This is a lovely hotel, you will be blown away by the lobby with it's comfy couches and replica Dunn's River Falls waterfall feature. My feeling however was that it was a bit fur coat - no knickers!
The hotel is all inclusive and you have a choice of the main buffet or three restaurants. The food in the buffet hall was of a good standard with something to suit everyones taste. They had a theme night four times a week with chinese, italian, mexican and jamaican specialities and a kids section which covered any picky eaters with chicken nuggets, burgers and chips. Breakfast was by far the best meal of the day, they had chefs who would cook your eggs fresh any way you liked and could also serve you with a mean omelete. The waiting on staff however were really slow at serving
drinks, particularly if you ordered wine and would serve it in really small glasses so that no sooner had you got your drink, you'd drunk it and were in for another twenty minute wait for a refill.
The three restaurants had to be booked in advance, we were there for two weeks in July, it wasn't overly busy and we could only get in at each restaurant once. My advice would be to book in on the first day or you probably won't get a table. The first restaurant was a chinese, the menu was small and quite predictable with sweet and sour chicken etc. However, the food was really nice and portion sizes were good. There is also a fusion restaurant on the beach, the service here is excellent, the staff are very attentive and the food is very nice, if a little over complicated. We went as part of a group and all ate together on this occasion, some of the kids were really picky eaters and wouldn't touch anything, the staff were unwilling to make simpler versions, such as chicken without a sauce. On the whole however, we did enjoy our meal. Lastly and definitely least was the apalling italian restaurant. Tiny portions, the food tasted awful and the service was shocking. The drinks we ordered took forever to come, there were five members of staff and ten tables, the service should have been excellent but was not. We booked a table for eight and were put on two tables of four, being served by different waiters and were served our vile-tasting food at different times. On the up-side, the portions were tiny which meant you didn't have to eat much of it! We went to the buffet afterwards as nobody really ate anything. I would definitely give it a wide birth. There is also a poolside grill which does burgers, hot dogs, fish sandwiches and great jerk chicken, they also stay open till about 2am for those midnight munchies! We ate here quite a lot and really enjoyed the food.
All the bar staff at the many bars (too many to count!) were super friendly and made great cocktails.
The evening entertainment was good, with different acts on each night, mainly playing jamaican and reggae music. Always suitable for kids as well which was a bonus.
There are several pools and plenty of sun loungers, all the pool areas are spotlessly clean.
During the day, there are organised activities such as volleyball, water polo and pool competitions, but a lack of organised kids activities. There was meant to be a kids club, and as there were eight kids in our party of varying ages, and it was school holidays, it was one of the main reasons we chose this hotel. The club looked lovely and they had great outdoor space, sectioned off for security, however look was all we did as it wasn't open!
There is a health spa with over-priced treatments, although I succumbed and paid £60 for a thirty minute massage which was great but not worth that much!
The lifts were another thorn in out sides, there were three to serve 13 floors, approx 400 rooms on our side (the hotel has two towers), inevitably there were only ever two working and it went up and down of its own accord regardless of which buttons you pressed, meaning it generally took about twenty minutes to bet from our seventh loor to lobby level, via level 13, 10 and 9!
The rooms were of a reasonable size with two very small double beds. The beds were comfy, and as there were only two of us we had a bed each, because we'd never have fitted in one! The bathroom was clean, with regular towel changes and a nice deep bath and powerful shower, however, if you didn't have a shower or bath before half six, there was no chance of getting any hot water, and even then it was minimal.
All round it was a very nice hotel, it cost us £1600 each for 14 nights all inclusive and we did have a good time, but we did feel it was a bit overpriced for what it was and anyone going with kids should check about the availability of the kids club.
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