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 Sandals Montego Bay   Location: Beachfront - 10 minutes from Donald Sangster International Airport All-inclusive - 251 Rooms and Suites Description from resort website: Largest private beach in Jamaica - All meals, dining at 5 fine restaurants onsite - 14 dining options with "Dine Around Montego Bay" - Intimate chapel onsite for traditional weddings - Comprehensive watersports, including scuba - One-of-a-kind Prime Minister's Suites - Minutes away from fun, shops & clubs - Unlimited premium drinks & cocktails - 4 pools & 4 whirlpools - Exclusive airport departure lounge - so much more  ~ Reviews posted on this page — 7  Don't forget to send Debbie your review ~ Jamaica Resort Reviews Index Save on All-Inclusive Caribbean Resorts with Travelocity |
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| Sandals Montego Bay | Glenn |
My wife and I stayed a week in mid-February at Sandals MoBay. We wouldn't go back. There are many other resorts that offer much better value for your money.
The property is VERY close to the airport, so you have only a 5 minute ride from the airport. However, its location also means you hear the planes consistently thru the day into the evening hours. The sound is so loud at times that you cannot hear anything else. Its loud!
On arrival in Jamaica, Sandals has a nice lounge area at the airport to wait for your shuttle to the resort. However, they give your luggage to a bellman who takes it about 50 feet to the shuttle - then demands a tip of $1 per bag. Be prepared. We paid it but were not happy about it. Sandals seems to encourage these guys. It'll be the same on your return to the airport but they'll take your bags an even shorter distance. I'd suggest hanging on to your luggage and taking it the 50 feet yourself.
At the resort, check in was easy and quick.
The rooms are somewhat dated, but the view from our beachfront cottage was nice. The issue was the Jamaican vendors constantly in your face. While there is security 24/7, these vendors paddle up to the breakwalls and beach in kayaks and bug you all day long. My wife didn't feel very safe as a result.
The food at the buffet and specialty restaurants was good but not outstanding for a Sandals.
(We went to the other Sandals resort - Royal Carribean - in Mo Bay for dinner (Thai restaurant on island) and it was quite good. We had a chance to walk around that resort and I'm glad we were not staying there. Old and small. We talked to some people there who were very unhappy with the place and were trying to get moved elsewhere.)
Booking the specialty restaurants was a pain. The guy taking the reservations was preoccupied with everything else but us - and we were sitting right in front of him. He answered the phone, looked over some sheets he had been given, talked to another staff member. Rude - total lack of customer service.
The pools and hot tub were not clean, and owning a pool/hot tub store, we knew to stay clear - swam in the ocean only.
The beach area was disappointing. Its nice but small. The resort says it has the "largest private beach in Jamaica", with the operative word being "private". There are other much nicer, larger beaches.
Overall, with exception of the restaurant reservations episode, we found the staff friendly and fun. The entertainment was OK but not outstanding. Snorkeling was good. The grounds are nice, but buildings antiquated. It seemed there were repairs/construction going on somewhere all the time.
We'd suggest another location for an all-inclusive holiday.
| Sandals Montego Bay | Marla |
My husband & I just spent 9 days at Sandals Montego Bay. We went to Sandals Dunns River last year & Dunns definitely surpassed Montego Bay in every area.
I'll start with checking in. We were pre-registered through our travel agent. She assured us that all we had to do was fill out 1 form & give them our slip showing we had already paid. Once we arrived we were ushered into the arrival lounge where we sat & sat. Our easy check-in took almost 1 1/2 hours. Thank goodness we were pre-registered. Once we were finally brought to our room it turns out we were upgraded to a beach front room from the ocean view room we had booked. The view was amazing. Our bellhop could not get our garden side door unlocked, he ended up having to go around to the beach side to open the door. Our room didn't have remote controls for either our air conditioner or television. The bell hop immediately rectified that. We were missing light bulbs in our lamps, the towel rack feel off the wall, our telephone didn't work, there were no ashtrays to be found and our alarm clock didn't work. We went up to the front desk to let them know all of these things were wrong with the room & they treated us like we were being ungrateful. They would write down our room number & the problems we were having & then nothing would happen. We did finally get light bulbs our second night. The telephone & getting the doors fixed was a massive battle between us & the front desk. For whatever reason the couldn't seem to find the time to replace the telephone. Generally on vacation we wouldn't even use the phone but our cell phones didn't have great reception and we had a sudden family illness at home so we needed to keep in contact. Our doors were finally fixed after 6 out of our 9 day stay ( i forgot to mention the beachside door, which was our only working door, jammed so we would have to kick it in order to get into our room. We went up to the front desk everyday twice a day and it still took 6 days to get anything fixed only after I called our travel agent & told her what was going on. She promptly called the front desk & the next day our doors were fixed! So if you are going to stay at this resort make sure you have a good travel agent.
