I’m writing this post a few weeks after returning to Ottawa but the next few days I wrote while I was in Jamaica. It was a very busy trip but this was a day I got to stay at the resort. Jewel Paradise Cove while my friend figured out our plans for the remainder of the week.
The resort posts the activity schedule on the app, on tv’s in the room, and on a screen in the lobby. I had seen that there was a resort tour at 11:00. I have stayed in many resorts and it usually the company that you booked with doing these tours. I liked that there was no need to wait for a specific tour rep and the hotel was doing this. My friend was out up and early for the garden tour. I slept in and went for breakfast at 10:30. I wanted my friend to come in the hotel tour with me because I have no sense of direction but we later discovered we weren’t getting each others text messages and I thought she was still on the garden tour.
I had received my friends text that she was disappointed there were no plantains at breakfast. The coffee shop was outside close to my room. The staff was really nice and had gone out of their way to direct me to the food area. I asked if they knew if the chocolate sauce had dairy in it and they let me read the ingredients. It was accidentally vegan it made me happy I could have chocolate sauce whenever I wanted something sweet. The coffee was really good quality actual blue mountain so I definitely had a coffee drink everyday. I am a one coffee a day person but this trip I was having multiple cups.
Breakfast wasn’t too exciting and since I was in a rush just ate a little. I didn’t get the drink I ordered so I stopped at the bar that was in front of the lobby and got a lemonade. I was the only one for the tour that day so I just asked the guide to show me where the food areas, the pools, and the beach were. The guide gave me a quick tour not really actually going to all the places just pointing out directions but did show me main areas. While we were on the way a worker was getting coconuts of the tree. My guide said she wanted one and I was like I want one. The guide couldn’t get one as there wasn’t enough but as a guest I could have one. There was only one in the batch that was good. I had my lemonade and phone in my hand so couldn’t take a picture. Another worker joined the tour at this point and got me a glass they tried to find a straw but it is a no waste hotel so disposable items weren’t available. I told them they could share the remainder of the coconut. They told me I could ask for a coconut anytime I saw a worker getting it off the tree. I was surprised that it was free as other resorts I have stayed in charge for it. I was never at the resort to see another one but really happy I got that one. My friend had also gotten a coconut on her garden tour but hers wasn’t good like mine was.
Another thing I learned on the tour is not all restaurants were open everyday. There was no consistency to know which restaurant was open when. I was able to get a printed schedule from the concierge.
My guide also told me there was a silent beach I asked if that meant no talking she said no just no music. This resort played good music that wasn’t too loud I forgot about the silent beach until the last day. After the tour I explored the resort a little on my own. There were so many parts I never saw on this trip I really hope I get to stay here again in the future and spend more time at the resort.
I explored the resort a little on my own but didn’t realize how big it was until later in the week when I went on the garden tour. There was a games area with couches and
books to read.
After I explored a little I met my friend at the buffet for lunch. There wasn’t many items that I knew I could eat. Items were marked vegetarian not vegan at this point and the staff I asked didn’t seem to be giving me correct info. I did my best to guess what was available. I knew I could always go and get a burger if I wanted later. My friend and I decided to go to the Jamaican cooking class at the resort she was hoping to get plantains. I had told my guide she didn’t get her plantains and the guide had said they had it the day before and they would probably have it again. I was hoping to find out if things my non vegan friend tells me are vegan were actually at the resort.
It was more of a cooking demo. The dish was bahnny and a sauce that were vegan. The dish is served with fish. There were no plantains but chef said there was going to be a Jamaican party for dinner and plantains would be available. Everyone got excited but it’s Island talk there were no plantains at dinner.
I have had many bhammy many times it is cassava and coconut milk. My friend has made it a few times and I like her version better but I had this on the buffet later in the week and it was much better. I felt that this batch had sat too long.
Chef asked if everyone ate fish. I said I didn’t he asked if I was vegan I said yes and he kindly served me a portion of the vegan part before serving the fish. There were a few people in the group that said they couldn’t eat spice so he said he made it mild it was very hot inedible and I like spice. I did learn a new cooking technique of marinating then freezing meat i tried it with tofu and it worked great. The next day I noticed vegan symbols on the buffet which you can read about in my day 3 post. This hotel really did their best to cater to guest needs.
After the cooking demo I went in the pool while my friend watched my stuff. It was nice having the pool private to myself I thought it was too shallow because it was the pool for the water slide but later I found out all the pools were only 4 feet. It was still nice to be able to swim there and relax without any people around. I really liked this resort because weren’t excessively drinking but still having a good time.
View from the pool. It was a beautiful resort. Then it was back to the room to rest a little before the dinner party.
Dinner was buffet style outside I guessed what was vegan again. The main difference between the regular buffet and the Jamaican party buffet was fruit. There were so many different Jamaican fruits so that was nice. There were also a few candies that I could eat from the dessert section. One was packaged tamarind in sugar. I took a few for the week but the candy’s did have seeds in them so hard to eat on the go. There was coconut drops and some other homemade style candies that I know are usually vegan. Nothing was marked vegan it was still nice that I knew I could eat these desserts. The desserts and salads were never marked with vegan signs on the buffet maybe in the future. There was often an eggless chocolate cake on the buffet and if it didn’t always have whipped topping on it I would wonder if it was. I still think this resort did a good job of labeling items which I explained more in future blog posts. There was a band playing at dinner we waited until 9:30 for a show that was to start at 9:00 we got tired of waiting and decided to go to the coffee shop and then to our rooms.
We liked ending the evening at the coffee shop as we could hear the music but we could also hear each other. It was also nice to have a hot chocolate or tea before going to bed. The days and the week went really quickly. This is the end of day 2.
Thank you for reading.
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