Ranked among Jamaica's more elegant all-inclusive adults-only properties, this place competes locally with its sibling Couples and Grand Lido, with a high-minded, low-calorie approach to resort living. Airport shuttles whisk guests down the winding road nearly an hour and a half from Montego Bay's airport.
Although its grounds may appear less refined than those of the neighbors, this resort embraces 20 hectares of heliconias and ferns, a lush beachfront fantasia, and 26 two-story buildings linked by snaking paved walks. The artistic contemporary lobby wears a becoming green patina, and the jingle of wind chimes fills the air, instead of the customary piped-in mood music. Beyond reception, the main common areas are grouped in a pylon-supported two-story beachfront unit where colorful seating areas and windswept surroundings encourage lingering.
The Palms is a rattan-furnished open-air restaurant on the ground floor, serving breakfast and lunch buffets. Dinner here is a la carte daily and buffet-style Monday and Friday. Across the street, posh Feathers requires reservations and resort-formal attire. Its a la carte international offerings include fresh pasta and gourmet pizza,
and Lemon Grass offers Thai food in a dress-casual environment. At the beach, the Sea Grape grill specializes in local dishes, with fish and jerk chicken cooked on open flames and pita pockets stuffed with spicy yogurt and meat, as well as vegetarian offerings for the health-conscious. This outlet does double duty as an open-air Italian buffet and as a snack grill, and night owls can gorge themselves at the moonlit Cabana grill.
Cabaret shows provide entertainment, and a TV room (no guest rooms, except the newer veranda suites, have TVs), billiards room, board games and a library brighten up rainy days. A house band strikes up nightly, a virtuoso plays in the piano bar, and the manager's weekly cocktail and beach party draws guests together.
The island's largest state-of-the-art fitness center is this hotel's trump card: an open-air gym, a giant aerobics studio for step classes and yoga, an Olympic-size lap pool, massages, sauna and steam rooms, and squash, racquetball, basketball and 10 tennis courts (five clay, five hard-surface, all lighted). Watersports are extensive, and rates include diving, waterskiing and use of boats. Complimentary greens access at the Negril Hills 
Golf Club is also part of the package, although the mandatory caddy and cart cost extra. One of the three whirlpools flanks the elaborate lagoon-style pool, and a security force guards the thin strip of beach. Thirsty sunbathers need only raise their flags to summon an attendant. Lounge chairs have pads that double as rafts, and the latest addition is an infinity pool.
Meeting space accommodates 80 delegates, Internet stations offer complimentary high-speed access, and laptops can pick up a wireless signal in most public areas. Bus transfers from the Montego Bay airport are free.
The two- and three-story veranda suites, graded Atrium, Garden and Beachfront, are exquisitely fitted with terra-cotta floors inset with ceramic fish. Rooms also feature fine hardwood furniture, one king or two double beds, attractive wooden shutters, oversized mirrors, minibars, and voluminous baths with stall showers and hair dryers. Ambient light floods through the louvers that take up most of the wall space, and French doors open to capacious verandas. All are air conditioned and have ceiling fans, phones, safes, umbrellas and CD players.
Atrium units face interior gardens, whereas Garden suites are strung along the roadside. The original Atrium units lack TVs, offering instead a more primitive form of entertainment—private hammocks. Although more compact, the newest accommodations offer more modern furnishings, plus a private whirlpool for each cluster of rooms. The four beachside villas are two-bedroom affairs suitable for two couples traveling together. Second-floor rooms here have peaked roofs, romantic balconies with rattan rockers, exposed beams and better sea views (although views are harder to come by now that the landscaping has grown in). The more expensive accommodations feature stocked refrigerators, robes, scales and whirlpool tubs. Atrium and Beachfront accommodations are preferred for their privacy.
Turndown service is a fanciful touch, and room service delivers breakfast in bed. Housekeeping does a marvelous job, and pets are not allowed. The staffers are responsive to requests and often call guests by name. Style and taste are apparent throughout this resort, and its healthy priorities make a striking contrast to those of competing all-inclusives.
