Name: Sandcastles Vacations Ochi
Address: Main Street, Ocho Rios, 876 Milford, Jamaica, Ocho Rios, Ocho Rios, Ocho Rios, 876, Jamaica
Rating: 9

Air conditioning

Garden

No elevators

General

Fridge

Cable TV

DVD Player

Hairdryer

Flat-screen TV

Shower/Bathtub

Bathtub

Shower

Wardrobe/Closet

Toiletries

Rooms

Iron and board

Safe-deposit box

Iron

Services and amenities

Coffee/tea for guests

Microwave oven

Coffeemaker

Kettle

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Fishing

Sun Deck

Recreation

Parking nearby

Free Parking on Premises

Parking

Water park

Swimming pool

Outdoor pool

Private beach

Next to the beach

Pool and beach

Diving

Snorkelling

Tennis court

Fitness facilities

Sports

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the apartment

Room amenities

Turtle Beach

Columbus Foot Beach

Mahogany Beach

Sandcastles Vacations Ochi

Ocho Rios

I will start out with the things we were really impressed with: 
- The entertainment crew and playmakers were really incredible. They were friendly and fun and made poolside and beachside activities entertaining and inclusive. The evening shows were the best we have experienced (especially broadway and reggae nights). The saxophonist was so talented (I didn’t even know I was a fan of sax?) and the voices and passion of the singers (I remember specifically Lady Sashae, Ramone, Ricardo, Martin, Akelia, Georganna), the dancers (all incredible and I didn’t get all their names but remember siblings Jordane and Asania) were honestly amazing and it was very much an unexpected favorite of our trip. We looked forward to the show every night. The DJs for the silent disco on Bob Marleys birthday were fun. 
- Overall, the dinners were delicious. The Reef Terrace dinner was the best we have experienced at a Sandals resort. Prompt attentive service (switching our silverware for the main course, chilled wine glasses), DELICIOUS food and drinks, great views. It was the experience I would expect for sandals every meal. We also had incredible meals at Kelly’s Dockside. Soy was also good but service was very slow (which is whatever to us, we are on vacation)
- The grounds were incredibly well maintained and BEAUTIFUL. The pool, beach and public bathrooms were clean. I liked the hammock floaties in the ocean. No complaints about the resort itself at all. 
- Loved Delano the bartender at hillside pool and Dave at Kelly’s dockside bar. I went to them every day. 
- The spa experience was great. At Negril they were relatively pushy trying to get us to extend our massage length, asking us for add ons DURING the massage while we were supposed to be relaxing which immediately made me tense. That didn’t happen here. 
They were skilled masseurs and it was a relaxing experience. We almost booked a second it was so good, just a bit expensive. I kind of wish they could offer some discount for repeated services or something. 

