. I would recommend shopping there without hesitation. The there was Squidly-Diddly, the starfish man. My daughter thought he was pretty cool. He caught a starfish for her, cleaned it out and brought it to us our last beach day. He also gave us all the care instructions for finishing the drying out process at home. One thing I want to comment on is how people have stated there was seaweed everywhere. While there is no sea grass growing in the vicinity of the beach, the storm that was brewing certainly was carrying it in pretty heavily. By late afternoon it was thick in the shallower areas, but once you got out a bit deeper, it was not a problem. I suspect this is never an issue during calm seas, but when churned up, the tide brings it in for sure.

Dinner was…I can’t remember. Damned good, that’s for sure. Actually, we never had a bad meal here. Everything was wonderful. We never got around to eating at any of the other restaurants, so I can’t comment there. The buffet food was absolutely wonderful. A few stand-outs from various dinners: Festival is the best bread ever, macadamia nut encrusted snapper, jerk tilapia, shrimp and chicken chow mein, jerk pork, and a bunch of other great food that is obscured from my memory due to alcohol.

My wife won $150.00 on the slots, while I played in the arcade with the kiddo. Many drinks were had. We could see the lightning in the mountains on the way back to the room.

Day 4

July 19

Wentworth called about 7AM. It’s raining pretty hard in Ocho Rios. Looked out the patio door. It’s raining pretty good in Falmouth as well. Oh well, it will pass… or not. Wentworth picked us up after breakfast, about 10 AM to head out to Ochie. What a great driver who really goes the extra mile. He took us to the Christopher Columbus statue and through the town of Ocho Rios before stopping at the Wassi Pottery place. We were really looking forward to the demonstrations and letting the kid make her own pottery, but the storm had killed that. They only had limited power. Just enough to power the retail area! Go here! Even without the demonstrations, there are so many affordable pieces that you don’t see anywhere else. We bought, and then we were off to climb the falls!

We arrived at Dunns River Falls and headed in. It was still raining but we were going to get wet anyway. Our group was ready and off we went. On the way down to the beach, my wife decided to forego the group and set out without them. We had a waterproof disposable as well as an old 2MP digital that I put in a ziplock baggie. That didn’t work out as well as one might think, but it was an old camera so no big loss. I bet we didn’t make it 50 feet up before the wife was stuck and didn’t think the kiddo could make it further. She was about ready to call the whole thing quits when our group started to catch up with us. Boy were we in trouble with our guide! Actually he was good natured about it and helped my daughter the rest of the way. I don’t know that I recommend climbing without a guide unless you are an experienced climber or have done that falls before. Part of the trouble was due to the rain. Our guide said the falls were running faster than usual from all the rain. We made it up, and it was a great experience. One thing I noticed is that some of the rocks seem to be less that real. I don’t know the history of the attraction, so I’m not going to go any further than to say some of the rocks were not actually rocks, and it appears that the falls have been altered to provide the experience. I could be completely wrong here, but that is how it appeared. Some of the rocks have worn away enough to see that they are not real. Regardless, this is an experience not to miss. What I would suggest missing is the village after the falls. No amount of reading about this area and preparing for it can possibly prepare you for this experience. I finally had to get mad before we got to the bus. They were literally following us right to the door of the bus trying to get more and more. Once we were in the village they tried to split us up. Then they targeted my daughter. I had tried to prepare her to ignore the word “free” but a twelve year old is a twelve year old. We bought what we bought but it was never enough. I did not have any problem with what we bought or the price I eventually paid, but even after that all I heard was how they made an error and they needed more money. Simply avoid this headache. If you do go in, don’t tell anyone your name or it will be instantly carved onto ever wooden item within hearing distance. I refused to give any more money and once on the bus, we drove off. If there was any downer to our vacation, it was the adventure in the shopping village after the falls. Also, if you order the DVD from the climb, you might want to tip the DVD guy. We did not, and ours never arrived. We didn’t pay anything as he told us to pay once we received it, so we were not out any money, but we would have liked to have it.

Our original plans called for us to go tubing and visit Coyaba Gardens, but due to the rain and our earlier delays getting to Jamaica, we opted to head back to the resort. Also, climbing the falls is quite a workout! All of us had various bumps and bruises. We got back to the resort and proceeded to grab a drink and some jerk chicken at the beach grill. The kiddo made some friends on the water slide and we made friends with some bartenders!

Dinner was Jamaica night, and everything was excellent. More drinks, and some casual conversations with other vacationers. The kiddo hit the arcade again. I lost money on the crab races. Darned blue crab never could get going! The wife won another $100 on the slots.

