This was our 12th visit to the Caribbean and our 3rd to Jamaica and, for personal reasons, we wanted a relaxed, pampered vacation. The Royal Plantation met our expectations fully.

Personal transport from the airport - we had been on the road from Europe for 19 hours, so the driver phoned ahead and the resort had food set up in our room, once we had checked in with a glass of champagne.

The service was outstanding in every part of the resort. The General Manager carried our grilled lobster to our table. The Hotel Manager always mixed with guests. The bar staff - how can you not like someone who doubles as a cricket commentator ? The water staff were up there for safety and service. We spent a lovely morning having a cooking lesson from the head chef in his kitchen. The music was just so Jamaica !

We would go back in a flash - anything you want, just ask !

My husband and I just returned from a week (3/1-3/8) long vacation to the Royal Plantation and overall we were generally pleased with the trip, however there were a few bumps along the way. Before we went we were deciding on either the Royal Planation or The Ritz Carlton and many travel agents told us to go to the Royal Plantation, so even through it was more money we booked it because we thought it was worth it. We tend to prefer luxury all inclusives and therefore, staying at some other resorts where the service was excellent, we had a very high standard to meet. First off, when we landed we were directed to a taxi cab that looked quite suspicious. Along the way, our driver stopped to pick up a "friend" which we thought was strange. Our greeting once we got there was nice but then we were met by one of the managers to tell us that a room in the category we booked was not available so they were going to upgrade us but to a room with two double beds. As we has no choice in the matter we took it. Dinner that night at The Royal Grill was lovely but the service was very slow. Being that it rained that day they sat us upsatirs instead of by the beach so I don't know if that had anything to do with it. Lunch at the Royal Cafe was also a long process, the service was quite slow to the point where we would just order food at our lounge chairs on the beach so at least we could relax. Dinners at Le Papillon were very nice and there our service was good although we did hear other tables mumbling about the fact that the waiter mixed up their orders. Some claimed that since the general manager was away, the service was lacking but I don't know if that was relevant or not. Afternoon tea was always vey nice which we looked forward to every day. Breakfast was nice, however room service was late the three times we ordered it. The beach was small but the water was beautiful, the water sports were nice and I couldn't get enough of those "mangosas" Entertainment at night was also nice, especially the performers with the fire on Friday night. Being in the age bracket of late 20's-early 30's we did not find many couples our age and felt an air of "stuffiness" among the guests staying there but we made our own fun. Overall, even though it sounds as if there were a lot of criticisms, we really did have a wonderful time. The facility was beautiful, most of the staff very warm and eager to help, food was very good and the rooms with their views lovely. We were very sad to leave and would return possibly in the future but it would be great if those little slips in service could be fixed.

The Royal hits on most, misses on a few. Rather than bore you with a lengthy review, here's a list of the hits, misses and some hints/tips.
HITS: Easy pick-up, delivery from airport to hotel. Charming staff. Decent rooms with wonderful bedding. Nicely stocked mini-bar. Good food. Good water sports. Wonderful tea service. No bugs! In-room safe large enough to hold laptops. Nice spa and work-out facilities. Nice tennis courts. Resort never felt crowded, though full during our stay. MISSES: Sloppy communication between hotel and Sandals main office. Screwed up very important birthday dinner reservations. Bathrooms small for 5 star hotel. Louvered windows in bathroom allows guests/staff walking by to hear EVERYTHING you may be doing in the shower or jacuzzi bath. Wink, wink. Poor water pressure. Didn't like any of the house wines. HINTS/TIPS: We tried to get a Honeymoon Suite with balcony but none were available. But...don't bother! Book the "Luxury Ocean View King"!!! No need to spend for a larger suite. Get the meal plan. Eat and drink to your hearts content and never think about how much things cost. It's worth it! Try to book room 261!!!!! I'll say it again....BOOK ROOM 261!! It's the only Luxury Ocean King that has windows that open to the west (in addition to the sliders). You'll get the best view of the resort itself and feel like you're on an open balcony. You also get a peak at the sunset. GET THAT ROOM!!!! Do not let them put you in the bottom (beach level) rooms at the western edge of the property. The pipes under these rooms rumble at 6am. Tip the airport driver $10 each way (loved Michael and David). Book a few meals at the La Papillon and ask for one of the 3 tables on the terrace that are up against the railing. DON'T EAT INSIDE!! Tip the beach waiters $5 at the end of your first day and they will look after you with even more effort during your stay. They are wonderful anyway and deserve the additional tips. Request a "dinner on the sand" (no extra cost) and ask for Oratio to be your server. You'll love him! Don't miss the tea service everyday! If celebrating a honeymoon or anniversary, pop for the "Dinner on the Pier". VERY romantic. That's it. Enjoy!

