Ok, so here's my honest review of the resort!
Firstly, please ignore the negative reviews! We were so worried about our stay but needn't have been!
We're 2 adults, 2 children, travelling from the UK so have been here for 2 weeks -25/05/25-8/06/25 Long enough to know how good the place is!
We are staying on Ocean Coral Side and are not Privilege.
Check in - great, very quick - no issues at all, shown to our room with some info about where things were.
Welcome breakfast- we were not interested in a presentation so politely declined. We were asked a few times through our stay but never felt like we couldn't say no.
Rooms- we stayed in block 1 Garden view room. We had a view of the pool and partial sea view. The room is spacious. I asked for 2 double beds before arriving as we didn't want the kids sleeping on a sofa bed for 2 weeks. We have 2 doubles, 1 sofa, a chair and plenty of dressers/wardrobes/cupboards for all our things. The room is clean but maybe slightly tired in areas. We had a couple of minor issues - hairdryer didn't work, sofa cushions were dirty. We contacted reception and these were immediately rectified.
Room was cleaned well daily and the fridge aways stocked. We left daily tips for both.
Pools - great pools, plenty of sunbeds, never had an issue getting the same beds every day. Life guards are 9 - 5.30 but you can use the pool before and after at your own risk
Main pool is so big, plenty of space and the swim up bar is brilliant. Staff are so much fun. Especially Nicholas. Nothing was ever too much and he always had a laugh and joke with the kids. The drinks are great, cocktails are brilliant and very strong!! Bar staff are very experienced and definitely know how to make a good drink!!
The entertainment staff work so hard. Around the pool is so much fun. Cyril is amazing at his job. Lots of games and activities through the day.
Kids pool is great, lots of slides and splash areas, with an additional pool for swimming.
Lazy River, was good fun, although not all the things were working and it isn't very powerful. Our kids still enjoyed it, we just pushed them around!
Beach - we're not massive beach people but like the sea and snorkeling. The coral side is quite rocky but not a problem if you have water shoes. Privilege/Eden beach is less rocky. We still swam over there and no one told us to leave. The sea is the sea in my opinion, free for all to use!! We obviously didnt use the beds though.
The snorkeling wasn't great, we didn't see many fish at all really but booked a snorkle trip with Simpsons on the beach. We were taken 5/10 mins from the resort and had our own snorkle guide for an hour. Showing us the different reefs, explaining what things were, picking up sea urchins for us to hold. It was definitely worth it. We saw stingrays, puffer fish, squid and lots of different types of fish. I think we paid $170+tips for the 4 of us which we thought was a brilliant price compared to the snorkle excursions.
Food - Restaurants- sakura(teppanyaki) and Italian are reservation only. The rest are a first come basis unless you are Privilege, which we weren't. We never really had to wait long for a table. We had a guy from guest services who actually booked a few times for us. I suppose if you don't ask, you don't get!!
In our opinion the Indian Thali, was by far the nicest. We went twice. Lovely food and great service.
Sakura, the teppanyaki was good fun, nice atmosphere and tasty food - again we went twice.
Route 66 was nice, we went once but weren't too bothered about going again
The Italian was nice, good service, tasty enough food - again we went twice
Sugar cain was our least favourite. Slow bad service and average food, not worth the wait in our opinion. Under staffed maybe, always a long wait but never seems busy.
The Buffet was great. Lots to choose from, live cooking stations, nice food. We never had any complaints in there and enjoyed everything we ate. We ate in there every breakfast, a few times at lunch and a few evenings. The staff were always attentive and friendly.
We never tried red Snapper, we didn't feel the menu would be suitable for the children. And their was no kids menu.
Only negative with most restaurants is that drink service was slow.
We had room service a couple of times. Good service, nice food. Limited menu but that didn't bother us.
Ocean burger is good for lunch, good food, good for kids
The jerk hut is great. Very tasty but always a long queue.
We had paella twice, cooked near the pool. Very tasty.
Entertainment - great hotel for families. Bowling was great fun we went 4 times. Never waited more than 20 mins for a lane. Family lounge was good fun - plenty to do, pool table, air hockey, bar football, ps5's and other games.
The VR place was good fun, but maybe slightly expensive. But the kids loved it. Evening entertainment was good but we didn't like that it was in a theatre setting so we didn't go much. We watched Michael Jackson, Jamaica show and Steel band. The band were the best. So good!! The live music bands outside the restaurants are great but not loads of seating. We felt Evenings were quiet and usually sat outside the coffee shop with a beer, playing cards. We obviously didn't use the disco and never went in the sports bar.
Excursions - we did River tubing which was good fun and Dunns River Falls which is a must! So much fun!
Overall we've had the best 2 weeks. The resort is clean, tidy and well kept. Wifi is good. Never had an issue. The staff work so hard. Everyone has been so friendly and always a smile on their faces. We made sure we tipped every meal, every drink, maid daily, mini bar guy and entrtainers. Basically anyone who we felt gave us a good service. We would definitely come back to the resort. Is it a 5*? I'd personally say more of a 4/4+ but everywhere in the world has different standards Again, don't listen to the negativity, just enjoy your stay!!