| Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill and you'll have a great time. |
| Hotel Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa |
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Annet >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Dec, 2009
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Arrival: Feb 6 - 14
Two couples - our first time to Jamaica. We had a later flight and arrived at the airport around 9:30 p.m. It was about an hours drive from the airport - check in was fast and our room was ready, we spend little time waiting to get to our room.
Rooms:
We had oceanview rooms - WOW - beautiful view - but remember - this is a much newer hotel and landscaping, trees, shrubs etc., require time to mature.
Restaurants and Bars:
Most bars are quick in serving you. Leroy at the main pool swim up bar is fantastic - a small tip will definately get you great service! Make sure you ask Leroy for a "triple tower", and his famous shooters! The bar by the activity center wasn't too bad - took a little longer for the cocktails - but who's in a rush - your on holidays! Buffets are great - different selections every day. We went to a few of the A La Cartes (which you did not need reservations for - because there are quite a few) and they were good as well, but we decided - why dress up - we were on holidays - and the buffets were great!
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
I did quite a bit of research before booking this hotel and knew going in the beach(s) were not their best feature. Nice smaller beaches, if you go for a holiday mainly for a fantastic beach - you might want to reconsider going to this hotel - but having said that - the complaints about the pool - wow people - a few tiles (1" x 1") is really not a big deal. The pool was in magnificant shape when we were there. Grounds are super clean. The employees are extremely friendly and courteous. The weather was a little windy on the first few days, but the rest of the week was hot and sunny, and thankfully there was a bit of a breeze.
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Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
The activity center is the area you want to be in. They have activities going pretty well all day, if you are interested in doing that. We enjoyed the dance instruction, volleyball, horseshoes and one day they had competitions going and that was a blast as well. We went on the safari to the mountains, what a beautiful landscape in Jamaica. We got to visit an orange plantation, which also had a small water fall, went through the jungle and really had a great time. We also did the catamaran to the cliffs, not quite as enjoyable. You get to see people jump off the cliff at Rick's Cantina, and you can also partake in that as well. One of use did do the jump - not something I would recommend - she was covered in black and blue bruising from head to toe! If you have never jumped - observing is the better way to go!
Other Comments
We only had problems with our door key on a few days. They replaced the unit twice. Remember this is also new technology for the Repair guys too. My philosophy is a holiday is what you make of it. Yes there may be a few things that don't work or need repair - but we knew that going in for eg. the beach, a few tiles in the pool - but it was nothing near as bad as some of the other reviews say. I would highly recommend this hotel and plan on going back there myself in another year or two. The couple we were with also want to go back as well. Enjoy yourselves, don't make a mountain out of a mole hill and you'll have a great time.
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| The Hotel is gorgeous |
| Hotel Sandals Montego Bay |
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Michele >
3 contribution(s) Canada |
| Nov, 2009
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Arrival: October 2009
My friend and I stayed at the Sandals at the end of our work conference in Montego Bay. We unfortunately had only 2 days there, but they were the best 2 days of the entire trip.
The Hotel is gorgeous. The grounds are spotless and it is designed beautifully and intimately to make every area a place you want to enjoy. The rooms are sweet, clean and elegant. The beds are comfortable (hard to find at most all-inclusives). The Air Conditioning worked perfectly. We were upgraded to a ground floor room and our doors opened right out to the Ocean - WOW!
The pools are lovely and clean, the drinks are top quality and fantatic. All the staff was friendly, happy and did their best to help in any situation. As to the food, now that was spectacular. It was as good as any food you would find in a 5 star restaurant in London or Vancouver. Just amazing. Every single meal was a dining treat. I would go back to this and any other Sandals resort in a heartbeat. Next time though, I will bring my husband, as Sandals really is a romantic place for couples and it was hard to be there without him.
Missing Sandals already and looking forward to going back within the next 6 months to either a Sandals or a Beaches which I hear is just as good and lots more fun!
Only thing to note, it is adjacent to the Runway (as a few resorts are in Montego Bay), so you will hear about 12-15 planes going overhead, starting with the first at 7AM and the last at around 7PM.
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| A great vacation spot and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED |
| Hotel Sandals Royal Caribbean |
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Craig & Carolyn >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Jul, 2009
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Arrival: Jun 24 - Jul 1
We are recently married (second marriage for both) couple in our 50's. This trip was our honeymoon. We travel a fair bit to the Caribbean, this being our first time in the summer, we normally go south to escape the Canadian winters. This was our first time at a SANDALS although we have been to Beaches Turks and Caicos. This was one of the best if not the best resorts we have stayed at.For comparison purposes we have stayed at DIVI SOUTHWINDS and ALMOND in Barbados, CLUB ST LUCIA in ST LUCIA, JOLLY HARBOUR in Antigua, BREEZES in Curacao and LA CABANA in Aruba. We loved the fact that this was a smaller resort and not a huge "party crowd" The younger party crowd seemed to stay at SANDALS Montego Bay. Our arrival was handled very efficiently. Customs and immigration went quite quickly and once we had our luggage we were met by a SANDALS rep who organized our luggage and transport to the resort. There is a SANDALS lounge at the airport where you can get a beer or fruit juice while you wait. The driver does not work for SANDALS so a tip is appropriate. One of the reasons we chose the SANDALS ROYAL CARIBBEAN (RC) is that it is a short 20 min bus ride to the resort rather than 90 minutes or so to Negril or Ocho Rios.
