Secrets Wild Orchid Montego Bay

Booking - I booked the room directly (not through tripadvisor, kayak, etc) and also called two weeks before arrival to confirm my honeymoon vacationing. I spoke with them and confirmed that we were arriving on sept 30th and leaving on oct 6th. (Not peak season for vacationing in Jamaica so we thought we were getting a good deal. Note hint of foreshadowing...) Check in - We arrived on a late flight and checked in around 9pm. Easy enough to check in and have our bags brought up to our room. Handed the bell hop a few bucks for showing us our room. (Hint - if ask for some "Bob Marley" smokes, you can get it. However, it is not nearly as good as you can get elsewhere in town or on the island. Its dry, weak, and much harsher than what we were used to. The Room - We had the Jr. ocean view king size bed room. Pros - The bed was amazingly soft and was like floating on a cloud when we got into bed. The pillows were super soft and great. It had a shower (big enough for two, with a foot rest to shave legs (or shower fun foot hold) and a separate, oval, away-from-the-wall tub. The tub, though sexy and definitely big enough for two, its only "draw" back (drawing a bath...) was that the knob to close the tub to fill the tub, was on back of the second person in the tub. (At the foot of the tub, against the back of the person sitting across from the first.) The balcony was great and big. Two chairs and a small table. Drying rack against the wall to dry swimming suits or clothes. The room came with a cheese plate and a sign that "(room service) had a bottle of campaign chilling for us" and to call them when we wanted it. Cons against the room - Upon check in, the room had one bathrobe. Its a honeymoon and tailored as a "couples" resort. Why only have one bathrobe? I confirmed my honeymoon package at least three times and brought a copy of my marriage license with on the trip to show them. There was mention that we would have a "honeymoon" banner on the door. We had a to call for it. The room was, although close to the entrance, farthest from the beach. I would have suspected that having a low capacity, they would have put us closer to the beach. The views of the ocean at sunset from our room were hindered by the pool bars roof. One night, there was a LOUD person running down the hall way around 2 am. Woke everyone up on that hall. Beach - Small beach, about 80 yards. not much for waves, just nice sand, volley ball net, and bar. Room service - Pros - About half an hour from order to deliver. There is a "privacy light" on the door and a secret door that they can put your food so when the light is on, the food is left in your "food door" so they dont have to disturb you. Cons - REALLY BAD FOOD!!! The french frys were definitely heat lamp, old, and dry. The portions were terrible. We asked for another cheese tray for dinner since we got in so late the first night. The cheese tray had, among two or three other kinds, American cheese singles cut into triangles.... Delicious.... Room service doesnt restock the free mini bar each day. You have to call to have it refilled and they will ask you what you want. The restaurants - Breakfast and lunch buffets were served at the same place, the World Cafe. They opened for dinner as themed foods (french or mexican). The Italian restaurant was really good but our favorite was Hibachi. Need to make reservations at least one day in advance. There is a "romantic, candle lit dinner for two on the beach" option at a cost. This, though very romantic, needs better options. Sunset was at 6 our entire stay (early Oct.) Dinner starts at 6. The entire dinner "should" start at 5:30 so you can watch the sunset at 6. Cater to the sunset time, not the chef time. This dinner is $270 for the cheap option. (All options have the same menu but the price differences are only for the wine selection and the "gold" option and up also has rose peddle turn down service while you are at dinner.) Side note - I had the gold option and didnt get the rose peddle turn down service. I called them about this immediately after we returned from dinner and they "forgot" the rose peddles. They asked if we wanted them to come back and I said "no, we were in for the night and didn't want to be disturbed." More on this at checkout. Activities - There is a wide range of activities for you to do. Snorkel, parasale, motorboat, etc. Most of these have a cost and all have a waiver to sign. This should be done upon sign in so you dont have to do it for each activity. Bars - Free booze, drinks, and food (nachos and pretzels) at some. Have to pay for top shelf booze. Photographers - They are out mostly at night when you are dressed up for dinner. They will take your pictures around the fountain and pose you for the best pictures. Checkout - Pros - Rented a car for the trip. Valet was easy and fast. Cons - Upon checkout, I asked about the lack of rose peddles they "forgot" for the romantic dinner. They agreed to give me $25 off the price. $25 off $350 dinner for rose peddles is fair but then when I tried to redeem the coupons for the "not a time share" presentation we went to, I was told that the coupons only cover the silver dinner, not the gold and I would have to pay for some of the dinner. The last thing was the photographers. They must have captured 180 pictures of us during the 6 nights we were there. Albeit they were great pictures, they were stupid expensive. $200 when you get 30-50 pictures. $150 for 10-20 pictures, or $100 for up to 10 pictures. Overall - Resort - 3/5 Room - 4.5/5 Room location - 3/5 Food (non room service) - 4.5/5 Room service food - 1/5 Mini bar options - 4/5 Bathroom in room - 4.5/5 Photographer pics - 4.5/5

We loved this place and Tanesha made us feel special. We didn't have to worry about a thing. The only compliant we had was the food at Seaside Grill. Everyone's food was overlooked. All other restaurants were great!

