Jamaica Me Want to Go Back

Aug. 3, 2016


Today the weather was much nicer out….and here is my view!!!!!


free1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Not too bad…I guess this is worth the climb.


free2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I headed off to breakfast where I believe I met up with Lenora. I laughed at this sign…it tells us to keep off the grass…yet they have a seating area and a smoking section here.


free3 by Jenseib, on Flickr


My breakfast!


free4 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We walked out to check to sign up for snorkeling.


free5 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Lenora debated on doing it, but she never has before and they warned us the water was rough today and probably not ideal for beginners. They also said it may get canceled since the water was so rough. I signed Britney and myself up and then wasted some time till it was time to come back and see if it would be running.


Marianne and Ellen went on an excursion of tubing down some river. After seeing their pictures and hearing them talk about it…I wish I had done that too.


The time came to go and Britney decided she might rather spend time at the beach on the island instead. I still wanted to go….but my mistake was I never took bonine! It should have registered in my brain…rough seas….means rocking…but it didn’t.


rc2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


rc3 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Lenora was heading over to the island.


rc4 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And off we go…and I knew right away I was not going to have fun. I was already feeling seasick.


rc5 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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It was a glass bottom boat and I was watching underneath and that made me feel sick.


rc1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We arrived at out snorkel area and if we wanted to wear a life jacket…they didn’t have the typical snorkel kind and it was basically a full life jacket and we had to put it on really weird…like between our legs. But the water was deep and with it so wavy I just didn’t want to take a chance.


This was my first good snorkel trip to try my underwater camera out…sadly the snorkeling was not very good.


rc9 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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My feet were killing me in the flippers…painfully so. The water was throwing me around and make me feel sick..plus I kept getting gulps of it….on top of that…the waves had carried me away from the boat and I had to swim against them to get back. That was so exhausting.


rc16 by Jenseib, on Flickr


rc17 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Others seemed to be so graceful and I was a total wreck.


rc18 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I finally decided to just get back in the boat. My feet were in so much pain being squeezed by the flipper. Sadly, I was the only one and the rest still were snorkeling so I had to sit in the bobbing boat for about another 20 minutes. At one point one of the guys asked if I was feeling OK…I guess I looked bad too. I told him I was feeling a little sick…but I tried to play it off a bit. I just kept taking big gulps of air and prayed I wasn’t going to be feeding the fish….LOL.


Once we headed back I was feeling a bit better…probably because I knew I would be on dry land again. I know if I had taken bonine beforehand I would have not felt nearly this bad….so it was my own fault.


We got back and I located Lenora and let her know I was going back to my room for a bit and was going to take a nap. I was tired and feeling blah.


I got back and found this on my bed.


rc19 by Jenseib, on Flickr


rc20 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And I used the bathroom and found it all pretty!


rc21 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And I gulped down a bonine and slept for about an hour or so and felt so much better when I woke up. Just what I needed!
 
I woke up and was now starving. I headed out to find Lenora and spotted a bride!



free6 by Jenseib, on Flickr


rc22 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I found Lenora and she showed me pictures of all the drinks she had tried today. I was totally cracking up…there was like 5 or 6.

She had just ate and I ordered some food and also got some nachos that were there to start off on while I waited. The food hit the spot and I felt much better. I think we got in the pool a bit and then someone told us that high tea was about to happen and we decided to check it out.


I don’t like tea…but I figured I would give it a try. We were all in bathing suites and cover ups and sat down. One lady came over to me and told me I could not sit on the cushion with a wet suit. Um…ok….We were all in suits and we were not the only ones in suits….not sure why she narrowed in on me? The others all thought it was kind of weird too. She took my cushion and I had to sit on the chair without one…..strange.


rc23 by Jenseib, on Flickr


The gals showed me how to make tea….yeah I am clueless.


rc24 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And I now know I still do not like tea!


