Sorry it took so long to write this review!!

My wife and I stayed at the RIU Ocho Rios June 17-24 for our honeymoon. This was our first trip out of the country and our first stay at an all-inclusive resort. We had a great time and really enjoyed our entire time there. We did some excursions which I will write about briefly at the end of the hotel review.

Travel from Airport: We booked through Lee Tour's (Highly Recommended!!). Driver was there waiting for us when we arrived, had welcome drinks for us and air-conditioned vehicle. It is long, but you get to see the area and get a feel for Jamaica. It's really surreal as you realize you are in a different country. Jamaican drivers are crazy!!

Hotel Check-In: Very smooth. We had e-mailed ahead about a week to see if we could score a free upgrade, which we did receive. I would highly suggest doing this, as if the hotel is not booked to capacity, they may be willing to upgrade you, I would bet that the sooner you ask (not too soon, about a week) that the more likely it will happen.

Room: The room was great, a little musty in the shower, but everything else was great. Huge balcony, we had a great view of the ocean. A/C worked fine (remember to keep sliding door shut if you want it to work). Maid did a fine job of keeping room clean. I don't think they change the sheets everyday though, we did request she change it once during the week since we had gotten sand in the bed and it was done. The room keys didn't work 100% of the time, it took a couple of swipes. I also heard, but can't confirm that the regular rooms have actual keys, while the deluxe rooms have key cards? We were glad to have cards, easier to carry.

Food: This is the only area where we were somewhat dissapointed. I love to eat, and will eat just about anything. The food at first was great, but quickly became bland (this is in the buffett, St Ann's). My wife felt the same way. We ate at the following restaurants. Tushimi (Awesome!!), Mandalay (Horrible, ended up at St. Ann's) the Steakhouse (Awesome!!). We did not eat at Sir John's or Sir Richard's because my wife is very picky and did not like anything on the menu.

Pools/Beach: Awesome!! We loved the warm ocean. We saw a lot of fish just inside the roped off swimming area, including two puffer fish and a squid. We played beach volleyball several days and that was fun. There are people selling stuff in the water or at the edges of the resort, if you ignore them, they will leave you alone.

Security: This was a big question mark I had before arriving. We had no problems whatsoever. Bottom line, don't be stupid with your valuables and they probably won't get taken. We locked up what would fit in the safe, and locked up our laptop and larger valuables in suitcase, that was put in another suitcase in the closet.

Overall: This resort was amazing, we really enjoyed our time there and look forward to going back to Jamaica in the future. We highly recommend this resort.

Excursions:

Zip-Lining Tour (Chukka Cove): This was a good trip, very fun and exciting. Some people were really nervous and freaking out, and you are with a very large group. It was fun though, and the guides were friendly and fun. Bring money to tip your driver and the guides and to buy pictures (they will take CC for pictures).

Horse-back Riding (Chukka Cove): Awesome time, we had a great guide. Bring your camera, your guide will take pictures for you. Bring money or CC for more pictures, especially ones while you are in the water. Bring Tips for Guides. We got some great pictures on this one!!

Dolphin Cove/Dunn's River (through Lee's Tours): The highlight of the trip!! It is expensive but was well worth it. We did both the same day (very close together). Try to book Dolphin Cove when no cruise ship is in town, less people. We booked the 1st swim on a Saturday with no cruise ship and were the only two people with the dolphins!! We got an extra foot push and tons more time with them!! Highly recommend getting both the DVD and the Photo CD, it is expensive, but there were 109 photos of us in the water with the dolphins. Dunns River was just ok for us, it was beautiful, but we have rivers and waterfalls we can climb here, not as warm though, that is for sure. Bring money for a locker ($5US). You don't need to do this with a guide, although they recommend it.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip and look forward to seeing more Jamaica in the future. Feel free to E-mail me if you have any questions or I can clarify anything. My E-mail is gavin37396@hotmail.com.

