翡翠山度假村(Jade Mountain)

My wife and I just returned from our honeymoon at jade mountain. The word perfect doesn’t do this place justice. The staff, sanctuary, food, and activities were all amazing for the two of us. The sanctuary is magnificent. The food (especially at the jade club) is delicious. The staff was incredible, warm, and attentive. I would recommend this place to any couple wanting to spend their honeymoon at jade mountain. 10/10 would absolutely love to stay here again in the future.

This is a mixed feelings review of Jade Mountain. We are a couple 40 to 50 years old, no kids and we are average income earners and by no means rich and saved for a long time to come here for the 2 nights we could afford. We booked a Star sanctuary, but because my husband was celebrating his 50th at Jade Mountain, he wanted to upgrade to the next level, so we did. Let me start with the incredible thing which is the room, the room was spectacular, there is no other way to describe it, we’ve travelled 25 countries/42 international cities from ultra luxe down to Budget beach and this was up there with the wow factor. Though.. there are a lot of things that have left me with mixed feelings. I’ll start at the beginning.… To surprise, my husband, I had booked the helicopter transfer. my expectation was that someone would be there at the airport to meet us with a sign in our names on it, and we would be escorted to the Heliport. My expectation at the heliport is that it would be stylish, comfortable, with drinks, snacks and maybe even champagne. Could not have been further from my expectation. There was no one at the airport with our name on a sign, no one to greet us, our flight was a little early, so I just waited for someone to greet us but no one ever came. One of the airport team asked us where we were going and I said Jade Mountain he then made phone calls and realised that we were a Helicopter guest. The helicopter is not confirmed until about 20-24 hours before your arrival. We were travelling at the time, so I missed the Email that was sent at -22 hours before arrival. I noted that our heli flight was an hour and a half wait from when we landed to when the helicopter would take us. Common sense to me says that a guest at Jade Mountain does not want to wait an hour and a half until the helicopter. Waiting this long at the Heliport would be fine if there was a comfortable lounge, but let me tell you there is nothing luxurious about it. The heliport is not a part of Jade Mountain so there is a wooden bench seat out the front in the heat. There are no snacks and definitely no champagne but there is a water fountain inside. Let me also warn you about the snippy attitude young lady at the heli desk when I expressed my desire to get an earlier flight. We eventually get on the helicopter and arrive at JM by 2pm. We understand our bags will go by road. This is no problem except our bags arrived at 6:30 pm so we had no nice clothes to put on for the celestial Terrrace cocktail reception, to me, this was unacceptable. We get our bags and head up to the celestial Terrace for a delightful stargazing drink with my husband. The drinks were nice and made well, but the bartender forgot our drinks because the other barman went home with back pain so it was not seamless to get a drink. Lunch and dinner experiences were very very good. Jerome, Junior and Edmund were exceptional assets to JM. The food quality was exceptional and hats off to the chefs. Our

Positives - the view from the room, most of the employees, food and the food service, the cleaning crew, helicopter to resort, jungle bike ride, sailing, snorkeling, chocolate making, the in-suite pool. We booked a Moon room and they did upgrade us upon check-in to a Sun room. Negatives - The major domo (butler) is not a luxury but rather a necessity. Meal reservations, any of the additional experiences you need booked, issues with the room, etc., cannot be done by you and must be done by the butler. One of the butlers was awful and followed through with nothing we requested. No question but that significantly damaged the experience. Another butler was great and tried as hard as she could to overcome the terrible service by the other one. The room was supposed to be a sanctuary and we were looking forward to spending a couple of days in the room doing nothing but enjoying the open-air experience. The room was very hot and uncomfortable. The pool in our sun sanctuary became a necessity. A couple of additional ceiling fans would have made a huge difference. The hot tub did not work, and no attempt was made to fix it during our 6-night stay. The quantity of steps that you must climb as there is no elevator so if you are not in decent physical condition, I suggest that you find a different resort. Looking back, 3 nights would have been better than 6 nights. I would suggest staying at one of the many wonderful air-conditioned resorts on the island for any time longer than 3 nights. When we arrived home, I filled out their evaluation form and sent it to the owners that requested it. I asked for a call back, but their email stated they were away on a business trip but would get back to me when they returned. That was almost 6 weeks ago so I guess it must be a long business trip since there has been no call back.

