What is a “rondoval”? The dictionary description of the term this internet marketing time period arrives from, “rondavel,” a round Southern African setting up with a peaked roof, but at the Sandals South Coast resort in Jamaica, it may just be called the ideal room for a sensual but socially distanced couples Caribbean getaway.
Or, you can just phone it a “Smurf House” — an adorable nickname that workers and visitors have adopted for the blue-painted structures at the resort’s Rondoval Village
What’s unique about these rooms is that they’re not just swim-up — they every single appear with their very own personal plunge pool, outside shower, and twin loungers on a semi-submerged patio — meaning you have your possess plunge pool at the edge of the key pool.
The charming Rondovals — a mix of “round” and “oval” — discover a home in the room mix at Sandals South Coastline someplace between the ground-ground swim up rooms at the resort’s oceanfront, three-tale “village” buildings and its overwater villas, the most distinctive addresses on residence.
Created on a patch of beforehand underutilized land at the rear of the major lodge buildings, the Rondoval villas are waterfront — not oceanfront. So if waking up to the sound of crashing waves each individual morning is your jam, these rooms may perhaps not be for you.
On the additionally aspect, the Rondoval village is a quiet oasis absent from the pool and seashore motion any time of day, the rooms have beautiful sights of the mountains, and you do have a decision of two swimming pools — your personal plunge, fed by a trio of waterfall spouts, and the 17,040-sq.-foot river pool, the longest in the Western Hemisphere — ideal outside the house your doorstep to splash about in.
Swing open up the slatted doorways of your huge spherical home and you’re greeted by a blaze of sparking sunlight reflecting off of the communal Rondoval Village pool, which snakes amongst the community’s 20 thatch-topped villas and flows under a trio of bridges.
There’s no latest in the pool, which helps make it ideal for wading or lounging on floats (you can obtain blow-up peacocks, loungers, and other floats at the gift shop, or just pack your own). You can wave at your fellow villagers from your patio as they bob on by — generally with colourful cocktails in hand — or join the each day ritual and circumnavigate the waterway by yourself.
The fixings for a floating cocktail social gathering are normally near at hand thanks to the stocked fridge in the villas, which contain a bottomless bottle of Appleton Estate rum and other libations alongside with Fruita fruit punches between the wide range of mixers. And what ever is not quickly on-hand can speedily be fetched to the home by Sandals’ uber-effective teams of 24-hour on-call butlers, who are just a cell-phone phone absent for space-assistance breakfasts, mid-day snacks, drink orders, restaurant reservations, and pretty a great deal whatsoever else your heart wants.
Talking of hearts, you’ll commonly come across one thing passionate organized in towels, flower petals, and coloured sticks on your bed when you return to your villa immediately after a working day invested at the beach or pool. Our butlers, Venice and Romeo, didn’t just hold out close to for us to question for stuff: one particular working day they proposed that they provide us a lobster lunch on our patio — fantastic concept, who could say no to that? On a different, we returned to the place soon after evening meal to discover a scorching bath drawn in the two-person tub — one thing we most likely would not have performed for ourselves, but immensely appreciated at the finish of a lengthy (if not particularly tense) day.
African rondavel designers knew all about preserving buildings awesome in scorching climates, and the Rondoval rooms are aided in this regard with 20-foot peaked ceilings, a suspended ceiling admirer, and a local climate-regulate method that shuts off and on mechanically when doorways are opened or shut. In addition to a at ease king-sized bed, place features include things like a little seating place and big Television set you’ll in all probability never use, a glass-enclosed shower with a alternative of two shower heads (or use equally!), and an outdoor shower for obtaining the beach front sand off.
Finally, the outdoor shower and plunge pool might be appropriate for au natural bathing, but unless you’re a little bit of an exhibitionist that will possibly will need to wait right up until some of the shrubbery all over the Rondovals grows in. For now, there are lots of sight strains into the pool and patio place (and the rooms them selves, if you leave the doors or windows open up) from the other villas, the big pool, the bridges, and even the walkways encompassing the complex. You can pull closed a huge out of doors curtain across the pool entry area for a very little far more privacy, but even that is subject to the vagaries of the blowing wind.
For a few evenings of escape from the pandemic, we discovered the Rondoval rooms — and Sandals South Coastline — a protected and welcoming sanctuary. Owning acquired our pre-trip negative exams and run the gauntlet of the Providence, Charlotte, and Montego Bay airports with N95-excellent masks, we arrived at the vacation resort.
But like us, all of the guests experienced both been recently analyzed or vaccinated, and almost all things to do ended up outdoor aside from spa solutions.
Capability was sensibly restricted on the sunset catamaran cruise we took, and many thanks to occupancy costs hovering in the mid-20 percent selection, there was a great deal of elbow rooms at the beach, the pool, and even the swim-up bar. The resort’s in-h2o gazebos, cabanas, and shady palapas (reservable day-to-day by way of your butlers) presented other social distancing solutions. Even the seashore volleyball nets have been divided in half to lower team dimensions.
We carefully appreciated all of the resort’s facilities, from some great tennis instruction to a wild experience on the Big Mabel float, towed by a speedboat, as well as standout dining possibilities like the waterfront jerk shack, casually classy meals at Neptune’s and Schooner’s, and especially the Latitude overwater bar for sunset toasts and Cafe de Paris for espresso and crepes early morning, noon, or late evening.
And while we felt cozy with the resort’s wellbeing and security protocols, much more danger-averse vacationers could have commit the bulk of their visit within the confines of the Rondoval Village — plunging in their pool, wading in the lazy river, sunning on the deck and buying area company — and however had a great couple of days in Jamaica.
If that had been the extent of our pay a visit to, we certainly would not have complained.