We stayed at the Coco LaPalm Resort and had a FABULOUS time! There were 12 of us there escaping the cold Wisconsin weather. We had six adults, two college, two teens and two elementary in our group and every single one of us had a wonderful time. We chose to pay for a private transfer from the airport and were happy we did it this time—just to arrive earlier and the Red Stripes awaiting us!! We had a FUN ride—we did stop at a market on our way to pick up Red Stripes & snacks that we kept cold in our rooms (we’d brought coolers for the beach). Checkin was a breeze for us. The grounds at Coco LaPalm are immaculate. The greenery is lovely and the flowers are pretty. The people working here are great in all areas. We had no issues while staying here. Our rooms were nice with comfortable beds, clean and more than efficient. We got up each morning and headed to the beach. My family all received the breakfast free with our package purchase. When I’d inquired about this in an email to the resort, I was told if you received the meal vouchers, depended upon who you booked with. All four of us received them as my kids must have been considered ‘adults’ as they were teens. The group with elementary did have to pay extra. We chose to ‘open a tab’ when we checked in—an option I had learned of from a prior tripadvisor member I talked to. This was the way to go for my family. Each morning when my son got his first frozen drink, they started the tab. At the end of the day, we just signed and got our receipt copy. If you have kids, I’d highly recommend doing this. There were no discrepencies and all of the food and drinks we purchased at CLP were great! We ate breakfast each day, lunch most days and supper one night. We loved the beach at CLP. We enjoyed seeing the ‘fresh fruit ladies’ and the ‘fresh fruit juice guys’. We enjoyed talking with the security guys and just hanging out. The ocean here is so lovely and calm enough for all of us to play as we chose. However, there was enough wave action that you could listen to the waves come it. We did jetski a few times ($20 pp for ½ hour), parasail ($40 pp), hairbraid ($20). There are floaty rafts already at the resort so we just used them (free) vs. blowing the ones up that we brought. Very relaxing floating the ocean. One day we took a private tour to the Original Mayfield Falls. We left early enough that we beat all of the buses that eventually arrived. We were the second group heading up the river, which was wonderful! We all enjoyed this. Not as large as Dunns River Falls but lovely and exciting enough to fit all of our groups’ ages. The drive there was fun too. A great experience for our kids to see another culture. We did the Rick’s Café one night and had a great time there too. We went early enough (3:00 pickup) to get a good seat before the crowds came, did our jumps, had some drinks, ordered supper and waited for sunset. Our sunsets at the resort were equally as beautiful, if not moreso but it was a fun evening. One thing we enjoyed about being at CLP was the way that the beach is the ‘highway’. We left our resort at night and walked barefoot up the beach to find our restaurant of choice. One night was Margaritaville, where we celebrated a 10 year old's birthday. They went above and beyond for all of us. Having traveled quite a bit, I would highly recommend this resort. It gives you the chance to ‘experience’ the Jamaican beauty, great people, awesome food, fantastic drinks. Because they allow you to run a tab, you can still get the ‘all-inclusive’ feel without losing the chance to venture out and experience the area. We’d all certainly stay here again in the years to come. Ya Mon’!! :-)

WOW

I went to Jamaica with two co-workers and we were debating where to staty for a week or two before we booked. After reading some reviews here and comparing prices we finally ddecided Coco La Palm would be our choice.

And what a good one.

The staff was amazingly friendly and willing to help us with any need. Chester, the bellboy, was a great help all week (we even seen him at some partys)

At one point my friend had fallen asleep while tanning and had some money hanging out of his pocket. A local "working" girl came and attempted to take it but fortunately the security of Coco La Palm came to the rescue and grabbed her arm before she reached the money!!! (about the only bad thing that happend on our entire trip) They do not play and take their job very seriously. If any of the vendors walking by stayed too long trying to sell you anything the guards would shoo them away very quickly.

The resort itself was excellent, the pools and hottub clean and the rooms immaculate. I would stay here again any day.

Some advice:
Ricks Cafe was awesome and had the perfect sunset view.

The Jungle while fun had too many "working" girls that were overly persistent, so much so I left. We were there early so maybe it's better (or worse???) later at night.

Margaritaville, which is only four or five resortts away was great. The floating trampolenes were so fun we went three days in a row. Also they had $25 all you can drink from 9pm-2am the Friday we went. We also helped Richmond College win the "College Drinking Olympics" during the day. If you've ever seen "Beerfest" I was the one who had to drink das boot....

I would also recommend the jerk chicken shack across the street from Coco. (just to your right if your looking away from the hotel) The food was cheap and extremely tasteful and the beer was cold.

