My husband, daughter and son-in-law arrived at SDR late in the afternoon on a Friday. We departed the bus tired, having left our home in New York at 5:00 a.m., hungry, and perhaps a wee bit cranky. We were delighted to be greeted with a fragrant damp towel to refresh us and a cool glass of champagne. Instead of lining up at the desk to check in, we were invited to sit on the comfortable chairs in the lobby. Mere minutes later we were handed an envelope with our room keys and information on the resort and told we could go right up to our room. My husband (affectionately known in our family as the "trip natzi") insisted we immediately take the orientation/tour which had already begun. No amount of protests from the rest of us could change his mind so we literally ran across the piazza to join the tour. As we approached the tour, the staff member leading the orientation gave us the biggest, most welcoming smile you could imagine and pointed at his watch, acknowledging our late arrival. It was just what we needed and all four of us burst out laughing. It was a great way to begin a vacation and our first introduction to Ray, someone who became a treasured friend by the end of our trip.

I guess the best thing we could say about our vacation is that it wasn't long enough. Although I believe in my heart that if we had stayed for two weeks, we'd still say the same thing. We were struck by the sheer beauty of the island and the gracious and beautiful Jamaicans, all of whom showed us the most captivating spirit and personality we've ever seen. They made our visit so special and memorable, that we can't wait to go back.

The resort itself is beautiful and well kept. We didn't have any bells and whistles attached to our stay, no concierge service or a suite, and I can honestly say I don't think I'd change that. We had a lovely room, assistance at any time from anyone on the staff when we had a question, and a great time talking to and getting to know new people - other guests as well as the staff at the resort. We found that you can be as busy as you wish to be or as lazy as you wish. We spent most of our days on the beach swimming, snorkeling, or out on the catamaran.

The food was good - we especially enjoyed the Marco Polo restaurant. We ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch since we like to eat lightly during the day. The pizza is terrific - my husband and son-in-law enjoyed it as a late afternoon snack on several occasions.

My husband golfed three mornings and said he had a great time. We took the catamaran excursion to Dunns Falls and had an absolute blast. My daughter and I also did the Dolphin Encounter excursion. Though quite pricey it was a fantastic experience. At night, we ate dinner around 7:30 or 8:00 pm then took in the show. The Playmakers are all amazingly talented in every way - great singers, dancers and most of all - great personalities. Karioke Night was a laugh riot - though I'm still convinced some of the guests were ringers because they sang so well! The magician that performed that night was fabulous - entertaining and funny. We often walked the beach later at night or went to the Piano Bar to chat with some of the great people we met from across the United State and Canada.

Though there are many beautiful resorts and islands that you can choose for a vacation, I believe it is the people you meet that make your vacation. We met a wonderful group of vacationers there - some honeymooners, some people in their 40's and 50's (like us!) and all of whom were friendly, funny, interesting and great to spend time with on vacation. Then there is the staff. I hate to even use that word because by the end of our time in Jamaica we felt as though they were our friends. There is beautiful Shanna who couldn't do enough for us and seemed to be everywhere all at once. We simply fell in love with her. We met Darren, who snorkeled with us, and Stephen, who took us out on the catamaran. They are two of the loveliest people and we absolutely enjoyed every minute of our time with them. And, then there is Ray. He touched our hearts, made us laugh, told us everything we could possibly want to know about Jamaica and shared his time with us. They made our vacation exceptional and we are so grateful at having the opportunity to meet and get to know them.

The day we left Shanna and Ray waited for the bus with us. It was Ray's day off but he told us he would not miss saying good bye to us. My family and I were so sad at having to leave - and remarked that the only day of rain we had the entire time was the day we left - somehow that seemed appropriate. When the bus pulled up we said our good byes and got on the bus to begin the trip back to the airport. Before the bus left however, Ray, Shanna and two other members of the staff climbed into the bus and sang us the good bye song. I had heard about that so I knew it was coming but was completely unprepared for the emotion of it. It was very touching and left all of us with tears in our eyes.

Long story short, our trip to SDR was magical, memorable and wonderful. There is no doubt that we will go back Jamaica and we will return to SDR. It can't come soon enough!

Marilyn and Jack
Long Island, NY

I am writing live from the hotel. We booked 6 nights. And this is our second day here. I wanted to go to Royal Plantation but my bf insisted it would be too boring with all the honeymooners.

