An Honest Review of Sandals Dunns River
- Kira Solomon
- 34 minutes ago
- 38 min read
This past February I spent five nights at Sandals Dunns River, in Jamaica, for a Babymoon with my husband, Robert. We choose this resort because it was the last of the Sandals and Beaches properties that we had to see, and with our third baby coming soon, we wanted to mix a little business with pleasure and check off that last property while also indulging in some much needed relaxation.
I will preface this review with the fact that we are usually very easy going on vacation. You can go back and view my past blogs and see that while we at times may experience a few issues here in there- which I’m always honest and open about - we have never had an experience where we ran into so many issues in one trip.
We love Jamaica and loved everything about the Sandals 2.0 experiences we had at Sandals St. Vincent and Sandals Royal Curacao last year. We expected this resort to quickly become one of our favorite in the brand. However, this resort left us feeling very underwhelmed and unimpressed in many ways. It’s been hard to write this blog because of it, but I wanted to make sure to share our true experience with you all without fluffing it up and making the trip something it was not.
Please also remember that everyone else’s experience isn’t always your own. I’ve seen plenty of people complain about resorts that I’ve loved, or loved resorts I’ve disliked. Taste buds are different. Personalities are different. It all needs to be taken into consideration when reading this review of Sandals Dunns River. Also, since our stay, a sales manager has been added to the management team here. She is a longtime Sandals employee from another resort in the brand, so there is a chance that some of the issues we experienced are being smoothed out since our trip.
Pre-Arrival App Check-In / Dinner Reservations
Before arriving to the resort we did the online check-in on the Sandals app, which saved us time providing that information on arrival. We also made reservations for dinner for one night while on resort.
This resort only has one restaurant "L'Amande" (French) that requires reservations, so that made it easy. The app was easy to navigate and we had no issues finding plenty of options even though the resort was sold out for our stay.
Arrival In Jamaica
We chose to cash in some JetBlue points and wanted non-stop flights, so we had to fly into the big airport in Montego Bay (MBJ), instead of the closer and smaller airport in Ocho Rios (OCJ). This meant that we had an hour and a half transfer time instead of a thirty minute transfer time. Because of this, we choose to upgrade to private transfers (more on this later).
At the time we arrived, on a Saturday around 2:45pm, the airport was so packed we had to sit on the tarmac and wait for a gate to open. This had me concerned because we always book the VIP airport experience with Club MoBay, where they meet us at the plane and whisk us through security. But because this was a last minute trip, it was unavailable for our arrival date. We expected long lines and wait times for both immigration and customs however, we ended up getting from plane to Sandals lounge within 20 minutes.
Some things that helped expedite us:
We had our C5 Customs and Immigration forms already filled out and submitted online days before arrival and had photo copies of the email confirmations saved on our phones to show. This allowed us to bypass the large group of people standing around with slow wifi filling it out when they got off of the plane. Tip: Save the screenshots in an album on your phone, so you can easily find them on travel day.
We walked down to one of the farthest kiosks to fill in our entry information. All travelers do this now and there are so many kiosks. For some reason everyone jumps to get in line and use the first dozen or so, meanwhile the ones all the way down at the end sit empty. So we walked down to the farthest available ones and quickly processed our entry info, took our tickets, and made our way up to immigration.
Because we didn’t have our kids with us on this trip, we were able to use the new e-gates, which are for adults 18 and older. This was such a smooth process and we didn’t even need to speak with anyone.
We didn’t check any bags and only had our carry-on luggage so we bypassed the baggage carousels and went straight to customs, where we probably spent the most time waiting in line. But they had multiple lines open and we made sure to pay close attention to which lines were marked for “nothing to declare”. We were through within maybe 10 minutes.
Sandals Lounge
Once at the Sandals lounge, it was just as packed. We gave our information to the employee out front, he tagged our bags, set them aside and told us he’d let us know as soon as our transfer was ready. We had just enough time to go in, use the restrooms, and by the time we sat on the couch, we were being called to our transfer. It was absolute chaos when we first arrived by by the time three or four resort transfers were called, the place cleared out quickly. In all honesty, the Club MoBay lounge across the way looked equally packed.
Private Transfer
We opted to pay extra for this because I was pregnant and concerned with the possibility of feeling nauseous on the long drive and also needing to stop for a restroom. It gave us the freedom and flexibility not to be stuck on a group transfer. We booked with Island Routes and were welcomed with a comfy BMW that had snacks and drinks available to us.
Our driver, Stephen, was wonderful and professional. I’d absolutely request him again in the future or recommend him to any guests booking Island Routes private transfers. He drove safely, provided lots of information and answered our questions about various things on the route, but also noticed when we were tired and needed some peace and quiet.
The only parts I was a little disappointed with was that nobody helped us with our bags out to the curb at the airport. Usually a porter takes our bags to the waiting car. This time, someone from Island Routes just walked us out to the curb and pointed out a car pulling up to let us know that was ours. We've had private transfers before and someone has always offered to take our bags for us, which we always tipped for. Thankfully we only had the carry-ons so it wasn’t too big of a deal. Stephen did, however, get out and load our bags into the car and open the door for us, which we know is standard service for the private transfers.
Current pricing with Island Routes at the time of writing this blog:
The private luxury (BMW) car from MBJ airport to Sandals Dunn’s River is $225.00 (USD) each way.
A private van from OCJ airport to Sandals Dunn’s River is $100.00 (USD) each way.
Details About This Resort
Sandals Dunns River sits on 25 acres, with 260 guest rooms (currently) and 14 room categories (currently). There are 12 dining options, 9 bars, 2 freshwater pools, and 2 whirlpools.