Rooms:
As a returning SANDALS SELECT guest (because we had been to BEACHES) our room was upgraded two levels from a premium to a jacuzzi suite for free ( ask about this if you have been to a SANDALS property before. Our room was 410, it had a large nicely decorated bedroom and jacuzzi bathroom. The room was about 5 minutes from the beach and was situated near a small pool and hotub. The room was not fancy and had no beach view but was very nice and we were happy with it. The River Suites are quite nice if you really want to spoil yourself.Yyvonne our room attendant was very good and did special room decorations when she found out it was our honeymoon. Our small room fridge was stocked daily with juice/coke and water.
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Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We thought the activities and nightly entertainment were good, so you can either keep to yourself and relax or be very social and mingle. We found the staff to be vert polite and friendly. There were a few couples from Canada and Britian, however most of the guests were from the States. We did the Dunns River falls tour and the Martha Brae river rafting. Both were excellent but entirely different. You also get to see a bit of the country as you head for the tours. Dunns River Falls is a must to see but if you have any physical handicap climbing them would be difficult. The Martha Brae tour was romantic and very relaxing and fun to to do. We went shopping to the Old Fort Market in Montego Bay but be forwarned the vendors are very aggresive and it is best to be accompanied by a taxi driver who will wait for you and shielded you from the vendors.
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Other Comments:
We found the Jamaican people to be warm, friendly and easygoing especially if you try and learn the local Patois. They can be assertive but if you are polite and smile there is never any problems. Mondays is the Managers wine and cheese and this is where the different chefs have a small competition. We wish we had known about this beforehand. Wednesday is the returning guest dinner with the management team and this was truly enjoyable and a great meal in addition.Rick the hotel manager happaned to be seated with us and he is very friendly, approachable and helpful. The staff in general are very professional and well trained but in particular in addition to those we already mentioned we found, Nevyia one of the servers who also did the daily English tea which my wife enjoyed to be very professional Craig at water sports was friendly and very good as were the photographers Devon and Levor. Finally we found Leighton the guest services manager and Oakley the night manager to be very helpful and friendly All in all a great vacation spot and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED The staff are profess
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Restaurants and Bars:
ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. The choices are many and varied especially with SANDALS MONTEGO BAY and SANDALS INN nearby and readily available by the free SANDALS shuttle. We love dining and our favourites at the RC were the Royal Thai on the island(the ambiance is great, soup is very spicy)and Le Jardiniere French).Oleanders and Tokyo Joes at SANDALS MONTEGO BAY were also wonderful. We were not as fond of the Italian at SANDALS MONTEGO BAY. We won a dinner package at one of the games and tried MARGUERITES SEAFOOD on the Bay in Montego Bay and had a wonderful dinner experience. We made reservations for the whole week shortly after arrival and highly reccommend doing this to get the choice of restaurant you want and your preferred dining time. We had lunches at the beach grill, the Regency and the private island and all were adequate with varied light fare. We enjoyed all our breakfasts at the REGENCY overlooking the water and private island.The servers were well trained and very attentive. The swim up bar and beach bar were fun and served many varied drinks during the day. Waits were not long and the bartenders were good. The air conditioned bar near the entertainment was fantastic in the evenings. Two of the bartenders in particular were amazing, Sigourd and Adrian, they mixed an excellent dry martini. They also served good quality scotch, champagne and white (pinot grigio) and red (cabernet sauvignon) wine. The restaurants were great and we like the opportunity to dress up a little and many others did as well. All in all, excellent!!!!
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The grounds are beautiful and well maintained, lots of pretty flowers.Four peacocks roam around the property.They fog for mosquitoes nightly at @ 530 and my wife was biten several times. There are 4 pools and you can either go to the busy main swim up bar pool where all the activity is or you can use a quiet pool with hot tub near your room. The pools nearest the rooms are also nice to use at night while gazing at the stars. The main beach is ok, very short, so if you want to walk for miles along the beach like you can do in Varadero or Aruba this is not the place for you. We liked goiing to the private island and using the baech there. The dragon boat provides transportation on demand throughout the day and we never had to wait long for a ride over or back. It is easy to spend a good part of the day on the island as there is a pool, hot tub, beach and you can get lunch over there as well. The far side of the island has a clothing optional beach which we wanted to try while on our honeymoon. It is well marked so if the sight of a naked body offends you or you are prudish dont go there. Some people seem surprised that people actually remove their swimsuits! Most often there were 6 or 7 couples on the beach but at times you had the whole beach to yourself especially later in the day which was very enjoyable.
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| A place to return |
| Hotel Beaches Boscobel Ocho Rios |
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Paris >
1 contribution(s) United Kingdom |
| May, 2009
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Arrival: 2nd December-16th December
When i arrived i already knew it was going to be a fanatastic holiday, the people were very nice so we waited for our room, and that was just amazing we had a room facing the beach.
Rooms:
Well the rooms were really good especially because we got up graded and they did not charge us anything.they did this because our bathroom was quite dirty so they treated us by up grading us for free so that was great.
