phillip maskey

Review of Sandals Montego Bay

The resort was very beautiful, clean and well main...

The resort was very beautiful, clean and well maintained. Overall the staff was friendly and helpful. Sometimes they made it overly difficult to find privacy though, being as there seemed to be more employees than actual guests.
The beach is small- very small and crowded.

Between the construction and constant groundskeeping being conducted it was nearly impossible to fully relax. The room was much smaller than it appeared to be in the pictures. The bed was very comfortable but you hear constant activity throughout the entire night. Mostly the sound of the carts being wheeled up and down the tiled floor leading to the rooms, and this was at all hours. Housekeeping was well performed but highly untimely. On several occasions we would leave for the day early in the morning, only to return late in the afternoon, and find the room had still yet to be tended to. It even appeared that the housekeeping employees had only cleaned a few rooms in the span of several hours and spent the majority of their time congregating amongst themselves and other employees.

The all inclusive food and drinks was one of the biggest deciding factors for us to choose Sandals. The drinks were clearly watered down and far from delectable. Red Stripe was the only apparent beer available and its stale stench lingered yards from the bar as you approached. The food overall was barely decent. Be careful when you bite into any sort of chicken as tiny bones are nestled all throughout. Pizza was good.

The security is essentially nonexistent. Why these employees are even on their payroll baffles me. Anyone could easily gain access to the grounds from the adjacent slums by swimming or rowing up to the 4ft retaining wall.

Overall the trip was a new and good experience for us but I would not recommend this Sandals. We have not stayed at their other resorts so I cannot speak to them. You are definitely paying for the name and not the experience in Montego Bay. Pay no mind to the "no tipping" policy because the only way to get decent service is to casually slip the employees $. Even then they expect more and your money wears thin.