The theme of this resort is "wood and water" - with waterfalls in abundance all over the property, you'll be able to enjoy the relaxing sounds of nature wherever you are.
The Check-In Process / Club Sandals Lounge
We didn’t spend much time in the Club lounge on arrival. Maybe a total of ten minutes while we met with the concierge staff and a few sales staff who came to welcome us. We also met a Loyalty Travel staff member who delivered our Loyalty folder (for past guests SSG members) which had our welcome letter, spa credit, SSG dinner invite, and free photo information.
Since we arrived at 4pm, our room was ready for us. We opted to skip the full resort tour and go straight to the room since we were tired, hungry and wanted to get settled before dinner.
We did have a moment to check out the main lobby, which is just gorgeous. Our room was in the main (Travertine) building so we used the elevators in the lobby area and would walk through the lobby every time we left the building. It was probably the most serene and peaceful lobby I’ve seen at a Sandals. We really loved the one at St Vincent, overlooking the long pool and the fountain area. But this had floor to ceiling glass windows overlooking the resort and ocean, with a waterfall feature in front of the windows that you could hear from the lobby. It was like a spa. So relaxing that at any time of day you’d find guests just sitting there having their coffee, or reading a book in the comfy chairs listening to the sounds of the fountains.
The Room:
We stayed in the TB – Travertine Beachfront Club Level Room w/ Balcony Tranquility Soaking Tub on the 5th floor in the Travertine building. I have stayed in some gorgeous rooms at Sandals Resorts - from luxury, club to butler levels. This room, while absolutely beautifully designed, sadly did not "wow" me the way other rooms have.
The hardest thing for me to get over was the lack of privacy. When you enter the room, you’ll notice there is no hallway. You open the door and the full room is on display, which also means the bed. We quickly realized that even with the top safety latch latched, if someone were to try and open our door there would be enough of a crack they could easily see you while in bed. It made me really uncomfortable to think that at any time someone could use a key to open that door and even with the privacy latch on, could see us sleeping. We started putting the little side table there for added security.
The lack of privacy on the balcony was an issue, too. The balcony is glass on two of the three sides. It’s something we’ve experienced at other Sandals properties, so I wasn’t overly concerned. But unless your curtains are shut on the one side, you’re just staring at your neighbors on other balcony across the way. We ended up keeping the side curtain closed most of the time, which we were thankful were there to use since there was a tub on the balcony, too.
The other issue we had with the room was the lack of space for when we ordered room service. We tend to do early dinners and then later in the evening we order room service for a pre-bedtime snack. Just a tradition we always have when at Sandals. However, in our room the only real place to put the room service tray was on the dresser and the only place to actually sit and eat was on the bed. In other club rooms we’ve stayed at with Sandals, we’ve had a desk or coffee table or something else to sit at while eating. Or when the room was too small, usually the balcony would have a little bistro set. In this case, on the balcony, there were two chairs, and then another very small table that only fit a plate.
Otherwise, the bathroom was a great size. Probably more space than we actually needed in there. Double sinks, a small vanity, a private water closet, and a large walk-in shower.
The pro and con of this room location is that it is directly above the plaza, so every single night something is going on right below your room. The balcony doors are fairly soundproof, I’ll give them that. There is a huge difference in the noise when open vs shut and they do a great job keeping the noise out. But we are used to early bedtimes and like to be in our room around 9pm, which is when the main shows were starting right below us and going on until around 10pm. One night there was an illusionist, then a band played the next night, and another night was an acrobatic act. However, a “pro” is that we had balcony seats to all the shows and never had to go downstairs to look for a chair. While my husband enjoyed watching from the balcony, I was able to lay in bed and read while listening to the music or festivities.
We did enjoy the music that played around 8pm in the plaza. It was either a vocalist or someone playing an instrument. On the first night we drew a bath in the tub on the balcony and listened to the live music while we relaxed. It was perfect.
Video walkthrough of our room:
Other Rooms & Suites
We were able to tour three other rooms while on resort. All of the options we toured were butler level suites.
The Mammee Bay Beachfront One Bedroom Butler Suite w/ Balcony Soaking Tub (B1B) is a butler level room. located in the Mammee building. One positive of this room is that it is directly beachfront. From the side of the balcony you can view the resort, but your view from the room is entirely beach and ocean. This adds to privacy and provides the best view on resort (in my opinion).
The Tufa Terrace One Bedroom Skypool Butler Suite w/ Balcony Soaking Tub (TSKY) is located above the TSUP swim-up suites, on floors 2, 3 and 4. I will say, the pools do lack privacy. The front walls are glass so everyone down below can easily see up into your pool from the pool/beach/sidewalk below - similar to how it looks when you’re standing at the edge of the infinity pool. This honestly wouldn’t stop me from booking one of these awesome suites, but it would make me more mindful of things like which bathing suits I’d pack.
The Coyaba Sky Villa Swimup Rondoval Butler Suite w/ Private Pool Sanctuary (SKYV) is located in the gardens closer to the entrance of the resort, back behind the waterfall that overlooks the lobby. These rooms are separate circular buildings that have connecting pools but still provide privacy with foliage.
The Resort Grounds
The resort is designed beautifully. It is very ascetically pleasing. From the moment you walk into the lobby you can see the bright blue pool and ocean beyond the all glass windows. You can hear the waterfall from both by the driveway and also in front of the lobby by the plaza. Everything is very condensed in this property. It’s very easy to get almost everywhere.
One thing I did notice at the resort is it’s not very “ADA friendly”. There were some places where stairs were the only option to get to some things (like the sushi restaurant). So keep that in mind if you have any mobility issues.