My wife and teenage son and daughter just returned from our 7-5-08 thru 7-12-08 trip and our Riu vacation was amazing.
I studied this board for over a year and would like to explain reality versus fiction.
Travel:
Flew Air Jamaica from Orlando to Montego Bay. Not bad, only delayed 1 hour, same amount on return. Tipped $5 for the guy putting our bags in the van arriving and $1 per bag for when we left Jamaica.
Transfers:
Used Lee for transfers (tipped $20 to & from airport), no problems, very reliable and prompt. Also had a 1 day outing to Dunns Falls and walked around downtown Ocho Rios. Requested the driver stay with us and show us around. (tipped $25)
Riu Resort:
Check -in: fast, simple
The resort and beach was prettier than we expected. Very clean. Pools clean. People walk around taking your picture from the resort photo shop during your stay. You can view your photos daily.
Room:
We had 2 standard rooms that were beautiful. I have no idea what a suite would have been like, but did'nt need it. There was a musty smell (no big deal), but we brought deodorizers and did'nt notice any smell after about day 2. There were no mosquito problems in our 2nd floor room. (Just close the screen to your balcony.) We used the safe and never had any security problems, never felt unsafe. We always used the "do not disturb" or "room ready to clean" signs and no one ever entered. Tipped $3 per room a day for housecleaning. Refrigerator was always stocked. Our 2nd floor view above the St. Ann's buffet restaraunt was breathtaking.
Staff:
Some are friendly, some need a happy pill. You tip the ones that are hard working and friendly and you don't the ones that were not. I was always polite regardless and always tried to talk to them all. If we had a good waiter at the buffet, I would tip $5. At the sit down restaraunts I tipped $10.
Food:
Very good. Lots of choices. Had no problem calling at 9am and getting through for reservations. They had different themes of food at the buffet each night, so the food choices did change. I brought a mug, but only for coffee to take back up to the room after breakfast. You don't need mugs for bars or any other time.
During the day, jerk chicken on the beach while tanning is a must.
Beach:
Great. Very pretty. Plenty of trees for shade, but we pulled our chairs out for sun. No problem getting 4 chairs together every day. You get a towel card, so don't bring your own from home. Staff comes by and picks up empty cups all day long. The snorkeling is on the left side, facing the water, near the floating dock. A portion of the reef is inside the roped off area, but a larger reff is outside the ropes. No problem swimming there, just watch the jet skis. They run back and forth at the rope. (Unless the police boat is around, then they disappear.) The paddle boats, kayaks and wind surfing is free and fun. You WILL see topless women. Not a whole lot, but some. At around 5:00 every evening there is a group of 3 or 4 native people who climb the Sandals pier to the Riu side and walk selling there wares. These people also dig through the resort garbage cans and we witnessed them steal clothing that was left on beach chairs with no one around. This was not a scary thing, they don't bother you. Just something to be aware of in late evening on the beach.
Entertainment:
We went to the shows every night. At night everybody does. It is a different show each night @ 9:30, with audience participation pre-show @ 9:00. (Very funny!). The shows are good, some better than others, but a group of entertainers who work there tails off.
Don't leave your belongings unsupervised. During the daytime is fine.
Off site:
As I said we did Dunns River, which is awesome. Bought the video and it was worth the captured moments. Our guide from Lees took us shopping and then to the public park and main street. It was a great chance to see the true culture.
This is long, but for people like me, who had never been, this is the kind of in depth report I wanted before our trip.
I would return in a heartbeat. It was like a touch of heaven, but unlike heaven, it had to end.

We stayed at the Riu from July 9 - 16. It was me, my husband, and 3 kids, ages 5, 13, and 16. I have read the reviews and the forum since I booked the trip in May. That helped a lot! We used Lees Tours to and from the airport and it was wonderful! I can't say enough about Lees and Norma. Norma met me at the airport, called when we got to the hotel and called again when we left. Their drivers are so nice and it was nice to have an air conditioned mini van for the 5 of us. We also used Lees for a tour of Ocho Rios and to go to Dunn's River. It was a nice day and we got to see a lot of the town.

Check-in:
We arrived at around 1 pm, we had 2 rooms. One was ready the other was not. We put our stuff in one room and went for lunch. The other room was ready when we got back. It took all of 5 minutes to check in and they were somewhat busy.

Rooms:
We had 2 junior suites on the 1st (not ground) floor. That was nice because we could just take the stairs. I am not a fan of elevators, so only one flight of stairs was nice. Our rooms didn't smell at all. They did get a musty smell when we left 5 wet towels in them, but when we took them out to the balcony it was fine. The a/c was great. The beds were firm but not uncomfortable. We had plenty of pillows and towels. I tipped housekeeping $10 per room and the same for the guy who stocks the fridge. I told him he didn't need to put beer in the kids room, just sodas and put beer and diet cokes in our room. It was stocked perfectly every 2 days. Also, we didn't encounter any mosquitos but I brought bug spray just in case.

