Beaches Sandy Bay, Negril, Jamaica — Hotel Review Rating: 3.0 Pearls

Oyster Review Summary

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Oyster Hotel Review

Reporter: Kate M.
Updated: November 25, 2009

 Scene

Thoroughly kid-focused, Beaches has specially designed kids' activities, an arcade packed with X-Boxes, and Sesame Street characters wandering the beach (thanks to a partnership with Sesame Street).

The lobby, grounds and rooms are extremely bright and colorful, though the colors are far less offensive than the lavender Riu Negril Club. The style feels kind of Mexican, with blue and red tile floors, and a red, green, and yellow painted floral border going around the lobby walls. Building exteriors are orange and green, and the room where I stayed had orange walls and a zany, striped comforter in primary colors.

The airy lobby looks out onto the pool, and just beyond that lies the gorgeous turquoise sea, which is my favorite feature of this resort, hands down.

In terms of clientele, guests here are predominantly American (whereas at others I met a fair share of British and Canadian guests). As Beaches is a resort that targets families, there are lots of small children running around, though I also encountered a few groups of 20-somethings at the disco and saw three different weddings on the beach.

I noticed less smoking at meals than at other resorts, though there is still plenty of smoking at the beach and by the pool.

 Service

Overall, the staff at Beaches was more distant than the staff I encountered at most other Jamaican resorts, perhaps because of a strict no-tipping policy. This is not to say they were cold or unpleasant, and certain individuals (namely waiters Ricardo and Kamar, and Larlandrio the bartender) were quite friendly. But the staff didn't greet me on the pathways or at meals (as they did at most other resorts). Some of the water sports staff was rather gruff, and a few people I talked to at the front desk seemed less than eager to answer my various questions.

A bellman greeted me upon arrival. He helped me with my bags, brought me a cold towel, and had me sit to fill out check-in forms. I got up to walk over to the front desk to ask a question about something else, and he sort of looked at me sternly and said, "I'll be right over to help you," as if I should stay put.

I arrived around 2:30 p.m., and after about 15 minutes the bellman informed me that my room wasn't ready. He showed me to the Sesame Grill, which stays open from 10 a.m.-2 a.m. Though he handed me a menu, after five minutes no one came over to greet me. This seemed odd since there are only about five tables in the place. Finally, someone came to ask if I wanted a drink refill, and informed me that most of the food is self-serve, and otherwise I'd have to order at the grill hut.

Around 3:15 p.m. I went up to the front desk to see if my room was ready (it should have been, since check-in is at 3 p.m.). At first the girl couldn't find my room in the system. It soon popped up and a bellman helped me with my things as I walked across the property to room 4304 in the "Frangipani Court." He pointed out the resort's various features and showed me to my room. He also explained the resort's no-reservations policy at the restaurants. (Guests also have access to Beaches Negril down the road, and the Asian restaurant there does require reservations.) I found the bellman to be very helpful and informative, but when I tried to tip him he staunchly refused, saying the resort has a strict no-tipping policy. Interestingly, everyone else I dealt with, including housekeeping and bartenders, seemed to have no problem with it.

When I left my room a short while later, I couldn't figure out how to lock the door. Fortunately, a housekeeper was working in a room down the hall and came scurrying over to show me the drill (I needed to lock it from the inside).

Later that night, when I returned from dinner at Rick's Café by the Cliffs, I discovered two things: There was turn-down service, and a questionable red liquid had leaked from the fridge into the middle of the room. Since I hadn't been drinking juice and there wasn't any in the included mini-fridge, I thought maybe the liquid had leaked in from the room next door. I called housekeeping to report the problem, and within 10 minutes someone was there to mop the leak (which seemed to have come out of the bottom of the fridge). The same thing happened the next afternoon, but it was before housekeeping cleaned my room so I left it for them to deal with.

Later that night, I also discovered that my 27-inch Panasonic TV was without a remote control or channel guide. I called housekeeping the next day and within 10 minutes someone showed up with a remote.

 Location

Beaches Sandy Bay is along Norman Manley Boulevard with a prime location in the middle of Negril's Seven Mile Beach.

Two tennis courts are across the street, along with a large water park, Kool Runnings, which isn't affiliated with Beaches but further bolsters its kid-friendly cred.

The resort provides a complimentary shuttle to Montego Bay Airport, and it took me about an hour and 15 minutes to make the pleasant trip up the coast.

Downtown Negril has a large bank, a Burger King, a pharmacy, and not much else. It is about a 10-minute cab ride away ($20-$30 round trip). The sights of the West End Cliffs are 5-10 minutes further.

A long but thin stretch of white-sand beach runs along the property. To the north is Sandals Negril, and to the south are Ray's Water Sports and Couples Swept Away. Security guards are posted on either end of the property, ostensibly to keep out vendors and trespassers (though some vendors still made it onto the beach to sell cigarettes when I was there). Guests walking along the beach needed to give their room number to proceed.

 Beach

Seven Mile Beach is the longest stretch of continuous beach in Jamaica. I found it to be clean, pristine, and sparkling. The sand is powdery and fine, and the water is the clearest I saw anywhere on the island (easier for seeing the stingrays that swam up near the shore, but I digress...).