We also noticed there aren’t handrails on the stairs in the lobby. On a few occasions I had to hold onto my husband when walking because floors felt slippery and there was nothing else to grab onto. That was just a concern for my safety during pregnancy that I wouldn’t usually even think about otherwise, but if you have mobility issues or have been drinking a lot, that can be a problem.
Speaking of drinking a lot, Zuka, the Rum Club and Blum are all up on the hillside beyond the spa. It’s a little bit of a trek to get there and there are stairs to climb to get to the Rum Club. On one occasion we were leaving the Rum Club after playing a game of billiards and were walking behind an older couple who were very visibly drunk. The wife was walking with a sway and the husband was stumbling quite a bit. My husband and I both kept a close eye on them and offered to help them down the stairs. Not sure who designed the Rum Club being up a set of stairs but it feels like a disaster waiting to happen.
Also, Blum being up on the hillside was an odd choice. We asked about why it was so far away from everything and were told that they are working on Phase II - Sandals Royal Dunns River, which is being built next-door (similar to the Sandals Barbados / Sandals Royal Barbados layout). This will allow Blum to be in a location between the two properties, which makes sense then. But for now, if you don’t want to walk up the hillside for coffee, there is a coffee station to make a quick cup in the lobby of the Mammee building and they bring a coffee cart around in the morning for guests on the beach, by the pool, etc.
The Beach and Water
The beach here is small, but walkable. There is a rocky area that breaks the beach into two sections. The one over by the water sports area is the larger sized one and the “main beach”. This is where the yellow rings are and where most guests hang out and swim.
Then beyond the rocks is the beach area by the Jerk Shack. This has more seaweed but there is a clear patch right at the end of the property which was excellent for swimming. It was far enough away from the rest of the beach area that you felt sort of secluded and on the beach there are chairs and giant palm trees that provide natural shade, which was perfect for us. We preferred to spend our time there during the day. The only problem was, no beach service down there. So when we wanted drinks, we had to walk all the way down to the bar area to get it.
There is a volleyball net set up at the quiet beach, by the Jerk Shack, but we never saw anyone playing. Down at the very end of the property it’s all mangroves and hard to walk beyond the security guard unless you’re in the water. That area will all be Sandals Royal Dunns River someday soon, but we didn’t notice any construction in that area at the time we were there. Far down there beach some work was being done, but I’m not certain if it was related to the new resort or not.
The Pools
There are two main pools - the first one I called the “waterfall pool”. It had a large waterfall with a Sandals sign and a walkway bridge over it. That is the pool our room overlooked. This did not have a swim-up bar, but it did have an infinity edge and if you were near the edge by the beach, someone came around taking drink orders as the beach bar was right there next to the pool. During the day, it was were water aerobics and pool volleyball were being held. But if you went under the bridge toward the waterfall it was quieter. This is also the pool closer to the beach bar as well as the DJ booth, which plays music during the day.
The second pool was the one with the swim up bar. This pool also had an infinity edge overlooking the beach. They had a few beach beds and some cabanas to rent. The cabanas are rentable by 1/2 or full day. Half is $75 and full is $145 (price subject to change). The cabana comes with butler service which includes delivery of breakfast, lunch and drinks.
The "Chair Game"
The chair game is strong at this resort. We honestly had an impossible time getting a spot anywhere else on the beach but at the far end of the property.
For example, at one point in the early afternoon, probably around ten thirty in the morning, I was walking the other side of the beach looking for a shaded place to sit down. Almost every lounge chair was empty except for maybe one flip flop, a magazine, or a t-shirt. Clearly being held by people who weren’t using them. My skin is extra sensitive to sun while pregnant, so I really wanted to be able to be somewhere shaded. I stood in the shade of the bar area for a bit and noticed nobody claiming one of the loungers under an umbrella. Just a crumpled up towel and a t-shirt was on it.
Not wanting to cause any drama, I decided to ask the lifeguard if he would move it so I could sit down. He immediately told me “no” and advised that I could keep an eye on it and move it if I don’t see anyone claim it. Just to note, the policy at Sandals is, if you aren’t in the chair by a certain time, the lifeguards is allowed to come around and remove your items and put them in lost and found. Could I have moved it myself? Yes. But the idea of getting into a back-and-forth with someone about their stuff being moved really wasn’t my idea of a vacation, so we moved on from the beach that morning and eventually found a set at one of the pools that we grabbed as someone was leaving.
That next morning my husband went to the gym at 6am and checked for chairs. He was able to find us shaded chairs and he barely found a set together. After that morning, he never found two chairs in the shade together again. Even at 6:30 in the morning people and butlers had claimed them all. It was insane.
Let me just clear something up in case there is confusion, this isn’t new. This is a Sandals problem that has been a complaint for a long time at the resorts. That is why the policy was put into place at Sandals. I’ve seen it enforced at other resorts, but at this resort I did not see it enforced and the lifeguard was not willing to enforce it for us either. I also noticed several guests get up and leave chairs with their used towels on it and take all their things and walk away. We were mindful about taking our towels with us to drop in the bin, so the next couple could use our seats. I wish more couples would do that, because then the chairs would obviously not appear to be taken. But the staff should also come around more to clear unused chairs of towels and cups because that adds to the confusion, too.
On several trips to other Sandals/Beaches resorts my husband and I have just put our bag down by the edge of the pool while we swam, not needing a chair or bed, so it wasn’t an issue in the past. But in this case, we wanted a place to sit where I wouldn’t be directly in the sun. I ended up getting horrible sun poisoning on my last day because of this issue. They need to put out more umbrellas on the beach and next to the pools or enforce the chair saving policy. Preferably both. If having a chair without the stress of an early morning wake up or hunting one down is important to you - I highly advise having a butler at this resort!
