One morning, while I was lazily walking around the lobby of the Grand Bahia Principe Jamaica resort looking for breakfast, one of the members of our group, who were going to go to a private beach for the day, quickly approached me. I only had five minutes to grab my belongings while the rest of the group waited for me in the minibuses, and we set off in search of a private beach to enjoy the water.
We first went to a private beach just east of Ocho Rios with its own private bar that was next to a resort. After one of the members mentioned that he knew of a better beach to go to (particularly for the children in our group), we went into the city center of Ocho Rios. The tourist plaza that we walked through was already familiar to me, due to my wanderings while I was a guest on the MSC Seaside. The beach that we went to was inside the Margaritaville in the tourist plaza.
I already had a negative opinion of Margaritaville before coming to this restaurant, as their food and drinks were obscenely expensive, and simply not worth the entertainment value that it attempts to provide to its guests. Regardless, I had to buy some food for two reasons: I did not have breakfast at the resort, and I had to buy food in order to use the beach and the pool. I did not want to pay $20-$30 USD for a Margarita, so I settled on a small bowl of fries for $4 USD.
The look and decor of the Margaritaville restaurant itself is not too bad at all. The restaurant was colorful, and the pool within the restaurant looked clean, although I did not go into the pool. The big hit with my group was the attached private beach, with a large floating trampoline in the middle. The beach itself provided a nice view of the docked MSC ship in the Ocho Rios port (the ship was not the Seaside).
We had a lot of fun playing around in the water, but everyone can agree that jumping around on the trampoline was the highlight of the day. Getting on the trampoline was a challenge in itself, as I had to climb up an unsteady ladder. After getting on the trampoline, it was almost impossible to keep my balance. I simply could not stand up. Even jumping on the trampoline did not help my balance as all the kids in our group were jumping with me. I fell many times, and on a couple of occasions, rolled myself into the water. On one specific instance, while I was on the trampoline, a young kid climbed onto the trampoline and started jumping aggressively. Because I could not keep my balance, I jumped right off the trampoline, face planting myself into the water below.
Overall, we had a fun time in the Margaritaville beach, and for me, it only costed me a bowl of fries. For Margaritaville’s tackiness and pricey drinks, that is what you call value for entertainment.
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