Restaurants and Bars:
The restaurants were nice we had 3 to pick out of the 2 weeks we were there and the food was lovely, everyday for breakfast i was always pleased with the food everyday for lunch and dinner just fornominal.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
I found the pool really fun everyday i was on the waater slides and i felt safe because there were always life guards there. The beach was calm and relaxing, the sea was nice and blue.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We went to dolphin cove and had fun with the dolphins, we also went kiaking and went on the see throw boat were we could see everything that lived at the bottom of the sea.
Other Comments:
The whole 2 weeks we were there i had a fantastic time and i would go back some day. the people are great,food is great and so are all the activites. so thank you beaches boscobel!!!!!
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| I would love to go back sometime! |
| Hotel Holiday Inn Sunspree |
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Betty >
2 contribution(s) United States of America |
| Mar, 2009
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Arrival: February 12 - 19
We got in late from the airport, but our check-in time went great, everyone was very helpful. The weather felt so warm after coming from Northern Minnesota!
Rooms
The rooms were very nice & clean, they cleaned the rooms and restocked towels every day. One nice thing too was we could use the washers & driers free.
Restaurants and Bars
The Food was Fantastic!! A great variety, three Big Buffet Meals every day, plus the Bar for drinks anytime, and the "Jerk Shack" for snacks. We also enjoyed the Seabreeze and Trattoria Specialty Restaraunts.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
The Beach was gorgeous and our group really enjoyed going out to the Little Island. I liked the Hot Tub for relaxing. We also enjoyed Kayaking. The grounds were beautiful.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
There was allot of entertainment daily. We attended Church Services Sunday AM. We took several tours, and we appreciated our Tour Manager! she really helped us in lining up our tours. The Tours all were very enjoyable & special & it was fun to see the Country-side. We shopped at the Gift Shops at the resort & we also walked across the street for Jamaican Shopping a few times.
Other Comments
We did learn one thing the hard way, my Grandson made Phone calls with an International Calling Card and found out when leaving he was charged for all the calls as it did not work in the rooms, this was sad. I would love to go back sometime! Thank You to all, Owner, Manager, & Staff!
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| Overall a great resort and staff..had a wicked time there.. |
| Hotel Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Resort |
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Glenn >
5 contribution(s) Canada |
| Mar, 2009
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Arrival
late arrival with delayed flights with air canada..staff were professional and efficent in checking us in
Rooms
oceanview room was well worth the surcharge..just turned off the ac, opened the sliding door and listened to the ocean at night..clean and well stocked..yes, we did leave the ocassional tip for the ladies
Restaurants and Bars
the a la cartes, japanese, creole and steakhouse were all good..only booked at two..should have booked at steakhouse..heard it was good..buffet was typical..fairly bland and greasy..how come all fish taste the same
Beach/Pools/Grounds
our end of beach had vegetation and trees which was nice..local craft village at end with ominous liablity warning for guests brave enough to venture over there. fairly aggressive but nothing like shanghai, just say no and walk away..
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
went to glistening waters..not extremely exciting but very interesting bio-luminesent water..can actually see where fish are swimming by seeing the flash of light. zip lining was a hoot and the dunns river falls hike is tacky but a must
Other Comments
depending on your level of advenuturism..go to the highway and flag down your own cab(red plates only) and pay 2 to 3 dollars for ride rather than $25 that the cabs at resort want to charge..negotiate price and ask where cab is going first..cab cost us $10.00 us on the way home..could have got cheaper but just wanted to get going..still only cost us $13.00us instead of $50.00 us..tip the employees people..they only make $2 an hour and they do appreciate it..jamaicans are a quite unique poeple in their attitude and patriotism which i found quite refreshing. overall a great resort and staff..had a wicked time there..
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| I would go back to the RIU Montego Bay any day |
| Hotel Riu Montego Bay |
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Sandy and John >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Mar, 2009
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Beach Party in Paradise, Jamaica
RIU Montego Bay
Feb 21, 09 – Feb 28, 09
Holiday booked through CAA Travel
This was a package vacation developed in conjunction with 3 local radio stations. There were over 200 people booked for the package, which gave the CAA team some leverage with resort management. The CAA team pre-booked our off-resort excursions, prior to our leaving Canada. I really liked this option. CAA had an “escort” on site during the week, as did Sunquest Travel.
This was a terrific package and I would highly recommend CAA as a travel supplier
Flight
Flew Skyservice out of Toronto, excellent as always. We were delayed out of Toronto due to the late arrival of our plane to Toronto and the need for de-icing.
Arrival
The experience at the airport was a little tedious; there were only a couple immigration people on duty. However we arrived late in the evening and our flight was late getting in so one excuse could be that there is not normally as many planes coming in at that time. It is a weak excuse, because they know well in advance when flights are going to be late At the resort, all the rooms were set-up and packages created. It should have been a really slick and quick check-in. It was not because there was little organization and flow.
A simple “Lean” project to create a queue with a document collection (document provided by Sunquest), distribution of room packages and wrist banding stations would save significant time for the resort and “end of travel day” tension for the traveler
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Main Dining Room
Food is a very personal thing, so please understand that this is just our opinion. However, we found the food to be quite good.
