Jamaica, Sandals Grande Ocho Rios Review

Overall Rating

I was so disappointed in all of it. We went for our 5th wedding anniversary to Jamaica with Sandals Grande Ocho Rios and I so wish we had just gone on a cruise again. From the lousy tasteless food they served to the generic liquor they poured. I found nothing luxurious about my trip.

Several of the restaurants close every night and many of them close as early as 9 pm. The food is unbelievably bad. They give you small portions of tasteless often overcooked food. Even the "Jamaican chicken" was dried out and lacked in flavor. I have had better Jamaican food in America. The restaurants that were open always seemed to have long waits. We had to wait almost 2 hours to be seated one night for dinner and then the waitress acted as if we were a huge inconvenience to her. Because it is all inclusive they do not work for tips. In fact you are not allowed to tip and I promise you the service there reflects this. The staff were tolerable but in no way overly friendly.

They advertise name brand liquors in your room with concierge service. The only name I recognized was the bottle of Beringer's wine. Don't waste your money upgrading to a concierge level. It is not worth it. The only rum they serve is the Appleton Rum they manufacture there. That stuff is Terrible. More like whiskey then rum. It seemed as if the frozen drink machines were always out of order. Also the only beer they serve is Red Strip on draft. You can purchase Bud Light, Miller Light ect from the gift shop.

Our second day there we came back to the room to find our safe open and all the money in my husband's wallet gone. Luckily it was only about $150.00. We called the front desk and they sent someone out to our room. We waited almost an hour for him to arrive. He then brought in a local police officer or something like that. They made a few notes and kept asking us if we locked the safe. They couldn't understand if we had locked out safe how "someone" could have stolen money out of it. I explained to them technically it didn't matter if I locked my safe or not. All of my stuff should still be there. I assured them we locked the safe! They told me that there is no way I locked the safe because there staff cannot open them. They offered no resolve. This set a great tone for the rest of my trip!

Finally the rooms are just ok. Nothing luxurious about them that is for sure. The bathroom window, well the hole in the bathroom wall that was supposed to be a window, has no glass in it just slats that you can open or close. Needless to say bugs get in your room even when the slats are closed. The air-conditioning is a NOISY wall unit in your living room (if you stay in a villa. Also you will wait forever for a Jitney to come and pick you up, even when you call.

Even if the money hadn't come up missing the trip was terrible. The only good thing I can say is that you can relax. We went snorkeling which is included and that was a lot of fun. The people running that did a great job. You can also take a canoe out or a sail boat and they are also fun. Other than that though there is really nothing to do but lay on the small strip they call a beach or hang out in a pool. They claim to have entertainment certain nights but it seems something always happens. We tried to catch the piano players twice and both times no one ever showed up.

If all of this wasn't bad enough, after getting home I got my credit card statement and there was a charge for over a hundred dollars on it that I did not authorize. You have to call the hotel in Jamaica, which is an international call by the way, to resolve any disputes. They charged me for a terry cloth robe that was never in my room. Who wears robes in 100 degree weather in Jamaica????????? I was on the phone for over 30 minutes and nothing was resolved. I had to call back and talk with someone else for over 40 minutes. They finally agreed to reverse the charges. Here is the kicker. My phone bill came and it cost me $97.25 to talk to them in Jamaica to have the robe charge reversed. Needless to say I give up!!!! As a last effort Sandals emailed me a survey. I filled it out truthfully and added plenty of comments in regards to my trip. I even followed up with a detailed email about my stay. I have yet to hear anything from them and that was June of 2008. Clearly I am still upset about my anniversary trip.

In my expreience I would save your money and go on a cruise. The food is awesome, the accommodations are clean and beautiful and the people on the ship actually care about you. We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise the year before this and I can't wait to go again. Top notch service. Sandals should spend less on advertising and more on delivering their promise of LUXURY!