Sandals Dunn's River questions
 

Hi everyone,
I've been driving myself and my fiance crazy with all my research for our wedding/honeymoon next year. (We need to chose 1 island for the wedding and 1 for the honeymoon.) For those of you who have been there, I am wondering what your thoughts are on Sandals Dunn's River. The other 2 properties I am looking into are Sandals Grand St. Lucia and Sandals Antigua. We are interested in the pool area and beach area at Dunn's River. We are looking for a large, pretty pool with plenty of room and a swim-up bar, and a beautiful beach area with white sand and turquoise water. How is the beach area and the pool area compared to the other 2 resorts I mentioned? Also, from Boston, which airport in Jamaica would we fly into for this resort? Is the food mostly buffet? How are the rooms? (We don't plan to spend much time in our room, but would like it to be clean and nice.) I guess the 2 things that are most important to us are the pool and the beach. Thanks for your advice/thoughts!

I have never been to the Sandals in St. Lucia or Antigua but Sandals Dunn's River is a beautiful hotel and they do have a swim up bar. In fact they have two pools that i can remember. The rooms are a decent size and cleaned regularly. The spa is wonderful and they have lots of activities to keep you busy. They do have a lot of buffet meals but they also have at least two specialty restaurants. If you are staying at Sandal's Dunn's River, which is located in St. Ann on the north coast of the Island, it is best to arrive at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. you can check with the hotel if they provide a shuttle service.

Shak, are you familiar with the Royal Decameron Club at Runaway Bay???? And, how far is it to the Dunn's River Falls?

Hi eb, no i'm not familiar with that particular hotel but it is about 30 mins drive from Runaway Bay to Dunn's River give and take a little depending on who is driving and the traffic.

I ahve not been to Sandals Grande but have been to Dunn's and Antigua and they are pretty different in atmosphere.

Dunn's is far more active - really one of the more active Sandals. The pool there is huge and impressive and really the focal point of the resort. Great pool bar. The beach is not large but nice, water cam get choppy in Ocho Rios but clear and great for snorkeling. The pools is right by the beach which is nice.

The main pool with pool bar at Antigua is in the gardens which are jsut amazing - very lush and tropical. There are several others pools scattered about the property but do not have bars. The main pool is nothing great in terms of design but does get a good crowd in the afternoons. The beach is far superios to Dunn's - far longer and very calm.

So wehre one is better in pool, the other is better in beach.

The atmosphere againis different. Dunn's is more rowdy with a high rise of sorts for rooms, everything is really in one central location, pretty but we flet lacked that romantic feel other Sandals hold, and Antigua is mroe spread out, two story blocks, msot with pools, more laid back with beautiful gardens.

As far as airport, you would fly into Monetgo Bay in Jamaica which is about and hour and a half from Ocho rios. You can take a puddle jumper over to Ocho for little and gets you there in twenty minutes. In Antigua the airport is only 20 minutes from the resort.


Food at the Sandals are all the same; buffets for breakfast and lunch and about 4 or 5 shoices for dinner - all very good.

Allt he rooms at Antigua are good as most are in the gardens which againk are great. At Dunn's you really want to watch which room you pick as some locations jsut stink!

Penney

Penney,
At Dunn's, which rooms/location would you recommend?

Went to Sandal's Dunn's River last year and LOVED IT. You can eat at the other Sandals places in the area as well as the Dunn's River places. Some are buffet and some you order off of a menu. They transport you to the other properties if you want to dine there. Sandals also transports you from the airport in Montego Bay to the hotel. I forgot the name of the type package we purchased. It was the top room type and we had FULL bar in our room with unlimited drinks. You can order room service from these rooms as well. All of the rooms are beautiful and the pool is fun. The bars are swim up and they have a couple of hot tubs. It was all couples. We stayed 5 days and wished we had stayed longer. There are many activities that the hotel will arrange for you to do. It was a great vacation. I would go back there in a minute. Email me if you have any more questions. Just talked to some one that went to a Sandals on St. Lucia (although I don't know which one) last week. She said there were tons of young people there in groups. She didn't really like it. All inclusives are great for your honeymoon.