We stayed with our young boys at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort in early November for a week. The room was average and the bathroom needed upgrading. The boys didn't take baths that week because the surface of the tub was peeling. We often had to call room service for towels and we had to take cups from breakfast as they didn't provide them for the rooms. The pool complex was great and the beach was fine. Our problems were mostly with the food. The breakfast included braised kidney and sauteed mackeral. Not what we are used to. We at a lot of basics like pasta, rice, and potatoes as the other offerings were cold or tasteless. We were not happy with our meal at the Italian restaurant and were afraid to try the Chinese restaurant. We were much happier at the Sunset resort in Montego Bay. It was not worth the long ride from the airport to get to this resort in Ocho Rios. Our family will not return.

Spent one night at Jamaica Grande to spend with dear friends and family before moving on as previously planned to the Riu 7 miles away (seperate review). Agree with most of the previous positive reviews and a few friends of ours from England who stayed over a week had no complaints and mostly very positive reviews. If you time it right, you can get an ocean FRONT room like we did for $ 150 a night. Personally, I would not pay much more than this. The food and entertainment were better than I expected-just as good and sometimes better than the Riu but with less variety and I love the open air dining and reception areas. The pools are great-especially for the kids as most are very shallow and the spiral slide is never crowded but we did go in November which is a slow time. (Very nice worker who chatted with us said, unsurprisingly when I asked, that the busiest times are from December 15 to about April 15th and then July and August with families). If your kids like pools and you want to be close to Dolphin Cove, Dunn's River Falls, and Mystic Mountain than this is a good choice. However-if you are an ocean swimmer like me and want a good beach, do not go here. The beach SAND Area itself is clean and there are plenty of chairs and some shade so tanning/lounging is OK. However-the water is always cloudy, the sand bottom is mucky and there are many sharp objects THAT YOU CAN NOT SEE-no matter how shallow the water. You are in a bay that is prone to sewage and garbage-I saw it and our cab driver confirmed that this can be a problem at times. Also, I got stung by a jellyfish that our cab driver said are always there. For a MUCH better beach-splurge and go seven miles down the road to the Riu or take a cab to the public beach there (The Riu has a $90 a day day pass from 8 or 9 to 6 pm.-but call before to confirm.) You can SWIM from the public beach to the Riu beach (all the illegal vendors do this and no one bothers them). If you want a clean, true Carribbean beach with tons of palm trees and beatiful clear/ calm water (reef offshore) with unlimited visability but want the value of the Grande-try one of these options. If the Riu and the Grande are the same price or close-don't even think of staying at the Grande if you like the ocean. If your pool people, the Grande is fine with nice grounds. If you have a late flight-you just need to check out by 11:00 AM but can enjoy meals and drinks until you leave-they clip your band once you move your bags to a car/cab. The Riu clips your wings the second you check out. Either way-enjoy and keep in mind that the wet time for Jamaica is from Sept. to January.

Just got back from a three day trip here for a wedding. Although the wedding party recommended another resort, we were on a budget since we are going on a family vacation this coming up wknd. I'm aware that you get what you pay for so I didn't go into this thinking I was going to get 4 or 5 star treatment. I was prepare for the worst but it was better than I thought. With that being said, under no circumstances would I consider going back.

PROS: 1. Our room was clean. 2. Spacious resort. 3. Decent food; nothing fabulous but edible. 4. Great drinks. 5. Plenty of chairs around the pool areas. 6. Great price IF on a tight budget. 7. Personal service at the a la carte's.

CONS: 1. Outdated. You can tell this was a really nice place back in the day. However, I feel they've compromised renovations in order to cater to guest that want to pay lower rates. 2. Bathrooms can really use some serious upgrading. Shower never got fully hot. To the point it was more beneficial to bathe at the sink. 3. Sinks and tub wouldn't drain properly. 4. Very thin walls. We could hear housekeeping in the rooms next to us....loudly. 5. Location. Omg!! I didn't expect to be right across from filth, trashy, slums. Every place has its poor areas, I've just never known them to be so close to a resort. I was completely put off by this. 6. Beach. It's not the nicest.

OVERALL: This is a solid 2 star resort. If you want to pinch pennies and still be able to enjoy yourself, this is your place. If you are expecting modern, beautiful rooms in a pristine area, keep searching. It's not necessarily a negative review, just depends on your perception of what is considered nice and what your past experiences has been with island style resorts. If you are accustom to 3 plus star resorts, this will leave much to be desired.

We traveled to the Sunset Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios for our wedding on September 14, 2012. We had 65 guests at our wedding on the North Gazebo. The wedding was amazing, and our wedding planners Shelley and Shanieka were wonderful!! Before the trip, I had been contacting them back and forth through email, which wasn't easy. They are very busy so I got short responses, and delayed emails back from them. So, I was VERY nervous and skeptical before the wedding. But once I arrived and talked with Shelley and Shanieka, they calmed all my nerves and assured me that they had everything under control, and they did. They even upgraded us to a 2 story cabana for our entire stay! We got married on the north gazebo, which is absolutely gorgeous!! You don't even really have to dress it up, it's already perfect! We brought our own music for the ceremony, which the DJ played for us. We released doves during the ceremony, which I would highly recommend!! Everyone loved it and the pictures look awesome! After the ceremony, we had a cocktail reception with the DJ for 4 hours. The alcohol at the resort was ok, but we wanted some nicer options for the reception, so we bought 10 bottles from outside the resort. We did have to pay a fee for the bartender to serve it, but it was worth it to have the nicer liquors for the wedding. We brought our own photographer to the resort, which we had to pay an additional fee for as well. It was worth it to us, because we knew the photographer, and we knew the pictures would turn out great. But the resort did have a photographer on site to take pictures too. We did purchase the DVD from the resort, and it is amazing!! The videographer really did a great job, and it was well worth the money!

All in all, the wedding was AMAZING. Everything turned out better than I could have imagined! But the planning before the wedding was very stressful!! Because I really didn't know what to expect. It's very hard to communicate to plan a wedding over emails. You just have to relax and know that they really do have EVERYTHING under control.

Now, the resort was average. It's a cheap all-inclusive resort. We were very happy with the resort. It was a place that all 65 of our guests could afford, most of which have never been out of the country to vacation before. The food is average, and the liquor is FREE. I recommend drinking daquari's because the Jamaican Rum is delicious!! The resort is in a perfect location in Ocho Rios. You are walking distance to the town and all the little shops.

I would definitely recommend this resort to anyone having a wedding. The wedding was perfect, and the resort is a place that all of your guests can afford- but if you're used to the Ritz-GO THERE!! This place is well worth the price and the staff are willing to do anything for their guest!!