Sept 15th-23rd 2008

We booked the honeymoon concierge room in the genoa building. I would say the concierge and 24 hour room service makes the room upgrade worth every single extra penny.

The bus ride, I honestly enjoyed, only 90 minutes and great views, I was snapping photos the whole way. But than again I love leaving the resort and seeing real Jamaica.

P.S. if you don't wanna tip the baggage handlers at the airport. Carry your own bags! You can so "no, thank you"...

Upon arrival I was whisked away to the concierge counter for private check in, while my new husband found our bags and got them off to the bell man. We were in our room, not 6 minutes after getting off the bus. After 18 hours of traveling from Oregon, we fell into the bed, ordered room service and napped till dinner time. Again, not all rooms have 24 hour room service.

The food was great at all the restaurants, never had to wait for a table. There are a few food items that are definitely better in the states, but remember its Jamaicans trying to cook American style food, not Americans cooking American food.

Loved the pizza, italian (made it there 2 times) and Kimonos (also, ate here twice). We never had lunch or dinner at the buffet restuarant.The breakfast buffet was ok, but my choice for breakfast was marco polos. No dress code for breakfast there and very little people. Often only one other table in use, while we dined for breakfast.

The staff was phenomenal! Always smiling, singing to themselves, saying hi, asking how everything is. Really everyone we encountered on the island was great, not just the staff. I did encounter one grumpy staff member at the pizzeria, but maybe it was a bad day for him....we all have them...

Florence and Neal thank you for helping us with everything, including our cabana rental!

I will say, be sure to keep your "do not disturb" sign up when your in your room, they open the door quickly after knocking.

I loved the turn down service, they always came while we were at dinner and about every other night we got a cute note/memento with turn down service . I think, when they take your room number at the restaurants they then call and let house keeping know your out of your room.

IT WAS A GREAT TRIP! I cant wait to return...I could not have imagined a better honeymoon...Feel free to email me any questions or comments you have, I want to help you make your trip as special as mine. powers_slr at yahoo dot com

We had our weddingmoon at Sandal’s Dunns River (SDR) and stayed for a week during the middle of September. Overall, we had a great time but I don’t think I would recommend getting married at the resort.

First of all, do not fall for the Sandals promotions that expire in x days. They have been running the same promotion since I booked my trip last December. Also, if you book a trip during hurricane season, be aware that Sandals no longer offers their hurricane guarantee. They do offer cancel anytime insurance for $99 pp, but it must be purchased within 7 days of your initial deposit. Sandals discontinued their hurricane guarantee four days before I booked my trip, which I was unaware, and I was not offered the insurance when I booked my trip. I didn’t find out they cancelled the guarantee until a month before my wedding and I was worried sick.

Yes, the bus ride to the resort is long after a day of travelling, but you just need to relax or chose a different destination. We were through Immigrations quickly and without any problems, despite the complaints I’ve seen from other reviewers.

You would really have to try hard to not have a good time at this resort. While it is a little small, there is always something to do. My husband has a hard time just relaxing and even he was amazed at how fast the time went by. The grounds are so clean and well kept. The employees for the most part were very friendly; always asking how your trip is going and if they can do anything for you. They could often be seen smiling and singing to themselves and truly seemed to enjoy their job. I’m not sure if Sandals is that great of a place to work or if the employees are just happy to have one of the few jobs in their country. Either way, it was a pleasant touch.

The locals do ride around on jet skis all day and try to sell you things, but as long as you don’t make eye contact with them they seem to ignore you. They really aren’t as annoying as some reviewers on this site make them out to be.

I’ve read mixed reviews regarding the size of the beach and I must say it is very small; both short and narrow. You aren’t going to get any exercise walking the beach and in certain spots in the evening the tide comes up so high you can barely walk on the sand. If you want a large beach, this is not the resort for you.

Since this was our weddingmoon, we booked the Penthouse Concierge room, and I would not pay the extra money for the Concierge service again. The Concierge was almost the least helpful and friendly employee on the property. The view from the room was nice, but your ocean view is either obstructed by a view of the pool area, giving you no privacy, or you get a view of the large purple Riu resort next door. Room service was nice for breakfast a couple days, but it is just as good down in Columbo’s where you can eat all the delicious mango you like. The stocked in-room bar sounds nice, but I prefer not to sit in the room and to have someone else make my drinks while on vacation.

The food at the resort was better than I expected for an all-inclusive resort. The breakfast and lunch buffets at Columbo’s were great, and I am not typically a fan of buffets. I am a healthy eater and found the buffets always had healthy salads and fruits to choose from. We did treat ourselves to many of the desserts the resort had to offer, as they were delicious. The antipasta bar at Il Capitano’s is also great. The pizza was absolutely disgusting. After reading all the rave reviews about the pizza, I had to try it on our last night at the resort. The pizza was not cooked all the way; it was one step above raw dough. They had to of known there was a problem when they served us the pizza because they had to slice it which caused a hole in the middle of the pizza. When they ate at the grill which is good for a quick meal.