The Service
We have loved traveling to Jamaica for two decades together now. One of the main reasons is how friendly everyone always is at the resorts. When you go to Sandals there is a clear difference between. “Jamaican friendly” (think the fist bumps, “yeah mon” and “no worries”) vs “customer service friendly”, where it just feels like every smile is forced and nobody truly wants to be there. I don’t think in all that time traveling to Jamaica we ever felt that vibe at a Sandals resort, until we came here.
Like I said, we’d been to Beaches Negril, Sandals St Vincent and Sandals Royal Curacao just in the last year and all three of those properties I have at least half a dozen staff members I can recall by name right now who made our stay exceptional with their excellent service. At this resort, I can’t think of a single person, aside from two waiters, who stood out to us. Everyone else seemed to be just running out the clock.
It was such an odd experience because we just didn’t feel like we were in Jamaica because of it. Now it’s entirely possible it was because the resort was short staffed at a time when occupancy was almost 100%. But it just left us feeling underwhelmed about the property because it didn’t feel like “home” to us, like Sandals usually does.
The Restaurants / Food: This is where we were most displeased. If we had never been to a Sandals Resort before and this was our first experience, I may not have been so disappointed. But having been to every single property before this one, I know what the food at Sandals is supposed to be and the food here seemed to always fall short of the standard for Sandals. I’m not sure if it was an issue with high occupancy and being short staffed (possibly) or if it was just an off week for the resort - but this was not the norm for what we always experience at Sandals.
Don’t get me wrong, we always found something to eat and ordered multiple things which ended up meaning even if we didn’t like things, we had other things to eat that we did like. But I just wish they were on the same level as Curacao or St. Vincent. It would be a game changer for this resort.
One thing we did notice is that dining early when they first open was helpful in getting seated and served quickly. We are used to eating around 6pm with our kids, so being at the restaurant when they first opened up allowed us to dine fairly quickly and skip the long waits that may occur later in the evening when things get busy.
Zuka
Our first night we dined at Zuka. We’d eaten at this restaurant before in Curacao and really liked it. The soup was very good and unfortunately I missed a photo op of it because my husband was too hungry to wait.
We also had the Shrimp Ceviche which was something we liked in Curacao. It was very good here, too. Same as we had there. However, the avocado was turning brown/black and therefore that part did not taste good. That was our only complaint here. We split the surf and turf meal and that was delicious. Over-all, we were pleased with the whole meal and experience on night one.
Hania
This is the sushi restaurant. We had appetizers here before dining at Zuka on the first night. Just a precursor, we LOVE sushi at Sandals. It’s our favorite thing to eat while on property. If you’ve read my other Sandals blogs, you’ll know that we usually eat sushi as an appetizer every night then head to another restaurant for dinner.
I knew going down that I’d be limited on the type of sushi I could eat, but one of my favorite rolls is the Champagne Lobster roll. I couldn't wait to have it on this trip because it's “safe” for me to eat while pregnant. I’ve eaten Champagne Lobster rolls at every Sandals/Beaches property that has a sushi restaurant and have loved them at every one. However, the menu showed it was a “Champagne Shrimp” roll, which Sandals only substitutes in place of the lobster when lobster isn't in season. Closed lobster season in Jamaica is April - June, so that wasn’t the case as we traveled in February, and we ordered lobster at other restaurants on resort so it was clearly available. It seems as though this is just how they plan to serve it here, which is a bummer. But even so, we’ve had the Champagne Shrimp rolls when lobster wasn’t in season before, and it’s usually just as tasty. However, for some reason, this was not good. The shrimp was diced up and the flavor was off.
My husband's rolls were crab or shrimp based. The crab tasted like they just shoved mayo-based crab salad into the roll. All of our rolls smelled incredibly fishy. Not like the “yum” smell of fish, but the “going bad” smell. We thankfully didn’t have any gastro issues after dining there, so we don’t think it was actually going bad, but it was very strange how pungent the fish smelled here. We’ve never encountered that at a Sandals sushi restaurant. I’m not sure what was going on, but this one was a letdown for big fans of Sandals sushi. We never returned the rest of the stay, which was a first for us.
Banyu
This is the oriental fusion restaurant. The best thing we had here was the watermelon sushi. The wonton soup was very bland so my husband had to add a little Kikoman to it, to give it flavor. Tuna poke was okay. The chicken satay skewers with the peanut dipping sauce was good. Crab sticky bun was okay. I had the chicken lo main and it was very basic. The chicken fried rice was the most flavorful of the things we ordered, and we both ended up eating that most. Nothing about any of it wow’ed us at all, or made us want to come back and try it again.
Someone did recommend the fried banana roll there, which we did try. But the fried part was over-cooked and the banana was too mushy inside from being over-fried. I get what they were going for with it, but I think ours was just overdone and that ruined it.
Galene
This was the most disappointing meal of all and I'm still sad about it. When I saw there was a lunch restaurant here which the Sandals app said had the "freshest fish and seafood"- I was excited to try it. However, it ended up being more of a grill that happened to have a couple of seafood options.
