Sandals Ocho Rios Excursion

[donnam504]

Sailing on FOS in May.Western Caribbean Route. Thinking about excursions & specifically the Sandals Resort excursion in Ocho Rios. Has anyone done this excursion? How long are you at the resort? Travel time from the ship? Which Sandals Resort hosts the excursion(I think there are 3 in that area)? Thanks!

[supermansgirl]

Haven't done the excursion but have been at the Sandals resort and it's gorgeous. Word of advice - don't walk around Ocho Rios - plan an excursion of some sort. We got off the ship and needed to take a taxi to Sandals as my sister was getting married there. We couldn't walk three steps without someone wanting to give us a taxi ride, braid my hair, or sell us drugs! They will try to really rook you on taxi rides too - we were being told $30 for the 2 mile ride to Sandals - finally went into one of the jewelry stores and asked what it should be - $2 max is what we were told. We just aren't comfortable with people hawking all over us - especially when they see you turn someone else down and just come up to you anyway. Very uncomfortable!!!

[sailingawaysoon]

We did this excursion last year while cruising on the Freedom. I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was one of the best all inclusive excursions we have been on. I think the ride to Sandals was about 15 or 20 minutes. Once you arrive you have access to everything that the people staying there on their own have. We sat up camp on a lounge chair by one of the many pools they have. We liked sitting near the pool with the swim up bar. We enjoyed several drinks at the swim up bar and I believe there were 3 or 4 different places that you could choose to eat. One was sort of like a cafe that had indoor/outdoor seating and we didn't venture to that one. There was an outside grill that had all sorts of BBQ fare and salads, etc. There was also a WONDERFUL pizzeria that made individual pizzas to order at an outdoor cafe in a brick oven. This was by far our favorite. Be careful with leaving food unattended here though, there were a ton of what I believe were crows? Anyway, if we walked away for a split second they would be eating away at our plate, so we learned fast not to leave things unattended w/out covering it for a second. There are several outdoor bars scattered throughout the area and they had many tropical drinks to choose from, or if you prefered beer, they had that. They basically would make you whatever you wanted. There were chairs along the beach as well, if you prefered sitting there. We noticed water toys that were available as well.

 

I want to say we were there from 11-3 or so. You left w/a particular group on a bus (all over 18) and your only option of returning back to the ship was with the same group.

 

After several hours of food, drink and fun, we decided to check out the inside of this all inclusive resort to see if it would be a place we would be interested in returning to someday on our own. It was very nice. We noticed a cleaning lady working in one of the rooms and asked her if she minded if we took a peek at the room. We gave her a little tip and she showed us 3 or 4 different category of rooms. That was great! Much better then relying on internet pictures or a brochure.

 

I would highly recommend this excursion. Have a great cruise!

[donnam504]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you go to the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios, Whitehouse or Dunn River resort? We would be booking through Royal Caribbean. We were torn b/t doing an all-inclusive resort or the cruise, so we are very interested in this excursion. Thanks Again!!

[sailingawaysoon]

I believe we were at the Dunn River resort. It was well worth it and we now try to do a couple all inclusive beach days whenever possible. We did another one in Cozumel last year when on the Freedom. It was Passion Island. We had the day at Passion Island w/all the food and drinks included and it was a good deal. The beach area is where they film all the Corona commercials and it's just beautiful. The ride out to the island was about 20 minutes, but you had about 4 hours here and this was definitely a beautiful spot to see at least once. We are going to try Nachi Cochem this time around when in Cozumel (all inclusive). That is not booked thru the ship, but online. They only allow 100 people on this trip, but from what I've read about it, it's well worth it and very beautiful.

[karinad]

We've stayed at a few of the Sandals Resorts and Couples Resort, in Jamaica, St Lucia, Antigua. We LOVED them! If you love the beach, like to drink, and not do alot, it's paradise! We used to go for at least a week from 1991 until 2001. No Kids, and only couples. Then we discovered cruising. Sandals was nice, but we were getting bored with it. Not alot of nite time entertainment, and if the weather was bad, well........

 

It's also more expensive then cruising. I think we were paying about 2200. for 2 people in the lowest category, which was beautiful, and there wasn't a bad room on the property. The food was great and the drinks top notch. You just can't beat the prices of cruising these days.

 

I looked into the day trip to Sandals, 3 yrs. ago when we were docked in Ocho Rios, and I thought it was too expensive just for the amt. of time we'd be there. We ended up doing one of the beach trips . It was ok, not near the experience you'd have at Sandals, but it wasn't near the price.

 

If you're going to do it, get there early and take advantage of everything! You'll LOVE it, it's sooo romantic!!!