Better late than never! But trip advisor is so important I wanted to place a review in the hope it may be helpful as so many reviews have been for me.

My wife and I stayed at CA in June 2008 for 2 weeks. Went with Thomas Cook.

Airport staff most unfriendly but perhaps they were just having a bad day!

First impressions - reception is a bit like Granny's house! The place generally needs a revamp.

Our room was ok - spacious and clean and air con. Again, needed updating and as other reviews say, little things did become irritating e.g. useless shower, very worn and small towells, poor TV channels/reception, payment for safe?? and so on. But generally ok I guess for the money.

The pool was ok, not huge. The beaches are small and man made and as I found out playing volley ball, very hard underfoot! The sea is shallow but snorkelling is fun - saw sea snakes and puffer fish quite regularly.

The food was really good and this is one thing that does normally get to me on holiday so I was very pleasantly surprised. Lisa was lovely. Good drinks too.

We actually enjoyed the evening entertainment and again it was good compared to what normally is on offer! The nightclub is an experience, I'll leave it at that!

The day time entertainment is plentiful and if you want to relax and be left alone then you will have to make this clear! We joined in - cricket and volleyball. Generally good fun but the staff who play can get somewhat over excited and over competitive - it's just a bit of fun, especially if you're a bit of a novice. Chill out man! Mark was great though.

The trips were great. Did the Dunn's falls (great fun), the Bob Marley Zion bus trip (even more fun) and the day trip culminating in rafting down the Rio Grande (the rafting being the highlight of our hols!).

There was still loads to do and see which is what makes Jamaica a great place to visit. You can really see how Ian Flemming got his inspiration for Bond out there - love that sort of thing!

Weather ok but because June there were several down pours - always great to experience! Always hot though.

Although I understand why, the constant requests for tips does become a bit irritating - you can never give enough it seems!

Overall a good holiday - worth paying a bit more for hotel I would suggest but Jamaica is a must.

Cheers!

As a returning Jamaican, traveling solo, CA met my needs. I wasn't expecting a posh hotel so I wasn't disappointed. My room was spotless! Drinks from the bar was top-of-the line and the food on Wednesday (Jamaica Night) was amazing. However the food on subsequent days was just ok. I travel back and forth to Jamaica often and have stayed at the finest hotels but the staff and service at CA outshines them all. In all they made my stay a lovely experience. I'll definitely be back.

1st of all i would like to say sorry for the delay in putting up this review...


Mike and i had mixed feelings on going to this hotel due to some rather bad reviews, but with advise from friends on here we decided to go ahead and give it a go.

We arrived at sangster airport and waited for luggage to come off what a farce on board it said carousel 6 but luggage came off carousel 5 luggage in tow off we go to find our transport not hard to find. Patrick was our rep and a rather drunk lady made a beeline for him only saw her twice she was only there for a week with her partner as most the time she was in her room poorly....

On arrival at hotel our rooms where not ready so off we went to the bar where a few people where having drinks and most said hello.

We had a red stripe then back to reception as room was ready, room was a lot bigger than we thought fridge but no coffee maker but that was least of our worries, we unpacked then headed back to bar for a few more drinks before dinner ... Erm we never made it for dinner as we both fell asleep tired from all the travelling during the night we both woke to hear a noise coming from the bathroom we had got a leak and was paddling in 2" of water the loo had sprung a leak which mike fixed until we could get to reception and ask them to send a plumber .. fell asleep again only to wake and find the loo had leaked again that was it off we went to reception to ask for room change ... On arrival at reception he man had no problem in moving us and didnt ask why we wanted to move we did have to wait a few hrs before we could move which didnt bother either of us , we went to room to repack at 11 am we was moved to room 40 was a better room than 43 as had both bath and shower where as room 43 only had a shower....

