Tranquility on the Beach

A wonderful vacation, but a few disappointments

Tranquility on the Beach was a beautiful property!  Felt like being inside a private garden.  The pool was fabulous.  We LOVED the tennis/basketball/pickleball court.  Probably the biggest surprise of the trip was how much we played pickleball.  Appreciated that they had equipment on site to use.  Also enjoyed the paddle boards and kayaks. Loved the layout of the house, the outdoor patio, and the outdoor dining table (eating breakfast/lunch/dinner outside every day was a treat!). We really appreciated the recommendation to have a private driver.  The van was very nice, felt safe, and convenient.   Also LOVED the dolphin experience.  Far exceeded our expectations.  Thank you for the recommendation.   We also had a wonderful scuba experience!  Thank you for the recommendation. A few bits of honest feedback/opinions... The beach was just ok.  In fact, it was a little disappointing.  The sand wasn't great, so much so, that the kids didn't play in it at all.  The water was pretty cloudy in the bay where we were located.  All things that are just part of nature, but definitely affected our experience. The property (and maybe just Jamaica?) was extremely buggy.  We had to wear bug spray at all times or else would get eaten alive by mosquitos.  We all left with countless mosquito bites.  Another nature thing, but again, affected the experience. The biggest challenge was that one of the master suites had no AC (AC unit didn't work).  It was so hot in our room (at least 10 degrees hotter than being outside) that my husband slept on the couch the first night and on the OUTDOOR couch the 2nd night (the house was locked so he couldn't get inside).  The rest of the nights we slept in the room, but neither of us slept well. We let the house staff know about the issue on Sunday morning, someone came and said we just didn't have it on the right setting, which wasn't correct.  It still didn't work.  We raised this again on Monday.  They asked someone to come back, no one came until Tuesday.  The final conclusion was that they need a new unit, so we never had AC in our room.  Hard to feel ok about spending so much money for a luxury vacation when we didn't get even one good night's sleep.  This unit wasn't working from day one, so was for sure an issue prior to our arrival.  We didn't have an option to move rooms because we were using all the rooms in the house. The house staff was nice.  The chef's food was good.  Though sometimes I felt like we were annoying them. One final thing.  We appreciated that the house had security guards.  However, it was a bit awkward. They sat down in the gazebo while they were there, which meant we didn't feel like we could use that space.  One night, the guards were up at the main house, outside our room at 130AM talking.  Waking to hearing men's voices outside our room in the middle of the night was a bit alarming.  We weren't sure what was going on, and it felt a bit scary to be honest. Overall, Jamaica felt a bit sketchy.  We are all experienced and "smart" travelers.  However, when off property and interacting with people outside our "circle" it felt like we were having to watch our backs so as not to get hustled.  Just another thing that affected the overall experience. Overall we had a wonderful vacation.  Highlights were definitely the pickleball courts, the pool, and the dolphin and scuba experiences.  Despite these things, not sure we would return to this property or to Jamaica.  

Tranquillity on the Beavh

The concierge, villa and staff were great. We would definitely recommend this to family and friends.

A Week in Paradise

Don't look any further, this property has it all. We visited with three families, six adults and six children ages 7-11 and we had plenty of room. The kids all stayed in the cottage just a few steps from the main house. The nightly security kept an eye on them and we had no concerns about their safety. The meals were fabulous - Chef Danny cooked a variety of meals from jerk chicken to lobster. He even made special plates for the kids - pizza, noodles, mac and cheese, etc. Laundry was done every day (the magic laundry hamper) so we could have packed just two outfits and saved some room in the luggage (also don't pack towels)! The house is on a public beach but it felt like we had it to ourselves. The surf was calm most days and although we visited in March so had some debris in the water, the beach was raked daily and wasn't a problem. One day we had bigger waves and were able to surf on the paddle boards. They did have three kayaks, three paddle boards and enough life jackets to go around. The snorkeling at the reef a few hundred yards off shore from the house was the best that we visited (we took kayaks out there every day). We opted for the weekly van rental and were glad we did. We went to the Tryall Club twice. Their beach was fine and they had a water trampoline that the kids enjoyed. We also did the banana tube ride and the snorkel tour (not as good as the reef by the house). We went to Doctor's Cove - do not waste your time if there is a cruise ship in port. It was crowded and traffic was terrible. We do recommend swimming with the dolphins at Dolphin Cove. Book the first opening in the morning to beat the crowds. We stopped at a stand on the way back and bought fruit and shells. Aside from the regular travel items I would recommend bringing your own shampoo and conditioner, tennis rackets and snorkel gear.

Exceeded our expectations

The villa was more than we expected. The grounds were a tropical garden. Everything was superbly maintained. The staff was great. Chef Danny and Leeford anticipated our every need. We will return to Tranquility on the Beach.