I just returned from my vacation at Riu Montego Bay, Jamaica
We stayed from 7/22 to 7/29 with my husband and two daughters ages 18 and 25. I would first like to say if you could afford to stay at Sandles than you should stay there. That is like comparing apples to oranges. Sandals is comparable to Beaches.
My honest review is this resort is a 3 star resort with lots of room for improvement.
The check in was long and draining. The front desk clerk moved on 1 and it’s very slow. It took 45 mins to check in. We renewed our vows here so we were upgraded to the jr suite by the quiet pool. My children was by the entertainment pool where it gets very loud. They were given an actual key for their room. I thought it was a joke I didn’t think any hotels made keys anymore.
The liquor was low low shelf but we didn’t care because we didn’t drink much. We made a joke all the time about being ready for another sugary drink. The entertainment staff was nice and fun. Some workers were friendly some was not. The beach is absolutely beautiful. I love Jamaican food so that’s all I ate while I was there. All the food was cooked fresh and very tasty there. I ate jerk chicken from the jerk hut on the beach. Everyday the buffet had a different Jamaican theme. My favorite night was the all seafood with lobsters shrimp clams and all mixed seafood. Another night we had curry chicken acki fish and many other traditional Jamaican dishes. Plantation restaurant always had the best beef patties. I never ate anything that was out because I wasn’t sure if bugs was flying in it. No one in my family got sick because we knew what to eat and what not to eat. We made reservations at the other restaurants but only ate a the steakhouse the night of our wedding. We also dined at the gourmet restaurant one night they were both ok. The shows each night was just ok. Every day they had happy hour with specialty drinks in the lobby very good.
Pool Beach
Sometimes the pools got really nasty because they have swim up bars and people spill drinks in there. The BBQ beach party was fun and again the Jamaican food was so good. My room never had 1 bug in it. If people wasn’t so nasty and leave food around and take it to there room there wouldn’t be a bug problem. I saw the staff cleaning all day everyday. Cleaning everywhere. Then people would leaves plates in the hall on the floor. One day I went to the quiet pool to get a drink and basically the guy there starting singing give me 1 dollar or two dollar. I gave him the worst look. I wish I would tip someone like that. The day of my renewal I had a massage on the beach it was just ok. I had planned to do a body scrub but I changed my mind after I went to the spa and tried to use the hot tub. One was so hot that you couldn’t even put your toe in and the other one was too cold. So I decided to spend my money on something else.
The photographer that did our pictures was very professional but not that friendly or would not negotiate on prices he charged 20 dollars a photo on a disk. 10 photos on a cd cost me 200.00.
All in all we my family had a great vacation. There is a lot of room for improvement but I spent my hard earned money so I wasn’t going to nitpick at every little thing.
Room Tip: Take your shower as early as possible if you want hot water and pressure.
Check out other Caribbean destinations I love https://caribbeantravelqueen.com/
Contact me, Subscribe or Download my FREE E-Book “10 Tips for planning your Romantic Caribbean getaway” HERE https://caribbeantravelqueen.com/contact