We had breakfast and dinner in Rose Hall most days and there was always a lot of selection. While I didn’t try, I am sure I could fill my plate with something completely different each day for a week at both meals. There was just one thing that I had all week that I would not select again. It was an item on the breakfast buffet, had never tried it before and while I didn’t care for it, I’m sure others might.
Service in the Dining Room was good; I didn’t find the dining room staff as engaging as we have seen at other resorts, however they did what was needed very efficiently.
Bars/Restaurants
Lunches were down by the beach, or in the Mahoe Bay Grill. I quickly became addicted to the Jerk Chicken, which is served to perfection from a little hut on the beach.
The Mahoe Bay Grill is by the pool and beach and is a buffet, of mid-day selections.
We had dinner one night in the Steak House and one at “Little Italy” Italian restaurant. The food was good, though really no better than the main buffet. A number of reviewers have commented on the fact that both of these offer an appetizer/dessert buffet table, with table service for main course only. The main course offerings are a little different than in the main buffet, however the Steak House is the only real value in my opinion, because of the various preferences (Rare, Medium & Well Done) for steaks that apply less to other foods.
Note: I really liked that RIU Montego Bay served drinks in re-usable plastic glasses, rather than the one use plastic glasses used at many resorts. Imagine the amount of landfill avoided.
The swim-up bar is massive, with in water booths.
One thing that is really missing is a beach bar and washrooms. While the beach is not extremely large, it is large enough that a beach bar and washrooms should be installed.
We saw a “designers sketch” of the resort, which may include a beach bar that has not yet been built. It may make sense to have this as a low season project
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Pool
One of the best free-form pools I have seen, with lots of room, lounge chairs and shade.
The shade is created by arbors, which have been very well designed to allow shade during certain times of day and sun during others. You can for example, sit in one area and have sun most of the morning and shade all afternoon, or the opposite.
Some people have reported missing tiles. This is correct, it would appear that the adhesive is not holding, given that the resort is less than a year old. I don’t believe that the missing tiles effects the usefulness of the pool at all. If I owned the pool I would be going after the supplier, however can sure understand why they might wait to the slow season to fix the pool. Who wants to go during a week when the pool is shut down?
Beach
Relatively small, beautiful fine sand, great for swimming and hardly any waves. The water was a bit cloudy and there are some soft spots in the water, as have been reported by others. I think this is because the beach is man-made and new. If it were “woman-made”, they might have used some slightly coarser sand in the water to create a tighter pack (don’t women always say they do it right the first time).
There are also weeds, which float in and don’t make it to shore, because of the lack of waves. However, I prefer the weeds to the plastic glasses and plates I found in the water, left by thoughtless tourists.
This is an exceptional beach for young children (you still have to always be with them for safety), because there is no under-tow and a very gradual slope (Note: there is a tidal drop of about 8 inches, approx. 16 inches into the water)
Sand Fleas/Mosquitoes
Yes, they do live here and we did get some bites, mostly because we were too lazy to put on Skin-so-soft or repellant. I know some people are more bothered than others, so if you are, use a repellant. I did see someone on the property with a sprayer one day so assume they try to keep them down.
Insulated Mug
We always travel with our own insulated mug (20 ounce) with lid. It keeps drinks cold longer, reduces the odds of sand and bugs getting into your beverage and greatly reduces the number of plastic glasses used. I estimate that the average couple could reduce plastic glass use by 150 glasses per week (@ 10 per day) So I would recommend that you take one with you.
Departure
Check out was a breeze, we had to leave our room by 12 noon, however they have a luggage storage room and change room, which we used to catch our bus at 18:45 hrs.
Summary.
Some people complained about the jets passing overhead, I did not find it a problem.
I don’t know exactly what some folks are expecting from a 5 Star, I don’t know if this is actually a 5 Star. I would go back to the RIU Montego Bay any day.
www.fraserhome.ca/
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RIU Staff
We found all of the local people of Jamaica we met, to be really friendly. There were a lot of tourists who I would not want to invite to my house.
Why is it that while on vacation people believe they have the right to drop plates and glasses on the beach or wherever they finish using them.
While I am on my “soap-box”, I would also like to single out the smokers who drop cigarette butts on the beach, do you know that it takes decades for a filter to break down? So 20 years from know your little gift to Jamaica may still be there to greet your kids or grandkids. Not much of a legacy!
I do have one concern with the Bar Staff. I spent some time last week observing the way the various bar teams worked. Each bar has a supervisor/manager and as required additional bar staff. There were a couple of teams that would absolutely ignore a customer who did not tip them. They would make themselves busy at the other end of the bar or avoid looking at them and take someone who had just walked up (often those who got preferential service were on a first name basis with the bartender). Now I also believe in tipping good service and will select a number of those I believe as strong performers to tip. However, I think that if RIU allows this culture to continue, it will expand beyond the couple of teams I observed, and become a real problem for an all-inclusive resort
Main Building
The main building is nicely done, in fact beautiful. All of the buildings and grounds were well above par in my opinion. It probably did not hurt that the resort is less than a year old, however over the week it was clear to me that they were already into a preventative maintenance mode
One thing that appealed to me was how the buildings tended to slip out of sight when you were not paying attention to them. I think it is the design and colours used. The buildings are mauve with white trim and they seemed to blend really well with the sky, ocean, plants and trees
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Room
The room is pretty basic accommodations. Having said that it is nice, clean and cheerfully painted. Each room has a deck/balcony with chairs and a table; these are covered to give protection from rain or sun. The grounds are quite nice. As per usual, don’t drink the tap water in the rooms. There is a mini-fridge in each room and they provide you with four bottles of liqueur (gin, vodka, rum & brandy), assorted soft drinks, 6 Red Stripe Beer and a large bottle of purified water for drinking.
