Resort Highlights

“Vacation at Sandals Grande Ocho Rios - *****”

My husband and I just celebrated our 10 year Wedding anniversary at the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios resort. We stayed on the manor side of the resort in the Romeo and Juliet Honeymoon suite that included concierge service and butler service. I was unsure if I'd like to be so far away from the ocean and beach but it was pure heaven! It was nice to be able to hop on a bus and go to the beach side. It was like having 2 resorts in one! The room was fantastic, spacious and romantic. Having your very own secluded, private pool and hot tub was wonderful. Waking up in the morning and going for a refreshing swim was so nice.

I recommend having the butler service, especially if this is your first time to the resort. Our TWO butlers, Tamara and Nardia were so wonderful, accommodating and extremely helpful. They booked all our outings, arranged reservations at restaurants and let us know what was happening at the resort for activities etc. They arranged a candlelight dinner in our suite (included in price) and on another night, a candlelight dinner that was so romantic, on the beach. When we returned to our room, our butler had decorated our bed with flowers and rose petals and had left lit candles all around the hot tub and leading into our room. That was so wonderful and sweet! It really made our vacation!

I found everything to be excellent. I took another posters advice about ordering more than one entree as the meals were smaller but that's because it's all-inclusive. I did feel however, that how hot it was on the island, the amount of food was good anyway. I just didn't feel like eating a lot because of the heat.

The spa services were wonderful. Even my husband who hates massages, went for one and liked it. We had a couples massage and it was nice because at the end, they took our hands and placed them together. Sweet. Overall, I had over 5 hours of spa services and I felt very well taken care of.

The only thing I didn't like for me, was the tourist trap feeling. It is a business and I felt like everywhere you went someone was asking you for money - even at the hotel. It got a little annoying and overwhelming, but like I said, it is a business and everywhere there is someone trying to sell you a souvenir or something. I think this was exasperated with the fact that we went on a shopping excursion. At the end, I was disgusted. All the prices were highly inflated and if you bargained with people you could get it for a lot less. We even were looking at rings. The one ring was $1500 and the other $220. We said we couldn't afford it and all of a sudden the guy was going to throw the $220 ring in for free. ???? Free? Yeah, free.

One thing about that guy however, we did order a ring that had to be made and it was going to be shipped to us in the USA. I was sort of afraid it would never show up, but it did and in a very timely fashion! It arrived about 4 days after we arrived home!

All in all, I loved the trip, the people and everything about it. We will definitely being going to another Sandals resort as soon as we can!