I'm trying to book a possible honeymoon location and am thoroughly frustrated with trying to decipher such widely divergent reviews of places by people going to the same resort, and often times during the same week, where some people say it was the worst experience of their lives and others simultaneously saying it was the best.
Spent an hour with a travel agent today who was very helpul and informative and later went online to find more of the above in terms of reviews. I know they work on commissions and generally I shouldn't have to disagree with a resort with a 5 star rating but the reviews are extremely disconcerting. I realize that to get 90% satisfied customers should be a good thing but the other 10-12% of the negative reviews can be shocking.
So I'm not really looking for a recommendation for a friend or a cousin who is a travel agent but rather want to hear the "straight full story" from someone here in the business so I can try to narrow down my choices. For example, I was looking at Sandals Negril and was told that it is a private beach so we wouldn't be bothered with locals selling crap and having others try to sell us drugs. Yet online that is a major complaint about that location.
Ideally a beautiful private beach, good snorkeling, no locals hassling guests on the beach (or in the water), was hoping for all inclusive since I don't feel like getting bothered in towns and am quite happy to stay on site if everything is up to par (I don't mind spending money but some of these 4 and 5 star properties seem to make even up scale areas look like a travel risk).
Even if you are only willing to talk "off the record" about what the real stories are then that is fine. I am just hoping someone will tell me the whole truth so I can go in with eyes wide open and make an educated decision.
Spent an hour with a travel agent today who was very helpul and informative and later went online to find more of the above in terms of reviews. I know they work on commissions and generally I shouldn't have to disagree with a resort with a 5 star rating but the reviews are extremely disconcerting. I realize that to get 90% satisfied customers should be a good thing but the other 10-12% of the negative reviews can be shocking.
So I'm not really looking for a recommendation for a friend or a cousin who is a travel agent but rather want to hear the "straight full story" from someone here in the business so I can try to narrow down my choices. For example, I was looking at Sandals Negril and was told that it is a private beach so we wouldn't be bothered with locals selling crap and having others try to sell us drugs. Yet online that is a major complaint about that location.
Ideally a beautiful private beach, good snorkeling, no locals hassling guests on the beach (or in the water), was hoping for all inclusive since I don't feel like getting bothered in towns and am quite happy to stay on site if everything is up to par (I don't mind spending money but some of these 4 and 5 star properties seem to make even up scale areas look like a travel risk).
Even if you are only willing to talk "off the record" about what the real stories are then that is fine. I am just hoping someone will tell me the whole truth so I can go in with eyes wide open and make an educated decision.