My wife and I hit the jackpot when we selected Secrets Cabins on The Firefly Property. Just exactly what we were looking for. We felt like family from the first nite. We spent 9 total beginning March 14. A beautifull beach ,a bar with cold Stripes and friendly folks.The grounds were clean and secure and not once any uncomfortible feeling. And no it was not all inclusive. We were not in a zoo with a fence surrounding us. We were free to move around as much as we liked.Secrets has the best Bar and The best pancakes on the 7 mile beach. Another favorite eating place is Rainbow Arch. You can't go wrong. Many food and drink choi ces line the beach in both directions. If The good Lord is willing and The Creek don't Rise,We will surely return to visit our new friends soon.

We found Firefly on the web, thought it looked like fun, and planned to stay here for the second half of our stay in Negril. I read all the testimonials and noticed how most were favorable but some people had a completely different opinion and hated it. This is the reason I'm taking the time to write this testimonial. If things hadn’t turn out like it did for us, this testimonial would have been written very, very differently by my wife.
We had never been to Jamaica before and no idea what the beach scene here was like. We found it to be crazy, like a carnival on the most beautiful beach we have ever seen! It took a little time to get used to but it's GREAT! My wife got a sunburn the first day or two we got there and had basically stayed away from the beach and the sun for about half of our first week. She had not experienced the vendors that seem to target the people without tans 'the newbies' and hated that, until we got used to it and learned how to deal with them. Our first 7 days were spent at the southern end of the beach where it's fairly quiet. We had reserved the 'cottage on the sand' at Firefly for the second half of our stay in Negril. I thought it was a cool little room with a great location, just steps from the nicest beach I've ever seen. It was everything I read about in Fireflys website. My wife on the other hand, didn't like the tiny bathroom, the lack of privacy, the noise, and didn't like the bed. She didn't like all the action on this busier section of beach. She hated this place and demanded we leave! It was nothing like the hotel we just left. First thing the next morning she called the place we had previously stayed and arranged to go back there and leave Firefly. She was determined to leave and wouldn't listen to me or consider letting the manager show her another room. She hated it there and just wanted to leave! She had previously not experienced much of the beach and just wanted to go back to the quiet room we had, across the street, at the very end of the beach (I'll admit it was nice too and very different!).
We checked out of Firefly the very next morning and moved back to our original hotel for the rest of our stay. Actually the cozy cottage has a fabulous location but is noisy because of its location. I guess by that time I was used to the beach scene and it didn't bother me but wifey hated it! I especially liked the great veranda where you can sit in the shade and see the beach and the sunset right from your room!
A day or two before it was time for us to return home, we walked a couple miles up the beach back to Firefly and met up and talked with a few friends that we made during our very short stay. The night we stayed at Firefly my wife was impressed watching Darnette braid a ladies hair, you can easily see that she's a pro. We actually walked back to Firefly to each get an aloa massage by Darnette, and it was wonderful! We walked the beach a little further than we previously had and realized that the beach was much nicer in this area than where we had stayed. After our massage we ate the banana pancakes that we read about and found that they were just as delicious as everyone had reported. The beach in front of Firefly is fabulous. We went swimming on Fireflys beach during a brief rain, it was fun and then we laid in the sun for a while and talked with our new friends. By now my wife had calmed down and seemed to be enjoying Firefly. I only now was able to convince her to look around and to go to the office and ask to see the penthouse and any other room that might be empty at the time. Audrey, the manager was great, she spent the time to show us a few empty rooms, even though we told her we were leaving the next morning for NH, and now my wife found that Firefly also have quiet, beautiful rooms with nicer bathrooms. We told Audrey about the sag in the bed, she said that no one had ever reported a problem but would investigate and correct the problem. We found that each room at Firefly has a different 'feature' that makes it 'special'. The cozy cottage has 'location', but because of it being close to the beach is noisy. The penthouse too has location but lots of steps. We will be staying in the Alpine cottage next time because of its quieter location and outside platform or veranda that my wife says will be perfect for her yoga practice. I would be happy to stay in any of the rooms but think the Alpine is pretty cool and like its location too. Quiet, yet only steps to that wonderful beach. Firefly has beautiful grounds, lots of flowers and most of all the staff and the guests at Firefly seem to be great! To make a long story short....my wife decided to leave our deposit money with Audrey and booked the Alpine cottage for our next vacation to Jamaica. We've only been home for 2 days now and she's anxious to go back to FIREFLY!!!!

From the first meeting with Mr Jerry to the long goodbye on the beach the firefly experience was definitely worth it! As it is run by women, I found that although most of the accommodation was modest, it was very clean and cosy.

We had originally planned to go hotel hopping in Negril. However the beach was a big inhibitor of this plan. Although it is only a tiny strip of sand it was the most homely bit on the entire beach. The bar staff were lovely, the security guards were both ace and the beautician/masseuse Dornette was also fantastic. Therefore, there was absolutely no need to leave the beach!

Also I found that aloe-vera really is excellent for sun burns, just as the locals pointed out!

If you are up for a lazy few days on one of the nicest beaches, Firefly would be one of the most relaxed experiences.

Warning to Brits going to Jamaica: Make sure to exchange your pounds for dollars in England or go to a licensed money changer when in J. The local Jamaican pound to j dollar ratio is not fair at all. They don't seem to be aware that the dollar is almost half of the pound!

Security was ok. Make sure to use the safe deposit boxes at reception, available for 2 dollars a day. This really makes a difference to your peace of mind.

Special thanks to: Maxine, Shawn, Dornette, Joan, Annmarie, DC, Campbell, Mr Jerry and also non-firefly people: Peanut man, omango and Farmer Brown. for giving us a truly Irie beach holiday experience!

Word of warning, never book Firefly/ Negril for just one week as leaving that place is one of the hardest things I have ever done! We were very close to swiping our credit cards for an extra cheeky week but sadly it wasn't to be. Miss you Firefly!

We took a chanch 6 years ago to go to Firefly, having found their ad on the internet and communicating via emails. They seemed much friendlier than the bigger resorts we have stayed at in the past (Sandals, Couples). They really did care for our comforts and remember our names each year we have come back. We are going again in about 3 weeks for our 7th visit and can hardly wait to see the staff we call our friends. That means all of them. We have pictures of them and the hotel grounds about our house so that we can be reminded all year long. The rooms are cleaned each day and wonderful fresh flowers are waiting for us almost every day. You know that you must really enjoy a place when you have dreams about it. My wife and I have many as we approach our departure date. One more thing... The Sykes (Audry and David) have a newsletter that keeps us tuned into Firely all year long. Never got that from Sandals and we stayed there 3 times before finding Firefly.

Tom & Marilyn Brown
Conesus NY