Hi and welcome to Mouse Chat. I'm Lisa and joining me. I've got Debbie, Faithlet, Sharpie, and Steve. Yay! Hello, hello everybody. The gang's all here. Howdy, howdy. Hi friends. We lost Debbie. Debbie's here. No, I am out. She's there. Okay. I was waiting for a sharpie, but then I realized he went first. There we go. Yes. All right. Yeah, well, the gang's all here. Woo-hoo. We, uh, we went to Jamaica. Yaman. So if you don't know five weeks ago, a hurricane hit Jamaica, which was a category five.

Well, sure. It's six weeks now. It's. It was a big one. Yeah. So category. Huge. Yeah. Hurricane Melissa hit in October and uh, the news is always shows the horrible part and then they leave and they never come back and show you how Jamaica's doing. So everybody in their mind has it written off as Jamaica is forever. Being, you know, I don't know in a state of disrepair. So we decided to fly down and take a look for ourselves so we can let people know.

But no, no. What the real story is. Which there is some of that. Yeah. So we wanted to kind of go over. We spent four days in Jamaica. We flew into Montego Bay on our flight. We're a bunch of doctors. I think. I didn't know that. Yeah. They I didn't pick up on the, we're at the Delta counter and they did a big announcement. I remember the announcement. I just didn't know who we were, we were, we were, we were clapping for. Yeah. So yes, they had a bunch of doctors on our flight to come in and help people.

So we flew into Montego Bay, which is where we usually fly into the airport looks 100% fine. It looks. It's a really nice airport because I was like really studying it. It looks like this one of the nicer airports in the Caribbean. We actually had the head of the airport at a conference. He was showing all these really nice pictures of the airport. I was like, wow, that airport looks nice. Is that the right one? So on the way back, I was like, oh, it does look this nice.

So the airport looks fine. Getting into Jamaica is very easy. So we actually did club mo bay. I think you what is club mo bay? I think everybody's done club mo bay that's been on the mouse chat. Oh, yeah. It's such a great deal. I have not been to Jamaica. Oh, you go short. We got to take a go. Now check goes to Jamaica. So club mo bay is one of these fast track services. I don't even understand how this happened. So we got off our on the jetway and then you walk into the terminal and all the

club mo bay people are there. And then they find they usually have a sign as your name on it or something. Yeah, kind of like you're getting a limo and they. Yeah. And then they fast track you through all the things. So we're walking off the jetway and a lady walks up to me and goes, Stephen Lisa. And then we go, yes, and she goes right this way. Well, and it was funny because we were on the plane with others that were expected. And there were people ahead of us that were getting their names checked off a list.

Yeah. And okay, come here, check in and then we'll take care of you. But it seemed completely different for us. She walks up as if she was our best friend and and just whisks us away. So I don't know how they pulled that off. Don't you have to submit your passport to them? Yeah. I you have to say they're they're obviously looking at photos and they're taking it to the next level for some people because I was like, that was really impressive, right? So I don't know. You know, so normally there's a sign or

whatever, but you have to do a immigration. What is it like? It's not a visa, but it's a I guess immigration. Yeah. You fill out the immigration stuff online before you go. So and then they have Jamaica's done it really nice too because they have these kiosks and you basically just scan your passport and then the glass door opens and you walk in. I mean, it's that easy. With the club, Mobe person, they take you to a special line. So you don't have to wait in line to get to one of those little things and you

walk up to it. You scan your thing. It looks at you. Well, even before that you have those kiosks. Yeah, in the hallway. Oh, yeah. There's a kiosk in the hallway that you scan your passport on and then it prints out a little thing. It makes sure that you did the immigration form. It prints out a little paper. It's kind of like a glue and they've got dozens and dozens of kiosks. Billions of them. Yeah, it's like global entry, similar in the US, if you're familiar with that.

And then you go and it lets you write in and then they get your luggage for you and then they take you past the immigration person and then you're in Jamaica and then they take you to whatever resort lounge thing that you're going to. So yeah, so it was great. So that was super quick. And you can do that or not do that. I like club Mobe on the way back. I like it both ways. It is it is not I mean, if there's a I've been to Jamaica when the a bunch of flights have arrived at the same time and it really helps you expedite that.

So and it's a four. And it's not I don't remember what it cost. It's $80 per person round trip. Okay. So 40 and the 40. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think that's right. Well, not bad. So we went to sandals sandals open to five resorts. They have seven on the island and five of them are open now as of this podcast. They took a week to make sure everybody was okay. They gave everybody another four weeks off to figure out what they needed to do and what they needed

to shore up and needed help. Particular location. They they assessed. Then they repaired. Yeah. And then they decided not to open immediately because they felt all the employees, all the sandals employees, their lives were upside down. And so they gave them three weeks to work on their own lives. Even though the resort was ready for guests, it was so cool that sandals said, no, no, no, no, we're not going to throw you right into it. Paid them. Yeah, they were paid.

So a couple of things that sandals did, which was, which is pretty nice, because I talked to a lot of the employees just one on one at the resort for four days. So a lot of resorts fired their employees. And they're like, we don't know when we're going to open back up and. You mean outside of sandals? Yeah. So a lot of resorts besides sandals, other resort properties just let them go. Sandals paid their employees. The other thing they did for the guests, which is amazing, similar to what Disney does.

