Well, where do I start? If you are looking for 4* luxury as advertised by Thomas Cook then be warned. This is definitely not what we found. The hotel is quite run down and in need of desperate upgrade. The rooms in the South Block where we stayed were very basic and stunk of dampness. The first room we were given, the bathroom flooded after a shower. The iron didnt work and neither did any of the sockets and we couldnt get any channels on the TV to work. We asked to change and were offered another room on the floor above which smelled even worse of dampness but at least everything worked. The hotel staff are rude and unfriendly (well, most of them!). They rarely make eye contact and are not interested in helping you in the slightest. The friendliest of them all was lovely Augustus who cleared the tables and glasses in the main bar in the evenings. What a lovely man, and would bend over backwards to help you. It's a shame the rest of the staff, including the managers, dont follow suit.

There are no mini fridges in the room and you are unable to rent one. A bit of a problem in the heat of the carribean. Especially since bottled water is not complimentary. You are expected to buy it from the gift shop (eh, we are all inclusive and can get as much free alcohol as you want but no bottled water?!!!), or refill your used bottle at one of the water machines stationed in the hotel grounds (if you can find one that was switched on) or alternatively drink it from your bathroom tap from the lovely polystyrene cups you are provided with in your room!

Food in the buffet restaurant is very poor. I'm not a fussy person with food at all but I really struggled. The hotel wasnt running to full capacity when we were there and to be honest it was like they didnt care. Most of the silver food trays remained empty. It was the same food day in day out, lunch times or evenings. The breakfast was worse for me as I have an intolerence to egg so i had 2 slices of toast each morning. Sometimes there was cream cheese, sometimes cheese slices or ham. Although, most mornings there was none (and we were down for breakfast opening at 7am) so I just stuck with butter. The self dispensing water/juice machine in the buffet restaurant was hardly ever switched on in the mroning. After a long night in your room with no bottled water, no fridge and only your bathroom tap as an option - this was shocking. Especially in the heat of the caribbean!

The A la Carte restaurants were nice WHEN they were open. Again, as it wasnt running to full capacity there were many evenigns when your only option was the delightful buffet restaurant. But give them their due the food in the A la carte restaurants was their saving grace. We also paid $100 for the Sunset Romance meal on the beach, it was amazing. If you would like to treat yourself and your partner or celebrating a special occassion then definitely do this!

We were most disappointed as the Ginger Lilly restaurant was not open during nearly our entire stay at the hotel, opening on Friday, 2nd October and we left on Sunday, 4th. We managed to get in for a meal though and it was the best restaurant of the 3. Not sure why it was closed - we were told it was being renovated. However, other hotel gusts were told that the chef was on holiday and others were told that it was because the Managers were not there?! It's a shame because this was the best restaurant in my opinion.

No ashtrays in the hotel bars (I dont smoke, my husband does though). When you asked the bar staf you got a plastic cup half filled with water.

We were there for 14 nights and we always take enough clothes for 7 nights and put stuff into the laundry service when we are over there (saves on baggage allowance). We were in for a shock with this hotel as it was Self service laundry service!!! I'd expect this in a self catering accommodation, not a 4* hotel. Not my idea of a holiday spending the day wshing and drying clothes in the laundry room!

There were plenty of sunbeds but hardly any shades. I'd say about 15-20 shades in the full hotel - not a lot when it has 730 rooms!

We were also conned by Thomas Cook by paying

My boyfriend and I stayed at the Sunset Jamaica Grande spa and resort, Ocho Rios for 14 nights and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a 2 hour transfer from the airport, but it gave you chance to see some of the country. On arriving at the hotel they were ready to great you with a cool drink and the staff swiftly got everyone their room. The room was basic, but comfortable. It was clean and everything worked within it. The inroom safe is free, but you do have to leave payment card details for if you loose the key which is fair enough. There are plenty of towels in the room and the hairdryer works better than mine at home! The grounds of the hotel are lovely. There is was always a sunbed available by one of the pools or on either of the beaches anytime of day, and shade is easy to find , although it could be on a chair rather than on a sunbed. The bars open at 10am and the staff are very friendly. Try a hummingbird cocktail, they are amazing and slide down so easily in the hot sunshine! Plastic cups are used unless you are inside sitting at one of the bars. These do blow away easily if left empty under a bed, but there are plenty of bins around to throw your rubbish into. Bins were emptied regularly and the pools were tested for cleanliness daily. The 2 beaches were ok. The sea was crystal clear, but with alot of sea grass in it. The sand was more like broken shells with some small stones and pebbles, rather than white sand. However it didn't take away from the beauty of the place. There were plenty of fish to see in the sea and snorkling is available to use whenever. The 3 bookable restaurants were good and made a nice change from the buffet. I'd advise queuing from 8.45am. We always managed to get a table then and you only had to queue for about 15 mins. We ate at each restaurant twice. The buffet restaurant has a great selection of choice. The only thing that I feel let the hotel down was the evening entertainment. They do try to keep guest amused with 2 beach parties a week, but most nights it was just their resident band playing, who weren't great! There was a steel band and limbo once a week, and crab racing that you can bet on another night. Most nights we ended up just watching television or playing cards! Daytime entertainment was mainly volleyball and i did see water aerobics. However there are kids clubs and non moterised water sports. However saying that I would stay in this hotel again.