The “Do not disturb” signs do not stop housekeeping from knocking on your door which became very annoying. Also, turn down service didn’t occur until 9-10pm so most nights we didn’t get the service as we were back in our room for the night. It would make more sense for turn down service to occur between 6 and 8pm while people are at dinner.

As far as the wedding, it felt very corporate. Even though we were the only wedding of the day, the wedding coordinator was very impersonal and did nothing to make if feel special. For my flower bouquet, I requested yellow and white daisies, which are my favorite flowers. The wedding coordinator called our room a half hour before the wedding to tell me they didn’t have enough flowers of one color so I was getting the tropical mix, which consisted of pink, blue, orange, yellow, and white daisies. I was extremely disappointed with their responsiveness to this problem, as it didn’t give me a chance to choose any other flowers.

You can get married on the beach or overlooking the beach, but you will have “uninvited guests” at both of these locations. We chose the garden area which was very private. Many of the wedding pictures they take have a Sandals logo in the background, which makes it very corporate. It almost seems like you are part of a Sandals advertisement instead of at your personal wedding. Needless to say, we did not purchase any of the pictures with the logo in them.

We got back to our room on our wedding night around 9:30 and turn down service had not yet occurred. In fact, our bed had not even been made since housekeeping did not come until 3:00 in the afternoon when we were getting ready for the wedding. I thought Sandals could have offered some personal touches for our wedding day, but instead it was very mechanical for them.

Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves at the resort. We were most disappointed with the wedding service but did not let it ruin our trip. I will definitely consider another Sandals vacation sometime in the future, but will choose a location with more beach next time.

We moved here from Sandals Montego Bay (SMB) after 3 horrible days there (see my other review). We took a gamble hahttps://tonic.tripadvisor.com/BatchReviewTool?&formAction=Publish
User Review Batch Toolving not seen Dunns River and thank god we moved. Thanks to Virgin for helping us and making it so easy to swap.

The whole ambience of Sandals Dunns River (SDR) is beautiful, in an Italian-esque theme the entrance to the hotel was lovely, tall marble columns and floors, we were even greeted by the General Manager (might have been due to our complaints about SMB). The grounds are lovely, loads of Palm trees everywhere which were completely lacking at SMB. The whole place feels like 5 star luxury.

We got another ocean view room in the main block that the reception is in and it was huge! We did not have Concierge or butler service but met people who did. Similar furniture and fittings to SMB but better quality. A 4 poster bed, lots of nice touches such as proper built in discrete air conditioning rather than a cheap unit mounted on the wall. We also had a bar area with a fridge stocked with soft drinks and 4 bottles of water a day. There is a cabinet for 4 optics but as we didn't pay for concierge didn't have those fitted. Concierge guests also got a bottle of champagne and beers and wine in their room daily. Larger drawers and a walk in wardrobe with modern electronic safe, seperate bathroom and toilet to the main sink area, again in marble. Same Red Lane Spa toiletries (large bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and green Aloe gel) - no need to take your own at all. We also had a nice balcony overlooking the pool, waterfall and beach/seascape. there is some noise from the waterfall in the pool and when they use the big dryers in the laundry over on the far left below the balconies but it didn't bother us. The waterfall is switched off at night anyway and comes back on at 09:30. If you got rooms facing the pitch and putt and the front of the hotel they'd be quieter and the hotel is set very far back from the road so no problem with traffic noise etc. It's also a really nice view from that side with palm trees, lawns, the spa etc.

The pools are superb, the main pool is exactly how it looks in the brochure, large, a great swim up bar with about 30 stools around it and service is very good. The pools are also clean and bright with interesting features to them in terms of shape, bridges, mosaic flooring etc. There is a lovely recreation of the Dunns River falls too, ontop of which is a little treetop canopy where we saw people take romantic dinners. You can go up there in the day to take photos or sit.

In the pools there are loads of Sandals floating beds to lie on, great! The end of the main pool closest to the beach has pool volley ball but not so as to disturb the rest of the pool. There's lots of sunbeds everwhere, you'll never struggle to get one however they could do with having more umbrellas. My one complaint here is that some of the poolside umbrella covered beds were reserved for guests by the Butler service but then they never showed up to occupy them, but the reservation was not removed by midday for example. Annoying.

The Piano Bar pool is also really good, great shape, also clean etc and a good swim up bar to it where service was good. There are also very large whirlpools which were lovely and hot, people were often in those at night in the dark up to midnight, can't blame them! The Piano bar has a pool table, sadly only one cue at the time we went and we struggled to get chalk. They could also do with a big block of chalk to rub on your hands as the humidity makes the cue stick and rub, spoiling play a little. We played pool every night there and it was our favourite place. Service from Germaine was excellent, a really funny character. Get your jokes ready for him! Pool bar has a self serve popcorn machine.