The first afternoon I dragged my husband from the pool as soon as it opened. Mainly because my mouth was watering thinking of the fish sandwich I’d had at the similar restaurant in Curacao. That was honestly one of the best fish sandwiches I’d ever had in my life. But when I sat down and saw the menu, I was confused. The only fish option they had was a "crunchy beer-battered fish wrap". I asked if they could put it on a bun instead of in a wrap and they agreed. Except, what came out was fish sticks stacked on the bun. Nothing about fish sticks makes me think "fresh seafood". Maybe a strip of fried fish, but not fish sticks. Also, the fish sticks were bland and the tartar sauce was the only flavor in the sandwich. Sandals says this is all fresh and made to order, but I had a really hard time believing this wasn’t frozen from a bag. It did not taste fresh or handmade at all. Again, this was another example of disappointment over what I know is served at other Sandals and vs what was being served here. I know how good the food could be, but it just wasn't.
My husband had the "Walnut and Blue Cheese Potato Spinach Salad" salad, which he complained to me had zero flavor. As he was eating it he actually said “I’m confused what they were trying to go for here”. Then he had the tuna poke bowl which he said was “okay”. Again, that seemed to be the theme, most of the food was either inedible or “okay”. It was rare to find something that genuinely wow’d us and made us want to try it again.
We tried this restaurant one more time, opting to order and take it to our favorite shaded spot on the beach. I had the cheeseburger "medium", and they overcooked the meat to the point it was dry and crumbly when I took a bite. Also, the cheese on top was cold and not melted at all. It was as if they realized after cooking the burger that it had been an order for a cheeseburger and they just slapped the piece on there last minute. My husband had the chicken BLT sandwich and they burnt the bread to the point it was rock hard, which also ruined the flavor. The fries were good both times.
The Jerk Shack
This is usually another favorite of ours at Sandals, but it was a total miss here. The chicken is usually fall-off-the-bone and the perfect blend of flavors with the sauce on the side for dipping.
This time they served us pieces of rubbery chicken that were slathered in sauce as if to hide the fact that the pieces of chicken weren't good cuts. They also didn’t have any coco bread and when my husband looked at them like they were nuts the waitress said “I know… but you can get Coco bread at the Rum Club". Fans of the Jerk Shack at Sandals will understand how odd this is.
Dino’s Pizza
We tried Dino's twice. The first time, they messed up the order and only gave us one of our pizzas, so we ended up splitting a supreme (fully loaded). It wasn't terrible but I normally don't like all those toppings on my pizzas so that ruined it for me, personally.
The second time we split a plain cheese and the crust was perfectly cooked with a good amount of cheese but the cheese was burnt and tasted burnt. I’ve had pizza at Sandals on almost every trip now, and I don’t think I’ve ever been served pizza with burnt cheese. That sounds so trivial, but I truly have over a dozen photos of pizza made at various Sandals resort properties over the past decade and not a single one looks (or tasted) as unappealing as this one. It just was one of the many examples of how the food fell short here.
Cascada (Italian)
My chicken fettuccini alfredo was delicious here! This was the one and only meal I raved about the entire trip. So much so that my husband went back and ordered it “to go” two more times on the trip after disappointing dinners elsewhere. The sauce was light, the noodles were cooked just right, and the flavor was perfect. The homemade bread was also great.
My fried calamari was okay, but again, like the other fish we had it smelled very “fishy”. I know it’s not my sensitive pregnancy nose, because I’ve cooked and eaten plenty of fish here at home. My husband had the swordfish and again, he mentioned it smelled very fishy, too, but it tasted good. Probably the best of all the fish he had all week. This was by far our favorite restaurant of them all.
L’Amande (French)
This was the worst dinner restaurant we encountered. The French Onion Soup is usually my favorite thing to order when at a French restaurant at Sandals. This was not what I’m used to. First, the bread was not soft enough in the soup. Instead of putting pieces of bread in that were already broken up, they put two whole pieces of toasted bread in, which were not soft enough to break with the spoon so I ended up having to use a knife for my soup. Otherwise, the flavor was good and the cheese was a good amount.
We split the shrimp cocktail and normally I love shrimp cocktail but the shrimp tasted fishy and mushy/soft/wet. Again, I wish I could describe it better but it just did not taste how shrimp should taste.
The leg of lamb sounded delicious and we’d had something similar at Sandals Royal Caribbean but with mint jelly sauce. We figured we’d try this, too. It was the worst flavors. We’re not afraid to try new things and we’ve eaten lamb before so we expected to like it. This was not tender, nor flavorful. It tasted like burnt meat covered in sauce.
I had the chicken cordon bleu, which was their signature dish so I wanted to try it. It was surprisingly good. It was the best thing we’d both eaten at that restaurant. The only downside, and I've seen others post online about this since - the ham on the inside was minuscule. It was this giant piece of chicken and through the entire center was like a pencil width of ham which was chopped up. I ended up just pulling the little bits of ham out and eating the chicken only.
My husband had the fish and the white sauce they put on it truly tasted awful. I took one bite and had the hardest time finishing it but I wasn’t about to spit it out in the restaurant. My husband scraped it off and tried to eat what was left before giving up.
Edessa (Breakfast)
We prefer the a la carte breakfast in the morning. Normally, on vacation we expect to spend about an hour from sitting down to finishing. We don’t rush through breakfast, unless we are there for work and on a schedule (then we do the buffet). Usually we order our coffees, get a fruit plate or something similar to split that comes out quickly, while we wait for our plated orders.
At this resort, the only a la carte breakfast option is Edessa. We went here the first morning and spent around an hour and a half, from sitting down to finishing, and the eating portion only took maybe twenty minutes. So we waited over an hour for the food. But that was fine because we had a beautiful view of the water, warm coffee cups that were being refilled and we’d shared a fruit and yogurt bowl to hold us over. When the food did come, the steak was cooked perfectly and everything was delicious. My usual breakfast I’ve come to know and love from Sandals.
