Secrets St. James Montego Bay

I went for my honeymoon. It was amazing to find a place that welcomed you home, that was all-inclusive and the quality was well over average, that found time to do out of the blue surprises and that went further on to give you a good time... and it´s children-free! There was a problem with room service one day, there was an issue booking one of the restaurants... and that´s it. Everything else was spot on.

My BFF and I needed a tropical place to get away. This was the perfect resort for us. There were plenty of restaurants to choose from so we never had to repeat. However, the waits were long so get there early. We upgraded to preferred guests status and it was worth it. Having the food and bar downstairs at Amy given time was so nice.

We stayed on the Preferred Side of St. James and totally loved it. It was the prefect spot for a relaxing long weekend trip. The resort is beautiful and well maintained. The rooms are nice with pretty much everything you could need - decent toiletries, robs, slippers, hair dryer, scale (that one made me laugh), privacy box and light, outdoor and indoor soaking tubs. We spent most of our time just lounging at the Preferred pool floating on the mats and drinking Miami Vice's. The two ladies who worked around the pool were great. They took drink orders, brought cold towels and fruit cabobs - so nice. I also actually really liked that the music from the Hard Rock next door could be heard from the pool. It isn't techno music as some have commented - it's just dance/pop music and I thought it added some fun. It is worth noting that you can hear it all afternoon though as I suspect the Preferred club at St. James used to be the peaceful side of the resort and while the pool isn't busy at all - the music does add an element that might bother some. The SJ Preferred is also the furthest away from the restaurants and shopping, but it literally takes 4 minutes to walk over there so to me it didn't matter (nice to walk a little after large meals anyway). I've read a few reviews re. the Preferred club not being worth the money, but we thought it was great. The lounge with the drinks and snacks was a particularly nice perk. If you just wanted a quick breakfast on the way to the pool or a glass of wine after dinner to take to your room it was perfect. The food was good and the staff was beyond helpful. They really made our stay! The restaurants at the resort were good. We ate at all of them except El Patio. The breakfast buffet is huge and has basically anything you could want. The shrimp gnocchi at the Italian place was yummy! I also loved the fish dish I had at Blue Mountain. And we made good use of the ice cream machine at Coco. The hibachi was really fun and tasted good, but it was also SUPER hot in there. I probably should have expected that as it's very hot in Jamaica in July in general and we were sitting around a grill, but there isn't a lot of air movement and I was pretty happy the meal is quick. With the exception of the hibachi the service at the resort was pretty slow (both food and drinks) - I think everyone was on island time :), so be prepared to wait for awhile. We also did not find them to be super strict on the dress codes. We tried to comply to be respectful but there were quite a few people in the restaurants wearing shorts. We didn't participate in a lot of the entertainment, but we did watch a couple of the outdoor movies and took a ride on the glass bottom boat (which was absolutely worth the $25). A couple notes/tips - if you order room service with your privacy light I'd suggest putting a tip into the box before the server comes - I forgot and not only did the person knock 3 times, but then he/she banged around the trays and door to the box several times before leaving the food. Since I had turned on the light b/c my husband was sleeping I wasn't so thrilled with that. The shops are also quite expensive which I think it to be expected given that the resort is quite a ways from the main part of town, but a spray can of sunscreen was $25 so you probably want to bring some from home. Also, note that the air conditioning automatically turns off if you open the sliding door, so make sure it stays closed as much as possible. And...don't feed the cats at the pool unless you want a "friend" for your entire stay :) As others have said, the staff frankly don't seem all that happy, but they didn't make us feel unwelcome or anything. I chalked it up to it's super hot and they are having to deal with demanding American tourists all day. I would go back to St. James in a heartbeat!

Unfortunately, we discovered we were sleeping on a disgusting stained mattress. Ruined the trip for us. Unacceptable!!! For the money we paid, we should had never been laying on a dirty bed! Will not return.

Such a great adults only resort Staff is amazing and will do anything to make stay pleasant. This a quieter resort with most of partying in day near the pools. The jerked chicken man with the little cart is the best.