I know you are just getting back, but would you let me know how the SDR was. All I read about now is the Whitehouse, and we are going in February to SDR. Let me know what you thought!
Thanks so much.

Hi - we are going to SDR end of Jan - beginning of Feb also (Jan 29-Feb5). . When will you be going?
I know - Whitehouse seems very exciting, and I enjoy reading about it, but it has monopolized everything!!
More trip reports for Dunns River!!!

Marissa

i've got an old review of SDR on this board somewhere. probably about 5 pages back cuz it was last january when we went (jan 2004). . i'll see if i can find it and cut and paste it.

here it is:

>>>
We went to SDR 1/7/04 through 1/12/04. What a phenominal vacation! Simply incredible. Like other reviewers I've read about here, I read a lot of critiques before I left and so many were negative that I was getting worried it would not be like the book. People complained about cochroaches in the buffet.. ..nope. People complained that the food wasn't good.. ..don't know what you're used to but it was incredible food. The pools were unclean.. ..they clean them EVERY SINGLE MORNING, no lie. We sat there and watched them while we ate breakfast. The cats around the resort, rude help, moldy rooms. You name it, people have complained about it. Trust me, it's all in their head.

I. Arrival
Excellent. You get off the plane, easily find the Sandals desk, they take your bags and you don't touch them again until you unpack them.

II. The infamous 2 hour ride to the resort
Ok, I'll give you the details of how to ride this thing. Some people say it's a beating and to sleep, others say to not sleep and make sure you catch the Jamaican countryside. I, being a tourist in every fashion of the word, stayed awake to see every foot of Jamaica. Here's what you do. Montego Bay and its surrounding area is beautiful.. ..DO NOT MISS IT! You ride right along the coastline for about an hour. When the road leaves the coastline, you may then go to sleep because all you have left after that is dirty town after dirty town until you get there. Trust me, you'll miss nothing. If someone had told me to go to sleep, I would have stayed awake just in case, but trust me, there's nothing.

III. Our Room (Honeymoon Grande Luxe 1st Floor)
We checked in and they upgraded us from a Deluxe to a Premium room. It was really a fine room, though not what they have in Concierge level, but there was construction on the roof and it was SOOO loud. So I went down and asked if there was anywhere else we could go and they upgraded us yet AGAIN out to the gardens. It was awesome. We were on ground level so there was never a hotel type feel of elevators and hallways. We just stepped right out and walked down to the beach. Room was great. Had a little spot on the carpet but come on people. Stuff like that is what ruins some people's vacations and that's why you see bad reviews on here. Cuz their carpet had a spot on it. TV reception in both the Premium and HGL rooms we saw were perfect, which many people on here complained about. The maids were incredible. The first day I had kind of strewn my stuff about the room for whatever reason and our room was a wreck. The maid came in and actually folded up my clothes and put them with my suitcase. Yeah, they were great.

IV. Restaurants
Man, the food was sooo good. They don't give you much for appetizers.. ..like extremely small, but just ask for two appetizers. They don't care, and you ain't payin for it! The most informal was actually the best.. ..Windies. Oh man, we're from Texas, the steak state, and I swear that was the best marinated steak we'd ever had. I also had good jerk pork and awesome swordfish. The Italian was my least favorite, but still good. Internationale was incredible. We even saw a friend of ours that we had met at the resort propose to his girlfriend that night! All the kitchen staff came out and applauded, it was great! The Japanese restaurant was THE best Tepanyaki style restaurant I've ever been to. My wife agreed, and she knows that style much better than me. For the afternoons, the beach grill was excellent. Those guys are so cool and they'll fix you anything they have ingredients for even if it's not on the menu. Good stuff.

V. Bars
Tree Bar, excellent. Just a cool place. Piano bar, EXCELLENT! Andre is the man. Be there at least once to hear him. Swim-up bars, really cool. Once while my wife was getting her hair braided I got a raft and started floating around. When I woke up, I had bumped into the pool bar, so I got a coke and kept floating. It was excellent.

VI. Playmakers
Oh man, the coolest people in the world. Dwayne and Craig especially. Tell them Rief and April said hey.

VII. Meeting People
I really didn't know if we'd meet anyone a whole lot because we were on our honeymoon, yada yada yada. It is inevitable. You will meet people and have a blast. Beach volleyball court, where have you been all my life?

VIII. Enjoying your vacation
Man, you have got to relax. After being down there and THEN reading some of these negative reviews, I realized something. Usually the negative reviews involve one bad thing that happened and that's all they say. You've got to be able to enjoy your vacation. Don't worry about whether the food is what you would classify as "gourmet" or not, just enjoy it. It's great food! The other thing you have to realize about Sandals is that it caters to a wealthy crowd and many of these negative reviews are written by people who are living pretty padded lives anyway, so anything that's not spotless is automatically fit for dogs. Lighten up. A guy on here talked about how bug bites ruined his vacation. I can see how it would, but don't give the resort a bad review because of it. Another person complained because the Dunn's River Falls tour wasn't complimentary. Don't let it ruin your vacation. If you'd done your homework before you'd left you'd know it's been out of the deal for over a year. Slow bartenders (it's Jamaica time), cats around the resort (they don't EVER bother you or come up to you), a bug here or there (it's a caribbean island people, for the love). . Just enjoy it. You're in Jamaica, mon! Have fun! And then tell everybody about it!As you can see I'm never short on advice so if you have any more questions, please feel free to write me. drperfect1138@aol.comIrie, mon!

Thanks dr - I think I may have read yours before, awhile back - maybe on tripadvisor.com? sounds familiar. I was thinking the same thing too - all those people who give negative reviews, usually are so nit-picky, and complain over the littlest of problems.. .. . Believe me - I saw a ton of this at the Inn. The Inn is small, no private beach, and rooms aren't that great but hey - you're in Jamaica!!! We had a blast.. .. .

What date were you married/ My husband and I were married 1/3/04, and honeymooned the same time you did.. .. . (1/5/04 - 1/15/04)

Go back in the previous posts. i wrote quite a lot about SDR! It was so great and that is how I got addicted to Sandals! When are you going? When we were there, there was the construction at the entrance. Now I heard that they are doing construction throughtout, by the rooms, and it is a mess! You may want to hear from someone who has recently been there. We were there last November.

I agree of how people complain. We have always made fun no matter where we were. We usually go to Mexico, and the only complaint I have there is the high school spring breakers. We were always there with our kids, and they may not be perfect, at least we could have some control. From the kids I saw last year from St. Louis it spoiled the nights at the hotel. I just can't can't wait to see SDR and am going with all the positives I see on this board. The main thing is the golf for my husband, so if anyone has golfed recently let me know.

We're going to SDR Jan 29-Feb 5. I'm hoping that most of the construction is thorugh by that point. I've read quite alot about the construction, and am just hoping that if it is still going on, that they can move us to a building/area where the noise is minimal. I know I won't be spending much time in the room, from my previous sandals experience, but when I need a nap, I need a nap At night I can usually sleep like a rock anyway, especially after all the sun and that jamaican rum!!

We just got back from sandals dunns river on 8-15 and every bad thing you have read is correct. The rooms do smell like mildew, and there was mold growing up the sides of both pools. Not to mention the people are rude. We stayed in a suit and the construction next door started at 6:30am everyday. On the six day of our stay we finally asked to be moved even take a lesser room, and was told we didn't complain enough to be moved. We then decided to move over to the Royal Caribbean, the resort was great and the staff there was wonderful.

I too had been to dunns river on a prior trip that is why I return, but I was very disappointed this time. I love Jamaica and will defiantly go back, but sandal dunns river is highly doubtful

Jen