Riu Ocho Rios - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

13461 reviews

• 

  Very good trip

  I had a very good trip with my parents. Food was good services were great. Except the ramp for the wheelchair. Accessible needs to be worked on. It's bit too steep. The only terrible encounter I had was with the bartender at the sports bar around 6:15 am on June 8th, he was mean.

  Jun 21, 2025
• 

  Beautiful upgraded hotel

  Nicely upgraded. Always a favorite location. Wonderful beach and great staff and food. There a variety of food and tasty.

  Jun 21, 2025
• 

  Wedding and holiday

  This was are 3rd time here as it is a beautiful hotel for families. Upon arrival on checking in my husband asked for a room upgrade as we were getting married off resort and the reception manager (can’t remember her name sorry) looked at our booking and said not an issue but it would need to be the following day, this wasn’t a problem to us. We were upgraded to an ocean view room the following day and it was beautiful - balcony looking straight out to the ocean 🥰 I have always wanted to stay in one of these rooms and the manager made that happen for us. The room is stocked with beers and water plus fizzy drinks and also spirits and if you use the Rui app you can request more daily as they also have coffee in the room and I requested more daily and it always arrived very quickly never an issue. There is a shop at the hotel that sells clothes, gifts and snacks - crisps etc but they are very expensive so if you go out of the hotel and take a right there is a garage that my husband went to and got loads of snacks very cheap for us and our 13 year old. There is a buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner and unfortunately we found this had gone down hill since we last stayed. Food is very repetitive and the Jamaican section I have to say is a joke - the selection is just so small and not what you would expect from a hotel in Jamaica. There is the jerk chicken hut by the pool that serves lunch and this is beautiful and hasn’t changed in all the times we have been there. Pools are great and never an issue for a bed only issue we found was umbrellas were very low and hard to get - maybe an idea to have one for each section. The entertainment crew has changed since we were last there and while they were still good we did find that again the shows were repetitive which wasn’t great as we stayed for 14 nights and had seen some of the shows last time we stayed I like to play bingo but this has gone digital and you have to download an app on your phone to play which in my opinion took the fun out of it. We have never had an issue with staff but this time we found them to be very unsociable, by this I mean when ordering a drink there was no chat from them and in the end my husband who is from Jamaica had to ask one of them what the issue was to be told the staff has been informed by management that they are to take guests orders and then they are not allowed to engage in conversation or look the guest in the eye, if they do they will be reprimand. This is a disgusting way to treat the staff and gives a very bad impression of Jamaicans and Jamaica- I would strongly suggest that management look at this as this made us feel very awkward for not just us but the staff as well As we have been at this hotel 3 times we have made the decision next time we go to stay at a different hotel - the hotel, beach and area are beautiful but the differences we saw this time mainly with how the staff are treated has made us uncomfortable.

  Jun 21, 2025
• 

  Would never stay here again...