Like if there's a problem, Disney goes above and beyond sandals is very similar to that. Because it's kind of a home brand, I guess. It's more of a personal locally owned business. Right. It's tied to the community. Yeah. So the other thing they did. So they have seven resorts on Jamaica. The hurricanes coming, they know it's going to be bad. So they're trying to get people out of Jamaica before the hurricane hits. All the guests and all the hotels, they still had like 250 people that couldn't get back home.

And they had to weather the storm at one of the seven resorts with the staff. And they still had a ton of staff that stayed and helped, even though they had their own families and even after things got destroyed, they came into work and helped and all that. So they had about 250 people that couldn't get flights. So then so sandals let them stay the guests for however long they needed without charging. You know, both they needed to stay two days or five days to figure it out.

They were like, you can stay and there's no charge. The other thing they did is when they couldn't get flights, they chartered a seven, seven, seven, and put all those people on that plane to get them out of Jamaica. Sent him to Miami. And they didn't charge him for any of it. Holy moly. I know it's crazy. I saw a lot of resorts were charging guests an overage to continue to stay. It wasn't the normal rate because nothing was available. But there were resorts that were still charging guests to stay, which in my opinion,

yeah, I get it. Yeah. However, they're obviously there is a right and wrong way to do it. And so it was obviously did it right. Yeah, so it's amazing because a lot of people don't do that. I mean, we've had the same experience with like Disney Cruise Line, where, you know, storms happened and things weren't available and Disney went way above and beyond to make it right, where like other cruise lines would be like, yeah, the ship's not here. Go find the hotel.

Hey, for it on your own. Figure it out. I mean, some of the resorts were like, okay, we're taking June and dropping off at the airport. If there's no flights, you know, you got to figure it out. You know, so they kind of just dropped it on them because it's not there. responsibility at that point. So they went above and beyond. So that was nice. So, Montego, it's one thing to go above and beyond for your guests, but to go above and beyond for the employees.

Yeah, so they did a great job, I think. So we went into Montego Bay. Everything looks great. So if you're planning on going to Jamaica, going into Montego Bay, no problem. Zertal. Montego Bay needs a little TLC overall. So they said 80% of the island has power and water. I don't know if I don't know where that where all of that is. I mean, everywhere we were had power and water, but some of the places we drove through obviously had no power. Yeah, that was one of the notable things on the drive from the airport to the resort is the

down power lines. Yeah, the road. The power lines. Oh, what do we see when we just took off or when we just left the airport? The guy. So they don't have water. They have water in the airport and power, but obviously in Montego Bay, they are lacking a lot of that and most things are closed, including almost all the resorts, if not all of the resorts. And so since they don't have water, there's a guy just taking a bath in the ditch next to the road.

And then there's a bunch of people just filling up jugs. I think to just like wash things with not to drink in the ditch right outside the airport. And then the power lines are everywhere in Montego Bay. I mean, they're like all over the ground. They're like, it's 50-50 if the power lines are not on the ground. Yeah, and they were just exposed. So they're working on that. So there's American crews like you can definitely tell when you go by the crews, you're like,

okay, these guys aren't from here. So I think there's American crews and other crew and Army Corps of Engineers, they said and all kinds of people and electrical trucks that have come over to help. So we went past at least three or four crews fixing power lines just on the main road. It's a two-hour drive from Montego Bay to Oterios. Well, that's with the stop in the middle. Yeah, so 50-minute stop. Yeah, it was an hour and 55 minutes with a 15-20 minute stop in the middle.

Yeah. So there's with all those power lines down, I assume they're not live. So I assume there's no power in most of Montego Bay where we went by.

All the resorts are doing roof work. Like you can tell they're all closed in Montego Bay and the roofs are being repaired because all the roofs look like they need a lot of work. But then you start getting towards Oterios and it's like totally different. It's like nothing. I mean, you can tell some of the trees got some damage and I'm sure there was some damage. But like we went to Sandals Dance River. It looks like it's brand new. There's like absolutely nothing.

It was like a grand opening. There's nothing on that resort that would tell you a hurricane hit five weeks ago. I mean, even the palm trees look fun. Well, I was going to say even the people, the people were so happy to people. I don't understand. Like the Jamaican people are always so happy. It's a lesson for everybody who lives here, I think because they're literally like camping from the people I talk to. Some of them. There's no power. There's no water.

There's no internet. There's no TV and there's no phones. And they're like, yeah, we're like camping. And they're like the happiest people ever. And then you come to the US and everybody has everything and then the most miserable people ever. So I don't know. But the resort looks spectacular. The people are nice and fun and wonderful. It's like it's brand new. It looks literally like nothing has happened. There's power, there's water, there's food.

Everything is they're not repairing anything. Everything looks fine. But they're on the other end of the aisle. Yeah. So that's the thing. I have a store hit. Yeah, it depends on where you're going. Like if you're going to South Coast, they're not going to be open until middle of 2020 sit. I think Montego Bay, middle of 2026, or resorts would be safe because that's when sandals are supposed to open there. Same with South Coast because they got hit hard.

Ochorios where all your tourist attractions are and those sandals resorts there are perfectly fine. All your attractions are open. All the roads are clear. There's power, there's water. It's like nothing really happened.

Same with I hear the same with Negril because they went to Negril. They're there now. There's a beaches and the sandals are there both open. The sandals and the beaches and they say that both of those resorts are fine. And look, perfectly fine as well.

So Montego Bay, the one that's by the airport, sandals Montego Bay, and real Caribbean, they're going to do a mate like, I don't even like $150 million into both of those.

