Family Fun – Oasis at Sunset: Montego Bay, Jamaica

The excitement began on the first day of our journey, which was a Friday
morning (an unpaid day for teachers in Ontario, just so we’re all clear).

Little Maggie –carsick at the best of times – could barely handle the
anticipation of the trip combined with a drive to the airport, and she was
making very good use of an extra Ziploc bag at the exact moment we were
boarding our flight. Apparently WestJet takes sick passengers very seriously. I
don’t want to spend a whole post outlining one of the worst parts of the week,
so let’s just say that Maggie was examined, their medical team contacted, and
we were ordered off the plane with the promise that they would try to get us on
another one later. Because lots of March Break flights to Jamaica have four
extra seats on them.

Fortunately for us, we were travelling with a doctor friend who came up to
the front of the plane to get more information, and she asked to speak to their
med team. She vouched for Maggie’s travel sickness, lack of fever or diarrhea, and dosage of Gravol, and thank the Lord, they let us back on, And by “us”, I
mean the girls and me, rule-followers at the best and worst of times. My
husband never physically left the front of the plane as these conversations were taking
place, in what may have been some sort of psychological move.

We had promised the girls seatback entertainment on the plane, which didn’t
happen, but the drugs knocked Maggie out for the entire flight and Frannie
(mommy’s girl) was more than happy to read a complete chapter book sitting
beside me, so all was well. The immigration line at the Montego Bay airport was
crazy, but since Pearson had been a breeze – and we were lucky to be arriving at all
– we took it in stride.

After another hour’s wait for our shuttle (which our contact at the resort agreed was much too long), we were taken to Oasis at Sunset.
Since we arrived, appropriately, after sunset, everyone was very tired and
hungry and not quite ready for the slow and easy pace of Jamaican time – and
the rain wasn’t helping. I didn’t want a cocktail as I waited for my key, and I definitely didn’t want to complete the same form I had already filled in online for “advance check in”.

However, after a good night’s sleep (and getting unpacked, which is super important for a Type-A like me) we woke up to a beautiful sunny day that
quickly cleared up any of the yuckiness of our day of travel.

 “Oasis” is the two-story exclusive section on the absolutely gorgeous Sunset property. We had nice walk-out patios which faced into the centre court, yet
seemed fairly private. (As I sit on ours, writing this post – which won’t go live until after we
return because I don’t like to advertise our partly vacant home – the sweat is
dripping onto the keyboard, which is actually completely refreshing after
leaving Polar Vortex temperatures back home). Our room also had bunk beds for the girls (a real
thrill for them), full bathroom, stocked fridge (water, pop, beer) and working cable. I know, it’s
a vacation and I shouldn’t care about TV, but, hello, the most dramatic Bachelor finale yet!

Random notes and observations:

Water park: I could go on and on, but I hope the photos suffice. It was absolutely
perfect for kids the ages of ours (waterslides, lazy river with tubes, hot tub, pirate ship), with wading areas for younger babes, and enough to entertain older children as well. 

There were other pools too, including adults-only (so you can rest assured that there’s a place for people to go if your kids are driving them crazy) and a pool with a hot tub and swim-up bar – also a hit with the kids. (Frannie told her class that her first favourite part of the trip was the buffet, and her second favourite was using the swim-up bar to order strawberry daiquiris.)

There was a quiet beach, with a private section for “Oasis” guests (which we never used, because we were happy with the main resort beach), as well as an even more private “au naturel” beach (if you know what I mean), where of course I spent TONS of time. The water at the beach was shallow enough for the kids to walk in, and the sand was perfect for building. 

The resort is clearly a popular spot for destination weddings, to the enjoyment of our little wedding crasher:

The food was great – a full buffet available for all meals, a “fast food” grill by the beach, and several a la carte restaurants that require reservations, plus a private restaurant right at the Oasis part of the resort, The Terrace – which was painfully slow, but had a gorgeous view of the property and tasty food. Our favourite was the Italian restaurant. Service there was very quick, but our reservation was so late that by the time dinner was served, Maggie was down for the count.

