My husband and I went to Sandals Royal Caribbean for a vacation away from the kids and had a wonderful time. This resort is truly magnificant. I didn't believe that it would actually look so much like the photos in the brochure but it actually did! The staff were very nice and courteous and helpful all the time. Although the beach isn't huge, there is plenty of room for everyone. The watersports were a lot of fun, especially the snorkeling, which we did twice. The offshore island was where we had the best drinks at the swim up bar there. It was also the clothings optional beach..... if anyone out there thinks they will see really hot women topless on the island, think again. It's where all the older people go and get naked. Our room was really nice and we were in the Kinsington Block. It's on the far side of the resort which we loved because hardly anyone was at the beach or pool on this side of the resort and it was away from the watersports and noise of the main resort area. Plenty of privacy. Spring for the concierge service if you have the money. It is well worth it! The food was great, although a little different and fancier than what we were used to. We hit the Grill a lot to offset the tiny portions we were served at dinner. A word of advice about visiting the Sandals Montego Bay resort for dinner... sign up for dinner reservations really early, right when you get to Royal Caribbean or you won't get a reservation. Be prepared though, Sandals Montego Bay is right next to the airport and those planes are so loud and actually rattled our dinner plates. We couldn't wait to get back to the Sandals Royal Caribbean. We loved our trip and would definently go back again!

Being an experienced traveler I was not sure what to expect from Sandals Royal after reading some of the reviews. I began this trip with a little trepidition after seeing what some people had said about the resort. How anyone could say anything bad about the resort or the staff is beyond me. From the moment we arrived at the resort we had a fabulous time. We were not even allowed to pick up our own bags! We stayed in the Beachfront Royal suite and it was worth every penny. The room was beautiful and the bar was restocked daily. The drinks at the resort are fabulous. You have to try the hummingbird it tastes like a strawberry milkshake with a kick. The food was fantastic at all the restaurants our favorite was the Regency. The playmakers were so much fun. My husband is not the typical joiner but the even got him involved in the activities and he had a great time. Don't believe any on the bad reviews this place is heaven on earth!

