Weddingbee boards

I have been to Sandals Dunn's River Jamaica.  I even wrote a little review:

We went to Sandals Dunn's River Villaggio near Ocho Rios, Jamaica December 9-16, 2008 and had the time of our lives!  Sandals is an all-inclusive resort which means that the cost of your room includes food, premium alcohol, and various watersport activities.  We also opted for the concierge services which has a lot of perks (too many too list), but free room service is a big part of that.  Most of the photos below were taken during a complimentary private photo session that is offered to all guests.  The pictures weren't free, but they became my Christmas present!  Here is a link to rest of the photos, which includes the pictures of us on three tours (horseback riding through the ocean, ziplining through the rain forest, and treking up Dunn's River Falls.

Likes (not in any order):

• the weather (when you read the weather report it says scattered showers everyday, but what they fail to tell you is that means a 15 minute shower once a day)
• the fact that our food and alcohol was already paid for, which made for a very relaxing experience
• transfers to another resort-got to experience the restaurants there (and praise ourselves for choosing the right resort
• the bathtub-jets and all made for an amazing joint bubble bath (picture in link above)
• Concierge service-worth every penny to have someone to answer my every question, to make my reservations, and ROOM SERVICE, which was utilized on a daily basis for breakfast on our balcony
• private balcony overlooking the ocean
• sailing on the hobie cats
• private photo session (free)
• candlelight dinner on the beach (which we got for free on a promo when we booked)
• Dunn's River Falls tour
• zipline tour (we did this through Chukka)
• nighttime events-gave us a chance to meet other couples
• Jamaican Smiles (our new favorite drink)
• robes-provided in our rooms
• wet bar (concierge and better rooms only)
• helpful staff (it helped that we had concierge level status-they knew you did too because they ask your room number every where you go)
• snorkeling (we went twice)
• dress code-I love dressing up and it helped keep the atmosphere formal
• duty-free shopping at the airport (bring an extra bag just for this)

Dislikes:

• the boring drive (1 3/4 hours) from the airport to the resort-we were already so tired from layovers that the drive was agonizing
• the room was tiny bit smaller than I imagined (not a huge complaint)
• scuba was not inlcuded
• tipping each and every person who did anything for us off of the resort, and they were VERY aggressive ab out making sure they got their tip
• shop keepers-aggressive to the point that I became angry
• Jamaica is a very poor country, which you are reminded of when you step 10 feet out of the resort
• food at the resort-not 4-star by any means, and it seemed (to me, not hubbie) that a lot of the restaurants shared the same chefs, meaning the food had the same quality at some of the restaurants
• jetskiers-they yell at you from their jetskies to get you to ride on them (another example of how aggressive people selling stuff can be)
• Horseback Ride and Swim (through Chukka)-this scared the crap out of me, which is weird because I am usually comfortable on horses, but the saddle was not one I was used to and I constantly felt like I was going to fall off, and one guy did in the water

Overall, I would certainly go to another Sandals on another vacation, but now that we have the travel bug, we will probably explore other islands.

My Best friend did her honeymoon at Sandles in St. Lucia in 2007. She said she was treated like Royalty!!!