Spent a very good week (Sat to Sat) at Palladium Jamaica with wife and 7 other friends.

We stayed on the Jamaica side (saved a couple hundred per) and it was great. Villa 17 / ground flood - view of ocean, could walk right off deck and few more steps to feel the spray of the waves from the ocean.
Many reviews refer to the large size and lots of walking. It is big, but I felt these were over stressed. From our villa (2nd furthest from lobby) was only 7 min walk, could even get a shuttle if that lazy.
Rooms: No clock / alarm - bring your own. Good size, 2 seat loveseat, 2 chairs and small table, coffee maker. Our shower leaked quite a bit of water, but no big deal.
Food: buffets were great, lots of selection, great service most days. Sports bar had really good 'pub' food. Wraps, chicken fingers & burgers.
Al a carts were very good as well. Italian was our fav - ate there twice. We had friends staying on Lady Hamilton side that got them 5 reservations during the week. Could make them for entire group. Without you just needed to walk up and leave name - did this 1 night and only waited 15 min.
Lots to do if you wanted to, but many spots to relax and enjoy the sun.
Our average day started around the main pool (very big, loads of spots to sit), played some volleyball (be careful as the sand is not deep and concrete beneath) and some drinks. Lunch at buffet or sports bar and our group usually moved over to the adult pool / sunset cove for the afternoon sun. It was nice a quiet here and very relaxing. Some okay snorkeling in the cove, but if was a bit wavy the water could be murky. We'd stay here until 5ish and then take a nap and head for dinner. Bar here was open until 10pm and the bartender was terrific.
Evening shows were okay, not my thing but the live music in the Infinity bar was always great. The steel drum band and dancers were amazing and make sure to check them out.

We did 1 day trip - 3 hr Dreamers boat tour (snorkeling + booze cruise). Loads of fun, we had the best bus driver ever 'Joe', had us laughing the entire ride to MoBay. Boat ride was very good. Crew is exceptional, entertaining you the entire way. Snorkeling was okay, saw some fish and some neat coral. Small tour in & around the mangrove bay and learn about the area from the captain. We were able to get a few bucks off the trip just by asking and save $10.00 each.

Overall everyone in our group would return to this resort

We stayed at the Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort over Thanksgiving weekend 2012. Weather was averaging around 75-85 meaning the pool was a bit cold. Everything was really nice and my gosh the views were insane. The resort is approx 45 minutes away from the airport. We took a shuttle to the resort but if I were to go again I would most likely take a cab, from what I hear its only $60 each way and its a lot quicker, we waited 2 hours at the airport for our shuttle to round up all the passengers from different flights. There are two pools, ones a relaxing (adult) pool while the main pool is more active with a swim up bar. I wasnt able to check out the steak house but I did go to the Mexican and Indian restaurant and it was amazing. My only complaint is that the sports bar needs more employees and maybe a buffet style line for after hour eating when the main restaurants are closed. We went there a few time and it takes forever for someone to come get your order or even a drink. It seems they only have one waitress for about 60 tables and only one bartender.

If you are going on vacation to just relax then I would recommend this place

The people are wonderful and the food is great, the only thing i did not like was the smoking. You have to visit the Jerk Hut , the best jerk chicken. Everyday our refrig was stock and everyone is so nice and helpful. My best vacation ever!!!!!!!

My mom, my sister and I were at the Grand Palladium Jamaica November 3-10, 2012. It was a girl's trip to celebrate my sister's upcoming 30th birthday. My sister chose this resort based on the many eating and bar options for the all inclusive. We were fully aware of it's location between Montego Bay and Negril and did extensive research for our excursion options.

We arrived at the resort a little bit after 2pm on Saturday, November 3. Our reservation was an exchange through RCI that had been booked since June. There was a lot of confusion about our reservation and the fact that there was 3 of us that would be staying in the room. We got it all straightened out and got our all inclusive bracelets. We were told that we would have to come back for a third key the next day because they were too busy checking in other people to do it right then.