We were served some goodies too…but it was weird as they had like one of each thing for each table…some tables had 4 people. There wasn’t even enough for some to try all the things.


rc25 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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After tea we headed back to get cleaned up a bit and put some clothes on and hung out.


14305376_10210476754097188_4829687892787176062_o by Jenseib, on Flickr


We had a final event for the evening so after chilling out we all got ready and headed to our final event.


rc29 by Jenseib, on Flickr


They had tables set up for us on the beach.


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And a buffet.


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And a photographer to take photos…the thing is we never seem to find out where we could find the photos they took.


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We all had to get photos with our new friends too.


free15 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It was beautiful as the sun went down and it turned to dusk.



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rc32 by Jenseib, on Flickr


But the bugs came out in full force and again it was super hot.


While waiting in line for the buffet we were being attacked by bugs. They had lights shining on the buffet, which then attracted more bugs and we were shooing them off left and right. They finally got smart after a while and moved the light to shine a different way and brought out a fan to blow the bugs away too. Why they didn’t think of this before I am not sure. It would seem obvious to me that with so many bugs around you would not want bright lights on the food.


rc30 by Jenseib, on Flickr


free19 by Jenseib, on Flickr


They also had some entertainment for us and they were very good.


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Then they started giving out awards….some of our new friends were winners and it was exciting. I kind of started to zone out a bit when they started naming different “zones” and were not in any zone I or my friends live in……then we hear them talk about this agent from the west who probably had a really long flight here etc…..ELLEN! OMG! LOL!


rc34 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We then realized the zone is based on your home office…not where you live. Ellen did not have a long flight and she thought it was funny.


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Then the dancing started…Jermaine was getting down!!!!


free23 by Jenseib, on Flickr
 
After a little bit we were too hot to stay over there and dance so we headed out. Our buddy Fiddy said he was going to be in the staff talent show tonight so Lenora and I went and watched him. He was good…but over all the talent was not great and something I probably would not watch again.


rc36 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We met up with the others and just kind of chilled out for the evening.


free24 by Jenseib, on Flickr


free25 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Lenora went to bed and Ellen, Marianne and Kimberly and I all chatted for a while…then Kimberly headed off to bed too.


Finally we gave in. Luckily the 3 of us didn’t have early flights and we planned to swim tomorrow before having to leave.


We walked over towards Ellen’s room, which was the closest, but ran into Jermaine on the way and we did a selfie!


free26 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Jermaine was a lot of fun! We said goodbye and then talked some more.


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Kimberly’s room was right by where we were standing and she was on her balcony so she came down again to talk.


We then found this guy in front of Ellen’s door.


free29 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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He was guarding her door and was not about to let her in. We weren’t sure what to do and we were laughing so hard. We chased it away finally and then it got under someone’s room service stuff left outside and under a napkin. We were now worried someone would pick it up and get clamped!


rc39 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We saw a staff member walk by and we told him about it and he must have thought we were all crazy. He came out and picked the guy up and relocated him.


free31 by Jenseib, on Flickr


He just kept laughing at us.


Finally we all called it a night officially. We gave Kimberly some last hugs as she had to leave early and Ellen now could safely enter her room.

Marianne and I walked and talked on the way to her room.


free32 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We chatted a bit more and then I headed off to make the climb up to the 3rd floor! I couldn’t believe the trip was coming to an end. It was such a short trip but in just a few days time I had made some lifelong friends and it seemed like we have known each other forever.
 
Aug. 4, 2016


Sadly we had to go home today. I made my flight for the afternoon though so I wouldn’t have to get up too early to leave. I was so glad I did.

Lenora had an earlier flight though today. I met her for breakfast so we could say our goodbyes.


mobay30 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We saw some guys working in the water. There was a cable of some sort there and they seemed to be doing something with that.


mobay31 by Jenseib, on Flickr


mobay32 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I said goodbye to Lenora and little did we know at the time…that we would be seeing each other again in just 6 months!


