John Kondziolka

Review of Sandals Montego Bay

Summary: Sandals lost our honeymoon reservation tw...

Summary: Sandals lost our honeymoon reservation twice, and the nurse was completely inadequate, but the resort was otherwise amazing.

Our first interaction with Sandals Montego Bay was through their website. We booked a room in May of 2013 for our honeymoon, to be taken the first week of 2014. We paid a deposit of $400 to reserve the least expensive room. When I called back in November to pay the full deposit, I was told that our reservation had been cancelled and that I would receive a call back the next day during business hours from a manager. Honeymoon cancelled!? With 15 minutes left in the business day the next day, I hadn t received a call so I called Sandals. After 30 minutes on the phone I was told they couldn t figure out why our reservation was cancelled, but given an upgrade and they allowed me to pay in full. Honeymoon on!

We arrived in Montego Bay and were greeted quickly by Sandals reps. They asked for our reservation name, and couldn t find us. We were denied access to the lounge and sent to speak with a customer service rep. Honeymoon cancelled!? We showed her our online confirmation and she said she d never seen anything like it. Had we been scammed? Since it was New Year s Day she couldn t make much progress, and they resolved to send us to the hotel and figure out what was wrong later. They sent us to the hotel, where they asked us for our reservation name and couldn t find us again and so stuck us in the departures lounge for a little bit. After about 3 hours from first contact, we made it to a room (albeit without shampoo) so we could clean up and begin enjoying. Honeymoon on!

Our time at the resort was generally wonderful, although we weren t sure if we d have to move rooms or get stuck with a new giant charge since Sandals never told us our reservation had been found. But the food was actually delicious, the drinks were well-made, the staff was friendly, and there was plenty to do. We really thoroughly enjoyed our stay, until the last day when we went to see the nurse.

My wife was feeling ill, so we went see the nurse. We arrived at the nurse s station at about 3 PM, but it was abandoned. So we asked a passing staff member what was up and he called the nurse to tell her she had people to see her. About 10 minutes later a lady in scrubs sauntered over, and then played on her phone. I asked if she was the nurse, she said yes, and then my wife explained her problems. As the nurse walked into her office she told us that medicine was sold at the gift shop and to only call if something serious happened, then promptly locked the door behind her. Overall my worst interaction with someone theoretically of the medical profession.

I would not recommend booking Sandals online to anyone, nor would I consider there to be any real medical assistance on-site (one of the reasons we chose Sandals over their competitors).