Secrets St. James Montego Bay - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

10222 reviews

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  Don’t go

  Not a five star hotel. Five star for the masses. We payed extra to stay at the preferred club rooms. Sales pitch started for tours on arrival, just wanted to get to our room. Food is for the masses - often tasteless , and so many times we and other guests couldn’t get into any of the restaurants as they weee too full. Entertainment was good- that’s why 2 stars. Staff are miserable and act like they are doing you a favour when you ask for anything. Example, I went out to the preferred club pool to get a couple of towels for the loungers on the beach, three staff members were in the towel hut on their phones surrounded by towels, I asked politely if I could have two towels, one of them looked up at me briefly and said - No.. Inventory, I asked if he could just pass me a couple of the many towels behind him then his colleague stood up menacingly and said, he told you No. I discussed this with the management staff and they said that was terrible and shouldn’t have happened, then heard nothing else - This is a Hyatt ?????? Also worth mentioning that if you want to use one of the cofortable pool side beds , it’s an extra £100 a day and those with butler service have their beach and pool beds reserved for them early, so many guest getting up to find no place for them to sit by the beach.

  Apr 21, 2025
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  St James for the Win!

  We visited for our honeymoon, looking for a quiet experience where we could unplug. Found it! St. James and Wild Orchid effectively share all their amenities, including spa and gym. The “preferred” areas of both resorts are much more “grown up” than the non-preferred sections, where you will find more crowds, poolside music, entertainment and swim up bars, whereas the preferred areas had far fewer people, and a much more quiet vibe. The pool at the St James preferred is FAR better than the pool at the Wild Orchid preferred area, in my opinion. Spa was great, we did a couples massage and it came with three visits to their hydrotherapy circuit. And we used the gym every day, it’s a small space but well-appointed with weight machines, free weights, pelotons, treadmills, etc. … so if you’re wanting to work off some of those meals and beverages you certainly can. Expect some of the usual all inclusive stuff, e.g. the small up-sales at check-in, and the ask to join them for a timeshare pitch over a breakfast presentation (though here they call it a “vacation club”) which we declined to attend, but had to say no thank you a couple times before it was dropped. No biggie if you’re used to it, but can feel high pressure if it’s your first time at an all-inclusive. Staff really made the experience special, in particular: - Janice at the Spa, she was super helpful and put me immediately at ease in the locker room as I changed for my session and moved between massage and hydrotherapy areas, - Junior at breakfast/lunch service, we got to sit in Junior’s section twice and he was so attentive. It’s easy to feel like you’re imposing as you request more water, coffee, another silverware set, or a cocktail (which they have to make a bit of a trip to get), but Junior offered it all and checked in often to be sure we were happy, and - William (aka Will) at the Italian restaurant, Portofino. Food and service was good on our first visit, which brought us back for our last night. William was our server both nights and just so friendly and professional. Food was a little slow on the second visit, likely because there were several large parties around us, but William checked in often and kept us happy with beverages as we waited. - the two gentlemen in the gym, we never caught their names, but there’s a trainer there every day and the two men we saw most regularly were awesome. They kept the place nice and clean, greeted us every time, and let us do our thing, but jumped in and helped push us each to get one more rep in, or offer small corrections for better form and benefit. 10/10, already talking about when we can schedule another visit!

  Apr 20, 2025
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  Best Trip Ever

  This was such an amazing trip for me and my husband! The best inclusive resort we have ever stayed at! Friendly staff, amazing views, beautiful beach, awesome excursions— just an overall 10/10 trip. Any and everything we needed was taken care of. Must get the traveling jerk chicken man!

  Apr 19, 2025
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  Great experience- highly recommend

  From the greeting at the airport for transportation to the goodbye with the bellman as we returned home, we had 5 star experience, which we note is largely due to the staff at the resort. They are the reason for our great time, always anticipating our needs, working together across departments with warm handoffs of us to the next person, and greeting each other in positive conversation and laughs. The restaurant selection is great, though our experience with the food was mixed. Our favorite by far was Portafino, an italian- inspired spot with great service, amazing dishes, and beautiful ambience inside and out.

  Apr 19, 2025
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  Wonderful Jamaican Hospitality with Sun, Sea, Great Food and Drinks

  Returning to Secrets St James’s Montego Bay we were not disappointed. The best thing about this hotel without any doubt is the warm, friendly and accommodating staff - nothing is too much trouble! There are so many incredible staff members but West on the entertainment team made our vacation. What a wonderful young lady! The rooms are clean and comfortable and have complimentary toiletries, coffee making facilities, clothes steamer, great hairdryer, robes and slippers. There is a good selection of places to eat. Breakfast has a huge array of freshly prepared and buffet food. Lunch can be taken at a few venues around the resort and dinner has a wide selection of restaurants. We were extremely disappointed that the Oceana was not open for dinner as this had been our favourite restaurant last April. The Coco Cafe is great for coffees, ice cream, cakes and sandwiches but this year wasn’t open 24hrs and closed at 10pm, preventing us from taking a barista coffee back to our room after the show. There are plenty of sun loungers available on the beach and pool. Most are moulded rather than having adjustable backs preventing sunbathing on your stomach. Cabanas cost extra and look comfortable. We took a trip with Jamaican Travel based near the Coco Cafe. It was an excellent day out seeing the island and was $18 per person cheaper than TUI! All in all we enjoyed our stay but feel that the changes we noticed since April 2024 are disappointing - although meeting and spending time with West made our visit worthwhile.

  Apr 18, 2025