Tracy Warner

Review of Beaches, Boscobell

This was my first experience with the Beaches/Sand...

This was my first experience with the Beaches/Sandals Resort. They advertise it as a luxury Resort, I paid for a luxury resort, but I do not feel like I was at a luxury resort.
We (my spouse and 3 kids (ages: 12, 9 and 7)) just got back from a 1 week stay with another family from Beaches Ocho Rios. We had fun, but service was definitely lacking. Most staff members were friendly/helpful, others were super slow, or just never returned after taking your order. I was woken with a late night delivery of pillows the first night which was meant for another room. I was given someone else bill/check-out info. on day two. I had to ask 3 different people for a coffee cup at the buffet before getting it myself. Just little things that kept happening. I did talk with some managers about it, I felt they can't fix it if they don't know about it. They were attentive and did what they could and I just needed to let some things slide. I realize it was a prime time for the resort, it seemed as tho they were understaffed.
It was pretty windy the entire week, so the water actives were limited. Once weather permitted us to do some activities (banana boat rides, hobie rides, snorkeling) we did them. It seemed very unorganized getting signed up, know when it was your turn. But it was fun. Another family we met suggested to us that we just walk up last minute to the activities and see if we could get on, rather than signing up in the morning and finding out it was full. This worked out for us both times we tried it with snorkeling.
The beach was small-ish and blocked off at each side, I assume this was to keep the random people who sell stuff out. There were plenty of sand toys for the kids, which was nice.
There are about 7 places to eat, but not all places are available all the time. I would say the food was decent. Mostly deep fried stuff for the kids meals. Some servers were awesome = friendly and prompt, others just forgot about us and we would end up waiting, and waiting... We did try to adjust our times a bit to get there early or late to avoid the rush, but service was still hit and miss. We wondered if tipping would have solved this??
There are signs that say the staff will remove items left on chairs for longer than an hour, but that was not the case. Many people get up early to reserve both the beach and pool chairs. If you want a spot with umbrella/shade get there early.
We did 2 excursions, 1st was a party boat to the Dunn River Falls, it included snorkeling, snacks and a dance party on the boat. They had the best DJ ever. My kids loved it and I wished I was back in college ;) The 2nd was to Mystic Mountain for the chair lift ride, bob sled ride and zip lining. It was fun and safe for all of us.
My kids loved ordering "drinks" from the bar or getting ice cream whenever they wanted. They also liked walking around w/o their parents. I felt safe letting them do this.
Will I go back?? Probably not to this resort, but we do plan to check out the Beaches Turks location.