Azul Beach Resort Negril, Gourmet All Inclusive by Karisma

Let me start by saying that we had a great holiday at the Azul. We went on this holiday to celebrate our 60th birthdays so we had a couple of upgrades to make it a bit more special. Having been to Jamaica before in the Riu Palace in Montego Bay,our expectations of the Azul were high, but within hours of arriving we knew that we had set the bar too high! We arrived from a transfer from the Marella cruise ship and had to wait in reception for over two hours as our room was not ready. When we got to the room it smelt of damp, was on the end of block 2 next to the main road and had a large noisey air conditioning unit attached to the wall outside behind the bed. The swim up room was very poor as there was a wooden bridge in front of the window and very little room to get into the pool from the room. The whole block is very tired and in need of refurbishment. We asked to move rooms and initially told this was not possible until the following day but around an hour later we were shown to another room which was more open and had a view of the sea as expected. The customer support manager Jermaine was absolutely brilliant and sorted everything out and sent up wine and chocolates as an apology. Followed the next day by bubbly and cheese & biscuit platter. The next day the room safe broken and it had to be broken in and replaced by the maintenance guy. We had to ask twice to get this done. The minibar in the room was not topped up at any time during our stay so we had two Red stripe out of it all week! Breakfast every day had issues with missing items, No cutlery, food trays empty, no tea, orange juice not brought to the table, only one cup of tea instead of two. On two occasions in Mahogany we went for breakfast and we were sat at used tables instead of a table which had been cleaned a prepared. These were available but kept to one side for premium guests so they didn’t have to wait. I would rate the breakfast experience not even 2 star never mind 5 star. Lunches on the beach was really nice and the food from the hut was not too bad but very limited and a long wait on occasions. Evening meals in the speciality restaurants was excellent from the service to the quality of the food. This was 5star! We visited the buffet restaurant twice, and this was also pretty good. The bars are generally good but constantly running out of spirits, straws, stirrers etc. There was no Malibu or Bacardi, only local equivalents. There was a bottle of Bacardi on the shelf in the Nesta bar but was told that they could not use it as it was for sale! Evening entertainment lasted for 1.5 hours and was mainly dance groups. The highlights were the singer on the beach on Valentine’s Day and the swimming dance team. The karaoke evening was awful and had to go for a walk down the beach until it had finished. The sun beds are another challenge. There are only 12 Sun beds around the pool so these are reserved very early. The 1st two days we could not get a sun bed on the beach at 8am, every single one the length of 12 blocks of buildings had towels on them. On the 3rd day I went down to the beach at 7:30 but same again. I complained to the lifeguard on the beach and then found out what the trick was! He found us two sun beds and said I have looked after you, so you need to look after me for 5 bucks. We had to do this every day in order to be able to get a bed on the beach. It is the life guards who put the towels on the beds and only release then for money. Some Americans paid up front and had their choice of beds saved each day and personal belongings put on them to reserve. The staff throughout the hotel are extremely friendly and helpful and are a credit to the hotel. The only issue we had was with some bar staff who ignored us and served other guests who had dollar bills in their hands. This is a all inclusive and was told that it was a tip free hotel so this should not happen. If we get good service we gave a tip but why should you have to pay a couple of dollars just to get served? The hotel is located on the most beautiful beach and once you overlook all of the the issues it like being in paradise. I wouldn’t rate this as 5 star hotel and in some areas not even a 4 star but we enjoyed the holiday but would not return to this particular hotel.

We had an amazing trip and honestly had very few complaints. Our room in building 12 was a premium ocean view room but the view was minimal. We honestly only slept in our room so this did not bother us. The food was good and they never ran out of anything that we noticed or wanted like I have seen others complain about. The Italian restaurant was the best in our opinion. Shanika (sp) at the West End made the best iced coffee and was super sweet each morning, half way through our trip I didn’t even need to give her my order, she would just start making it. Jojo and Ms.K in the kids club/Azulitos were fantastic. They did so many activities with the kids in our group and the girls looked forward to going every day. My daughter told me her favorite thing about Jamaica was kids club. The on-site water excursions activities were super affordable and easy- they pick you up right from the beach! Antoinette and Treica (sp) at the Hibiscus swim up bar were true angels and made our kid free afternoons perfect. Antoinette makes the best cocktails I’ve had and she was a joy to hang with every day. We loved the small feel of the resort, it was more like a fancy hotel rather than a giant all inclusive resort. We made lots of friends and ran into the same groups every day. The beach is beautiful and you cannot beat the views. Snorkeling right off the beach provides a ton of entertainment with lots of fun things to see. No one was pushy or trying to sell us timeshares/memberships, which was great. We were asked, said we weren’t interested and it was never brought up again. My only complaint would be the beach chair situation, there is some weird beach chair bribe/tip economy to actually get spots on the beach. I realized my first day when every chair had a towel on it by 6:30 am… yet the resort was dead and no one was up. Seems like you need to tip someone to put out towels/hold your spot. I would absolutely recommend the resort to a friend and plan to go back!

Let me start by saying that the people that work at Azul were WONDERFUL. They made our vacation. The beach is also beautiful and the resort is very clean. Otherwise, I do not recommend. We ended up in the old section of the resort. Our room was smaller than a normal hotel room (much less one at a resort that was very expensive and supposedly a 5 star.) Our room was not in the best shape - caulk all over the shower, old wood doors, etc. Our safe didn't work past the first day. The swim up room was very nice although the pools were pretty cold. Hands down, the biggest complaint was the entire food situation. One of the main reasons we went to this resort was because they claim to have 9 restaurants. There were 4 and the food was NOT good. In addition, we couldn't get dinner reservations for our first three nights. We literally didn't eat dinner for 2 nights and got room service on the 3rd night. We finally went to the Italian on our 4th nt and it was awful. The "sauce" was red liquid as thin as water. Not good. In addition although all inclusive, they ran out of vodka every day by 4ish. That and wine are the only two alcohols I drink and the wine choices were terrible. Overall, the worst part of the trip. Besides that, they have sales people on site that continually bother you. One man literally waited outside the breakfast restaurant to bother us about scheduling a sales tour. I was so sick my first two days and we told him that and he continued to follow us up until I ran into a bathroom. This is definitely not a 5 star property. I would give it a 2 5, if that.