Description: Enjoy the finest amenities and personalized service available on Jamaica. Our exceptional Ocho Rios Jamaica resort features five-star accommodations, fabulous amenities, and superb service.
Are you the owner of this property? The link to your website could stand here. Please, contact Debbie.
Sharon >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Apr, 2010 | Leisure | With friend
1 people found this review helpful
We had a direct flight and were looking forward togetting to our hotel.The van we were on stopped at some dive to make it an even longer trip. The kite festical slowed up traffic so it actually took 3 hours to getto the hotel. Check in was fine, but it took 45 minutes and two calls to have luggage delivered. They only stock the mini bar with water, etc every other day and it took 3 days for them to respond to a specific request.In case you are interested in any of the a la carte restaurants, you have to get up early to get in line to make reservastions. We didn't like the second seating at 9 PM so we ate at St. Ann's most of the time. Pool was lovely, help is friendier in the DR, but overall it is a pretty resort,nice beach with palm trees, good ocean breeze. Rooms are more than adequate and in our 'ocean view' room, if we leaned over the balcony we could get a nice view of the water. Beds were comfy and check out was a breeze. Only took two hours to get back to the airport.We both had massages, a bit overpriced, but the service was nice.
Your Arrival
Front desk was frindly and helpful, giving us a map of the property.It is a large property so be prepared for lots of walking.
Rooms
Rooms were clean,although some mysterious tiny ants showed up the last day.They make cool shapes and put flowers on your blankets for you. Lovely view of the garden, but not as much ocean sight or sound as we would have expected. Baths have two sinks and good use of space. Nice mahogany wood abounds so you feel like you are in the tropics.
Restaurants and Bars
Nothing really exciting and the staff doean't seem very interactive. Only a couple of the bartenders really seemed into their jobs. I hope they are good jobs because the rest of the country looks really impoverished. There are lots of bars to choose from.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
Grounds and beaches were well tended. Several wedding parties took advantage of that service and everyone seemed pleased.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
Lots of vendors selling trips and services. We did the shopping and found lovely jewelry to tempt us. If you buy alcohol from off-site it bneeds to go in your luggage. The duty free shops sell it cheaper than my besr negotiated price. Be prepared to negotiate and checkto see where souveniers are made. Some of the native looking drums available alll over are still marked made in Indonesia.
Other Comments
This is a lovely resprt and it seems it might be too big. It did not feel as intimateas my trip to the Riu Palace Macau inthe DR. I did have a medical emergeny which was handled in house. The doctor (clinic across the street?) charges $180 US for the 'house call'.RKG was only $50 but meds were $70. Glad to avoid having to go tothe hospital. The nurse is very caring and professional.
Was this review helpful? YesThank you for giving us your opinion.
I would not hesitate to recommend the Riu Ocho Rios. I am somewhat surprised by some of the negative reviews...but then again, some people expect perfection in everything and that to me is not what makes a wonderful holiday.
The RIU resort itself was beautiful and very clean. The staff were very personable and accommodating (and for those who felt otherwise, maybe think about how you related to them; a poor attitude anywhere will usually not be met with a warm reception). The St. Anne's restaurant (buffet) was incredible. We had no problem finding a variety of foods that we enjoyed - both for breakfast and dinner. We never went hungry and never felt worried about getting sick. Again, everything was very clean and all the food was well prepared.
As far as the resort itself, it was wonderful. The open air lobby with its warm sea breezes and rattan furniture was so inviting. The beach was wonderful. The sand was soft, the palm trees were plentiful (which was great for when we wanted to lie in the shade), and the staff were continously picking up any empty cups, etc left by guests.
I could go on and on about the great time we had, but I believe that anyone who has travelled to various islands, and therefore understands that things may not always be as they are at home, will truly appreciate this resort in Ocho Rios.
A highlight not to miss is the experience of climbing Dunn River Falls.
Jacqueline and Steve (Toronto)
Your Arrival
Warm reception, with a rum punch beverage offered as soon as we disembarked the bus.