Bathroom was functional with lots of hot water and we had enough pressure to just about take skin off.
The room was kept very clean daily. A friend of ours had a ground floor room that had an odor, which seemed musty when you first walked in, however when you concentrated on it, there was a hint of chemical in the back of the nose. I think it was actually the smell of new oil based paint, curing.
We have seen reviews where people indicate that the resort or parts of the resort are not kept clean. We did not see any indication of this. In fact, we did see a lady cleaning the handrail of our building with a toothbrush, in order to get into small places.
One interesting thing is that they don’t count the ground floor as the first floor. We were in room 2214, which meant building 2, second floor, Room 14. We were actually on the 3rd floor of the building with 20XX and 21XX below us, and 23XX above us in a building with 4 floors. We had a little sliver of an ocean view.
The self-programmable room safe works really well and is big enough for a Laptop Computer.
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| We found Breezes Montego Bay to be a nice small resort with everything you needed |
| Hotel Breezes Montego Bay |
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Lucille >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Mar, 2009
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Arrival: January 2009
Great - 5 minutes from the airport, unlike Negril or Ocho Rios
Restaurants and Bars:
OK for a small resort
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
The best part of our trip was our tour guide/driver, Ken Gracey. Ken, a Jamaican-born Canadian owns and operates Hummingbird Tours (1-876-476-0818, email: kjgracey@yahoo.ca). Ken is respectful, courteous, friendly and enjoys showing Jamaica to tourists. Ken customized a tour for us that included a full day of sightseeing not offered by any other tour company. He also showed us some out-of-the-way places that only a local resident would know about. He takes pictures of the entire tour and burns a CD for you for free. His price is lower than tours offered by the hotel while offering added value (i.e. CD and customized tours). We went on 5 tours with Ken, so I can say with confidence that Ken is an awesome host. Thank you Ken.
Other Comments:
We found Breezes Montego Bay to be a nice small resort with everything you needed, although this property could use a little TLC. The cabin rooms are very small. So small you have to store your clothes in drawers under the bed. If you want one of the bigger rooms, pay extra for a deluxe room. Breezes has a great location, the best beach I saw while in Jamaica for 2 weeks. The surf is gentle, great for kayaking, snorkeling and swimming.
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| It exceeded our expectations |
| Hotel Breezes (formerly Starfish) Trelawny Resort |
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Jan >
5 contribution(s) Canada |
| Feb, 2009
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Arrival: Feb 10 - 17
Flight was on time, the bus for transfer to the hotel was not at the airport when we arrived, but it did arrive within half an hour....it took approx. 35 minutes to arrive at hotel....smooth check in....as I was first in line!!
Rooms
Rooms are in a need of an upgrade, rather disappointing on initial arrival, but after a few days, the room grew on us......bathroom sadly needs major makeover, but we had lots of hot water most days and lots of pressure for showers etc...the tv had tons of channels, could even watch our local city tv station from Toronto........only problem is, the volume was quite loud and could not be turned down...had a nice balcony and they supplied a bar for your wet clothes.
Restaurants and Bars
main dinner restaurant left alot to be desired, lunch and breakfast were fine...we upgraded and ate at the speciality restaurants..Casablanca, and Guiseppes....wonderful....men need long pants for Casablanca and no open toed shoes were allowed either.......some menu items were not extra....i.e. the lasagna was wonderful and it was included....at Guiseppes....wonderful staff especially Adrian at the Casablanca and Caroldean at Guiseppes....most bar staff very friendly...especially at the pool bar and boy, are they over worked...needed another bar by the pool....too many line ups most of the day...would recommend a Hummingbird drink..........wonderful and healthy with a fresh banana in it!!
Beach/Pools/Grounds
grounds were lovely, well kept and clean...pools by the beach were amazing...the private beach located to the right of the resort, is absolutely stunning, the water was so warm and you could walk out quite far...
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
lots of poolside activities, entertainment at night was mostly bands, but not every night.......good music...did not go on any tours....
Other Comments
this was definately a three star resort in many ways, and in some it exceeded our expectations....lots of families with children, so if that is a problem, you may want to stay somewhere else...heard that they are changing ownership in October and becoming a Breezes, so the price will definately go up, but hopefully there will be some renos done at the same time........all in all...considering everything, I would say it was definately rated a 7 out of 10 most days...
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Arrival: Feb 10 - 17
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Flight was on time, the bus for transfer to the hotel was not at the airport when we arrived, but it did arrive within half an hour....it took approx. 35 minutes to arrive at hotel....smooth check in....as I was first in line!!
