My FIRST EVER Resort Vacation - Princess Grand Jamaica
- Anne Lam Music
- Aug 30
- 11 min read
Updated: Sep 1
If you know me at all, then you'll know that when I travel, I'm usually MUCH more about sight-seeing and trying local food. I had never done a resort vacation until now, and in this blog post, I will be reviewing my experience at Princess Grand Jamaica in Negril, Jamaica.
When you first enter the resort, you can already tell that it is big and beautiful. However, the open-air concept also meant that it was extremely hot, almost unbearably so. Keep in mind that I went in the middle of August, so that played a huge role in the heat as well. The rooms, restaurants, shops, gym, and sports bar have air conditioning, but outside of these areas, be prepared to sweat if you're going during a warm season.
Upon arriving at the resort, we were greeted and given a cold towel and some fruit punch as we waited to be checked in. This was MUCH NEEDED and very welcome, given the insane heat we were experiencing at the time.
During the check-in process, we were given a little wristband, which actually served as the key to our room.
The room was GORGEOUS and much more spacious than I had expected! There was even a double sink, which I loved, because it meant no fighting over sink space while getting ready in the morning. We also had a little balcony area overlooking the water park of the resort.
Things I did
Apply sunscreen everyday
Haha, I'm listing this as the first activity, because I want to stress its IMPORTANCE! The sun was STRONG and relentless when I went, so I made sure to apply and reapply sunscreen every single day. The one I used by Sun Bum is mineral-based, meaning that it is also reef-safe and coral-safe, for those of you who would want to go on excursions as well. It's got SPF 50, it's water-proof, and it is good for up to 80 minutes before you should reapply again.
Pedal boating
There are a lot of activities you can do in the water by the beach besides just swimming in it. There are kayaks you can use, but I chose to do pedal boating instead, because I had never tried it before. You do have to sign a waiver first though. There are life jackets you can use, and you can ask for towels as well. You are also told how far you can go to make sure you stay safe during the activity. You are allowed to take the pedal boat for an hour at a time, but I couldn't do it for very long before I started to feel a little bit seasick. I'm still glad I got to try something new though!
Hang out at MVP Sports Bar
The air conditioning here is STRONG, meaning that I basically came here at least once every day. Aside from the AC though, the bar does host something different every night. For example, the first night I was here, they were doing karaoke night, which was fun. However, the sound system was turned up WAY too loudly, at basically just one notch below ear-bleed level. On other days, the bar hosted disco nights, and sometimes there would be a DJ as well. It's a cool spot to hang out in, but don't expect to be able to have any conversations with anybody at night when the music is blasting in your eardrums.
Gaming & VR Centre
Right next to the sports bar, there is also a gaming and VR "arcade" with different games. It was cool to try, but not as exciting for me as it was for my partner, haha. Still though, if you are into gaming, I really think you would enjoy this space. I didn't play as many of the VR games as my partner did, because like with the pedal boating, I started to feel a bit nauseated pretty quickly.
Hang out by or in the pools
There are several pools at the resort, including a water park that is more suitable for kids. Since it was so hot, I definitely spent quite a bit of time in the water to cool off. There are several floaties available, if you're lucky enough to get one before anyone else. There are pool hours though, and unfortunately, the pools are closed at night, so you can't go for any night swims unless you go in the ocean instead.
Restaurants
Alright, I'm not gonna lie or sugar-coat it - I was not overly impressed with the food at the resort. There are many restaurants available - proper dine-in restaurants, cafés/bars, and even food trucks. However, out of all the places I ate at, there were only three that I thought were good.
Il Palazzo Restaurant
This was one of the good restaurants at the resort. Here, they serve Italian food. There are many items on the menu to choose from, so I liked the variety. To start, we ordered the bruschetta. Honestly, it's hard to go wrong there. The bread was toasted, but still soft on the inside, and the tomatoes provided the freshness that we were craving.
