Resort Review Time! Let's Get Real About RIU Ocho Rios!
One thing I won't do is lie to you guys. That's why I feel this incredible urge to tell you some things about myself before you proceed with reading this review!
1. Even though I am a travel agency owner / agent, I was raised in a family that was very budget conscious. Even now, as I approach the end of my 30s I have a hard time springing for a luxury hotel or resort. Don't get me wrong, I will do it. But there are always voices saying "it's just a place to sleep, no need for fancy" or "this is too much... I could spend this money on really nice meals or activities". These are my personal inner demons.
2. There are 6 of us. 2 adults and 4 kids. Trying to find an affordable, quality all-inclusive vacation where we can have a 2 bedroom suite or something similar is HARD.
3. When we took this particular trip, I was in **true** vacation mode. Meaning, I was not taking notes, not trying to take tons of photos of the property, not wanting to try every restaurant or menu item for the sake of writing this. I was chillin'. So this review is not going to be a "hard hitter", mmkay? It's personal opinion based on my experience as a traveler and NOT an agent.
Getting to the resort from MBJ Airport
For our trip, we booked shared transportation (shuttle) through Nexus. The Nexus reps were easy to find because they are wearing very bright orange shirts that say "Nexus". Shocking news, I know.
Once we got checked in with the Nexus rep, he showed us to our shuttle bus. We waiting for maybe 20 minutes before leaving so that other passengers could board. We had 1-2 stops before we got to RIU Ocho Rios.
LET ME WARN YOU: It is a long drive from the airport to the resort. Even if you stop at no other resorts, you are going to be in the shuttle for 1.5 hours to 2 hours if not more. I think our ride was close to 2 hours but it could have been a little less. Make sure you pee before you board the shuttle and have snacks for the kids handy.
Surprisingly, this was the first instance that I have ever witnessed my husband being car sick. But since we still had to make the journey BACK to the airport in a week, it was not the last time.
So, not really "resort" related except to give you an idea of how long it might take once you leave the airport. Private Transfers are always an option and I will link some excellent choices here... Just click on the Project Expedition photo and navigate to "Transfers" at the top!
Check In
We found check in to be very easy. I was super grateful for this because when we went to a different resort over Christmas break we waited for over 2 hours in line and it was a struggle. They had a counter with welcome drinks (adult and kid friendly) which my kids were pretty excited about, and after being in the shuttle with them for so long I was also ready for a drink.
Once we got checked in, we asked to have our luggage brought to our room and the luggage porter was very nice. He loaded all of our bags up on a trolley and took us straight to our room.
It's nice to not have to bring them yourself... the walk from the lobby to our room was very long. We would have died after such a long day already. You should tip whoever helps you with this nicely.
Our Room
Our room was a "Superior Family Room". It was perfect for the 6 of us for the most part. There was plenty of space to spread out, lots of storage, and it's nice to have a door between bedrooms. We liked having two different televisions so at night the kids could wind down with whatever they wanted, and we could do the same in our room.
One thing that I really did not like was just having one shower and one toilet. I guess I was a little spoiled with our room in the Dominican last year because that had 2 full bathrooms. But I will say that I appreciated that even though there was only one shower, the toilet was in a separate space so if my teenage daughter was taking one of her famous 2 hour showers, my 8 year old could still stink up the place from the toilet room across the hall. The shower and toilet room are both located in what we designated as the kids' room. Again, it is nice to have separation between our bedroom and theirs. The only time having the bathroom in the kids' room was an inconvenience was when I would inevitably have to get up in the dead of night to pee and try not to wake anyone.
There was one mini bar in our room and it had some sodas, bottles of water, Red Stripe beer, and Presidente beer stocked maybe every other day. I honestly don't remember 100% if it was every day or not. There were also liquors that you could use to make mixed drinks or shots but we didn't use them.
I found the bed to be firm and comfortable. I don't think Kyle liked the firmness but he still slept alright. Our room kept a decently cool temperature even though the outside temperature was super hot and muggy. We probably would have enjoyed it just a little bit cooler but overall it was comfortable.
The location of our room was near the very back, Splash World was directly on the other side of us so we could see it from our patio. That made it easy for us to tell if it was up and running or not during some of the rainy times.
The beach was a straight shot from our room as well, but it was a decent amount of walking to get to it. Our room was not close to anything except the water slides/ splash pad and the RiuLand Kids Club. The distance was ok for us but if you have difficulty walking for long distances you may not fare as well.
