I just finished my first week at work after returning from Couples Ocho Rios and it has been a major return to earth! My husband and I went to Couples OR to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We absolutely loved it! We have been to much newer AI resorts in Mexico several times, but what this resort lacks in new car luster, it more than makes up for in old world elegance, great food and unending romance.

ROOM - We booked this through the Secret Rendezvous package and were thrilled to get a great, albeit older, suite near the road. Road noise didn't bother use at all and the extra space and privacy were great.

FOOD - We loved the food, although some Couples OR regulars told us that the variety is not as good as it used to be. The French restaurant is fabulous. We thought the buffet was great and loved the Pool Party and Beach Party nights. We also did the Private Dinner on the beach. It's worth the money, especially for those special occasions. The romance package is $269 and it is great.

DRINKS - Drinks were great with good quality liquors. Staff is always warm and friendly.

ACTIVITIES - We were having such a great time at the resort, we didn't do the off-resort activities, but I understand they were great. The water is so clear, we really enjoyed the snorkeling and sailing.

ENTERTAINMENT - The entertainment here is great. Very talented singers and bands. It pretty much closes up at 11:00 except for the piano bar and karoake, but that was fine with us.

OVERALL - We had never been to a Couple's resort, but will definitely go back. We'd like to go back to Ocho Rios after the renovations. Should be even better!

Either I'm spoiled or most of these people do not get out much.
Of course most of the reviews are from Honeymooners. Probably never left their room :-)

The best part of the hotel is the lobby and the staff. (excluding the management desk.)

I agree with the 'Damp and Mold' review. This place is a dump. Our room smelled like mold, the halls smelled like mold, and the exterior walls were covered with mold.
Our garden room was small, air-conditioner only worked on high. Paint was peeling of the bathroom walls and the shower also had mold. Just a dirty dirty place.
The food was alright. The Pool Grill was open all the time, but the other restraunts were at designated times or reservation only.
The beach was full of seaweed when we were there.
Pool and hot tubs were drained, because some of the guest were sick with the norovirus.
The drinks were good, because they were hoping to keep everyone drunk, so they wouldn't realize what a dump it was.

I kind of felt like I was at a Biker Resort. Never saw so many mullets and tattoo's in one place. Myabe that's why there are so many good reviews. It's got to be better than Sturgess.

If this place is so good, why are they closing for 8 months and doing $15 million in renovations.

We transferred to the Ritz after a couple days. Now that's a 5 star Resort. A little more expensive but worth it. The bathroom at the pool was better than the one in our room at Couples.

Great resort with gourmet food every night especially lobster night in the French restaurant. Nude island allows couples only, great swim in the morning and super place to meet new friends from all over the world. Never felt uncomfortable and had lots of relating fun while there. Lots of freebies like horse back riding, scuba diving and fun.

This was our honey moon trip. We stayed at Sandals Royal Caribbean for 3 nights (also visited Sandals Montego Bay as Sandals has free shuttles running between the 2 properties) and Couples Ocho Rios for 4 nights. These 2 hotels were not our first choice. We were planning on Sandals Whitehouse in May. (that's when the price at SWH is more reasonable) However, we booked these 2 hotels through each hotel chain's website since Sandals was having last minute special ($947 for 3 nights), and we didn't want to risk the rain in May.

Flight: Flying out of Los Angeles with Continental, we had a connected flight with connection in Houston. Continental served cereal on one leg, and heated frozen pizzas on our 2 return legs. One thing that I learned was that you should allow 2 hours of connection time when you return to the US because in Houston, we had to go through immigration, pick up our checked luggage, go through customs, drop off the luggage, and go through security and take a tram to another terminal. Therefore one hour may not be enough. In our case, our flight out of montego bay was delayed for one hour, therefore, we missed our 6pm connection in Houston. Continental had our boarding pass ready at the baggage claims area for the 7pm flight. We barely made it on, but our luggage did not. They had to be delivered to my house the next morning.

Room: At COR, we booked superior ocean category for US389/n and got a room on the 5th floor with small side view of the ocean because the view was blocked by a big palm tree. The room was nice because it has a balcony, was bright and it didn't look as old as the hotel. Compared to our lowest category room at SRC, which was old, dark, no balcony and no view. I would say the room at COR can be compared to one of the older 3* Marriott hotel rooms and the room at SRC be compared to a 2-3* motel rooms in the states.

Facilities: COR has only one pool (not counting the small pool on the nude island) and 4 hot tubs. Non of these were availabe during our entire stay because they were doing some sort of treatment work. It was a big disappointment because one of the days, the weather was windy and the ocean was rough and the beached was washed up with seaweeds, it would have been nice if the pool and jacuzzis were available. It ended up that we had nothing to do on that day.

Beach: COR Beach was decent size, about the length of 1/2 football field. It was larger than the beach at SRC. The sand was brown. The sand at SRC and SMB were white. The water was clear, clearer than SRC. I would say beach lounger availability at both resorts are not a problem. There were seaweed on the beach at COR even on a clear and calm day. There were no seawead on the beach at both SRC/SMB.

Restaurants: The Food at both at both COR and SRC/SMB were fantastic. However, I would say that COR is one notch above the Sandals. COR had flame broiled lobster at the buffet one night and also had lobster at the Italian. Lobster was not available at Sandals. COR had smoked salmon at breakfast and lunch buffets. Sandals didn't. Wine was included with every meal at COR, where at Sandals, wine was extra charge at most of the restaurants. The restaurant service at COR and Sandals were both great. Be sure to make reservation for the restaurants as soon as you arrive.

Watersports: The main purpose of this trip for me was for the watersports. This is the biggest disappointment at COR. At Sandals, the Hobie Cats had the sails up and ready to go. Sandals watersports people gave me lessons on both Hobie Cat sailing and Windsurfing and I really enjoyed Hobie Cat sailing. When I was at COR, the Hobie cats were unavailable during my entire stay. They would always ask me if I knew how to sail it. I said yes, then I was either told no wind, or too much wind and turned me away. I asked at least 5 different times and always asked me to check back at a later time. The sails were rolled up during my entire stay. It makes me wonder if they even let people use the cats. There was only 2 snorkling trips per day compared to 4 per day at Sandals. Many times, snorkling trips were cancelled due to wind, but I never experienced cancelled snorkling trip during the Sandals stay. Same for glass bottom boat rides. There was one trip per day (9:30am) compared to 2 trips at Sandals. The 2 mornings that I was able to go, they cancelled the trips. The reason they told me was "water is murky". Again, not a problem at Sandals.

Atmosphere: There was no music played during the day on the beach/pool at COR where at Sandals there was always music being played and games going on at the pool. COR feels more romantic than Sandals as they had piano player at French restaurant and live singing/saxophone player all doing romantic songs at the buffet. No such live music at Sandals restaurants.

Included Excursions: This was the main reason that I chose COR over Sandals Grande Ocho Rios for second part of my trip. The horse back riding (with Chukka tours), Sunset Catamaran Cruise and Dunns river falls tour were all fantastic considering that they were included. I'd wonder if these tours were worth the money if I were staying at other resorts.

Overall, my vacation started out great at the 2 Sandals resorts in Montego Bay, then came the disppointment of closed pools/hot tubs and watersports at COR. One last note, the weather at Montego bay was sunny everyday. At Ocho Rios, it was more cloudy, one day was windy, and another day was both windy and rained for entire day. I don't know if it was luck or the weather is alway not as nice at Ocho Rios.