Welcome to Sandals Royal Caribbean Resort! An adults only, all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Pampering began soon after we collected our checked bags. We made our way to the Sandals lounge at the airport where a representative checked us in, tagged our bags so that they could be taken to our room, and invited us into the lounge to await our transfer to the resort.
This lounge had restrooms, light snacks and a variety of beverages.
We were told that we would have a 15-20 minute wait. There are three categories of accommodations at Sandals: Luxury, Club Level and Butler Level. All levels of service are amazing, but we wanted to see what this butler level was all about.
Since we booked a butler category, one of our benefits for this resort was a private car transfer. (Note: Not all Sandals properties offer private car transfers for Butler categories so check with your travel agent about this if you are looking at a different Sandals resort. Some resorts are a good distance away from the airport, and I have booked clients on a Helicopter transfer – They loved it!!!!) While everyone else was loading into motor coaches and mini buses to the various resorts in Jamaica, we had a private driver!
Let the spoiling begin…..
We were met by a staff member who gave us a cold, refreshing face cloth and escorted us to the concierge lounge where we would await our butler. In the meantime, we were offered snacks and beverages. Within minutes, our butler, Kady, arrived.
I loved Kady! She gave us an orientation tour of the property and escorted us to our room. Our other butler was Akin, and I hate that I did not get a photo of him. He was great, too!
Before arriving, we filled out a butler preference form so that our favorite drinks could be stocked in the fridge and cabinet. On our form, we indicated that we don’t drink alcohol, so we were stocked with fruit juices, bottled waters and a variety of sodas. Hubby enjoyed having the Coke Zero he asked for, and I enjoyed the Cranberry Raspberry juice mixed with sprite. I had my first Jamaican Ginger Beer – very much like ginger ale with a stronger bite of ginger.
Kady gave us a private phone to use during our stay. I heard one guest refer to it as their “Bat-phone!”
Everyone is assigned two butlers so that you have service all day as they change shifts, and we could call them anytime we needed anything and they made all of our dinner reservations for us.
Let me give you a tour….starting with the reception/ lobby.
The reservations desk is on the left. Guests who book a luxury (standard) room will check in here.
Through the lobby and on the left is the loyalty office. This is where guests can book a future stay at a discounted rate. It’s always the best deal to book while on property and then transfer that booking to your travel agent within a few days of your arrival back home. Just be advised, the deposit is non-refundable, so it is best to feel pretty sure about future travel dates.
Just beyond the loyalty office is the club concierge lounge. This is for guests who have club level accommodations. Those guests can come here to book restaurant reservations and other activities. (Sorry, my photo is not great because I took it through the glass window)
Beyond the club lounge is a 24/7 coffee/tea station and the area where afternoon tea is served.
The main stage where they host evening entertainment:
The Iconic Sandals pool is located right here too. At this pool, they host activities like trivia and various water games like pool volleyball, etc. There are other pools around the property, too, if you prefer a calmer, quieter pool experience.
Just behind the stage is an entrance to the beach. Lounge chairs are first/come-first/served. People get up pretty early to reserve chairs for the day, HOWEVER, Butlers will set up your chairs and stock a cooler with your favorite beverages, and they recommend that you go ahead an put a personal item on your chair by 9:00 AM just to let others know that you really ARE planning to use those chairs.
WE told Kady we like the shade, and she got us a great location that stayed shaded all day. (You can see the cooler between two chairs in front of us. Those chairs were beach front and actually partially in the water at high tide. Some people like that. I like the dry.) She also surprised us with strawberry mango smoothies one day and soft serve ice cream another time. Just brought it to us while we were enjoying the warm day.
Convenient to the beach area, there is a seaside grill serving burgers, quesadillas, fish sandwiches, etc., for lunch.
And Bella Napoli Pizzaria. We took advantage of both of these outdoor areas. During our stay I had the quesadilla and hubby had a fish sandwich. He liked the fish so much that he ordered it again bun-less with fries when I ordered a pizza. – One savory; one sweet. This chocolate ganache, toasted coconut, banana pizza was amazing!
Other restaurants on the property:
Spices – serves a buffet breakfast and lunch as well as a-la-carte dinner – Indoor and outdoor dining. We ate dinner here our first night. Hubby had steak and lobster and I had the Jamaican pork chops.