You Can See Our Room Tour Video Here On Our YouTube Channel!
https://youtube.com/shorts/ayicH3X2wsw
Another negative: It rained a LOT while we were there (that is NOT the negative... and I'll write more about that in a bit...) but the concern I want to mention here is that when it rains really hard and the walkways in front of the rooms and also the corridors can be extremely slippery. I can not stress this enough: use the hand rails when going on any stairs after it has rained. There were several instances where I was sure I was going to fall.
Splash World Waterpark
I think that we spent more time here than anywhere else! Castiel and Joseph really enjoyed the splash pad and spent a lot of time playing on the smaller slides and other fun features there. There are plenty of loungers around for parents to sit and relax or plop their bags down on while they go splash around.
It's important to note that drinks are not allowed in the splash pad area or the water slides. We didn't really pay attention to the sign so we didn't know until the 2nd day we went. I guess it depends on what lifeguards are working because the one from the first day didn't say anything but the one from the second day did.
The "big" slides are a blast! I really didn't think I was going to haul myself up those steps as many times as I did... it surprised me quite frankly (probably surprised the whole family... let's be real). You can not wear watches, sunglasses, hair clips, lanyards, etc... on the slides so make sure you either leave them in the room or put them with your towels before climbing all the way up to the top so you don't huff and puff all the way up there just to be told you can't wear them.
There are 4 racers and then there are 4 other slides that all have different layouts, speeds, etc. I was very surprised that my youngest, Joseph, was brave enough to do these slides and even more surprised when he kept going down them! I liked all but one slide... There is a big blue one that I think is called a cyclone slide (please correct me if I am wrong) which is the only one I absolutely didn't like. It actually hurt me to do this one. This slide is not always open, either. If there are not enough lifeguards on duty they close it. Probably because they figure it's hard to swim with a broken back or massive concussion. *Just to be clear, my husband LOVED this particular slide, it did not try to slaughter him.
At the area with the big water slides there are a fair amount of loungers with umbrellas and little tables to dump your stuff at while you go have a blast! We never had an issue finding a place to park our behinds or our belongings.
Dining
There are a variety of restaurants to to choose from at this resort! We liked having plenty of options for dinner each day! For the dinner restaurants, you do need a reservation but even with There being 6 of us we did not have trouble getting one for the places we wanted.
Kulinarium:
We did not eat here so I can not give an opinion about it. There was availability so we could have... Kyle and I would probably have enjoyed it but our kids are not nearly as adventurous with new foods (and one of them would have certainly preferred starvation over "Mushroom ragout with poached egg and truffled potato purée"). So to save ourselves from what would have surely been considered self-inflicted torture we skipped this one.
The description in the app calls it "A gourmet restaurant that is based on local market cuisine, using fresh local ingredients" and says it "offers a unique experience for the senses".
Steakhouse:
This restaurant is on the terrace just outside of the buffet so it is open air. It's got a nice view of the pools and you can see the beach (but that depends on which direction you are sitting). There is a dress code which Kyle is never happy about because he hates wearing sleeves. But for good food he will suck it up.
We love meat and I think this meal was Kyle's favorite. The kids all enjoyed what they ordered for the most part but Castiel thought the cheese on his burger was weird (just fyi, it's brie... so yeah... we don't really do brie at our house and that's why it was weird) and Jaxon's steak had some tough bits he struggled to cut by himself. As you can see from the picture below, Kyle was extremely pleased with the very manly size of his meal because it's technically a meal meant for two people. He ate and left no crumbs.
Most of us ordered the mozzarella sticks for our appetizer (some of us enjoyed them and some did not) and the apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. The kids liked that, and I thought it was ok but it was more bread-y than apple-y than I was expecting.
The service was decently fast here and that was appreciated because we were very hungry, haha!
Piacenza (Italian): I want to say that this restaurant was my personal favorite. I loved the salmon with dill and white wine sauce! But aside from the tasty filet, I also appreciated that this restaurant has it's own decently sized buffet inside. That way you can choose from a wide variety of salad bar items, pastas, veggies, fruits, desserts, and more and start to enjoy it while you are waiting for your main dish. Kyle and Autumn had the beef filet with rosemary potatoes and they really enjoyed that. I honestly don't remember what my boys ate, with the exception of Joe who ordered nothing and just ate stuff from the buffet which made him very happy indeed.
