Just returned after a 5 night stay from 2/18-2/22/13 with my husband and 4 and 6 year olds. The Jewel is a well maintained property with super friendly staff. They were exceptionally caring and friendly towards my kids. Sorry for the long review, but I find the longer reviews more helpful than the short ones. :)

When we arrived, Donovan (a bellhop), was quick to help us with our things. My kids loved him and went to the lobby everyday to try and find him so they could say hi. When we checked in, we were given a complimentary upgrade to a plunge pool room (from our original water view room I originally booked because the website says kids aren't allowed in plunge pool rooms).

The room smelled of fresh paint, but with the patio door open, it quickly went away. We were given an extra twin bed so the kids didn't have to sleep together and it was quickly made up for us. My son checked out the plunge pool right away and it was cold!!!!!! The air worked great in the room and the bathroom was huge. The shower didn't work really well, but nothing big enough to call for repairs.

If we left the door hanger out that said maid service, they would come and mop and make the beds, but the bedding never got changed because sand from our kids feet was never removed from the sheets. It's our fault we never remembered to talk with the maids about the sheets until it was bedtime again.

Our mini fridge was always stocked. Odene (I'm not sure of the spelling) always made sure my husband had plenty of Cokes. He was so nice. The original pop in the fridge was expired, but we drank it anyways and it was fine. If rooms aren't used for a while, that should be checked.

The buffet was great for breakfast and dinner. We never ate lunch there because we were enjoying the burgers, jerk chicken nd nachos from the grill by the pool. The hotdog we ordered one day from the grill was like a Fluorescent pink color inside, so we stayed away from those.

We had pizza the first day the pizzaria it opened and it was amazing!!!! We ordered the pizza with 4 cheeses and had them add jerk chicken to it. Yum!!!!

The Japanese restaurant needs a reservation and it was ok. We didn't feel the need to go back to it for a second night.

The Italian restaurant was awful. It took forever to get a drink and our food. When we got our drinks, they weren't right. The lasagna was nasty and the soup was pure starch. My husband told her to forget bringing his ravioli since it took so long and he ended up eating what the chef made at the pasta station. I would reccommend ditching the menu and put in a handful of pasta stations. The waitress (can't remember her name) was really out of it and couldn't remember anything. The only thing that was good was the Cesar salad and hard vanilla ice cream. Not a restaurant we wanted to spend our last night in jamaica at.

The staff at the kids club was awesome!!! Toni took great car of our kids along with her friend (name started with an M). Toya was great, too. The only complaint is that when I went to get my kids twice, they were out and about in the resort and I couldn't find them. They have the schedule written on a big board, so I would check in the place that was on the board....with no luck. I even went to the front desk asking where they would be if the board said snack time. I went to all 3 restaurants with no luck. I finally found them on the tennis courts!!! Kind of frustrating when I didn't have sunscreen on them and didn't think I would need to since all the activities for that morning were supposed to be indoors. I would suggest that they have some sort of sign they can write on so parents know exactly where their kids are when they take the kids out of the building.

My daughter got her hair braided at the salon from Marsha. She did an amazing job. It took 2 hours, so I got the chance to talk to the 3 salon workers about life in Jamaica. Consider going to the salon even if it is for the cheapest service they offer. They don't get paid at all if they don't have a customer all day. They all have kids and school is not free for their children in Jamaica. Getting a service at the spa will make their day and yours!!!! I was talking with them about the pizza and they all said how they would love to try it just once but they aren't allowed to eat it or they will get fired for eating any resort food. Maybe a treat from management to the employees would be a pizza every once in a while. I would have brought them one, but they were way too afraid they would get caught.

The head of grounds was super nice!! He helped us get more palm fronds for Ivan on the beach who makes amazing hats out of them. He is there 3 days a week, so make sure you get a hat from Ivan.

Sherline was the sweetest employee in the whole resort. She is assigned to butler guests, but goes above and beyond to take care of everyone. She deserves a raise!!!!! My kids adored her!!!

The gift shop was nice, but I had a not so nice experience in there. I found 2 Christmas ornaments for $5 each. When I got to the counter, the Oman said "oh I have to make you a new price". I thought she was going to give me a deal, but instead marked each one up to $8 each!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!! My husband met me in there and had a run-around with her about the change and she ended up changing them back to $5 each. Unreal!!!!! Don't buy sunscreen in there, either....the maids always have tons on their carts from guests who have left it behind.

Pools and beach were amazing!!!!! The hot tubs, not so much. The big one was just barely warm the first day we were there and the jets didn't work. We didn't bother going back to it. The tiny one was bubbling good, but it was scalding hot. I'm so glad my husband tried it before my kids got in or we would have had burnt kids. We told the front desk and the next day it was drained and being cleaned.

Pray you don't need to go to the nurse unless its just for a bandaid. We had to see him for our daughters' bad cough. He was not very confident and told us things that were so off the wall. We would have called the house call doctor if we stayed any longer, but luckily we didn't have to.

Overall, we had a great time, but probably won't return. Not that we didn't enjoy the trip, we just like to try out new places.