After just returning from sunset jamaica grande :( just thought we would share our views on the holiday. This was my best holiday yet, Was greeted off the coach from montego bay with a refreshing punch drink to check in with,we then checked in and paid the 100 dollars (u.s) deposit for the safe which we shared with the other couple we went with.took up to our rooms on the 3rd floor by a bloke called lesley(we slipped him a few bucks)we then used the keycard and entered our room to find a clean double room the other couple had a kingsize bed, the room consisted of a kettle,tea and coffee stuff,tv with cable, ice bucket with glasses,chairs,table lamp,phone,hair dryer,iron,ironing board,air con(free) drawers,wardrobe and ENGLISH plug sockets which were very handy for my sheers but not so handy for mossy plugs which were 2 pin but they wernt required anyway etc. the room was cleaned daily with fresh towels and toilet rolls etc.. We found the food very good with a choice for all,plenty of fresh fruit and steam fresh vegetables, every morning we went to the buffet for omlettes from the guy who seemed to suck his bottom lip to concentrate (very nice guy,and a very talented egg man) we tried all the restaurants la diva was very nice italian food but then i really enjoyed the ginger lily chinese the south beach diner not bad either but only went there the once in 2 weeks and had a gorgeous chicken in red stripe mustard sauce. the beach is nice enough and the sea is ok with a little seaweed. plenty of diffrent sunbeds and pools to choose from.entertainment was of plenty too.buy your own frosty mug or something alike for the bars because the little plastic cups just dont hit the spot after the mound of ice they might put in cocktails i tried every special and my fave was ride the tides a very rummy little green drink. the red stripe is also very crisp plenty of bars which open at 10am the all inclusive runs out at 2am but everything shut then. the nightclub is ok for a dark place to chill instead of bars.opens at 10pm till 2am.trips are quite good we did the dolphin cove(our fave) cool runnings which consisted of dunns river, snorkelling and a booze cruise but a little short on time after the waterfalls also very good and the other couple did the bob marley tour which they said was very good. plenty of other things to do.the water is safe to drink although I stuck to booze. :) We were advised to take the jamaican dollars but we took u.s which were taken everywhere, it gets a bit awkward working out the jamaican dollar to the pound and our u.s dollar was $1= 51p easy to deal with.when you gave them the jamaican dollar even the jamaicans needed calcs to work out the money. we went out of the complex a few times for a few things one drink sold in the shops called magnum(creepers) 16.5% tonic wine in like a medicine bottle which tasted like cherry brandy to me and after a little bottle of that you know why they called it creepers of course i followed that with a few red stripe at the bar which put me nicely to sleep I would defo go back here and we hope to in next few years but not with dawson and mytravel the flight was delayed and then they dropped us at gatwick then checked our bags then back to manchester(we finally arrived home after 27 hours travelling

Just returned from 2 week holiday here and had a fab time.
Cleanliness 1st class. Cleanerseverywhere and all comumnal areas spotless.
Rooms made daily and fresh towels.
Resturants good variety and even have "kids Corner" which although a little repetative,meant that the kids were always guarenteed something they liked.
Swimming pools well maintained althoggh could have been a bit cleaner, but downside is waterslides which are advertised as facility. We booked this hotel in particular because of this as it appealed to our 6 year old.However she was not allowed on them even with an adult due to height restriction which it doesn't state in brochure.
Beaches clean and plenty of water sports available.Water trampolines a big hit, pedaloes, windsurfing, yachting and Jet skiing.
Hotel situated in main area of Ocho Rios and means you can wander out into town, although be prepared for some hassle from locals, especially beggars, however after a few days they recognise you and stop pestering you.
Staff helpful, although not reps, who are only interested in selling you tours. My advice is book through the tour desk at hotel (slightly cheaper)
Entertainment a huge disappiontment. the main stage is situated in the dining area and means you're having to listen to it while you eat, which meant that it was very difficult to talk as it was very loud.Daytime activities mainly centred around swim up pool bar and involve drinking games, which led toroudy loud behaviour, although there are plenty of quieter places to relax.
Hotel KIDS CLUB EXCELLENT. Very safe and you could register at 09.00 and leave them with the wonderful staff if required until 5pm. plrenty of activities including tye-dying t-shirts, making pirate costumes, treasure hunting,and swimming in the pool which is all locked off from the rest of the complex, so there is no way they can escape!

