Beautiful clean beach, wonderful staff, clean rooms, missed it by the time we got to the airport. The shopping tour was very touristy, enjoyed shopping from locals in the little huts on the beach between Pebbles and Star Fish so much more. (Tell Mark we said hi, bought his home made jewellery, paintings......and if you see Nats drumming with Cosmo? hi to them too.) We absolutely loved the Bioluminescent lake tour, wished we could have swam longer, with the inky black sky and seeing all the constellations, Orion's Belt etc. while glowing in the water....! The mud feels awful, ignore it and swim anyway, sooooo worth it.

I travelled with my three teen daughters, we all can't wait to go back. The staff at the Pebbles wanted to entertain us; but the location is so wonderful, what more do you need? Well, dolphins of course, loved our swim. Dunns River Falls, climbing the waterfall was interesting and memorable. Honestly, spent hours each day swimming in the ocean, lying on the beach, well, and we took hundreds of pictures. I wish I was exaggerating.

I was a little leary about safety at Pebbles initially; but was unfounded. My only uncomfortable moments were more at the shopping area around Dunns River. If you purchase a cd /dvd of your climb, you get led through the market and my kids and I were kind of surrounded for a few minutes. We left there immediately.

Still wish we had gone to Bob Marley's home with a driver as well as gone on the one Plantation tour. That tour was a little high as it came with a lunch, with four of us, couldn't do it.

We would go back in a heart beat. And not just because Canada's winter is just tooooooooo long. lol
Holly, and gals...

Jamaica: FDR Pebbles, "No Problem Mon" at FDR
Date: April 28, 2008
Reviewer: TripAdvisor Member, Setauket, New York

My family of five just returned from an 8 night stay at FDR Pebbles. It was our 2nd trip to FDR & we are already talking about going back next year. There is really no reason to go anywhere else in the Caribbean at this time. We have 3 children (14, 11, & 6) & with the vacation nanny being available to us it is really like two vacations in one. My husband & I get to relax on the beach while the children swim, hunt for seashells, play in the game room, do arts & crafts, etc. etc. You can use your nanny as much or as little as you like. We prefered to use ours a lot. Our nanny came to our room at 9 am. She helped us especially with our 6 year old, with sunscreen, taking him to the pool, beach, meals, drinks, and anything he basically wanted to do. She also helped keep an extra eye out for my other two children. Our nanny stayed late every night as well. My husband & I had a nice quiet dinner just about every night we were there. The nanny also kept our room clean, folding clothes, making beds, getting fresh towels, & stocking our fridge (beer, wine, fruit, cheese, cereal, milk, crackers, water, soda.) The bottom line with FDR is that the service is wonderful. The people (staff) are genuine, and they really want you to be happy. They really mean it when they say "no problem mon", "everyting gonna be irie" (alright). Just do not go expecting a 5 star hotel. It is very basic as far as the accomodations go. (although i had a view from my room that was the best so far.) Oceanfront block 10. It was magnificant. Falling asleep to the sound of the waves is remarkable. The other thing is the food is just ok. But trust me you will still gain a few pounds. The cocktails are very, very good. Ask Miss Natalie at the pool bar for an Island Breeze or a Pebbles Cooler. Anyway, all in all it was a wonderful vacation for my entire family. Whatever you do try to get Judyann Williams for your nanny. Just tell her your needs & she will do her best. She has been our nanny for 2 years & she is very special to us. Also, ask for Tony at Grand Luxe Vacation [--] he is very familiar with FDR pebbles and has made our arrangements for us 2 years now & everything has been just perfect. Give it a try! You won't be disappointed.

This is wonderful for families/kids. You are provided a personal nanny upon arrival and the kids are kept busy as much or as little as you want. Nightly entertainment is cheesey at best, but worth going to a couple of times. Seems to be the same theme of entertainment, with just a different cast of characters (bamboo dancers, fire eaters, etc.). Go to an orientation meeting to learn what is going on when. Best tour we took was a tube ride down a river. Great fun in warm, clean, shallow water. Only huge disappointment was the scuba/dive center. Workers were rude and had extremely bad dive habits for being a PADI center. Went once and didn't go again. Besides bad dive guides, there is really nothing to see that you can't see snorkeling. Jamaica is pretty much fished out and the corral reefs are all dead. Not a big surprise after seeing the way the PADI instructors conducted themselves. Staff in general, however, is extremely friendly and nice. Hotel is average in the US/Canada, but probably a little above average for Jamaica.