The property:
There are 2 pools, the main pool which they use for scuba lessons & the pool bar. The pool bar pool was dirty & had some sort of bugs in it. I still have bites on my legs. The beach was so busy you would have to get up early & "claim" your spot. We would go "claim" our chairs then go to breakfast. If you woke up late good luck getting a spot at all. That was a pain in the ass.
The whirlpools were always dirty. The one by the poolbar was always broken. The water in the other one was a light brown. Not something I want to sit in. If your looking for night life go to the pool bar not the disco. Every time we went to the disco there were about 3 or 4 couples in there. Everyone seemed to congregate to the pool bar. That was fun. You get to meet alot of different people which is nice.
The food and drinks:
The food was alright. Not half as good as Dunns River. On New Years Eve they had a massive buffet and the food was good, except we ended up getting sick from it. We spent most of New Years Eve & Day in our room. What a way to bring in the new year. All of the desserts seem to be brought in from outside the resort & it was the same thing night after night. The one exception was the Italian place. The food was wonderful there, except they ran out of dessert. It seemed everywhere we went they were out of something. If you decide to stay at this resort make sure you book your reservations asap and make them for earlier in the night because they will run out of food. Even the beach bistro ran out of food. One night instead of the usual 8-10 items on the menu there were 2.
We paid the $150.00 for the dinner for 2, which was the highlight of our trip last time. Don't waste your money. Our waitress was rude & rushed us through the dinner. The dinner itself was cold & very bland. We weren't offered drinks during dinner or coffee at the end of our meal.
We have done Sandals before so we knew what to expect in the drink area. Alot of mixed drinks and Red Stripe. That is the only beer they serve unless you want to pay almost $5.00 a beer then you can go to the gift shop & buy Miller Light. The mixed drinks are good. Everyone was raving about the Jamaican Smile. The beach bars blender was broken the entire week. So if we wanted a blended drink we would have to trek to the main bar or the pool bar. But other than that it was the same as any other Sandals.
The staff:
The bartenders & wait staff were generally pleasant. There were some grumpier than others nothing a genuine smile couldn't change. The front desk staff was condescending and rude. The cleaning staff was incredibly rude. At Dunns River whenever you saw a cleaning person they would be smiling and singing and friendly. It was the opposite at Montego Bay. There was no turn down service. Its the little things that make the big difference.
My husband was basically harassed the entire time he was there. Certain staff members would try & sell him marijuana at least 5 times each day. We would tell them we doesn't do drugs & he gets drug tested at work but they didn't listen and every day the same people would come up. It got to the point where of we wouldn't go to certain areas of the resort because we knew these people would be there & would harass us. Then there was the bartender ( not one of our "regular" bartenders ) who asked my husband for $50.00 because it was his birthday & he wanted to go out & party! My husband was so upset & offended he got refused to go back to the beach bar. For a resort where tipping is prohibited and the staff get fired if they are caught taking a tip I think that's quite bold.We are down to earth people but we have a breaking point too. That's the day we were ready to leave. I think it was only day 5 of our trip.
When we go on these trips we generally make friends with certain bartenders & waiters/hostesses. The bartenders will remember what you drink & the waiters/hostesses will serve you first or at least put you at the better tables. We saw some people just be outright mean to these people. We didn't have the wonderful time we expected but the wait staff & bartenders work their butts off for you especially if you are pleasant and treat them like human beings not slaves.
The activities:
There were plenty of water sports. There was the glass bottom boat. snorkeling, paddle boats, windsurfing. The playmakers had different activities to do each day if you wanted to participate. The glass bottom boat was fun & you do get to see alot. Try and pick a nice day when the waters aren't too rough. We didn't end up going but i heard snorkeling is amazing. They take you to 7 different spots on the reef.
