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Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club: Traveler Reviews

Call now to book: 1-800-454-6835 from hotels.com
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating:
  • A summary score based on quality, quantity and age of traveler ratings.
4 of 5 stars 626 reviews
626 Reviews
5.0 of 5 stars
282
4.0 of 5 stars
185
3.0 of 5 stars
49
2.0 of 5 stars
48
1.0 of 5 stars
62
TripAdvisor Popularity Index:
  • Measures overall traveler satisfaction based on ratings, reviews and other sources.
#7 of 39 hotels in Ocho Rios
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  • Rooms: 224
Description: All-Inclusive Family Resort Hotel, comprising 5 beachfront 2- & 4-story buildings, located 75 miles from Sangster Int'l Airport. This description is based on information provided by the hotel.
Address:
St. Ann
Ocho Rios
Jamaica
Check Rates: $623 Avg. Price
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TripAdvisor Traveler Reviews

Reviews of Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club

( 53-57 of 626 )
“Reviewing the Reviews”

Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club

May 4, 2008
3/3 found this review helpful

Since there's an abundant amount of reviews for this hotel, let me give you my review as a comment on what everybody else experienced.

Before I do, let me mention two things that I haven't found in other reviews:
The hotel has a policy that requires under-three-year-olds to wear swim-diapers when in the pool, regardless of how long they might have been potty-trained. This would have been a surprise to us, since our barely three-year-old had been without diapers for a year, so naturally we wouldn't have brought any. They are available at the gift shop, but probably at a price... Since our daughter is small, though, and had just turned three, and nobody ever asked us about her wearing diapers, maybe that policy is not too strictly inforced..

The second thing I want to mention is the dive base, which we found amazingly thorough! Believe me, being a PADI-base doesn't necessarily mean quality or safety, but this here does. If your last dive was more than two years ago, the have you take a refresher class (one morning, a video, small written test, two hours brush-up in the pool and a shallow dive, all for 80 $) This might be a bit of a nuisance to people who are experienced divers and just didn't get to dive within the last two years. For me it was perfect, as it showed me how much I had forgotten since I got certified or had my last dive. After that, they offer two complementary dives each day, a deep one at 9:30 am and a shallow one at 11:30 am. Service is amazing, you don't even need to carry your gear or set up your equipment (which, by the way, is also included in the price) And yes, alas, the reef is dead. Mostly.

Now back to what everybody else experienced too:
Yes, the hotel is a two hour drive from the airport, the beach is small and the spa is expensive, it is a Sesame-street- sponsoring family resort which therefore has a lot of excited kids and, well, Sesame-Street characters running around, but all these things are information available on their website and should not come as a surprise for the informed traveler, so I think they should not go into the review.

The restaurants are above average, some more so than others - we didn't go to the adult-only, the Tex-Mex was so-so at best, the buffet really good and the Italian restaurant exquisit!

Drinks were interesting, a cosmopolitan apparently consists of white Jamaica rum and cranberry juice, and rarely does a drink you ordered before contain the same stuff as the last time you had it, but they are really yummy! Kingsley even went out of his way to create us a drink in the colors of our national flag (which, since it contains black, is not THAT easy)

Child-care was great.

The X-box-room was mostly empty and all but three consoles seemed to be working fine.

The waterpark is a blast! (Hight restriction is indeed 104 cm, for the big slides, but there are medium-sized ones and kiddie ones, so everybody should be fine. Plus, I think I've seen lifeguards make exceptions.)

Deck-chairs, pool towels, seats in the restaurants and activities were amply available at all hours.

Rooms were nice and clean, no outages whatsoever, hot water at all times and with pressure! (They do have shower-heads, though, that can do massage, trickle, or normal, so in case your water pressure seems to be low, check whether your shower-head is set on trickle!)

Yes, there is wear and tear, but in our opinion not due to poor maintenance or upkeep, but simply owing to the age of the whole complex. While we were there, they were working on something all the time, though, painting etc, so they DO make an effort.

Here's the catch, now: When we were there, the hotel seems to have been only half full (ie at 50% occupancy) Due to a waitress, it was booked solid from December to March and will be again in May. She said March was "very terrible". And I can definitely see how everything would be much less smooth and agreeable, had there been double the amount of people around - and probably at a much higher price than what we paid for!

Which is why I don't give this place its full five stars, even though our experience definitely was five-star-worthy! We have traveled to LOTS of family resorts (the operative term here is FAMILY! It's not a luxury couples-only resort and doesn't strive to be so!) in Europe and the Mediterranean, and this one was by far the best!