I spent about 8 hours reading TripAdvisor before selecting this hotel. I tend to concentrate on the critical reviews, because I want to find what potential issues one may fall into. You can read 4-5 glowing reviews, then a critical one comes by and tells you there is major construction on a new wing of the hotel and that is the one that gives you important information that will really change your decision making process. Without people making note of these things, we'd all be trapped into hotel's marketing info which rarely fits the real bill. It's a big reason why I love Trip Advisor and hope to be able to contribute back.

In general I give this place very high marks, but am going to outline the various problems I had with the establishment. My cost to book this place after the all-inclusive package was about $1500/day to get a top suite, and for this amount and the reputation of the place, as a customer I think there are high expectations that should be met. In spite of the failures, which in general were small, I would definitely consider a return due to the strengths of this place.

When I booked the website had 30% off, as right now Jamaica is a little bit slower than normal. Good news for me, in spite of this I found a lot of the prices for this resort and others like it to be quite high. I was looking for the best possible vacation though, so this was fine with me. I booked one of the two best suites, the Governor General's suite. The photographs of this showed a beautifully appointed room on a beautiful property.

The website said that airport transfer was included, and in communication with the hotel I was told someone would be there with a sign for us.

I was called at some point, early in the morning (I work to 4-5am often) to get my flight information... I wasn't ready to go digging for it so told them I would call back and provide it. It always bothers me when companies make 8am phone calls on the assumption that you work normal hours, especially in the day of email it makes more sense to send an email before getting on the phone.

I called in and provided the information, afterwards the hotel sent email and said they didn't have the information so I provided it again. My girlfriend and I were coming in on different flights from different locations. I was told to expect a private car with a driver holding a sign for me.

At the airport, no sign, no reference to the Royal Plantation existing. I checked out both parking lots, wandered around quite a bit refusing taxi rides. From the booking site I realized there is a business relationship at least with Sandals so went there and asked. I ended up sitting for 20 minutes or so and they arranged a cab and got me sent off. While waiting on the curb for the cab, one of the airport staff went into a conversation repeatedly asking me if I smoked (i.e. offering me drugs), I said no many times. Cab showed up, staffer tossed my bags in and put his hand out and said "You can tip me now."

Drive in was pleasant. When I got to the hotel, I got my bags out, and was put onto a couch and given a clipboard and asked to fill out information that could have been run off of my check-in. I had been up for 36 hours, I wanted to move to a chair in front of a desk so I could get out things like my return ticket (they want this information), and my ID (they want two), but they kept wanting me in this couch. So I fumbled around with my stuff, balancing clipboard on knee, honestly if you want me to fill out forms let me sit on a proper chair with a flat surface.

Somehow they got my arrival time wrong, hence no car, and room not ready (at noon). No problem, I waited 20 minutes and the room was ready and up I went.

