First I want to say that if you already booked a trip here, don't worry, it's not as bad as some make it out to be, but if you have not booked yet you can do much better for the money spent here. I will say that overall I was not disappointed, but I also will not go back.

After I booked here, I started reading all of the bad reviews about this place, and I was very apprehensive going here with my family. I went as far as calling the hotel in an attempt to cancel, but we were to close to the date, and all they were willing to give me back was travel certificates.

I can see how the really bad reviews can happen if the place is at maximum capacity. We went April 19th to the 26th, and it seemed full, but if there were anymore people there I could see how the staff can get overwhelmed and service can go down hill.

We heard about the long bus ride, so we opted for a Timair flight out of Montego Bay, which landed us two blocks from the hotel. this was nice. It made the day easier. I recommend this to anyone going there.

We arrived to a very nice Lobby, only two other people arriving at the same time, so there were no lines as other people have described. We had a concierge suite, and they gave us a private check in, and tour of the property and took us to our room on the beach. The hotel is definately older, but I think it was well kept, and there were signs of wear, but I don't think it was to bad. they really need to update the pool chairs, but that was about the worst of it.

Our room was nice, not recently renovated, but it was obvious they had done some work to it within the last few years. not disappointed with the room at all. We had a bar upstairs, so we were concerned about noise, but it was the Appleton bar, which I think is the best kept secret in the place. Every night they have a carribbean steel drum band there. It is very relaxing, and not many people go to this bar. I think its because nobody knows about it, and if you are going there you must try it. The seats are old wooden rum barrells and are a little uncomfortable but not to bad.

One thing that had me very concerned is that on our first day, we unloaded everything into our room and went to spend some time checking things out. We came back to the room three hours later and our safe was wide open. It was obvious someone went thru it, but we did not leave any cash in there, and nothing else was taken. we had cell phones, laptops, and even ipods in there, but they must have been looking for cash. It is my belief that is was an inside job because our door was still locked and the safe showed no signs of prying into, so whoever it was had the key to the door, and the safe codes to open them. we reported it to the staff, and they seemed concerned but nothing else was done.

The beach is small, but it was well groomed each day and for the entire time I was there we did not see any seaweed at all on the beach. We were prepared for the small beach and it did not really matter to us. See my pictures for good beach shots.

The pool however did matter, and the other reviews are dead on when they say you need to get a spot early. I was out at 6am every day and was still not able to get good locations. It was kind of a joke in the mornings with all the hung over dads out there jockeying for position at the pool, but every day I was able to get chairs. Towels however were not available in the morning, but by 10:00am more than enough towels were available. The pool was cleaned every morning and I have nothing bad to say about the pool area or pool staff. They are a little strict with what they allow you to do, but I guess its for the kids protection.

They seem to have good activities for the kids. My kids are 6 and 2, and there was always something going on at the main stage or beach for them to get in on. They had a blast. One downside is that unless your kid is over five feet tall, there is no such thing as self serve ice cream and soda as described on the beaches website. All machines are on a high shelf which requires a tall person to get to. This was a little disappointing to our six year old. She was really looking forward to that. Also the water bikes were broken the entire time we were there. This was also disappointing to her as it was something she really wanted to do.

Where I think this hotel is really lacking is in the food. At best it is a one star, or equivelent to a Denny's or Friendly's. There are some exceptions however. The Arizona had some good dishes, and the Jerk chicken is fabulous. We did the candelight beach dinner one night for an extra $140.00, and that was good, and that is how the entire place should have been. The buffet food was below average, but they had select nights with pasta stations, and you could get a custom dish which was good, but the lines to wait for them were long, and usually I went for something else. The seafood was overcooked each time I tried it, and the meat was fatty and oily. The deserts were horrible. They were like something made from a kids betty crocker kitchen oven, and I think they would even be better.

During our night out, we got a private nanny, and she was great. She took the kids to dinner and the evening show, and had them ready for bed by the time we got back. We also put the kids in kids camp for one day so we could have a day to ourselves, and they loved it. they seem to be really organized for the kids stuff. We took the vacation to spend with the kids, so we only used the kids facilities for the one day, but they really did enjoy it. Also spend the money and do the character breakfast. The kids had a blast and it was worth it.

One other downside is that they have staff photographers walking around and taking you pictures. Its only bad because they are $16.00 each, even if you just want them on a disk. They take nice shots, and of course you want them, but that is just a way to squeeze you.

So overall, not a bad trip, just not worth the money spent. If it were half the cost I would say it was excellent. I do want to say that the staff we interacted with were great. They seemed happy and content, and if it wasn't for that, this review would probably have been much worse.