Food/drinks:
The food was good. My family preferred the St. Anne's buffet. We had no problems making reservations. I called at 9 am, got through in 5 minutes and made the reservations for the week. We only ended up going to 2 restaurants, the Japanese and the Steak House. The Steak House was great, the Japanese was ok. We liked having dinner on our own time, some days we would take a nap after all day at the beach and we missed our reservation one night.
The drinks were awesome! We never had to wait for drinks and they were good. My 5 yr. old daughter loved swimming up to the pool bar and asking for her red dauquiri. He knew her order in a day.

Pool:
We mainly stayed on the suite side but both pools were nice. I am more of a beach person, so mainly my husband and daughter went to the pool. They clean the pools every night and morning, so they were as clean as could be expected after people being in them all day. I loved the seats, tables, and beds in the pool, that was nice. The pool chairs do fill up, so get out there early if you want a chair. There really wasn't room for more chairs, so they did the best they could.

Beach:
This is why I came to the Caribbean, the beach. I LOVED the beach. It was beautiful, the water was amazing. I never had problems finding a chair out there and there were plenty with shade. My daughter found a cool tree to climb and sit it. Snorkling was great, we went way out and saw so many cool fish. We brought our own snorkle equiptment, so I don't know how that works. The Jerk Hut is great, we ate there a few times. My kids snorkled for hours a day, even my five year old. Dr. Feelgood is so funny but he can be annoying. If you tell him no thanks he does leave you alone. The shell man is very nice, not as agressive as Dr. Feelgood. Go talk to him, he has a lot of neat stories and things to talk about. He was so nice to all the kids and never pressured anyone to buy anything. There are some huts right down the beach that sell everything. They aren't real pushy there and the prices were better than in town. I enjoyed walking down there. I could have sit out at the beach all day every day forever. However, I am a beach lover.

Staff:
They work VERY hard and I never encountered anyone demanding or even asking for a tip. They are very nice and are constantly cleaning and doing something. It is a huge resort and its not easy running that place. Every staff member I met was very nice. The entertainment staff is constantly on the go, all day on the beach getting people to play games (on the activity side) and just doing fun stuff. The shows were good, my daughter loved them. It gets crowded there, so be there by 8:45 to get a good seat. Even the pre-shows were funny. They really try to get the audience involved.

Overall:
We had a wonderful time and were sad to come home. I loved the Jamaican people. They are warm and friendly and really don't worry about anything. If you go in there looking to complain, you will find something. If you are rude to them, you will get that in return (I am sure). I have been to the Bahamas many times and prefer Jamaica hands-down because the people are so much nicer.

This was a really long review but I tried to cover everything. I know I read every review and it was really helpful. Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

My husband and I stayed at the RIU Ocho Rios from March 25th to April 2nd. After reading tons of reviews on here I was terrifyed. I thought for sure that we were going to be robbed like some of the other travelers. That wasnt the case at all.....
We arrived at the RIU via bus. The ride to the hotel was long but nice. We stopped at a shop to get beverages and to use the restroom. It was nice. We got to the hotel and check in was a breeze. We were a little disappointed that our room was on the first floor, but not too much cause we werent planning on being in the room all that often, which we werent. We upgraded to a junior suite. It was very clean and nice. There was a musty smell but was expected being in the Carribean and all. You get used to that smell very quickly though.
We ate at St. Annes every night for dinner, quite the variety of food. Im a very picky eater and i found something to eat every night. For lunch and breakfast we ate at Mandalay. By far the best meal of the day was breakfast.
The pools were really clean and nice. The bars were alot of fun, tip the bartenders and they will keep the drinks coming. Our fridge in the room was filled whenever we called the front desk. We were very cautious when we left our room, we put everything into the safe and what didnt fit we brought locks to put on our suitecases. We had no problems. The beach is very clean. Lots of jetskiers offering marajuana. You just have to tell them no and they leave you alone. Vendors on the beach are a little harder to get away from.
The night shows were good. I loved the Michael Jackson one. That by far was my favorite. They work really hard on all the shows and it pays off in the end.