We'd go back immediately and any time if there weren't so many other parts of the world we haven't explored and might be worth experiencing too!

  • This TripAdvisor Member:
    • Liked — Waterpark for the kids and scuba-diving for us- vacation made in heaven!
    • Disliked — Couldn't take it home with us
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Tashadan's Summary
Date of Stay: April 2008
Traveled with: Family with young children
Visit was for: Quality time with family
Age group: 35-49
Member since: January 27, 2008
  • My ratings for this hotel are:
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Check in / front desk
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
    • 3 of 5 stars Business service
Would I recommend this hotel to my best friend?
absolutely!
I recommend this hotel for:
Great pool scene, Families with young children, Families with teenagers
I do not recommend this hotel for:
Young singles, A romantic getaway, Girlfriend getaway, People with disabilities, Older travelers
I selected this hotel as a top choice for:
Beach / Sun, Great food / Wine, Other
Was this review helpful? Yes No
Check Rates
Average price*: $623 (year-round)
Call now to book: 1-800-454-6835 from hotels.com
“beaches ocho rios”

Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club

4 of 5 stars
rhode island
Apr 24, 2008
2/2 found this review helpful

We went to Beaches during April vacation, had a blast. Right when you get off the plane beaches employees are waiting for you. You go in to a room and have drinks and then you bring your drinks in a van which i thought was weird but they said it was fine. The ride from airport was very long but did not mine, you could site see. Just hold on they do drive alittle fast and crazy. They ask if you want to stop at a rest area dont be afraid people are nice.The resort was very nice, rooms were great. The resort is seated on a hill so be ready to do alot of stair climbing.Everyone at the resort was really nice. Spa was also nice. Beach is small , we just put towels on chairs early. Pools are clean and nice. The guys that work down at beach are really nice, ask for Greg, he was so nice to us, would get us drinks and would talk to us for awhile. At this resort you are not allowed to tip, i guess if someone sees you the person can lose his job??? Not sure if that is true. Had a really good time would go back. Went with 15 year child and husband, they enjoyed it. Going back in Feb, but going to beaches Negril. If anyone went there please let me know how it was.

This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
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Average price*: $623 (year-round)
Call now to book: 1-800-454-6835 from hotels.com
“Great Staff, Poor Location and Infrastucture”

Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club

2 of 5 stars
connecticut
Apr 21, 2008
3/3 found this review helpful

Our kids, 6 and 9, had a great time which was the whole point of booking this resort. The Kids Club was excellent and our boys made a number of friends there.

The staff was uniformly polite and accommodatnf although one of my golfing partners had money stolen from his room. He had it out in the open and not in the safe which probably proves too much of a temptation to staff who do not make much money.

It's too badsuch a nice staff has to labor with an aging hotle which is badly in need of a refurbishment. Our room had a number of dirty spots on the floor and curtains and a big chunck of the wall in the bathroom was missing. The hot water would go out periodically as well as the electricity. But never for too long.

The most disapointing thing for us adults was the small, scruffy beach. Certainly not the idyllic Caribbean beach you hope for when paying such a large sum to stay.

The food was abundant but average. The best restarant was Elenor's which does not allow kids under 12. We went there a number of times when our kids were in the Kids Club fr the evening.

I would not book here again. The infrastructure is too old and crumbling and the two hour drive from the airport is a pain. There is little to do outside the resort except for tours. We enjoyed the river tubing and Dunns River Falls.

In short, young kids will have a great time. Adults need to lower their expectations. Again, the staff is great.

This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
ajnock's Summary
Date of Stay: April 2008
Member since: April 21, 2008
Was this review helpful? Yes No
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Average price*: $623 (year-round)
Call now to book: 1-800-454-6835 from hotels.com
“Awful”

Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club

1 of 5 stars
minneapolis
Apr 19, 2008
4/4 found this review helpful

We took our family of six to Beaches Boscobel over spring break last month. We were so disappointed with our overall experience.

The people of Jamaica are wonderful, the culture is interesting and robust the country is beautiful but Beaches Boscobel was overall a very disappointing experiencel and we did not want to spend thousands of dollars to be this disappointed.

There is a very small beach, no fish in the ocean for diving or snorkeling, flat tennis balls and broken tennis racquetts if you can even find ones to play with, broken Xbox games in over half of the designated room, the food was horrible and never set up or ready to open on time but all of that is tolerable because you are on vacation.

