We travelled from 12 Jan 2012 to 26 Jan 2012.
When booking the reviews for this hotel were 'ok'. In the month leading to our departure they changed dramatically and I contacted First Choice (our tour operator) to discuss the situation. I was assured that there had been problems but all was resolved now..this was wrong.

Upon arrival we were informed some rooms were without water and everyone would be shipped to their sister hotel, in retrospect clearly as everyone had booked different rooms this was a con but at the time we did the British sheep act and everyone climbed on a bus and we were shipped to the Royal Decameron Fun Club. This is an ex hedonism resort. Mirror ceilings, interconnecting room, damp and general all over seediness.

After nearly 24hrs of debate with the manager, the resort rep and first choice in the uk a meeting was held which I can only deduce was a weeding out process. Many people were happy to stay in the fun club (management offered compensation and 2 free trips + their every need catered for) for mobility reasons this was an impossibility for us and still the principal of having booked a different hotel.

We, along with 2 other couples, we eventually returned to the Club Caribbean and then our holiday started.

The hotel is a 2 perhaps 2.5* at a push and it really is dependent on what you are looking for in a holiday as to if you will be happy here. For my own experience I found it lacking somewhat.

Rooms

We were allocated a beach bungalow (24) which was next to the snack/Thai restaurant. if you have mobility issues it’s a fair way from the main restaurant/bar and reception. It is also very noisy, for some reason the security guards and some of the cleaners felt that 4am was the best time for a pow wow outside our window.....every single night. One night there was a pneumatic drill going off in the restaurant at 10.30 in the evening although I can say that after calling reception the noise stopped within 10 mins of my call.

The bungalows are very sweet. we had a separate dressing area/ wardrobe with a safe (although I understand you had to pay a deposit to use this. The bathroom was huge with a over shower bath, sink + WC and hairdryer. Be warned the water temperature is inconsistent, boiling one second freezing the next. if you have children be very careful when they shower. The main room had a king bed, two chairs and a little table, a dressing table + a tv and phone. I have to say for us the room was the best part of the hotel.
Sockets are two flat one round pin but an american adapter will work fine. The A/C is effective.

Pool/Beach and Grounds

Both pools are small, and during our stay freezing cold. Despite being cleaned daily they both had a layer of dirt on the bottom of the pool, accessibility is good in both pools with their being the option of walking down steps instead of using a ladder if required.

The beach was again 'ok' not the white sand clear sea experience I was looking for obviously the hotel aren't at fault for this but forearmed is forewarned. There are 4 maybe 5 little coves to sunbath on, the water reaches at maximum waist level unless you swim past the breakers. If you like snorkelling you can borrow a life jacket and swim out to the reef's (without the life jacket you will be called back) Again the reefs are disappointing, sadly the reefs are dying, not a great deal to look at and something I found quite sad.

There is plenty of green within the grounds, grass lots of tree's and plants, quite pretty.
Food

Buffet restaurant catering breakfast lunch and dinner. there is alot of fish + meat on the bone. Don't expect to be wowed the food is edible in no way will you go hungry however the likelihood is you will have a very odd selection on your plate in order to fill that hunger. there is a great salad bar, endless supply of good bread and you will always find a plain carb such as plain rice or potatoes. For you chip lovers every meal has chips.

Snack/grill - we didn't eat here during the 12 - 5 opening times however the menu seemed to consist of pizza, burgers and toasted sandwich's.

A'la carte restaurants. These have undergone a change since we booked. There is a Thai and a seafood a'la carte. The Thai is ok, not what I would class as ala carte but plenty edible and it makes a nice change to be waited on. As a non fish eater the seafood restaurant was going to offer a limited choice to me. I can say that offer an 'ok' sirloin steak, apparently cooked to our liking but 4 of us ate together and from what I could see they were all medium with no hint of red despite 2 having been requested as rare.
There was no restriction on the amount of visits you could make to these restaurants however booking a table had to be done at reception on the morning you wished to eat in the restaurant.

Bar/drinks
There are 4 bars at the hotel. One by the adult's pool, one by the main pool, one on the beach and one on the Jetty. The drinks can be a bit hit and miss depending on who is serving you, the same non-alcoholic cocktail can taste completely different and even be a vastly different colour, the same with alcoholic drinks. However there is a pretty extensive selection of cocktails and spirits whereas the wine + beer are limited to one option. Unless you have wine all drinks come in plastic glasses.

Staff

We are two women in our 30's and found some male members of staff to be overbearingly sleazy and suggestive this was not a pleasant part of our stay. Not everyone was like this but a few of the lifeguards, the bar-staff, the gardeners and the chefs made walking alone, ordering drinks and food pretty uncomfortable. However other members of staff were wonderful, non intrusive, polite and dare I say it ..normal.

Overall I wouldn't recommend this hotel they have a clear problem with overbooking and feed lies to visitors about the reason they are moving them. The rep in resort is aware of this (I witnessed a interesting conversation with the rep and the manager which proved this) and in my opinion anyone with an existing booking to this resort needs to be aware that they might end up moved somewhere else. I would suggest contacting your holiday provider in writing before you fly. It doesn’t' reach the standard which I would expect from a 3* with first choice, I feel there are much better hotels out there within this price range. Most people can only holiday once a year and save all year for this holiday, for this reason I would not recommend booking this hotel. If you have booked and continue your holiday for your information we were compensated by the Royal Decameron £60 each and 1 trip for the problem upon arrival. We were also asked to sign a customer service form that had been pre-filled in confirming this, something I suspect is a bottom covering measure.