  If you are used to the finer things in life, this place is NOT for you. I apologize in advance for the lengthy review. We had originally booked a stay at a Beaches Resort, however, the facility was closed for our weekend. We were forced to find another location and this place was the only hotel that had our dates available. Immediately upon booking the stay, we noticed the HUGE difference in price from our original place. I am firm believer in "you get what you pay for," and this place certainly proved that. For starters, we paid for a "transfer" service from the airport to the hotel. I thought I would receive a clear email or some type of notification about the transfer service, but it turns out it was located in the "fine print" that no one reads at the bottom of one of my confirmation emails. Thankfully, a young man working at the airport helped me figure that out. We then boarded our transfer service, which was a bus called Nexus Tours. We assumed everyone on board was traveling to the same hotel, but turns out that was not the case, and this bus stopped at at about 7-10 different hotels to drop off people before we finally got to our location. Needless to say, what should have been a 1.5 commute from the airport in Montego Bay to Ocho Rios, took 3-4 hours!!! Once arrival at the hotel, check-in was quick and we were fortunate that our room was ready within a reasonable amount of time before the scheduled check-in of 4pm. Unfortunately, there are NO ELEVATORS in the buildings except for one building, which appears to be made specifically for those who cannot use the stairs. So, imagine after traveling via plane, a 3-4 hour fiasco drive from the airport, now, there's no elevator to help with your luggage when you've been assigned to the 3rd floor. Fortunately, Malik, the Bell Hop was super helpful and assisted us with carrying all of our luggage (6 pieces) to our room. Our room was decent considering we upgraded to a room that contained an extra bedroom within the room. A second bathroom would have been ideal, but we made it work with just the one. The toilet area was separate from the shower area and the shower area was huge. After we arrived to our room, we requested additional pillows. The phone in the room does not work; all requests have to be done via their mobile application. I submitted my original request via the app at around 3pm....did not receive pillows until almost 9pm. And this was after I went to the front desk to inquire. I was told that I was in the "queue" and had to wait until they got to my request but she assured me that all 3 of my requests were received. Food options were 2 out of 5. There is a buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Although the lunch buffet is posted as open from 12:30-5:00, it was shutting down by 3:00. The very limited restaurants on site, all require a "reservation" and were only open for dinner which was scheduled from 6:30-9:00. Keep in mind, none of the persons working with the food wear any gloves, and many times the employees were seen touching food items with their bare hands. Needless to say I did not gain a single pound on this trip. If you're a drinker, be prepared to drink only Rum or Red Stripe beer on tap. We are scotch drinkers and the only whiskey they had on site was some garbage called Early Times Kentucky Whisky. Definitely did not get my money's worth as far as all inclusive eating and drinking goes as compared to other resorts we have stayed at. Additionally, my adult daughter requested a mojito on several occasions and was told they could not make her the drink because they did not have any mint. How do you not have mint to make a drink that is typically associated as an island drink? Aside from that, this hotel is very environmentally conscious, which is a good thing, however, most, if not all of the drinks are served in reusable plastic cups. They do not give out napkins and drinks are served with paper straws. There was one night where my daughter and I were waiting at the bar to get a drink and there was a couple next to me who ordered shots. The couple was served and drank their shots, leaving the shot glasses on the bar. On the other side of my daughter and I, there was a woman who also requested shots. I literally saw the bartender take the shot glasses from the couple, rinse out the glasses with tap water, and then serve the other woman shots in those same glasses!!! **Just Gross** For being a "family friendly" hotel, there is not much to do for kids. If you have little ones under 10, I suppose you could take advantage of the Riu Land area, which had an indoor facility for kids to play around in, in addition to the water park area. The big waterslides advertised on their site consists of about 5 slides that are probably better suited for older kids but there's only so much sliding into a pool you can do. There was a pool table located at the Sports Bar, which is the only location open 24 hours...you have to pay $2 a game for pool and wait in line to play since there is only 1 table. The hotel was in close proximity to the beach which was never crowded, and to the local attractions such as the Blue Hole and Dunn's River. We were fortunate enough to meet Mr. Walker, a local driver for Juta Tours, who was very helpful and accommodating. For our departure, we opted to pay for a private taxi service (about $150 USD with tip) to take us to the airport to avoid an unnecessary 3-4 hour drive to the airport. Overall, the only plus to this place was the customer service, with the exception of the pillow request. We have been to Jamaica before and typically their customer service is on point. I would definitely not stay here again.

  Jun 20, 2025
• 

  Improvements needed before we return

  Overall we enjoyed our stay at Rui Ocho Rios however there are some areas of improvement which need to be addressed if we were to return. Negatives: Blocked water drainage from the beach showers. On a couple of occasions I visited reception to request water as this had not been restocked in the room. We visited the Steak house restaurant and felt very rushed serving a three course meal in 35 minutes then requesting for our table back. Cleanliness of pool area is very poor drinks that had been spilt the day(s) before had not been cleaned. Swim up pools were dirty. Left over food and plates left in corridors or outside of rooms which attracted flies. Smoking areas are not adhered to especially around the pool area under canopies and in the pool which clearly has no smoking signs. Entertainment is repeated weekly, this is disappointing as I’m sure most people stay longer than 7 days. Lack of tables being cleared and reset in the main buffet restaurant which causes congestion at popular meal times. Empty soap dispensers in communal toilets. Soft drinks are not fizzy at the bar. Flies around food in buffet area especially cold meats, fruit and cheese. Preferably this would be covered. Do not come to this hotel if you are looking for a relaxed environment as loud music is around the pool/beach 10am-6pm. Positives: Entertainment team and bartenders are very hard working and keep everyone entertained. Well maintained and clean rooms. Good range of activities offered throughout the day. Excellent location to visit Blue Hole, Dunns River and Nine Mile. Good variety of food and a la carte restaurants especially the Kulinarium which was exceptional. Jerk Chicken at Pepe’s is the best we have ever tasted.

  Jun 20, 2025