Because they were due for renovation already weren't they? I mean, they they were parts that really needed it. And so it's kind of like this put kicked everything into gear. So they're going to make those just like, Dunn's River where we were or St. Vincent, they're going to do those sandals 2.0 where they're going to make them super nice. Well, and the 2.0s really are the next level of sandals resorts. Yeah. And I feel so bad for South Coast. Well, South Coast was nice and they just redid all the overwater bungalows and then they all got

structurally, they're all fine, but they all just got. Yeah, they said that the walls, the roofs are fine, but the insides they've been. So they're redoing those and they're going to build more. South Coast, we used to be the nicest one in Jamaica. Dunn's River is amazing. Dunn's River is in the top three of all of them. It's okay. So now South Coast is out of the picture for me. I need to get a reevaluation on that once they refurbish it, but St. Vincent and

Dunn's River are definitely top of my list now. Yeah, the new sandals are really nice. And that's only because I haven't done Curroso. Curroso's nice. Curroso's long to take you to get to Dunn's River. Well, it was an hour. It's like just under two hours. That one was an hour and a half because he asked, does anyone need to stop? And no one said yes, so we just kept going. We didn't do that little intermittent stop halfway. But it was an hour, 55 on the way back.

We timed that. Yeah. So it's a ways, it's similar to South Coast where it's a ways. But worth it, worth the drive. Yeah, and it's included. The transfers are included.

And it's, I don't know. And it's not real. It's South Coast is a more like harrowing curvy. I think you cut through the mountains. Yeah, it's a little. Going to Ochi's more straight and a couple little hilly hearts, but not that bad. And you're mostly going along the coast. We can see the water up on and off. So it's not as bad. So in Ochareos, they have sandals, dons river. They have sandals, Ochi. Or Ochi, reals, right? Or Ochi, sandals, Ochi. And then they have sandals, royal plantation.

So those. Well, that one's the all butler. Butler. Very small. I think it's like 74. 72 rooms. Yeah. Yeah. 144 people max. So that one's like pretty amazing. Yeah. That one's like cliff side. Very small pool. Very quiet. Not, you know, it's a boutique type resort. All butler. If you don't want to be bothered by anyone, that's where you go. Yeah. And we've been there a long time ago. And it's if you're in a wheelchair, it's it's a no on that particular resort.

Because it's up and down and around and all of that. And then there's a bus that takes you to Ochi, which is right kind of next door. And so if you want more restaurants and a party, more party vibe and entertainment and things going on, then you go over there. And then Ochi has a mountain side and a beach side and on the mountain side. They have a speakeasy bar. That's a lot of fun. And Ochi's more of your entry level price point on a lot of those rooms.

Because some of those rooms are older. Yeah. But over at Ochi, it's it's an entry level resort to get a butler. Yeah. So, you know, if you really have your heart set on a butler, you can do that over at Ochi and not break the bank. And it's one of the resorts that they have so many private pools. Yeah. So they have on the hillside at Ochi. I think they have a hundred or bedroom like little villas. So there's two rooms up below and two rooms above that you can rent.

And then each of those four room buildings have one pool. So it's not your own pool, but it's everybody in those four rooms that has a little pool out back. So if there are other structures that have their own room. Yeah. Or the room pool. Yes. So yeah. Sorry. And Ochi, Ochi has a lot of mongoose. Like when the sun starts to set, you see all these little mongoose running around. So they're super cute. Is it man gooses, man goos or monkeys? Mung geese.

Gooses. Yeah. Help me out here. Mung goosers. Whatever they are, they're adorable. And you can never care so fast. Goose is plural. Yeah. Maybe. They're all mongoose. So lots of mongoose. I saw one mongoose over and done early in the morning running across like a flash. So just for public awareness, mongooses and mong geese are both the acceptable. Nice mong geese. Thank you for that. I knew that you'd be like, I can't let it go. That's it. Mong goosers is considered the primary plural.

So yes. Which is most common and recommended. And mong geese is the alternative plural, which is less common, but still wrecking. Welcome to the English language.

Mong geese. So we have, so there's the resort is smaller on sandals, duns. So it's more compact. So if you like that versus a Saint Vincent, which is like a more, which I really love too, because I'm always comparing it to Saint Vincent. Saint Vincent is very spread out. This is a lot more compact. They have a really nice coffee shop. Like the next level coffee shop, where they have all kinds of like unique blends of coffee and all kinds of contraptions to do like pourovers or like reverse osmosis.

Do like these cylinders. And so you can have, and then they have all kinds of coffees with different types of alcohol or without. So, and then really good pastries, like not just a few things, but a whole selection of really good looking things. I thought that coffee shop was so cool. Yeah, the coffee shop is like, it's not like any other coffee shop. Well, and so it's up on the, uh, toward the back of the, the property or the front depends on which way you are,

but closer away from the beach. Yes. And the girl that we were talking to, it's like she lives for coffee. She knew all about the coffee. She knew about the machines, how they worked, and all these different contraptions with the drip and the evaporation and the, just like now watch, watch. And then this is, and she was just, she loved her job. Yeah, it was cool. Everybody there, I feel like they got trained by, by the people that took the lay. Because they're so proud of us.

