'my home is your home away from home'

if my home was like this joint....id burn it down.......

i have just spent 2 weeks in this dump.......i will post later full details.....

i was not expecting any sort of luxurry as had read these posts before i went ......but lets just say...i was gutted...

The first thing I wanted to do was take a shower when I got to my room C11. The face towels in room C11 were used!! The only thing I could think why/how this could happen is: housekeeping didn't check them (don't know how when there was a feminine stain smack dab in the center of the towel. or an employee used it for some reason or another, GROSS!!

The closet dripped rusty water for some reason!!

The water in the entire unit was cold all days. that I stayed there!!

They always ran out of food w/in 1 hour from opening their restaurant!! I'll never return to this property.

$1300 pricetag should've included the airport transfers, but it didn't.

Airport Transer:
This time round for me was very smooth with no long queues, didnt wait long for my bag and the transfer bus was organised

Hotel:
This was my second stay at Sandcastles and this time my room was slightly better than the first time in August. A spacey room but very dated and not exactly comfy, but it was clean and the ceiling fan and air con worked fine. Water pressure in my shower was fine and had no problems with the overall look of the bathroom just needed a lick of paint. I didnt see one cockroach while in the room, and hardly any ants! Amazing! The maid always came in the afternoon, which was a bit of hassle as when you came back from the beach sometimes there was no clean towels. I will say if your looking for a 5 star hotel then dont stay here, i like it because it is near to everything i want and i dont spend a lot of time in my room, i always eat out and roll in early hours of the morning so as long as i can get into a clean bed im kool.


The grounds are nice and well kept and i had a sea view so that helped. Reception wasn't very good as there is always only one person there and a few hard rings of the bell and they finally came to the desk. You need to pay a deposit of $10 dollars to get the remote for the TV, however you do get this back when your leaving. Wasn't happy that there was no safe in the room, meaning i had to literally take everything of importance out with me (thats a pain) as you dont really want to take all your cash and passport with you onto the beach.


The Beach

The beach is nice, small but not very packed. You do get a lot of guys coming up to you trying to get you to go on the Jet Ski's or buy shells that you cant take home with you. Cruise ships dock quite frequently but its not a problem as it doesnt really block any view as its just a view of endless sea. The swimming area of the sea isnt very big as it is roped off other wise you would get hit by boats of jet ski's

On the street
be prepared to get hassled by people selling weed , jewellery, hair braiding, etc..a firm NO and they leave you alone, but dont be scared to venture out as everyone is freindly and Ocho Rios is relatively safe, if you dont go out and spend all your time in the resort you are truly missing the real Jamaica and the local produce and excellent food. You got to try the fish! for those who cant do with out there fast food then you have KFC and Burger King.

I hope this review helps any question dont be afraid to ask

My boyfriend and I planned this weekend in Ocho Rios at the last minute so there were no good resorts left with availability by the time we got online to find a place to stay.
We found this hotel thru Orbitz and the price was right and the pictures of the hotels webpage looked pretty good. We got to the hotel at noon and found out that checkin wasn't even until 3pm so we found stuff to do and killed some time. When 3pm rolled around we got back to the hotel and upon checking in, we needed to pay a $10 USD deposit just to use the remote control for the TV set and were told that there was no safe in the room and that if we wanted to store anything in the safe, we could use the hotels safe in the office for $3USD a day. That was a little strange.
We get into our room and although nice and clean, there were no light fixtures to cover the cieling lights in the room and there was just a light bulb like the kind that you have in your utility closet at home. Strange again...
We stored some food on top of the refridgerator and left for the beach. Upon returning from the beach and now back in the room, we turned the lights on and roaches scattered from where our food was. Quite disgusting.
Shower time and there was no water pressure. Water was either scouring hot or it was simply cold but there was no in between.
Room smelled a little moldy and overall, if you are looking for a discount hotel and don't care about much more than a shower and a short nights sleep, this place is the place for you but if this is your honeymoon, I suggest that you find a great hotel with amenities such as a safe and remote control!
Happy Travels