For this adventure we had the priviledge of travelling with four very good friends. Christine, Paul, Karen, and Dennis joined us for a week of fun and relaxation in the Jamaican sun. Well, it was mostly cloudy, but there was enough sun to get a tan! We had two days that were mostly rainy, and two days that were mostly blazing sun. The other days were a comfortable mix of sun and clouds (with an occasional shower). The destination was Sandals at Dunn's River in Ocho Rios, and a good time was had by all! Activities for this trip included beach volleyball, sailing, snorkeling, kayaking, water skiing, horse back riding, and hot tubbing! Paul also spent a bit of time fishing, and Karen and Dennis were often found playing Tennis or Golf. The pictures below show some (but definitely not all) of the fun... To see pictures of our other fun trips you can visit our main vacation page HERE. Happy trails! - Mike & Hali |
A panoramic from the balcony of our second room -- a fine location! |
We review the key aspects of the resort on a scale from one to ten -- one being bad, and ten being excellent. The grading is based on what we expect from this resort. Since this is a Sandals resort, our expectations were fairly high... Rooms: 8.5 The rooms were nice, but a little aged. Ample drawer space, water pressure, and hot water. No fridge -- which is fine for us. We found a special friend in our first room (the kind of friend that can survive a nuclear holocaust). The manager was very accomidating, and showed us a couple of other rooms. We wound up getting a room upgrade for our troubles. The second room had an even better view of the ocean, but still showed it's age. The beds were pretty good, and housekeeping did a good job keeping the place clean. Water sports/Activities: 9.5 This is tough to rate. They need to spend a few bucks on equipment. The beach volleyball looked like a year-old $2 special that had been run over with a lawn mower and then left outside. However, the beach volleyball court/net was pretty good. The windsurfing equipment was pretty poor quality and selection, but they did *have* windsurfers. The hobies were kinda beat-up, but they did *have* hobies. They even had water skiing on calm days. Free snorkeling and diving are another bonus. The staff was generally great, and Snoop was a great ski boat driver. The checkout system was easy and there were no real time limits on anything. In addition to the staff being great, the high rating here comes from the fact that they did *have* water skiing, and most equipment held together long enough for us to use it. Bars: 9 Real bananas in the drinks, and good bartenders. We were a little disappointed that they didn't have Baileys. If you checked all 3 bars, you might be able to find Grand Marnier. We kindof expect more from a Sandals resort... Restaurants: 9.5 Food quality was very good to excellent and service was excellent also. We only did the buffet breakfast and lunch, but we usually did ala carte restaurants for dinner. The International restaurant was the best, with the italian restaurant as the runner-up. The variety of food satisfied everyone in our party -- even the vegitarian. Grounds: 9 Would be lower without Pitch & Put golf course on grounds -- which was fun. Resort is medium in size. The beach is not especially small, but not large either. Especially when you consider the fact that very few people left the guarded beach of the resort. Beyond the guarded portion of the beach you would be ruthlessly badgered by local sellers of various items. Overall Service: 10 Or nearly so. The service was everything that you would expect from Sandals. Reception/Front desk: 9.5 Very helpful people that didn't pass the buck. Overall: 9.5 A very nice place. The age of the resort is noticeable, but not blatantly so. Great food and beverages, very good activities, and excellent staff. One of the biggest down sides are the people selling things on the beach. Well, they're not allowed on the beach so they stand in the water and call out to people all day long. If you don't have a thick skin, you'll prefer the pool for this reason. Even so, we'd go back again. |