M from Toronto, On
"We stayed at RDC in Runaway Bay during the week of April 27 - May 4, 2013 in a courtyard room, which was small for the size of the bed but it was fine with us because we usually do not spend much time in the room anyway. Although you usually get what you pay for, it was very enjoyable because we were determined to make it that way and the whole Jamaican motto is don't worry, be happy! We were not part of any of the large groups arriving in buses, and it is only logical that there is a strength in numbers. Staff friendliness is uncontested, with the exception of one older lady with glasses at the reception desk. That said, this not necessarily translated into the best service ever. We felt that there was so much unexplored potential! Our room could definitely be redone, or could use at least some maintenance work on the flush toilet, the sketchy door lock, the window lock, the closet doors falling apart.
We've always felt safe in the hotel. I had booked a round trip transfer with the always reliable Holiday Services from/to the airport before we left, as well as a tour to the Luminous Lagoon - an incredible experience that seems to be out of the beaten path, as I found it by accident and did not hear about it at the hotel tour desk. The hotel has a number of tourist taxi drivers in its own parking lot, and we were skimmed by one of them (even though we paid for his lunch twice and tipped him) who overcharged us and made sure to do a tour that would not go through the hotel tour desk. But it will catch up with him one of these days, and we did not want to waste a minute of our vacation with that.
The highlights: the welcome drink served when guests are checking in (a really nice touch!), the waitstaff at Pick-a-Pepper, entertainment staff - Princess, Candy, Jorge, Scooby, DJ One Drop, and the bartenders which not only were extremely friendly, but were a show apart every night! Mostly because they were the ones we had more contact with, I guess. And the entertainment was a lot of fun as well, especially the singer who had a show almost every night.
The food could be more traditional Jamaican, instead of only two Jamaican nights a week. Could use more variety too in some of the nights, but it was usually very good. Especially the fish, really amazing! We were hoping for more fruit variety - I wanted to taste some ackee, for example. I don't think most of the desserts were the ones the locals have, the only ones I really enjoyed were the coconut brittle and the rice pudding with coconut. Re: a la carte restaurants, the seafood one was very good, and the Thai one a disaster - they should rethink ASAP that whole menu! Not to talk about the snacks they serve which is mostly junk food, aside from the pizza. A pity, in such lovely ambiance!
The grounds were very well kept, I loved to see the hammocks all throughout, a very relaxing atmosphere! The beach side bungalows seemed nice too from the outside.
The ugliest of it all: the fogging to kill the mosquitoes, which is needed, granted, but why not notify guests early in the day and explain what that is and why it is needed? On the first day they did it I was in my room with windows opened. I've heard it coming, but had no idea what it was and did not shut the windows, so it all came into the room and I had difficulty breathing. I could only imagine if there was a child in the room, how bad it could have been. Complete disregard for guests in that department, which could have been treated very differently, with a simple note delivered to the guests in the area that was going to be fogged.
Then there was the day when we were all around the main bar just before dinner because it was raining and there could have been some music but there was nothing. The coconuts going to waste and their water not been made available to guests.
So, that was the overall impression: small things that could have made such a difference, but so much potential being wasted or not being explored! But, as I said, we were determined to have a great time, and did just that!
We will definitely go back to Jamaica, but I don't think we'd go back to this resort or recommend it to a friend.
"
Posted: Sun, May 05, 2013
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