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4.5
#12 of 17 all-inclusives in Montego Bay
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If you’re looking for a luxury all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay, look no further than Secrets St. James Montego Bay. Given the close proximity of popular landmarks, such as Harbour Street (1.9 mi) and Blessed Sacrament Cathedral (2.0 mi), guests of Secrets St James Hotel can easily experience some of Montego Bay's most well known attractions. Free wifi is offered to guests, and rooms at Secrets St. James Montego Bay offer a flat screen TV, a minibar, and air conditioning. During your stay, take advantage of some of the amenities offered, including room service and a concierge. Guests of Secrets St James Hotel are also welcome to enjoy a pool and breakfast, located on site. For travelers arriving by car, free parking is available. If you like barbeque restaurants, Secrets St. James Montego Bay is conveniently located near Pork Pit and MVP Smokehouse. Montego Bay is also known for some great marinas, including Montego Bay Yacht Club and Montego Bay Marine Park, which are not too far from Secrets St James Hotel. The staff at Secrets St. James Montego Bay looks forward to serving you during your upcoming visit. We’re committed to redefining your travel journey with our best-in-class CleanComplete Verification™ practices. While health and safety have always been our top priorities, these new protocols further elevate our standards of quality and cleanliness, enabling you to vacation at any AMResorts® property with the ultimate peace of mind. Our 360-degree quality, safety and hygiene system takes into account every aspect of resort operations, backed by the highest-level third-party certification. We will be evolving and innovating our procedures continuously and will share the newest developments as they are implemented. Our protocols begin the moment you start planning a vacation to the time you return home! To learn more about our quality, safety and hygiene practices, please search for AMResorts CleanComplete Verification™ in your favorite browser.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
We are UVC members and travel a few time each year but our first to Secrets ST James. We purchased a swim up preferred club room so we were assured the room type we wanted. COVID protocols were strictly adhered to here and we felt very safe. Everything in the room was wrapped and sanitized at arrival, the associates all wore masks, hand sanitizer was everywhere, and mini bar and deliveries were handled via the secrets in room dining box. Resort was very low occupancy; higher on the Wild Orchid side and main ST James was closed though the preferred section was open. Many restaurants were also closed so for the week we were there we had a choice of Italian, French or a rotating Jamaican/Mexican. Seaside was open for lunch only. That meant no steakhouse, and no evening dining oceanside. Breakfast buffet was open but guests were not allowed to touch anything. The hotel associates placed anything you wanted on a plate for you. Our CLIA approved PRC tests were expensive to get, but the Jamaica travel authorization came back in about 30 minutes . Service overall was excellent as many of the associates were just returning having been away since March. We knew this and tipped over $600 in the week so please bring cash to show kindness as they can certainly use it. My wife had pink hair that week so people knew us by sight. lol. Beach really are small coves but the sand is white and easy enough to get in and out of. Check out took 25 minutes but I blame that on the cumbersome UVC process, not the kind agent who was trying to do her best. The Breathless property next door is accessible to preferred club guests and the rooftop will take your breath away literally. Having said that there is a discernable difference in the Breathless Jamaica guest and the ST James Jamaica guest. One is there to party the other there to spa. There is no security to monitor this and any issue we had was with Breathless guests coming in either a little intoxicated and causing a scene or trying to move into the preferred area and angle for upgrades. Overall a great week during covid, and we would highly recommend.
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Date of stay: December 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:swim up ocean view
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Alisteer Nelson , Sales at Secrets St. James Montego Bay
Responded 5 Feb 2021
Dear Valued Guest, Thank you for choosing Secrets St. James for your haven of relaxation and for sharing your feedback with us. The resort truly appreciates your kind comments about the staff, food, and overall amenities at the property. Secrets St. James will certainly ensure that these are well maintained and constantly improved. We have noted your feedback regarding the delay in checking out and also access to the preferred area. The resort will review these processes accordingly. It was a pleasure hosting you and we eagerly look forward to welcoming you home soon. Kind Regards, Alisteer Nelson Social Media Manager Secrets St. James
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We had such an amazing time while visiting. While things were at a much lower capacity due to coronavirus, I actually appreciated it and felt very safe everywhere in the resort. Hand sanitizers everywhere, disinfecting chairs and tables after every guest got up, and keeping things at a lower guest capacity and spreading out tables were all things that helped us feel so at ease!