Bad things first-

First off all, I am very angry at people here who said the food was great or good. Excuse me but if your idea of good food is Dennys than food here is good. Otherwise it is terrible. The buffet is a total disaster both lunch and breakfast. A la carte restaurant is so so let me put it this way I d never eat there again if I had a choice but I don't . The only thing we are happy about the food is it is soo bad we won't go home putting on weight we might even lose some.....Very very disappointing especially if you pay 600 bucks a night.

I feel so bad because I forced my bf to come here even though he did not want to spend that much money for a beach holiday.

The resort is a 3 star in Europe maybe less. There is no AC in the lobby??? How terrible is that. The rooms are smaller than expected but ok if you have a good view like us.

The ride to the resort is bad. We had the smallest seats in a largely overcrowded bus. It took us two hrs to get to the resort. Than again if we were in RP they d have picked us up with a car only for us.

Good things

People are great. They re always friendly and trying to please you 100 %.

Beach wonderful. Pool is great too.

Value for money.....

If I paid 300 per night I d say it was ok but having paid 600 (they gıve us one night free o it makes it 500 actually) I felt like they ripped us off. If the food was good I d say all right maybe 500 but food being so bad this place only deserves a 200 dolar value (in the same room we have with the nice balcony and the whirlpool bathtup)

Next door is RUI and I checked their prices. Around 300 I guess that must be a better value. Sandals again no way......

This was our first Sandal’s vacation and after the week we just had, I can’t imagine it will be our last. Everything from the weather, to the white sand beach was perfect. There were so many great things that I either cannot put into words or cannot remember, but here are some items worth mentioning to anyone considering a stay at SDR:

- The resort grounds are beautiful. With the exception of an empty drink cup here or there, I don’t think I ever saw one piece of trash on the ground. Any picture you take at the resort can double as a postcard, it was that stunning.

- We stayed in a Venetian Premium room that overlooked the pitch and putt course as well as the mountains. I was very close to upgrading before our trip to an ocean view room and I am happy that I did not. There is a lot of entertainment/activities going on during the day and night and several of the pool/ocean view rooms are right on top of where all this action occurs. Facing the opposite direction gave us what seemed like more peace and quiet and the view was still very nice. Also, for anyone worried about not being able to use room service or have a bar in their room, it is very easy to bring food and drinks back from the restaurants and/or pool.

- The housekeeping staff went above and beyond my expectations. The room was always clean, the sheets were always fresh and we always had plenty of towels. Even if we left the room for five minutes it seemed like the housekeeping staff came in and cleaned up a bit. I found the bed to be very comfortable despite several of the reviews I read beforehand.

- One of the few disappointments we had were the restaurants closing on Monday and Thursday for buffets. The food at the buffet was still good, but I didn’t get a chance to eat at the Italian restaurant because of this. The food at the resort isn’t spectacular, but it’s still pretty good for an all inclusive resort. Be sure to have breakfast at Marco Polo and never hesitate about ordering two entrees or combining dishes if there are multiple items that you would like to sample.

- The bar/bartenders were all great. The drinks never stop flowing and the bartenders were always friendly no matter how busy they were. Jamaican smiles and dirty bananas were our favorite drinks. Also, while we didn’t encounter many bugs during our stay, there were several bees around the bar area and floating in the pools. I didn’t hear of anyone getting stung, but I thought it was still worth mentioning.

- For the most part, the staff was very friendly and accommodating. There were a few employees who seemed unhappy to be there, but the only reason this stood out was because of how great the majority of the staff was.

- The biggest headache of the entire trip was our arrival at the airport and shuttle to the resort. So many different people wanted tips or to take our stuff that it was confusing figuring out who to give our bags to or where we were suppose to be. Also, we had a long wait on a hot bus before leaving the airport. It would have been nice to be able to stay at the Sandals room at the airport and have another beer or two until the shuttle was ready to go. While this is not so much Sandals fault, I still felt like they could have had another employee or two at the airport overseeing everything, The ride back to the airport from the resort was much, much nicer.

- We had no problem with the people selling merchandise on the other side of the fence. Yes, their constant shouting to come over was annoying, but you don’t hear/see them unless you are right next to the watersport area. The jet ski’s shouldn’t be allowed so close to the swimming area, but as long as there are people signing up, it’s tough to blame them. We went to the other side of the fence a couple times to shop and unless you’re uncomfortable saying “no thanks,” it really isn’t too much too handle.