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| Rooms |
Rooms are in a need of an upgrade, rather disappointing on initial arrival, but after a few days, the room grew on us......bathroom sadly needs major makeover, but we had lots of hot water most days and lots of pressure for showers etc...the tv had tons of channels, could even watch our local city tv station from Toronto........only problem is, the volume was quite loud and could not be turned down...had a nice balcony and they supplied a bar for your wet clothes
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| This hotel is rated as 3 to 3.5 stars in all listings |
| Hotel Breezes (formerly Starfish) Trelawny Resort |
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karen >
22 contribution(s) Canada |
| Feb, 2009
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Arrival: First I must say this is our 12th visit to this resort. We met one Canadian couple who were on their 18th visit and another couple on their 31st visit. Both couples spoke of many others they had met through the years who had been there anywhere from 10 to 30 times. Most of the returning guests were either from Canada or England. Our Air Canada flight was on time and the lineups at immigration were not too long. Things moved along fairly smoothly. One other flight arriving at same time. Lots of staff but tourists get tired after travelling and get cranky very easily and there is just no pleasing some of them. Our flight attendants were only handing out one immigration card per family but it should have been one per person. We told them we had been to the island many times and that one card per person is required. There was no convincing them that they were wrong and we all had to fill out the additional cards in the airport. This is an error the airlines make....it has nothing to do with the immigration staff so don't take it out on them.
Rooms: Our room was very clean and everthing in working order. Furniture is older but serviceable. Our room on each and every visit has been clean.
The fridges are stocked at the beginning of your visit with Jamaican softdrinks and water. This is not Canada or the U.S. so don't expect the same brands of pop as at home! If you want what is at home...stay at home!! There are 26oz. bottles of gin, rum, vodka and brandy in your room on your arrival. Additional bottles are charged at $7.00 U.S. Drinks are all free at the bar until they close at 1A.M. so there is likely no need of restocking anyway. Water througout the island is safe to drink which is wonderful compared to most other islands in the Caribbean or in Mexico. Bottled water is not necessary and the tap water tastes wonderful. |
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Activities: There is always something going on around the sports pool. Music starts playing about 9:30 each day and is wonderful to listen to. The have to adjust the volume so that it is heard both close to the acitivies stage as well as on the far side of the pool. So if it is either too loud or too soft move to a spot more to your liking. Aquasize is offered everyday except Sunday. There are games played each day. Something for every age....trivia for adults or children, typical best tan or burn contests, bingo, pool olympics, pool or beach volleyball, pingpong or beer games. T The rock climbing wall is used by people from 5 years of age to people that are 40 or 50 years old. A circus clinic is available for guests to experience the flying trapeze. Each morning a member of the entertainment staff announces the days activities and the are listed on a board on the pool stage as well as near the elevators near the lobby and the buffet so there is no reason for anyone to say the didn't what the acitives of the day were going to be. The acitvies staff are working tremendously long hours. They start their day at 9am and stay until the disco closes in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes working two or three split shifts a day on one day off per week. They are always friendly, outgoing, smiling and more than willing to please you. Huie, Chris, Kevon and Anton are always dancing, singing or mingling with guests around the pool when activies are not going on. Non-motorized watersports are included and you don't have to wait very long to have a chance to go out in the kayaks or sail boats. You do not have to reserve them or book a time. Just advise the water sports staff that you want to use them and they will let you know how long of a wait you have if they are all being used.
Entertainment: There is nightly entertainment. Sometimes it is a singer, steel band, Jamaicain cultural show, the staff circus show is wonderful. There is crab races on Sat nights and Charity casino/pool tournaments on Sunday nights. The best part of the entertainment at this resort is that it is not North American singers and dancers brought to the island to perform in a Vegas style show. Vegas type shows are performed at resorts in Mexico and far too many Caribbean islands....after a few they all look the same. Enjoy what the Jamaican talent has to offer. |
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Food: The food is excellent. We are very picky eaters and have never had a problem finding something to eat. There is a good variety at the buffet every each day. At all meal times the buffet offers traditional Jamaican foods as well as what we are used to at home. Breakfast smoothies, waffles, pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage, fried eggs or omlettes, potatos or hash brown patties plus Jamaican breakfast items such as bammies or festivals (kind of like a doughnut item), calaloo, Jamaican one pot as well as yogurt, cheeses, danishes, english muffins, toast etc. Of course there is also cereal and even oatmeal. There is always lots of fruit and unlike some reviewers we have never seen them run out of anything. Continental breakfast begins at 6:30am and full breakfast is served from 7:30am to 10a.m. Perhaps the people that have seen a shortage of fruit have shown up right as the buffet is closing. We have been down at the pool having coffee in the morning or out on tours and arrived just before closing for our meals and never had any problems finding something to eat. There is always at least 3 items served to accomodate the favorites of children such as spagetti, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, fries, burgers, hotdogs etc.