Things that were mediocre or poor:
*I want to start by saying this is in no way a reflection of the people working at the resort. They were wonderful and gave our stay an overall positive experience.*
- I hate putting the butlers in this category because I honestly think they’re working with what they got. Ordane was wonderful and kind and accommodating and really tried doing special things for us (putting out snacks and bringing us drinks for our room as requested, brought us lunch by the pool, decorated our room with flowers/towel animals and bubble bath, set up champagne and chocolate cake for when we got home at night, etc). However for us it just wasn’t worth the money. The primary reason is that the butlers here were not allowed to reserve/set up your pool or beach chairs which is 10000% the reason we chose a butler room. Instead, I set an alarm for 7am every day and went out to put our towels down myself (the hillside pool was full, I mean FULL by 7:45am.) Because of the hillside butler suite locations it took me about 15-20 mins to walk to the shuttle, take the shuttle down and snag a seat by the beach, then another 15-20 mins back to grab my husband to go eat breakfast. If I had known that limitation I wouldn’t have booked the room I did. Additionally, because our room was in hillside it felt silly and unnecessarily time consuming asking for help from the butler when we were down on the ocean side. They couldn’t even transport you down to the ocean in the golf carts, they could only drop you at the shuttle. 
- Dinner at Neptunes was a disaster. Short staffed, missed appetizer orders, missed drink orders, raw swordfish, we ended up just walking away after a while. The tables around us were complaining so we know it wasn’t just our experience that night. The mussels were delicious and my shrimp and fish skewers were also great but the overall experience was just so bad. 
-Hibachi experience was good and the restaurant and views were great. Food quality was just poor/average. They need better sauces, better veggies (it looked like they dumped an iceberg lettuce salad on the grill???), better fried rice. It has potential but did not live up to expectations. 
- Lunches: the best lunch I had was the jerk shack, and by husband liked the Buffalo drumsticks at Tapas, and we both really enjoyed the Jamaican chicken and beef Patties. Dino’s pizza was okay. The lunches here just overall needed serious help. The food was not to the quality I would expect and have experienced at other resorts. I know they’re capable since the dinners were delicious. The lunch menus at various places were basically all the same (burgers, hot dogs, fish sandwiches, quesadillas, bland French fries), the various salads I tried were watery and bland, and I feel like overall the lunches were giving work cafeteria vibes. 
- Rooms: I read the reviews and I was prepared for outdated. They were clean but I agree so so outdated, peeling paint, etc. Someone had left towels and cups out by our pool and it wasn’t cleared for 2 days. The couch was getting threadbare and definitely old looking. Other than that they were just average. We had an issue with our AC and it was fixed promptly and pleasantly with no further problems so that was nice. The beds were firm, but I like that and felt they were comfortable. Sheets were soft. Housekeeping was kind and accommodating. Im just not sure it was overall what I was expecting after being in a beautiful room at Negril last year and the room just looked nothing like the pictures online. 

Overall, we still remain committed to giving sandals another try. I think a lot of the negative points of the  experience this year was just due to the butler limitations, the size of the resort and lack of recent updates so we are going to try something smaller and more recently renovated next year. We also understand we chose one of the more “affordable” sandals resorts but they’re still expensive and we had high expectations. Those expectations were met in a lot of ways, just in some ways they weren’t.

Overall good experience; some disappointments. We still rebooked for a different resort next year. I’m 

We love the staff at all of the Sandals we’ve visited! Kingroy at the piano bar was one of our very favorite entertainers and made our trip so much fun! Kingroy and Kirkpatrick kept us laughing all night and made us feel like their friends and not just guests.

Great entertainment

Had the best time with Andrew and Kilroy at the Piano Bar! They were super fun and the best way to end our last night! The speakeasy was also a highlight of the entertainment while we were there. Overall would recommend this resort!

Entertainment

Returning from a weeks stay in sandals
Ochi Rios. A lovely week spent in a beautiful setting. We had 2 butlers, Daniel and Shenae. Both super lovely, accommodating and always wanting to help. Please make sure they receive this recognition! 

Ochi’s set over 2 sections, the sea side And the butler village side. There’s a handy bus that gets your around everywhere you want to go. 

We had a sunset meal with a lovely waitress, Jodian, which was also amazing. The guys down at the water sports beach we’re all Great. A young guy took me and my husband out and taught him how to sail ( didn’t get his name though!).

We were on our honeymoon and my birthday fell on this week too; Daniel and Shenae set up a bday treat for me and really went above and beyond. 

Food wise, there’s just everything in abundance. Especially loved Valentino’s and Kelly on the dockside, the Super Bowl party buffet was also impressive. Nearly every person we encountered was friendly and wanted to do anything for you. 

An amazing week. Gutted to leave! Booked another sandals break before we left….

Beaut week in Ochi Rios

We have been to Ochi twice now and will keep coming back. The resort is fantastic! When you come make sure to find Patrice! She is the BEST. She is so sweet and funny and will take great care of you! You are guaranteed to have a wonderful and very relaxing vacation! We cannot wait to come back!