The second time we ate breakfast there, it was around forty-five minutes before I even got my coffee. My husband ordered a regular, which he got right away. I ordered decaf and after forty-five minutes, they brought me an espresso. Not really sure why. So after that, my husband got up and walked to the buffet and got me a decaf coffee himself (I thought he was just going to the bathroom). When our food hadn’t come out after an hour and a half, I went next door to the lobby to grab a cookie because I felt like my blood sugar was dropping (I was starting to get clammy and shaky). Again, something I wouldn’t even stress about otherwise if not for the side effects of pregnancy.
When the food finally came out an hour and forty-five minutes after ordering, my steak was overcooked and more fatty than usual. It was a bit depressing. From then on we either did the buffet or ordered room service breakfast, which sadly both did not have the steak I like.
Edessa (Dinner)
We dined here for dinner once. The waiter was very nice. He would bring some of the smaller plates over balancing it on his head. The pita bread and spreads were good. I had the lemon and chicken soup and it was delicious. I was very impressed with the flavors. All the other soups we’d tried all week were pretty bland but this one they did a great job with. Then I also tried the muscles and those were great, too. My husband had the Greek salad with no complaints.
For the main dish I had the chicken kebab which I was very pleased with. My husband had the sea bass and a side of lobster. The sea bass was good, but the lobster was way better. Neither smelled or tasted too fishy. The lobster came with three half tails and we split it. It was melt-in-your-mouth good. The next night we talked about ordering the Fettuccini Alfredo from the Italian restaurant and the lobster tail from here and taking it to the room but sadly Edessa was closed and we couldn’t do it.
Buffet
This was a surprise to us. We aren't normally fans of the buffet meals. We enjoy sit down meals where we don't feel rushed or have to get up and fill a plate with food. On one morning we were crunched for time because of the room tours, so we tried the buffet for breakfast, which was normal buffet breakfast food for Sandals - eggs, bacon, omelets, etc.
Then we came back after the tour for a quick for lunch and were really surprised how good the pasta was. It was made to order and you watch them cook it in front of you. It was REALLY good. That became our go-to when hungry at lunch. It was quick, easy, and excellent.
Blum
We didn’t spend much time here because it was a trek to get to, but they did have a lot of options for coffee and pastries.
I wish they had an ice cream section, too, since that is one thing the resort lacks - a proper ice cream spot.
There is only one space to get ice cream aside from the restaurants at dinner time or room service. It’s a soft serve ice cream machine at the pizza place where there are cups and cones for you to serve yourself either vanilla, chocolate, or a vanilla chocolate swirl.
Rooms Service
We usually will order something small every evening for room service as a late night snack, but having not really eaten a lot at the restaurant, we ended up ordering full meals to our room each night. We must have tried everything on the menu that week and like with the restaurants, there were a few hits and several misses. For example, for lunch one afternoon it had been raining so we headed back to the room. We ordered a cheeseburger and a chicken sandwich. The chicken on the sandwich was good but the cheeseburger was very dry, which was the same issue I had at the beachside restaurant.
One night the fries were perfectly cooked. The second night they were overcooked. The third night they were so overcooked I cut the roof of my mouth because they were sharp. I’m not talking about those rogue pieces that are always sharp. I mean a normal fry was so hard it could take out a tooth.
Fifty percent of the time they forgot something from the order, so it was a hit or a miss on if we’d get the full order or not.
We also did room service breakfast the last day while we were packing to leave. It was the exact same food we’d get at the buffet, and we had no issues with that. My hash browns were soggy but that’s likely just because it was kept on the same plate as the bacon and eggs while being transported.
The food did always arrived hot and quick, so that was a big plus!
Desserts
Every night we’d dine somewhere and instead of staying at the restaurant for dessert, we’d take it to go and bring it back to our room instead. It became a little ritual of ours. In fact, one night we even took our dessert to go and ate it at the rooftop lounge (above the skypool suites) for an amazing view of the resort at night.
To be honest, we were not happy with almost all of the desserts we tried, from the restaurants to the buffet, to the coffee shop pastries, and even room service desserts. There was nothing we had that we loved. The desserts at Sandals have always been lacking, to us.
By the end of the trip we started ordering vanilla ice cream and cookies from room service, even though it wasn’t on the menu. It was the only thing sweet that we enjoyed. I will give Sandals that, their chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies are delicious. I love that all through the day and night we can just find them in the lobby the taking.
Wrap up of Food
While we found a lot of options lacking what we expect from Sandals, and what we personally experienced in both St Vincent and Curacao last year, we still found plenty of things to eat that we could enjoy. We just had to try a lot of things or get creative with what we saw on the menus.
However, for foodies, I would highly recommend choosing St Vincent or Curacao over this property. Maybe once the Royal Dunns River side is done the options will expand and things will improve, but the food is not where it needs to be here. The good news is, we had the opportunity to meet with the food and beverage manager while there, to discuss our concerns. We also had the ability to discuss it with corporate upon our return. My hope is that helps change things for the better there.
Bars
There are 9 bars in total here, all of them serving premium brand liquors through the day and into the late evening.
They are located inside of restaurants, the pool, on the beach, the lobby, and other locations on resort. Our favorite location was Ocarina (the Rooftop location), Laughing Waters, and the Aqua Bar as they all had beautiful views of the water.
Here are the hours for each bar (subject to change at any time):
Aqua Bar 10:00 a.m. – 06:00 p.m.