The overall resort was very nice but the service was below the Secret’s standard that I have been accustomed to based on my stay at 3 Secreresorts in Mexico. There were several times where the staff was slow to provide service specifically when seating people. I am a preferred club member. Check in and check out was done at the front desk which took time due to several people checking in. A staff member was unaware of the preferred check in.

My husband and I stayed at Secrets for 5 nights to celebrate our 25th anniversary. The outside property is gorgeous, picture perfect, and a lot of attention is given to the property to keep it in top notch shape. Our room was a completely different story. I've traveled to Africa, Europe and Mexico prior to this so expectations were realistic. We can deal with imperfections. But at the end of the day you should get what you pay for. The inside of our room was worn out and needed updates. None of it would have been a major repair. Menu's at restaurants were literally falling apart in our hands. The rug in our room was falling apart. There were cracks in the walls. The tile was worn beyond what you would expect to see through normal wear and tear. The shower door in our room was covered in scum and mildew. Outside of the room condition, the only other problems we had were getting clean towels (had to ask every day, even though the used towels were removed). Don't feel like we got what we paid for.

We loved this resort! By far the best All-Inclusive we have been to. We stayed in a Master Swim-up suite (we upgraded when we arrived and it was much cheaper than doing it before!) this is a Butler suite and Danae our butler (and Michael!) completely made our holiday! Nothing was too much trouble and the service was out of this world, every day we had Jerk Chicken delivered to our sunbeds (which were reserved for us every day by Danae and water and beers put on ice for us!) I felt that Danae will be a friend for life and I hope one day to see her again....she really is the best...Sister from another Mr! We were given our 'butler phone' on arrival so we could call them whenever we needed them....I wished I could have taken it home lol. The restaurants were all good...sometimes however the service could have been quicker but you are in Jamaica and on there time and on holiday so it didn't really matter...I had the best food in Blue Mountain caribbean restaurant and in Bordeaux (french). Loved the pool bar at WO side..great entertainment during the day...games if you wanted it and quiet pool if you didn't. Barman at SWO swim up was amazing...dirty banana cocktails are awesome! Evening entertainment was great...we entered the Couple in love competition and the Secrets Got talent comp...my husband won with singing Mustang Sally and got 3 nights free stay!! Yay :) Loved the pIano Bar in the evening...great to have a singsong after the show finished....went to nightclub one night too and that was lots of fun. We met some gorgeous people and want to say a special thank you to some amazing staff members.... Danae - You are a very very special person and deserve everything amazing in life that you can get! Beautiful Human Being xxx Thanks for being like my sister! Patrick - Lifeguard on Preferred Pool mostly - you are a wonderful person and we will not forget you, you made us feel very loved and special! Thank you! Yendi - Entertainment team! You are amazing with wonderful energy and made our holiday so much fun...one day I hope you come over to see us xx I lost your email address! The two ladies that are in the preferred snack area are fabulous and always make you feel cared for! The gardener that made me a stunning floral bouquet in a coconut...thank you :) To be honest the only staff that I found a bit rude and offish were in the buffet breakfast....beware of the very long queues! We often had to wait about 40 mintues for breakfast - the pancake lady had a bit of an attitude but she did make amazing pancakes so I wasn't too bothered! A smile wouldn't hurt though from time to time. Loved the stunning bar waitresses around the preferred pool...often came to see us at our swim up to see if we needed anything. Room: Well equipped, not sure about the steamer thing and my dyson hairdryer wouldn't work but that's because of the electrics. Not overly clean if I'm honest but the bed is soooo comfortable!! Tipping: I don't think the wages are that great (not that we asked the question!) so defintley tip! We tipped everyone that provided great service and they all did to be honest. Don't scrimp on this! Jerk chicken cart is THE BEST! I eat this at least twice a day EVERY DAY! I especially love the fact that at 1am after drinking a bit too much you can get a massive plate of this and munch your heart out lol....the guy that does the late night cart is such a gorgeous person and his heart is so pure...truly blessed! xx Jelly fish are HUGE! and there was a lot of them when we went! Great snorkelling from resort too... Go to Margaritaville it was great fun! We loved this resort and everyone in it....we will be back! Don't think about it just book it!