Stayed for 14 nights ending 10th February. We didn't pay 5 star prices so we were not expecting perfection. What we got exceeded our expectations. Excellent beach, good room kept clean by our very hard working room maid. We found all the staff tried very hard and were always friendly. Food was ok but could be improved upon.
Being a tennis nut I was delighted to find the 4 courts all in playable condition with a competent tennis coach who turned up on schedule 6 days a week. The floodlights do work and this is all inclusive.
We also used the hotel's golf course and were suitably impressed by the course and it's driving range. You have to pay for a caddie and if you want a buggy you also have to pay for that, however the caddies are very knowledgeable and gave masses of coaching to the less proficient of us. Seymour A. Rose, the senior coach at the driving range was particularly excellent.

We also loved the glass-bottomed boat trip which was also included in the holiday. All in all a good holiday all round.

We returned from Jewel Runaway bay on February 9th, after a 7 night stay. Our group of 8 adults were all thrilled with the entire vacation. We all feel the absolute best thing about this resort is the amazing staff! From Barbara (the hotel manager), to Anthony,Chris, JaMar, & Lloye (some of the wait staff at the Buffet), to Georgia who supervised the wait staff, to Sharall, the bar manager, & all the bar tenders, you could not ask for better service. Keisha at the concierge's desk is exceptional too. They were all so friendly and knew us within a short time by name. Miguel runs for drinks on the beach and knew what each of us wanted without a reminder after only a couple trips to the bar for us. The cooks at the grill and the Hibachi were excellent. Even staff like Shurline (a Butler) went out of their way to have some fun with us even though we did not have that service. Lloye went out of her way to get us fresh aloe leaves when she saw some of us were sunburned!

Now about the resort.....beautiful! Everything is so clean! Jewel is working constantly on upkeep and freshening up the resort since taking over less than a year ago. The beach is gorgeous. No rocks or difficult drop off in the ocean swim area. You can just stand in the water and see a lot of beautiful fish from the reef just outside the swimming area. The rooms are huge but plenty large. One couple with us had a plunge pool but found it ice cold and lacking privacy anyway since the balcony above looks down on it. It really didn't matter since there was several nice pools right nearby and the ocean. We love the size of the resort too. Not too big or too small. The food was always good and plentiful. The jerk chicken sandwiches were a favorite! The entertainment was very good on Friday & Saturday especially.

We have been to Jamaica 5 times and stayed at four different resorts including the old Sandals Ocho Rios that is now Jewel as well. We will definitely return to this resort.

We just returned from Jewel Runaway Bay on Feb. 20th, 7 night stay. Upon arrival we received a warm greeting from staff & welcoming Rum Punch drink. This resort was very spacious, 266 rooms, great Beach, drinks, pools, the resort was at 97% full and did not feel crowded. The rooms were not cramped and bathroom was fairly large. We were on block 3, right behind the pizza place, a little noisy from carts going by early in the morning to the Coral Cafe, but concierge did ask if we wanted to be moved to another location and we declined. We did have a problem with our air conditioning unit not wanting to shut off automatically, spoke to front desk and they spoke to maintenance, it wasn't resolved by the time we got to our room later on in the evening, so we spoke again to concierge in the morning and by the time we returned a few hours later the problem was resolved. . I totally understand at times there is unexpected problems that occur and I feel they really do take problems seriously and resolve them as soon as possible!

The Coral Cafe was good, especially the omelets, the lunch and evening meals were also very good! Starlight Grill had amazing Jerk Chicken, loved the nachos, Jade Samurai was Excellent, the Moonstone (Italian) was good, but loved the Tiramisu dessert, the Expresso Bar was wonderful, my husband added Irish cream to his & the Pizzeria just opened was was fabulous! The drinks were really good, especially Jamaican Smile, that Prince made was AMAZING! The Managers Party was really great, they gave away prizes and beach party got rained out, but they brought inside & we still had a good time!
There is a small gift shop and a jewelry store which they will dicker on the price!

There was never a problem getting a chair at the beach or by pool side, the only complaint is that I wish guest would remove their towels from chairs when they leave. Troy did come around and take drink orders and he was fast & efficient and always had a smile on his face.

We did do the couple massage, our therapist Karen & Debra were phenomenal! They made sure we were comfortable and was considerate of the pressure they used. I especially loved the warm towels to the feet at the end and it was something I had never experienced before!

The resort also has tours to book there, and we did Dunns River Falls & shopping, and Bob Marley, both was a really good.

There was a Honeymooners & Anniversary Party which we attended. Barbara & Keisha did a wonderful job! We had won the grand prize, cruise to Negril, but had to leave the next morning. We were allowed to give it away to a lovely couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Barbara offered us a bottle of Appleton Rum, which we thought was a very nice gesture.

The Steel Drum band was Amazing! We found out that the only time they play is on Sunday evenings. We were disappointed not to hear more steel drums, since that's what we associate Jamaica with. The other entertainment was really good! Liked the Limbo guy perform under a fire lit bar, the dancers, and the firer performer, and the balancing act. The resort also provides a Newsletter daily to let you know what time the activities are and where they are being held.

One recommendation would be, to have restaurant names on the buildings, so when you arrive you don't have to figure out what building is what.

Overall, we had a wonderful time and would definitely come back and recommend it to others, because the Staff was EXCELLENT and made you feel at home!