We went back a few nights later, my husband I dining first while our friends watched all the kids, and then they took the second shift for the “romantic dinner” (a perk of travelling with another family).

This is an evening shot of the view from our “usual” table at the Banana Walk Buffet (there were only a few tables big enough to seat nine):

Some of our party took advantage of kayaking, snorkeling, paddle boating, etc., while I took advantage of reading: five magazines (I rationed them out, one per day), plus some fantastic books, all of which I would recommend – “The Blondes” by Emily Schultz, “The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd,  “Amelia Grey’s Fireside Dream” by Abby Clemens and “NYPD Red” by James Patterson. And get this: my husband was so relaxed that
he…READ A BOOK. In the first two days.And then another one! I’ll be honest, though: by Wednesday night, I was really starting to crave a productivity fix (so I did some more work on this very post) but I was actually quite proud of myself for being able to just sit and do nothing but read for most of the week.

Frannie celebrated her 8th birthday while we were there, and was treated to half crown braids (at the full-service spa), thanks to
our travelling companions (Maggie got hers done as well). We also brought a couple of small birthday gifts with us (Lego set and summer dress), and were very grateful that the buffet dessert fare included chocolate cake that evening!

In general, our days went something like this:

Breakfast
Beach or pool
Lunch
Pool
Rest/get ready for dinner in room
Dinner
Back to room

Employees were continually checking in to see that everything was going well, and everyone was very
friendly and accommodating.

The rooms were kept clean (though the bathroom felt a bit dated to me) and the housekeeper left folded towel animals for the girls to find at the end of every day.

There’s also a kids’ club at the resort, but we really didn’t have a need to
drop our kids off for care, since there were always four adults sharing the supervision load. (Note that I didn’t say four sober adults. There was always at least one of those, though.)

While we did stay on the resort the whole time, we ventured out for a glass-bottomed boat ride, which was really cool – they even provided
bread for the kids to throw in, tempting tons of sergeant major fish to swim to the
surface to grab a nibble.

We met some very nice people (most couples/families included a teacher – why else
would you travel during the most expensive week of the year?) and we had a great
chat with rocker Chris Brodbeck from See Spot Run (if you don’t remember their song
“Weightless” right now, you will when you hear the chorus again) and his gorgeous wife Nimali.

While the girls were interested in souvenirs, their choices were quite expensive (and would have ended up hidden in a drawer somewhere) so we made them a deal: A bag of M and M’s as a consolation prize, and upon our return, they would get $10 to put towards something bigger (both think they
want an iPod Touch, but they’re a far cry from having enough money). They took the deal – and the minute we were in the door they were asking for their tenners!

All-inclusive is a great way to go with kids. If the macaroni tastes funny, go back and get something else (I’m not promoting wastefulness, but it actually does encourage them – and me – to explore a tiny bit more knowing that it’s not a huge commitment). Our girls particularly enjoyed the self-serve soft ice cream machine.

Them: “Is it really free?”
Me: “NONE of this is free. It was just paid in advance.”

This was our third all-inclusive ever (Cuba for our honeymoon and Mexico as
a family in 2012) and definitely my favourite, however also the most expensive. But if it’s in the budget, Jamaica is totally worth it, and this resort in
particular is absolutely fantastic for kids.

On an (almost) final note…it was very fitting that the radio in the shuttle back to the airport was preparing us for home with some Canadian crooners. Nothing says 30 degree heat in Jamaica like Anne Murray’s festive version of “Away In a Manger”. For real.

Final note: Please please please do not hesitate to ask questions, either in the comments or by e-mailing/tweeting me, etc. I’d love to be able to help with someone else’s family trip planning!

For more information on our resort, check out their website here: http://theoasisjamaica.com/