Sadly, I haven't been able to write this review sooner, but I have to share a wonderful review of this resort. The Riu Ocho Rios had the best of everything - food, rooms, entertainment, beach and pool. And it was all inclusive.
My boyfriend and I visited Jamaica earlier this year as a late Winter break. It was the perfect place to escape to. The weather was pretty good - it did rain one day but we still went to the beach. It didn't even matter as our room was our home for the duration and we usually retreated back after dinner to relax and watch TV.
All of the restaurants at the Riu were great. I would suggest to upgrade to a junior suite or above as anyone with a room on the scale lower than that is not able to enjoy some of the better places to eat as well as go to one of the pools (which I thought was cleaner and nicer all around).
The "Jerk Hut" on the beach was awesome. The line gets long early but you can expect to find the same cuisine there everyday - grilled jerk chicken or pork (2 out of 4 day there was sausage too) and rice and beans.
In short, the Riu was great. We really enjoyed our trip. I feel we were treated like royalty and because of this journey, we are now spoiled.

RIU- Ocho Rios, Jamaica,: "Absolutely magnificent!"
Date: July 1-8, 2008
Reviewer: A TripAdvisor Member, PA, USA
We have just returned from a week at the RiU. The hotel is magnificent and we have never experienced such incredible service before. It was so lovely that it was hard to drag ourselves away from the hotel to go to other atractions around 8 Rios , The hotel is really clean, the food is great and the beach is a heaven.
The pool attendants were wonderful, Every body have an smile for you, and around the hotel every person look after your needs. There were several restaurants for reservations beside the restaurants around the hotel. It was easy to reserve by phone
Restaurants are great we dined there for our his birthday. They even bake him a cake and sang him happy birthday.
We paid $1229 per everything, all inclusive hotel and fly,
Overall I would say this is probably the best hotel we have ever stayed in all my trips.

OK, here's the real scoop on Riu Ocho Rios. We just returned last night after 5 nights. My wife and I are fiftyish and we took three teenagers, one with a girlfriend and a daughter with a 26 year old just out of the Army, two tours in Iraq.

I have travelled the US extensively for 20 years on business, so I have some knowledge of the hospitality industry, though this was my first time at an all inclusive. We spent approx $7,000 US for all seven people.

Bus trip over- no problem, small van, very knowledgeable driver, pointed out the highlights, stopped for jerk chicken and restroom half way thru the 2 hour trip.

Check in- got there at 3-4 had to wait hour and a half for rooms. Of course the front desk girl joyfully said upgrade ( which she probably says to everybody!) so I tipped.

Room- ok but basically two large twin beds pushed together. So if you sleep in a snuggle , problem mon! Asked to change rooms, said come back tomorrow, which we didn't. Room ok with little sitting area by balcony, overlooking pool. I think all the rooms have a pool/ocean view. Ours was supposedly a junior suite, which I guess was the sitting area.Took mosquito spray with me. No problems with mosquitoes or moldy smells.

First night- started shower around six. Trickle of water and all cold. Uuuugh, this is going to suck for five days. But, alas, never had a problem with it the rest of the stay. Plenty hot water and pressure.

Flat screen TV with the usual assortment of International channels.

Food and drinks- OK, big hint here. If you are ok with the cheapest bar brands out there......and I mean I've never even heard of Old Mr. Tom Gin or Kirov Vodka, and Red Stripe beer,( which I am ok with) fine. Otherwise take your preferred liquor with you. My wife and I packed our own bottle of Grey Goose. Only problem was we ran out next to last night.They have tonic and coke and bottled water in the fridge.

The situation with making reservations at the various restaurants has changed. No more calling down. You have to line up at 5 pm on one of the mezzannines at little tables to make your reservations for the next day. Seems like there could be an easier way. But we did it anyway, and Sir Richards and Tushimi were ok. Not great, just OK. But my wife is a gourmand. so nuff said. The breakfast buffet and the lunches were fine, and the beach jerk hut was good.

We did two excursions. First day we got there Jamaica was being brushed by Tropical depression Dolly. Rained all day. Road trip! We signed up for the Bob Marley birthplace mausoleum trip. Took about 1 1/2 hour way up in the mountains to get there. Driver made stops for Red Stripes along the way, so we just partied. BIG HINT- when you book one of the little vans((which we needed for 7 people)....make sure they have a sound system!! Most do, but the long journey to Bob Marleys final resting place would have been more fun if he was blasting Marley tunes on the way up. The place was done well, was very enjoyable. They had a small bar and restaurant.....and of course gift shop. The jerk chicken I had there was probably the best I had all trip.Whole place is doobie brother friendly( if you know what I mean)....and that includes basically the whole island I think.

Dunns River Falls Cool Runnings tour- Catamaran tour. 5 hours. left at 12 , returned about 5. Stops for snorkelling on the way over. Not much to see as this isn't a real colorful reef. The climb up the falls was fun and pretty easy with the guide. Only negative was the Cool Runnings people endlessly pose you for pictures and videos which they of course will try and sell you later. That part was a little overdone. Just buy your own waterproof disposable camera in the giuft shop for $15. If I had it to do over I might just hire a van and get a local to guide my group up the Falls. But on the return, cool runnings does open up the usual bar drinks, play some music and the cute girls dance.

The shows- We thought they were all pretty bad....but this ain't Vegas or New York. Younger folks might have thought they were fun.Lots of the younger set 20-35ish here, so what entertains them may not entertain me.

Beaches- Great, aqua water, plenty of chairs. Hard to find chairs together by the pool sometimes, but always seemed to be plenty at the beach. You will encounter local salesman to the East side ( the side opposite Sandals) of the beach. I think the general rule is if they are in the water, probably RIU can't stop them.If you walk up the beach there are some private residences and the locals have some huts set up for crafts, boats to rent, whatever. They did have some ganja, and you could smell it frequently around Ocho Rios. But if you said no, no one bothered you and I never felt threatened in any way, so it didn't bother me. Added another kind of ambience to the place!

Ocho Rios- we did go to Evita's Italian restaurant one night. My wife wanted some real wine! It was very good and not crowded at all. Of course, it was a Monday night. My kids went to HardRock for lunch one afternoon and bought t shirts. They said they enjoyed it. We aslo went out to a karaoke bar called Ocean's Eleven on our last night. Didn't eat, but had several drinks and it was fun. Lots of locals there (with Ganja) by the time we left, but no problem, mon!

Beds were hard, but I still slept pretty good.

Overall, I would say the Riu Ocho Rios is a pretty good value. We probably wouldn't go back as we like to experience different places. But I really liked Jamaica. The locals were very friendly and seemed eager to pleaseand that makes a big difference to me!. Drivers always showed up at the appointed hour. And tip some of the maids and bartenders. They really appreciate it!

The hotel was still new and was very nice. Although we had a nice view, the room was on the small side. The food was average, but the people were very nice. The only true negative was the fact that we were not able to make reservations ahead of time for the restaurants that required one. We had had to get up at 6 am each day and stand in line to make one reservation at a time for that night. I've never heard of such an inconvenience before. If you take that out of the equation, we have a very nice time.