The food was a little repetetive but we never complained not like some who was sick of seeing same food day after day ... We made friends with a couple called Pat and Richard who came with us on a walk to flavours for a few beers and to see where the ATM machines were didnt realise that the crossroads was only a T junction so we missed them on way. On way back off we went to cah machine but it wouldnt give me any money but i had money in my account .. On return to hotel i txt'd my daughter to see if she was up bearing in mind it was 11.30pm in the UK she had hotel number and called the room i asked her to check my account for me only to be told someone from singapore had taken all the money what was in there i had not used my card whilst in Jamaica so knew it couldnt have been cloned there.... My daughter got onto my banks helpline who told her where my money had gone to and told her they would class it as fraud she transferred some money from another account , They told her she could transfer money from another account so off she went to the bank the following day and was advised to tell me i had 1 hr to remove the money before the card was stopped 6.15am Jamaica time i got my txt so off we went to ATM to get the money, whilst there we came across natty he must have thought what they up to at this time of day as i was still in my nightclothes hubby had got dressed i wasnt taking the chance of whoever took my money to get more from me ...I would like to say a big thank you to a guest called Maria who heard about what had happened and after only knowing her for 2 days offered us financial help if we needed it thank you maria and lynds hope we meet you again sometime xxxxx

The hotel

Staff are brilliant yes they do try get you to participate in the games but sometime you was so tired from the heat you just told them no thanks , i did partake in the kayak racing and came 1st also won the crazy golf which i got a bottle of rum cream hubby won the darts and received a club ambiance cap ( grand daughter now has that )

Days out

We didnt do many trips as we did most on last trip to Jamaica in 2008
We made arrangements with Pat and Richard to go to Brownstown which we did with a driver called Ernest Allen who took us to see a local church there and the markets and surrounding areas we also managed to visit the pattie shop for lunch .. they are hot and spicy but hmmmmm went for a beer or 2 in a local bar and even went in the local furn iture shop was a cooker there if i could have got it in my suitcase it would have come home with me never seen 1 in uk like it..

On return to hotel we made arrangements with Ernest to go to negril for the day he gave us a great deal for the 4 of us ...

Off we set for our day out to negril Ernest was early as usual was a very long drive and some of the roads are still being worked on .. On arrival in negril Ernest took us to see the lighthouse the lighthouse keeper came out and asked if we would like to go to the top both hubby and i are both scared of heights but we did it and it was scary as the steps got narrower at the top and you only had a small square to squeeze out of to out into the open let me tell you after getting to the top the view was well worth it , the hard part was climbing down the first lot of steps to get down you have to go backwards ...
Off we went to the beach i had a swim in the sea then we went off to find somewhere to have lunch we didnt realise we had walked onto Couples property was quickly asked to remove ourselves .. We had lunch at bar on the beach and i had the best chicken ever then the heavens opened rained for 10 mins with thunder and lightening, after lunch we set off to meet up again with Ernest who then too us to cliff's cafe to watch the divers they must be mad but very brave to jump from such a height .. great day out but very long .....

If i had the chance tomorrow to go back to this hotel i would jump at it the bar staff phillip barney junior plus others i forget did a brilliant job of keeping glasses full...and phillips specials are delicious

Omar well what can i say about this fella he is funny charming and very cheeky but a nice cheeky ... Maria who became a very good friend and have mailed her since we returned...Damion you need to speak slowly and dont cheat on the quiz's lol ...

All in all we had a brilliant holiday if your having second thoughts forget them give it a try like we did you will be suprised you might just like it .....

This was our 24th trip to Jamaica and 9th to Club Ambiance. Having been out there in May when some of the refurbishment had started, I was surprised to see how far they have got already. The maintaince team and man in charge are really doing a fantastic job. As for the hotel, the same as always, staff were excellent and again nothing was too much trouble. For us it is hard to pick out one member of staff as everyone makes us feel so welcome. That is credit Mr Blackwood the resort manager as I feel his style and approach is taken on board by his staff and that relects in the ambiance of The Amabiance.
The Hotel Location is great as it is about centre of the north coast, Port Antonio is about three hours (max) to the east and Negril the same to the west.
Due to the recession the whole island was very low on tourists and The Ambiance was no exception to the rule, however, everybody got to know everybody and made for a real family atmoshere.
Having got an invite to one of the so called luxury hotels for an evening, it confirmed to us that the fun at the Ambiance is far better than the stiffness we find at home, and go on holiday to forget.
Roll on the next visit.