Beaches Ocho Rios - ALL INCLUSIVE

We ended up in Jamaica after Irma devastated the island/resort we were originally scheduled to stay at. First and foremost the folks working at the resort were AWESOME! Very accommodating, nice, friendly and just lovely to be around. The resort itself seemed a little tired and there were quite a few feral cats around. There is a lot of concrete and not you are pretty restricted in the movement. The problem was the 2 hour ride to get there, the people grabbing your stuff at the airport (to and from) and demanding money aka 'tips' to get them back, etc. At the resort local vendors had set up displays of trinkets and such for people to buy and you had to walk through this every time you go to the main pool, we found this very uncomfortable and ended up finding back ways to get there. If you stray of the Beaches designated beach there are people waiting to pounce and sell you stuff... this was just a different experience for us than visits to other Beaches resorts.

It was a bit strange not tipping the staff, though some of them insisted on it. I was told the hotel has a no-tips policy. There are three main restaurant options - Neptunes on the water, Bar BQ above the pool, and The Venetian (Italian, same limited menu every evening). There's also a breakfast & lunch area that most guests use daily called Bayside. If you don't reserve a table two days in advance, chances are you'll wait about 40 mins to be seated. The resort was at 97% occupancy when we visited. Everyone that worked at the restaurants were very friendly and socialized with us and the kids. Some room service staff however were not as nice - complained about not being allowed in to clean the room when we were napping. I killed a small roach, a centerpede, and a large cop cop ant inside the room before my family could discover them. I expected this since these insects naturally occur in these areas. I expected it to be more windy, but for some reason this resort doesn't seem to get ocean breeze. The only place you feel a slight breeze is on the walkway to the 4th floor elevator to descend to the beach. For the kids, there are Sesame Street performers...they mingle with you and do a few shows each day. My daughter loved it! There are local vendors on specific days - so if you see something you like I advise getting it right away, don't wait.

Over the years I have heard several great reviews about Sandal's/Beaches Resorts. So I was expecting the visit to Beaches to excellent. Unfortunately that was not the case. Upon arrival we were presented with a very informal check in that left us confused and irritated. We arrived around 7:00 PM and were handed tablets to put our information into for check in. After we waited several minutes to return out tablet we finally were directed where out room was. The food 3 star... bland and un-exciting. The staff in the restaurants were pretty attentive and I don't have many complaints about that. Pool and beach service was hit or miss. Someday we had several servers come up to us to take order within minutes of each other and at other times we couldn't find a servers and had to grab our own. The reason for the trip was to attend my brothers wedding. The wedding was scheduled to end at 10:00 PM. At 9:30 the staff started cleaning up table, taking drinks away, moving tables and chairs and packing up. We all felt that it was very unprofessional to start doing this before the end time of a wedding celebration. We did not bring our children so I can't speak about the children services offered. Needless to say we were disappointed in several aspect of this vacation.

If your planning on going to Jamaica- book Negril! After seeing the resort ( which was clean, but a very small beach area and horrible weather) we requested to be moved to Negril. The staff was extremely helpful and very nice-they gave us trans.to Beaches, Negril at no cost. I learned that Ocho Rios is normally cloudy- and you cannot view the sunsets b/c of the mountain. As soon as we were about an hour from Ocho Rios-the sun came out! The food is just ok at both resorts- and the beds are not comfortable at all. But the weather in Negril is great- beach is beautiful-staff friendly and sunsets amazing ! FYI Ocho Rios is a 2 hour drive from the airport- and Beaches in Negril is about an hour and a half from the airport !

Great resort for families especially little ones who love Sesame Street. Lots of one on one interaction with the characters.

Beaches Ocho Rios was a fabulous place for our family with teenagers!

The staff were very friendly. My wife and I were treated like a King and Queen. A beautiful resort, we had the time of our lives!!

I traveled with my husband and two girls ages 9 & 10. We stayed in a "Greek Oceanfront Terrace Suite". We had a king bed and the girls slept on the couch pull out bed (It seemed comfortable). We had a great view of the ocean and there was minimal noise. We snorkled, kayaked and sailed on the Hobie Catamaran. The food was execellent at the buffet and the resturants. We ate at every resturant during our stay. You can't go wrong were ever you eat. The girls ate self serve ice cream and slushies all day from the snack bar. We spent time on the beach, the waterpark and the main pool daily. The kids took pictures with Elmo, Grover and Cookie Monster. It was a great family vacation.

We booked two rooms with two double beds each and were given two rooms with king beds and a sofa bed. If I had known that in advance, we would have stayed elsewhere. Though the meals were sufficiently plentiful, the food quality (lunch and dinner) was mediocre at best. Still, the staff was fabulous.

The entire hotel staff was amazing! Everyone overly friendly and accommodating. Gorgeous property