We did the catamaran day trip. (its the booze cruise) This is an trip that is not included, but in my opinion worth it. They pick you up at the resort take you out snorkeling, then you go to Margaritaville then cruise the ocean, oh did I mention they get you drunk. This was the highlight of our trip. We had never been snorkeling before but most of the people on our boat had & we all loved it. There was a group that did the cruise the day before & had such a good time they got off the boat & booked the cruise again. We will definitely do this again.
Don't expect alot of Bob Marley. When we went to Dunns that all they played, but this resort switched it up.They played alot of r&b and modern reggae .The planes are annoying especially when you are laying bed with food poisoning. You can hear them all day & into the night. We have experienced what a great Sandals trip can be & experienced what a really crappy Sandals trip can be. If your looking for relaxation and no aggravation don't go to this resort.
| Sandals Montego Bay | R. & J. ~ USA |
We just got back from our honeymoon in Sandals Montego Bay. I had read many reviews prior to booking and decided to seek the advice of a travel agent. My main concern was the proximity to the airport. It was stated that you could certainly "hear" the planes but they were not too much of a distraction. After we arrived we found that the resort was closer to the runway than the gates were. Being able to hear the planes is a little different that being shaken out of bed at 4:30 am by a 757 taking off. Every 10-20 minutes a plane was taking off from 4:30 am to usually 9:30 pm (once at 1:00 am). From this aspect it was not a very relaxing vacation. We had a room in the Almonds block which was fantastic. Very nice, clean, well decorated with a large balcony over- looking the ocean. The food was, in our opinion, a huge let down. I have been on several cruises and stayed on two other caribbean islands and really did not expect this. We ate at every restaurant as well as the Royal Thai at the Royal Caribbean Sandals. There was not one that was impressive or we cared to go back to. Plan on 1-2 hrs per meal as no one is in a real hurry on the resort. To top it off we had to carry our luggage the length of the resort on the way home after two calls to the front desk/concierge. The grounds, the rooms, the beach were all very pretty and well taken care of. The service, the food and the location leave a lot to be desired. If you must do a Sandals in Jamaica I would probably try the new Whitehouse. Its the only Sandals to be built from the ground up. The staff at MoBay could not talk enough about it.
| Sandals Montego Bay | Kelly & James --- Canada |
We were originally supposed to spend the second week of our honeymoon at the Sandals in Negril, but after hurricane Ivan hit part of the island, we were redirected to Sandals Montego Bay. Which was fine and dandy, however, our travel agent failed to tell us a few details about this resort and if I had known then what I know now, I likely would have looked into other options. Sandals Montego Bay is the oldest of all the Sandals Resorts. Its very large and spread out which sounds like a nice feature, but if you happen to have a few rainy days or nights during your stay......it can be a pain in the ass! (No covered walkways....they would come in handy especially for those who are stuck at the end of the resort in the Sea Grapes section!!!) In Jamaica it doesn't just sprinkle, when it rains it rains!! The restaurants were good. Buffet was average, standard selection. The Italian restaurant was delicious! Service was far from what I would have expected from a Sandals resort. You'd expect service with a smile, no longer than a few minutes wait for drinks in a restaurant, no longer than a minute or two at a bar.....if thats what you want you won't find it here! We waited on average 5minutes at the bars for a Pepsi! There would be 2 or 3 bartenders and 1 or 2 customers, and they would not acknowledge you were there until you practically waved them over. Being from Canada, we said please & thank you all the time, however it was never returned with a "no problem" or "your welcome". We stayed our first week in Breezes Runaway Bay and the service there was amazing!! The beach was amazing!!! And it was a 3 star!! Anyways, the beach here was horrible, narrow but long....hard sand....not that soft, between your toes, sink as you walk sand either! The beach was at best 4/10. The water was sectioned off by rope and was mid-section deep! No real way to swim or snorkel in that! 2 pools, one no one was ever in because it was hidden away in the shade and used for scuba lessons, the other swim up pool was dirty, cramped and about as cold as swimming in Canadian waters. Spent very little time there. The absolute worst part of this resort....that no one mentioned to us until we got there.....was...the PLANES! Someone else had a review stating 5planes a day! Thats because after like the 30th or 40th plane, you can no longer hear anything anymore!!! Seriously, every 15minutes....huge planes, medium planes, small planes....when I first got there, I was in the shower and thought for sure a plane was about to land on top of me! Scary. The resort came up with the nifty idea of having guests wave to the planes as they flew overhead and kiss the person you came with in an attempt to take away the fact that its not worth your time or money to visit this resort! Nice try Sandals! Honestly, if you're going to Jamaica get away from the airports even if it means an hour or two bus ride! Its worth it and you get to see what Jamaica really is....and its definitely not the lavish snobby spread out run down-time for reno's Sandals in Montego Bay!