I went to this resort for my honeymoon and by the advice of my travel agent, stayed 7 nights. As soon as we got to the resort, there were about 15 other couples, and we had to sit in the hallway instead of on the sofas with the others. We had to keep speaking up for anyone to acknowledge our existence. There wasn't any air conditioning in the lobby, and even though I am accustomed to the heat in FL, the lobby at the resort was equivalent to a sauna. It's sad to say, but by the first day we were there, we were jealous of the couples that were leaving.
The first night at Sandals, you have to go to a mandatory meeting where they go over all of the amenities at the resort & the rules (or so they say). What the meeting was about was where you can do other activities & how much that will cost you. They do not mention any of the all-inclusive activities. The meeting was about an hour long in a small room without air conditioning with over 100 people crammed in it. There was not seating for everyone, and my husband & I were one of the ones who had to stand. All I kept thinking was how much money we spent on the honeymoon to have all-inclusive, and all the resort wanted to do was sell activities to make more money. Sandals has a policy of "all inclusive", which is supposed to include gratuity. That is not how the employees behaved. There was one man that escorted me & my husband, along with several other couples to their rooms at the same time, and all he could talk about is how he has 6 children and gets paid $0.80 an hour and how much he appreciates tips. He also let everyone know that if they would like any pot, he can get them some "good stuff." Very classy. The room was disgusting & it was an upgrade in the Kensington block. There was a window a/c unit, and bugs all over the countertops, along with spiders in the bed. The room had a refrigerator, that usually is filled with drinks. They would not bring any drinks since we did not pay for the concierge service. They would not even give us canned or bottled drinks from the bar. The only beer they serve is Red Stripe, or so they say, since I witnessed one of the employees bringing a 6-pack of Bud Light to one of the rooms. THERE IS NO ROOM SERVICE!!!
The food was absolutely horrible & we got sick off of it. Orange juice is yellow water with orangy-foam pulp at the top. Eggs are very greasy.
On one of the days when we were feeling better, I called the lobby to see if they could bring us food to the room & they said absolutely not, even though I explained how ill we were & hadn't eaten in 2 days. All of the restaurants were closed except for the one on the island, since it was the Kokomo Karnival Beach Bash. You do not have the option to eat anywhere else at the resort on this night. I had to go to the boat dock & pick stale rolls off of the trays of food left over from everyone else in order to eat. CATS, ROACHES & MOSQUITOS EVERYWHERE!!!
We attempted to dine at the Regency Restaurant, but since travel agents were dining there (approx 25 people at one table), the resort would not let any guests dine inside. The travel agents were getting the champagne treatment (literally). When I complained that I was getting bitten up by mosquitos on the deck, & requested to sit inside, they had me stand up & sprayed bug spray all over me at the table. I yelled at them since it stung like hell since I just shaved, and needless to say I lost my appetite due to the smell. Besides that, there were roaches crawling all over the deck. I am convinced they keep it a "candlelight setting" so that the roaches are not as noticeable. On another night we ate outside at the Pavilion. They had soup on their menu called red pea soup. It was basically split pea soup with a lot of red pepper in it.
No taste, but it was like fire in your mouth & throat. My husband & I had our legs rubbed against by all of the stray cats at the resort while sitting at the table. There were about 10 cats around begging and rubbing against us while we were eating. We are both allergic to cats, but the waiter just blew off our complaints. MAN-MADE BEACHES!!! Since I'm from FL, I am accustomed to how beaches should be. This man-made beach had algae everywhere & they will only let you go out 10 feet from the beach. The island seems to be man-made as well & has the smell of sewage. The pool on the island is an above-ground pool. Also, the locals can be seen bathing & cleaning their clothes in the ocean right past the buoys. The water in no way is clear-it is murky. Sandals loves the art of airbrushing & adding colorful tints to their pictures.
Getting to the island was a task in the canoe that we were using & we were advised by the workers at the resort not to roam anywhere in the canoe due to the dangerous locals. It made sense that they warned us since there was such a heavy current that was pulling us away from the island & to a nearby beach were locals were gathering & watching us.
WATERED DOWN DRINKS!!! I am not a drinker, so it usually only takes me 1-2 drinks before I get any kind of buzz. I had 8 frozen banana mudslides, and did not get anything. When we visited the Montego Bay resort, I had one drink & almost fell on my ass! The drinks may be included, but that doesn't mean they aren't severely watered down, especially at the Royal Caribbean. There is no nightlife. The club was smaller than my 2-car garage & there was maybe 3 couples in it on a good night. There wasn't any cable, just a news channel & a soccer channel. My husband & I were so bored & nauseated all the time, that all we did was go to bed early every night. By the time our trip was over, we had been packed a day early & eager to get to the airport.
When we were flying, I prayed to God that if the plane crashed, that it happen on American soil. When we arrived back in the states I actually kissed the ground. I made a couple of attempts to complain to Sandals, but since they are all independently owned, I would have to call the resort directly to complain to them. Since we didn't have any luck with our complaints while we were there, I knew I would be wasting our money trying to get anything solved over the phone. To sum this vacation up, I would not recommend Sandals to anyone-they're just a scam.

From the moment that we arrived at the airport, we were treated with a smile and a welcome. Everything was very well organized and punctual. We were greeted with champagne and were able to take full advantage of all the resort's amenities before our scheduled check-in time. The hotel truly did not allow tipping, and we believe that the service was 10x better than most places we have been where tipping is expected! The staff made us feel like they enjoyed having us in their presence. The chef was excellent in his food preparation (even for the fabulous buffet breakfast and lunch), and even gave us one of his recipes after we told him how much we enjoyed the dish! The private island allowed us to have a private area for clothing optional sunbathing. It was totally relaxing, and there were no gawkers. The facilities were beautiful, and we really felt like we got to know many of the staff members as well as guests. The way that the resort is setup, it was very easy to meet people, and it felt very quaint. The staff really knows the meaning of service - they take the Jamaican "no problem, mon" and "ja, mon" expression to the limit!!! The entertainment was great. There were a number of games, and several nightly bands. They were well organized, and the staff really seemed to enjoy the jobs that they do so well! The piano bar sing-a-long sounded like it would be corny, but it was actually quite a blast! We will definitely go back to this resort in the near future.