We were on the second floor on Building 17 in a one bedroom suite. Our room was on the corner and we had two balconies, one overlooking the ocean and the other overlooking the gardens. Our room was very beautiful but we discovered that there was only one king sized bed. We called the front desk and they told us that there were no rooms in our category with two beds available at that time but if we wanted to upgrade we could at an extra charge. We declined and they told us that the couch in the living room made into a bed. We decided to stick with that. We then had a knock on the door and the maintenance man came in and said that he needed to work on our tv in the bedroom. We waited around for about 30 minutes while he worked on the tv and then eventually replaced it with a different tv. We also had to call the front desk to ask them to stock the refrigerator because when we arrived in the room there was one bottle of Diet Coke and one bottle of orange soda in it.
After our initial check in and confusion in the room, our trip went much better.

The Things that We Loved About the Resort:
We really enjoyed the main pool. It was beautiful, clean and had three bars around it. There is never a lack of available chairs in both the sun and the shade. We never had any trouble getting a drink. We really enjoyed the "Martin Special's" and the "Killer Koolaid" at the swim up bar. I would suggest bringing an insulated cup to use at the pool. It helps keep your drink cold and the cups that they use are very small.

We had a great time with the entertainment staff! They always had something going on and we personally participated in water aerobics, bingo, and trivia games. They were always very friendly and worked very hard to make sure that everyone was having a good time.

Our favorite place to eat breakfast was The Blue Lagoon because we enjoyed eating outside and having the view of the pool and the ocean. Our favorite restaurants were Bhogali, the Indian Restaurant, and Pastafarian, the Italian Restaurant. We ate at each of those several times and our meals were wonderful each time. They are both outside and could get a little hot at times.

We hung out every night at the Infinity Bar after dinner. They had different types of live music each night and the band that played on Tuesday and Saturday was our favorite. The lady that was the lead singer had a fantastic voice and the music was varied and fun to dance to. There are two waitresses that are on duty at night so a lot of time you are better off going to the bar yourself. The one waitress, Roxanna is very, very sweet and we really enjoyed getting to know her.

The Things that We Were Disappointed About the Resort:

We felt that overall, the staff lacked in friendliness. We are very easy to please ladies and we tipped for each round of drinks and for every meal, including the buffets. We encountered more disinterested and a few down right rude staff then we felt like was appropriate. We also work in customer service and understand that people can have off days but I think that more training in customer service would benefit the resort. We did however, get very, very friendly service at times.

We wished that there was an option to eat at the pool. The only lunch option by the main pool is inside at the Negril Buffet. We like to have hamburgers or sandwiches at the pool so that we don't have to put on coverups and leave the fun pool atmosphere to eat lunch.

We did not enjoy the beaches. The nicest of the beaches is Sunset Cove and it was still very rocky and reminded us of a beach at a lake. Most of the chairs were old and dirty. The food at the jerk chicken hut was tasty but it is not constantly available and you have to stand in line to guarantee that you will get some. It says that it is available from noon to 4pm and we arrived about ten minutes before noon and waited in line until 12:40 for it to be ready.

We did not enjoy the location of the resort. It was about a 45 minute drive from both Montego Bay and Negril. It was also a several hour drive from any of the more traditional excursions. We knew that this would be the case when we booked the resort but the fact that it was further away from things bothered us more than we thought it would. If you do not plan to leave the resort, this would not be an issue for you.

We were disappointed in the refrigerator in the room we could never get it very cold and we would leave a note with a tip everyday asking for more than 2 Red Stripe Beers because there were 3 of us staying in the room. We would then have to ice down any beverages that we wanted to drink out of the fridge because they just never seemed cold enough.

Our overall impression of the resort is that it is very beautiful and has a lot of positive features. Our room was very nice and the pools, lobby and restaurants were very clean. The entertainment was very fun and there were many options. We met a lot of super fun and friendly guests. We also felt that this resort needs to pay a little more attention to the details. We did not appreciate our room not being ready for guests (tv and fridge needing stocked) and not being the room that we needed for 3 people. We would have liked more lunchtime/afternoon food options. We felt that the staff should be instructed to be more welcoming. We did have a fun week!