Now on to the people 🙂 Keisha who works at Portofino and El Patio was absolutely great and we requested her every night we could! She made us feel really welcome and she took really good care of us. Kedeisha at the pool bar was so friendly and memorized our drinks from day one! She would wave to us in the morning from across the pool and have our drinks ready by the time we wandered over after setting our towels and chairs up. Karen at the pool bar was also great, providing great service and she was so personable. Finally! Last but not least! Mr. Imprezv (pronounced like impressive) went above and beyond with the entertainment team. He’s absolutely hilarious (and a fantastic dancer to boot!) and made sure everyone had a great time and he remembered our names from day one.
One side note is that the room doors aren’t very good at keeping sound out, and we were woken up at 8:30 every day by staff getting started on room cleanings (understandable as they have a job to do!), but guests at late and early hours don’t seem to know how to monitor their volume level, though at an all inclusive with drinking all day, again understandable.
We also were told upon check in that we had a “great, amazing view” only to find we were looking square at a giant palm tree off our patio when we paid for an ocean view. The shower was a bit hit or miss on the temperature but once we figured it out we were good - must just be an old mixing valve. Our room door also didn’t close all the way so we had to be careful about that. Super minor things, nothing that was a deal breaker for a trip, as no hotel is 100% perfect 😊
All said we will definitely return here. It’s great for a couples trip and the best part is NO 👏 KIDS 👏 ALLOWED 👏 😎
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Date of stay: September 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
High quality resort, with a few hangnails. Could be a 5 star if they improve a few things. Biggest being adding servers and kitchen staff to speed up the dinners in the evening, or add a buffet restaurant at night. We waited every night to get into dinner, one night was over 1.5 hrs. Then from time we sit down till we got back up, quickest meal was 2 hr & 5 min! Every restaurant had multiple tables empty all night. They just have the employees stretched too thin.
During the day, the bartenders at the pool bars are very fun, and work hard from 10 am to 6 pm. Don’t try to get a drink there before or after those hours. They use paper straws now, which are great for about 45 seconds. They don’t use any “solo cups”, so after a while, they are waiting on the dishwasher for clean cups. I definitely recommend bringing an insulated mug and plastic straws from home.
The property is quite large, and lots of walking is required. But everything is beautiful and nicely landscaped. If you get a chance, go across the street to the sister resort Breathless, and go up to the rooftop pool for a scenic look around.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from SWO_STJconcierge, Manager at Secrets St. James Montego Bay
Responded 20 Feb 2020
Dear JAGJFW: Thank you for taking the time to share your wonderful feedback with us; we certainly do appreciate this very much. The comments that you have made on areas such as vacation club sales pitch and dinner service are valued as we can use it to make relevant improvements and changes where necessary. It is great to note that you had an overall lovely stay and I hope that we will have the opportunity to welcome you back for future vacations. Thank you once again for choosing Secrets St. James. Kind regards, Jeffery Wallace
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We just left Secrets St. James and stayed in a preferred club building. Up to the final day, I was trying very hard to give a 4 star for this place, however, it's a solid 2 but I will give a 3 here.
Overall, the beach is very beautiful. The staff is friendly and can be helpful at times, however, I don't find them putting a lots of effort to go out their ways to help you. The grounds are beautiful as well and being able to go to Attitude Restaurant in Breathless side is very nice and highly recommend to you. The room in the preferred club is big and spacious. The bed is very comfortable and room is very clean. The location of this resort is very convenient as it's only 5 miles outside of the MBJ airport.
