Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Sandals Ochi. It’s a beautiful resort in many ways, with some lovely staff and plenty of positives. However, there were also several areas that we felt fell short of the standards expected.
Arrival
We arrived from the UK at around 11pm, so it had been a very long day travelling. The staff who greeted us were pleasant and welcoming, but unfortunately, arriving late meant that we missed the usual welcome and introduction to the resort.
We were taken straight to our room without being given much information about the hotel, its facilities or how everything worked. Disappointingly, nobody followed this up the next day either.
As a result, we spent much of the week gradually discovering things that would have been useful to know from the beginning. We feel there should be a better process for guests arriving late, perhaps with a proper introduction the following morning. It would have made a real difference to our experience.
Room
We were kindly upgraded to a beautiful one-bedroom villa with a pool shared with just one other villa, rather than the four we had originally booked.
This was a lovely gesture and very much appreciated. We really liked our room and the pool area.
We also had some very sweet little visiting cats, which added a lovely bit of character to our stay!
Housekeeping
Unfortunately, housekeeping was one of the more disappointing aspects of our holiday.
When our room was cleaned, the standard was good. However, the service was extremely inconsistent and unreliable.
On numerous occasions, our room wasn’t serviced until 4–5pm, and on one day it wasn’t cleaned at all. We also had to request fresh towels.
We raised this several times and asked for housekeeping to be completed in the morning, as we had specific needs that made this important. Unfortunately, this wasn’t always followed through.
Evening turndown service was also provided on only two occasions during our stay.
For a five-star resort we would expect housekeeping to be much more consistent and dependable.
Butlers
Our butlers were lovely, friendly gentlemen who were always pleasant and responsive whenever we contacted them.
We are fairly independent travellers, so we didn’t make extensive use of the butler service, but they were happy to help whenever needed.
One particularly sweet touch was that they escorted us to dinner each evening, which we really appreciated. They also put towel animals on our bed one evening which was cute.
A positive experience with our butlers.
Food
Overall, we thought the food was good and enjoyed dining at most of the restaurants across the resort.
One particular highlight was the romantic beach dinner, which cost $199. This was absolutely fantastic and something we would highly recommend. A really special experience.
Our only genuinely disappointing dinner was at Valentino’s. Although our waiter was very lovely and helpful, the food was unbelievably rushed. We had all three courses within just 35 minutes, and our main courses actually arrived while we were still eating our starters!
It completely took away from what should have been a leisurely, enjoyable evening meal.
We also visited Sandals Dunn’s River one evening and ate at the sushi bar, which was fabulous. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
Room Service
Room service was excellent. Plenty of choice and very tasty. We had breakfast most days by our pool.
Entertainment
The entertainment was varied, but we felt there was room for improvement in both its organisation and duration.
Live performances, including singers and piano entertainment, often lasted only around an hour, which seemed rather short.
We also found it frustrating that entertainment would take place on the hillside one hour and down by the beachside the next, meaning yet more journeys on the shuttle buses.
The daily poolside quiz was another missed opportunity. It featured exactly the same questions every day! By the second day, the novelty had certainly worn off.
We attended karaoke one evening but were told we couldn’t sing our chosen song because someone else had already requested it. We thought this was a rather silly and unnecessarily restrictive rule. After all, everyone is on holiday to enjoy themselves! We ended up leaving rather than staying for the evening and truly felt quite unwelcome by the way the lady spoke to us.
Another disappointment was only discovering the water activities on the day before our final day. We managed to enjoy a Hobie Cat, which was great fun, but were frustrated that we hadn’t known about these activities much earlier in our stay. This goes back to the lack of information provided when we arrived.
On a much more positive note, the White Party, foam party and Silent Disco were brilliant! We really enjoyed both.
The Rabbit Hole was disappointing, however. We arrived at 9pm but couldn’t find anywhere to sit, so couldn’t really enjoy the experience and had to leave.
There is plenty going on at Sandals Ochi, but we feel better communication and organisation would make the entertainment experience much more enjoyable.