I went and got my swim suit on and met up with some of the gals for a last swim in the ocean.


mobay1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


mobay2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I didn’t do a good job at clearing off the lens today after I dunked the camera in the water. LOL.


mobay3 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And I later found out that the rest of the pictures of the day had a smudge from not cleaning the lens…..ugh!


mobay4 by Jenseib, on Flickr


There was the cable that they were working on earlier today.


mobay5 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Sadly our time in the water was short and we all had flights around the same time. Actually, my new friends Brittney and Shauna were on the same flight as me. We all went to clean up and gather our things. We would find our bags in the lobby today.


We met back in the lobby and many were worried about their bags weighing too much. I had a scale with me so I pulled that out and it was passed around and people made the appropriate changes if needed.

All too soon my bus had arrived and we had to say good bye to Ellen and Marianne and we loaded up.


mobay33 by Jenseib, on Flickr


They sang us a little goodbye song!


Video


And we headed off. The airport is actually really close by, but I think we may have stopped at one of the other Sandals too to pick people up.


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We arrived and there was a line, but it moved fairly quickly and we got our bags checked in. We had Club Mobay again for the return trip, which means you get to go through a faster security line….Just like TSA pre-check. I actually got mixed answers on whether I would have pre-check here with my global entry since it is another country, but my ticket did have it marked….so good to know!


Either way, both lines were fast and we breezed right through. Once you get into the terminal there are a ton of duty free shops…TONS! I ended up buying stuff and had to cram it in my already super full carryon bag. (And it was so full that I couldn’t jam it in the overhead later and had to take something out and put it in my personal bag and that thing was stuffed too.)


Shauna, Brittney and I had planned to meet back up in the club lounge once done. I found a seat near some plugs and charged up some more.


mobay38 by Jenseib, on Flickr


The club was super nice and had food and drinks. I can’t remember if they charged for drinks or not now.


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They showed the flights on this screen but there was also an announcement made constantly for when people needed to head to their gates.


mobay11 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I got some food…They had these little pocket type things that are a Jamaica specialty. I can’t remember the name now but they reminded me of empanadas. When we had toured Beaches they gave us each one to try and they were really good…so I got a couple of different ones. Some were pretty spicy but they were so good I just kept eating and eating!


mobay12 by Jenseib, on Flickr


mobay13 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I believe these are it in this case.


mobay14 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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It was the prefect little lunch.


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After a bit Brittney had come in too.


mobay20 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We had lost Shauna and kept texting her and she said she was in the adult area of the club….so were we…and this room wasn’t that big. We then found out that there was a downstairs area and it was divided into adults in one area and families in another. It was huge down there. The area we were in was also for adults, but newer, and mainly for more of the single flyer crowd.


We went downstairs to find Shauna and to take some quick pictures.



mobay21 by Jenseib, on Flickr



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We all went back upstairs and when we heard the announcement to go to our gate we headed that way. Our gate was a bit of a ways but we arrived in plenty of time. I am so glad I did the Club Mobay as seating was not vey plenty in the gate area and it was just a very basic area. I had to laugh at how they lined us up for Southwest as well….they had flip cards with the letters and numbers.


mobay40 by Jenseib, on Flickr


One lady working it so it took her a bit to keep flipping, but we eventually all got on the plane. And like I said before, my luggage was just bulging so I had to rearrange stuff to make it fit. Kind of frustrating to do when you are boarding.


Once boarded though all went smooth and we were headed to Chicago. Once we arrived there we had to go through customs. It has been years since I have had to do this at an airport and I was a bit nervous, especially not sure how it would all work with global entry. It was a breeze and I got through really really fast! But there was not much of a line either, so even those without global entry were zooming through. We were told that we could go through up to the security agent and show them that we had just come out of customs and they would put us through faster to get back into the terminal. (the regular line was super long) I had gotten through so fast and had quite a bit of time till my next flight, so I just decided to go outside and get some fresh air for a bit before heading back in. Once I had my fill of air I headed back in and went through the TSA precheck line. It was a little longer than I thought it should have been and quite a few were grumbling, but honestly it was still much shorter than the normal line and it didn’t take long to get through.


