Sandals Dunns River

We just returned from 9 nights at Dunns River! We had the best time! We have been to many Sandals properties and this may be one of our favorite. Grounds are beautiful and rooms are perfect. Staff is amazing. Definitely do some water sports. We had Carson take us out on Hobe cat and he gave us a little tour and shared some facts about that side of the island. Shout out to just a few of the amazing staff...our Butlers Eshaan and Dejhanae. They were on top of everything and just so fun and made our stay special. Kobie was not our butler but she still helped make our trip fun by bringing my husband birthday shots and making us laugh. Chef JM at Hanami went out of his way to make me a special meal when he heard I didn't eat sushi. We had met him 2 days earlier and he remembered and brought it out to us himself! Chef Gregory from the jerk shak is one of the happiest hard working chefs. He checked on my husband almost daily to let him know the special and served him his food when he'd go over. By the way we did not have a bad meal at any restaurant. Edessa was our favorite for breakfast and dinner. Our server there Natasha was great. Really took great care of us and the manager Tenesha was also great, checking on us and just loved having conversations with her! Our favorite bartender was Jerome at the beach bar, he was just fun and attentive plus made great drinks! I can not leave out Kenroy who just took care of us week! He is a great manager!! If I had to add a con it would be more about rude people then the resort....a large group was there while we were there and many of them the need to smoke in the pool, on balconies and basically wherever they wanted. (Sandals has designated smoking areas) we enjoyed so much we are going back this fall. Read less

We go to Sandals properties mainly for the included scuba diving. This is our 3rd property, and although we’ve enjoyed them all, Dunn’s River sets the bar high. When we arrived we were escorted to our room with such service, I thought they had messed up and given us butler service. The dive crew, headed by Lincoln, was a step above to. The crew is joyful and it’s contagious. All staff recommendations have been spot on. We thoroughly enjoyed Dunn’s Rum Club and Zuka, Rovaugh was incredible. Sweet Jada is mature beyond her years and understood exactly what we were looking for on our next Sandals retreat. Truly “One Love” at this property. Read less