Laughing Water (Bubble) Bar 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Dunn’s Rum Bar 05:00 p.m. – 02:00 a.m. Greek Bar 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Lapidus Lounge & Bar 05:00 p.m. – 01:00 a.m.
Lobby Bar 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 a.m.
Hanami Bar 06:00 p.m. – 09:30 p.m.
Ocarina (Rooftop) Lounge & Bar 05:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Plaza Bar 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 a.m.
Drinks
Since I was pregnant on this trip, I was not drinking liquor. However, I never had an issue getting a delicious fruity non-alcoholic drink.
My favorite drink was the Pink Rain, which is pictured. It is pink lemonade, pineapple juice and grenadine. I had it both frozen and on the rocks and preferred it frozen. It was my go-to drink for the trip.
I also had a few Pina coladas by the pool and each evening at dinner I’d ask for a “mocktail”. The waiter would always bring me some version of a cranberry, pineapple and sprite type drink.
My husband usually enjoyed his favorite, Crown Royal on the rocks, and other times would request a cranberry, pineapple and sprite when he didn’t feel like drinking liquor. We never had an issue getting drinks or drinks taking too long. But the bartenders were definitely not as friendly here as they are at other properties. Again, it seemed to be a theme at the resort. I’m expecting something was going on the week we were there and it was just a bad week for the staff, unfortunately for us.
Spa
My husband surprised me with a maternity massage one afternoon and it was divine. He’s run into the spa ladies walking the beach making appointments for people and set one up for me. Sadeka was my massage therapist and she was wonderful. She applied the right amount of pressure so it was comfortable and not painful. She told me the baby would probably move around a lot after, from all the increased blood flow, and she was right. Baby seemed to love the massage as much as I did. I highly recommend setting a massage with her, even if it is not a maternity one. She was excellent and I kept saying I’d go back before we left, but sadly I got sun poisoning and couldn’t.
I love that you can use the spa even without treatment. On the last day I wanted to be in the pool but badly needed shade because of my burn. So we spent the whole afternoon at the pool at the spa. It was so relaxing. We had a covered lounger underneath the roof so totally shaded, access to towels, a bathroom, water to drink, and an empty pool with some shaded areas. The pool waterfall felt so nice on my burnt shoulders, too. Honestly, the only thing missing was the swim-up bar but we could live without it. It was so quiet there, with relaxing music, and the sounds of the waterfalls, that it was the perfect escape from the noise of the main pool areas.
Also, the showers in the spa were incredible. They were massive and could easily fit like ten people in there. I took a quick shower after my massage because I wanted to dip into the pool and I almost didn’t want to leave the shower. My husband informed me the men’s side did not have such nice showers. I had to snap a photo to show him how nice ares were and he was a bit jealous.
Housekeeping
After the food, this was the second biggest disappointment to us. On the first night we arrived, the room was ready for our 4pm check-in. Everything was cleaned and ready for us. My plan during the trip had been to draw a bath every night on the balcony and relax and unwind. Our bath at home has been taken over by our kids and it’s no longer a relaxing retreat for me so I was looking forward to this part of the trip. However, after the initial welcome cleaning for our room - housekeeping only came back twice the entire week. Once for turn-down only one evening (but not for a cleaning) and then again on the very last night when I couldn’t use the tub anyway because of my painful sun burn. I can’t even explain in words how disappointed I was about this. We have never gone a full week at a Sandals Resort without anyone cleaning our room every day and nothing we did on this trip was any different than past ones to other Sandals Resorts.
The first morning, when we left for breakfast the housekeeper was on our floor and the cart was two doors down. When we came back around 3pm, nothing had been cleaned. Now here is where things went wrong. Apparently housekeeping here comes sometime between 3pm and 5pm. But that happened to be around the time that we would head back to the room, answer emails and then start getting ready for early dinner. We always do this on vacation because I can't always answer emails on my phone from the pool or beach.
On the second day, housekeeping did call us during that time to say the privacy light was on and they couldn’t service the room. The cart was nowhere on our floor but we had told them we were turning it off and leaving so they could come back. We got back at 5:30 to get ready for dinner and the room still hadn’t been cleaned. The housekeeper came later that night around 8pm when we’d just gotten back to the room from dinner, but only for “turn down” (not cleaning) and handed us a few extra towels since we were already in the room and didn’t need her to make up the bed for us.
After that, if we were in the room we’d leave the privacy light off but leave the top latch locked, just in case. We also tried to be more mindful of being in the room later in the afternoon but still, housekeeping never came. Until our last full day when we stayed out of the room the entire day and at some point they came, but we didn’t know when.
This was incredibly frustrating. On one hand, I totally understand that us being in the room some afternoons was the problem. But when housekeeping called to reschedule service, they still never came. And honestly, I've never had a situation where I came back to the room after 3pm and the room wasn't already serviced. I wondered if they were short staffed with housekeeping during our stay.
Our shower, sinks and tub never got cleaned which meant I didn’t get to take another bath the entire trip. Maybe it’s just me- I just wasn’t comfortable being in the tub knowing it hadn’t been cleaned again after that first day, especially since it was an outdoor tub. My husband was going to use the in-room vodka to wipe down the tub for me at one point.
Butler service - Here is where we really felt the trip could have been saved. I think this whole experience would have been entirely different if we’d had a butler, but when we booked this trip is was a very last minute decision and there were no butler level rooms left. Watching my husband have to run around getting us food, drinks, beach/pool chairs, broke my heart. It was his vacation, too, but he refused to let me do any of it because of the pregnancy. He wanted me to take it easy and I appreciated him taking such excellent care of me, but I wanted him to be able to relax, too.