The negative experience: we couldn't check in until passing the check in time at 3. The biggest disappointment to us was the food, where do I beginning? Breakfast and lunch buffets are all severed in the same place with very little to no variations each day. Nothing much provided for vegetarians or food allergy concerned individuals. I am lactose intolerance, and they constantly ran out non dairy milk each day, even tho they claimed that they have soy milk, but they don't. Very little to no fruits in the buffets other than some melons. The biggest frustration to us was that at lunch buffet there was only ONE grill station for fish, which is ok except the chef cooks ONE piece of fish at a time, so when you have 10 people waiting and why can’t you try to grill 10 instead of ONE? It’s mind boggling. Restaurants or bars constantly ran out food or condiments; Coffee shop - Coco Cafe often only has one person working during the peak hours and the line was very longgggg. there was an expresser coffee machine in the preferred club lobby but it's broken and didn't get fixed until the day we were leaving; all restaurants have long lines to get in during the dinner time and if you can get a buzzer for the line, you are very lucky as they often ran out those too. As preferred club guests we should be seated first but no one asked or knew who you are after taking your room number. The worst experience was at the Hibachi place. We tried SO hard to get a reservation and finally got one but came to find out it's so disappointing. There is no menu for you to choose or order food from. Everyone gets set of fried rice, chicken, steak and shrimp. The food is extremely salty and sugary. The chef was a lots of fun but he also played with our food and cared nothing about our concerns as we pointed out to him that there is too much sauce poured into our food, he was gladly ignored us with smiles. This might be the worst Hibachi experience I have ever had, and they really set a new rocky bottom standard for the experience and food that you can possibly have at a hibachi place.
As a travel business owner, and been to many 5 star places around the world, I will not recommend this resort to my clients until the management take these feedback and make a commitment to work on them. If you claim yourself a 5 star resort, and you charge for 5 star price, you owe your customers for the promises you have made.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:prefered club room provides a very little value
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Unlike the other 10 Montego Bay/Negril hotels I called by phone, the Secrets customer service rep was friendly and very helpful when booking 7 nights for my girlfriend and I, and 3 nights for my mother and sister (10 nights total). At this time, I was told that due to booking 10 total nights I would receive the $300 proposal dinner package at no additional cost (told the rep I planned to propose). The proposal package was the deal breaker for me between spending $4,500 at Secrets or booking at a more reasonably priced location. Especially with amenities being limited due to COVID. The information regarding the proposal package was even stated on my confirmation e-mail.
When I later contacted the St James hotel concierge, I was advised the romantic dinner was not available, but of course I could set up one of the other options for an additional cost. Not too happy about that. Ended up cancelling my entire trip because I was not able to get a response for travel authorization in time.
I will say Secrets will fully refund due to cancellation more than 24 hours in advance. But I was advised my refund won’t appear on my account for “90 to 120 days”...due to COVID? Confused how COVID has anything to do with giving me my money back. Thought I would share the experience in case it was useful to someone else out there.
5/5 for Secrets customer service rep. 2/5 for Secrets St James concierge (fast response time)
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Date of stay: August 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My husband and I went there a few weeks ago. It was our 9th time there. We stayed in the preferred club for the second time. There isn’t supposed to be smoking on the beach as there are designated areas. There were a lot of men smoking cigars on the beach and we had to Go to the front desk to ask if someone could tell them it wasn’t permitted. They need to have signs on the beach so people know. They also should check to make sure people aren’t doing it. My husband had to tell one man that smoking wasn’t permitted on the beach as I have asthma and he got angry and he later threatened me. One day we returned to our room at 4:30 and it hadn’t been cleaned. They came just as we returned. They forgot to leave wash cloths so I called housekeeping a few times to request some. It took 3 1/2 hours. One of our favourite restaurants was closed, we were told it was undergoing renovations but nobody was working on it. We went to Oceania a few times and it was always the same menu. I had steak and so called jumbo shrimp but the meat was tough and the Shrimp were very small. I had fish another night and was dry and overdone. On the positive side we did have some good meals and found the staff very pleasant. It’s a beautiful place but I don’t think we will be returning.
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Date of stay: March 2020
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Preferred rooms are good. Some in St James smell musty
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from SWO_STJconcierge, Manager at Secrets St. James Montego Bay
Responded 20 Mar 2020
Hello 549barbm, Thank you for providing feedback on your stay experience. The comments that you have made are greatly appreciated as we will use them to make relevant improvements in the areas highlighted. It is great to note that overall your experience was enjoyable with the good quality of meals and service provided by staff. It is unfortunate that your experience was less than excellent, however, we hope for another opportunity to host you here at Secrets St. James. Regards, Jeffery Wallace
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So secrets was a mixed bag for us, I had obviously read loads of the reviews and was pretty nervous about coming. In our experience some things were true and some things were better.