There is really no need for any more as these tykes can certainly eat from the regular buffet. Fresh fruit is always available and the salad bar has a wonderful selection. Lots of dessert selections for lunch and dinner. Chocolate items are a little light on the chocolate flavor compared to our style of baking but still very tasty. There are four alacarte restaurants at the resort. The Casablanca offers a more classy dining experience for adults and children over 10 years of age. The Japanese is quite entertaining with the food being prepared in front of you. The Guiseppe offers outdoor dining as does the Reggae cafe outdoor evening dining at the pool. All these restaurants require reservations and a few of the menu items have a surcharge attached to them. The surcharges are very reasonable and a good idea. This is a family resort and many of the families choose to dine at the buffet with their children. Kind of a user pay idea. The grill at the pool bar offers hotdogs, burgers - beef and chicken, jerk chicken, fries, nachos, pizza, popcorn, and Jamaican patties (kind of like a pizza pop) with chicken or veggie style filling. Service is quick and it gives you a few momments of shade from an otherwise very sunny and hot pool area.
Bars: They are well stocked and a drink menu is displayed at each bar. The bartenders are happy and tend to dance along to the music being played. What does seem strange is in the last couple of visits guests are lining up at the bar. This is not necessary and the bartenders prefer you do not line up. While they are waiting for a blender style drink to finish mixing they are more than willing and capable of serving the next guest. It also makes the waitiing time shorter when they are serving more than one guest at a time. |
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Tours: These can be booked either through the resort or the taxi drivers that are at the hotel. When a taxi driver or tour operator takes you from the resort they are required to advise the hotel who they are taking and where they are taking them to. All registered taxi drivers in Jamaica will have a taxi decal displayed on their windshields. Other vehicle owners will offer you trips anywhere you want to go but remember most of them have only minimum insurance and the are not insured to be used as taxis so you are on your own should an accident occur. Throughout our visits to the island we have taken many tours.
Dunns River Falls is wonderful and anyone from 5 years old on up can climb the falls. We have gone on this excursion many times. We always take our camera and have never had it get wet. The guides at the falls always know whose cameras are whose and will take you pictures of you in the water. Our sons climbed with us when they were 5 and 7 and their were no problems at all. It is climbing and it is slippery so if you are not steady on your feet maybe give it a second thought. If it is raining heavily or they have had fairly steady rain they will not let you climb...this is because the rain from the mountains drains into the falls and the water level is too high in some places. If you are unfortunately in this situation please remember it is for your own safety that they will not let you climb.
The luminous lagoon is another great tour. If the sea is calm enough they will take you by boat if not you will be transported by bus. Free rum punch, beer and non alcoholic beverages are included. The reggae music is playing and the the atmosphere is great. As always this resort is looking guests safety and on one of our trips to the lagoon the seas kicked up a bit of a squall on our way to the lagoon so we were returned to the resort by bus rather than back on the boat. |
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The "Original Canopy Tour" is a lot of fun. Some tours do require a minimum of four people to go so do some inquiring early on in your vacation and do some visiting around the pool with other guests and it usually not a problem to get enough people or you can hire one of the hotel taxi drivers instead. We did the trip to Margaritaville in Montego Bay vacation and it is definately 'memorable'. What happens at Margaritaville stays at Margaritville!
Overall experience: This hotel is rated as 3 to 3.5 stars in all listings. We are in our fourties and have have been to many islands and to many resorts. We have stayed at everything from 2 star to 5+ star resorts including Sandals, Rius and Barcelos. This resort offers so much to their guests and all staff are so warm and friendly. Some reviewers have complaints about service, food, accomodations etc. but some people can't be pleased at any resort. This is the tropics, they have sand flies (not earwigs), they have some ants, they have mosquitos but so do most of the islands. The best way to ensure that bugs are not in you room is to ensure that you do not leave food items or empty unrinsed drink glasses lying around. Bugs are attracted to these type of items no matter where you are. One reviewer at one time stated they saw rats at the resorts....there are no rats in Jamaica!! They do have mongoose but they are not found on the resort. Would I recommend this resort? Absolutely, but not to everyone. You do not find repeat guests that have been to a resort, 10, 15 up to 30 vists at many resorts so that definately speaks for itself. If you are looking for a posh, very exlcusive resort this is not the place for you. This resort is good value for the money compared to other Jamaican resorts. If you want fun, laughter and wonderful vacation memories I would choose this place hands down. |
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds: |
Beach: The beach has been taking a real beating from the weather. The sea level is very high and the undertow has been stripping the sand off the beach. Debris is constantly being brought on shore by the sea but the hotel staff works at cleaning the beach each morning.The resort is trucking in sand on a continuing basis to replenish the beach. By afternoon the beach will likely have some weeds or washed up coconuts on it but I would rather see that than have to walk around the maintenance staff out there with rakes all day! All beaches are public beaches in Jamaica and the locals are thus allowed to pass though the resort beach. They are not allowed to loiter and the security staff quickly sends them on their way if the try to stop and bother the guests. Sure they may ask you more than once to buy something but just be friendly, say no and they leave you alone. The locals are not nearly as aggressive as in Mexico. On either side of the beach there are security guards who will take your name and room number if you are leaving to wander the 'off property' beach. I like having security do this because it shows the resort is being responsible for its guests safety and offers you a peace of mind they want you to feel safe while on the island. We know of one guest who left on the beach and came back through the water. At the end of the afternoon when security checked their list and he was not checked off on the list as having returned to the resort his room was called and he was located to make sure he was back safe and sound.
