Sea Splash Resort

Description:

• Partly because of its small size, this beachfront resort, originally built in 1990, has a friendly, personable feeling and none of the snobbishness exhibited by the staff of The Caves. Much more intimate than the megaresorts nearby, and evoking a small-scale condominium complex in Florida, it lies on a small but carefully landscaped sliver of beachfront land planted with tropical vegetation that includes lavish displays of arbor-hugging blue-flowered vines known as thumburgia. Suites are spacious, comfortable, and stylishly decorated. All are the same size and contain the same amenities -- a kitchenette, a balcony or patio, large closets, and either a king-size bed or twin beds -- although the suites on the upper floor have higher ceilings and feel more spacious than the others. Living areas contain sofa beds, ideal for small families. The bathrooms come with showers but not bathtubs. The in-house restaurant, Norma's, is recommended separately. Incidentally, Hugh Wint, the cosmopolitan and charming Jamaica-born manager of this place, used to work at the much more upscale Round Hill, and is locally famous for having once been forced to tell Princess Diana that Round Hill was fully booked and that she'd have to change the dates of her arrival there.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2010