Mandalay (Asiatic):
This restaurant is a buffet so you can choose from many, many options including some sushi. Don't get me wrong, there were some good options here and I did not struggle to find anything I liked. But my kids stayed true to themselves and ate mostly fruits, desserts, and things that had very little sauce. I was disappointed in the sushi (disappointed but not surprised) not really because it was not good, there just wasn't much of a selection and it seemed like it was the same type as what we could get at the main buffet (because they did have it there in the evenings). I really don't have anything to rave about here, but please keep in mind that each experience is unique to the individual.
St. Ann:
This is the main buffet where you can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We very much enjoyed our breakfasts here each morning. They had cook-to-order omelet stations with a variety of meats and veggies that you could have in it, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and french toast, lots of fruits, cheeses, breads, muffins, donuts, yogurt, cereal, breakfast potatoes, fresh juices and smoothie type drinks, and more. The kids found muffins that they loved and I had a freshly made omelet just about every day.
Lunch was also a good variety. We could always find a burger or some sort of chicken, pastas, pizzas, veggies, fruits, desserts, etc. They always had ox tails in the Jamaican food section which I was happy about. I ate a lot of them. I did not notice food getting cold and gross there, they were constantly walking around checking it and refilling/ replacing as needed.
We ate dinner here a few times, as well. It was very good. I like fish so I tried a few different kinds and some were overcooked and dry but others were good. This is where I had my first taste of Jamaican Jerk Chicken and fell in love. Check out my post on how to make it here: Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Lots of times we went and my kids were able to find chicken nuggets, fries, nachos, etc... so when they were not feeling adventurous (so... 3x a day) they still had safe choices.
I appreciated that I could order a glass of wine at the buffet and they'd bring it along with whatever sodas or juices the rest of the family was having.
The only true negative that I want to share is that sometimes it took a very long time to get drinks and refills and if you try to get your own they yell at you. That was something we did notice at almost every meal we ate here. I'm not sure if they just didn't have enough people working or what. We did not complain because we know they work hard there and maybe it was just an "off" week.
Entertainment
When you go to an all inclusive, you expect nightly shows... right? Right. They have those here!
I won't go into a ton of detail here but I'll give the key points that I think you'll be interested in.
There are nightly shows and performances that include a Jamaican dance show, a drum line performance, Michael Jackson tribute (obviously... ), a Hollywood show, glow party, beach party, and rock n' roll. My favorite was the glow party but my entire family refused to get the white balloons and bop and jump around with me. They said the music was "too loud" and I was "too embarrassing". Party poopers.
Side note: I don't care how many all-inclusives you've been to in Mexico or the Dominican Republic... nothing prepares you for the amount of booty shaking involved in the shows in Jamaica! It was awesome!
Some other fun activities that they have on the schedule each week include:
- Cahoots! trivia games where you can play against the entire audience!
- Silent Disco which Jaxon and I went to and enjoyed for a little while one of the nights.
- Foam party in the pool... we did not get to do this because we had been on an excursion at the time.
- Live reggae performances
- There is a RiuLand kids club "party" or activity at the main stage every evening before the bigger shows begin. My boys begged to go to these every single night after dinner.
- There was also a day where they had all kinds of family games set up in the lobby... Kyle and I played bean bag toss and shuffleboard but they also had other games to choose from.
- There are plenty of opportunities for entertainment around the resort so I know I didn't list them all but you can see what's on the schedule from the RIU app to learn more and see what else there is!
RiuLand Kids Club
Let me start by saying I have one child in particular that claims he hates every single kids club in the history of kids clubs. This child swore up and down that he was not going to even check this one out. Well that resolve didn't last long... We were in the process of checking in the other 2 boys and I guess he saw something that interested him in there because he wanted to stay, too. And then every day from that moment on, he was begging to go to RIUland. He went without his brothers a few times because he liked it so much.
Something to note: There is a very nice indoor play place / ball pit in here which is initially why the other boys were so excited... but only our youngest was short enough to be allowed to play on it most of the time. They did allow the taller boys to play on it at certain times but not nearly as much as they would have liked.
They were not very busy while we were there at the beginning of June. I was actually surprised that sometimes there were only a small handful of kids and 50% of them were mine.
