Our first All-Inclusive
Dec 17, 2024 Z2339CVpatriciak
We recently visited St. James/Secrets in Montego Bay for a family gathering. We have done cruises in the past but never an All Inclusive. I found the experiences to be very similar without the advantage of the cruise ships stopping in other locations. Frankly, the resort could have been anywhere with the limited amount of interaction that you…
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We recently visited St. James/Secrets in Montego Bay for a family gathering. We have done cruises in the past but never an All Inclusive. I found the experiences to be very similar without the advantage of the cruise ships stopping in other locations. Frankly, the resort could have been anywhere with the limited amount of interaction that you have with local culture except for the staff and music and some food. If you are looking for an authentic trip to Jamaica, I wouldn't say that this is it.
We found the staff to be excellent. The majority were very friendly and eager to please. Most say "hello" as you are walking by them on grounds. The wait service and bartenders were very friendly with the exception of the bartenders at the evening show with the trapeze act. We walked up to the bar to get drinks and it felt somewhat discriminatory on who was asked what they wanted or if they needed more while we stood and waited. Definitely a weird vibe there. That was the only place that we noted anything questionable from the staff.
Alcohol is clearly flowing throughout the property and the restaurants are pretty good. The breakfast buffet is nice and has a lot of presumably local options as well as what might be considered other international options for visitors. There are large help-yourself barrels with iced water bottles on the beach which is lovely.
I like their nod to recycling. There are signs on the trash cans that say they will separate the trash from recycling. The bathrooms have signs that reinforce recycling and the toilets have the low/high flush options. There is a lot of waste at these resorts.
As for food, the only suggestion I have would be a more accessible or variable snack location. It's not bad for mass produced food. They have jerk chicken and pizza available on the beach but other snacks (something light like chips and salsa) had to be ordered through room service which took a minimum of an hour each time. They have these cool "secret boxes" near the door to each suite for drop off of room service or the staff can bring the cart into the room. Not so handy on the beach. We had snacks delivered to our room on the Saturday we were there (before our family event) and put the plates, etc. in the box when we were done. It was still there when we checked out a few days later. One night, my husband went out looking for something to eat (maybe around 11:00). Nothing was open. He asked the staff at an event that was closing down and they said he could help himself to what was left from the party lol. (I should note he did!). The coffee kiosk does have some great specialty coffees and snacks but those are more available in the day time.
The entertainment team was very fun. Sky walked by our group to encourage us to come to the "bubble pool party" which didn't seem like something we would want to do. She came back to our group and was funny and approachable and her approach made us want to participate. It ended up being a blast. The bartenders at the swim up bar in the pool with the foam party were clearly overwhelmed. They should have been expecting the crowd.
The suites are lovely. We had an ocean front suite that was perfect. We slept with the doors open to hear the breeze. In room cleaning service was oddly inconsistent. It didn't seem like they were coming in every day and then randomly a bath mat would be replaced or waters would be placed on the bed tables. I think they were in our rooms a lot but I'm not sure what they did each time. Nice touch is to have sodas and beers and waters in the mini-frig that they fill up every day. Some food items in there would have been really nice to have.
Tipping is really awkward. They tell you to bring money to tip staff which is easy with bellmen, drivers, room service etc. It's not so clear with wait staff, bartenders, and other staff. Tip jars are not allowed. You don't sign receipts for charges at restaurants because it's all inclusive so it's hard to figure out how to tip. Our driver to the airport was quite frank and said some of the tourism and hospitality workers on the island have protested low wages and not having access to tips (such as the tips that you are almost expected to include at the end of a cruise). I felt so disappointed that I didn't just carry bills around to tip everyone. This property is a HYATT property. I'm disappointed in HYATT for underpaying their workers and not making tipping more readily accessible or easier.
There is a "preferred only" section of beach, pools, hot tub, etc. that made me chuckle. I didn't see the sign delineating the preferred area the first day and went and got the orange towels. The non-preferred are brown towels. It seemed kind of unnecessary.
I wasn't sure of the "adults only" idea but there definitely is a different vibe with no kids in the pools or at the breakfast buffet. We didn't see any of the rumored adult activities that are sometimes associated with all-inclusives (it's called SECRETS lol?).
Overall, a good place for a contained family,adult family gathering.
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