Probably true. They, they're very well trained. Uh, like, noticeably, everybody was extremely well trained to the point where they would introduce themselves. They would give, tell you, they would ask you who you were, they would shake your hand. They were very, very, very well trained. So I don't know what they're doing now that, but everybody was phenomenal to the point. Like it's always good. I always can tell when you're out at like 6 a.m. and the gardener who's gardening stops

to talk to you and ask you how you're doing or if they can get you something. And that's only happened to me twice. And it happened again at this resort. It happened to me in Carousel at that sandals. And it happened to us at this resort where he was like cutting palm fronds. And he stopped to cut palm fronds and it came over and started talking to me. So I was like, all right, they've definitely trained everybody from the gardener on up to, and it's similar to what Disney does where they empower their past members to be able to make

magical moments or do things or kind of, you know, do things on their own and step out of their bubble. So that's nice.

They're probably excited to welcome guests back to. Yeah. Oh, when we got there, like every employee was out front singing and, you know, welcome to sandals and it was fun. Yeah. You really felt like they wanted us there. Yeah. So I would definitely be ready to get back to business as usual. Yeah. So to answer your question, if you should go or not, because what I think people think is they see the news and they're like, well, let's not go there until 2028.

But then these people need money and everything is man, you can easily get there. If you're going to that area and then I would say by middle of 2026, you could get to Montego Bay and all of that's going to be really well done. And then and same with probably South Coast. I think they're going to try to get all that up and going by middle of next year. But they have rendevals that look amazing. I was walking over there in the what is a rendezvous?

A run. It's like a round. Oh, no. It's like a great honeymoon hideaway. It's like a little house. Yes. Yeah. It's a private. It doesn't have like a conical roof. Yes. That's what I would call it. I was going to say. Yeah, you get your own pool. It's surrounded by fence. So it is completely private. Yeah. They've taken advantage of the non ocean areas that are garden areas or lush tropical areas. And they've made these rendevals. And then they make this like little river where they're all kind of connected.

So you can swim out and then some of them have private pools. And they have these beautiful thatch ceilings when you're laying in bed and the king's size bed and you're looking up. You see this amazing thatch work. And then they have these over the top bathrooms and sinks and ridiculous showers. And some of them have like plunge pools. And then they have something that have like a sky terrace instead of the thatch roof. So it's flat. And then up there when you walk up there is like lounging areas and a soaking tub

and a telescope to look at the stars at night. So they have those as well. There's probably I don't know maybe 10 of those up on the hill kind of hillside. And then when you walk down from there you've got a couple main buildings. You've got some more luxury rooms which is your entry level room which face the gardens. And then you have your concierge rooms that are in that same building that face the ocean. Oh, we didn't talk about our room, did we?

Our room was ridiculous. It was ridiculous. Like that room. It looked like you had a swim out. Not a swim out. We had one of the sky. It's my goals. Yeah. So it was so a swim out was on the first floor where you walk out your balcony and you can go into the pool. Yes. Your own kind of your own pool. You share it with the people on the first floor. But floors two, three, four, yes. Five, four, I think four. We had a similar thing but it's called a sky pool.

And it's a pool off your balcony even though you're not on the ground level. It like hangs off the, yeah, it's like levitating. Like hangs off the balcony and then it has like a giant glass wall on the end of it.

And it's not small. It's, oh no, it's wider than your normal room. Our room was so big. So if you picture, yeah, picture a king size bed as far as the width plus two end tables plus of four foot opening. So that's the width and the length of it. I mean, of course the bathroom is ridiculous. The shower is probably eight by four. I don't know. It has one of those rain heads and one of the big tubs that looks like a, oh, a soaking tub. Like a round futon Chinese.

They always remind me of a giant, actually they remind me of the Disney tea cups. Yeah. Big cup ride. Bigger than that. Bigger than that. But yes. Yeah. Yeah. So and then you have a living room off of the, the, off the foot of the bed and then it goes out to the balcony area that's got all kinds of seating and a soaking tub and then this pool. Yeah. Another soaking tub. Yeah. And then there's a pool that hangs off the edge of the building. And then the huge futon.

It was champagne in the room when we got there with a fruit plate. And that butt and then Butler service and it's really, it was unbelievable. So. Oh, minibar. Yeah. Walking closet. Yep. There was a lot. Those rooms are, it was more room. I mean, it's meant for two people. We could easily put like all of us in there. And the pool was nice. It wasn't like ice cold. It was like very nice temperature. So that was nice. We went out. Small pool or yeah.

The one on the, well, all the pools were nice, including the one on the room. The only pool that was chilly, which maybe if you were hot, you would like was the swim out on the very bottom. Because I went into all the pool. I always feel the, because I'm like, let me feel all the water so everyone understands because some of these are resorts here. Like, oh my God, that's freezing. All the pools were great temperature, including the one that was off of our balcony on the room.

That was attached. That was just, it was like perfect. It wasn't like hard to get in.

So I, yeah, I took a bunch of little videos in the pool. And when it, when there was a little bit of a shower, the pool on the sky suite is covered. I didn't show it. So you're not getting reigned on. So Sharpie picture this, it's day one. We had some things to do. We get adjusted all that. And I'm like, we're Steve. And I go out onto the balcony because the curtains were, um, the sheer part was pulled. And I go out on the balcony and there he is, wasted deep.

And just looking like a child, he's like, look at me. I'm in my own swimming pool. That's awesome. That pool is awesome. The look on your face was just like a kid busted. I made my TikTok move or my little TikTok videos, stupid pointing things in that pool too. So I spent a lot of time in that pool. But um, the resort's really nice. A lot of new restaurants that I cannot pronounce the names of. And I don't remember the names of. I have them all written down.

