We stayed 2 nights at Whispering Bamboo in December 2007. It was part of a trip in which we traveled around the island and attended concerts. We came to Morant Bay for EastFest, and also to go to Port Antonio, which my husband had not seen.

Good feelings: the room was great, especially for the price. It had a vaulted ceiling, clean, cool tile floor, and a comfortable bed. The cable TV did not work at first but they quickly sent a repairman (barefoot!) and he fixed it. I also liked having the refrigerator in the room. We booked their most expensive room, but the difference in price was not much. The room was called a "suite", and I'm guessing that it was just larger, and had a little table with chairs. The air conditioning worked well and was very comfortable. Our room was very clean, and there were no bugs.

More good feelings: the food was very good, as previous reviewers have attested to. We ate there both nights, and ordered shrimp both nights - it was delicious.

Bad feelings: I had written to the resort a couple of weeks prior to our visit, and asked if they could arrange transporation for us to EastFest, and also for a trip to Port Antonio. I was told that Murphy could take us. We assumed that Murphy was a licensed taxi driver. It turns out that Murphy is the night watchman, and his truck was broken. We got different stories from different people about Murphy's attempts to borrow a vehicle to take us, one story stating that the vehicle he was trying to borrow was currently on the north coast. We asked if they could contact a taxi driver for us, and again, there was a lot of confusion, and nobody (at a hotel!) seemed to know a taxi driver. After several hours of this, we contacted our driver in Kingston, knowing it would be expensive, but not wanting to miss out on Port Antonio or EastFest. Our driver picked us up the next morning and took us to Port Antonio, and then he took us to EastFest that evening and crashed in our room. In the morning, after EastFest, we headed back to Kingston to meet the driver who was taking us to Negril.

The whole point of that long story is to point out the importance of having your own transporation if you stay here, whether it's a rental car or a driver you have personally contacted.

As other reviewers have stated, customer service was a mixed bag - sometimes friendly, sometimes not. They all seemed to be preoccupied, and it turned out it was because they were hosting a big wedding on the night we went to EastFest. I would not hesitate to have a wedding there - they operated like a well-oiled machine for that!

On our first night, there was some confusion about dinner - we pre-ordered, and arranged for a time to eat. When we arrived for dinner, we were given various stories about why it wasn't possible to eat at that time, but we suspect the cook was not there. We ate in the gazebo, a very charming location, and although it took a very long time to get our dinner (and we were very hungry), it wasn't so bad - it was nice romantic location. The next night we did get our dinner as arranged, but another guest was having problems. The morning after EastFest, we were asked if we wanted breakfast, and were told it was callalloo and salftish, so we said yes - again, we had problems actually getting the food, and we finally did get it when we left, but iit was fried fish - no callalloo.

The other disappointment was the beach/ocean. We had a nice ocean view from our room, but the balcony was not nice. Due to the last hurricane, the usual path to the beach was not available, and it looked like the beach really took a beating. The only way to get to the beach was over some very uneven terrain, and since I had recently broken my ankle I didn't want to risk it.

Overall, it was an ok stay, and the price was right. Improvements in customer service and refurbishment of the balcony would bump my rating up quite a bit. If you do need to stay in this area for some reason, this would be a good place to stay, but I wouldn't recommend it as an alternative to staying in Port Antonio - I would stay in the Port Antonio area.

Note: EastFest was EXCELLENT - highly recommended! Each artist has a lengthy set, and it was well run and organized.

The review by Alphaman below is pretty spot on!

It's worth pointing out that this place is actually in St Thomas, not Portland or Port Antonio. My partner and I stayed in two different rooms on the upper and ground floors and both rooms were above average.

Pluses
- A stones throw from the sea
- Excellent value
- Upmarket feel.
- Great rooms. Modern furnishings. Big beds. Cable TV for my significant other.
- Generally clean rooms
- Breakfast. The best! Hearty & delicious!
- Friendly staff


Minuses
- Location. In a residential area so not much buzz. Definitely not a resort.
- Pot luck with the front of house staff but don't let crappy staff put you off! One of the front of house staff bent over backwards to get us a nice room, another made us go the extra mile for room service!
- The "sea view" was obstructed by lots of trees.
- Trek to the shops. Glad we had a car for shopping trips.
- The rooms and bedding could have been a little cleaner. Balconies were sadly neglected.
- Crappy beach.

Whispering Bamboo is easily the best guest house for miles and we would definitely stay there again.

This is not a resort. This is a high-end guest house situated on a beach (not much of a beach... the sand is rocky and the water is very seaweedy though you can swim). My wife and child stayed here because her grandmother who lived in St. Thomas passed away and we went for the funeral. We needed a clean place with A/C and this fit the bill.

The rooms are quite large and comfortable and are equipped with a television, refrigerator and A/C. The rooms are cleaned thoroughly ever day. Jamaica had some power outages while we were there but the place is equipped with a generator that brought back the power.

Breakfast and dinner must be pre-ordered as they are made to order... while there, we had traditional Jamaican breakfasts of ackee and saltfish and corn beef w/ bammy. The breakfasts were very good. We only ordered dinner one night. I had a whole snapper and it was some of the best fish I have ever eaten. My wife really enjoyed her chicken meal as well.

There were many families staying when we were there and it appears that most of the folks used the place as a launching pad for their various day trips. The inn is probably about 40 minutes from Port Antonio and cheaper than anything you can find there... though I'm not sure if you add the taxi costs, that remains true.

For us, it was perfect as we just needed a place to stay at the end of night after the various funeral activities. The staff was very helpful and accomodating... for what it is, it lived up to our expectations. I would suggest that they at least get a vending machine so that guests can get something to drink at night... there is nowhere to walk to to buy anything after dark and their kitchen only serves made-to-order items. If we go back to St. Thomas, I would have no problem staying there again.

I enjoyed my vacation here so much that I decided to have my wedding here in a year. The people were so extremely nice. We had a hot plate of food for every meal. The views are amazing and the resort is right on the beach. I couldn't have dreamed of a better vacation. I loved it so much.