Bars
We were surprised and rather disappointed that there isn’t a central lobby bar where guests can gather for an evening drink. This is something we particularly enjoy at resorts, and we felt its absence.
The Vista Bar was lovely, with beautiful views and a very pleasant atmosphere.
In contrast, the hillside bar looked dated and tired and could certainly benefit from some refurbishment.
The swim-up bars were good and enjoyable places to spend time during the day.
Beach
The beach areas are absolutely beautiful, with some extremely pretty little spots to relax and enjoy the surroundings.
However, due to the way the resort is designed, you cannot enjoy a long, uninterrupted walk along the beach.
The individual areas are lovely, but we did miss being able to stroll along a continuous stretch of sand, which is something we normally enjoy on a Caribbean holiday.
Resort Layout & Buses
For us, this was probably the biggest drawback of Sandals Ochi.
The resort is huge and very spread out, with the hillside and beachside separated by a main road. This makes getting around very inconvenient and means relying totally on shuttle buses.
The butlers could only take us as far as the bus terminal, where we then had to wait for a shuttle to continue our journey.
On one occasion, it took my husband 45 minutes for a round trip from the room to the beach, simply to take our towels to the beach! It was such a waste of precious holiday time.
You really cannot just pop back to your room if you’ve forgotten something or want to freshen up. Everything becomes a journey, which takes away some of the spontaneity and relaxation of being on holiday.
The buses themselves could also be unpleasant in the evenings. The resort is marketed as a couples resort but there are lots of large groups. The buses were often noisy, with some guests who had clearly had rather too much to drink being very loud. Not always the relaxing experience you would hope for.
We appreciate that the layout is simply part of the resort’s design, but it’s something we hadn’t fully appreciated before arriving and it had a significant impact on our enjoyment.
It’s definitely worth considering if you prefer a resort where you can wander freely between your room, restaurants, bars and beach without constantly needing transport.
Memorable People to Thank
Please thank:
Dalmar and Melford the butlers - thoroughly lovely and helpful gentleman
Noel the pool guy - Noel cleaned our pool very day. He was friendly and discreet. Such a nice man.
Verona waitress in the Sushi bar at sandals dunns river - she was delightful!
Aldra breakfast waiter in the French restaurant. Such a positive, kind man
Daina dinner waitress in the French - Daina was a little ray of sunshine. So kind
Crystal Sky terrace bar - she went out of the way to make my mocktails pretty. I appreciated her!
Rajuan waiter in Kelly’s - a lovely young man. Very sweet and kind
Jaden Hobie cat boat - gave us an excellent tour and wa a very kind
Richann waitress candlelight beach dinner - such a lovely lady
Tipping
We were disappointed by the tipping policy, which we understood only permitted butlers to receive tips.
There were other members of staff who worked incredibly hard and provided excellent service, and we would have liked the opportunity to recognise them personally.
We feel this is something Sandals should reconsider. Good service deserves recognition, regardless of someone’s role within the resort.
We have highlighted some particularly lovely members of staff in this review because we wanted their efforts to be acknowledged. We sincerely hope management will pass on our thanks and ensure they receive the recognition they deserve.
Overall Impressions
Sandals Ochi is a lovely resort in many ways, and we certainly had a lovely and enjoyable holiday. There are beautiful areas, some excellent dining experiences and genuinely friendly staff who help make a stay memorable.
However, we also felt that parts of the resort were looking rather dated and could benefit from some updating. The inconsistent housekeeping and lack of information for guests arriving late were also disappointing.
Most importantly, the sprawling layout and constant reliance on shuttle buses really detracted from the experience for us.
We feel the overall experience should be a little more seamless.
We’re glad we visited and have some lovely memories of our stay, but ultimately the inconvenient layout, reliance on buses and tired appearance of certain areas would put us off returning to Sandals Ochi.
A nice holiday overall, but one where some thoughtful improvements could make a considerable difference.