But um, so not your typical sandals. There is a French restaurant. There is a Asian fusion restaurant that we ate at. There's a Mediterranean Greek restaurant. There is your typical buffet. I'm trying to think there's a Italian. There is a pizza kind of quick service sandwich place on the beach. So lots of options. They're just all fancier and the interiors are more fancy and more well done. And they're smaller on in size. Because there's more of them, I think.

Are you looking up the restaurant Lisa? I am. So all the rum club. All the rum club is awesome. Do you talk about that? She goes up on the hill over by the. Did they really give you a rum for your money? They did.

How many dirty banana drinks did you have? I only had one. Well, and it wasn't even real. They didn't have and then they didn't have any bananas. So I mean, because we were just kind of. I don't remember. Busy. I think we did. It sounds stupid to say we're too busy. Well, we were running around. I got up at 5 a.m. Lisa got up to. She's like, look at me. She's like, I did get you did get up at 5 a.m. And I didn't have to. I know. So we got up at 5 a.m.

to start filming stuff. Well, you had heard that there was. Like an early morning coffee cart. And I was very early morning saxophone music. Yeah, this was I was very over. So you don't have to do this when you go. Because I was oversold on the you got to get up at like between before. Like at 5 a.m. Because that's when this coffee cart is roaming around. That you have to get on video and the saxophone player. And I'm like, what if I go at six and you're like, no, you got to get up at five.

I'm like, okay. So don't get up at five. I don't know what time that coffee cart is out. But I have a feeling it's out. At six and sevenish. And that guy was so nice. He was very nice. So happy to be there. So it's like telling us how he was new and that. Yeah. And then that he was in training for months. And he's just tickled pink. So it's a bike. It's like a bicycle. Like a little ice cream. Yeah. Like a like you would see maybe in a Hispanic neighborhood or something.

Maybe I don't know. Where would you see it? I don't know. I haven't seen one anywhere in a long time. It's like a little bike that has a like a little ice. Like a price of coal. But very good. Because it's got the card in the back. Yes. Anyway. So yes, in the lobby, he was set up. But I don't think you have to get up that early to find him. I think he's probably there later in the day.

But it'd be much easier to find him if he were on the beach. This would be true. No. Sacks on the beach. This is true. We did find the saxophone player later in the day. Yeah, eventually. One day. So they do have a saxophone player. Short video snippet of him. I think you did too. Yeah. So I mean, there's so much more that Steve needs to post. But um, lobby is amazing. Oh, there is a restaurant that's similar to soy under a different name. Oh, well, we were talking about rum club.

Okay. So rum club tells about rum club and what you had there. And then we'll go through the different restaurants. I had a, uh, what is it now? Zombi. You had a flight. I have the zombie and a flight. I think I had the flight. Yes, I did have flight number six, which had three rums.

You have some kind of spirit. Uh, island spirit. No, but anyways, the, it had three rums, which was like an Appleton 12 year and a two others that I don't, I can't remember that. 15 year, a 12 year and a 10 year. Yeah. And then, uh, if you know your rums, I want to start with a P, but I don't remember the name of it. Anyways, it's, it's interesting to just sip them and plasters. Maybe I don't know. The one with the P is the most expensive one that's probably the most smooth of the three.

That pain very, I'm not very good at it. You can tell I don't have a palette for tasting rums. And the nice thing is is normally it would cost you a fortune to do this. And you can just kind of sip a few of them and see what you like. And you don't feel guilty just leaving, uh, reshog glasses of rum, uh, sitting on the table after you've had a little bit of it. Oh, I had a pain killer. That's what I had. That's my drink, which was actually very good.

And then Lisa had a cheddar cheddar is a good pain killer as well. If you ever frequent a restaurant cheddar, they have a good pain killer. Yeah, the pain killer didn't taste, you know, it was nice and it wasn't like overly powerful. If you, uh, you know, do they do it with a toasted coconut rim? No. That that would that sound would that would sounds perfect. They do take nutmeg and smash it on the counter and then get the little mag out of the nut or the nut out of the mag.

And then they kind of sprinkle it over the, uh, they take a little greater and grade it over the drink. So you get some fresh nutmeg in there. But that is like the hangout place. That is similar to your English pub at other sandals, the, uh, rum club. So there's entertainment in there and music or something going on and it's really cool in there and there's a bar and lots of cool seating and tons of rum. Oh, then they had singing live music. Yeah.

But I had one of the best non alcohol drinks that I can imagine. And she just whipped it together. I'm like, what did you make? She's like, I don't know. Well, they make. Well, they have drink and find out. Well, they had full of, full of lernum, which they make on their make their own, which is like a sought, you know, it's like a mixer, I guess. So they take Jamaican oranges, which look like green, unripe oranges. And then I don't remember. She showed us like all the different ingredients that they used to make this homemade

flirt, full of lernum. I can't even say it. You say it? No. I'm not going to try it. So anyway, but it had the, it had the nutmeg and the orange and it was spicy cinnamon. Yeah. And it was so good. And then she had some pineapple, a little bit of lime. Yeah. And it's all fresh. It's not was I could sit there all day drinking that versus like sometimes you get you get like a Disney kid, non-alcoholic thing. That's just like a sugary, whatever. Well, I asked for a fun non-alcoholic down at the beach and I got orange juice and some pineapple.

And they just throw some, some juices together. And you know, what else are they going to do? Yeah. But the rum club, they've got a lot more. The rum club, a lot more options. Two thumbs up. Oh my gosh. Three. I'm going to burrow one years. Yeah, everybody love that. And then they've got a pool room in there, similar to the English pubs. So I don't know what, oh, we did go on an excursion. But we're not done with food. Georges. Oh, they have a jerk shack.