For my main course, I decided to get the seafood soup, which was very tasty and surprisingly filling as well! This soup really was packed with flavour and umami yum, and I would have asked for a second helping, if I wasn't already full after.
My partner, on the other hand, got the steak and shrimp instead. The steak truly did come out medium-rare, as requested, and the meat was very tender. The shrimp were good too, and I actually liked that the vegetables on the side included brussels sprouts (I know, most people don't like them haha!).
We wanted to get dessert as well, but the service at this restaurant was too slow, and we didn't feel like waiting. That is the one con about this restaurant - the service really is very slow. Do not come here for something quick. Come here to relax and to have long conversations as you eat.
My overall rating of this restaurant: 8/10
Food Market Restaurant
I came to this restaurant for a lunch buffet and also two breakfast buffets, so I really gave it a fair shot. Sorry to say, the food here isn't very good. In fact, the lunch buffet was my first meal at this resort, and it didn't make a good impression. The pizza tasted like cardboard, and a lot of the meats were very dry. I was hoping the food would be better and fresher during the breakfast buffet, since the food will not have been left out for as long, but unfortunately, that was not necessarily the case. The pastries were dry and some of their steamed food items totally lacked flavour and had weird textures. The smoked salmon was very dry as well. I appreciate that this restaurant always serves a huge variety of food, but maybe they should try to focus more on quality and not quantity.
My overall rating of this restaurant: 4/10
AQUA Snack Bar
Okay, this wasn't even a proper restaurant, but the food was pretty decent! I came here twice, both for lunch. The first time, I ordered salmon fillet with rice. It was lovely, and the portion size was just right. I liked that the rice was Jamaican rice and beans as well. The salmon was cooked just right - not underdone, and not overdone either.
The second time I came here to eat, I got the cheeseburger and fries. The fries were thick and salted to the right amount, and the patty of the burger was tasty and juicy. Condiments came on the side, so you could add what you wanted and however much you wanted.
Overall rating of this bar: 8/10
Fusion 360 Restaurant
This was probably the most disappointing restaurant at the resort for me. A lot of people hyped it up, and I was extremely underwhelmed when I went. The restaurant is beautifully decorated, but that did not distract from the fact that the food left a lot to be desired.
The restaurant offers both an open buffet and items you can order from the menu à la carte. I tried almost all the items of the open buffet, which included Thai glass noodles, tom yum soup, various poke bowls, as well as dessert items. The tom yum soup did not taste like tom yum at all! It was more like watered down tomato soup. I was very disappointed with it. The Thai glass noodles were decent, to be fair. The poke bowls did not taste fresh, and the rice was hard. I tried two of the dessert items offered, specifically the matcha cheesecake and the mango panna cotta. With the matcha cheesecake, you could not taste the matcha at all. Also, the texture of it was way too mushy for my taste, so I didn't like it. The mango panna cotta was pretty tasty in terms of flavour, but the texture was also weird. It didn't feel like panna cotta.
In addition to the open buffet items, I also ordered the chicken skewers from the à la carte menu. Thankfully, they were actually delicious!! This was the only good item that I got to try at the restaurant. Everything else just did not do it for me.
My overall rating of the restaurant: 3/10
Blue Mountain Coffee Shop
This 24 hour coffee shop offers various types of coffee, pastries, sandwiches, and gelato. The coffee and gelato are good, but the pastries and sandwiches are not. If you want food, I would suggest going elsewhere. I came here one morning for breakfast, and ordered a ham, cheese, and tomato sandwich, a chocolate croissant, and a mocha coffee. The mocha coffee was great - exactly what I wanted. However, the sandwich was pretty bad... The bread was hard and cold, and I don't know how fresh the sandwich was, because everything inside was already all mushy from the tomato. The chocolate croissant was dry, and the chocolate was not evenly distributed. It was literally all in the middle of the croissant.
I came again one afternoon to try the gelati, and they were good. They had a lot of different flavours, so I got to try two or three of them. I couldn't get a picture, because they were already melting within 30 seconds of me stepping out of the shop. That's how hot it was when I visited.