What can I say about our May 13 - 20, 2003 trip to Sandals Royal Caribbean?Everything is top notch. No complaints.We had the lowest entry level room - and it was fine. You don't spend that much time in the room anyways.Food was excellent. Drinks were even better. "No tipping" policy does truly apply for everything on the resorts.Truely, there is "NO PROBLEM" in Jamaica, and everything is "IRIE"!!The PLAYMAKERS staff was superb, and kept you busy if you chose to participate. They made the trip great!The R.C. Sandals resort is beautiful. Wide array of guests from young to old. Not run down, and, thank goodness, farther away from the airport than the Montego Bay Sandals Resort.Transfers between Resorts was easy with free courtesy shuttle buses. Restaurants at other Sandals Resorts (especially Tokyo Joe's) were great.Wide selection of tours to take. All very safe and enjoyable. The Ocho Rios Dunn's River Falls tour is a must!Highly recommend it for all honeymooners, and the memories will last a lifetime.BOTTOM LINE: WE WOULD DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!

Had great weather all week, and everything went well. All the drinks and food you could handle, try the hummingbird! The water was so warm, although watch out for sea urchins! The watersports were fun, but after a while you want to get out of the resort. So we booked some excursions off the resort with Sandals help - no problem. The restaurants and service was exceptional. The only down side to make make my report sound credible, the vendors that pester you from their surfboards around the beaches were annoying, and our concierge was nowhere to be found. In summation, fantastic trip did not want to leave, and will come back again.

This place is the best ever my wife and I went for 5 nights and had a blast. The food was great the drinks were great it was just great. If you go when you get to the resort go to the beach bar if Mark is working ask for the welcome drink it is very good and a nother drink of Marks that is good is the purple thang.

8 of us stayed at Sandals Royal for our first time from the 7th - 21st of Feb 03, It was truly fabulous, The accomodation, food, staff, entertainment, all fantastic we are now planning a return for feb next year. By the way my wife and I got married there and we really were looked after, Patria the wedding coordinator couldn't do enough for us, 10/10 Sandals Royal Carribean Mo Bay. We visited 3 other sandals hotels and found them all to be very good. 10/10 Thank You.

While Sandals Royal Caribbean is a nice quaint resort, it is in NO WAY worth the money that people spend to go there!! I've stayed at Holiday Inns that were nicer then this hotel! You can tell that Sandals Royal Caribbean is old. In my opinion they need to do MAJOR renovations to practically everything in sight. The beach was small, but nice. The water was warm and beautiful. The staff weren't very friendly. Food was pretty good, but not as good as everyone made it out to be. Pools weren't very nice.

Our September 2002 honeymoon to Sandals Royal Caribbean was ruined by Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isidore!! When we arrived on Monday, it was very overcast. We made a few jokes about it at the airport, saying that sometimes Jamaica does experience "liquid sun shine" but it will go away. When we arrived at the resort, they "upgraded" us from a Grand Luxe Beachfront to a Concierge Grand Luxe Beachfront. It wasn't at all beachfront, we had to walk past the pool to get the beach. The actual Grand Luxe Beachfront rooms were on the beach but we didn't know the room categories until later in the week. My advice, if they say they upgrading you, ask to see both rooms first. Back to the weather!! We realize that Sandals cannot help the weather but there Hurricane Policy if very missleading. We were there for a total of a week and seen the sun for a total of 4 hours. The Sandals staff was very unhelpful. We were watching news so we would be informed about the weather situation. Everytime we asked someone about the weather they would tell us it was going to get better tomorrow. They knew it was not going to get better tomorrow. They never had straight answers for us. After watching the news and receiving phone calls from people back home, we asked at what point we would leave the island. They told us it was not in our best interest to leave the island. It rained for 4 days straight and was windy. Most of the activities were shut down all week. The island was closed. I couldn't water ski. They couldn't guarantee Dunn's River would be open if we booked a tour. There was water in all of the door ways. They had blankets laying everywhere to try to soak up the water. The pools were closed. Endless problems!! We spent a lot of money on this trip and when we asked about the Hurricane Policy they said, since the eye of the storm did not pass over and since it was not upgraded to a hurricane until after it passed Montego Bay, it was not covered by the guarantee. We got marrieo Jamaica during hurricane season was because Sandals had the Hurricane Policy. Beware if you are going to a Sandals resort during hurricane season!!!