So the first night it was really cool because they, they wanted us to be able to sample everything from all the restaurants. So they set up little foods and one booth per restaurant, you know, representing, you know, the, the cuisine that we would find. And so we, we did get some jerk chicken that first night. They had jerk lobster. Yeah, the lobster was pretty good. That was, on a stick. Yeah, anything on a stick is always good. Um, they had like full pigs.

Cascada, which Lisa didn't really enjoy. But no, I didn't enjoy seeing the whole thing. Taking the entire, that's the entire pig roast. But yes, the Italian restaurant. Um, we have a nami, which is similar to a soy. So it's a seafood sushi. sushi. Uh, we've got banyu, which was yummy. That was Asian fusion and we did that for dinner. Yep. Um, they had the banana. Oh, yeah, they had like a spring roll or something for dessert. Yep. Um, the monday, which is French.

Yeah. We went on, uh, monday and they have a lawn Tuesday. But we missed it. Really? We missed it. Oh, that was, that was fun. That was not even as good as the Sharpie. Go. Oh, no. Okay. We missed anyway. We did not eat there. Galene is the seaside grill, which technically we ate there. But we took it to go. Just got a burger and fries. Um, which was pretty good. You got the chicken BLT. Yeah, that when then we went there and then we get some other things there too.

I forget. Yeah. And we just took you took it to the pool. Yeah. It was good. The fries were really good. And Dessa, which is the Mediterranean. We ended up eating there for all the cart breakfast. Yeah.

And then Zuka. That's South American.

Uh, bloom, which is the Jamaican coffee. Yeah. Oh my gosh. It was so good. Well, we did that one that she probably had a cop and a half of coffee grounds. And then it percolates. Like using the evaporated steam or evaporated water, which is steam. And that goes up into the coffee grounds. And then it all. Brows up there and then it drops, but it with the whole thing was so cool. But it only made.

I mean, all that coffee and it probably made. 16 ounces of coffee. Yeah. It was so, so strong. And then she put in the condensed milk. And you're like, oh, that was good. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. That was good too. Saltare. That was the buffet. That was good. Good arrangement. Good choices. That was good. The, oh, I did not get to try the pizza.

They have the pizza oven. Did not get to try that. Yeah. Okay. So now continue. Oh, and then I'm going on a tangent, but they have a little gift shop, which is nice. And the lady in there that we dealt with was so friendly. And I know we keep going on and on about the hospitality and the people. But they kind of, I mean, they add so much to the trip. You know how much it takes away from a trip when you have bad service and bad

employees around you.

This, this adds to it. And it was fantastic. Absolutely. To the point that we'd go back and visit and she's like, oh, it's you too. Yeah, it's us. We got friendly with one of the entertainers. Yeah. She was cool. Yeah. Everybody was really nice. Yeah. So I think the last thing we did was they have all their excursions because the excursions are open. So some people did the catamaran's or, you know, they're similar to where you go out and go snorkeling and drink and all that.

Some people did the adventure park. Some people went to the Yaman tour, which was ziplining or the Blue Hole or ATVs or dune buggies. That was a whole bunch of stuff. And then we did the horseback riding. That was pretty cool. The horseback riding was fun.

You start out. I don't know. I mean, the, the gist of it is is you go horseback riding through the woods. Then you go horseback riding on the beach on the shore. And then, and it's pretty easy. As the horses have been there forever and they've been trained and, and all of that. Who is your horse? I had best man. Best man was the biggest. He was the Alpha Horse. So Steve got the big guy. That was a big horse. That was a big horse. Yeah. And I had star boy.

Yes. So I was aspiring to be best man, I guess. The culmination of all of it is when you, you get to the beach and everybody gets off their horse and they take the saddles off the horses. And then you get on the horse again and you ride in the ocean with no saddle.

And you have nothing to hold on to. Except the rains, which really is just like holding onto a rope that's not giving you any support at all. No, that was painful. You that was painful. That's the only word. There was so, I have a video where so many women are screaming that it's the funniest thing ever. Women really? Well, there was all women on the tour. The whole thing is like, the whole video is women screaming, oh my God.

Because you go out in the ocean and the horses go like full speed gallop with no, nothing to hold on to. And then the spine of the horse, you have to position exactly right and it still, and it still hurts. So all the videos that I've seen of horses and, it looks very romantic. Like, hello, they're like a foot deep in the water and they're splashing. Oh, no, no, no. And it's serene and oh, look at me. And it's in slow motion and there's music playing.

It is so not that. It is not that. But it's a lot of fun. And my horse went full out as far out as it could go. It was like, just his head is sticking out of the water. My horse decided not to stay in the pack. They're, they go that deep like that horse went so far in the water and they cover their backs with water. It was like out of control. But then they're, they're running. They're still running the water. So like full on like it's like for four days.

Oh, my God. It hurt to walk. Like Lisa, I for four days were like, oh my God, how's it still hurt to walk? Yeah. I think today I was pretty okay. Because you're trying to take your legs and hold on with your legs and you're squeezing anything. Yeah, they said the only way to hold on is to press your thighs together against the horse. Yeah, that's painful. They'll pull them in that in the spine. So they put these waterproof saddles that are like, well, they put like a piece of foam on there.