Something I really loved about the kids club was that the employees got to know my boys, knew their names even outside of the kids club, and made them feel so special. For example, Jaxon (the one who was absolutely not going to go at all) would go to the RiuLand parties at the main stage and the employees would call him out by name to dance or do a talent among other things. He liked that they remembered him and made him feel important. My mama heart appreciated how they treated my babies, too.
The only negative I can think of is that, because sometimes there were not many kids, the activities for various age groups got a bit boring for my older boys who were sometimes the only two in their group and don't like many of the same types of entertainment or activities.
The Beach
This property has an excellent stretch of beach. The water was so nice and clear and we spent a ton of time there. There are tons of loungers and if you prefer to sit in shade you can fund some that are farther back and beneath the many palm trees. We never had an issue finding at least 2 or 3 that were side by side and most of the time all 6 of us had seats to ourselves.
There is a lot to do here besides just sunbathe and swim. You can play beach volleyball, which Autumn did on several occasions. You can also check out pedalboats, kayaks, and other non-motorized water things. Kyle and Jaxon took the pedalboat out once and enjoyed that. It didn't cost anything, either, you just have to fill out a waiver first.
Kyle is very athletic and was trying to swim certain long distances every day. While doing this, he discovered a spot where there were tons of colorful fish so he came and got us so we could go have a look. Basically it was along the boundary line farther out in the water and to the left. I don't know how to explain it so you'll just have to swim around and look for yourself!
Pools
Sadly, all I can tell you is that they looked like they would have been fun to swim in. Not once did we get in any of the pools. We were at the beach or the water park the entire time and it really never sounded more fun to go in the pool than to go to those places.
The adults only pool has a swim up bar, the family pool does not... however you can easily access the bar that's right above the swim up bar (one side is a swim up and the other is a regular walk up bar). They did a lot of different activities and games throughout the day but again we were off in another world for most of it.
Inclement Weather
June in Jamaica can be very wet. I think it rained every day of our trip for at least some portion of the day and with varying intensity.
So what? A wise person that I know always says "on vacation there's no bad weather, just bad planning and attitudes". Honestly if you go when you know it's probably going to rain at least some of the time, set your expectations and the expectations of your family and you should be alright.
Maybe some resorts don't do a good job of providing alternate activities or pivoting when bad weather strikes but this resort does. There was one day in particular that we had just gotten back from our excursion and it was a torrential downpour... I mean I don't know if I have ever seen it rain that hard for that long. We had planned on getting lunch at the little poolside grill because by the time we got back to the resort the buffet was closed and lunch was technically over. It was raining so badly that we could not get back to our room. The grill, pool, everything was shut down. You could hardly see through the rain! We sort of started to worry because we were wet and very hungry at that point but the employees made the pivot so quickly and turned the buffet terrace (which is where the Steakhouse is set up in the evenings) into a refuge and had all of the foods from the grill and a salad bar set up so those who were stuck could eat. When the rain stopped, we all went on our merry way and everything re-opened.
Housekeeping
Our room was cleaned daily and they did a good job. We try not to be too messy but sometimes it's unavoidable when someone didn't get all of the sand off of their legs or an unnamed teenager steams up the bathroom for so long that everybody's stuff that was in there becomes wet and needs to be aired out... Not pointing fingers though...
As I mentioned before, I think they restocked the minibar every other day which worked out fine for us because Kyle doesn't like beer. But if we both liked beer we would have been out of it very quickly, haha.
The time for housekeeping to come to our room was unpredictable each day which was a little bit frustrating only when they would come later in the day when we were just getting back to the room to shower and change for dinner. And the next day they were there in the early afternoon. That's not their fault and I'm not complaining, just making it a point to mention it because some of you may have little kids or babies that nap during the day or something and predictability is somewhat important.
Conclusion
This was definitely not my first time at a RIU resort but it was my family's first time. Nobody had any real complaints! Hooray!
The kids still rave about the waterpark, Autumn loved beach volleyball, Kyle loved the food (he still talks about the cream cheese at the buffet... of all things!!) and the beach, I loved the entertainment and *most* of the waterslides and the atmosphere overall was so welcoming, upbeat, and still very relaxed.
We all agree that this is a great family resort! It's not fancy, but it's not outdated or dirty, either. There are times where you can party hard and times where you can vibe to a relaxing smooth jazz played live on stage. It's a great value for the lower cost of it!
There are a ton of great tips in here for traveling with kids!! Love the pics. Also, I enjoyed reading it because you are hilarious!