Pros- we booked a standard room and had a lovely sea and garden view that was away from the main pools so nice and quiet. The room itself was lovely and everything worked. The pools and beach are great and we went snorkelling every day and the reef is so close (better than some excursions). Kedisha at the manatee bar is amazing and was single handedly responsible for most of the poolside atmosphere and looked after us really well. The poolside girls getting drinks were also great. The entertainment guys and girls were fab and always had great attitudes. The french, Caribbean and Japanese restaurants were lovely. The good overall was ok, some highlights and some lowlights. We had no issue with housekeeping and just phoned anytime we wanted the minibar restocked which was always done in good time. The coffee in the shopping village is the best so go there rather than the horrible room coffee.
Cons- check in. It’s a very very slow process for literally everyone and after a full day of traveling we just wanted to get into our room. I would advise that you utilise the lobby bar as you can expect to be there for a while.
The lobby is very small so no matter the time of day there will be loads of people, checking in, out or trying to resolve problems so if you do need to speak to the front desk be prepared to wait a while.
Room service takes ages and in the end we only used it for drinks like wine. Was rather funny occasion was when we ordered food at 9pm and it turned up at 2am!
As this was our honeymoon we expected that they would have a sign on our door to welcome us or anything really for that matter. We asked about it every day but got nothing in the end which was a disappointment.
The toilets are rubbish and block all the time. Trying to get them sorted takes ages so ensure you locate one you can use when your room one doesn’t work.
Loads of scaffolding going up so they are obviously about to start some sort of construction works.
You do have to wait for dinner. There are no reservations and sometimes they give you a buzzer. On a few nights some of the restaurants were closed which increased the waiting times everywhere else.
Although breakfast and lunches were nice in the world cafe it get boring pretty fast as the menu doesn’t change at all really.
All in all we enjoyed ourselves but will probably try a different hotel next time.
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Date of stay: August 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Lauretta Blackburn , Sales at Secrets St. James Montego Bay
Responded 25 Aug 2021
Dear Samantha M, Thanks for your feedback about your recent stay. We are pleased however that you loved the aesthetics of our resort and will be sure to pass your kind words to Kedisha as well as to our pool and entertainment staff. I have noted the areas of improvement and have shared the details with the relevant department heads so that the necessary changes can take place. We do apologize for the inconveniences caused during your stay. We hope that you will give us another opportunity to meet and even exceed your expectations. Kind regards, Lauretta Blackburn
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We arrived on Monday September 21 decided to get the Mobay Bay experience which was worth every penny. Jamaicans really know how to do the sanitation the right way, Everything was wiped down the minute you got up. From the start of the airport to the very end of the trip getting on the plan. It is sad how this pandemic has changed our lives. One thing positive is it is forcing people to be clean. The resorts staff went above and beyond for my friend and I. It was her birthday on the 25 and they sang to her brought her cake and definitely made her feel special. I loved the entertainment staff. Starfire, Mr Impressive, were so fun. The fashion show was amazing along with the fun engaging activities and the dancing. I loved it!!
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Date of stay: September 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled on business
Room Tip:The top floor ocean view.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stayed at Secrets St. James the last week of February. Before I get into the pluses and minuses of the resort, let me review the airport experience. The Mobay club is available for $50 per person and is a must at Montego Bay airprt. We were greeted by a rep holding a sign with our name and we were fast tracked through immigration. We walked past about 300 people, were taken to Mobay exclusive agents, escorted through luggage claim and to the Mobay lounge where we were served drinks and snacks while the rep made our ground transportation arrangements. I highly recommend this option.
Not so efficient when we got to the resort. We were reserved in a Preferred Club jr. suite ocean view. After a bit of a run around, we were told that our room type was not available due to a “maintenance issue,”. I have since found out that this is a common occurrence at this resort. However, after meeting with the Preferred Club manager, they were very accommodating and made it right. We were given all Preferred privileges, promised a refund (which we have received), and given a $200 resort credit the room was basically the same except it was located around the noisy pool. Not really a huge deal.
