This is our 2nd home in January for the past 10 years. We meet up with many couples who stay here year after year. The staff members are the best! We are greeted at the door upon arrival with hugs and welcomes from returning guests and staff. We are made to feel like we are the most important people on property because of the treatment received. Sandals treated us to an Audi ride and a driver this year from the airport. Half way to the resort the driver pulled over and filled two champagne glasses with chilled champagne, just for us! Great way to start a vacation. Our total stay with Sandals was 70 paid nights so we received our coupon for a free week. Yes, we are going back to our home away from home for our 11th time next January but will be staying for two weeks next time! On the Sandals website I found a 2 free night special. Called my travel agent immediately to book for 2014. 7 nights free + the two free nights = a real bargain and a great time!

We have vacationed at Sandals Resorts several times. We have found Sandals representatives and their resorts warm, inviting and relaxing. Twice at Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
This second time at Ochos Rios we were scheduled to leave Boston 0n 2/9/2013. We had a hotel in Boston so we could leave early on 2/9/2013. Nemo the storm came in and the fligts were cancelled. We called Sandals and they helped rebook the flight for 2/10/2013. on 2/10/2013 the flights were cancelled again. Sandals helped rebook for 2/11/2013. Then on 2/11/2013 the flights were cancelled again. Sandals representatives helped us rebook and this was the final attempt because we were ready to quit searching for nemo the fish and just deal with Nemo the winter storm.
We finally got to Ochos Rios. The staff was friendly and patient even though we probably were not the nicest of guests when we arrived. We went to our room and saw that they had surprised us by upgrading us. Really upgraded us, Wow. Balcony view of the Ocean, fridge and cabinets full of beverages, they called to see if we were ok with the change and to see if we needed anything. I don't know if they do this for everyone, but it was not the first time that we felt that Sandals representatives really cared about us. They gave us another day, added to the current vacation, I think they offered two but we both had to decline one day because we had to go back to work. We laid on the beach with drinks and books for hours. We tried the paddle boards, kayaks, hot tubs and had a couples massage. The food was good, better than my cooking, free drinks were made to order. We had a wonderful time. And standing on the Wharf with a cold beer and glass of wine looking in at the salt water pool we saw plenty of small colorful fish,... maybe even.....

This was our first stay at either a Sandals or any all-inclusive resort. The other couple with us had been to Sandals previously on a different island and was hesitant to go again as they were not impressed with their earlier experience.

We had a room with a balcony on the oceanside of the property and found the room to be spacious and clean with a great view of the well-maintained grounds.

The pools were clean and the bartenders at the swim-up bars were fantastic. The only problem was that by mid afternoon they were usually out of towels at the pools.

We stayed for five nights and ate at five different restaurants. They had a generous selection of items on all of the menus and everything that we had was delicious. The only disappointment was that we could not get a reservation at Kelly's on the pier as you needed to book more than five days ahead. We had a choice of any wines or liquors that we wanted but the beer was limited to just the local brand, Red Stripe. They really should expand their beer selection.

The entire staff was extremely pleasant and accommodating. Everyone we passed always smiled and greeted us. One day we accidentally left the Do Not Disturb sign on our door when we left to go to the pool and, when we came back late in the afternoon, the room was not made up or the towels changed. When we mentioned it to one of the housekeepers she apologized and said they are not even allowed to knock on the door if the sign is out. She gave us clean towels and said the room would be made up shortly. The head housekeeper, Ann Marie, then called and apologized even though we kept saying it was completely our fault for forgetting to remove the sign when we left.

Our travel agent, Becky from Beach Bum Vacation, had recommended this resort to us and we are glad that she did. As usual, her expertise and experience with beach resorts led us to a great vacation. We will go back!

I read a lot of reviews on this resort before the trip and frankly was a little concerned to take 7 of my friends here. No worries mon!

This resort is two resorts recently combined into one. I was amazed how many people do not know this before arrival. Personally, I think it is the best of both worlds. We spent most of our time on the Great House side during the day and planned to dress up for our evenings on the beach side for the restaurants and entertainment. No mistake though, it is NOT A RESORT FOR ANYONE WITH PHYSICAL CHALLENGES. Their hillside and garden walks are luscious, but not friendly for anyone with physical challenges. The Great House side does NOT have elevators.

We never waited more than 10 mins for a shuttle to get from one side to the other. They have this perfected and are extremely fast, accurate drivers!

Thanks to Olivia & Joel from the Playmakers team; Renick, Ricardo, Alex and (ja)Michael from the bartending staff; and Tex from the hibachi chefs! We NEVER had any issues sitting 4, 6 or 8 people for dinner. ONE restaurant (Valentinos) required an advanced reservation.

Excursions:
We did the Dunns catamaran tour (I've done this before) and the staff made it an amazing time - it's a MUST if you've never done it.

I did the Bobsled as well. The Bobsled was $85/pp and the Dunns was $90/pp. Save your money - the Bobsled ride itself is only 3mins. They advertise the butterfly & hummingbird attraction as well with this, could be the weather, but we saw 2 butterflies and 2 hummingbirds (My backyard is bigger and has more!). You can buy just the chair lift and then individuals in your group can decide to do the bobsled, zipline, both or neither (meaning if the husband wants to do it all but the wife doesn't want to do any of it, she can go up on the chair and watch & wander around the shops).

Rooms:
We did a Great House Ocean View. Smallest room I've been in but we didn't need a Concierge or Butler category; the bar was right in the lobby if we needed a drink (no stocked bar in room or room service). Cleaning & maintenance staff were extremely impressive! She cleaned our room about 1pm and then they did a turn down and re-clean about 9pm. Very impressed!

The increased presence of Butlers convinced me we would never do a Butler at a Sandals. I felt suffocated just watching the couples and the villas themselves from the outside didn't look appealing with lack of privacy/greens, new construction and the concrete wall with barbed wire compounded that area of the resort.

We've been to Rius, Breezes, Karismas and Secrets' resorts. I would rank THIS SANDALS higher than a Breezes but definitely lower than a Riu, Karisma or a Secrets on the food and comfort scale. This was our first time to Sandals and was overall impressed and would try another Sandals resort.

My rating of 4 is because (1) I am a sweet wine drinker and they only housed dry wines. (2) It was cloudy and rainy ALL week so we weren't able to do as much of the water sports as the red flag was up a lot. They kept telling us the sun would be out tomorrow (kind of like the saying "Free Beer Tomorrow" - it wasn't happening)... (3) Ocho Rios is a 2hr bus ride to/from the airport. We landed at 12:30pm and once passed through immigration, we reached the resort about 4:30pm. This also meant leaving to the airport, we had to leave by 9am for a 1:30pm flight.

P.S. Don't miss the Friday beach party!!