"Honest review from a travel journalist"
Honest review from a travel journalist!
Our holiday had been changed fairly last minute, as it was changed twice by TUI. Due to this we didn’t have a great deal of choice as to where we went or the choice of hotel. We stumbled across this hotel and thought we would go with it based on the good reputation of RIU and good reviews from a glance.
The hotel itself is around an hour and half (private transfer) from Montego Bay airport. We done a private transfer to get to the hotel and a shared coach transfer on the return. I would 100% reccomend to book a private transfer both ways due to the bad conditions of the roads. My family felt it far worse on the coach with lots of potholes which can increase travel sickness.
We arrived at the hotel and was instantly impressed by their contemporary and clean aesthetic decor. The lobby area is open, wide, with a good vibe. Check in was quick. We did however encounter a problem, with the fact that there was no rooms available with 2 beds in. This meant my husband, myself and our 11 old daughter sharing one king size bed. This is not something we wanted and therefore had to upgrade our room type by paying an additional £280 for a sea view room which had the two beds available. It did come as a shock, as TUI did not mention this when confirming our booking (change was made over the phone). In all honesty the upgrade was worth it as we were block 3 and facing a quiet little end bay. Our daughter adored standing on the balcony looking at the sea, so that in itself was worth it!
Our room was what I presume to be an interconnecting style room as we had a main door off of the corridor and then our own separate corridor shared with next door (two separate rooms). This would be really handy for larger families who want to be close together.
Rooms were clean, modern and nicely decorated. Rooms have the optics which we loved! The optics are stocked with Johnny Walker, Gordon’s Gin, Smirnoff Vodka and Jamaican Gold Rum. The minibar was refilled every 2 days with Fanta, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Red Stripe, Red Stripe Light, Soda Water, Tonic Water, and water. The room itself has hairdryer attached to the wall in the bathroom. Whilst it is only small I found it fairly powerful, as the change in voltage affected my hairdryer I brought from home. The bathroom has hand-wash, shampoo/body wash and conditioner. My only real complaint I have regarding the rooms was the fight to get the dispensers with the hand-wash and shampoo refilled. When we arrived they were not full, which is fine, but this did mean we needed to request to have them re-filled. We were told that there was a shortage for a few days, and requested via reception. Thankfully a nice housekeeping staff member from another block gave us some, after much asking and hunting. Ideally these should be filled fully each time a new guest uses the room to avoid this. For those who use them, there are flannels which are changed daily in the bathroom. We also had a sofa in the room, along with a couple of chairs on the balcony. There is also a drying/hanging rack on the side wall of the balcony. We really appreciated the touch of having a full normal sized ironing board and iron which is stored in the wardrobe. The hangers are the type which have a hook and can be removed. The safe was large enough for all of our belongings and located inside of the wardrobe. Some rooms are also equipped with an umbrella in the wardrobe for the downpours!For anyone wishing to bring their fire stick you may have issues getting it into the back of the TV. Our TV was flush with the wall which made it impossible to get it into the correct port. Not the end of the world, as the TV had lots of English Chanel’s.
The entertainment was really impressive. The whole team were so energetic, enthusiastic and a credit to the hotel. There was lots going on throughout the day but no pressure to participate which I liked! The full entertainment plan can be found near the entrance to the island cove lunchtime restaurant. Myself and my husband were blown away by the white party. We have travelled all
over the world and seen many themed nights and parties but honestly this blew them all out of water. Sadly we did not stay long enough to experience the neon party but I presume it would have been just as fab! They made so much effort, with the full day of preparations. I won’t spoil too much for those who are due to travel but it was a great evening, my daughter thoroughly enjoyed herself too. They also had a foam party in the family/kids/activity pool on a Friday which was a good laugh. They also had a variety of shows such as steel bands and the Michael Jackson tribute. The Michael Jackson tribute was brilliant, another great night. Karaoke was also on a few of the nights as well as another couple of audience interactive shows. My only real niggle is that we find the entertainment to be quite late. This does however seem to be a RIU theme, as we have encountered this at most of the RIU hotels we have been too. We are early risers so found the late shows hard to stay awake for, but nonetheless enjoyed all of what we watched!