Once through I got a call from Skip and I told him where I was. He immediately remembered the popcorn place we had been to when we stopped here on our way to Seattle a few years ago. I asked him if he wanted any and he said no. Well I decided to be nice and get some for the family and I headed that way. And yeah..I had to try and cram that in my bag too…but at least this last flight was going to be just about an hour so I wouldn’t be uncomfy for long. I then got myself some food and sat and waited for my next flight.


That flight was another normal flight and I was soon back in Detroit getting my bags. I must be old, but I can’t remember who picked me up, but I am pretty sure it was my parents with Claire in tow. (Skip never will drive that far to pick me up….he always has a farming excuse. LOL)


And then back home to life as normal….It was too short but so much fun!


I will end with thoughts on Jamaica….


It was my first time there and I loved it. I know some people don’t care for it and I am not sure why. The beaches we were on were all great, the water was a perfect temperature to enjoy swimming…or in our case just standing around cooling off and talking. I liked the food and Sandals had plenty of choices.

It definitely was hot there and if I went with my family I would be spending most of the time in the water or any place that had AC….and I am not sure if summer would be my first choice as time to visit….but that is why they schedule these tours then…because it is their slower season.

I had hoped to go to another Sandals location this summer and do another one of these, but I decided to take a cruise with several co-workers this summer and we are bringing our kids so I really think I made the right choice.


Thanks for reading!!!




 
We then decided it was time to swim. It was hot out and the water was calling us. This was one of the best choices we made this trip. We all got changed and headed out to the water.


We found a stretch of beach and waded in to some wonderful water….not too hot, but not in the least bit cold. It was so refreshing. As we got in 3 other gals said hi… I bet you are here for the training since you are a group of girls! LOL. Yeah that tends to be noticeable in a couples resort.


We all introduced ourselves and that is when we met Shauna, Brittany and Crystal. Shauna and Brittany work together and they had just met Crystal that day. They were all so nice and so much fun and we spent a lot of time with them, especially in the evenings.


We just all chatted away and splashed around a bit. We saw a stingray off a ways.


arrival80 by Jenseib, on Flickr


beach1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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beach2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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We spotted a starfish under water.


beach3 by Jenseib, on Flickr


What a beautiful day and start to this trip.


beach4 by Jenseib, on Flickr



This guy in the small boat….pretty sure he was a weed man. We could smell it every so often. We assumed people who wanted it had to go out to him to get it. Not our cup of tea…but to each his own.


arrival86 by Jenseib, on Flickr


As much fun as we were having, none of us want to leave, but we knew we had an opening event this evening and needed to meet up with everyone eventually. So we all got out and dried off and went to take showers and get cleaned up.


beach5 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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I think we were to meet in the lobby and then directed where to go…which was the spot we had seen them setting up earlier. It was all glowy and they had men and women dressed as angels. It was kind of neat.


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It really made it hard to get pictures though.


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Ellen and the angel.


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They had appetizers and we tried a few things.


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The Business Develop Managers and hosts talked to us a bit and got things going and let us know how our week was going to be.


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It was a nice event…except it was on grass…which made it hard to walk for some people in heels…..and it was buggy! We were getting bit! And it was HOT! Extremely humid and hot and we were drenched in sweat! We decided to walk out and get away from the bugs and try to cool off….and were stopped and said we had to wait for dinner. OH….we thought we could just meet up there, but then we found out our table would have a host and he would take us over at the designated time. UGH. OK…. They did have some bug spray and sprayed us down. I had packed some as well, so I knew to spray up each night.


We did end up kind of waiting outside of the event though so we could cool off. We then were led to dinner with our host…a young guy, whose name I do not remember and they had a table waiting for us. We ended up eating with a group of people every night (minus the host). And though it was nice, there were nights I wished we could have chosen the time we wanted to eat and with who. That being said, everyone was nice.