Yeah. It's not like attached to anything. It's just. No, it's just laying on there and then you jump up. And that's it. Oh my gosh. It was fun. I would. I had so much fun. I'm like, we have to do this with the girls. We have to do it again. And but it hurt so much afterwards for days. How long was the tour? Oh, it's not that well. It's not that long. Maybe an hour. But I think it's the fact that you're in the ocean holding on for dear life with your

living. You're only holding on in the ocean too for what? Five minutes. Yeah. I mean, it's literally only five minutes, probably the ocean part. I had visions of falling off the horse and getting trampled because they are. They're going. They're stampeding through the water. Yeah, they're going as fast. They're going really fast. And they're just going. So that's a plain adventure. That part is the fun part where you're like, oh, this would be fun once with the kids.

Yeah. We'll do it again with them. But I don't know if I could do it again ever again. Oh my gosh. Poor little brookie would get thrown off. Yeah. I don't know how she would handle it. She would have to have a really small horse. Yeah. But they put a floaty around your waist. Yeah, they put one. Yeah, and you could do a barefoot, which was nice. So, okay, a couple things to note because we didn't know what do you wear to do the horseback riding excursion.

And the answer is close to choose or you don't go. Yeah. We were told shoes that stay on your foot. And then we got on. So I wore my sandals that were strap. Sand, they had the heel strap. And they said no when I got on the bus. They said close toed shoes. I'm like sneakers. Because we knew we were going to go in the water. And they said yes. So we ran back to the room. We changed our shoes. We both put sneakers on, which you do with dread because now you're going to have

wet sneakers for the rest of the trip. But we did that. And I had a small fanny pack. You can't bring a backpack. You can't bring all kinds of stuff. Luckily, we were able to leave it on the bus. But they do have lockers that you can get. And so you don't want to bring a lot. I think you could do fine with a baseball cap sunglasses. Yeah. I had the fanny pack like a crossbody. Yeah. Had my phone in there. And at one point, one of the riders was next to me

that gave me your camera. I'll take some pictures. So he took pictures of Steve and me. And then when we got to the place where we took the saddles off the horses and then went in the water, they said, you can take your shoes and socks off. There are no stirrups. So we did. And then we didn't have to get our shoes and socks wet. And then it was a nice touch. They had a guy that had a bucket of water that when you sat down to put your shoes and socks

back on, he gave you a cup of water to rinse your feet off the sand, which you know, little things like that. It stuck out in my mind as an extra stop. So they did that. It was just an overall experience that I will not forget. The one guy kept telling us jokes. Yeah, he was real fun. Dad jokes. Yeah, a lot of dad jokes. Yeah. He's like, can I mess with you too? I'm like, yeah, go ahead. And you have to understand that these people just went through a category five hurricane.

And they're trying to brighten our day. And some of the horses got lost or killed. And they lost every, you know, they lost a lot of, yeah, it's, and then they've lost a lot of their own personal possessions and things. And, and they're out there, like, nothing has happened. They're phenomenal. So, um, I don't know. I think is that it? It was, it was a great trip. What else? When it comes to sandals, do we need to talk about? I mean, the lounge was great on the way back.

We did Club Mobe on the way back, which gives you an air-conditioned lounge with food and beverages. Got a lot of work. And so you're away from others. You have the Wi-Fi. But this is a great airport. Yeah, because I, you know, Turks and Caicos, we were talking, I had just come back from 50, been there. We got this 10 steps above that. So much nicer. It's like a full-on normal airport with restaurants and shops and seating areas and air-conditioning.

It's very well done. I think it's ranked the number one on the Caribbean, at least in the top. It's in the top five. Yeah. Yeah. And that's the whole Caribbean. So that's pretty cool. And they earned it. It's over right. Yeah. Over at Mobe. So it's a nice airport. It's, it's, um, not your typical small, Ruby and Island airport that you're like, what am I going to do in here for three hours? Yeah. There's food, beverages, shopping. Yeah. You can keep yourself busy, plenty of seating, um, lots of souvenirs.

Oh, they've got the Bob sled. Uh, they've got a restaurant called the Bob sled. And they've got a Bob sled outside of it that you can take pictures. Cause I don't know. So the, so the, the test is if Caitlin knows what you're talking about. Okay. So what I do, well, wait. Why do you do what movie is it from? Um, the Olympic team. Yeah. Keep going. Um, tells more about the movie. Say. Um, she's like, no one knows what this is. She at least is aware.

Say it is going to not warm, but yes, who running? All right. You should be that's the hint I needed. Yeah. Yeah. She just had to get it. She knew. Cause I was like, everybody our age knows what this is. Yes. But it's been a very long time since I've seen it. Oh, it's been forever if that I've seen it. So like, I'm sure my kids have no idea. They need to see it. It's so funny. I don't even remember. Anything about that. Oh, we're going to go upstairs and watch that.

Oh, God. I hope it's still not. I hope it's at least okay. Full running. Is it good? Was it a good one? John candy. Those John can't always teach the coach. Oh, he's the coach. Oh my gosh. It shouldn't be plus. I'm sure it is. It probably is. Who knows. Anyway, we'll have to go watch it again. One night. Oh my gosh. So yeah, sandals is open. They also they have resorts in all the other islands. So if you want to go to St. On some good deals. Steve, every Wednesday, he puts out the 777 deals.

Tell us about those. So what they do is on Wednesdays, they have 777 deals, which is whatever. Kind of the best things are plus for seven days, you get an extra seven percent off of seven different room categories. So that's where the 777 comes in. So they might have a really nice room category at, I don't know, Dunn's River. And it's usually quicker travel. Yeah, there are things that they're trying to get, you know, they have extra inventory on.