Although the staff at this resort were great, the resort itself was very poor. It as recently been re-branded the Sunset Jamaica Grande and as such as undergone a refurbishment.

As of 10/7/05 this was still not complete. There was JCB on the main beach at 9am digging holes, exposed electricity cables on the beach and in many public areas (ladies loo's etc), pneumatic drills from 8am until late, hammering and banging all day long, workmen

Fabulous. Great hotel, great food.

All areas of the hotel were clean and well presented.

Markets in entertainment areas were well worth looking at. Lovely wooden figures and art to buy cheaply.(dont forget to hagle)staff very serious but helpful. well worth visiting would go back tomorrow.

Could/nt fault anything. Staff were 1st class, beach was always clean. Plenty to do the only fault we had was trying to book some of the resturants. As these seem to book out early. Cool runnings beach resturant was best experience yet.

Stayed here in 2002 - Staff were fairly pleasant, rooms were turned down at night, dining in the Chinese or Italian were a pleasure. We were very impressed.

Not this time - booked for 17 nights (was that a mistake!)
Standards have gone downhill:
A/C broke down after 1 week - fans were as precious as gold dust. No apology from management.
Staff are rude and uncaring.
Dress code relaxed to a point that it

We stayed here for two weeks in April 2004 and found the hotel to be fantastic.

Rooms - nicely presented with everything in working order although we did have a slight problem wiv the air conditioning but when we reported it somebody came to fix it within a few hours.

Cleanliness-the maids did a good job depending on which maid you got I found one maid to be extremly rude and not friendly at all but the rest of the staff were excellent.

The pool area and the hotel were always clean as were the beaches. Being such a hot place we expected to see a few little creatures out and about to to our pleasent surprise we didnt see a thing.

Food - there was a wide choice in the buffet restaurant to choose from it was usually the same things in the mornings but there was something for everyone, the lunch and evening meals in the buffet were never the same two days runnings.

We found the a la carte restaurants to be ok but not fantastic so we stuck mainly to the buffet.

Location - was excellent right on the beach and when you went out of the complex you was right on the main street.

Staff - couldn't do enough for you although we did find out that we had been tipping more than you was advised to but you were never made to feel like you had to.

The waiters in the restaurant were excellent so friendly and polite and excellent with kids, the staff on a whole were fab and really made you feel welcome.

And the staff that work within the hotel shops are wonderful too. My nephew who waa 6 at the time fell in love wiv a shop girl called stacy she was excellent wiv him and made him feel special and managed to calm him when he got sun burn and needed aloe vera putting on him she did it as he said it was stinging when we tried she was fantastic a real asset to the hotel.

Entertainment- during the day it was brilliant couldn't fault it at all there was always something going on and were always trying to get people involved without making you feel like you had too.

We had a 6 year old and a 10 year old with us and they loved it the kids club is fantastic too. There were lots of different water sports on the beach for you to choose from which were quiet expensive but if you go on them often they will usually drop the price for you.

There was a nightclub on site but it wasnt very good so we got a taxi into town and went to a local nightclub called margaritaville it was fantastic the local people were lovely and it wasnt that expensive either it has a different theme on certain nights there is a pool inside and it opens up onto the beach.

We would all visit this hotel again as it really was a fantastic holiday.
Dunns River is a must see as is the dolphins and the river rafting was fab.

The food in this hotel was awful, we found lamb that was almost raw but was put out for guests. You had to queue for every meal. The restaurant was dirty, there were wasps, bees and flies all round the food.

Cleanliness in the hotel was not up to scratch, we found cockroaches along the corridors outside rooms were food had been left all night. The bar areas were dirty, swarming with wasps and my dad got stung while getting a drink from the bar.

The Italian and Chinese were better places for eating but you had to book in advance and they only had a choice of two times per night!

The staff were friendly enough and tried to put things right but in the end we had no choice but to see the manager, he paid for us to go to a lovely restaurant for the night and gave us back half our money.