amazing! loved almost every moment
Nov 15, 2019 TravellerMaryF Calgary, Alberta
I gave them a 5 because I honestly had so much fun and I wish I could go back. Here are all the reasons why:
1. Amazing customer service. I mean being asked if you want water or another drink relatively frequently, incredibly polite service - just indescribably good and so much better than what we get at restaurants in our own country.
2.…
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I gave them a 5 because I honestly had so much fun and I wish I could go back. Here are all the reasons why:
1. Amazing customer service. I mean being asked if you want water or another drink relatively frequently, incredibly polite service - just indescribably good and so much better than what we get at restaurants in our own country.
2. Delicious food. The Patio Restaurant (breakfast, lunch, dinner buffet) was amazing every day for every meal (sometimes we went to Bayside or Eight Rivers, though). We went to this place up to three times a day and never left disappointed. Bayside was beautiful both times, and the food was amazing; likewise for Eight Rivers. They are a very different experience – Bayside is (obviously) overlooking the water, and serves Asian food, whereas Eight Rivers is more Jamaican/continental. The Pool Grill is open until 5 a.m. and is excellent (though we never stayed up later than probably 1 a.m.). We also tried the Verandah, but we didn’t really like the food.
3. Beautiful grounds. We saw a few other resorts and can confirm that the resort is beautiful through and through. Sans Souci doesn't look as nice, and the exterior of the Sandals Ochi was positively boring by comparison.
4. Rooms looked really great too! Nice and spacious. We had the Premier Ocean type, just for reference, which got us a prime location next to the pool with the waterfall, the Patio Restaurant, and a beautiful view of the resort, Tower Isle, and the beach. We had no complaints, and there were even fresh flowers in the wall vase when we arrived.
5. Excursions, activities, and the chance to do more! What we did that was covered: Dunn's River Falls, the shopping trip, hydro bikes, kayaking, snorkelling (lessons too), a Catamaran Cruise, and a glass bottom boat tour. There's a lot more (see their website), but we didn't get to do it all because the wind conditions weren't quite right. Read to the end for my warning about the shopping trip.
6. The stay included nightly turn down service, whatever they call it when they make your bed in the afternoon, and our towels were replaced regularly. The mini bar was also restocked daily, but who drinks in their room when you’re in a beautiful resort like that? (we rarely drank in our room) We ordered food through room service once, just to try it, but it's honestly better just to get dressed and go to the Patio Restaurant, because that's where the food comes from and you have a wider selection.
What else can I say? This place was seriously amazing. The buffet at the Patio Restaurant was amazing every single time and included so much choice – it could even support a reasonably healthy diet, for anyone who is crazy enough to eat healthy while on vacation. They also had desserts for every meal. Bayside and Eight Rivers were seriously a treat and probably fancier than almost anything we have tried so far (especially the latter).
Based on the photos, we expected the resort to be pretty, but were pleasantly surprised to see exactly how beautiful it was (sometimes pictures lie, but these ones don’t). If anything, it just looks more real and lively, but just as beautiful. My boyfriend jokingly said the tiles throughout the resort looked a little tired, but that’s gonna happen – I’m sure this place gets a lot of foot traffic.
The activities were even more fun than we expected, and on the rare time we couldn’t do something, we just went to the swim up bar on the other side of the resort. There is something to be said for relaxing, and we spent a lot of time just tanning, floating around in the pools, and drinking here and there. Such a great time.
Warning about the shopping trip/any shopping in Jamaica: Do not look at, pick up, or touch anything unless you want to be harangued into buying it. I seriously cannot express how intense the craft vendors are (that’s a nice way of putting it). They even had a working agreement with the driver (of the shopping tour bus) wherein he would bring money from guests back to them in the event that they wanted something they didn’t have cash for. One of the vendors we turned down previously said “Now you can buy the turtle” after we agreed to buy something on “credit” (the driver arrangement) from the next vendor. It almost felt aggressive. There’s also a craft hut on the beach, but you can avoid it as long as you don’t look in. I recommend checking the resort gift shop, near the entrance, because they at least won’t harass you into buying anything, and their prices are fairly competitive/comparable to any deals. On that note: always bargain. I wish we had done it more. The worst they’ll do to you is say no, and if they say worse, there’s your cue to walk away, right? (that didn’t happen to us, though)
Don’t believe the “mold” complaints – there is no “mold” at this resort. Those are probably from people who have never been to tropical countries. In a tropical climate, there is a lot of humidity, which makes everything constantly smell moist. It also probably has something to do with the abundant plant life as well. It’s normal. I actually like it. You’ll notice that same smell in some parts of the U.S. (like Florida), and in the Philippines.
Now, here are my minor complaints:
The woman who worked at the gift shop, Cecile, was an odd exception to the amazing customer service there. She didn’t smile, say hello, or offer any assistance, in contrast to other shop attendants/clerks. On my first visit, I tried to ask her about a price that didn’t make sense to me: “Hi, I was just wondering about this price, since a very similar item is about half the …” and was rudely and abruptly cut off with “It’s six dollars.” So I put it back and walked away. Worse still, when I approached her on my second visit to the gift shop, here’s what happened: I walked up to the counter with my one purchase (which she didn’t assist with at all), while she was busy looking at a pile of receipts. Instead of immediately looking up and saying “Sorry, I’ll get someone else to assist you,” she continued to look down at the receipts for about 20 long seconds, then finally looked up, didn’t acknowledge me verbally, and called the girl who was across the other side. Absolutely astounded.
Near the jacuzzis (there are two, close to the main pool), there is very little lighting at night. It gets dark near 7 p.m. in Jamaica, and with little light, I tripped on something near the pool (a drain cap? I don’t know). I could see that being very dangerous for some of the older visitors (I’m in my 30s). It would be really good to have at least some light by the jacuzzis and the pools at night.
It would be nice if the resort or someone in charge would warn visitors about the aggressive craft vendors. I have seriously never experienced anything like that in my life. They were just a tad too pushy. The driver also didn’t warn us that there would be certain untrustworthy individuals who try to lure you away from the shops that were part of the shopping tour (thankfully, we didn’t go with him). At first we thought he was just leading us to another building in the same block, but we realized later that he was leading us somewhere further away, across the road. He also kept calling his friend over, who thankfully never arrived. So scary. If you see him, he has a few gold teeth and tries to sell you drugs (claiming a certain drug is legal in Jamaica, which it isn’t) – do not trust him. I have no idea what he had in mind, but it surely wasn’t good.
There were but very few food items that we didn’t enjoy – most notably, the Verandah’s food wasn’t that great, and some of the beef items at the Patio Restaurant were just okay (we are just used to better beef, I think).
I wish the hotel had given us an itemized list of all our expenses. I know we were supposed to get an $80 credit because we had an issue with booking, but I don't think I ever actually saw confirmation that this was actually done. But that's minor.
I’ll add more if I can think of it, assuming there’s an edit function.
This resort is freaking amazing, don’t listen to the bad reviews (every complaint we read was total BS - the resort is lively, fun, amazing food, amazing customer service, and tons of activities). Also, you should totally go to Jamaica at least once, just trust me. 😎
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