Sandals Montego Bay

We went to Sandals Montego Bay for my birthday this year. Mainly because my boyfriend wanted an all inclusive resort so I chose the one with the most amenities that I could find. I must say I LOVE Jamaica and would love to go back. First things first; getting through immigration at the Montego Bay airport took almost an hour and a half. But it was cool; because unlike in the US; they had ALL of the stations open; so you knew they were going as fast as they possibly could. When we FINALLY got through we went to the Sandals lounge to wait for our ride. NOTE: the baggage people do NOT work for Sandals and you should tip them if you don't carry your own bags. We had to wait about ten minutes because another group was coming in; they ended up being four ladies who were also there to celebrate their birthdays, they were unaware that Sandals was a couples resort at that time. The ride to the resort from the airport is definitely less than 10 minutes. The resort is extremely close to the airport. The planes were no problem because there weren't that many in a day. I think the most I counted in one day was six. Take note WHEN your going though; because August is not Jamaica's busiest season; I'm sure in November and December there would have been a lot more plane action. The planes are REALLY close and REALLY loud. Had there been a lot flying by during our trip I probably would have been upset. The staff is suppossed to wave at the planes when they fly by, but most didn't; which made me glad, because that's just some stupid management rule anyway. Our first day there we ate at the Bayside for lunch and then went to the Luminous Lagoon. If you ask the tour desk they can hook you up with the tour plus the transportation; it cost us $60 total. It was a lot of fun; the ride out there was about 35-40 minutes so be prepared and there are hardly no traffic lights in Jamaica so be ready for some crazy driving. One of our drivers told us that you have to be aggressive in Jamaica or you would never get anywhere on time. If you can, I would say check out the Luminous Lagoon; also called Glistening Waters, It's really cool to see; especially if someone is out there on a jetski. The nightly entertainment at Sandals was really good too. I had done an all-inclusive resort before but their nightly entertainment sucked. Sandals had this steelband there our first night; they were just kids playing, but they were really good. But no one stays for the "club" at the end of nightly entertainment; probably because most couples want to "enjoy" their rooms. We ended up going downtown to Pier 1 with our friends we met at the airport; which was cool (not my favorite part of the trip though) While we were there we also went ziplining. We went through Adventure Tours not Chukka and I had bought our tickets online. I would suggest going through Adventure Tours; we were the only two people in our group, along with our two leaders and had the BEST time. My birthday present to myself was ziplining and I wanted the best possible experience ever. They were very professional and they didn't make you run into a mattress pad if you came in too fast. They always had one of the leaders there to brake for you. This was necessary too since my boyfriend came in so fast that he lost his shoe. (We did find it though) Of all the restaurants I would recommend the Italian one. NOTE: Try the Bob Marley, made exsclusively by Marcel, when you get there. The food there was sooo good. I must say that you pretty much cant go wrong at any of the restaurants at this resort because ALL of them do table service for dinner, even the OK Corral; which is on the beach and you don't even have to wear shoes to. Also, a little tip: If you don't bring the correct attire to wear to the Oleander room just ask your hostess to get you the entree you want from the Oleander and bring it to you at Bayside or the OK Corral. Or you can just go ask the hostess yourself to give it to you "to go." I saw a lot of people taking their meals back to their rooms. I personally thought that the food at Tokyo Joe's was horrible, but my boyfried loved it so I can't give them a bad review. We wanted to do the Thai Restaurant at Royal Carribbean but it was booked. My boyfriend did order the candlelight dinner for my birthday; and it was really nice. Our waiter was really sweet. We had the gazebo that was the farthest and it amazed me everytime I saw him walking up the beach with those heavy trays. Another note, Sandals employs A LOT of young kids. I don't really believe that all of them are even 18 and we found that they don't pay their employees well at all. That's a little upsetting considering how poor of a country Jamaica is and how much we all pay to stay at Sandals. We also went to Dunns River Falls. I LOVED it. We had just come back from a quick weekend trip to Niagara Falls, so I was under the assumption that we would look at the falls and take pictures not actually climb them. We had the most fun there although we slipped A LOT. I would say do the half day; because it doesn't really take a full day to get there and climb up and come back. The rest of the full day tour is just fluff. We also were not required to hold hands throughout our climb. Since we all went up with the other couples from Sandals each couple just kinda climbed together but whenever a man would leave his lady, and they ALL did, there was always another guy there to help you up. It was really sweet and nice. Overall I must say I had the BEST time at Sandals Montego Bay. Try to bring your camera to everything, even on the beach, because those pictures they take of you cost an arm and a leg. I had to purchase one from my candlelight light dinner because we forgot the camera and one when we went tubing (so much fun) and it cost me $32 for two pictures on CD (same price for printed pics). Don't let them get you. We also fell "victim" to the notorious upgrades at Sandals and were moved from a Premium Seaside to a Honeymoon Waterside. Our new room was great; we were on the side where there is only one building of rooms; the side with the chapel and we had the best view of the beach and a great little patio AND a stocked fridge which proved to be a lucky amenity since we didn't have to buy bottled water or sodas or anything. We ate breakfast on our patio every morning that we weren't off to do a tour. My boyfriend said that since we didn't get butler service he would be my butler and went and got breakfast every morning. Too cute. So, all that to say, that I LOVED this resort and would consider doing a weddingmoon at Sandals, but not at Montego Bay...too many planes. The wedding seemed to be very affordable and no stress at all. I'm going to end this review with one last tip: BRING OR BUY INSECT REPELLANT!! I got ate up.