The room itself I put in one of the top three of my 20 years of traveling. Two of the others were a suite I took at The Plaza (worn but opulent in an old school way like no modern hotel can really do these days) and one at The Bentley in Miami Beach which was pretty over the top. This room felt like a very nice home, well furnished. Two gorgeous balconies with great views. The building picture I put in has the Governor General's suite in the upper left hand corner, the two large balconies. Beside that on the left is the Prime Minister's suite.

In spite of this wonderful room, there were some really screwed up things. The gorgeous hardwood floor had huge gouges in it from people or staff dragging the heavy furniture around on it. I don't just mean big scratches, I mean some huge gouges. I was really surprised at the state of the floor. Put some coasters under those legs, you don't destroy a beautiful floor for lack of 50 cent coasters. Other "silly" things in a room that runs a thousand bucks a night: in-room internet, no cables provided. No wireless available. Concierge brought up a cable. The two jacks for the two rooms, one is behind the sidetable for the bed (???), the other is behind the TV (???). Cable does not reach from the bed to the work desk. Can't use the desk then, so go to the other room. Cable behind the TV does not reach anywhere. I had to move a table to go beside the TV in the main room in order to set up a laptop. Furthermore, internet connection in the bedroom was dead anyway. So was the one in the main room, I am a programmer though and so got in behind and rejiggered cables until I had a connection. I classify stuff like this as "rough around the edges." Like coming into the Ritz and renting a room with a big stain in the middle of the carpet... doesn't really have a huge effect on you, just really shouldn't be in that kind of state when you're charging the big bucks.

Washroom was very large, very beautiful. No pressure in the shower, but no matter, just noting it. I have to remark on the balconies again for this suite, they are huge, one has a lay-out couch/bed thing and the other has a small dining table on it. Really fantastic and roomy balconies with great views.

I went down and spoke to the concierge about getting a sign ready for my girlfriend when she showed up at the airport, the reason being that we were told to expect it... and you have a different mentality when they lay things out like this for you and don't follow through. That is, you walk around, "Uh oh, something is wrong, am I in the right place?" instead of walking around trying to find something on your own. They said they'd be sure to do it. They didn't. I really don't care one way or another, it's just that you shouldn't tell a guest very specific arrival information and then have none of that arrival information to be very true. I'm perfectly happy to get out of the plane and hop in a cab or a bus. If you want to arrange something special for your guests, you have to follow through.

In general, the food at this hotel was very good and I like high end dining. The best dishes were Jamaican style. I was on the Royal Plan which runs $200/day/person as I just wanted a no-nonsense vacation. I don't think this is probably worth the money paid unless you are really out to try to milk it. I wasn't. It wasn't clear what the drink restrictions were once there, I figured out we were restricted to the house wines, all of which were palatable and fine with me. The Royal Plan is supposed to include a bar with "premium brand" alcohol that is restocked daily (if bottles are empty). An example of "premium brand" alchol is say Appleton's Rum and Hennessy VS Cognac. Appleton's has premium versions of their Rum, you don't get that in the room. Hennessy VS is the lowest/cheapest cognac they have. The Premium applies to the Brand, these are good brands, just get the cheapest version of the good brand. Oh well.

Midway through the trip one bottle of Rum was gone and one bottle of wine. That day passed and it wasn't restocked. I called at the end of the day and asked about the restocking. I was told it would be done the next day, and they would send something up if I needed it. I told them not to bother, tomorrow was fine. When tomorrow came, no restocking. I called in and said they missed the restocking again, they said they would take care of it. They did. The bottle of wine was replaced. Still no bottle of Rum... again, not a huge deal but keep in mind I am being billed $400/day for two people... it is much better if the hotel either doesn't offer the service or just meets with the service as promised. At this point, I didn't want to bother, I didn't want to be the annoying guest continually calling about his stupid bottle of Rum that he can't get.

Service in general other than this was pretty much top notch. The breakfast servers seemed a bit less happy than lunch and dinner. What I liked was that all service was top notch without the plastic butt-kissingness you may get at some high end hotels in cities say like Toronto, New York, and London. I hate the fake smiles. People here were genuine, they would joke with you and tease at times, they were just real and very good at what they did. For this the hotel gets top marks, staff was as good as can be expected.

