Riu Ocho Rios, Jamaica

My husband, kids & I visited the Riu Ocho Rios for 9 days in March (the dry season). We arrived around 4PM on the first day, and left just after breakfast on the last day. We did this on purpose, to give ourselves 7 full days of vacation.

Weather: The weather was beautiful -- roughly 83ºF ever day -- with blue skies. It rained on our drive to the resort and one day (our 6th day of our trip). To be honest, we were a little sunburnt by then and didn't mind it being overcast half the day. *Apparently it rained from the day we left through to the next week.

Beach: The beach was beautiful. The water was clear and we made sandcastles in the sand every day. Some people were complaining about seaweed a week or so before we went, but I didn't see any.

Pools: There were 5 pools. The two on either end (mainly for adults, but children are allowed in without tubes or balls), the "fun pool" in the middle (where the entertainment and games are), as well as two adult-only pools, with swim-up bars. Technically there were 2 more pools in the kid section, far away from everything else, right outside of RiuLand. One baby pool with little slides and one pool that the larger slides empty into (photos + more info to follow).

Kids I: We specifically went during a non-holiday week because we didn't want to pay astronomical prices for airfare. Because of this, there were definitely less kids staying here. That being said, there were a ton of kids (lol). Honestly, though, they were all very well-behaved.

Kids II: The Kids Club is called RiuLand. You can drop your kids there from 10:30am-12:30pm & 8:30pm-10pm. We couldn't leave our 3-year-old because the minimum age is 4. We met friends who told us they lied and got away with it, but our little guy looks 3 so we couldn't. It has a soft play area that your kids (4-12) can play in and a classroom where they do crafts. We brought our kids to the building twice. My daughter didn't even get to do the craft because "there were too many kids", which I thought was ridiculous. They wouldn't let my little guy stay, and made him play in the toddler area just outside the classroom with us.

The next day we walked in to find a little girl we were friendly with (almost 4) crying. When I asked what happened, I found out she had been locked in the bathroom for at least 5 minutes, not knowing how to turn the knob of the heavy door. It was disconcerting that the staff had no idea until her older sister (7) alerted them to this. Someone in the Facebook group also said that they brought an "escaped" small child (4) back to RiuLand and the staff (again) did not even realize she had been missing. My daughter has Autism and my son is still very young, so I did not feel comfortable leaving them

Kids III: There is a 3" deep kids' pool outside of RiuLand. You walk straight down this small road from the beach, make a right, and see it. It has small waterslides for the little ones. There was a VERY strict lifeguard stationed here, who wouldn't budge an inch. My daughter was holding her little doll & my son was holding his car and he refused to let them go down the 1' slide, in case they "poked their eyes out". They wouldn't give them up, so we left and never went back.

For big kids, there were really big slides (right photo)...but we didn't go on them.

Tips: I'd bring 2 full bottles of factor 50 sunscreen next time. I think we brought 2 half bottles this time and we were in a constant panic that we were going to run out. They sell it in the gift show for $18 (ha!). There's also a supermarket and pharmacy about 10 minutes' walk down the road. My husband went and spent $70 on things we forgot to pack (baby medicine, deodorant, razors, etc).

Excursions: We went swimming with the dolphins at Dolphin Cove & snorkeling on a boat booked with the resort.

Dolphin Cove: We booked with Noel at ------ Tours. He charged us $-- to drive us to Dolphin Cove (about 10 minutes away) and had us call him on WhatsApp to pick us up a couple of hours later. ADD MORE ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE + THE $110 PHOTO.

Snorkeling: We were told that there was a glass-bottomed boat tour, but it turned out not to be free and that we'd have to take a cab 10-15 minutes away to get to the docks, so we scrapped that idea. Instead, we booked a snorkeling catamaran boat ride tour straight from the hotel. They told us it would be $69 per adult and $59 per child, with kids 2 and under free. We haggled and ended up paying $55 per adult, $30 for our 6-year-old and having our 3-year-old go for free. We were told it was 3 hours, with music, open bar, and 35 minutes of snorkeling. We had to arrive at 2pm & left at 2:30pm, arriving back around 4:45pm". Not sure how that's 3 hours, but I don't think my kids would last all 3 anyway lol.

The boat ride was really fun. The crew was phenomenal and hands down my favorite staff that we met all trip. DJ Ramon played awesome music and the three of them put on a little impromptu dance show, teaching the customers the moves. (I was NOT good, ha!). There was an open bar, with one of the staff constantly bringing everyone drinks, and you could sit outside on the netting and look out onto the ocean. We ended up putting $20 in the tip jar before we left.

Please note, this excursion is NOT for children. We should have been told by the booker that this was more of a party boat than a family excursion. My kids were terrified when we hit choppy waters (think, Frozen 2's Dark Sea), with my little guy (3) crying and clutching onto my husband for dear life. My daughter (6) was a bit more courageous, but she jumped at the chance to go back into the boat when offered. All the adult patrons were tipsy at this point, one was throwing up into a bucket from sea sickness & shot-taking, the music was blasting, and it was pretty scary, even for me. I would definitely do this again with my husband, but I would never take my kids on it again. (*The staff said the water is not always as choppy.)

Photoshoot: Stacey Clarke-Kelly was recommended to me by several people, so we sent her a message. She charged $140 for a 30 minute shoot and $190 for an hour. Since my kids don't even want to smile for a 10-second picture, there was no point in doing the hour-session. She was very nice and flexible with dates/times. We asked her to do it early in the morning so that my little guy would be happiest. We LOVED her. She was amazing with our kids and the entire session was awesome. I asked for lots of candids and some posed famikly shots and she did not disappoint! (The main photo of this post is from that photoshoot!)

Massage: There are two women next to the resort, near Bamboo Blu Restaurant & Bar, who charge $60 for a (I believe) 1-hour massage. I didn't get to get one, unfortunately! *They do hair braiding, as well. I saw LOTS of little girls and ladies with braided hair and they looked great.

Size: The resort is BIG. There are advantages/disadvantages to being in certain buildings. This is our second time here, so we requested a ground-floor room near the adult pool on the right-hand side of this photo (below). The issue is that it takes awhile to walk to the main area (in the center) -- St. Ann's -- where the buffet and main "fun pool" is.

Food: The food was decent, more-so at some restaurants more than others. The restaurants include: a buffet, Italian (Piacenza), steakhouse, local cuisine (Kulinarium), and Asian (Mandalay). There was also jerk chicken, rice & beans, hamburgers and (cut up) hot dogs at Pepe's Food Grill and sandwiches, muffins and nachos at Sports Bar. We did not like the entrees at Piacenza, but the small buffet of pastas and antipastas made it worth it to go back a few times. We skipped Kulinarium because there was nothing our kids would like. We disliked Mandalay.

Buffet:

Piacenza:

Steakhouse:

Sports Bar: Add 24 hours only drinks