We had a 7 day stay at FDR Pebbles with our 22 month old son, and with friends and their 13 month old twins. It was a terrific experience for us as first time travellers with our kids.

Travel
We flew with Sunwing Vacations. Nice plane, good in flight service, and they actually departed and landed early both ways. This resort is about 30 mins from Montego Bay Airport (the sister property FDR Resort is about 1.5 hours away). The resort sent a bus for us and it was very easy to get sorted out as the airport is small.

Check In
Check in was very easy and our rooms were ready when we arrived at noon which is a nice bonus as check in wasn't really until 3pm.

Room
Our room was in Block 6, right next to the pool and with a great view of the ocean. At first we were concerned about the noise factor, but the convenience of being right next to the pool was great for running back and forth. The rooms are simple and traditional Caribbean decor - no glass, marble and granite like the new places in Cancun! It was very cozy and comfortable and clean. They supplied us with a proper crib with linens. Our friends with the twins were supplied with two pack 'n plays. One of their sons likes to sleep in the dark, so it was nice that the pack 'n play fit right into the closet and he slept in there - his own private little room.

The room had a fridge that our nanny stocked each day with water, beer, cheese and crackers, cereal and milk. Very nice to have when travelling with a child.

The rooms are not sound-proof - you can hear other people and the entertainment over at the bar. But the bar always quieted down by 10pm or so and it wasn't enough to keep you up if you were really tired.

One annoying thing is the curtains - they don't completely close so a bit of a lack of privacy when getting dressed. By the end of the week we learned to keep our beach towels and hung them over the windows at night. This gave us an extra hours sleep once we figured it out.

Food
The food is ok. Not great, not awful. There is always something in a buffet to complain about, and something you'll like. Lots of choice. The Jamaican restaurant was very good although we found the ambiance lacking with the bright lights.

Pool & Beach
Awesome! Very well maintained. Always somebody cleaning, sweeping. The swim up bartenders were very slow and confused (hate to see how they handle it when they are busy!) but the drinks were always very good.

Nanny
Our nanny was Elizabeth, a lovely softspoken lady. We're pretty hands-on parents and our toddler is young (22 months) so we didn't keep her very busy as we chose to keep him with us most of the time. But it was nice when he was napping to have someone sit with him. She also took him to the kids club and to see the goats, turtles, and to the playground. I can see when your kids are 4 or 5 that the nanny would really be used a lot more. We tipped her $70US and gave her a small gift, and used her one night for babysitting and paid her $26 for that. They make very little money in Jamaica, so tipping your nanny should be budgeted into your vacation cost. We also left her a bunch of diapers and medicine as those things can be harder to get down there.

Extras
Glass bottom boat tour was very nice to have included. They supplied lifejackets for everyone on board including the wee ones. The Falmouth Tour was disappointing and not really worth doing - they actually stopped at a local grocery store for 15 minutes so we could shop. I'm being fed and watered at the resort, so had no need to buy food and drink in town. Seemed like a lame stop that was just so the tour guide could get a kickback.

The nightly entertainment was great - about 8pm they'd have a band, usually a local group. Much more authentic and enjoyable than the Disney broadway shows that some resorts put on. There isn't any wild nightlife here. Face it, we've got kids and they get up early.

Resort grounds are immaculately kept. 12 little villas with 8 rooms each. The gardens are lovely and it really feels like a small camp or cottage community rather than one of the mega-resorts that we like to avoid.

Mosquitoes
You'll read other reports about the mosquitos, and yes, they are there but not a problem. Some people in our group just got bit more than others, same as when you are at home. I wouldn't want to stay in villas by the fish pond as it would be buggier there. They use this very loud and smoky fogger every night around 6PM to help control the bugs. It was awful and smoky but guess it's a necessary evil.

Tips for travellers with babies/toddlers:
* pack lots of sunscreen and diapers and swim diapers
* confirm a crib in advance
* ask to be on a ground floor room
* we liked it near the pool, but if you get one of the rooms at the east end of the resort it is very private and quiet
* don't stress on more than one pair of sandals for your kid - they go barefoot here a lot
* bring a couple swimsuits if you can
* bring some clothespins so you can tack up the pool towels over the windows
* plan to tip your nanny generously - they only make about $50 a week and only when they are booked to work

We loved the casual ambiance of this resort. Going to lunch barefoot, no make-up and in your swimsuit with a cover-up was pretty much the uniform around here.

All in all, a great trip and we'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxed vacation with their little ones.