We will be staying at one of the Jamaica Sandals resorts in Sept, but we can't decide which one. Any ideas?

Question

A nice beach, oceanview room and some nightlife are important. Our first trip there.

Answer 1

Do take Brandy's advice and visit tripadvisor.com if you haven't already.  Lot's of good info. there.  We really love Sandals Negril and go every year.  The scuba is really good as are the other water sports.  Food, drink, beach, people are all wonderful.  Hope you have a wonderful time.

Answer 2

We stayed at the Montego Bay (not Sandals Inn Montego Bay) Sandals resort for our honeymoon and it was fabulous. I think they had five restaurants, countless bars, endless activities, water sports and much more. We were treated like kings and queens. And when we were tired of all thee crowds and wanted some quiet romantic time, we went back to our honeymoon suite which was located on the beach with fantastic views from our balcony, or go directly down the stairs from our room and we were on the beach. We have talked about going back for our anniversary. Have a great time. By the way, Montego Bay is only 5 minutes from the airport.

Answer 3

Anywhere but the "Sandals Inn" in Montego Bay!

All others are nice... that one is on the cheap end...

Regarding what you're looking for... Montego Bay is DEFINITELY the place to be if you want night life!!!

Consider the Royal Decameron Montego Bay... All beautiful oceanfront rooms, 3 small beaches, walking distance to everything, including Margaritaville.  And the best part?  Only $180 per night ALL INCLUSIVE!

I did a lot of research on Trip Advisor prior to going and was  more than satisfied with the Decameron.  (Spent one night at Sandals Inn down the street.... not so great) But wherever you are in Jamaica... it's IRIE!

Answer 4

I have stayed in 3 Sandals in Jamaica but the out and out winner by a mile is the Whitehouse. It is amazing , Stunning scenery and an upmarket lovely ambience about the place.

Answer 5

Sandals Grande Ocho Rios was amazing. My husband and I are going back for the second time. The beach was amazing, the food was amazing and ther service was amazing. There are 2 nightclubs and tons of venues in the ampitheatre. There are plenty of options on rooms and suites. It was awesome. Ocho Rios is more like "real" Jamaica to me. Although I love all of Jamaica. If you go, make sure you visit Dunns River Falls. It was so much fun. This is a good resort because you can go back in forth between Ocho Rios and Dunns River. There are so many option. Have fun, hope this helps.

Answer 6

The Sandals in Negril is very nice because you have so many other choices when you're ready to have an adventure away from the resort. Negril has miles of white sand beaches and lots of fun on the way to no particular place. Don't be afraid, live, embrace and enjoy.

Answer 7

My husband and I were just in Jamaica in January for our honeymoon, and we stayed at the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios. It was truly amazing! This was our first time to Jamaica, and we really felt like we got to see and do alot! The great thing about Sandals is that you can transfer to other Sandals Resorts nearby, so we had dinner and activities a few times at the Sandals Dunns River.

The Sandals Dunn's River is much smaller and more intimate, and is Italian-themed. It's a nice resort and we had fun the times we spent there, but we would probably not choose to stay there. On the other hand, Sandals Ocho Rios is very large, in fact it is literally two seperate resorts seperated by the public road. You can walk, or take a shuttle from the Riviera (beach) side, to the Manor (forresty) side and vice-versa. The two sides each have pools, fitness areas, restaurants, bars, night club, etc but they're not the same on each side, there's variety. We spent time on both sides, but our room was a villa on the Manor side, which we really loved. The Riviera side seemed less lively than the Manor side to us, but maybe that changes with the guests. The rooms/villas at the Riviera side seemed more resort-like, whereas the Manor-side villas were much more spread out, more private, and secluded. Plus there was a lot of lush trees on the Manor and the Riviera is more garden-like.

As for the things you're looking for, many people were dissapointed by the smaller beach at Ocho Rios. Personally, we thought it was great, not too small (but let's not kid, you can't take a long walk on the beach there). However, the Dunn's River beach was much larger and we took a nice long walk on their beach one day when we were there after dinner. The restaurants at both resorts were amazing, but Ocho Rios has way more choices (being so large), which was nice since we were there for 2 weeks, and wanted some variety. For nightlife, there are nightclubs, planned fun activities all day and night (dance lessons, cocktail parties, organized sports events/tournaments, shows every night, etc). And you can definitely get an ocean-view room at either Sandals Ocho Rios (both sides can get views, we had one) or Dunn's River. But, after staying there, I wouldn't pay extra for a room. We were always out doing activities, tours, at the main pools meeting other people... we spent hardly any time in our room, so even though we paid more to have an upgraded room with semi-private pool, we were only really there to sleep and change clothes, etc. I would go for the basic room (which is still very nice) next time and spend that extra money on tours, souveniers, etc. We took the "Katt" catamaran to Dunn's River Falls, and that was awesome! I would recommend it for first-timers.

I can't say enough great things about Jamaica or about Sandals. Both are spectacular, and I'm sure that anyplace will be great. No matter where you choose in Jamaica, make sure that you take your camera (we took it EVERYWHERE while we were there - there are so many amazing photo oportunities!!) and take plenty of film/digital storage! We came home with over 1,000 excellent photos, and luckily had brought our laptop to transfer our pictures off the camera everyday. Our 4GB card was filled in less than 4 days!!

HAVE A GREAT TIME! I would love to go back!