Brittany had signed up for the French restaurant tonight as well, so she sat by me.


I believe I had an amaretto sour…which typically is one of my favorite drinks, but Sandals cannot make them right. I am not sure what they use, but I tried them several times hoping I got a bad one and they were all strange tasting.

I also got the French onion soup.


arrival94 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I got some sort of Lobster dish for my main course.


bayside1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And for dessert I couldn’t decide, so I got 2 things.


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arrival96 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Once dinner was over we all separated and decided to meet up a little later to listen to music or something.
I love the starfish photo! I don't think I saw that one. :) And I got out of the water before you guys did so I missed seeing it in person.
 
Aug. 1, 2016


Today really was the first “work” day. Even though we had events last night, they were all more just welcoming us and though mandatory, not hard work.


I was up early to get my day started. We needed to have breakfast before we met in the lobby. I got dressed and showered….the heat was really bad and you could really shower about every hour if allowed…. And I headed outside to get wifi and I believe I contacted my husband via facebook.


I took this picture of the trash can/ ashtray with a nice flower placed on it for the day.


negril165 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I met Lenora at the buffet area and we filled our plates.


negril166 by Jenseib, on Flickr


After we ate, we wandered outside a bit. We saw this bird.


negril167 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Lenora asked me to take a picture of her….and to be sure I got the bird in the background. I totally laughed!!! We had this beautiful ocean behind her, yet she wanted a picture with the bird. I joked about this the rest of the trip.


negril168 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We then met in the lobby and found Ellen and Marianne. We were told to divide ourselves into groups…(I really liked that we could choose who we wanted to be in a group with as many other training events assign you to a group and you are not always in with your friends or co-workers). Each group then set off in different directions. We were going to be touring Sandals Negril this morning…the resort we were staying at….which included different room categories and other areas of the property.


negril27 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I’ll be honest and tell you right now I am not going to post what category or type of room each is as I would have to pull out all my notes and it would be tedious.


negril28 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Going into room 1, which was one of the most expensive and nicest on property.


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It had its own little pool.


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Rooms are refurbished quite a bit at Sandals and they are constantly updating areas and furnishings. I found that even some of the nicest rooms had what I would consider some dated styles, but then other rooms were super modern. It’s hard to keep up when styles change so often, but Sandals tries to redo them as often as possible.


We stopped to talk about some of the water activities included with your stay and also about the Padi Scuba certification that you can pay for.


negril44 by Jenseib, on Flickr


negril45 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Someone was learning right then too.


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On to more rooms.


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Apparently I will never live down that whole "bird thing". I liked the bird. The pretty white bird with the blue ocean in the back ground made me happy. And for the record, I wanted ME AND the bird. ;)
 


We were heading to the Thai restaurant so we had to catch the boat over to the island.


rc43 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We got to the dock and it was practically underwater from all the rain. It was kind of weird and I would have thought Sandals would have something better than that.


We moosied over and took our time and took pictures.


rc44 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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And we walked in and found a table of people waiting for us. OH no!!!! Once again we didn’t know we were going to be seated in a group. I apologized over and over. They were all so nice and said it was ok….they had made their drink orders and soon appetizers were brought out. It was a bit weird as we couldn’t order them…they brought out a pre-selected plate of them and they were for 2. I didn’t understand why we each just didn’t get our own plate.


rc49 by Jenseib, on Flickr


They were delicious though!


I am not super familiar with Thai food, so I got suggestions from friends and I think I had 2 different dishes combined into one…it was a little spicy hot, but it was very tasty.


rc50 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We hadn’t done much with the group of people we sat with tonight so we all introduced ourselves and before we knew it we were all laughing hysterically and telling stories….the one guy (he and his wife own a business together) was just hysterical. He had the funniest jokes and he had an accent which just made them even funnier. His wife would just shake her head…she says she hears these jokes all the time and they are not funny anymore…which made them even funnier.


