True to its' fame, Goldenyee carries with it a certain cachet that words cannot aptly describe. To classify Goldeneye a 'resort' is a misnomer..and even a bit crass given it's true ambiance.

Only those fortunate to be a guest at this historic sanctuary will understand the true essence of the word 'hospitality'; the place and it's people represent an eclectic blend of casual refinement, with a style that is hopelessly chic yet down to earth in an environment that is understated yet energized.

First, you will be greeted with a genuine warmth, by name and from the moment you step on the Goldeneye grounds, you'll feel special. After you're welcomed with a secret 007 cocktail concoction, you will be ushered to your cottage.

From this moment forward, the staff under the watchful eye of Managing Director Nick Simmonds anticipate your needs unobtrusively and with genuine caring. There when you need them simply put.

This is where tranquility, nature, luxury and a bit of intrigue meet and can't be beat. Every cottage is really a mini-compound descreetly hidden amidst lush tropicals, including your private and spacious outdoor raindrop shower/bath. My cottage had three separate buildings connected by covered pathways. Overlooking the leeward blue sea, my main building served as an entertainment, media/living room downstairs complete with my personal set of James Bond novels and fllms opening to a lovely porch with dining table, patio and landscaped yard. Upstairs was my own bedroom suite....to die for complete with a great selection of music, reading area, an intimate reading area opening to the outdoors.

The kitchen is in a separate building just to the left, provisioned with fine wine, fruits, and other basics for snacks, cocktails and mini meals.

As if this weren't enought, my third building housed a second massive bedroom suite connecting to the outdoor bath.
There is nothing amiss as far as amenities, and it seemed at every nook and cranny, there was a little surprise, either something left for me, the guest as a thank you or something to please me, whether fresh flower arrangements or a scrapbook about Ian Fleming the creator of 007.

Goldeneye is designed to embrace the environment - one early morning walk revealed a nature workout trail, another day, I swam the river encircling the private island set across from Goldeneye's treehouse dining area, with open bar for every guest.

The water is warm, safe and has no scary creatures...ideal for swimming. The island boasts a little wave action and ultimate privacy.

Here you can do it all, or nothing and there is no one dicatating any sort of schedule--how refreshing! Dining is what I'd affectionately nam 'Jamaican peasant', where you can experience the rich flavors and time honored recipes from Jamaica's culinary heritage.

It's no wonder this site was cherished by Ian Fleming and once here, you'll understand why his creativity flourished, resulting in the legacy of James Bond.

While at Goldeneye, you're bound to harken back in time and leave with a hankering for more.

We (family of 6) stayed in Villa 3, consisting of 3 separate bedrooms, a TV bungalow and a kitchen with 2 outdoor dining areas and a small lower area with a picnic table. Great view of the beach and sea yet secluded by lush tropical vegetation. Great rustic style using natural materials. Walls at the edge were rather low for the safety of young children, so we did have to be on our guard to keep the children away from the edges as there is a significant drop to the water. The food was superb. Simple but with great flavour. Served at our villa or we had it in the treehouse style restaurant.
The water was crystal clear and warm. The kids collected loads of hermit crabs (yuk) and did art and beading with 2 local artists, all arranged straightaway on request. Loads of activities and tours available to book. The staff were really helpful and obliged with a tour of the Fleming House, which was conveniently vacant at the time. Plenty of mosquitos at night so I would recommend taking creams & lotions. Fireflies as well if you look carefully. You do feel as if you are in a rustling jungle at night (hens, frogs etc.!) but the experience was wonderful and we want to go back!

If you want total switch off and relaxation this is the place to be.
My stay at Goldeneye was one of the most memorable times I have had.

I was able to completely relax and not worry about anything. Everything was cared for to the finest detail by staff who were exceptional.

My hut was luxurious with stunning views to the sea. I had an outside shower which was fantastic. Quite an experience with the feeling of being open to the elements - but ofcourse I was completely hidden from view!

The food was gorgeous and it was lovely to taste some authentic Caribbean cuisine set in a truely romantic setting.

Too there's plenty to do if you are feeling energetic around the property as well as excursions beyond Goldeneye. One day I took a trip to the magical Firefly, Noel Coward's old house. You really got the feeling of being transported back to 1930's as the house has been very carefully restored and houses many of Coward's personal possessions. All was needed was a glass of Pimms and a rendition of "Mad Dog's an Englishman".

Small, personal touches I found stood out and made all the difference between a good holiday and a great one.

Will be returning back to the Jamaican Paradise of Goldeneye just as soon as I can.

We stayed here for the second week of our honeymoon in January 2006. Our agent had spent considerable time on the phone to the hotel to ensure they understood it was our honeymoon and to make sure that everything would be in order - this is a really expensive place...

We were terribly disappointed. Our honeychile villa was lovely on the surface but rife with problems. The outdoor shower was quaint but only if you want to slip and bathe with the mosquitos. The bath was extremely old with a very rough surface and there wasn't any hot water - you are only going to get a cold dip at best.

The place was absolutely infested with insects. We had to burn mosquito coils permanently in our room & despite copious quantities of mosquito repellant I counted over 40 bites on my after day 1. This was partly because the mosquito net was absolutely inadequate & full of holes.

We also didn't appreciate the chicken droppings in our room from the chickens that roam throughout or the resident cockroaches.

When we complained we were told by the european manager 'what do you expect - this is Jamaica'.

They don't spray the resort or control the livestock & more to the point they don't care ...

As my husband is Jamaican he found this grossly insulting & as seasoned international travellers having visited the 3rd world including remote african islands without running water we considered this to be ridiculous.

Security is also an issue - the villas cannot be secured & we found on more than one occasion that somebody was regularly helping themselves to our drinks etc while we were at dinner. We complained & were told that it must be 'security' - who has ever heard of security guards entering guest rooms & helping themselves to items out of the fridge? Again we were told 'this is Jamaica' which we found insulting. To be fair this did stop after we complained.

All fixtures and fittings are old, tired and decidedly past their best. Everything is really shabby and on its last legs.

The local staff were very pleasant but very keen to get home. Dinner is supposed to be until 10pm but if we hadn't arrived by 8pm we were received a telephone call - this interrupted our privacy every evening. We weren't encouraged to have a drink after dinner and were instead directed to the mini bar in our room....

The food was good, particularly lunches where local food is served.

Don't expect service - nobody will remember anything the way you like it and we found that we had to traipse back from the beach to the bar to get a drink during the day - that involves a water boat trip across the lagoon ...

In our view this resort is vastly over priced with extremely shabby poor quality accommodation and amenities. Worst of all it has an owner / management team who don't care.

We did formally complain to Chris Blackwell / Island Outposts and received an unsatisfactory response from his PA which we forwarded to our agent purely for information Our travel agent was so appalled at this that they voluntarily refunded our entire accommodation cost without our even asking or suggesting it - very unusual in the UK and in our opinion a clear indicator of how dreadful this truly was.