Next door and directly across the street was a little shop run by Steve, an incredibly nice local. Beer was slightly more expensive then in town but if you factor in the price of a cab ride (plus tip) it may actually be cheaper. I'd rather support him then whoever owns the local grocery store anyway.

The only thing we regret is that we met some awesome girls from Amsterdam that were staying at Samsara, our other choice, but who knows. If we stayed their we proabaly would have met some girls that were staying at Coco....

Overall we had everything we were looking for out of our trip and our lovely stay at Coco La Palm.

First trip to Jamaica and it couldn't have better. Everything from the location to the cleanliness was absolutely perfect. All but just a few rooms(the 800 #'s) are very nice. The people who work there are friendly and helpful. The breakfasts are really good and only cost $5.00 for 2 after applying the complimentary breakfast coupon. There are many other places to try within walking distace along the beach. Chances 2 for1 lobster, Kuyubas and Margaritaville were great. Be sure to book a sunset cruise with Myrna, who walks the beach, on The Red Stripe . We had a blast. The sunsets were gorgious and when looking at our pictures we saw the famous green flash! The pools and hot tub were always clean and refreshing.The gardens beautiful and well kept. The Monday night welcome party and Sat. night beach party were so much fun and the Reggae band was really good. I would definatey go there again and highly recommend CocoLapalm to others.

To reiterate many previous postings, the beach at Cocolapalm is outstanding! The water is perfectly clear (no rocks or seaweed at all) and calm; the sand is so soft it's like walking on velvet; the beach is never too crowded (and there were always plenty of lounge chairs); and because the location is so centralized, there's plenty of food, drinks, and activities available. On one hand, it's peaceful enough to just read or nap, on the other hand there's so much going on, you could spend the whole day just people watching (and buying things - fresh fruit, juice, and patties from the beach vendors). We camped out at the "adult" pool most of the time - you get your space and added privacy, but the view is just as beautiful. We did the hotel's glass-bottom boat tour one day ($20 US) and did some snorkeling (very low-key situation). The guys who took us were really great. They offered to take us out again another day early in the morning to see if we could see some dolphins.

As far as rooms go, we had originally booked a "standard room." But when we arrived, the room smelled awful - very musty/moldy and it wasn't very clean. We told the front desk, and they immediately updraded us to a "superior room." This room was a nice size (and we were very grateful for the upgrade), but still had some minor drawbacks. For example, the beds were hard, the television reception wasn't great, the shower had a weak stream, and there were no alarm clocks or hair dryers in the rooms.

Overall, the hotel staff were wonderful. The grounds/security staff as well as housekeeping/restaurant folks were incredibly sincere, helpful and friendly. It was nice getting to know some of them. You immediately feel welcome and safe at Cocolapalm, and it doesn't take much time at all to feel like you belong. I was happy to tip the staff well. The front desk folks, however, weren't as warm, and we were sometimes met with blank stares. One day we decided to do the horseback riding trip at Rhodes Plantation. The front desk people said they would arrange it, but they apparently just forgot or something. It would have been nice to have someone not just check us in, but spend some time to orient us when we got there.

Some other observations: breakfasts at the resort were great and a nice way to meet other vacationers (coffee can be very strong); dinners were just okay; drinks were just okay (drinks were stronger/cheaper next door to the right). The manager's party on Monday night was a lot of fun - music and free strong drinks. Aside from jerk, there's a lot of lobster around at the different restaurants down the beach. The Italian restaurant down the beach to the left was excellent. And the pizza at "Choices" was very good.

Negril is very casual - you can go barefoot most places (and topless on the beach). If you take a taxi (the hotel will arrange taxi's for you - don't pay more than $20 US round-trip ) up to the restaurants at the cliffs, you will want to have something on your feet, however. We liked the "Rockhouse" and the "Hungry Lion" out that way. And there were plenty more we didn't get to (like "Sweet-Spice" and "Chicken Lavish"). Lastly, have a lot of "tip" money on hand.

The final comment I will make is more about Negril as a whole. If you walk down the beach (which you will want to do) you won't be able to go 3 steps without being approached by someone who wants to sell you drugs. The first night we were there, this happened 12 times. The "sellers" tend to be friendly but aggressive and will keep pushing if you try to just ignore them. You must make eye contact and say "no." I never feared for my safety, however. It was more a matter of, as an introvert, I was really tired of having to interact with them all the time. It became impossible to have a nice quiet walk on the beach. For some this might be simply a minor annoyance, for others intolerable.

I definitely plan on returning to Negril and staying at Cocolapalm! Jamaica is cheaper than many of the other caribbean islands, and the beach at Cocolapalm is the best we've been to. If you're looking for a mellow vacation where beach culture is the main activity, this is the place for you.