We had a waiter take a group photo.


rc51 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Ellen and I started getting silly and were taking really funny selfies and sending them to our co-workers. Then Lenora and Marianne joined in too. The co-workers were sure we were drunk…but we were completely sober. We just were having a good time.


Dessert then came out.


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We talked some more and noticed the restaurant was empty and we looked at the time…..we were now about 30 minutes past the time the last boat was supposed to leave….ooops. We were having so much fun we totally lost track of time. We quickly left and made our way to the dock and headed back to the resort. What a fun evening it had been.


When we got back, we found out friend Kim outside of a bar and we sat with her and talked a bit.

We decided to head inside one of the bars and get some drinks. We had such a fun bartender.


He asked us a little about each of us and what we like and said he would make us each a drink.


Video


He was proud of his drinks!


rc53 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I don’t remember what we each had…but mine was something fruity.


We sat outside a bit and chatted.


Some of our friends were over at karaoke in another bar so we decided to head there next…and they were pouring shots.


rc54 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We all had one….I thought they were pretty weak….and gross! Tasted like raspberry medicine. ICK.


And the singing began!!!


rc55 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I am the world’s worst singer and I can’t carry a tune…but I will sing in a loud group of people…just not in a mic!


Ellen however is not shy.


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rc57 by Jenseib, on Flickr


This is just how wonderful we all sounded…..LOL.


Video.


Yeah…we were awful!


We had come in at the tail end of it and the DJ said he was moving back to the other bar to play music…OK then…we’ll go too.

We headed over and danced and laughed and just had so much silly fun.


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And then someone asked for some kind of shots and we watched him make them.


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And some selfies as we waited.


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He then lit them on fire and it was super cool looking.


Video


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The guys working there were just really fun and nice too. Some of them…there job is basically to have fun with the clientele. Fiddy was one of them and he was dancing with us and he was super fun. He said he works long hours though some days but his job is pretty fun.


We finally had to wind it down and head off to bed. Tomorrow was basically a free day during the day and Britney and I wanted to go snorkeling. We all said our goodbyes and Marianne and I talked a bit more before heading off to our rooms…me making the horrid climb to the 3rd floor and soon I was drifting off to sleep!

I totally missed the flaming drinks! WTH? I love the photos of "Brittany Bridget" and Shauna! That was a fun night. I liked that meal a lot. Big perk of that resort in my opinion!
 
I love the starfish photo! I don't think I saw that one. :) And I got out of the water before you guys did so I missed seeing it in person.

I forgot you got out early. I actually even forgot about the starfish till I went through my pictures. LOL.

Apparently I will never live down that whole "bird thing". I liked the bird. The pretty white bird with the blue ocean in the back ground made me happy. And for the record, I wanted ME AND the bird. ;)

It was just so funny the way you said it!

I totally missed the flaming drinks! WTH? I love the photos of "Brittany Bridget" and Shauna! That was a fun night. I liked that meal a lot. Big perk of that resort in my opinion!

When you go to bed early...you miss things...Ahem...Rick Springfield!
 
I woke up and was now starving. I headed out to find Lenora and spotted a bride!



free6 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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I found Lenora and she showed me pictures of all the drinks she had tried today. I was totally cracking up…there was like 5 or 6.

She had just ate and I ordered some food and also got some nachos that were there to start off on while I waited. The food hit the spot and I felt much better. I think we got in the pool a bit and then someone told us that high tea was about to happen and we decided to check it out.


I don’t like tea…but I figured I would give it a try. We were all in bathing suites and cover ups and sat down. One lady came over to me and told me I could not sit on the cushion with a wet suit. Um…ok….We were all in suits and we were not the only ones in suits….not sure why she narrowed in on me? The others all thought it was kind of weird too. She took my cushion and I had to sit on the chair without one…..strange.


rc23 by Jenseib, on Flickr


The gals showed me how to make tea….yeah I am clueless.


rc24 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And I now know I still do not like tea!