The resort was very nice and clean. The beach, however was practically non existent. If you like to walk the beach, this is not for you. It’s very narrow and broken into sections with stone partitions. This is a man made beach. As a result, it’s very crowded with only short distances to walk. I will say the water is very clean with no rocks or seaweed. We had the usual chair problem with guests going to the beach at daybreak to save chairs. Even though all resorts have a policy against this, everyone does it, so it becomes an “if you can’t beat them, join them.”
The resort is paired with Secrets Wild Orchid, and they blend together with everyone having equal access to all facilities. There are supposedly separate beach and pool access for Preferrred guests, but I never saw anyone checking.
My biggest service complaint was the wait service on the beach, or lack thereof. Servers showed up by about 10 a.m. to take drink orders, and a.though we always tipped, we only saw them a couple times before lunch, and they seemed to quit for the afternoon. I believe the problem is partly because there is not a dedicated beach bar due to lack of space, and they simply don’t have enough help
We went to all the ala carte restaurants, and they were all very good. Service was good at all of them, and I believe the portions may have been a little larger than I’ve seen at other Secrets
All in all, I’ve been to 5 different Secrets in 3 different countries, and I would rank this one number 4 mainly because I’d the small beach.
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Date of stay: February 2020
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from SWO_STJconcierge, Manager at Secrets St. James Montego Bay
Responded 20 Mar 2020
Dear lanac20: Thank you so much for sharing your review of our resort. I am pleased to note that you had a lovely stay and hope that you will visit us again for your next vacation. The additional feedback that you have provided us with is greatly appreciated as we will use it to make relevant improvements in the areas highlighted. Thank you again for visiting Secrets St. James. Kind regards, Jeffery Wallace
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Where do I start. Check in was very good and had no problems. Had booked a top floor but of course, all the members have those. Room was good but lots of things were missing like, shampoo, conditioner, drinks etc. Very hard to try and get them. Towels were not always in the room when we went up in the afternoon. Trying to get a sunbed in the Preferred pool was a joke. Everyone was coming in from Secrets St James and tipping the towel man $5 to put a towel on the beds the following day. We had to get up most morning at 5am to get a bed. No checks were done to see if you were Preferred or not . One particular day there were 6 Americans in the pool from 11am to 3pm with their loud music playing in the pool drinking beer after beer and getting louder and louder. A complaint was made and someone after 4 hours came and moved them on. Also the beds on the Preferred Beach had no mattresses on them. This is a 5 *Hotel????? We went to Wild Orchids Preferred Beach and what a difference - asked your room number before issuing towels. Regarding the food, I cannot fault it - I enjoyed the different restaurants but the waiting for awful. If you did not get there by 6pm you had such a long wait. One night at Bordeaux we eventually got a table at 8.20pm and were not served til 9pm. Have stayed at other Secrets Hotels and never had issues like the ones I have raised. We both wondered why we had bothered to pay extra for Preferred as it was a free for all.
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Date of stay: February 2022
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:If you want peace and quiet you have to upgrade to Preferred as the Secret St James Pool was like...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We will be there during the same period (arriving Oct 17, 2024). My wife has gluten intolerance, this is our 5th trip to Secrets St James. Most menus show what options are gluten free, as do some buffet items. Seating 10 people might be a problem because there are no reservations at the restaurants, so it's 1st come 1st served, I would suggest arriving as soon as the restaurants open for dinner to make arrangements.
The preferred pools are quiet, the activities move every 30 minutes from the St James pool tot he Wild Orchid pool, and back and forth all day, so both pools are fun and both have swim-up bars and an area further away from the activities.
I personally don't use water shoes at the beach, but I have noticed more seaweed growing in closed off swimming areas. Water is definitely nice enough to snorkel, we bring our own gear, but there are 3 daily guided snorkeling trips to the reef just off the resort (bring a go pro or a water proof phone case and take wonderful pictures). You can only use the resort snorkel equipment during the guided tours. Lastly they have towel huts that you can continuously replace your towels all day. Hope this helps, and we might run into one another during our stay. Have a great trip!
There are more places to choose from in the Montego Bay area.
PRICE RANGE
₹34,593 - ₹53,233 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
secrets st james hotel montego bay
LOCATION
CaribbeanJamaicaSaint James ParishMontego Bay
NUMBER OF ROOMS
350
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect average nightly room rates, including taxes and fees that are fixed, known to our partners, and due at time of booking. Please see our partners for more details.
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