Beaches has two large swimming areas surrounded by buoys, which are meant to protect guests from the jet skis and motorboats that occasionally whizzed by. The water is not terribly deep, but it is calm and quite pleasant for swimming.

There were people in the ocean at all hours (though it never felt crowded).

 Rooms

There are six three-story guestroom buildings spread across the property, and all but parts of building five offer ocean views from their balconies. I had a great view of the sunset from my top-floor room in building four. I could also see a lawn with a gazebo and occasional "Sesame Street characters. Buildings two and three are closest to the main building complex in the center of the property, which includes the lobby, pool, restaurants, and bars. It was a short five-minute walk from my room to the main building, and about a minute to the beach.

Rooms are accessed from an open-air external hallway that faces Norman Manley Boulevard (though the resort did a nice job blocking the road noise with tall, lush trees). There are stairwells at either end of the hallway, but no elevators.

My colorful third-floor Deluxe Oceanside Room had vaulted wooden ceilings, a ceiling fan and A/C, and space for two double beds.

I had a nice balcony with great views of the beach and a table with three chairs. The furniture, however, was not in the best shape. I could see lots of damage to the exterior of the balcony next door.

Included in the room rate is a minibar filled with non-alcoholic beverages that are restocked every day, including water, Coke, and Sprite. Although this didn't compare to the nearby Riu Palace Tropical Bay and Riu Negril Club, which have minibars that include beer and liquor, it was very nice to have plenty of water to drink. Less fun was my leaky refrigerator, which let out a suspicious red liquid multiple times during my stay. I called housekeeping to investigate, and they quickly mopped it up, but it wasn't fun stepping around the large red puddle in the middle of the room.

Rooms also come with a 27-inch Panasonic TV. They get a decent amount of channels, including some New York networks and cable channels like VH1 and Showtime, but on my first day I had neither a remote nor a channel guide. Housekeeping dropped a remote off within 10 minutes when I requested one, but it seemed to me that the room should have been supplied with one before I checked in. On the bright side, the room also came with a Panasonic CD player -- perfect for playing the homemade dancehall mixes I bought on the beach.

The worst part of my room was the bathroom. The door opened awkwardly into a wall, the room was dimly lit, and both the soap dish ledge and the shelf by the sink were precariously wobbly. Fortunately, the water pressure in the shower was pretty good.

Bathrooms come with four large spa-brand bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, and aloe vera in a convenient traveling case. Had this been my only destination, I would have been delighted to take them all home with me.

 Features

I hardly saw anyone swim in the two pools, save for a pair of guys playing paddleball. The beach was far more popular.

As at many resorts, all non-motorized water sports are free. Two additional bonuses, though, are daily trips on a glass-bottom boat, and complimentary water-skiing in the morning and afternoon. When I stopped by to inquire about water-skiing, I was informed that the resort's motorboat had broken down, but the friendly woman at the desk quickly made arrangements for me to be transported to Sandals Negril to use their boat. I even got to ride Beaches' glass-bottom boat there (though the boat driver barked at me to take my shoes off and was probably the least friendly person I encountered in Jamaica).

The resort has an open-air gym (with a roof and ceiling fans, but no air-conditioning) that's equipped with two treadmills, two ellipticals, and one StairMaster, in addition to older weight machines. There are also dumbbells that seem meant for men only, as none were lighter than 12 pounds.

The room is spacious and has two TVs, but the open-air concept does not work. Sweating on a treadmill in the sweltering Jamaican heat is not fun. Fortunately, the manager I spoke with said the resort will be building a new air-conditioned gym within the next year (and the gym attendant I met said running on the beach is much more refreshing than on the treadmill).

The resort provides an hourly shuttle service to nearby Beaches Negril, which has a larger beach and more eating options. The entire resort also has wireless Internet and in-room cable connections, at the steep price of $13.99/day or $38.99/week.

 Entertainment

There is a "Playmakers" staff responsible for entertaining guests throughout the day (I saw Jamaican trivia during lunch) and into the evening. Though a crowd turned out for the evening dance performance, I was pretty underwhelmed. Maybe because this is a family resort, guests just didn't seem drunk enough to cheer enthusiastically or dance on stage with the reckless abandon that I saw at the Royal Decameron Montego Beach or Riu Negril Club resorts.

The MC seemed less than interested in getting the crowd revved up, leading to an overall feeling of lukewarm awkwardness. I hit up the disco later, only to discover that there wasn't even a DJ on the dance floor. Instead, they had an extended playlist that even the bartenders couldn't access or change. Young people wanting to party should probably take a cab to one of the clubs down the road, like the Jungle or Alfred's Ocean Palace.

 Family

The resort has a licensing partnership with Sesame Street, explaining the Sesame Playground, Sesame Nursery, Sesame kids' camp, and Sesame stage show. Costumed characters frequently roam the grounds (I felt so bad for whoever had to don those costumes in the heat). There's even an activity where kids can bake with the Cookie Monster. There weren't tons of children at the resort during my stay (I was there on school days), but the sporadic squeals of delight from the few who were there let me know that the Sesame tie-in is a big hit.