We were served some goodies too…but it was weird as they had like one of each thing for each table…some tables had 4 people. There wasn’t even enough for some to try all the things.


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After tea we headed back to get cleaned up a bit and put some clothes on and hung out.


14305376_10210476754097188_4829687892787176062_o by Jenseib, on Flickr


We had a final event for the evening so after chilling out we all got ready and headed to our final event.


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They had tables set up for us on the beach.


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free8 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And a buffet.


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And a photographer to take photos…the thing is we never seem to find out where we could find the photos they took.


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We all had to get photos with our new friends too.


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It was beautiful as the sun went down and it turned to dusk.



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rc32 by Jenseib, on Flickr


But the bugs came out in full force and again it was super hot.


While waiting in line for the buffet we were being attacked by bugs. They had lights shining on the buffet, which then attracted more bugs and we were shooing them off left and right. They finally got smart after a while and moved the light to shine a different way and brought out a fan to blow the bugs away too. Why they didn’t think of this before I am not sure. It would seem obvious to me that with so many bugs around you would not want bright lights on the food.


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They also had some entertainment for us and they were very good.


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Then they started giving out awards….some of our new friends were winners and it was exciting. I kind of started to zone out a bit when they started naming different “zones” and were not in any zone I or my friends live in……then we hear them talk about this agent from the west who probably had a really long flight here etc…..ELLEN! OMG! LOL!


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We then realized the zone is based on your home office…not where you live. Ellen did not have a long flight and she thought it was funny.


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Then the dancing started…Jermaine was getting down!!!!


free23 by Jenseib, on Flickr
I would like to point out that I tried a ton of drinks but there was so little alcohol in them that I never felt them except once. It was hilarious that I never had any idea what to order and would tell the bartenders to just make me something they thought I would like. They nailed it every time! :)
 
Great trip report Jen! I really enjoyed reading it and remembering everything. We met some really lovely friends.
 
I would like to point out that I tried a ton of drinks but there was so little alcohol in them that I never felt them except once. It was hilarious that I never had any idea what to order and would tell the bartenders to just make me something they thought I would like. They nailed it every time! :)

I thought they were really weak too. But for those who didn't know, looking at your pictures they would have thought you were drunk the whole time. hahaha.

Great trip report Jen! I really enjoyed reading it and remembering everything. We met some really lovely friends.

Thanks!
It was fun reliving it all again. I am starting to work on my Universal one now and hopefully get started posting that next week.
 
I thought they were really weak too. But for those who didn't know, looking at your pictures they would have thought you were drunk the whole time. hahaha.



Thanks!
It was fun reliving it all again. I am starting to work on my Universal one now and hopefully get started posting that next week.
that would be great! Can't wait to hear all about what I missed on Rick Springfield Day.
 
Thanks for sharing, Jen! I am thankful you took all of us along for the trip. Hope there is a new TR on the horizon soon. I just love following you around.
 
that would be great! Can't wait to hear all about what I missed on Rick Springfield Day.

LOL! The force was working for me and made me go down that night.

Thanks for sharing, Jen! I am thankful you took all of us along for the trip. Hope there is a new TR on the horizon soon. I just love following you around.

Thanks Karin! I will be starting my Universal one soon.
 
I just read most of this in one seating. I am feeling tired just reading this. You had a very busy time. I loved the look of the resorts, but I think I liked the first one you stayed at best. I loved the rooms with the direct access to the pool. What a shame that the snorkeling trip was less than magical. Thanks for sharing.

Corinna
 
I just read most of this in one seating. I am feeling tired just reading this. You had a very busy time. I loved the look of the resorts, but I think I liked the first one you stayed at best. I loved the rooms with the direct access to the pool. What a shame that the snorkeling trip was less than magical. Thanks for sharing.

Corinna


Glad you were able to catch up. It was a super busy trip but I really enjoyed it.
 

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