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Sandals - Dunn's River Traveler Review :: "Sandals Dunns River Is Amazing!"

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Summary of All Property Reviews Ratings based on answers from a total of 2 reviews (All Reviews) 10 is best 1 is worst
Feature	Ranking	Feature	Ranking
Cleanliness of Property	10.00	Quality of Property	10.00
Privacy & Quietness	4.00	Quality of Service	10.00
Courtesy & Hospitality of Staff	10.00	Accuracy of Website (marketing hype) VS. Actual Experience	8.50
Food and Dining Experience	8.50	Price/Value of Property	8.50
Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property)	10.00	Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach)	8.00
Total Property Score: 8.75 | Average Star Rating: 5.00 out of 5

• 100% (2 visitors of 2) said they would go back to Sandals - Dunn's River again.
• 100% (2 visitors of 2) said they would recommend Sandals - Dunn's River to friends.

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Add your comments about this review View Comments (3)

We went to Sandals Dunns River for 8 days in June 2004 for our honeymoon and we loved absolutely every last minute of it. The resort is heaven, the room (a Grande Luxe Oceanview) was great, the pool (largest in Jamaica) was incredible, and the staff was beyond helpful. But anyone can gush about good things - I'm posting this to counteract negative reviews I've read about this place. It seems to me that nobody ever writes reviews when they had a good time, only when they had a bad time. I read a few on other sites that made me a little uneasy prior to going on my trip, I didn't need to be at the resort longer than a day to realize these people have lost their minds.

First of all, there's a few things you need to keep in mind. The food and drink is all 4 stars out of 5, meaning if you are a gourmet eater you've surely had better food elsewhere. For every restaurant we said 'wow that was good, but (some other place) is better'. This is not a bad thing! The food is not at all bad! However, one must not expect the finest possible dining. (Note: Kimonos is nothing like Benihana, so if you are a Benihana fan, don't expect the same thing. It's still good, just not the original!)

As for the drinks, they're a little hit and miss. The base liquors are all good quality but some of the schnapps and other additives can be cheap. This means that some drinks aren't so good, others are fabulous. But it's all included, and in the pool, so experiment! A banana daquiri made from a fresh banana never disappoints. Still, I encountered alcoholics on both sides of the spectrum. Some complained the alcohol was crappy, couldn't stand Red Stripe beer, and paid for Coors Light from the gift shop. Others blindly thought everything was excellent and drank to their hearts content. Like I said, alcoholics all around. Again, you can probably get better drinks elsewhere, but if you pick your recipes right you can get by without complaint, and it's all included.

Watersports - here's another oft-contended issue. They are quite available although rumor has it that they are sometimes broken. When we went, the glass bottom boat was broken but you could go to Sandals Ocho Rios and use theirs. Pointless to us, since we consider that to be snorkeling for wusses, and instead went snorkeling four times. Wind is a bit of an issue on this side of Jamaica, so some things can be cancelled. It makes for great weather but could cancel your scuba trip or make it hard to go windsurfing. That being said, we were originally psyched to do the watersports but after doing them all we really decided they aren't as exciting as we had anticipated and ultimately we didn't care if the wind acted up. You can almost always go snorkeling and that was our favorite. This property has sunfish sailing, glass bottom boat rides, windsurfing, snorkeling, hobie cats, sea kayaks, scuba diving, aquabikes, waterskiing, and deep sea fishing. Maybe even more I don't remember! But here's a major tip: the watersports desk opens at 8am and the scuba lessons fill up at 8:01am. If you want to dive on your trip, it is essential you get to the watersports desk at 7:50am in order to get into the following day's class. It took us a few days to realize this fact.

Other than those key comments, everything you imagine about Sandals is true. I've talked with enough people to come to the conclusion that Sandals Dunn's River is one of the most truest resorts to the pictures in the brochure. It's phenomenal, and I would happily go back if I didn't want to try other resorts as well. One caution, if you are considering Sandals Ocho Rios... DON'T. It is much smaller, much quieter, tiny pool, tiny beach... for us, outright miserable. I would be so upset if I had gone there. However, it's possible that someone (not me) would maybe think that Dunn's River was more of a party atmosphere and Ocho Rios was more, well, retirement home atmosphere. Maybe you like that sort of thing. I don't. SDR isn't loud at all, it's just fun! SOR is more like a library, however, and feels more like a glorified hotel than an all-inclusive resort. Sandals Dunn's River is paradise on earth, one of the very best in the chain. Don't miss out!

Property Review
10 is best 1 is worst

Would you stay at this property again?: ... Yes
Would you recommend this property to your friends?: ... No
In your opinion, how would you classify the "style" of this property: ... Family Oriented
Possible Anwswers: Family Oriented, Couples Oriented, Mixed/Diverse in a Good Way, Mixed/Diverse in a Bad Way

• Cleanliness of Property: ... 10
• Quality of Property: ... 10
• Privacy and Quietness: ... 8
• Quality of Service: ... 10
• Courtesy and Hospitality of Staff: ... 10
• Accuracy of Website VS. Actual Experience: ... 9
  
• Food and Dining Experience: ... 9
• Price/Value of Property: ... 9
  
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property): ... 10
• Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach): ... 7

Destination/Island Review
10 is best 1 is worst

Would you visit this destination/island again?: ... Yes
Would you recommend this destination/island to your friends?: ... Yes

• Cleanliness of Destination/Island: ... 8
• Options of Activities in the Area: ... 10
• Ease of Transportation (air, taxi, bus, shuttle): ... 8
• Quality of Beaches in the Area: ... 8
• Courtesy & Hospitality of Locals: ... 9
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe in the Area): ... 7
  
• Local Restaurant Experience/Options: ... 8
• Price/Value of Destination (Does your dollar stretch?): ... 9
  

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