It felt so normal to be back on an airplane! I cannot remember the last time so many months passed since I was last on a Southwest flight. Knowing that they were only selling 2/3 of the airplane and we didn’t have to deal with anyone in the middle seat was a treat. Airport security leaving Sacramento was a breeze and they even had packs of white cotton masks available free for travelers to grab. Most of the food outlets were open with the exception of the Amex lounge and Dos Coyotes. I NEEDED food and begrudgingly Burgers & Brew sounded best. They have a limited menu which I’ll give them a pass for these days BUT the prices were higher on their current limited menu for the exact same items that were regularly listed on the main menu board. The burger was worth it though. Our flight to Orlando was relatively uneventful, even the mid-flight medical emergency wasn’t very interesting. In stressing the need to listen to flight attendant instructions one pilot referred to them as the “in flight safety engineers.” That was new. Southwest did still hand out snacks (so much salt) but only offered water service.
We had to overnight in Orlando before catching our flight to Jamaica this morning. I knew that the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport was right by the airport but did not realize until the day we left that it was actually IN the airport terminal! Talk about convenient! It was as easy as walking out just past security and then hopping on an escalator up to the hotel. It was an awesome concept but there was so much noise from landing planes and airport security announcements all night that sleep was a struggle. Worth it though. In the morning it was quite a treat to walk down and do our international flight clearance without having to tote luggage with us, grab breakfast at Starbucks before security that had no wait, relax in our room while we ate, and then hop on the elevator straight down to security and be through security in less than five minutes. Amazing. On the little airport tram from security to the gates we even saw two alligators in the lake beneath us. And I was even able to get a delicious green juice. We need to buy a juicer.
We had been watching the weather since we got into Orlando as we realized that Tropical Storm Eta was building up intensity and could be passing right over Jamaica. By this morning it had gained hurricane status but taken a turn toward Central America, alleviating the storm conditions over Jamaica…
The flight to Jamaica was quick and cloudy. Lacking the normal view of deep blue Caribbean waters I would expect to see. In order to travel to Jamaica we had to complete a pre-travel authorization through the Jamaican government and have negative COVID tests within ten days of travel. Deplaning in Jamaica we found ourselves In a long hall, a literal hallway, lined up with hundreds of others as five flights apparently all came in at basically the same time. Gentlemen dressed in scrubs walked down the line, taking each person’s temperature, scribbling it on a piece of paper, and handing it to each person to present later on. Eventually, they had distance markers on the ground, but I wouldn’t call them six feet apart. Until the markers appeared, it was closer quarters than felt comfortable. After about an hour in line we were instructed to sanitize our hands and led to a table to sit down and review our health questionnaire with a nurse. Residents have to quarantine at home for 14 days and tourists must stay on the grounds of their resort for the first 14 days of their trip, unless on an authorized excursion. All business travelers were given a COVID exam.
Once we passed through our nurse discussion and signed our agreements, we were asked to sanitize again before having our passports reviewed. The customs agent again reviewed all of our information and documents before stamping our passports, I’ve never spent as much time waiting in front of an agent as they cleared the forms and stamped my passport. But damn it felt good to get that first stamp in my newly renewed passport! We were again asked to sanitize our hands and then guided to the final step of turning in our declarations forms and being free to leave! In all, it took about 75 minutes to get through customs, probably the longest any of my travels, except for coming home through LAX once, has ever taken me. We had prebooked transportation through Best Jamaica and as soon as we approached the window we were greeted by name. Brandon was offered weed in the bathroom before we even left the airport! Our transportation to the hotel was a private shuttle that felt a little uncomfortable as the driver veered off the main road to show us some of the neighborhoods. Not interested, we would’ve much rather gone straight to the hotel.
Arriving at the Hyatt Ziva/Zilara the skies were cloudy and sprinkling rain. The bellmen sprayed our luggage with disinfectant before we could enter and we were again asked to sanitize our hands. Checking in was a disappointment. The people checking in next to us were getting a run down on all the amenities and our agent was basically useless. We were instructed to scan a QR code to see hotel/restaurant information and to “Dial zero” from our room to make a dinner reservation for each night but she couldn’t tell us what was open each day and didn’t give us any information about getting around the sprawling property like the rundown the folks next to us were getting; I wish I had been listening closer to their agent!
Hyatt Ziva is an all-inclusive resort. Knowing that not all food outlets would be open as they rotated for COVID I had upgraded our room to the Club level, but alas, the club is closed and so far none of the benefits are actually being offered, so it’s going to be an interesting fight to get that upgrade charge removed. I had high expectations given the reviews and that the property is a formal Ritz Carlton but so far I am unimpressed. The room feels very sterile and lacks charm. Looking out from our balcony we did not see a single soul outside; is anyone else staying here?!
We were starving and only one food outlet was open. It was also REALLY raining at this point. After asking for an umbrella we carefully and slowly made our way across the super slippery, though empty, pool deck to Calypzo. I quickly ordered a glass of champagne, and it was terrible; not even close to drinkable (it was nice when they delivered a bottle to our room later but I don’t want to drink that crap! Not worth the calories!). The fish tacos and mojitos were excellent though and what we needed! This is a straw-free property so I was excited I had my metal travel straw, courtesy of Vanir, with me! Our overall impression of service continued to be simply unimpressed. From the agent who checked us in to the waitress in the restaurant, we felt like we were a burden to them. At the Hyatt Ziva in Puerto Vallarta the staff is always friendly and enthusiastic, here we just feel like they are annoyed to have to be working and annoyed by us.
The rain stuck around as we carefully walking along the pool deck onto the overwater gazebo. A couple drinks in and another in hand it felt lovely despite the rain and clouds. Vacation relaxation was setting in. We wondered the property to find more food outlets and ended up in the onsite duty-free jewelry store where they tried to sell us very beautiful, but very lab created, jewelry for way too much. Next door we found Bitez, the dessert shop and shared a subpar cupcake, terrible macaron, and eh rumball. Not impressed.
A quick change into swimwear and it was time to sit in the hot tub; it was still raining and the wind was whipping. Barefoot Jerkz was open and we were quite content sitting in the hot tub, drinking mojitos, and eating freaking phenomenal jerk chicken! A little stray kitty ran past, we shall call her Fifi. I earned Fifi’s trust enough to come close and eat chicken out of my hands. Fifi’s confidence built to the point where she stole an entire piece of chicken off the plate and ran off to devour it. More power to her; Fifi will not go hungry as long as I’m here!
Dinner the Asian fusion restaurant, Fuzion, was pretty good. The portions are definitely smaller than the Hyatt Ziva PV but for the most part it was very tasty. Despite feeling like our presence was again burdensome. We had “assorted sushi rolls” which were lame, one piece each of three different roles, and one of them was vegetarian, followed by spring rolls, marinated mushrooms, siracha-honey glazed chicken lollypops (YUM), and then our main courses of seared tuna and duck breast.
Wanting a little after dinner treat, we headed to the coffee shop, Grindz, only to find it closed. They were supposed to be open until 10pm but we found a little sign telling us they now closed at 3pm. We’d just go back to Bitez, except they too closed early. None of these early closures had been disclosed prior to coming to the resort and not even discussed when we checked in. Even the hours provided on the app we were given show the full hours. While I understand that there are adaptations and rotations for COVID these should have been specifically disclosed. Overall, service here has not been impressive. Even our feather-free requested room was full of feather and we had to have them provide all new bedding. We are hoping the rain lets up and we at least get to see some sun over the next couple days.
Taking On the World 
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