We had never been to Jamaica or to an all-inclusive and are very happy that Royal Decameron was our first experience. It was perfect. The food was excellent, the bungalows were clean, the grounds were well kept as well as the beach, all of the staff were accommodating and very friendly. We made trips to Dunn River, Bob Marley and to Caymanas Race Track. Patrick, the representative from Thomas Cook Travel did a great job taking care of our requests. We can't wait to return. Thanks Royal Decmaeron Club Caribbean.

The flight was a killer to Jamaica but definitely worth it, we stayed for a fortnight in November 2011, were a bit nervous about our hotel because it was only 3 stars but it should be rated 4! all the staff were really friendly and helpful, all local people working here. They were always asking about us, where were from, advice on what to see and do etc. Loved the fact this place had 4 private beaches, 3 restaurants, 4 bars, good selection of cocktails, and food and drinks until gone midnight. Loved the cottages, something different instead of a massive buildings with loads of rooms nice little cottages makes you feel more relaxed and get that laid back Jamaica vibe. Food was good, changed every night but after 2 weeks it was a little repetitive. All the excursions we booked in advance but the rep was more than happy to assist us with pick up times etc. the pool was lovely, clean and spacious, i dont think some of the photos do this place justice because its lovely. The beaches on the resort are so clean, sea is crystal clear and all sorts of small fishes swimming around. You get free towel replacements as and when you like (beach/pool towels) You're allowed to use all sorts of equipment for free, pedalo, snorkeling equipment, kayak anything but motorized. Evening entertainment would be our only fault, the "fun crew" were good throughout the day entertaining more for adults than children! but the evening band wernt so good, especially the singer. They run a free bus as well going to Ochos Rios where all the shops are etc.Best part about this hotel was it wasnt overcrowded, no fighting for sunbeds, relaxed, friendly, hardly any children, would definitely go back and would recommend it!!!

This was our first visit to Jamaica, having spent several years holidaying in Goa and a trip to Kenya and Sri Lanka, we decided to have a change and go west instead of east. We arrived at the hotel at around 7.30 pm in pouring rain, after having been travelling since 4.00 am UK time. We had upgraded to an ocean view cottage and were taken to cottage no 76 - it was lovely and as close to the beach as we could get, but with no front garden area, our window was directly on the path leading from the beach to the restuarant and bar area, therefore we did tend to get woken up quite early with people passing by and standing right outside our window chatting! However this was compensated by the sound of the waves breaking on the beach, lovely and relaxing to go to sleep and wake up. The first thing we noticed in our room that there was NO KETTLE/tea/coffee making facilities and no fridge, although we were told that we could pay extra for a fridge. I was very unhappy that there was no kettle and took this up with customer services, to be told that there was tea/coffee available in the main restuarant 24/7 - not good enough, an all inclusive hotel should provide this basic requirement in all rooms. I therefore complained to our holiday rep, Patrick, who supplied us with a brand new kettle for use during our stay and to return to him at the end - bliss, thank you Patrick! On checking in, we also had to leave a deposit for our room (2,000J$) returnable at the end of our stay and pay extra for the privelege of receiving a key for the antiquated safe in our room - we've never had to do this at any other all inclusive hotel we've stayed in. The hotel itself is in a beautiful setting, with cottages set out in the gardens and on the beach front, which is divided into three sections. However, as there is very little outside the hotel, you are really confined to the resort itself unless you are prepared to pay exhorbitant amounts of money on trips or taxis. Jamaica is certainly not cheap for tourists, a half day trip on a jeep safari through the mountains and ending up at Nine Mile cost around £110 for the 2 of us with only a beef pattie thrown in for free, all drinks had to be purchased during the day. Nine Mile was also a bit of a disappointment, but the drive through the mountains was well worth it even though it rained on and off for most of the trip. One good point was the food - this is probably the first hotel I have stayed in over many years where the choice of food is excellent but rather disappointed that there was no afternoon tea available as in other hotels, lunch finished at 2.00 pm and evening meal began at 6.30 pm with no food offered in between those times, again not the best of service for an all inclusive hotel. The cleaning of the rooms definitely needs to be addressed, we had loads of problems, room not cleaned at all, no clean towels left, bottled water not replaced, cleaner coming in at all times of the day etc, but after our first week and loads of complaints, this service did improve for our second week. As with other reviews, we did feel very much in the minority and would estimate that 80% of the hotel's guests were French and therefore everything was geared to the French including the entertainment in the evening which left a lot to be desired. There were many evenings when I felt that I was listening to the French compere on the Eurovision song contest! The Jamaican staff were very laid back, especially those working in the Souk Bar, sometimes to the point where they were having such fun dancing and jigging to the music, the people waiting to be served at the bar were completely ignored - again another minus point for customer service. There was also no beach service for drinks during the day, if you wanted a drink you had to be prepared to walk to one of the bars to get it yourself, although the beach attendants did come round to collect the plastic glasses every so often. However, a bar service was offered by the restuarant waiters at lunch and dinner and the wine was very good, probably due to the French influence! Again, as with the other reviews posted, we were offered a move to the new sister hotel (opened only a week earlier) at the beginning of our stay and also for our second week and it was confirmed to us by some of the hotel staff that this was because of over booking. To sum up therefore, a lovely relaxing holiday with a few nasty insect bites acquired by the adult swimming pool (be warned) and mixed weather, three days when the red flag was displayed, so no swiming in the sea, but always warm, even if it was cloudy. Would we return - to Jamiaca - yes, but to this hotel, probably not.