Caribbean Travel Dreams Blog

Riu Tropical Bay, Negril Jamaica

Opened in 2001, Riu Tropical Bay is a fairly new resort, one of the first resorts upon entering Negril from MoBay.  I escorted a group of 27 women to Riu Tropical Bay for a 4 night stay 1/25 to 1/29/06.   It’s an attractive resort located on a beautiful beach on Bloody Bay (directly nextdoor to Couples Negril).   The main pool is large with a swim-up bar, plenty of chairs and umbrellas for shade. The beach is beautiful with plenty of trees to shade; it is a walkable beach.   Rooms: Rooms are a nice size, all with balcony or patio.   Bedding is two double beds pushed together to make a “king”, same in all rooms. Riu’s signature “liquor dispenser” with rum, brandy, gin & vodka and a mini-fridge re-stocked every two days, which is a nice convenience.   Bathroom amenities were a bit lacking – very tiny bars of soap; shampoo & bath gel (no conditioner) in Handi-wipe like packs.   Be sure to bring your own.   Hairdryers were in the rooms, but irons were on request at the front desk and not in each room.   No clocks in the room ... they'd like you leave your "Type A personality" behind!  Be sure to bring a travel alarm clock if you really want one ... wake up calls were available, but I did have one person in my group never receive their wake up call … and of course, you can’t hit the “snooze” button on a wake up call!  

Dining: Negril buffet (main dining room) had a variety of courses for breakfast and dinner.  Some standard fare, some native fare.   No complaints on the choices, and all tasty.  The a la carte restaurants were reservations only … and only available to make on the day you want to dine when the restaurant host set up tables in the lobby at 11AM.   I dined in all three a la carte restaurants - Steak House, Japanese and , Sir Anthony’s - Sir Anthony's was our favorite.    Of note: there are only two seatings each evening in the a la carte restaurants, 7PM and 9PM.    I did not visit the dining venues at the sister property Club Riu, which was just down the road.

Staff/Entertainment:  The staff was very accommodating and friendly.   Entertainment staff had activities planned throughout the day, and with my active group of 27 always had people joining in the fun.  There is a gym, but no fitness instructor – water aerobics was the only organized fitness activity in the Caribbean daily at 10AM.  Each evening there was a pre-show with audience participation at 9PM with the scheduled themed show following.  Evening shows consisted of choreographed dance numbers, live Reggae band, magic shows, etc.  Friday nights were the “Beach Party” – no food at the beach party, just entertainment.   We missed a good part of the beach party because we had 9PM seating for dinner, but what we did catch was a lot of fun ... good Reggae band. 

 I also checked out the famous Rick’s Café, which reopened after a 9 month closure due to the hurricanes last year.  It’s better than ever!  A new pool with cabanas to rent; an upstairs dining venue; a new stage/dance area - the stage is now located so you can sit on comfy wrap-around couches and watch the sunset while dancing on a “beach sand” dance floor.  It’s always a good time at Rick’s.

This was my 9th visit to Jamaica, and I have a new experience every time I go ... "Once you Go, You Know"

Pattie Mitchell, Travel Dreams