The real issues game with the Security, yes our room was broken into and all of our money was stolen when we had to change rooms because we got sick and needed to tend to a severe asthma attack from the smell of newly painted walls right before we were placed in our rooms. The lack of response, help and support to even try and get some cash though our bank using the front desk was nonexistent. The management was and is still trying to tell us why it is not there fault and security is still investigating our theft and will get back to us with a full report, right?.

The madness in all of this is that we wanted nothing but to be treated with respect and courtesy. Some help in getting a little cash to tip the people that helped us that needed to be tipped, From the management to the security team (We are not sure what their purpose was) to their customer service it has really been an awful experience for our family in booking and vacationing with Beaches. The management and customer service has spent so much time telling us we in so many ways how they are not responsible for the initial rooms we were put into to the theft in our room and that our opinion does not matter or count but they hope we will be back again to vacation with them. I think we will book else where next time.

  • This TripAdvisor Member:
    • Liked — the people of Jamaica
    • Disliked — The guest experience at Beaches Boscobel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
jmasterswolfe's Summary
Date of Stay: March 2008
Traveled with: Family with teenagers
Age group: 35-49
Member since: December 05, 2006
Would I recommend this hotel to my best friend?
no way!
I recommend this hotel for:
Families with young children
I do not recommend this hotel for:
Young singles, An amazing honeymoon, A romantic getaway, Girlfriend getaway, People with disabilities, Older travelers, Great pool scene, Pet owners, Families with teenagers, Tourists
I selected this hotel as a top choice for:
Beach / Sun, Outdoor / Adventure, Great food / Wine, Golf
Was this review helpful? Yes No
Check Rates
Average price*: $623 (year-round)
Call now to book: 1-800-454-6835 from hotels.com
“Read before you book!!!”

Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club

Apr 19, 2008
4/4 found this review helpful

I've just finished reading a lot of the reviews for this place and after having spent 8 days there I can tell you if you have kids over 10 or expect courteous service you're going to the wrong place!
The food is OK, the people working the bars and at the kids center are friendly but that's where the good news ends....the sign-up process for diving is a joke - and there are no tropical fish - (don't expect Hawaii), half the x-box games don't work, the place is crowded and remote, the tennis courts are in terrible shape and that's just the stuff you can put up with because you're on vacation.....plus all the other items mentioned in other reviews on this site - run-down rooms, noise, lack of towels, etc...
The real problem for us was the management - they were totally unconcerned when a significant amount of money was stolen during a room transfer (precipiated by noxious paint fumes that made several in our party sick). Basically, they blamed us which doesn't make much sense at an all-inclusive...
We understand Beaches is not responsible for lost property and we never asked for the money back. But we did expect someone to talk to us and listen or at least let us get some U.S. dollars at the resort - "no way mon"! Instead, take a $40 cab ride into town to find an ATM and not even so much as a follow-up except when I'd run into the head of security and he'd ask me if anything was new...I kind of thought it was his job to let me know if anything was new but that's not the mind-set here.
When we returned it took them 2 weeks to reply to repeated e-mails asking to at least speak to a 'live' customer service manager and then it reads like a carefully worded form letter..don't attempt this - at this point I suspect there actually is no one who heads up customer service...
Don't go there - we certainly will never return to a Sandals or Beaches property anywhere because of this simple lack of actual customer contact and care. As my wife says, they just don't get it and my guess if they never will because they have so many guests already booked - what's a couple more who complain? So we'll just have to let folks know the old fashioned way, one at a time whenever anyone asks where to go or how we liked it...we'll tell them exactly what we think.
This is the last thing you want to write when you've just spent $15,000 someplace....

  • This TripAdvisor Member:
    • Liked — kids activities
    • Disliked — lack of management attention to customer service
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Familytraveller2's Summary
Date of Stay: April 2008
Traveled with: Family (extended)
Age group: 50-64
Member since: April 19, 2008
  • My ratings for this hotel are:
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 2 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Check in / front desk
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
Would I recommend this hotel to my best friend?
no way!
I recommend this hotel for:
Families with young children
I do not recommend this hotel for:
Young singles, An amazing honeymoon, A romantic getaway, Girlfriend getaway, Older travelers, Families with teenagers
I selected this hotel as a top choice for:
Beach / Sun
Was this review helpful? Yes No
Check Rates
Average price*: $623 (year-round)
Call now to book: 1-800-454-6835 from hotels.com

Reviews of Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club

( 53-57 of 626 )
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Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club Address

St. Ann, Ocho Rios, Jamaica