Sandals Ochi

Rahiem and Charlotte ochi beach club staff were so amazin and friendly made us feel at home, the best service weve ever had, first time coming to the resort and Jamaica honestly the best staff we could have wished for highly recommend a game of connect 4 

Excellent service 

Having stayed at Sandals in St. Lucia, we were very excited to spend our Christmas at Sandals Ochi in Jamaica.  We were quite disappointed. Our room - 2009 - was definitely not what I would expect from a Sandals resort.  It resembled more of a Motel 6.  The bathroom had tile that was moldy and coming off, ceiling fan was dirty, and overall just dingy and in much need of a facelift.

Had we realized that the resort was situated on a large hill/cliff and required multiple flights of stairs to access any of the restaurants, we would have reconsidered. I don't know how some of the elderly guests managed, it was quite a chore.

The food - usually a definite plus - was a definite "meh".  There was nothing extraordinary about ANY of their restaurants.  It wasn't bad, just wasn't good and the wait times were terrible.  We had 5:30 reservations (the first) at Valentino's and our food came at 6:45.  I understand it's not fast food, but . . . 

The website was down during our entire stay which made it very difficult to know what was going on.   There was one screen that had things scrolling on it.  It would have been helpful if they could have simply printed some schedules for guests. Old school, I know.  As far as entertainment is concerned, the only show we attended was the Christmas Live show in the Amphitheater.  The quality of musicians was extraordinary, but I felt some of the costumes were in poor taste - just personal preference.

There were, however, some very positive points to our visit.  All of them involved people.  The staff at Sandals is truly what makes it tick.  We didn't get names, but the housekeeping and maintenance staff was top shelf.  Our room was cleaned twice a day and everywhere you went, there was someone cleaning something or sweeping something.  The place was immaculate.

Caressa at the excursion desk was kind, helpful, and never too busy to offer advice or answer a question.

Chardonnay - Oceanside Beach Bar was simply a delight.  She answered all our questions about a Jamaican Christmas.  What a treasure she is.

Paul - our server at Sky VIsta was attentive and professional.  He made our seafood dining experience memorable.

Kenroy  and Sean  were hands down the bright spot of our week.  They both remembered us each time we came to the restaurant, were personal, and gave us individualized attention.

Tanya - also at Southern Table was a gem.  She offered suggestions, was friendly, made conversation with us, and truly made us feel as if we were dining at her kitchen table.  She even brought multiple desserts when I couldn't decide.

It's too bad that your amazing employees are up against sub par accommodations and  mediocre food offerings.

Not the quality we expected from Sandals

First and last Sandals trip. We have been to a few other all inclusive resorts that we loved. But this was by far the worst. The drinks were really the only good thing resort wise. Everything else, rooms, food, service, 2-3 stars at best. Seriously, we maybe had 2 decent meals. Corporate needs to come and overhaul this place.  Old nasty carpet in hallways. Old accommodations. I was truly shocked at how much we paid for what we got. While the singers were great at the NYE party, the rest of it  was tacky and so loud I felt like I was at a frat party. The DJ towards the end of the night was terrible and played songs from 10 years ago to ring in the new year. I love to have a good time and let loose, but the overall vibe here was classless. A of a bunch of staff who could care less you were there, acted like they were on their own vacation, and just subpar on every level. Again, we will never return to sandals. This ruined it for us.


Never returning to Sandals

Me and my husband went here for our Honeymoon and booked the Romeo and Juliet Butler room. We had the most amazing butlers, Sean and Dwight. They made us feel so important during our entire stay!!! We didn't have many needs other than needing a ride down to the bus or getting our reservations made and specific alcohol sent to the room but whenever we did decide to contact them they were always prompt with helping us and we had a fantastic time talking with them! Amazing resort overall, food was great and drinks were always just right. Highly recommend coming and taking advantage of the Butler rooms as they were probably the highlight of our trip.

Amazing Honeymoon with the best Butlers

Aaliyah did awesome as the Bingo host.  The crowd was totally engaged as she called numbers and danced.  It’s always more fun when you win just as we did.  We would totally recommend participating while you stay here.  Drinking with with bartenders is a big plus also!

Sandcastles Vacations Ochi

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