- The nightly entertainment was hit or miss. I became a little upset at some of the hidden costs it took to participate in a few activities like casino night (even though the money went to homeless children), Margaritaville and Bingo. However, shows like the steel drum group in the forum and the beach night entertainment were some of the highlights of our trip.

- Some things not to miss while at the resort: The hot tub next to the tennis courts, breakfast at Marco Polo's, a catamaran trip with one of the watersport's staff (Stephen was our favorite), games by the ocean/pool, the steel drum group on Thursday nights, late night drinks at the piano bar and sake bombs at Kimonos.

I’m sure I am leaving a ton out, but overall the trip was fantastic and the small hiccups really were small. We had a great time at SDR and will miss several of the staff members and friends we met while there. I can’t wait to go back or visit one of the other Sandals Resorts sometime soon.

Duration of stay Aug. 10-15

Arrival: It does take a little while to get through Immigration at the airport. I would suggest trying to get ahead of all of the other people arriving with you. We were at the front of the aircraft and it still took us about 35 minutes to get through immigration. Our bags were already unloaded and waiting for us when we left immigration and we proceeded to the Sandal's lounge which is very nice. After a short stay we were taken to our bus with bags in tow and off to the resort. It takes roughly 1 1/2 hours to get to the resort from the airport. They do take a ten minute break for bathrooms/drinks/etc. Driving on the opposite side of the road was a new experience for us. If you want to be on the coastline side sit opposite the driver. I was not impressed with our arrival at Sandals. Check in consisted of everyone on the bus sitting in one big group filling out paperwork and handing out credit cards. I would have rather waited the little bit of extra time to check in at the counter by myself.

Room: We paid a little bit extra for the ocean view room which I always think is worth the money. Our room was very nice and well kept. The mini bar was stocked daily, fresh towels, bed made, turn down service, etc. The actual bathroom (shower and toilet) was on the smaller side. The balcony off our room was quite roomy and had a towel rack to hang wet swimsuits, etc. This was very nice as I am always afraid our stuff will fall over and be lost.

Food: We ate breakfast and most of our lunches at the buffet restaurant which was very good. The food was excellent but the desserts were a little bland. We ate one dinner at this place and also at the Italian place. Both dinners were excellent and good portions. One night my husband had a strombolli from the brick oven pizza place and I had a BLT sandwich- both were extremely good. They also have little stands were you can get snow cones and ice cream throughout the day. We had these many times on our way to and from the pool. Also very scrumptious.

Pool: This Sandals has one of the most amazing swimming pools. It is so roomy and you don't feel like you are walking all over people. The two far ends of the pool are also shaded over with trees all day long which make it nice if you want to get out of the sun for a while but still enjoy the pool. The hot tubs are also extremely large and feel amazing. There were several nights that we would go down swimming or to get in the hot tub late at night. We did not use the smaller pool at all so I can't comment on that.

Beach: Although the beach is fairly short it is one of the most beautiful things you will ever see. The water is so crystal clear and you can walk out for quite a ways still touching. They do have a swimming area roped off which is nice because there are locals trying to get you to rent jet skis all the time. For the most part they took no for an answer and left us alone. After the first day we just started staying away from the ropes and they couldn't bother you. Be forewarned that they will also try to sell you "smoke."

Entertainment: I would say was the biggest downfall for me personally. We have been to other resorts were the "playmakers, merrymakers" are very good at getting people involved in games and things during the day. The playmakers here seemed very involved amongst themselves and often had slight attitudes. We did participate in beach volleyball, pool volleyball, beach regatta, relays, etc during which they always gave away bottles of Appleton Rum. It was good entertainment for lulls in the day. The evening entertainment was also a little lackluster and consisted mostly of bands and poor singing. Just remember that everything starts on Jamaican time which is generally 30 minutes later than scheduled.

Dunns River Party Cruise: Well worth the money. This was the best tour because it left right from the resort's pier on their own boat which meant no long bus rides or time away from the excitement. I would not leave Sandals without making a trip to climb the Dunn's River Falls and go snorkeling. We had such a great time.

Overall we had a great experience here. Although I would not be hard pressed to go back I would definitely recommend it to others. It was not crowded when we were there but they do say the busy months are Nov-May. Please feel free to ask me any questions you have. We are pretty level headed travels with good taste.