| Sandals Montego Bay | Mike and Ann --- New York |
We spent 7 days in the Montego Bay Sandals Resort in May 2004. I had read some bad reviews and was skeptical about visiting this resort. Thankfully a coworker had been there a few years back and said it was excellent. Our stay was great, food was 8 out of 10, the Bayside International place was OK for everything, except dinner, because its too relaxed. All other resturants were awesome, have breakfast at the Cucina Rest. on the second floor overlooking the beach, great way to start the day!
The beach, scenery, Jacuzzi's and bar's were all great fun, staff was 90% excellent with helpful and gracious people to make your stay a truly memorable time. Shows every night are OK, not our style, but very popular amongst the other guests. Disco, 5 out of 10, to many staff members hanging out and not very large, but worth a look, especially when the dancing starts up!
Cats...I saw no more than three, tips...if you are in the USA you'd tip a baggage guy or Taxi driver, so why is it a problem now, $2 and they smile ear to ear. Planes...5 a day, not a problem at all, in fact we loved that the planes were so close because it meant 10 min to resort and back to airport, unlike other areas where you can travel 1-2 hours. We never left the resort, no need to! So we cannot report on other adventures except for the catamaran cruise, go on it its worth the $50/PP and go on the afternoon cruise not the morning. This resort will have us as repeat customers and I hope this has been helpful, good luck on your travels.
| Sandals Montego Bay | T. & D. --- Toronto |
We went on our honeymoon to Sandals Montego Bay in October 2002 for 7 days.
If you like getting drunk, being oblivious to the airplanes flying overhead literally every 5 minutes or less, from 6 am to 2 am the next day, then this is the place for you. If you are like us, and you like to enjoy your vacation without any stresses, and like a big beach, rather than a puny one, that actually has room to walk on it for more than 40 yards without running into someone tanning on the ground, then this is not the place for you.
SERVICE
I must say atleast, 75% of the staff were very nice and courteous, the bell boy especially I got along with was really cool. The management are OK, but you know they have to be nice to their guests, and no one really tried (maybe except the Manager Jason Clemons) to make us comfortable. The service was 3 stars but I am being generous.
Amenities and Facilities
Lots of bars, few places and activities to do if you are rained out. We went in a tropical depression , thus we were rained out 5 out of 7 days, which "sucked". The beach was small, and not what we expected at all like in the pictures, the planes flying over every few minutes all day, all night and the resort tried to cover this up with loud music and entertainment that was repetitive. The disco was OK for its size and played different styles of music. The only time we enjoyed the resort and had a chance to explore is when it stopped raining. The room was nice, although for the money we paid for 'Sandals" we might as well been stuck at home in the winter snow. The maids were nice as expected, what are they going to do. Overall, 3.2 stars for amenities and facilities.
FOOD
As usual Sandals is and has always had the best quality foods, in this respect there are no complaints at all. Although the dining room were crowded they always had enough, like they are trying to compensate for what they lack in. Food gets a 5 stars.