Day 5

July 20

Our last full day. Breakfast, and then hit the beach. Nice day with fairly clear skies. Waves were bigger than the other day. More sea grass coming in than the other day. To clarify, we live in the Dallas – Fort Worth area, so a typical trip to the beach is a trip to the Texas Gulf Coast. We are definitely used to having sea weed everywhere. So, while it was a bit disappointing to encounter so much of it on this vacation, it was not a big deal. The weather does what the weather does, right? Anyway, we enjoyed the beach although it was too rough to use the big floats from the other day.

After lunch at the grill, we spent some time in the pool area. I played a game of pool in the pool with the kiddo and we lounged in the water loungers. Later we returned to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. We met a couple from the UK that were on their honeymoon and had a nice chat. How I envy the European vacation. My wife and I get similar amounts of vacation time, but if we ever wanted to take two weeks at one time, we would be laughed at. So we enjoyed our time on the beach, drinking and conversing with our new friends from the UK. Another highlight was the security guard on our end of the beach. He was having trouble with one aggressive vendor that did not seem to have a visible product. The security guard enjoyed asking us if we wanted to see a whipping. Eventually the vendor left, but that guard really wanted to show us all a beating! Eventually we cleaned up, ate dinner, and enjoyed a few more drinks before we hit the proverbial wall. We were supposed to meet our UK friends in the piano bar for champagne and drinks later that night but we didn’t see 10PM.

Last day

July 21

Had breakfast and packed everything up. Wentworth came early so we could see the town of Montego Bay before arriving at the airport. We went to a hotel that overlooked the bay (can’t remember the name) which was well worth the trip. I personally enjoyed watching how masterfully, Wentworth made his way through such as busy town! Eventually we arrived at the airport and went through the long process of checking in and passing through security. We ate at the Air Margaritaville. Worst meal we had the entire vacation. Bought some rum and rum cream, and boarded our flight home. Way too short.

A few observations I left out. The bars at the Starfish do indeed have somewhat of a sour smell. I didn’t think it was a big issue and it isn’t strong enough to matter. The drinks were almost always perfect to strong. Tipping was a fun game that turned into an art. No one ever asked for a tip or acted like they wanted one, but we certainly tipped. As I said, there is an art to where you place the money and how your hand and the bartenders hand pass by as the money goes from yours to theirs to out of view in a flash!

I saw very few staff members that did not have a smile! Everyone was pleasant and accommodating. We used our thermal mugs on the beach, but everywhere else we just used the plastic cups. I saw a few Bubba Kegs but most everyone just used the bamboo mugs or the cups. One thing that I found interesting is how people would keep getting drinks in the hard plastic cups but get a new one each time. Eventually they would run out and all that was left were tiny disposable cups. Some people had stacks of the regular cups. I just kept my hard plastic cup from dinner and used it the entire night.

The elevators are hit or miss. Some days all were working, some days only a few. No major delays there. We used the stairs if the wait was too long. We used the safe for our valuables, but left everything else out. No issues with missing items. I wasn’t expecting issues, but since it had been mentioned in the past I thought I would update.

No musty smell in the room, and the air conditioner worked great! Sometimes the television got a signal from the dish and sometimes not. I think we turned it on 3 times, so no big deal there. There were no towels in the room when we got there, but the bell hop called down and we had plenty when we returned later that night. We always had towels after that. I never encountered any other sewage smells or bad smells other than that slight odor from each bar.

The staff and people we met in Jamaica were almost all absolutely wonderful, gracious, and respectful. Everyone treated my daughter with respect and kindness. It was perhaps the best we have ever been treated at any vacation destination, not only at the resort, but everywhere we went (other than the shopping village after climbing the falls) Although our time was cut short by the airlines, we made the most of what we had and had some of the best vacation days we have ever spent.

I would return to the Starfish without a doubt. For us, it was everything we needed and more.

Great report! Glad you had a good time despite the weather. Good for you and for teaching your daughter that you can still have a good time even in the rain!

dasjman: Really enjoyed reading your trip report about your visit to Starfish. As a return visitor, it was really nice to read a "real" opinion. So glad that you enjoyed yourselves. BTW---the man with the crutch--his name is Donny, but is better known as "Fire." Fi-yah--is how it's pronounced. He is one of my favorites, and I've spent numerous times walking with him on the beach at his request. Always good company and a sweetheart of a man. 1luv

One thing I left out was that my wife amd I are rain magnets. If we go somewhere it is going to rain! If you are suffering drought conditions, we can visit your city for a fee and it will rain.

That being said, we did not mind the day of rain as we fully expected it!

Really enjoyed reading your review, sounds like you all had a great time :)

Trelawny has a special place in my heart because we got married there before it became the Starfish, it always makes me happy when I read that other people have enjoyed the resort and their overall experience in Jamaica :)