We found the food really quite nice. We found going at earlier times were much better as it’s hot and fresh with no crowds. One evening we did go slightly later and it was too busy for my liking, but that was only 1 night out of the 10 we were staying. We ate in most of the restaurants and thoroughly enjoyed them. The buffet has a great selection, my daughter and myself did not struggle once. The Mandalay was surprisingly enjoyable, I wasn’t sure what to expect befofe going in, but we really enjoyed our meal here. We visited the steak house twice as we enjoyed it so much. The mozzarella dippers are divine and probably the biggest I have ever come across. We did visit the Italian, but felt our evening was rushed a little. There wasn’t much ambience within the restaurant as there was no music. We didn’t return for that reason, although my husband and daughter did enjoy their meals here. The sports bar was a really nice touch. Especially having the ability to order food at whatever hours form their menu. My husband probably consumed his body weight on jerk chicken from pepes which, I must admit was really delicious! My daughter thoroughly enjoyed tiki tacos for lunch most days. It was also nice to have island cove if you wanted a proper sit down lunch. I really liked the fact that there were automatic doors separating the buffet food area. This seriously minutes the amount of flies you usually get in a buffet. I just wished guests would be courteous to one another and let people out with their dinner before entering. Perhaps it would make sense to do an in and out system out of that area as there are two sets of doors?
Staff were so friendly, accommodating and just generally really lovely. Everyone was friendly and so positive which made such a difference to our holiday. I loved seeing them have a sing song at the pool bar and a little dance whilst they were working at the white party! I cannot fault the staff what so ever! A little tip does go a long way, and they are so grateful for anything you can give them.
We enjoyed taking advantage of the scuba caribie watersports. We were able to do kayaking, and pedallos twice. We also were able to rent scuba equipment from them by leaving a deposit. I would however recommend bringing your own, as they never seem to have many as their supply goes out on their boat trip. I would also reccomend if travelling in July like we did that you do any watersports in the morning. The sea tends to get rough in the afternoons when the rain is due, which results in a yellow flag. This means no activities can take place. In the morning, the weather is absolutely glorious and the sea is fine. You do need to sign a waiver agreement before you do any activity.
The beach was absolutely beautiful. I have never spent so much time in the sea. We spent a lot of time checking out the nature there and we’re lucky enough to see star fish, lots of different fish, sea snake, sting rays, sharks and lots of crabs! The best area to see this is the small bay opposite block 4, which tends to be the most quiet. The beach is well kept, no litter around. There are vendors who walk across the beach offering coconuts, anklets, lobsters and braids. A simple no thank you is fine and they are very pleasant and do not bother you again. We did walk down to the blue tents and everyone was very friendly and greatful for the support you are giving their country.
The pools were lovely. We sat mainly around the adult pool but used all of the pools. I did find the kids/family/activity pool a little claustrophobic at times as it was so busy. The quiet pool was a little too quiet for our liking. We did tend to use the volleyball pool the most, earlier in the mornings before other guests started playing their games. The adult pool was lovely with the seating and bar inside. The lifeguards are fantastic and take pride in their jobs. There is an absolute zero tolerance to any misbehaving, smoking on the poolside, sandy feet, in pools, which I was impressed about. My only gripe here was that the pool area underneath the sun-beds needed a bit more cleaning. The sun-beds are not an issue, there was always an abundance available, even at 2pm.
We had professional photos at the hotel. They were a little on the pricy side, but they have a great service where you can still purchase the digital prints once you return from holiday.
I would personally steer clear of the hotel shops for essentials. My husband purchased some cigarettes which were almost $30 for one box. We ventured out to the petrol station down the road (it’s safe to do so) and got 2 packs for that price. If your a smoker, or like to social smoke I would reccomend getting some from duty free on your way out. As lovely as the shops were for gifts etc they were super expensive. I would suggest supporting the locals in the blue tents on the beach.
I only have a couple of aspects which I feel the hotel could improve on. The hotel itself is clean however the attention to detail needs to be improved. Areas such as corridors to the rooms don’t seem to be properly cleaned (bannisters). The pool toilets did not feel clean at all. I started to avoid these as the smell was unbearable. I was unsure if the wet floor was water or urine, on a lot of occasions. These definitely need to be cleaned more frequently, especially with the volume of guests using these. Music is needed in the Italian restaurant to give it a bit more of an atmosphere!
Other than the above, I wouldn’t change anything about the hotel. It was perfect for us and what we wanted out of our holiday. So much so that we are planning to return with the rest of our family.
For anyone wondering whether to choose RIU Negril or the palace a few doors down. We went to visit the palace and had a walk around. We were very happy we chose the RIU Negril. The palace is in dire need of a refurb and seemed to lack atmosphere!
Thank you for a fantastic holiday, we will be returning soon :)