Is it worth it? Not for us, for the money we paid to get a luxury resort of 'Sandals' I could have paid half of what we did, and went to Beaches Cuba and have a better time. It was a big waste of our money, I wish that we can get our money back. Sandals jipped us, as they should have protected our vacation with their hurricane protection, as a tropical depression has the same end results, it rains all day, and is windy to the point that we were unable to do nothing but sit in our rooms all day. This I give our overall vacation a 2 star generously
| Sandals Montego Bay | Calvin and Patty --- Clarkston Wa. USA |
Well, when we first arrived in Jamaica we were impressed with the friendly natives. The customs line was long but we had put our shorts on in Atlanta and were dressed for the heat. We easily found the Sandals desk in the airport and they loaded our bags (NO EASY TASK, LOL) and wisked us out to the bus area and within 5 minutes we were in a private cab and on the way to the Sandals Inn. When we arrived we were very impressed by the service. (We have several countries stamped in our passports and have never received such an easy check in to a hotel) We were shown to our room after receiving our Champagne and lotion bag. That is where it started to go bad. We noticed that our bag that contained our digital still and video cameras and portable DVD was missing. I went to the office and they went on a search and had taken it to another guests room. We got it back in a few minutes and went back to the room to start unpacking. That is when we realized that our room had no noise control or personal privacy. We were stuffed in a room with the front facing the noicy pool area, you could actually hear the phone ring in the office and our bathroom was on the service hallway and with the shutter system we could see and hear the staff in the hallway and them us. Well, back to the office I marched and the little gal behind the counter admitted that our room was to be on the second floor in the back (quiet) but somene was ill and could not check out until after 5PM. So we did not unpack and waited. It was an easy wait, we explored the grounds and found even more friendly staff and guests. After dinner we went back to the office and still no room change and the hotel was full. We went out the front of the hotel to see the beach across the street. It was small and very full. There must have been 100 local kids and family on a postage stamp sized beach. Then the local drug lords approached us to start a relationship. They took no for an answer and we went back into the hotel grounds. (we did meet another couple there who had a knife pulled on them the the drug guys, so be careful) We decided to hop a Sandals bus to see the other hotels to upgrade to. It so happens that our bus took us to the Royal. Well, when my sweetie saw that place she wanted to know why I had not booked there? It had a beach and was more to her liking. We returned to the Sandals Inn and had some company and drinks and food from the little late snack bar and went for a late night swim in the nice pool there. The next morning the terrible noise out side our room prompted a quick trip to the office to see about our room change. The new person at the front desk knew nothing about our room change so I headed to the manager's office. I complimented him on his staff, they really were better then great, and explained that we were to be married here and that the wedding setting was not what my lady had invisioned. I said please move us to the Royal. Well it took 36 hours, but they came to us and said that they were moving us to the Montego Bay. (we were willing to pay for the change but they did not ask, so we did not pay, lol) I started packing and my sweetie had seconds thoughts about moving because she had met such nice fun people and she was getting comfortable there.
However, we did move and when we got to the Montego Bay hotel we went through the check in again and had the champagne and this time a cool cloth and with in a few minutes they brought us another lotion bag and a room key. Our room was just over the activity pool and on the 2nd floor. It was noisey too, but we decided at that point to unpack and make the best of it. We are glad we got moved there, instead of the Royal. The beach was great. We had a beautiful wedding there, and if you get married there be sure to get the video they make. It was quite professional as were the photos they took. We elected for the private lobster wedding dinner out in one of the gazebos, made my new wife SMILE. Then next morning they brought us breakfast in bed with Champagne, woo hoo. However we had to rush the food down and forego the wine becasue we were headed for open water diving with Renee and Big "D" and the rest of the guys. They guys have some great names, like "Fastcar", Fabian, Lotoya, Johnnie B Good and Terry-Ann, Denton, Hecto, B.B and all the rest. Great Staff. The room was not special, the grounds were not as colorful as we were used to from our trips to the Dominican Republic and the price was more then we usually pay, but we had a wonderful time and met some great people.(If you are a diver, you get a free tank of air per day and that is worth a lot) We will probably go back in the future just becasue of the people and to celerbrate an Annivesary. So to sum things up, if you want to have a small friendly atmosphere and met great friends like Dan and Mary, go to the Sandals Inn. The food there was also very very good. If you want to snorkle and dive and play with all the water toys go to Montego Bay Sandals.(younger crowd) The planes are loud but you do get used to them. They tell you to wave and kiss your partner when they go over, we got in a lot of kiss'in. But you know ,when our 12 days were up we were hoping that when our plane went over the hotel, that everyone would wave to us. I almost booked there again for Christmas this year but we decided on the RIU Mambo instead just for varity. The rooms are not the greatest but the beach, the staff, the guests and the Jamican people are a great vacation.
Last updated: MArch 18, 2008