For slightly older guests, there is "Xbox Oasis," a dark, cool room above the kids' camp with 18 arcade-style Xbox consoles. I was somewhat relieved to find the dark room empty (it was such a beautiful day outside!), but addictive gamers and parents of brooding teenagers probably adore this feature.

 Cleanliness

Across the resort grounds I constantly spotted workers sweeping sand off the walkways, re-painting hallway walls, and pruning trees and flower bushes.

The hotel provides free turndown service, and my bathroom was mopped and re-stocked with towels daily. My mini-fridge, however, had leaking issues, and the balcony showed signs of rust and badly needed to be re-painted.

Overall, I was generally satisfied with housekeeping's responsiveness and the resort's overall cleanliness. Even at the beachside Sesame Grill, where tables were covered in plastic wrap and children frequently tipped over sippy-cups, waiters quickly cleaned up tables after guests vacated them.

 Food

Unlike most all-inclusives, the four restaurants at Beaches Sandy Bay don't require reservations.

The two à la carte options are the Sundowner (serving Caribbean food) and the Italian restaurant, Vista Sul Mare. Both have small but adequately varied menus. Thanks to a company partnership with Beringer Vineyards all restaurants actually offer pretty good California wines.

The Sesame (as in Street) Grill sits between the pool and the beach and serves up fried food, jerk chicken, and Jamaican patties. Part of the hut is self-serve, and includes popcorn and frozen-yogurt machines. The Grill stays open from 10 a.m. till 2 a.m., which I found to be a great feature -- its assault on my cholesterol levels notwithstanding.

The Bayside buffet restaurant was bustling by 8 p.m. Half of the tables are outside and face the pool, entertainment stage, and beach. A great reggae band was playing so I wasn't surprised to see the crowd. The night I ate there was Caribbean night (as the Sundowner was closed), and there were staples like Festival, Callaloo and jerk pork offered. Though the meat was quite tender, there was no bite to the sauce whatsoever.

There is also a pizza table for kids, as well as a salad bar and custom pasta station, so there are plenty of buffet options available. The food is good, but not very adventurous. It is the most American-influenced fare of all the resorts I visited.

 Drinks

A hallmark of the Sandals/Beaches brand is top-shelf liquor. Unlike the generic well liquor served at many all-inclusives, Beaches has brands like Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker, Tanqueray, Beefeater, Drambuie, Cointreau, Smirnoff, and Southern Comfort.

The walls of the main bar, Calico Jack, are helpfully lined with tropical cocktail names and ingredients. This also includes a somewhat-creepy wall of kids' cocktails. I found it unnerving to wait for a rum runner while kids on either side of me ordered a Mickey Mouse from the same bartender.

 Destination Weddings

Weddings at Beaches are a bit cookie cutter -- you have six stock options, all styled by Martha Stewart, and it's hard to add a personal touch -- but this makes planning the big day easy, and this Sesame-Street-focused resort can be a great option for families. Just note that if any of your guests choose not to stay at the hotel -- or at the nearby Sandals Negril, an adult-only couples resort -- you'll have to pay an extra $150 just so that they can access the property.

• Wedding Size: Up to 200 people (although this might limit where your ceremony and reception can be held); multiple weddings performed daily, on the hour, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Extra Fees: $200 mandatory government and administrative fee; $150 fee for any non-hotel guests

• Wedding Packages: If you book for at least six nights, the basic wedding package is free, and includes a bridal bouquet and grooms boutonniere, prerecorded musical accompaniment, a marriage officer, a two-tiered wedding cake, a personal wedding consultant, a honeymoon breakfast and dinner for the bride and groom, one five-by-seven wedding photograph, and a certified marriage certificate; alternative packages range from $1,500 to $6,000.

• Ceremony Location: Weddings can be held on the beach, on the lawn, in the garden, or under a gazebo; some locations are more private (garden) than others (beach), but all are in clear view of other resort guests.

• Photographers and Videographers: Photo and video packages range from $850 to $2,400, or you can choose a la carte photos from $355 for 18 five-by-seven shots; no outside photographers or videographers allowed.

• Music Options: A steel drum band, violinist, or DJ costs between $150 and $600; no outside musicians allowed.

• Food and Drinks: Quick, 30-minute sparkling wine and cold hors d'oeuvres receptions cost $15 per person. Multiple upgrades are available, and at the highest end ($75 per person), you get a three-hour reception with an open bar, hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, champagne, a plated dinner, and a wedding cake.

• Spa Treatments: Bridal spa treatments ($270) include hair styling, makeup, and mani/pedis; no bridal suites provided.

• Freebies: If the wedding party books more than 10 rooms, the bride and groom get rewarded with a free rehearsal dinner, massages, and mani/pedis.

• Airport Transportation: Hotel guests can use the free, two-hour-long shuttle from Montego Bay International Airport.

 Bottom Line

This aptly named resort has one of best beaches in Jamaica. Clean, comfortable rooms, average food, and features like the "Sesame Street" playground, "Xbox Oasis," and baking with Cookie Monster make Beaches great for families, but it's not the place for adults to party. Smaller, cheaper and more low-key than nearby Beaches Negril.