Rooms
Very clean and plenty of in-room beverages in the complmentary mini-fridge and liquor dispenser (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). The pillows were not the greatest (very lumpy) and the bed a bit hard, but this did not spoil our holiday in the least.
Restaurants and Bars
Excellent. St. Anne's for breakfast, Mammee Bay and the Jerk Chicken Hut for lunch, and St. Anne's again for dinner. We never went hungry.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
Wonderful and well kept!
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
Climginb the Dunn River Falls is a must! An incredible experience.
Was this review helpful? YesThank you for giving us your opinion.
Having travelled throughout the Caribbean and having seen many different all-inclusives, maybe I am now more choosy. The hotel looks pretty but upon closer observation, has many design flaws and, in my opinion, is poorly managed. The employees bend over backwards to be helpful, generally-speaking, but they can't produce things which haven't been provided by management, and they can't change the basic layout of the hotel. We wrote a list of our concerns and presented them to the assistant manager on the 3rd day of our 7-day stay. His response was to shrug and say nothing. We asked him to find a way to compensate our displeasure but he really had nothing to offer us.
Your Arrival
We had stayed at another hotel for a week in Negril and so we accepted their transfer to the MBJ airport and then we were on our own for finding a way to the Riu. Someone had given us the name of a reasonably priced, reliable taxi service, so we used that. We arrived at the RIU around 7 p.m. on a Saturday evening. We were greeted with a sweet cocktail dispensed from a large machine and rum was added into it. We arrived to find that the hotel only had one key available and no safe locks available. They assured us that we could get these the following morning. It surprised us to learn that the room safe was locked in the old fashioned way (key and removable lock) as most hotels now have the programmable combination types. We also discovered that we had the old-fashioned lock and key for our room, while our friends in Bldg. 1 had digitized cardlocks. The entire hotel was built at the same time (not in phases) so we are not sure why one area had better locks.
We had paid for an ocean view room and were informed we were in Bldg. 3 (of 3 possible buildings)
The bellman loaded our bags and lead us on a long trip to the elevator. The trip took us through an area where there was open-air seating for the large buffet restaurant. Because we arrived during the supper hour, the bellman dodged hungry guests running back and forth from their tables to the buffet, and he also dodged busy waiters with full carts of dirty dishes. I was surprised that this was the only way to get to the bank of elevators in Bldg. 3. After that evening, we called a trip through this passageway "running the gauntlet". There is a lot of marble in this beautiful-at-first-glance hotel. Unfortunately, the marble can be slippery and is made worse by the open-air aspect (rain gets in, drinks spilled, etc.) This was "taken care of" by a mass distribution of bright orange hazard cones. It really spoiled the appearance of the place. To add to that, one must navigate a 15° ramp to get to the elevator, and although parts of the marble/granite had been surfaced with grit, it was still an accident waiting to happen.
Rooms
We took the elevator to our top floor room. We looked forward to a magnificent view as we had been worried that we might be assigned a 2nd floor room and the ocean view would be nothing but treetops. However, after stepping onto the balcony, we were greeting by a solid wall. Instead of a railing so that the view was in fact viewable, we had to stand up to enjoy seeing anything. I have to admit that standing there in the morning did give us a magnificent view. But as mentioned, this was not achieved by sitting in a deck chair with a cocktail in hand. Additionally, there was only one chair on the balcony, and despite 2 calls to the front desk, we never had more than one.
There were never enough towels. Somedays we had one bath towel and 2 hand towels and other days 3 bath towels and no hand towels. We did put in requests for more, but never got any. We did tip our maid daily, but short of knitting her own towels, I am certain that she had no access to any.
Our clock lost 15 seconds per minute so was useless. Channels on the TV were mostly American and Spanish (RIU is a Spanish chain) and we were hard pressed to find a local station or one that provided us with a weather forecast. Many large hotels include a channel with daily events. This was not the case here.
The mattresses are poor quality and uncomfortable. The pillows are attrocious.
