I stayed here 2 times. July of 05 and July of 06 - both for 1 week. In '05, I had a very pleasant experience. Good food. Polite workers. But I had one BIG problem. While sleeping on the first floor one night, I kept my window open. I woke up and my laptop, wallet and some clothes were gone. Filed a police report at the local OchoRios police station, and was told that I would be reimbursed for my losses. I have yet to see any form of payment. I've read other reviews, and have heard of similar instances of robberies at this hotel. So, in '06, I went back to get the money from the them, and meet with the 'new manager'. He told me that he would get me a check for $200US to reimburse me for my $2000 laptop, wallet, and clothes. He has not written me back or called me back, nor has he presented me with any payment.

The Crane Ridge was the first hotel i stayed at and was pretty decent. It had great views of the city and the landscaping was spectacular. The pool was huge but the hot tub was either warm or very very hot. The clock kept going slow. One night i woke up and it was 6 hours behind what it should have been. The hotel is located on top of a hill, which is good exercise when walking down to the city. Me and a buddy of mine walked from the hotel to dunn's river falls. This was a pretty long walk probably around 3.5 miles, but again good exercise. Margaritaville is located in the island village center. There is plenty of good shopping at the taj mahal for souvenirs. The Crane Ridge was the best hotel i stayed at during my trip.

My wife and I stayed here for a week, and we were very comfortable. The location is excellent - close to downtown, beach, and island village. However, for every little thing (getting hangers, towels, etc.), we had to leave tips. It's a good idea to bring at least $100 in $1 bills for tips because it is very hard to get change. The food was not that good (cold) but very expensive (about US $30 per person for a buffet). The shuttle to the beach, which runs only 3 times a day (the last shuttle leaving at 1:30pm), always left earlier than scheduled without any consideration to those who make it on time to take the shuttle. Whether meals were eaten inside the resort or outisde, the cost of eating was much more expensive than we had expected. We wondered if, taken all together, the total price of our vacation may have even exceeded that of staying at an all-inclusive resort. If every little thing didn't cost so much money, we would stay at CCR again. However, given the cost ineffectiveness of having to eat out and pay for cab fares, etc., we will probably go to an all-inclusive resort next time.

this is not a fancy 4-5 star all-inclusive resort where people bend over backwards for you, this is where jamacian's stay when they go on vacation, so the service is not alway what americans expect. one in our party is a frequent guest and we got a complementary upgrade. (we did tip this employee at checkout as a thank you) our room was clean upon arrival, cleaned everyday and had no bad orders. it deffenetly could use some paint and minor repairs. the service was overall friendly, many employees remember us from prevous stays. i agree with other reviewers that the men were usually more friendly then the women. i also agree with others about the air conditioning, not the best thing going.

i have read tons of complaints about the hot water, towels and wildwife. hint #1 YOU have to turn on the hot water. we were told this at check-in. hint #2 tip everyone. we found the our maid the first day and we had 4-6 towels daily for three people. tip #3 there is wildlife (cats, bugs, gekos, ect) but nothing normal people can't deal with. don't leave food on the first floor balconies the cats will get it. bugs will get in the rooms, they are not designed to be air tight, if they were they would be much hotter. i never saw any roaches, just normal flying insects. i've seen more gekos in florida than i did in jamaica.

we only ate at the resturant once for dinner and the complemenatry breakfest. would not suggest getting the inclusive plan for food, much better resturants in town. but fine for one or two meals.

the pool and hot tub area were great. plenty of pool chairs and towels during the day. towels are locked up after the pool attendants go off duty. the pool bar tenders were great, especailly Oliver, we ran a tab the whole time we were there and never had any problems.