CSA - Late Arrival

[Rishy]

Hi Forum
Relaly excited about my upcoming visit 1/3/10 and have a question. We will be arriving in MBJ at 5 p.m. and guessing after customs, bus ride , etc. won't be arriving to the resort until after 7. I am sure we will be hungry and worn out. Any thoughts on where to grab a bite the first night and hang out not really knowing the layout of the place? I do plan on attending the orientation the next day. Any "must see/must do" excursions? I know the catmaran cruise and Rick's. Any others? Thanks.

[IACouple]

Hi Forum
Relaly excited about my upcoming visit 1/3/10 and have a question. We will be arriving in MBJ at 5 p.m. and guessing after customs, bus ride , etc. won't be arriving to the resort until after 7. I am sure we will be hungry and worn out. Any thoughts on where to grab a bite the first night and hang out not really knowing the layout of the place? I do plan on attending the orientation the next day. Any "must see/must do" excursions? I know the catmaran cruise and Rick's. Any others? Thanks.

At 7 you will have 3 choices. Patios, Palms or Cabana grill.

I would suggest hitting Cabana, getting a plate of jerk chicken and a beer, and relaxing for a few min. Head back to the room, shower and have dinner like 9.

[smoo72]

We arrived late our first time too and just went to the Palms. They will still be in full dinner mode at that point and the Palms doesn't require reservations and the dress is more relaxed than other places (I know when we were in that situation, we were NOT looking real great after the trip). Palms is also close to the lobby, so it won't involve getting all turned around in the dark as you can sometimes lose your bearings on the paths, even when you've been there before.

I don't know that it's a must, but we really enjoyed the Appleton Rum Factory tour. But it's far away and you would want to combine it with others. I know there is a package with that, Black River, and YS Falls. It's a full day - 8am-5pm, from what I recall. Black River and YS didn't impress me too much (though we were their the week after a hurricane and YS was too rough to do anything but stand on the side and look at it), but they were worth it for ending up at Appleton . Definitely the Cat cruise. We didn't do it our first couple trips and finally did the last time and kicked ourselves for missing out on prior trips. It's a really good time. Never been to Ricks, so I can't speak to that, but I've heard thumbs ups and thumbs downs on it.

[Sublimebrad]

As for what's included, don't miss the catamaran. In fact I would go twice. They have different times and crews tha are different personalities. I loved it. Id say snorkeling is a must too. Don't waste money on the private dinner in my opinion. It's just not worth it to me. If you have never tried it and have money to spend you might enjoy it. The ladies like it!

As for leaving the property, we have never done it other than going shopping in town for a few hours. The resort is too nice and we didn't want to leave. We took a boat to parasail and go off by CN for a few minutes and all the resorts over there looked boring and outdated. Csa is a true gem.

[Beach-bum]

Two years ago we arrived at 11:30pm. We had one of our best memories arriving so late and hearing the night sounds while eating a snapper sandwich at the grill. We sat there until 1:00 in the morning just soaking in the ambiance of the resort.

Aaaaaa great memories