• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Good
• Family Friendliness: Not Available
• Service: Very Good

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

Sandals Ocho Rios and Dunn's river falls.

Best Things About the Resort:
All inclusive price of $709 per couple including transportation to and from airport was a bargain. Being able to use facilities and restaurants at Sandal's resort made this a super vacation experience. Meals, activities, admission to Spa and entertainment were all included.

Resort Experience:
Our studio unit was very basic and a bit disappointing at first, but we did have a clean unit with a shared private villa pool which was located just a short walk from the main house where most restaurants and activities were located. This is a very hilly and large property with many Villas being too far to walk (and located uphill), thus requiring shuttle service by many of the guests. Since we were very close to main house we decided to stay in our unit.

Staff at this resort were fantastic and we were greeted with a friendly smile by everyone. We ate breakfast buffet a couple of times which was excellent and also ate an a la carte breakfast when we got up too late for breakfast buffet. All of our dinners we reserved in the gourmet restaurants at Beaches Grand Sport or Sandals and the food, drinks and desserts were all outstanding. We also went to the spa every night after a long day at the beach or pool to relax and unwind.

After dinner we decided where they had the best entertainment and after a couple of nights at our resort we took the shuttle bus for the five minute ride to Sandals Ocho Rios for their nightly entertainment.

The Beach party at night at our resort and the Caribbean night with great local entertainment at our resort was lots of fun.

To summarize this was one of our most relaxing and enjoyable timeshare exchanges that we have ever made and we will definitely return some day soon.

• Unit Type: Studio
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

Beaches Grande Sport was recently bought by the Sandals chain and was previously known as Club Ortanique.

The staff was very friendly. You also never had to carry money (you can even charge gift shop items to your room).

Resort Experience:
Be sure to visit the Beaches.com web site for LOTS of information about this resort. The photo used in the RCI resort directory is a photo of the studio unit.

This resort has a lot of very nice features and also a lot of disappointments. This is now part of the Beaches ultra-inclusive resort chain, which means all your food, drinks, watersports, and even tips are included. There is a buffet and three sit-down restaurants, plus a pool grill and swim-up bar at both the beach pool and the Great House pool. Unfortunately the quality was inconsistent . . . one restaurant (Orchid's) was exquisite while another (Manor) was a major disappointment, and the others were average or above average. The service was attentive at times, but just as often was excrutiatingly slow.

The resort includes all sorts of activities such as tennis, aerobics, mountain biking, volleyball, sailing, a rock climing wall, and much more. Or you can be lazy and lounge on the beach all day like we did.

The entertainment was disappointing for an all-inclusive resort. We felt like they were trying to sell us even more things with their "fashion show" on Friday ("you can get everything here at our gift shop!") and the tour desk person, Dexter, who kept trying to "hook you up" and convince you to buy more tours. They have an in-house band that was pretty good, but it was a bit too much to see them every night. The best show was the high-energy steel drum band who came out for Caribbean night (Friday). We had to sit through an hour of the "fashion show" before we got the good stuff!

The resort layout itself is also a mix of pros and cons. Timeshare accommodations are in the villas, built on the side of a mountain with little or no view Each villa (normally four units) has its own small pool, but on the negative side it is quite a hike to get to the villas. The resort has carts to shuttle people up and down the hill, and you can call for a pick-up but we typically walked down from our room and rode back up. The rooms are Caribbean-style "open air" design, with only wooden shutters to close the windows, making for inefficient air conditioning.

The resort has a private beach, located about a half mile down the hill. A shuttle bus runs regularly and was only a minor inconvenience. However, combined with the overall resort layout, it could easily take 20-30 minutes from leaving your villa until arriving at the beach.

Because this is a Beaches resort, a majority of the guests are not timeshare owners and guests arrive and depart daily. A majority of guests during our stay (mid-July) were couples in their early 20's, lots of honeymooners and on-site weddings taking place almost every day. There was a much smaller number of older couples and families with high-school age children.

• Unit Type: Studio
• Activities: Good
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Fair
• Family Friendliness: Not Available
• Service: Excellent

The Grand View Inn does have good points, and out of fairness, I'll list them first.

The Room
I booked a standard room, which was actually a two room apartment. Each of the rooms were huge. The bedroom contained two beds, and a corner was walled off a bathroom, which was small and dark.

The kitchen/living area held a table, couch, and small kitchenette. The living room opened out onto a balcony that had a table and several chairs. Both rooms were high ceilinged and airy. Sadly, both rooms suffered from a serious lack of sufficient light after dark.

The View
The Grand View Inn does live up to its name in this regard. The rooms all have balconies or patios, and overlook either Grand Anse Beach or Morne Rouge Bay. Be aware that rooms on the Morne Rouge side get the full brunt of the afternoon sun. This can make it uncomfortably warm to sit on your balcony with an afternoon cocktail. The views on the Grand Anse side are absolutely stunning.

The Not-So-Good Points

Water
Water is kind of important to me. And I understand that clean, fresh water is at a premium in many Caribbean Islands. At the Grand View Inn, however, there were mornings when I'd turn on the tap and get....nothing. Limited water is one thing. No water, that's a problem.

Location
The beach, the grocery store, and the bus stop were all half a mile to a mile away, straight downhill. Getting down the hill is easy. Getting up the hill is not (especially if you are a middle-aged, American woman wearing flip-flops and carrying half a case of beer.) Since there is no bus service to the Grand View Inn, the only way up the hill is on foot, or by taxi. For those younger, or fleeter of foot, than I, this may not be a big deal.

The Pool
The pool had no water. It was, however, painted a pretty color.

Conversion Games
This one item annoys me more than everything else.

The price for your accommodations is quoted in US dollars, and you are told 18% will be added for tax and service. You are NOT told that the price in US$ will be converted to East Caribbean dollars at a lower exchange rate, effectively adding 5% to the cost of the room.

I hate currency exchange shenanigans. On their website my room is listed at US$75.00 a night. In reality cost me US$92.76.

The Surprise
The Grand View Inn website says if you book online, you'll get a surprise on check-in. Over the course of two weeks, I asked several times about my "surprise", and never got an answer, not even from the owner. I guess the surprise is that there is no surprise. No truth in advertising, either.

In Summary...
I would like to recommend the Grand View Inn, but I can't.