Note: this post is long and picture-heavy. :)
Answer: WHO CARES?! It's your honeymoon!
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| Hehe - it's Mr. Palm Tree cheering you on! * |
In all seriousness though, Hive, Couples Negril has a BOATLOAD (again, pun not intended, but made me giggle when I saw it typed) of activities on a daily basis.
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| part of our welcome packet |
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| The BACKS of both of the above papers. Eepies. These are also available online here and here. |
I won't lie: coming off of 18 months of wedding planning, this was the last thing I wanted to do. I specifically remember laying in bed on our first morning and saying, "Mr. Palm Tree, I am a little overwhelmed." I did not want to sort through these papers, decide what is what day and what we want to do and then schedule ourselves to do these things - ugh. I remember I felt even a little bit of dread (True Confessions: I'm dramatic) thinking, is this what our honeymoon will be like?
Well, no, Mrs. Palm Tree, it won't, so get a freakin' grip.
One, Mr. Palm Tree responded with, "Well, why don't I sort through everything and each morning I'll make a smaller list of the things available to us and we can decide if we want to do anything?" SWOONIES. Two, these papers had a lot more than just activities on them - if you look closely, the vertical one has times of the restaurants and their dress codes. Three, these activities were posted in two different places throughout the resort so it wasn't like we had to have anything memorized. Four, we hadn't yet been on our resort orientation tour so we didn't realize that the majority of the activities were available every.single.day, often multiple times during the day. Five, the entertainment staff would come around and try to encourage you to participate, so it wasn't like you would 'miss' anything.
I got a little ahead of myself but I wanted to make sure to point out that even though it felt like I was going to enter anxiety attack land, that was NOT the case. Mr. Palm Tree and I took advantage of multiple activities, but I also read an entire book laying on a hammock and utilizing the red flag service (i.e., the drink service) one afternoon.
On to the fun things (and pictures!):
We took a cooking class!
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| Mr. PT and the menu - jerk shrimp, YUM! |
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| Our chef for the class |
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| I don't even like spicy things and this was scrumptious. |
We also played Minute to Win It one day and won second place - I'm really upset I don't have any pictures of it, because it was hysterical. We took the Aquacize class twice, too, and I'm not so upset that I don't have any pictures of that. ;)
We watched several of the nightly entertainers, the most memorable of which was the Steel Drum band (I am kicking myself for not remembering the name of the band - they were incredible).
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| Sorry for the poor quality, my camera didn't really do it justice with the flashing lights and everything. |
We joined the beach dance party and also karaoke (twice - one of the times we even sang).
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| With our honeymoon BFF's. We were out and about at the resort until 4:15am this night. :) |
We had a lot of pool time and a lot of drink time.
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| Mr. Palm Tree and his drinks. Don't worry, mine were on the table next to me. |
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| The pool/beach bar. Embracing couple optional. |
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| I was pretty toasty this day. I played beach volleyball and there are multiple pictures of me on my bum - unfortunately I don't have them or I totally would've shared them with you all. |
BM Y and some of our other friends were super generous and thoughtful and planned a private sunset boat cruise for us. We had no clue about it until or second or third day there, when a piece of paper was shoved in our door. I wasn't able to keep it (I asked; I wanted the note) but basically it was like "CONGRATULATIONS! Stop by the activities desk to book your private sunset boat cruise!" and there was a note from them. I don't really have the adequate 'thank you' words to describe what it felt like. I cried, Mr. Palm Tree said "wow" a lot and we heaved a TON of sighs of contentment. It was magical, perfect, beyond our wildest dreams, beautiful, heavenly. . .
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| Our boat! |
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| Captain "Crunch" and I - he and England were the best crew ever. I'm talking jammed out to "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis with us. . .three times. In a row. |
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| Our dolphin friend! She stayed with us for a while and she was HUGE - like, potentially pregnant huge. |
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| I have hundreds of pictures like the above two; I just couldn't stop capturing it. |
We are forever grateful to our really awesome friends for doing this for us. We rode pretty much the entire length of Negril, past the Seven Mile Beach and the cliffside, before turning around and heading back to Couples Negril. It was truly surreal; I cannot put it any other way. It was so perfect, so very Mr. and Mrs. Palm Tree and I am still in awe of our friends' amazingness.
Moving along. . .Mr. Palm Tree and I also took advantage of the included snorkeling, twice!
Mr. Palm Tree went Scuba Diving as well. Part of what they offer at Couples Negril is a beginner dive and they also provide certification there as well. Bonus: once you're certified, you can dive at any Couples resort for free. Mr. PT decided that when we go next year, he'll spend the 2.5 days to get certified since he loves it so much. It was a huge feat for me to snorkel so I will pass on the scuba business. . .just more time with my hammock and my book. ;)
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| Snorkeling Palm Trees |
We also went to Rick's Cafe one evening with two of our friends in the above picture. Rick's has a really interesting history, it's survived multiple giant hurricanes and tropical storms and holds many accolades, including being voted one of the Ten Best Bars in the World. Although it was definitely great to see, our trip was scheduled a little on the early side - we arrived about 5:00pm and the resort driver was picking us up at 6:45pm, but the entertainment didn't start until 6:30pm. We were leaving just as the band was getting into it and the crowd was switching over from dinner-focused to drink-focused. Even though that was a slight bummer, we still had a blast.
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| Dancing with the band - we wore our swimsuits in case we felt brave enough to. . . |
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| jump off of these cliffs! |
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| Spoiler Alert: we didn't. Not enough liquid courage, I guess. ;) |
We had so much fun our entire vacation, everything we did brought pure glee. Even the funny birds that would visit us during our meals would have us in tears of laughter. Of course, the entertainment team is definitely worth mentioning. The four people with which we were acquainted (Okeno, Ruthann, Shauna and Kiev - in case you go, they're all so much fun and so good at their jobs) really went out of their way to make our trip. They greeted us every time they saw us - I marveled how they would all remember names, it really blew my mind - they encouraged participation, they would dance and eat meals with us, it was so awesome. They put so much effort forth into making sure their guests have a great time and they deserve all of the accolades in the universe.
Something else worth mentioning is the funny money system. Basically, every time we participated in something (i.e., the cooking class, Minute to Win It, playing beach or pool volleyball), we received paper 'funny money' (think Monopoly money without colors) and twice a week, the resort holds an auction. The amount they give you is ridiculous - it's measured in millions and billions - but it's definitely fun incentive to be a part of things and adds a small competitive edge to the trip. They had everything from wood carvings to gift shop items to specialty seasonings available at the auction.
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| This is Smurtle - we spent 4.7 billion on him and couldn't be happier to have him as part of our home. :) P.S. Please ignore the cats and the litter box in the background; I couldn't get the lighting to participate anywhere else. |
So there you have it, Hive: what I hope is a comprehensive review of the activities to take advantage of at Couples Negril. We've already been discussing what we'll do differently when we return (the tennis lessons, for instance) and it gets me excited all over again. Every day was a mini-adventure on our big adventure, and we Palm Trees are all about adventures.
Next up: fooooooooooood.
Let's talk honeymoons! Are you Brides-to-be planning a hybrid of relaxation and activity, or straight action a la Mrs. Wallaby and Mrs. Camel?
* all photos personal unless otherwise noted
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