Bill's and Jackie's Second Jamaica Trip

Jackie and I went back to Jamaica in February, 2005. This was our first stay at a Superclubs resort and we headed to the Starfish Trelawny. We had no problems with our flight and the shuttle from the airport left soon after we arrived. It's about a 90-minute ride from the airport to the Starfish. It's located in Runaway Bay, about halfway between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios. One of the first things we noticed when we arrived was that there were no local businesses, restaurants, or clubs around the resort. Your choices for food are to eat at the resort or take an expensive taxi ride somewhere else. Since we had an all-inclusive package, we figured we'd be eating each meal at the resort unless we took a tour somewhere.

The resort

We were finally delivered to our resort, Starfish Trelawny (see TripAdvisor page for Starfish Trelawny) in Runaway Bay. It's an oddly-shaped resort with the main building being in the shape of an X with corridors connecting the right and left parts of the X. Our room was on the lower leg on the left side of the X (looking towards the sea) and was right above the restaurant. The advantage to this was that we could sit on our balcony and look out over the resort (see the photo above). The disadvantage of this was the constant cacophony of noise.

The resort has multiple pools, pool slides, a basketball court, an artificial ice rink, playground, ping pong tables, billiards tables (including some in the pools), a trapeze, trampoline, rock climbing wall, and a kids' club. It also has a nice long stretch of really nice beach with a small island just a short wade from the beach. The Starfish is a family resort, and that means lots and lots of kids. All that noise trapped between the legs of the lower half of the X ricochets up to the balconies. When music is played, the bass thumps loudly. Basketballs bounced on the asphalt of the basketball court have that distinct clangy sound that goes on for hours at a time. Kids running and screaming and the conversations from the restaurant just added to it. It took a bit of getting used to, but this was the only complaint we had about our stay. We weren't prepared for the number of kids and the noise that accompanied them. Most of the noise, though, was gone by late evening and never interrupted our sleep.

Our room was nothing extraordinary, but we're never looking for much in the room, anyway. It was clean, we didn't see any bugs, and the shower was hot. There were two nice attributes to our room, though. One, it had a balcony, which was a nice place to sit and relax when we were done with the beach for the day and didn't feel like being part of the hullabaloo in the main area of the resort. Second, the room came with four alcohol dispensers and a mini-refrigerator. We could mix our own drinks right in our room and retire to the balcony with them. We noticed the refrigerator wasn't stocked with any sodas for making rum and coke. We left a note for the housekeeper the first day requesting some diet Pepsi and leaving her a big tip. We were then well stocked for the rest of the stay.

The Beach

The beach is deep and long with plenty of space for everyone. The small island offers a few more places to sit and soak up the sun. If you want to get way from the noises that surround the pool and snack bar area, just move farther down the beach. All the way down to the eastern edge of the property is the nude beach. It's has walls around three sides of it and is open toward the sea. Despite the resort being seemingly full, the nude beach had plenty of available beach lounges. That's not really surprising since the majority of guests brought children with them, but it did make the nude beach much quieter and secluded from the general mayhem caused by the kids in the pool area.

A few observations about the nude beach. First, you can't walk down the beach without walking past the nude beach. The western edge of the resort ends at the bay, so you can't walk down the beach in that direction. Walking the other direction means walking past the seaside opening of the nude beach. Some people were put off by this, including one vociferous woman who complained to the security guard that she should be able to walk down the beach with her young daughter without seeing naked people. The second observation is that you can get service on the nude beach, but there has to be a young, attractive woman there for it to happen. While there was an attractive, young French woman reclining on the nude beach, resort staff came by often to take drink orders and remove empty glasses. Once she left, they never came back again. Like most nude beaches we've been to, most of the guests there were middle-aged adults with middle-aged bodies. We're not exactly gawking material.

What we hadn't realized before embarking for Jamaica was how sick Jackie was. We knew she'd been ill with something and was under a doctor's care, but it wasn't until we returned home and saw a specialist that we realized how ill she was. She was very exhausted without a lot of energy, and often slept in the beach lounge. That meant we never left the resort for any tours, and didn't even walk down the beach to see what else was there. It turned into very quiet and relaxing days on the nude beach, which was just fine with us.

Eating and drinking

When we travel, the last thing we want is to be fed the same food we could get back home. We want local food and we don't want it dumbed down for tourists. At the buffet (where we ate all of our breakfasts and most of our dinners) there was enough to have local offerings, or standard food fare, and everything in between. There was plenty of fish and fruit and salads and things I've never tried before. At the Scotch-Bonnet restaurant, you can get jerk chicken, pork, or fish. We love the jerk meals! The conch soup there is also very good. We didn't have proper clothes for the upscale Casablanca restaurant. We also avoided the Italian and Japanese restaurants which required an extra fee per person. I don't go to the Caribbean to eat Italian or Japanese food and I'm not about to pay for the privilege.

We had our fair share of drinks on the beach. When the waiter came to the nude beach, we didn't have to do much to get one. Otherwise, we'd make the long hike to the poolside bar to get our drinks. That was where the closest restrooms were anyway. The drink dispensers in our rooms also worked very well for having a drink or two in the evening as we sat on the balcony chatting with each other and watching the activity below us.

A couple more observations about our stay. The Starfish staff was great! They were all very friendly and willing to do whatever was necessary to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable. I doubt we'll return, knowing now how popular it is as a family resort. Not that the kids were a problem. They were well-behaved, but very loud and excited. I would be too if my parents took me to a place like that when I was young. This also means the resort is geared to children and family events. We never sat in the jacuzzis because they were always filled with kids. Most of the entertainment shows were geared toward children and families. Not there's anything wrong with it. We have our own children, but we travel to the Caribbean and Mexico without them. It's our vacation from the family life and we prefer places a little more relaxed and adult-oriented.

Going home

We spent nine days at Starfish Trelawny, and for the most part, we had a good time. Despite Jackie's illness and the noise and commotion caused by all the children, we were able to find some seclusion and quiet time just for the two of us on the nude beach. This isn't a place I'd go for a romantic couples vacation, but if you're inclined to take the whole family somewhere in Jamaica, this could be a good choice.

Our return home was uneventful, which is always good, and arriving home, we found winter still in full swing. Sigh. No vacation is ever long enough.