With this being a special trip, I wish we’d been able to experience the butler service to know if that would correct many of the issues we experienced. Something as simple as having shaded chairs or sun beds, or having someone to call when the room wasn’t cleaned, or having someone to bring food to us instead of waiting in lines at restaurants. Normally, this isn’t something we really stress about as we are pretty easy going, but this trip was very different from the trips we normally take. I had to be cautious of what I was eating, drinking, doing, etc. Things I never used to pay attention to or worry about. Having the butler service would have taken so much of the stress we felt away and likely saved this trip for us.
My advice, if this is a special trip and really want to ensure it’s stress free, consider the upgrade to a butler level suite. Not everyone needs it, but for a resort that is smaller in size, having the butler can be much more helpful to you for many of the reasons I mentioned above.
Water Sports
Unfortunately, because I was pregnant at the time of travel, we did not get to enjoy any of our usual favorite water sports. However, this property has Glass Bottom Boat Sailing, Paddleboards, Waterskiing, Hobie Cats, Snorkeling, PADI® Scuba Diving, Kayaking, Wakeboarding, and Knee boarding available for all guests from 8am to 5pm each day.
Golf
Golf is part of the inclusions for the Sandals properties in the Ocho Rios area. There is a Sandals owned golf course, Upton Estate Golf & Country Club, nearby. All Sandals guests receive complimentary green fees and quick 25 minute transfers to and from this resort.
This is an 18 hole resort style course with three sets of tees. It plays to 6,404 yards par 72. Players will enjoy sweeping views of the sea and mountains from its narrow fairways and minuscule drop-off greens.
Entertainment
The mornings started off with a violinist or saxophonist playing on the pool deck. That was around 8am, which was nice to hear from our room while getting ready for the day. Very romantic.
During the early morning the resort is fairly quiet. Around 10:30am or so, the DJ starts playing music from the booth by the Laughing Waters beach bar (pictured to the left). That music can be heard at both pools, though over by the waterfall in the bigger pool it’s quieter since that drowns out some of the music. We spent a little time at the waterfall pool, hanging out by the infinity edge and looking out at the ocean, until pool volleyball was announced and then we decided to move spots to be out of the way.
One thing I did like was that there are some more unique and quiet activities during the day - for example pottery and candle making were on the schedule. We went to check out the pottery class one day. First, don’t follow what the app says. That’s how we found out about it but the location was wrong. We spent twenty minutes trying to find it and asking everyone until someone directed us to an entirely different location (the covered pavilion up the stairs across from the lobby). Once we got there it was standing room only and we found out we had to sign up in advance. So if you are interested in any of those activities, make sure to find a playmaker and ask about signing up at least one day before the event, so you don’t miss it.
In the evenings the live music and shows were definitely entertaining and we were able to see them all from our balcony, so we didn’t have to go down and get seats for it. There is also live music in the lobby at the piano bar some evenings. And later in the evening there is a DJ that plays at either the Lapidus lounge or the Rum Club, depending on the nightly schedule.
We tend to be low-key when vacationing, so we may do a show or watch some live music but we usually skip the late night dancing and head to bed early, so I can’t speak for how the late night DJ was. Sadly, since we left on a Thursday, we missed our favorite entertainment activity - the Silent Headphone Party. That is always fun and worth checking out.
Fitness Center/Gym
The gym here is located on the top floor of the Tufa Terrace building (1). It's has a great view of the ocean and everything you'll need. Multiple cardio equipment options and the usual items you'd find - such as ellipticals, stationary bicycles, Jacob's ladder, treadmills, weights, squat rack, resistance bands, and more.
Check-out/Departure Transfer:
Check out was simple. We didn’t have any charges to the room so we just turned our keys in at concierge and then waited for the transfers. We opted for the regular transfer which ended up being a large bus that had guests from Ochi and Royal Plantation on it already when it arrived. The only seats left were at the very back of the transfer, which again, normally isn’t an issue but it was a little tough getting back there without bumping my baby-belly into everyone.
Also, the return transfer left me feeling nauseous. I’ve driven to Ochi multiple times over the years on all types of transfers and never experienced nausea, so I’m assuming it was a pregnancy related issue. I wish I’d just upgraded to the private transfers. forthe return, too. If you have car sickness issues or are pregnant, I recommend upgrading both of your transfers to private, just in case.
Airport Departure/Club MoBay:
We did have Club MoBay on the return and that was helpful. We probably didn’t really need it as security wasn’t packed at 1:30pm on a Thursday, but since we only had carry-on bags we skipped the check-in area and went right to the Club MoBay desk, got our ticket and went to the VIP line. We were through security in maybe five minutes and then headed to the new lounge by gate 7.
Let me just say, this place was PACKED. We couldn’t just sit anywhere, they assigned us seats and you couldn’t sit both facing the window for the view, you had to be across from each other so other people could sit, too. I honestly thing Club MoBay has become way too popular. Looking back, we could have skipped the Club MoBay departure and just gone and had lunch somewhere in the airport. We really only had an hour before we had to make the 15 minute walk to our gate.
In Closing
While we didn’t have the trip we expected, it was still great for us to get away and spend some quality alone time together. Would we come back to Sandals Dunns River? Probably not for a while. If we did, I would wait it until the new Sandals Royal Dunns River opens and explore them both together.
Not every Sandals property is going to be our favorite, and that is okay. When you find your favorites, they end up being your go-to locations. For us, we're glad we saw it, but we’ll be back to other properties before we return to Sandals Dunns River again. Thankfully, there are some amazing resorts in the Sandals brand and we’ve experienced them all now, so we know which ones are best for us, and for what our clients are looking for.
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