Pools: There are four pools on the premises and all are kept extremely clean. Staff are out each morning cleaing and adjusting chemical levels. We have never seen the pools dirty or neglected on any of our visits. The most used pools are the sports pool and childrens pool nearest the beach.
Grounds: Each day there are grounds keepers out trimming and tending to the flowers, grass and trees. They are all very knowledgeable about the plants and if you have any questions about a particular type of flower or plant they are more than willing to take the time to tell you about them. We have overheard some guests stating that the leaves are falling off the trees etc but Jamaica has their own seasons and the leaves will fall and flowers will wilt....thats nature!
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| we had a great vacation |
| Hotel Riu Ocho Rios |
| User Rating:
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Dawn >
6 contribution(s) Canada |
| Feb, 2009
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Arrival:
Our trip to the hotel was not pleasant. Our flight from Toronto to Montego Bay was delayed by 5 hours due to flooding that had occurred in the Dominican Republic a few days earlier. Apparently the closure of the airport in the Dominican caused a back-up of other flights to the Caribbean.
SkyService really needs to realize that they cannot continue to cram people into the minute space they consider to be a seat.
When we arrived in Montego Bay at 2AM, there were only two customs officials on duty and we had to wait in line for one hour. Once we made it through customs, we had to wait on the bus for another hour of those who were behind us in line to clear customs. The trip to the resort was uneventful (we were sleeping for a lot of the ride) and we finally arrived at the Riu after 5AM.
Once there, we found the staff to be highly organized and were checked in quickly.
Rooms:
We had booked an oceanview room, and had a partial view of the ocean from our balcony. The room was very nice and housekeeping kept it spotless. The bathroom was a fair size with twin sinks and an adequate shower/tub. As noted in others reviews, the bed was quite firm (which I liked) but I found the pillows to be uncomfortable. If you have the space in your luggage, I would suggest that you take your own fave pillow from home. Satellite TV worked the majority of the time, however we did experience a couple of outages where certain channels were unavailable for a while, but this was not really a problem.
If you want to make calls home to Canada, buy a $20USD hotel calling card. There is a $2USD additional connection fee for each call, but if you are making multiple calls in one 'sitting', press the # key and you will only be charged one $2 connection fee.
Restaurants and Bars:
The food was amazing. I have never eaten so much in my life. The hotel has really improved the process for booking the a la carte restaurants. We waited in line a couple of times for a max of 15 minutes and ate a Sir John and the Steakhouse. Both were nice and the service was exceptional at both. The buffet and the Italian restaurant were my faves. As a vegetarian I had a wide selection of hot and cold foods to choose from and the desserts were quite delicious as well.
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Beach/Pools/Grounds:
We spent a lot of our time at the pool. We were able to reserve our chairs by putting our towels on them each morning and never had any hotel staff remove them. There were activities around the pool and the events staff did their best to get those who wished to, to participate. Service at the pool bar was great, The beach was large with lots of chairs. We spent more time at the beach towards the end of our vacation because the water was more calm and therefore there was no seaweed washed up on the beach. If you are not a strong swimmer, you should be aware that the water gets fairly deep (even within the roped off area)soon after you wade into it (unlike Varadero where you can walk out quite far before the water becomes deep).
There are some unauthorized 'vendors' on the beach trying to sell people jet-ski rides and parasailing. We were also asked if we would like to buy some weed, but if you politely decline, they don't continue to hassle you.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Dunn's River Falls: We took a cab there and back. The park and Falls were very pretty, and though we didn't climb the Falls, we were able to walk along them on a boardwalk (all the way from the top of the Falls to the beach) as well as being able to walk into a section of the Falls for some photos (just be careful because the rocks are slippery). If you go on your own, guys outside the park with try to get you to purchase their services as guides. I would suggest that you wait till you get into the park and get an "authorized" Dunn's River Falls guide (they have shirts that identify them).
Downtown Ocho Rios:
We took a cab downtown. It was quite an experience but I am happy that we saw the sites off the resort. Went to the crafts market where the vendors are very aggressive. I wouldn't suggest that you visit it if you are easily aggravated. There were some finds there, but keep in mind that the hotel also brings in crafts vendors in on certain nights, so if you don't want to deal with pushy salespeople, skip the crafts market downtown and opt for the hotel one instead.
Also, people will try to hustle you for various things downtown (women kept wanting to braid my hair), but you need to keep in mind that Jamaica has a large unemployment rate. If you are able to approach these situations keeping in mind you are in a country with a different cultural norms, you will be fine.
Other Comments:
Ironically enough, the negative aspect of our vacation was our Sunquest rep at the hotel (not the rep who held the orientation session). She was rude and not helpful at all and whenever we went to speak with her, she would take personal phone calls in the midst of our conversations or ignore us altogether. We found this to be totally unacceptable considering Sunquest is a major tour operator and should take more care in choosing who is representing them.
All in all, we had a great vacation. The weather was good (except for about a day and a half of rain) and the Riu Ocho Rios is a beautiful hotel with beautiful grounds and amazing staff. I would recommend it and would stay there again.
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