My overall rating of the coffee shop: 6.5/10
The Reef Restaurant
I REALLY LIKED this restaurant, and I was so sad that I only got to try it on my last full day at the resort. If I had tried it earlier, I likely would have come back several times. The menu is different every day, and they are only open for lunch. It is buffet style, but the variety and quality of items exceed those of the Food Market restaurant. The jerk chicken and jerk sauce were fantastic, but my favourite was definitely the goat curry. It was DELICIOUS. I also enjoyed the fried plantains. Aside from main dishes, there is also a whole section of the buffet that serves various types of cheeses, which I gladly helped myself to. There is another section that serves an assortment of fruits. I ate so much cantaloupe and mango. Someone told me that I had to have mangos in Jamaica, and they were not wrong. The mangos there were SO MUCH better than the ones in Toronto. In addition to the great food, you also get to enjoy a beautiful view as you eat.
My overall rating of the restaurant: 9/10
El Delirio Restaurant
The Mexican restaurant at the resort, like the Fusion 360 restaurant, has both an open buffet for tacos, and a menu from which you can order different items à la carte. We did not feel like having tacos, so we just ordered items off the menu. We started with some ceviche, as well as some chips with sauces and guacamole on the side. These starter items were okay - nothing wrong, but also nothing exceptional. I wasn't sure why things were added to the guacamole, because it didn't enhance the flavour profile or anything like that.
For my main meal, I decided to get the fish with rice. I did not like it. The fish just by itself had no flavour, and the texture was dry and harder than I would have liked. On top of that, the sauce just seemed like tomato paste. The salad that went with it was fine, but honestly, it would have been difficult to mess that up. I could not even finish the dish, because there was nothing to be enjoyed.
My partner got the chicken mole, which tasted better than my fish. Still though, it was just okay and nothing to write home about. He couldn't finish his dish either.
My overall rating of this restaurant: 4.5/10
What amazed me, honestly, was the fact that at this resort, almost all the food LOOKS really good, but definitely does not taste the way it looks... It's actually impressive how they've managed to achieve that. I guess it's true when they say that looks can be deceiving.
Other notes about my experience at this resort
Nightly concerts
I stayed at the family side of the resort, and I was so surprised that almost every night, there would be some sort of concert at the outdoor theatre until around 11 PM. This would have been fine if not for the fact that, like the music at MVP Sports Bar, it was always at a head-splitting decibel level. I chose to stay at the family side, because I wanted my vacation to be a little quieter and less wild. However, these nightly LOUD concerts impeded my sleep, and I also had to wonder if all the kids on the family side of the resort were able to sleep through it at all. I imagine that like me, they probably could not. This made me feel bad for families with YOUNG kids especially, because it can be a whole ordeal to get your kids to sleep in the first place. Now imagine if after they finally get to sleep, that all this music just starts blasting from outside for HOURS. Absolutely not!!
Service & Staff
Overall, the service was quite good, and most of the staff was extremely friendly! However, we did run into one or two little hiccups when it came to service. The first was when my partner tried to order breakfast-in-bed for me for the morning of my birthday. He made the call the night before, and ordered. He was told that it would be served the next morning between 8 AM and 9 AM. However, nothing ever showed up, and when my partner called again to ask about it, they said that no order was ever placed. This was disappointing.
On another occasion, our TV remote control began to stop working. None of the buttons were working, even though the batteries were. It took VERY LONG for them to send someone to help with the issue, and by the time anyone came up to our room, it was already late at night.
Overall rating for my stay at Princess Grand Jamaica
All things considered, I would rate my stay here a 6/10. I appreciated getting a little break from my day-to-day life, but I don't think this type of vacation is for me. It was kind of boring, because I'm much more used to sight-seeing and eating local food. I enjoyed spending time in the pools, but I was disappointed with the food. I also did not anticipate that I would not be well-rested during a RESORT vacation, due to sleep disruptions caused by loud music.
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