Nancy and I had a wonderful time during our short stay in Jamaica – despite our hotel, the Royalton White Sands. It was post-card beautiful but lacking in integrity and quality.
The hotel advertises ocean front rooms and that was critical for us. We specifically stated that we wanted a room with a view of the Caribbean. We didn’t get what we asked for. There were perhaps only 3 or 4 rooms out of 350 that did not have a view of the water. We were on the lower level of rooms with a huge cluster of tropical plants blocking the views. We went back to the front desk and were told that all the other rooms were occupied, but they would try to switch rooms the next day, which they did. However, we were not allowed to check in until 3 pm, so we basically were without a room for one day. The new room had a nice view but no hot water the next morning.
The food was mediocre if that. The lines to the restaurants were long and some of the restaurants advertised were not available because they were booked well in advance. We tried an Italian restaurant the first night. I ordered Chicken Parmesan, which could easily have come from a Lean Cuisine package and their pasta and sauce was like eating from a can of Chef Boyardee. The second night, knowing the quality of food was lacking, we went to the steak restaurant. They offered an upgrade – a USDA Prime T-Bone for an additional $39. I decided on that rather than eating one of their Western Sizzlin’ cuts of beef. My appetizer was a crab cake that was all filler, and it wasn’t hot. We waited 40 minutes after we were served our salad before the steaks arrived. The $39 T-bone was a 12-ounce steak with no filet side. I ordered it medium rare, and it was purple inside. Not wanting to wait another 40 minutes, I ate half of it, and we left.
We discovered that towels for the beach area were all taken by 9 AM so we had to bring towels from our room. There were not enough people at the front desks and lines were always long to check in or get information. There were no chairs in the rooms, so you had to sit on the balcony or on the bed. They had only one restaurant open for breakfast and the buffet was understaffed.
Not all was bad, though. Once we got our water view room, it was lovely, and we made good use of the balcony. We ate at their Tex-Mex restaurant on the last night. It was very good and our server, a young man named Garfield, was excellent. There were numerous bars and the pools on the grounds were spacious and beautiful. Nancy and I thoroughly enjoyed our time outside watching the gentle waves of the Caribbean lap upon the shore and the weather was perfect. The Caribbean was beautiful as advertised. Too bad the Royalton White Sands did not deliver as well.