We had a great time and generally thought Jamaica was wonderful.  The only other all-inclusive trip I've been on was the Riu Cancun that you booked for us the year before.  Both were great, but I thought Jamaica was actually a little better. Read more . . .

Sunset Beach seems to be undergoing a lot of renos, so I can't say everything was perfect with the rooms, but nothing to get upset about.  Little things like one of the lightbulbs in our room wasn't really in a fixture - it was just hanging out of the ceiling.  Our patio door did not lock, but we were quite high up so it didn't seem like anyone would be able to break in.  The rest of the resort was very nice - I think they started the renos on the main part first and were doing the rooms last.

The food was completely amazing.  I didn't think the food could be better than it was in Mexico, but it was.  The buffet always had lots of choices, and usually a few more traditional Jamaican ones, which was nice.  The snack bar had a great combination of hot dogs, grilled cheese, fries, and jerk chicken.  All of the a la cartes were good, although I think the buffet was actually better.

The beach was really nice and there was lots of space.  I think this was one of the big things I preferred over Cancun.  The pools were also nice.  There is also a waterslide area that was actually pretty fun - it would be very fun for children.  I guess I should also mention that this was a family-friendly resort - if you really really didn't want to be around children, this wouldn't be a good choice.

The staff were probably the biggest difference between the Sunset in Montego Bay and the Riu in Cancun.  The staff in Montego Bay really went out of their way to make sure you were having a good time, and the service was generally excellent.  (Not that the staff at the Riu were bad.)

Entertainment was also very good.  Each night they had a show, usually a singer or band, and all of them were excellent.  The entertainment ended kind of early and the disco wasn't the most exciting place in the world, but overall I thought the entertainment was what I was expecting from a resort.

We were a little disappointed that there was no drink fridge in our room.  It wasn't a big deal because we could just go downstairs to get drinks, but I guess I thought that was a more standard thing than it really is.

As far as booking, I just have one tip.  We had the choice among resort view, bay view, and ocean view.  We chose bay view, which was the most expensive.  I think this was probably a bad choice.  It meant that our room was directly above the entrance, so there were a lot of vehicles going in and out fairly early in the morning.  Since we like to sleep with the door/window open, this made for a lot of noise and in one case, diesel fumes.  It was very neat when a cruise ship docked in the bay, because we were looking right at it, but probably if I were to do it again, I would book ocean view.  (Note:  I did not actually go in an ocean view or resort view room so I don't know for sure what their views were like, but definitely I would not pay extra for bay view.)
 

Oh yeah, and flying there directly from London was SWEET!

Karen Conrad