Our family of 4 stayed at Beaches Boscobel during April vacation. My husband and I and our two sons 15 and 17. Prior to the trip, I was on Trip Advisor on a daily basis trying to get a true picture of the place. I was somewhat worried with some of the bad reviews and hoped that those people were just very hard to please. I was also worried that my teenage boys might think it was only a resort for little kids. I am writing to put you at ease if you already have a trip planned to go or if you are wondering if you should go. You will have what my teenagers called "An amazing time" They were really sad that we had to come home. It will be a trip they will always remember! And that is thanks to the staff at Beaches Boscobel. Everyone makes you feel SO welcome and they can not do enough for you. The bus ride was 2 1/2 hours with 1 stop on the way for drinks, food and or souvenirs. We didn't mind the ride, we were just so excited to be there. Beautiful views of the ocean and the mountains and the people. Since I've been back I have told everyone how wonderful the people in Jamaica are! When you arrive at the resort you are greeted with cold drinks, beer, strawberry daiquiris and your bags are tagged and taken care of. The room we chose was the Honeymoon Beach Suite, so we were one of the rooms right on the beach. We were brought to the Concierge office signed in and brought right to our room. The room is neat and clean, not fancy, but well kept. We had a small terrace /sitting area with a table and 2 chairs to sit with some shade to get out of the sun and gaze at the water and beach. Every morning I used the gym which has treadmills and a couple of elipticals and some weights. We also got our daily workout walking up the stairs to the pool/restaurant (Bayside) level. We didn't mind this. We figured it helped with all we were eating. And there is an elevator if you want. Breakfast is served at the Bayside which was excellent every day. Fruit, smoothies, fresh juice, made to order omelets, waffles.......anything you want. We also ate there one day for lunch and the boys ate there more often than us for dinner. You are seated, they take your drink orders and clear your plates promptly. Garfield one of our waiters, we took a special liking to. He made all of us feel special and kept us laughing. That's what vacation is all about right? Other lunch options are the Barbecue Park and the Arizona, which is right on the water. For dinner, I wanted to make sure we tried everything and we did. Our favorite was probably the Venetian-the Italian restaurant. We went 3 times. Lots of items to choose from and don't be afraid to order a side of pasta with any particular dish you order. We got our desserts to go a couple of times and had them later in the room. Eleanor’s was very nice also. White glove service without being stuffy! The food was very good! Great service! We did the Bayside Buffet on Mediterranean night. Made to order pasta dishes, beef burgundy and lots to choose from! The bartenders are great especially our FAVORITE bartender! Kingsley! Thank you for making our vacation so memorable! He was so great to everyone! All of the bartenders will make you anything you want including the kids. We had some frozen lemonades and dirty bananas, mudslides.... all good! We had a fridge in the room that was stocked daily with soda, juice, milk and Red Stripe Beer. We also had a form to fill out if we wanted ANYTHING else. Bottles of liquor, snacks etc. Near the Barbecue Park there is a station set up for self serve, strawberry slushies, soft serve ice cream, soda and popcorn and always a staff person around to help you if you needed it and keep it tidy. There are staff everywhere always greeting you, asking you if you need anything and is everything alright. The concierge staff was very accommodating. Anything we asked for they were there. Thank you goes out to Shaw. You made our vacation GREAT! The same goes for the water sport people down at the beach. They are all Great! Gregory we love you!!!!!!!! He made us feel like we were the only people on the resort. He went out of his way to be kind to the boys, teach them about the water sports. Ran up to the bar to get us drinks. And I often saw him doing the same to all the other families, so I imagine they felt the same way about him. He was awsome! We spent the first couple days around the pool which never seemed crowded. The kids are spread out enough between kids camp, the water slides and the beach. The water slides were fun. I tried them all and screamed on the green one. Its a quick drop. On the beach we did the banana boat, the catamaran sail boats, we snorkeled and kayaked. The beach is small, but we didn't mind because the resort is contained and I felt comfortable with letting the boys be out on their own. The water at the beach was beautiful. The first day and a half there was some seaweed, but that was only because a storm had come through the few days prior. The staff is good about raking up the beach every day and keeping it neat. The rest of the trip the water was crystal clear with no sea weed and warm. They have a place on the beach where you can get your hair braided or a massage. I did get a massage but I went to the Spa. It was wonderful! Thank you Jackie! Best massage I ever had! Each day you get a program of events of whats going on for the day and all day long the entertainment staff has activities going on and music is playing. At night at the main stage, there are different acts like bands, singers, magicians, family games etc. After dinner we would walk around the resort and stop in at the stage to see what was going on. The Appleton bar also has steel drum music nightly. We didn't try the piano bar or the disco. Next time! No matter where you are on the resort you can pretty much see the ocean. We woke up every morning to the sound and vision of the water right outside our sliding doors. It was beautiful and I will return!

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!

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.