Bombay – serves a-la-carte breakfast and Indian Cuisine a-la-carte for dinner Indoor and outdoor dining. We didn’t get a chance to eat dinner here but had a standard American breakfast with some flavorful fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Le Jardiner – French a-la-carte dinner. Open air dining. This was our favorite restaurant. Hubby had the scallops as an appetizer while I had a fresh, crispy salad. Hubby had the lamb shank and I had chateaubreand; and we both had the flourless chocolate cake with sea salt caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.
La Tavola – Italian a-la-carte dinner. Open air dining. We did not have a chance to eat here.
Cricketers – late night pub food. (Too full to go here late at night.)
This resort has a private island just off the coast. The over-the-water bungalows and villas are located here. It is lit up very pretty at night.
Guests staying in over-the-water accommodations have a special pontoon boat that takes them to and from the property upon check-in and check-out and at times that the “Dragon Boat” is not running. The other boat docked here is one they use to take guests scuba diving and snorkeling.
All other guests ride the Dragon Boat to go to the private island where there is another pool, and two more restaurants: Royal Thai: al-a-carte Thai food for dinner. We did not have a chance to eat Thai, but we had the Jerk Shack for lunch. We got the combo plate at the Jerk Shack so we could try it all, and it was delicious. The fish in foil was pretty spicy while the chicken was mild. The pork was somewhere in-between.
More photos from the private island:
We stayed in a crystal lagoon honeymoon butler suite on the second floor. This room had a door that took us directly to the pool below. The first floor rooms had swim-up access, but I liked the privacy of my balcony instead. I really enjoyed early morning coffee on the balcony, and in the evenings we could hear the music from the entertainment from our balcony. The arrow is pointing to our room.
One day we came in from a full day at the beach, and Kady had prepared this hot bubble bath!
I saw some people getting their scuba certification training in the lagoon pool. Scuba certification is an extra cost, however, for those who are already certified, scuba sessions are included at Sandals.
Many water sports are included in the Sandals resort stay at no extra cost Canoes/Kayaks, Tubing, Snorkeling, Sailboats, Hobie Cats, Paddle Boarding, and the nearby Montego Bay Resort has water skiing. (Guests at Royal Caribbean have exchange privileges at the Montego Bay resort, and a shuttle bus is provided every hour.
We scheduled a complementary tour on the glass-bottom boat, and had planned to schedule a snorkeling trip. Unfortunately, our stay was during a period of high winds in Jamaica, so the red flag was flying and all beach/water activities were suspended during our stay.
We took the shuttle bus over to the Sandals Montego Bay resort to look around and to try a couple of restaurants over there. Where the Montego Bay resort covers a lot of land and has a long beach, Royal Caribbean has a more intimate feel. All buildings are close to the restaurants and the main hub for activities.
But if you don’t want to go out, there is always room service for club level and butler level guests. We were already stuffed from eating for 4 days, but on our last evening, Kady ordered a couple of appetizers to our room to surprise us before we went to dinner: Shrimp and a deli/cheese plate.
AND dessert was waiting for us after dinner.
There is a no tipping policy for Sandals with a few exceptions. The transfer driver is NOT a Sandals employee, so it is customary to tip the driver. Also, butlers are tipped at a recommended rate of $20 per butler per day, depending on how much you use their services.
On the day we left the resort, our private driver whisked us back to the airport.
The Jamaica airport requires passengers to arrive at least three hours prior to the departure. Good thing, too. The line to check in and drop bags for our flight was not very long, yet it took us about an hour.
We booked Club MoBay in advance at the airport. It is a private airport lounge which can be booked through your travel agent.This gave us a nice lounge area with food and beverages, wifi access, and comfortable chairs for hanging out while we waited. Club MoBay is also available for arrivals, too, and would have provided us a much quicker experience through immigration and customs and a different lounge to await our transfers to the resort. After seeing that in action, I was slightly envious of those who had booked both arrival and departure services with club MoBay.
Though I was disappointed that the wind did not cooperate to allow us to enjoy any water sports, we thoroughly enjoyed the pampering and relaxation during our stay at Sandals Royal Caribbean, and I hope to try out some of their resorts at other locations sometime, too.