Royalton White Sands

My trip started a 1 hour and 45 minute wait to get into my room. They literally wouldn't let me in until 3 PM. I had my bracelet key, so I was able to have lunch, but had to sit around and wait until then. When I finally did get to my room, the safe was locked, so I had to wait for someone to come fix it. That ate up the rest of the afternoon and time I wanted to spend at the beach or pool. Any other resort I have been to, I got to my room as soon as I checked in, no matter the time. The staff acted like they were bothered if you asked for something. I went to one restaurant and it was just me, so I thought that would be easy to accommodate, but no, was told 20 tables were ahead of me, so I left. Had a horrible experience with the chukka horseback riding excursion. Was told to be in the lobby at 7:55 for the shuttle....it never came! We (a mom and her daughter) had to wait until 9 am to get help from the AMSTAR rep. He arranged for a shuttle to pick us up at 9:30. Apparently, the shuttle didn't pick up a family of 5 on the Blue Waters side, so we had to go get them. As we were going, I guess the shuttle driver was talking to someone from Chukka and told them how many and he rerouted us. We had to go to another hotel to pick up 2 more people that were not picked up. We were taken to a place we did not sign up for and were shorted on time and experience. We were not at the sugar plantation. I had no idea I would be in an adjoining room and could hear everything going on on the other side. Jamaica is beautiful and relaxing, but these experiences marred my vacation. I will say the bright spot was Nigel, the bell boy. Very friendly and assuring

We traveled with my parents and siblings and had a great stay. White Sands is a beautiful resort. We will be back!

We were very happy when we first arrived, but sadly our experience became worse over the stay. The items that were an issue: out of hot water constantly, no turn down service for 3 days between two rooms, room cleaning missed one day in one of the rooms, wedding party tent right outside of our room (9pm bedtime for small children and party going stong until after 11pm,) reservation free dining is great when no line-up (60+ people deep for the steakhouse,) kids club employees barely say hello to the kids and have them play video games/ watch movies (planned activites were nice, but they were short and then kids back to movie,) chair reserving out of control (chairs with towels and personal belongings not used all day!) My family were at a pool for hours with 1 chair and only 30 people around. All chairs were reserved by people we never saw, telephone out at one point and no way to order room service It wasn't all bad, but sadly the bad was enough to overshadow some of the good What was good - beautiful location, good food, excellent fitness staff, amazing beach, awesome kid water play, Junior Suite was a great size for family and amazing view.

To be clear, I was not expecting a 5 star resort. Just look at the prices. WS/BW prices are not anywhere near the top. Truth be told, this is like a 3-3.5 star. Some notes. No problem with shuttle, both coming and going. They are pretty efficient, but it could cause a problem depending on whether you are first or last in the pickup order. We got there a day late because of a missed connection (airline fault). Arrived at one and they still made us wait until 3:30 for a room even though we paid for the whole previous night and day. They refused to extend our stay a day at the end. Not their fault, but it would have been good customer service to do it. So we had to sit in the lobby in our travel clothes and just wait. Room was clean and was kept that way all week, except for one day when they didn't get in to clean our room until after 5 and we had already returned to the room. We ended up on the 7th floor of WS with a garden view. It was OK. We did have a great view of the sunset. No problem with noise. Room is small, but fine for a couple. Any more than that and it would be cramped. No problems with bugs, either bed or outside. No problem with hot water or AC. The resort grounds are kept very clean. Food is OK, nothing great. Breakfast and lunch buffets were typical with a lot of variety. There should be other lunch options. Like pizza at the Italian spot, but they stopped it. (Jerk Hut is very good.) Went to 5 of the 7 a la carte restaurants (except for Calypso and Jade, which wasn't open the whole time we were there). None were really any better than any of the others, so I can't recommend a favorite. All were just OK. Didn't try room service because of the long wait warnings and the poor selection. Biggest complaint with the restaurants is them making you wait even though they have plenty of open tables. Still don't understand what is up with that. Just makes people angry. I do think with the size of the resort, all the a la carte places should be open every day. One or two were closed every day we were there. Pool areas are great - the best part of the resort. No problem finding lounges no matter what time we came down. And we were always able to find a lounge with an umbrella if we waited a short time. They should have more umbrellas, though. Beach ocean are nice, but nothing compared to a great beach/ocean like Eagle Beach on Aruba, for example. The other thing is a stiff breeze blew the entire time, sometimes stronger than others. OK if you are by the pool because it is protected, but at the beach it is strong. It does provide relief from heat and bugs, but sometimes causes a problem with blowing sand. In general, most of the staff are pleasant and helpful. There are always the occasional indifferent or surly ones, however. Such is life. The nightly entertainment was a disappointment. The kids are trying hard, but it was pretty amateurish. Luckily by the time we had finished dinner, not being night owls, we were ready to turn in. (As an aside, it would be nice if they provide a channel guide for the TV in the room.) We were hardly bothered at all by vendors on the beach or in the resort. A brief mention, we said no and all was good. We did not do Diamond Club and I don't think we would have gotten value from it for what it costs. All in all, we enjoyed our time there. It was our first AI. It was nice having never to grab your wallet. We are not big drinkers but we sampled quite a few drinks and usually had (house) wine with dinner. The weather was great, especially compared to 25 degrees at home. We both agree though, that given a choice between Jamaica and Aruba, we would go to Aruba (the food is SO much better), but it was a nice change. PS If you want to get some BM coffee to take home, don't buy it at the resort. Get it at the airport - cheaper and a big selection.