I think the only way to review Jade Mountain is a pro/con so here you go…. Some of these pros mix with cons and many are subjective. This is our second trip, we stayed in JD2 August 22 and JC4 August 23 (still here). Pro’s - Food, absolutely untouchable, unmatched food. The use of local fresh products are amazing and more often than not guilt free (at least that’s what I tell myself. - Staff, so personable, friendly and caring. Every.. single…. employee….regardless of location remembered us, greeted us and will help you. Can’t stress this enough, they’re just nice and personally I say something if I see some arrogant guests being a **** to them. - Snorkeling, not the best in the world, but something I look forward to and very decent stuff to look at, including a hatching turtle swimming out from time to time. - Scenery, goes without saying. - Peaceful, this can turn into a con after 5-6 days but it’s really subjective to what you’re looking for. - Beaches, quiet, easy swim, relaxing Con’s - Our first trip last year was muggy but there was enough of a breeze and the pool in room could cool you down. But be prepared. - Fans in rooms need to be stronger/updated (but you can and should ask for another one, we had a really stagnant two days on this trip that we’re challenging). - Toilets, update them. The beach toilets flush well, people staying up top are paying enough for you to update that stuff. - If a storm comes, it’s survival of the fittest. LOL. Last night we had all night wind and rain storm. It literally rained in our bed and we built a wall of pillows from the couch to make it, covering ourselves in towels. The room was flooded. It was actually crazy, but funny and not really a con unless you’re not understanding where you’re going. And, it cooled things off. - More fans at the beach restaurant. It’s one of the best restaurants but we had a night ruined by stagnant air and flies that covered us, food, drinks etc. many couples just left mid meal. Fans would have helped displace them. - More music. This is subjective and we get that there’s an ambiance of peace JM takes pride in but at least at the beach have some music playing and the live entertainment can just be flat out boring. But again, it depends what you’re coming for. - The go**amn road in. It’s just disrespectful in my opinion. As much as people pay to stay they shouldn’t have to subject themselves to that catastrophe. We ended up flying out on the helo to avoid it last trip and this trip we came in and will leave with Fun Too See Island Ferry which is a GREAT CHOICE for transport. Ultimately, we love JM and always recommend it but we don’t want to see them become complacent on what they can control. Update stuff so when bad weather hits its not compounded by little stuff you can control.

Hotel is absolutely breath taking. The service however we found very disappointing given the price point. We were told it would be no problem booking any of the excursions we wanted to do, then when we would request to book them were told they were all completely full. Just wish they would have been more honest from the beginning on availability so we would have booked our excursions sooner. Also were told the earliest dinner reservations we could do each night were 8:30PM, we walked in at 6:30PM every night and the restaurant was completely empty....

Perfect long weekend trip! Exceeded expectations. Lovely room, amazing views. Friendly staff, especially Tony and Vito. Food at all of the restaurants was very good. Use the ear plugs provided because the birds do start chirping very early! Next time we want to spend more time on the beach. Can not wait to go back.

This is just an amazing resort. Yes,it is eye-wateringly expensive, but if you can do an 'add-on' to another resort or live near enough to go for a short trip, it's worth it. The open rooms ( only 3 walls) are a must ! I was worried that it would be too hot or lots of insects would come in. Neither are true. Lots of little birds come in, who are VERY clever at trying to pinch your food leftovers, no matter how tightly you think you've wrapped them up. The private pools are also quite big - not just a plunge pool, you can get a few strokes in!

We stayed in a Moon Sanctuary(JB4). The room was magical. The view, the pool, the bed, the bathroom....EVERYTHING was special. The room temperature without AC was perfect. There was always a breeze. The walk back from the beach is up a steep hill, but a quick dip in the pool cooled you off. To avoid the walk, you can take a quick shuttle back up. The food, views, beaches, snorkeling, and staff are amazing. Most of the time, you felt like you were the only ones on the property.