An all inclusive resort with a water park with a huge Pirate ship, two long twisting slides and a lazy river at a reasonable price exists in Montego Bay Jamaica at Sunset Beach Resort. A 20 minute ride from the Montego Bay Airport, Sunset Beach offers an escape for families and friends on a budget.
You won't find top shelf liquor,mojitos or frozen drinks other than Pina Coladas or Strawberry Daiquiris but you will find a clean resort with good size rooms, decent food and plenty of entertainment.
There are two sides to this resort. The Sunset Beach area consists of two tall bright yellow towers with plenty to offer - an adults only pool, a family pool, an activities pool, a couple of hot tubs and of course the water park. There are three sit down restaurants requiring reservations. Silk Road features Asian Cuisine, Byrons highlights Caribbean cuisine and La Bella Vita offers Italian food with very good food. Reservations are needed for these restaurants. There is a large buffet with breakfast hours from 7 :00 to 10:00, lunch from noon to 2:30 and dinner from 6:30 to 10 pm. There is also a grill available for hamburgers, hot dogs, jerk chicken and ice cream open in the late morning until about 10 pm.
Rooms at the Sunset Beach side are good size and it is very busy. Rooms do not contain refrigerators here unless you pay extra for them or need them for medical reasons or for baby formula. Have your travel agent request this before you arrive - .otherwise you can rent one for $5.00 per day. Internet is free in the lobby but you must pay for it in your room.
The Oasis at Sunset, where we stayed, is located next to Sunset. This hotel, part of Sunset Beach, is a bit more upscale and quiet. It is located just east of the water park and offers 124 rooms that are much quieter than the Sunset side. Every room has a private balcony or patio and refrigerator stocked with water, soda and beer if you ask for it. Free internet access is also included, although internet throughout the resort is spotty.
The west rooms face the water park, the east rooms are quiet and abut a part of the beach reserved for clothing optional guests of Oasis on the far east side of the resort. A security guard ensures privacy of the guests who opt for that beach, which is closed off by a fence and shrubbery.
Staying at the Oasis side allows guests to use all facilities at Sunset Beach plus two additional restaurants only for the use of Oasis guests - Blue Maho for dinner and a sit down a la carte outdoor restaurant. It is pure heaven at these restaurants, away from the noise and hubub of the restaurants at the Sunset. In addition, Oasis guests receive free roundtrip transportation to and from the airport.
There is no lack of activities here. The water park, with a lifeguard on duty, will keep the kids busy for hours. There are two kids clubs - one for kids age 2-12 (with it's own kiddie pool and slide) and a teen club for ages 13 - 19. There are three pools and three private beaches, one of the longest in Montego Bay. The beach is in a protected marine sanctuary and you'll see fish where ever you look! The beach is not all smooth sand- that largest beach has some tiny pebbles on the bottom- you may want to bring watershoes. But it seemed like everyone in the water had goggles to find fish. There are free non-motorized water sports- canoes, paddle boats and Sunfish. One annoying thing is that people do get up early and put towels out on beach and pool loungers and then don't use them.
There was plenty of entertainment, both day and night. Activities for both resorts are posted on boards near the adult pool. You won't receive nightly newsletters in your room telling you of the next days activities. Yet there is something going on just about every hour for adults and kids. At night, entertainment starts between 7:30 and 8 pm and is appropriate for families. On Tuesday nights it is Caribbean Night and we enjoy an hour of the Silver Birds, a contemporary steel drum band playing modern hits such as Happy, Miley Cyrus and more plus some exciting lively dancing and acrobatics. Also on hand was a fire dancer who actually brought fire in the audience to either the delight or horror of guests, depending on how brave you are.
Food throughout the two resorts are very good. The buffet had plenty of diversity and choices. The a la carte restaurants are also good. We ate at Silk Road one evening and enjoyed our meal, although service was a little slow. The rest of our stay we ate breakfast and lunch at the Oasis outdoor restaurant, which had a very nice menu and excellent service. On our final night we had dinner at Blue Maho at the Oasis which had superb food and service. My only complaint about the food was a lack of ice cream. The only place you could get ice cream was at the grill and the ice cream had to be scooped by the person at the grill. The only choice while there was pistachio, which was fine with me but I heard complaints from other guests. There was one ice cream machine but it was not plugged in.
There is a spa but consider it a bare bones spa. I treated myself to a 30 minute massage and manicure and pedicure and the experience was a bit primitive. I was not given a robe to put on for my massage, not was I given a sheet to wrap myself in on the table - the table was covered with a large towel and I was given another one to put over myself. No opportunity to shower after the massage to remove the oils from my body and hair. The pedicure was even more bizarre- no foot spa with seating. I was given a small electric footbath for my feet and I had to put my feet on the attendants lap for the pedicure.
There are vacation companies on property, so if your vacation is booked with a major travel supplier there is a representative on site. There is also a car rental company on site.
Most staff were very friendly, especially on the Oasis side. One thing to keep in mind is that this resort sells day passes to cruise ship passengers. Luckily, Carnival is the only line that still stops in Montego Bay and we were only there one day when they a ship was in port. If you stay there, find out the day that the ships are in and get down to the beach or pool and claim your seat, as once ship passengers arrive, they will take over the beach chairs (you can tell them by their red wristbands).
For the price point, this is a good three star all inclusive resort, with the Oasis side possibly being even four star. You get a great value for your money and the opportunity for a decent vacation at an affordable price.
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