Jamaica, Sandals Dunn's River Review

Overall Rating

Beautifully landscaped, nice, clean rooms, friendly staff.

The place really needs an update... lobby furniture was downright shabby, restaurant food was mediocre, room service food even worse.

I had written a letter upon our return to Sandals basically explaining the issues that we had dealt with during our honeymoon:

Many months ago, we booked our honeymoon to Sandals Negril, Jamaica. I checked on the status of our trip destination several times due to the many hurricanes that rolled through that area. Our travel agent checked and double checked for us and was told everything was fine. A week prior to our wedding and many weeks after the last storm to hit that area, I received a call from our agent, who had just been contacted by Sandals. The Negril site was still under construction and would not be accepting any guests for our arrival date. We were not really given any choice it was either we cancel or go to Dunn's River Sandals. Being that this was our honeymoon and it was such last minute, we decided to take our chances.

Upon arrival at Sandals Dunn's River, we were greeted with a glass of champagne, as the hostess yelled over the construction/renovation work that was being done on what we later found out was the Tree Bar. We really didn't hear half of what she said, but filled out the paperwork that was given to us. The Concierge was too busy to show us to our room, so another one of the hotel staff assisted us with our bags.

Once we arrived in our room, I grabbed a coke and opened the door to our balcony. To my surprise, I was looking a huge construction site. As I was sitting there in awe of the expansive work being done by hundreds or workers, several workmen started yelling and pointing up at me. I felt uneasy about this interaction, so I decided to go back inside my room .and didn't go back out on the balcony. The construction work (I later found out) was not Sandals, but a new resort in the beginning stages of construction. Every morning at 7 AM sharp, the construction started. These men worked every day, all day, until after sundown. One evening they even worked well into the night .much to our dismay.

We came to Jamaica for our honeymoon and planned on spending a lot of time relaxing in our room and on the beach. I went to the Conciere and asked if there was any way that we could have our room moved. They said they fully understood and would see what they could do and promised to get back to me by the next day. No one ever got back to us. When I went to see her again, she said she would get back to us. No one ever got back to us.

One of the reasons we got a concierge room was because it included room service. The food that was served through room service was not the same quality that was served in the restaurants . It was much below. One morning for breakfast we decided to have cereal and fruit. While the fruit was fine, the cereal was stale and the "use by" date had passed several months prior . This is just one example of the substandard food that was sent to us via room service.

The resort itself looks like it could use some updating and upkeeping. The mirrored wall in the elevator was cracked, the hand rails in the elevator had the brass overlay peeling off, the sofa in the reception area had a cushion on it that was flat and worn and the rest of the furniture in the lobby was quite shabby, the word "Sandals" on the pool was missing the "S" it was all just kind of cheap looking definitely not what I had seen in the brochures.

Both my husband and I really feel Sandals could have done better by placing us in a better resort that wasn't under construction or had given us some options. I did not want to go to this particular resort in the first place . My question is why would Sandals put us here with all the renovations going on within the resort and the massive construction going on next to the resort. I feel that Sandals could have chosen a better resort to put us in for our honeymoon.

Sandals response was basically - Sorry you didn't have a good time, oh well and come back.

Members' Comments onbarbengel's Review

• paidsurveys on 16th Dec 2005

  I am sorry to hear that this couple that went to sandals, did not have a good time. it was all down to what had happened to the country. Because I went their for my honeymoon 2000 and really enjoyed it a lot. We got married in the summer, so It was not really the hurricane season at that time. every body at times unfortunately, do not have the same luck.