The Tree Bar is cool, a huge round indoor bar area with a fake tree in the middle and you sit under the gently lit tree canopy, really smart idea. Service from Uton and Cornelle was brilliant, smashing guys.

Food was superb everywhere. The Columbus was the place you had the buffet breakfasts (mango to die for!) buffet lunch (jerk chicken, loads of choice, lovely lovely lovely!) and dinner. Service was excellent and you get to know the staff. Jeremy and Anthony were great. Drink the coffee, it's all Jamaican and tastes lovely.

Marco Polo is more formal, has superb food (my wife ate the Lamb chops every time they were so good) and my only niggle is they try to sell you additional wine, cheapest was about $89 a bottle. Why would you when the standard inclusive wine is so good? (Prefered the Cabernet to the Merlot!)

Il Capitano is the Italian, was good but I'm not a fan of Italian food outside of Italy. A great buffet selection of Anti Pasti which you could fill yourself on, had a fun night in there, getting a table was never an issue. Dress codes were adhered to (although I wish Americans would realise that a Polo shirt tucked into their trousers does not really constitute a collared shirt)

Kimonos is the Oriental restaurant. You are in a room with 8 other guests and you sit around the hot plate where the chef cooks with great theatrical effort in front of you. Our chef called himself "Blacky Chan" and was a hoot! Food was superb and so fresh. You need to book this one but its the only one that you do need to book.

There's also a beach grill and bar on the go all day and night, food is freshly cooked and brilliant, you can get Jerked chicken and pork, burgers, fries, quesadillas, jamaican patties, salads, nachos and dips, toasted sandwiches etc. Grill has a partly covered seating area with plenty of tables. Also a self serve soft drinks machine there. Bar on the other side faces the beach with plenty of stools.

Beach is nice, plenty of space for everyone, water clean and warm and there is a sectioned off area for swimming etc. Some covered areas under the causurina trees and a thatched hut for spa treatments. Watersports guys all brilliant with safety being first consideration.

The Red Lane Spa is lovely, downstairs attached to the gym (open air) there are whirlpools and cold tubs, sauna and steam room. We had the Scrub a Dub Dub, Two in a Tub treatment. Was worth the money, a full body exfoliation scrub, the longest massage I've ever had, then 20 minutes in a huge spa tub together...very intimate! took about 2 hours in all.

4 tennis courts, all hard surface, great conditions, rackets could do with new grips but plently of balls to use. Didn't use the shuffleboard but saw it next to the courts.

Pitch and putt is fun at the front of the hotel, though they could do with a few more putters. We had to share between 4 of us.

One day they had a craft market within the hotel which was good, plenty of carvings, trinkets, sandals etc so bring plenty of US$ to barter with, we didn't bring enough! The only trip we paid for was a shopping trip to Ocho Rios but it wasn't that good really, only because Ocho is not that great a place to go. We bought some coffee but that was it.

It's such a big resort and very relaxed, the service is excellent everywhere and the Jamaicans love the English because generally, we are much more polite and well mannered to them (saw lots of people who didn't say please or thankyou to staff).
Food and drink were all excellent and the Managers cocktail party is worth attending as they have a free raffle to win prizes. One couple had only arrived 30 minutes before and walked away with the top prize of a floorstanding carved and painted parrot and a bottle of rum!

The Playmaker team were cool, not too noisy but very engaging and they really try hard to make you have fun at whatever level you want it.

This was my first Sandals experience, we stayed in Montego bay for three days and left it was so poor, we also visited the Royal Caribbean and were equally unimpressed but SDR was amazing, I guess that why we kept finding couples who'd been there 4 or 5 times. A nice touch was that if you were a returning guest they put balloons outside your door with "Welcome Home" on them.

A great place, hope we can afford to go back next year.

I went with my sister, which was different as this is primarily a couples resort. We went to have a vacation from our kids, so didn't want to go to Beaches and watch other peoples' kids. It was fine. You have to share a king bed, though. No doubles available.

Everyone was very nice and laid back (guests and staff alike). The resort is beautiful. We went at the end of August and it was hot, but the rooms were air-conditioned. There is lots to do if you want (watersports, games, etc) and the beach or pool to lay by if you are more inclined that way. I recommed having the staff take you out sailing. It was a highlight for me.

Basically we laid by the beach and drank like fish - it was great!

As far as chiming on other reviews, the trip was long from the airport to the resort, about 90 munutes. Getting through immigration was a nightmare, about another 90 minutes. Once you get in the resort it all melts away though.

Restaurants - avoid the Japanese restaurant. It is the worst Japanese food I have ever had. The food overall is fine, just not the Japanese food. The Marco Polo restaurant with the buffets for breakfast, etc was the best bet.

The spa is overpriced, but is a nice part of a well-rounded vacation.

I would definitely recommend this resort. We had a blast!