You'll find a silly slogan printed upon many T-shirts in Jamaica that reads: "Jamaica me crazy." And it does. The island nation is impossibly beautiful, its culture, cuisine and music rich and its people friendly, but it retains a bit of a bad reputation as a hassle for tourists - from its cacophonous streets to locals continuously asking to braid your hair, buy a carving or take you on a private tour. Even though Jamaica perfected the all-inclusive resort vacation, a boon to families who want to cocoon in one place, there's another magnificent way to experience the third-largest island in the Caribbean: your own villa with a staff to mind your family's needs so you don't have to. When it happened that our family's spring break would be splintered by my husband's business trip and our teen's school excursion, I was left with my boys who ached for sun and fun. I admit skittishness when opting for a villa vacation in Jamaica. Would we feel safe? Will the boys have enough to do without the constant activities offered by an all-inclusive resort? Will this really be another vacation for them, but a chore for me? Yes, yes and absolutely not. The sweeping views of the sapphire Caribbean from the verandah of Blue Heaven, one of 52 Villas by Linda Smith, is absurdly gorgeous. The staff (yep, pinch yourself now, you have a staff) greets you with the genuine friendliness that characterizes Jamaicans. Margaret, your cook, might have lunch or dinner ready for your arrival while Paulette will unpack the kids' bags and tend to the family's laundry for the week. Imagine clean sheets and fresh flowers every day and a suitcase full of clean clothes to take back home. Everton does double duty as landscaper and butler, keeping the pool clean and serving a cooling rum punch at the end of the day. Blue Heaven boasts three bedrooms with a daybed in the den, 2 1/2 bathrooms, bedroom air conditioning, a digital satellite TV system, Playstation and, of primary importance to anyone with kidlets, your own private pool. A security guard surveys the grounds all night ensuring complete safety. There is a team of warm, knowledgeable drivers to take you anywhere you wish to go.

A stay at Blue Heaven includes membership in the tony Round Hill Beach Club, about a five-minute drive from the villa. My boys and I enjoyed a day at Round Hill's beach with water sports, a brand new spa and a lively evening barbecue on the beach. Most of the Villas by Linda Smith (www.jamaicavillas.com) are on the island's north coast, just 12 miles from the Montego Bay airport. A few others are sprinkled throughout the shores of Ocho Rios, Runaway Bay and Discovery Bay.

Good Hope, an 18th-century sugar plantation, is surrounded by rivers in the lush countryside of Trelawny, with 15 available bedrooms in various buildings, trails for horseback riding, a yoga studio and flocks of parrots flying overhead. "The real economy kicks in when several families share a villa," said Linda Smith, president and CEO of Villas by Linda Smith headquartered in Cabin John, Md. "For example, I have a group of 13 sharing a house, which comes to about $53 per person per night for a 7,000-square-foot private villa and staff of five." Food costs should run this family about $30 per day per adult and less for kids. "The wonderful thing about a vacation like this is there are no assigned duties so families spend time talking, connecting, lingering at the dinner table while the kids jump in the pool," Smith said. Another large family is renting eight "sister houses," near enough to each other to walk barefoot from one house to the next. Some villas have yards, beachfront access, croquet, video and DVD libraries and pool slides. Smith is particularly proud of her team of drivers who will transport you to a shopping area, resort's kids' club, the beach, an excursion or golfing. "The drivers will even escort young adults out for an evening of dancing or music, stay with them and bring them safely home," Smith said. The drivers' motto, one Americans will appreciate, is "Never be on time - always be early." You can book drivers for the week or just give them a call for a spontaneous excursion. In addition to our ride to and from Round Hill, we used the service to spend an afternoon at the Wyndam's new water park and to check out the "Bob Marley Experience" at the Half Moon Shopping Village.

When you take a cyber trip through www.jamaicavillas.com, know that what you see online is truly what you get. As one family said, "We've been taking three vacations a year for 20 years and this was the best vacation we've ever had." Call Villas by Linda Smith at (301) 229-4300.