We have just spent Christmas and New Year at the Mirage, which was a late booking and having read the reviews on here we decided to give it a go.

First of all, it is very good. But it has a few flaws but bags of potential...

The main thing to note is that this is a B&B only. Not a hotel, nor a resort/boutique etc. You have your room, your breakfast and the grounds to enjoy and that is all. There are no self catering facilities. Nadine is lovely and will do anything to help and Mr Newman is such a laugh, a great bloke who sits out all night and guards the closed gates at the front. Everyone is very friendly here, in a sincere way.

I'll list up the good things first and pop up some really nice pics of the place too.

* Rooms are big, with standard but functional furniture, a locking safe, little flat screen tv, fridge/freezer, massive beds but very hard mattresses. Bathrooms are fairly roomy too, if you get one of the ground floor corner rooms (poss 1 and 4) then the bathrooms are enormous.
*The view - it's stunning from every room, a little better on the higher floors for obvious reasons but each room is sea view with a balcony. Keep an eye out for dolphins early doors.
*The pool is very good, warmed up ok by mid day but we do have a little gripe about it, see bad points below.
*The grounds are well maintained, good sunbathing spots out the back and safe to jump of the cliff here (from the platform) in to the sea (about 30ft deep with no rocks). Although a few days of rough sea seems to have robbed their ladders.
*Nice friendly breakfast in the small building next to the pool, fresh baked banana bread, soft white bread (again I think this is all home made at the Charella Inn), pineapple, watermelon, OJ, very smooth coffee, Jams etc. It's basic but good. be so much better if they offered some cooked eggs etc.
*Location - is fantastic, with a 5 min walk to Ricks Cafe, LTU pub, Catch a falling star, sexy rexy's (turning right out of the building). Whilst turning left you can head towards the town and walk down to the Rock House/Push cart, or jump in a cab and hop in to town or the Charella. The location is quiet compared to the beach, so mostly peaceful sleeping at the Mirage although there are some local dogs which can sometimes make a little noise. Taxis are always going past and they will charge per person. It's normally 100 JA$ per person with 200 JA$ minimum to town double it for the beach - they often ask you to give what you can and we paid on average around 400 to 500 JA$ per taxi. Jamaicans earn very little so best to be generous where you can.
*The Charella Inn - is owned by the same family and happens to be one of the best hotels on the beach with probably the best spot on the beach. As a Mirage guest you are welcome to use their hotel/beach/bar/restaurant - free beach towels, good food and it really is one of the nicest spots on the beach with coconut palms and very friendly staff. So you have the quiet spot in the cliffs to stay in and the Charella to use as and when. The only thing you need is your taxi...........I should be giving this place 5 stars but there were a few little issues, although nothing major.

Bad points:

*There is nothing available during the day, a cold fridge stocked with drinks and a few snacks by the pool would make them more money and be a great addition. However as it is, if you stay around the pool during the day it's a pain having to go up to your room to get a cold one every time.
* Hot water was hit and miss in the higher rooms, had to run the hot tap and keep it going with the shower on - somedays it was fine some not so but you don't exactly need piping hot water in jamaica so it wasn't a major problem.
*We didn't' have a kettle in our room (other did) - nor any coat hangers (i don't think any of them have).
*Rough sea during the last few days meant the cliffs were out of bounds. Leaves had blown in to the pool so they had turned the pumps off. It was like this for our last 3 days. A bit poor considering it's the main feature and it was getting quite scummy on the top and certainly not safe to use. Shame they couldn't get the groundsman to rake/net the leaves out and keep the pool going. They do need to address that as it's such a feature and to have it redundant for 3 days because of leaves is disappointing - we also had it cleaned one day (new years day) by a contractor who added the chemicals during the day, therefore losing the use of the pool for that day too. I would normally expect this to be done on an evening.

The bad points are minor, sans the pool cleaning. Overall this is a very friendly, comfortable B&B with amazing views. If you want somewhere affordable and amongst the cliffs for some peace and quiet then the Mirage, along with the fact that you can use their bigger hotel on the beach is an affordable winner. Entertainment around the cliffs is limited so it's nice to be able visit the beach via their other hotel.

Negril cliffs can be a little intimidating at first, especially at night. However, rest assured everyone is nice and friendly, even if you keep getting offered weed from the rastas a 'we're good with that already' often deals with it. The Jam Can opposite ran by Crazy Knacker offers cooked breakfast and some live reggae on Mondays & Thursdays (music till midnight). It's mostly ran by his son, 12 yr old Okarey. Keep an eye on your bill though, he can often add a few drinks here and there!!. It's an alternative option for breakfast and don't not visit these places - the little wooden shacks often provide better meals than some of the larger places and the locals are very nice and need to earn their living too. Do visit Ricks cafe at least once before the sunset and watch the cliff divers and grab some food for the sunset - it's 5 mins walk away. Two local shops stock plenty of cold beer, wines, spirits, snacks and some food items. There are very few places with sunscreen (throughout Negril), make sure you take your own. Be careful on the road when walking too. Highly recommend Negril and the Mirage. Hope this all helps.