The furnishing and artwork are very attractive, however.
Restaurants and Bars
I have mentioned the problem with traffic in the main (St. Ann) buffet. The same can be said for the main hallway between 2 bars leading from the reception area to Bldg. 1.
The food was quite good, generally. However, we had friends staying in Bldg.1 and we were in Bldg. 3. Our friends had jr. suites and likely paid a bit more for their rooms. Therefore, they had access to certain restaurants that we did not have access to. It seemed a bit elitist to me, but we found ways to get around it.
Sadly there wasn't a single bar/lounge where one could go to have a drink and talk with friends. Every public area was loud and noisy. The sound system was poor in the entertainment area made worse by the sound bouncing off hard materials like wood and marble.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
The pools are lovely. The grounds are breath-taking. There were plenty of lounge chairs available on the beach (not so much at the pools) but we prefer the beach. It is man-made but very well groomed - not like the beaches of Negril, but just fine. No real snorkeling to be done from shore, but great for cooling off.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
We had a couple massage on our first day at the resort. It was wonderful - it took place right on the beach and our attendants were delightful.
We attended a wedding at the gazebo on the beach - it was beautifully done.
As with all the all-inclusives that have tour companies attached, the tours are expensive and dependent on who happens to be the tour guide that day. We did 2 tours -one was a Catamaran ride to Dunn's River Falls with a snorkeling stop on the way back and the other was rafting down the Martha Brae. This was our second trip to the falls and I think it is well worth it. I wouldn't ever go on the Martha Brae trip again. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly, but the bus trip was an hour each way and unfortunately, our raft guide wasn't overly friendly or talkative. Other guides were singing and chatting about local flora/fauna. Ours just wanted to sell his carved calabashes to us for $50-60. (as if we brought that kind of money with us on a tour!)
Other Comments
The earthquake in Haiti was a recent occurence and the weather in Jamaica was the poorest I had experienced. However, we did have more sun than rain and Jamaica is a most beautiful country.
The people of Jamaica are the highlight. They are the happiest, friendliest people and they keep us coming back. We just won't stay at a RIU next time!
Was this review helpful? YesThank you for giving us your opinion.
Lovely big resort. Internet connection with your own laptop in Lobby area with only 1-2 laptops available at Riu. The beds were most unconfortable & fresh fruit was hard to find most days. The beach area was the best with reef area for protection from huge waves. Entertainment was poor quality in the evenings. The staff were friendly & all English speaking which was nice.
Your Arrival
Jan 3, 2010
Rooms
Requested the king bedroom & had 2 doubles put together, but made individually.
Restaurants and Bars
You could only book 1 restaurant per day & had to be in line 45 min before 8am when they opened the booking desk. Sir John's was good; but Steakhouse was poor.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
The grounds were well kept & lovely. The beach area was large & protected from ocean with a reef which was nice as you could snorkel there. Sailboats, kayaks & paddle boats available also.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
Hired a taxi from resort for $35 USD for 2 couples to go into Ocho Rios 10 min away from resort.
Other Comments
Relatively good value for resort.
Was this review helpful? YesThank you for giving us your opinion.
