CSA is one the best all inclusive resorts we’ve stayed at so far. There are some minor areas of improvement, but for the price we booked, we are very happy with everything we received.
FOOD:
The only breakfast options while Patois is closed for renovations were The Palms Buffet and continental room service. We opted for the buffet everyday, and it was fine. There was less selection than we were used to, but we were able to find something we liked everyday, such as pastries, made to order eggs or omelets, and other classic breakfast fare.
I was disappointed by the continental breakfast offered at The Palms between 5-730am. We had to leave at 7am for our flight home, and the only other option was room service with the earliest slot being 630-7am. I assumed the selection at the buffet would be the same as room service, but when we showed up, there were 2 yogurt cups, a bowl of fruit, and some coffee and OJ. This was very surprising considering I don’t think 7am is early for breakfast. We opted to eat at the airport instead.
In general, the food hours are later than I’m used to— the buffet didn't open for lunch until 12:30, then 6:30PM for dinner. There was usually something else open, though.
For lunch, we had 3 options between the two outdoor a la carte restaurants and the buffet. The food was generally really good, and I appreciated the healthy options at Seagrapes. The buffet for lunch was so-so.
For dinner, we were able to reserve one of the two specialty restaurants (Lemongrass and Feathers) every day of our stay with Guest Services each morning. It was a little inconvenient that I couldn’t make >1 reservation at once and I couldn’t get the website to work either, but I was happy we didn’t have to eat at the buffet for dinner. Based on other reviews, it sounds like the reservation availability varies throughout the year.
The food at the specialty restaurants was awesome. Best out of any AI I’ve been to, and they varied the menu throughout the week. I loved the high quality options as well, such as lobster, shrimp, crab, steak, duck, and lamb chops. BTW get the soup!!
There was also impressive live entertainment every night at the Palms/Lemongrass. It got loud at points, so consider booking an early dinner if that bothers you.
DRINKS: Awesome drinks, top shelf liquor in room and at bars, cocktail menus with a daily special offered every day. I definitely recommend the martini bar. We also loved the coffee bar with specialty coffee drinks. The only thing that would’ve been nice is having more of a main bar/lobby bar like other resorts have. There was a bar in the Palms buffet, but there wasn’t really many places to hang out nearby, and it felt kind of awkward to walk in from the back of the buffet.
BEACH: Beautiful location, cannot go wrong. There were some cats outside, but we never encountered feces. They mostly stayed to themselves. No dogs. The vendors on the beach did try to get your attention, but they were not allowed to approach your chairs like they are at other beaches/resorts. Security did a good job of managing vendors. This was not a big deal to me, and it seemed like many guests appreciated the availability of goods/services.
CLEANLINESS: Generally the food areas were very clean. There were a couple birds in the corner areas of the open air restaurants, but there’s really not much you can do about that.
One area of improvement would be more efficient pick up of dishes from the rooms. It appeared that cleaning staff would stack dishes outside and leave them to be picked up for later, but it took a long time for this to happen.
Our room was consistently tidied twice a day. It wasn’t the best cleaning we’ve ever had at an AI, but it got the job done. More attention to the shower floors and general organization would be ideal.
We also did have an odor problem in our bathroom after it rained, but maintenance promptly dealt with it. We were also told they would let us move rooms if need be, but the smell went away.
ACTIVITIES: This is not a party resort by any means, and that was fine by us. We are a young couple but still found plenty to do. We were a little disappointed about the lack of people playing beach volleyball, but that’s ok. We loved being able to do free snorkeling excursion, the sunset catamaran with swimming (no snorkeling unfortunately) in the caves, water skiing, sailing, and scuba diving. The activities alone added several hundred dollars worth of value to our stay, and these inclusions will probably convince us to come back.
If you are looking to do water sports, I recommend checking in with the employees each day to see when lessons are happening.
The sports complex was great as well. There was daily pickleball and tennis. I recommend going across the street and checking the schedule for things that may not have made it onto the main schedule.
The spa was also great! We had an awesome couples massage, then we got to relax in a small heated pool. The only thing that would’ve made it better would be glasses of champagne. There were also massage options for $1/minute on the beach off resort, but we didn’t go.
ROOM: This is where CSA shows its age a little bit. The rooms are on the smaller side, and there is no tub/jacuzzi. Every room has a nice balcony, though. The room was great for our purposes, but I don’t think the upgraded rooms would be worth it, unless you’re really interested in being slightly closer to the beach. We could still see the ocean from our balcony in our garden view room.
Our room was one of the closest to the main road, and we were not bothered at all by road noise except once when a siren went by.
Our mini bar was not stocked regularly unfortunately with one request not fulfilled, but the initial stock up plus one request was plenty for our stay.
GENERAL: The resort is decently big, but it takes less time to walk places than it seems from the map. The numbering system for rooms is confusing and we got a little lost on the first night, but that’s okay.
There was a lot of construction happening since we were there in the off season. This was fine and expected. However, you could hear construction noise from the beach occasionally. If these kinds of things bother you, I’d suggest not booking during the off season.
The pools were small, and the swim up bar was a little sad. If you’re looking for a nice pool, this is probably not the resort for you. We are 100% beach people so this did not bother us at all.
SERVICE: I’m really surprised by how others talk about the service in other reviews. Of course not every person gave 100% great service, but we were well taken care of. I also don’t require someone to be cloyingly enthusiastic about fixing me a drink. It’s Jamaica, expect to be on island time.
Overall, I totally see why half the guests were returners.