We stayed at Sandals Dunns River for 9 days in March. This isn't our normal type of holiday which is usually a fairly active holiday. However, having had a very stressful 6 months we were looking for a relaxing holiday and, mostly, that's what we got. The resort is beautiful. The grounds are kept in excellent condition (shout out to the grounds and maintenance staff - the unsung heroes of any resort). It actually looks like the brochure. There were really lovely touches such as the leaves imprinted into the paths which just elevated the design a little. The resort is quite compact but there were definitely areas where you could get away from the 'crowds'. Blum coffee shop is an oasis of calm (and they do a damn fine coffee too) The resort staff were unfailingly helpful and welcoming. The airport and reception: We arrived in Kingston and were met by the Sandals representative. The transfers both from and to the airport were handled efficiently and both of our drivers were extremely friendly. Our check in at the resort was efficient and we were in our room within 30 minutes of arrival. We arrived late so ordered room service which arrived swiftly and was quite delicious. The next day we were given a tour of the resort so we were well oriented. The Room: I'm generally a poor sleeper but I slept so well here. Very comfortable beds and pillows. Air conditioning worked well and kept the room at a very comfortable temperature. We stayed in a travertine club ocean front room and it had everything we needed. Our housekeeper kept it immaculately clean. The toiletries are lovely, very good quality. A notch above most hotel toiletries. The room was spacious and contained everything we needed. Excellent storage, plenty of room for clothes etc. Restaurants: We ate in all of the restaurants except the sushi. The food was excellent in all of them. We enjoyed all of our meals. The greek restaurant was a little chaotic but the food was very good. The jerk shack for lunch was great (do not skip the jerk shack!) as was the food at the seaside grill. The breakfast and lunch buffets always had a great selection of food. It could get really busy at peak breakfast time but all of the staff handled the pressure with grace and a smile. Bars: The rum bar is a great spot especially later on in the evening. Their rum old fashioned is to die for. Definitely the best cocktails on the resort. They'll make you anything even if it's not on their menu. The snacks are great. We did consider just heading there one evening and just working our way through the snack menu. Never did. Maybe next time. The hidden gem was the rooftop bar. Lovely venue with amazing views. Sitting with a glass of wine watching the sun go down was our favourite pre-dinner activity. Woefully underused. This could be a great lunch venue or a place for Club+ guests to have predinner drinks and maybe some canapes? I do need to give a shout out to the fab young woman (whose name I didn't get shamefully) who was serving in the rooftop bar on our last evening (25th March). My husband was quite ill that evening so I was on my own. She looked after me so well and offered to order up food from one of the restaurants for me. We had a lovely chat before I headed off. She really went the extra mile to make sure I was okay and well looked after. Activities and Entertainment: We took the glass bottom boat trip and also the Dunns River Catamaran trip. Again, both excellent with great staff taking care of us. We also attended the Club wine tasting, cocktail evening and martini monday. All were great fun. The hosts and staff were brilliant. Definitely recommend attending. The entertainment round the pool was varied but not intrusive. Our room was above the plaza but any entertainment was over by 10pm. The silent disco went on longer and was very entertaining to watch from the balcony. We loved the piano entertainment in the lobby bar. We also took the pottery class and made some bowls. Well, I say "we". I think our teacher did most of the heavy lifting there 😂. Still, they made it home in one piece and have pride of place on our dresser. The Spa: We didn't use the spa until the last day so we could shower before leaving. It is an amazing place. Beautiful and it smells amazing. The Down Side: As has been mentioned again and again and again in previous reviews. The sunbed and parasol situation. This is just ridiculous. A five star resort should not require it's guests to be tripping down to the pool or the beach at 5am to secure a lounger. There should be sufficient loungers and a parasol for every two loungers. Anything else really isn't acceptable at a 5* resort. I understand that the butlers are not supposed to go down before 7 to reserve beds but you can see them out with their torches in the early hours and we even saw butlers removing personal belongings from reserved sunbeds. This is an easy fix. More loungers and parasols and no reservations by anybody (including butlers) before 7am. The number of beds that lay reserved but unused for a good portion of the day was ridiculous. This isn't new information. This issue has been raised in reviews since the resort opened over 18 months ago. There's really no excuse for this to still be happening and it needs to be sorted out. I'm on holiday. I'm not getting up at 5am to get a sun lounger. I didn't actually and generally we found somewhere to be but not necessarily with any shade. As someone who burns easily that's not a good thing. I've never been to a 5* resort where the only sugar free option for drinks was coke zero. No light tonics or other mixers apparently. Not great if you're a diabetic and very much restricted what I could drink. There really needs to be more sugar free drinks. I missed my gin and tonic. Also snacks in the room were sweet snacks. You couldn't get a savoury snack for love nor money (you could buy a small tube of pringles in the shop but here's the thing Sandals, I've already paid for an all inclusive holiday - would a packet of ready salted crisps in the room really dent your profits?). Following that thought, a small bowl of nibbles when people sit down in a bar is pretty standard at most 5* resorts/hotels. Not suggesting that the pool bars do this but it would be a nice touch in the rooftop bar and the rum bar. Olives/nuts/crisps/twiglets - just makes the experience a little nicer. The singing reception. Not for me Sandals. I really am content with a welcome to Sandals. I found it quite uncomfortable for both myself and the staff. We asked for a late checkout or the use of another room due to our late departure and my husband who had been quite ill the day before and still wasn't 100% (which we were happy to pay for) but were told there was nothing available. Obviously when you check out at 11am and your pick up is at 4.30 that's a while when you don't necessarily want to leave your valuables in storage or carry them round with you. Luckily some friends were gracious enough to let us store these items in their safe. I think late departures need to be managed better. Sitting in the concierge lounge a new arrival wanted to move rooms and this was immediately arranged so apparently rooms were available but maybe not the will? Hey ho - we managed. Perhaps offer the use of lockers in the spa to late departing guests. That would certainly have made our last day easier. Overall this is a great resort and we enjoyed our stay. There are things that could be improved and other optional things that would elevate the experience to what I would consider to be a true 5* experience. However, I would definitely recommend Sandals Dunns River to anybody who's looking for a relaxing holiday where you will be very well looked after by incredible staff. Just be prepared to get up very early in the morning if you're particular about your sun bathing spot. Read less

My husband and I recently returned from our 7-night stay at Sandals Dunn's River. We have previously stayed at 9 different Sandals Resorts and Beaches Turks and Caicos over the past 25 years. This resort was among one of our favorites due to the lovely restaurants, excellent pools and beautiful beach area. The staff members were very polite and friendly, and the overall service was excellent. We stayed in a Butler's Suite since we don't like to wake up at 6:00 AM to try to reserve chairs and umbrella at the beach or pool. Our two butlers (Akeem and Fernando) reserved great beach and pool front lounge chairs and brought us drinks and lunch when requested. They were both great! The resort was a lovely property and was neither too small nor big. As with other Sandals Resorts, the grounds and plantings are in impeccable shape and are always maintained in pristine condition. As far as the restaurants, they were 3.5 to 4 stars. Here's a rundown: Banyu (Asian Fusion) - loved the food Cascata (Italian) - very good Italian - the Manager Salvatore was terrific! L'Amande (French) - lovely restaurant with okay food. Zuka (Latin Fusion) - A great surprise! Our waiter was very nice. Try the Corvina! Hamani (Sushi) - ok sushi Edessa (Greek) - solid food; sit down full-service breakfast was nice (but very slow) with outside seating by the beach Saltaire buffet - decent with good selection Galene - basic sandwiches and salad - ok Pizza was very good Our room (Tufa Butler Sky Suite) was very spacious and comfortable with a beautiful ocean/pool view. Great location. The Dunn's Rum Bar was cool!! The entertainment was just ok. Many of the shows were very similar. The fire shows were more enjoyable. (We preferred the entertainment at Sandals Grenada and Sandals Grand St. Lucian.) We'd like to especially thank the following Team Members for their outstanding service: Kamika (Butler Manager) - absolutely terrific! Jessica - server at L'Amande - sweet and professional Janiel - server at Cascada - good service Elaine - Repeat Guests Travel We would definitely recommend Sandals Dunn's River for a fun, lively vacation! Read less