So, but sometimes they have really nice room category. So if you're looking for something that's special, you can get a really great deal. The seven percent doesn't sound like a lot, but it's seven percent off of whatever, the latest Black Friday sale is or whatever. So it's, it's an extra. Yeah, you can piggyback. Yeah. So anyway, so those come out on Wednesdays and then in seven days, they're gone or whenever they sell up for the seven days, but they have them for beaches,

resorts and sandals, resorts. But um, but there's going to be a lot of great Jamaican deals because people don't know. It's really open. So any of the samples that we went and that's why we're here now. So any of the sandals, resorts, or beaches, resorts on Jamaica, you can probably get some great deals. So if you've been thinking about going, it's one of those things where you can take advantage of it now. Similar to when people were going to Disney during COVID or getting on

bruises first, you get that advantage before everybody else realizes that there's things that are a great deal.

Yaman. Yaman. Those people are so nice. I'm very happy to hear all of this. Makes me happy that they're back up and running and that they were treated their employees so nicely and they are excited to have guests back. It's good news. It was really cool to hear about how they kept the insurance going. They kept paying them. And that's a big deal when you have, you know, this devastation in your life and you're still getting a paycheck. Yeah. Yeah, they just hats off to sandals.

They sandals and beach. The event that we were at there, they pulled out, they did everything. I mean, I've been to a lot of sandals events where they go above and beyond. They went all in. Like that resort is all decked out for Christmas. It looks phenomenal with all the Christmas decorations up. We brought toys and school supplies. Everybody did and then we did stockings. Like 350 stockings. Yeah, then we stopped. We made stock. We filled 350 stockings for all the little kids and we made Christmas cards and we,

and then we got them all ready for the kids for Christmas.

They had. Oh, speaking of kids. You didn't talk about the kids' performance. There was little, they had kids that performed. That was good. Thank you for sharing. So we've got this. Well, we had a big good convention. Yeah, the conference with all the updates and the speakers. That was four hours. Yes. Actually, it was probably five. And in the middle, they had the school of kids come in this choir and probably eight to 10, 11 year olds. Yeah. And they filled the stage and they had a song that they sang with some cute little

song gestures and motions. And then they sang one love and that was really cool. Yeah, they did a good job. Yeah. It was really sweet. So sandals did a great job with the event with keeping everybody entertained and food and above and beyond on pretty much everything. So and they did fireworks at night. I don't think I've ever seen fireworks at night in Jamaica.

It's a nice touch. Yeah. They had a thing where at the beach party they brought boats in at night with fresh caught fish like fish that were like the biggest fish I think I've ever seen. Like, I don't know what they were. It was like one guy could carry one fish maybe. It was a struggle. So yeah, they did an amazing job. So had what is it? Hats off the sandals. That sound right? Yeah. I'm just making up new phrases. New phrases. That's an established phrase.

Is it so yes. So if you want to go contact one of us and we get you all set up with a sandals or beaches trip. I'm ready. Let's go. You gotta go. And then hopefully next week we've got a couple new shows that we got to get out. So we wanted to do a 2025 year in review show wrap up everything that's happened to Disney in 2025. Then we got to do a 2026 what's new and coming show, which is always fun because then you could figure out what you want to make sure you plan for your Disney trip in 2026.

2026 could be fun. Could be a good year.

Could be? I could be. I don't know yet. I don't have a lot of things planned for 2026. It's all open. That's kind of a good thing in itself. Then you can add to it and make it fun. Last long. I know. I know. So I have two more sandals to go to. Which too? I have to get to Antigua and I have to get to Grenada. Oh, very nice. You can knock that out this month. That's and that's one trip. You could do that in one trip. I could do that in one trip. So we'll have to do it.

So anyway, is that wrap us up Lisa? I think that wraps us up. Any questions from the chatters? No, thanks for the awesome review. It was so good, Caitlin. Good.

And now I just want to be on an island. The sipping drinks. Yes. Yeah, we also got a little, you know, because Caitlin makes me think weddings because she's done weddings. And we had a little bit of a preview of some of the things they do for weddings and Caitlin, this would be such an ideal place for wedding. If you want to get married again. Yeah. Well, no, I'm not safe for her. She helps clients do destination weddings. Confusing to do a bow renewal.

Oh, very good. Bow renewal. They give our no. They do untying the knot celebrations. Untying the knot. Yeah, it's a thing. What? Yeah. But that'd be more to beaches. So the weather was actually nice too. Yeah, it wasn't too bad. So this right now is their cool season. We did get a little bit of rain, but. Yeah, it wasn't bad though. It more than it evened out very well with the cool weather. I mean, it was like maybe mid 80s in the day and mid 70s.

Yeah, it or low 70s. Very comfortable. It was really nice. And then verse it was comfortable, not overly hot and. It's not the typical Jamaica heat. Yeah, like, so this is a good time of year to go. I've been there like even though it's heard the summer time and it's really hot. Well, technically we're out of hurricanes. So it gets humid. It's a break from the snow or cold of wherever you are in the US. Well, they're pretty much the same temperature year round.

I mean, I think the variance is only like 10 degrees. Yeah. You need to come from 80. Yeah. So it was a nice temperature.

All right, so with that, I'm going to go ahead and grab the show, wrap it up. I'd like to thank Pixy Vacations for sponsoring the podcast. If you have any comments or questions, you can write to us at comments at mousechat.net. Thanks so much for listening. Please join us again in this time. I'll next up.