The grounds were generally spotless, in fact the place in most disrepair was the floor of my room (which I was told was the "top suite" in the house when I checked in...). I took a picture of some of the painstaking cleaning, it caught my eye that daily a man was going out and cleaning the entire line that marked the border of the lifeguarded swimming-area. That to me is attention to detail and shows the overall desire on behalf of management.

The part I liked least about the stay was the music situation. During lunch, some old gentlemen (The Happy Smilers Mento Band) that was amazing and in harmony with the environment were playing unamplified music. This was fantastic. At dinner we were treated to an over-amplified band playing kind of fusion reggae/adult contemporary, featuring a shouting singer often times shouting at the guests to get up and dance. Some did, most didn't. The dinner environment is on the patio, under the moon and stars with candles and torches and has to be in the top 5 dining ambiance situations I've been in in my life. Very romantic. To have a woman shouting at me while bland jacked-up music blasted away ruined it. I think the band should be reserved to a Friday/Saturday "party night" atmosphere. To have it with every dinner, the same songs blasted, the same woman gyrating up there, this is toooooo much for me. I want a nice dinner with my girlfriend, and no nice restaurant that is requiring me to wear nice clothes and jacket-preferred that I've heard of blasts me in the face like this. Now, if they had taken the gentlemen from the beach and had them playing upstairs without amplifiers and microphones, the volume level would have been great, the music much more in keeping with the environment, and it would have been perfect. For the small number of guests (this hotel I think has only 70 rooms and was not full, keep in mind that not everyone turns out for dining at the same time, so there may only be 20 people around), the amount of amplification is just not necessary.

The big insult with the music though was that going back to my suite, with the great balconies, and wanting to sit back and listen to the ocean and have a drink with my girlfriend and watch the moon on the water... still blasted away by the music. Until 11:00 at night. I know some people want to have constant music blasted at them or else they feel unentertained, but to let us not have an option to get away from this is a major pitfall for those who want something QUIET and romantic at the end of the day.

This was really the only thing I could find that I considered to be a major problem instead of an annoyance, and to some people they would not consider this a problem at all. I do enjoy a quiet evening listening to the music of the ocean though and a quiet and romantic dinner under the stars seems so appealing...

The beach, some people have mentioned it's small... it's not a place where you are going to wander far but this was not a problem for me. We wanted to just relax and enjoy the sun. The water was beautiful, the service on the beach was excellent. Up by the swimming pool as well, service was excellent and had a fantastic view of beautiful water.

Staff was friendly and prone to conversation which was nice.

"Jacuzzi" feature in the hot tub was non-functional, and the hot tub was maybe just a bit too hot (subjective). Pool was very nice. I took pictures of both, the hot tub was on two levels and one of them is the smaller "pool" in the pictures.

The views from the hotel were all splendid and the view from the Governor General's suite was amazing. Weather was perfect.

Though that sounds like a lot of criticism, please keep in mind that they are on the "small things" and on the big things (staff, food, location) the hotel scores top marks. If the small things were fixed, and they should/would be easily fixed I think with some attention, I'd have to give it a perfect score.

I can easily recommend this place to others. I am unsure about how much value is delivered for the dollar though, you have to bring the attitude that money doesn't matter. When spending this much though, I think it gives a right to nitpick on some of the details provided you're not going to get up in arms about it, so I'm hoping that is not the impression given by this. This was my first trip with my girlfriend and I wanted it to be as good as possible, and I feel that was obtained for the most part. Again, the only real big problem I could find was not being able to escape "HEY COME ON GET UP AND DANCE" every night, it might be possible by early-birding it and getting in and out before the 8:00 startup of the band but this wouldn't suit the slow-and-lazy approach we wanted to maintain with our vacation.