Jamaica

Select one of the 6 destinations below that we have for Jamaica to narrow your hotel review search further.
Best hotels in Jamaica, based on:
#2 Hideaway At Royalton Negril
#2 Hideaway At Royalton Negril
Negril
Jamaica
28 reviews
Decent hotel, relaxing vacation!
If you keep your expectations in check, the hotel is pretty good. The price \ is it worth it ratio is debatable (did I pay for the Jamaica name more than anything else perhaps?) but this is different for everyone. Overall, the hotel is a typical all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. The food is better than most places, with a few exceptions. I was disappointed in the lack of fruit and vegetable selection at breakfast and lunch. I was also disappointed with the lack of choice and places to eat during the day. You get the buffet, a food truck, jerk hut and a coffee shop / ice cream place. That's about it. Would be nice to have more options. You can order a-la-carte via the television, but the choices are minimal and time to bring food is pretty much 45 mins to an hour minimum. The rooms and resort are comfortable and relatively clean. I hated the pillows, but they were typical hotel pillows (way too soft for me). Beds were comfortable (a bit firm for some people maybe, but that's how I like my bed) My one minor negative here is that, while damage does happen in every hotel, they seem to be behind on some repairs. We saw more than just a few re-plastered walls in hallways or dining areas, but not repainted yet at all. Beach in Bloody Bay is always amazing. The water is calm, clear and access is relatively easy. Snorkeling even locally in the bay will allow you to see starfish, minnows, barracudas, crabs, needle-nose fish, and the occasional sting ray (it is an ocean). Pools are clean and there are plenty of them. There seems to be a lack of towels sometimes if you want fresh ones. There seemed to be very few towel locations (I can think of 4 and that's it). However, I only tried to refresh my towels once (and nothing was available around noon-1pm that day), as our butler ensured we had beach towels stocked in our room every day. We had a swimout from our room. It was clean, and really nice. Be warned that most of the swimouts, because of the orientation of the hotel, will be in the shade for most of the afternoon. Sun in the morning, shade by about 1230pm-1pm. We went in January, and the swimouts were almost all in shade, and, because of the time of year, not really used by a lot of people since the water temperature was pretty cold in those pools. Staff was amazing for us. I have no complains about the staff. We took diamond club and had a butler. Honestly should rename that position because they aren't butlers in any traditional sense (and some people seem to think this means they do whatever you tell them to). But ours (Oshane) was one of the nicest folks, and helped us out with restaurant reservations and any minor issues we may have had throughout our stay. Booze is typical all-inclusive. Tons of cocktail sugar drinks you can order and get a headache or bad hangover from. For diamond club, I would have expected a bit more of a selection of more "premium" booze, but it was very small (I think Grey Goose was the most recognizable booze I was allowed to get for vodka). Most of the booze, however, is the headache inducing cheap stuff. Its Jamaica, and they don't serve Appleton?! The resort seemed to be in a deal with Wray and Nephew liquors. Fine, but Appleton Rum is really famous, and to have a resort in Jamaica basically not serve it is kind of weird. If you want particular types of booze or bottles, be prepared to pay (a lot and easily overpriced) for those bottles separately.
#15 Riu Ocho Rios
#15 Riu Ocho Rios
Ocho Rios
Jamaica
414 reviews
Great first experience in Jamaica
Overall a very nice resort. Stayed in a very spacious Superior Family room with two bedrooms and a total of three king size beds. The only small complaint is the lack of towel racks in the bathroom and the fact that there is no shampoo and conditioner provided; the 3 in 1 soap was not great for the hair. The food was good and the jerk chicken grilled next to the pool at lunch time was delicious. The Italian restaurant was good but the others were not really worth the visit. It is nice that you do not have to reserve ahead of time for the restaurants. The pools were fine, nothing special. The water slides were fun and there is a nice waterpark for small children. The beach and ocean were beautiful with calm waves and smooth sand all around. Even though we were there at spring break, we never had any problem finding spots by the pool or on the beach. A nice bonus is the fact that you can take boat excursions straight from the resort. The catamaran tour with snorkelling and a climb up Dunns River Falls was great! The only thing that we missed at the resort was a basketball hoop, ping pong table, or other outdoor activities to keep a teenager occupied. The teenage club had a few things inside, I would have preferred that there were outdoor options. It would also have been nice if you could play pool for free instead of paying US$2/game and having to go to the reception every time to get tokens, as the machine did not work. We really enjoyed the nights with authentic entertainment with reggae bands and an amazing steel drum band. Overall we were very happy with the resort and would recommend it.

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