RIU OCHO RIOS ~ THE WORST VACATION EVER ; COMPLETE NIGHTMARE
Riu Ocho Rios
User Rating:
true-critic >
1 contribution(s) United States of America
Jan, 2010 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
2 people found this review helpful
RIU OCHO RIOS ~ The worst Vacation EVER ! My vacation was the worst and most horrible experience anyone could EVER have. I have already notified ALL or my friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances, co workers, distant relatives, EVERYONE that I know that Jamaica IS NOT a good place to go, that the people were RUDE, Condescending, Unhelpful, Not Courteous, and overall VERY Unpleasant. When I arrived I was directed to a travel booth upon which I was told to stand in a spot in the airport for 2 hours until the shuttle picked me up and took another one and a half hours to get me to the resort. When I was greeted by the staff at the resort upon arrival was the 1st and last time I ever was shown any type of "customer service" or "hospitality" I was sexually harassed by a guy that claimed to be "head of security" and he even forced his way into my room and exposed himself to me, I was also constantly followed and haggled by other male staff members who were trying to flirt and make sexual advances. I was very VERY displeased with the "customer service" at the reception desk of the hotel, the women working would act like they didn't see you, and would just stand around and chat with each other, AND then act put off if you spoke up to get their attention! Also one male staff member called my room one day 6 times, saying that he couldn't stop thinking about me and that he wanted to see me after work, and that did I need him to come massage me, etc. etc. This is disgusting that I cannot go on a Christmas Vacation and just relax and enjoy myself ! The food was AWFUL. Even fast food is better than what was being served in the restaurants there, and I also got sick from the food. I think the theory is to serve enough liquor and keep everyone drunk so they don't care about the bad food, bad service, and overall bad feel of the place. The food was buffet style for the majority unless you made reservations to eat at the two fancier places. It did not matter though, because all the food was horrible. I tried to go scuba diving and started having ear and chest pains in the pool before the dive, I opted to quit the pool lesson and not do the dive because I was worried about my health. I was offered NO REFUND, even though I had not even completed the pool portion of the lesson. In fact I was still owed $1 because the girl taking payment said she did not have change. I was instructed to come back at the end of the day to collect my change! This is just BAD customer service and BAD business ethics. I ended up leaving my vacation two days early to return home, because it was that HORRIBLE. I was notified that I would not get a refund and would have to buy a new ticket home, as if this fact would change my mind about leaving. I paid $600 just to get home because anything was better than being stuck in Jamaica. It amazes me that a place that is stimulated largely on tourism could be so rude and have an overall lack of any customer service or hospitality. Even now I get si
Your Arrival
My vacation was the worst and most horrible experience anyone could EVER have. I have already notified ALL or my friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances, co workers, distant relatives, EVERYONE that I know that Jamaica IS NOT a good place to go, that the people were RUDE, Condescending, Unhelpful, Not Courteous, and overall VERY Unpleasant. When I arrived I was directed to a travel booth upon which I was told to stand in a spot in the airport for 2 hours until the shuttle picked me up and took another one and a half hours to get me to the resort. When I was greeted by the staff at the resort upon arrival was the 1st and last time I ever was shown any type of "customer service" or "hospitality"
Rooms
The rooms were average but nice. Except for the fact that the heat did not work and it did get very cold at night and early evening. The T.V. channels were limited. And the room smelt moldy and more like very unpleasant like sewer as the days went on
Restaurants and Bars
The food was AWFUL. Even fast food is better than what was being served in the restaurants there, and I also got sick from the food. I think the theory is to serve enough liquor and keep everyone drunk so they don't care about the bad food, bad service, and overall bad feel of the place. The food was buffet style for the majority unless you made reservations to eat at the two fancier places. It did not matter though, because all the food was horrible.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
The pool was so cold I couldn't even swim in it, think Hypothermia ! The grounds smelt like bad food and old garbage. The beach was usually a mess with debris and other things that washed up on shore from the nightly storm/showers.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
I tried to go scuba diving and started having ear and chest pains in the pool before the dive, I opted to quit the pool lesson and not do the dive because I was worried about my health. I was offered NO REFUND, even though I had not even completed the pool portion of the lesson. In fact I was still owed $1 because the girl taking payment said she did not have change. I was instructed to come back at the end of the day to collect my change! This is just BAD customer service and BAD business ethics.
Other Comments
A complete Nightmare, AND the Worst Christmas EVER ! I was met with rudeness and aloofness from the moment I landed until the moment I re-boarded the plane to home.
Was this review helpful? YesThank you for giving us your opinion.
we had a great vacation
Riu Ocho Rios
User Rating:
Dawn >
6 contribution(s) Canada
Feb, 2009
1 people found this review helpful
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.
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.
Was this review helpful? YesThank you for giving us your opinion.
| 
