The photos really don't do justice to the stunning setting of the villa. The views from all decks, combined with the pounding surf below, make for a sensual escape.

The showers didn't work well, especially if more than one was in use, and the air conditioning in at least one of the rooms was ineffectual and made loud clanking noises throughout the night. The roof has a tendency to leak a bit during the occasional downpours, leading to a few drips on the face at night. The hot tub filter was not working, and so the water was fairly brown and debris-filled. None of these hardware notes particularly trumped the beauty of the place.

Before continuing my review, I should note that, perhaps unlike most guests at the Villa, my family very much enjoys cooking, brought lots of our own provisions, and had made clear that we intended to do a lot for ourselves during our stay. If that is not you, and you are happy to stay out of the kitchen entirely, the following comments may not apply:

We asked Marilyn to prepare a few rounds of ackee and salt fish for breakfast, as well as some fried snapper and curried goat, all of which was great. Unfortunately, we found that attempting to use the kitchen we had rented was often awkward, and sometimes engendered a nearly hostile atmosphere. It was clear that the staff were not used to having guests in the kitchen; the staff used fridge and freezer space (which was quite limited with all of or provisions), as well as the kitchen and stove, to cook their own meals, often when we were hoping to cook ours. In a few cases, we had to postpone our own meals to wait until the staff had finished feeding themselves. While I don't begrudge the staff their need to feed themselves, we certainly didn't feel that we were getting what we paid for: a kitchen to use as we saw fit.

There was also an issue with food hygiene, to which we are particularly sensitive as my nephew was not yet 2. One afternoon, I entered the kitchen to find the kitchen faucet submerged in a bowl of water that contained hunks of raw goat; the goat was not ours, as we had already had our curried goat dinner. We bleached the faucet as best we could while the staff looked on, bemused, and asked the staff to refrain from allowing raw meat/fish to contaminate clean surfaces. The next day, I found the faucet submerged in a pot of their raw fish instead.

Overall, despite the beautiful setting, we found ourselves more stressed than relaxed by the end.