Sandals Grande Ocho Rios Trip Report (brief)

[brianstclair]

But then again, like most college students I didn't go Jamaica for the diving did I?

Brian

 

[brianstclair]

Thanks for the report. Curious what you thought of the organization SANDALS itself. I have been curious about them for a while.

I liked Sandals a lot, with a few caveats:

1. It was pretty expensive. For my wife and I, for five nights (w/air) we paid something like $3,700.00 and that was a deal. Our next Caribbean trip we'll probably book a villa instead. Someone put us on to this site: http://www.villascaribe.com/. Worth checking out.

2. We had the butler and concierge service and two villas at the highest point on the property (i.e. unbelievable view). Those two things made a huge difference to me. Some room levels you can't even order room service, so make sure you know what you get with your package if you book with them. Our friends caught a special when we all booked where the butler service was included.

3. The beach was lame. If you're thinking miles of virgin beach, Ocho Rios is not that. There was about 75 yards of small beach surrounded by a dock and that was the beach. I'm assuming the beaches at other Sandals resorts are more what you'd expect, but I'm not sure.

Overall, it was a great vacation but like I said above, we'll do it differently next time. We ran into a guy while we were kayaking who put us on to that villas website. His family was staying in one, and it came with a maid, groundskeeper, and cook and a three bedroom place was something like $2,000 for a full week. Right on the water. So there are better was of doing it.

The all inclusive thing is nice, but doesn't cover "excursions" like Dunn's River Falls, horseback riding, etc. It DOES cover scuba diving, but it's fairly tame diving and not a trip I'd do if that were my sole goal. Alcohol's included, and our butlers kept our kitchen stocked the entire time.

If you have any questions I'll be happy to go into more detail on anything.

Brian

 

[stevenq99]

There was a DM/captain named (or nicknamed) Magnum and a photographer for the resort named Richard. The DM for our "deep" dives was a shorter woman, and I can't remember her name.

Any of those ring a bell?

Brian

I was certified by a guy named Richard but he usually went by Gandhi or Major pain!

 

[DiverDebbie]

Thanks for the report. Curious what you thought of the organization SANDALS itself. I have been curious about them for a while.

For similar money, I would go to Couples resort instead (actually, I am... lol) Sandals relies heavily on mass marketing and hope people remember the name they had when they started out. I couldn't even get a real human response from them. They looked great back in late eighties or early nineties, but now the resorts are old and tired and in need of an overhaul. Plus as you can see by the previous review, if you don't pay for the best room you don't get the same service. Just MHO.

As for the diving... I dove in Montego Bay and it was so-so. The viz. was great and it was warm, so we still enjoyed it, but the over fishing showed. I've never heard good things about Ocho Rios. We're looking forward to trying Negril, which I've read better reviews about... and if not, oh well... with those sunsets and 7 mile beach, it will be an awesome place for our wedding!