This is kinda long but worth the read if you are considering going here:

My husband, I and 8 of our friends (party of 10) stayed at the Riu, Ocho Rio Jamaica property May 30-June 4, 2008. My husband and I had previously stayed at this property in 2006, and per our recommendation bought along 8 additional friends. We were sorely embarrassed by the demise of quality of your property once we arrived.
First, check in was a disaster. Not only were we traveling with friends, this was our wedding anniversary. We booked an ocean front room, however thought we would like to upgrade to a Jacuzzi suite when we arrived. The front desk clerk said he was upgrading us for free- our entire party. However the rooms were terrible once we finally got into them. No Jacuzzi. Our anniversary suite had 2 queen beds, and a roll away bed still dirty from the last person who stayed in it. After requesting that it be removed several times, our friends help my husband move it in to the hall so that we could have space to walk around in the room. The bed linens left a lot to be desired. They were not comfortable and seemed worn. Finally, the mosquitoes! My husband started to keep count of the number of mosquitoes in the bedroom he killed each day. He killed on average 35-40 mosquitoes a day. That is pretty outrageous. It was so bad, one morning in our sleep we must have rolled on a mosquitoes lying on our pillows because it was covered with blood in the morning. Pretty gross. I sprayed the bed with Off Bug spray every night going forward. We were unable to enjoy our hotel room due to the critters that had taken over. The hotel did nothing to remedy this.
The services are average. The Spa seems to have decreased in services since last time, but over all it is average. Our entire party order massages at some point, but the spa attendant made a big deal about us all sitting in the spa hot tub area together, even though some were sitting in chairs and some in the tub.
The bartenders and hosts are generally good. They seem to work very hard to keep everyone entertained. No complaints about them-they made it fun.
The restaurants need some work. Sir Richards is not good. The menu is quite disgusting. The service was good. The wine list needs work. The Chinese restaurant was good. However when you have party 10 it is hard to be silent. There were several severs and guests asking us to be quiet, which was unreasonable.
At the Japanese restaurant the server was VERY rude to my husband. We were 10 minutes late for our reservation and 4 people from our party still had not arrived. The server rudely responded that if they don’t arrive here in the next 5 minutes they WILL NOT EAT. We are totally reasonable people, buy think that when people are on vacation more emphasis should be placed on making their vacation memorable and relaxing. Being 15 minutes late for a dinner reservation should be manageable... No one told us upfront about this policy, and frankly the server was rude. Our friends did show up in the next 5 minutes and everyone was able to eat without any additional drama. We also ate at the steak house-which was our hands down favorite. The food and service was awesome.
The facility needs some upgrading in general; the sports bar smells disgusting and indicative of a mold problem which probably is not healthy for anyone to be in there for a second let alone long enough to play a round of pool.
Speaking of pools, the quiet side was our favorite but the pool didn’t have enough water in it to cover the jets in the hot tub section of the pool, but the water was cold so guess it didn’t matter anyway.
We hope the RIU will rectify these issue and not continue to allow it’s property to decline in quality. We bought a group of 10 adults, but will not return without a guarantee that measures have been put in place to ensure that patrons will receive quality services they paid for. I will not recommend the hotel to any of our other friends that visit Jamaica and will be heitant to stay at ANY of the RIU properties throughout the world.

We stayed at the riu ocho rios for a week from June 28- July 7th

Our trip started out really slow because our flight was delayed and instead of getting to jamaica at 9 am we got there at 1 am so we basically lost a day....

We booked a private driver through Lee's Tours and it took us 1 hr and 15 mins to get to the resort....

When we got there, it was dark ... so we checked in and went to our room...

The first thing I noticed was a slight musky odour when we entered the room...but after a couple of days it went away ....

the room was nice we were on the second floor ...looked like a typical riu room...in room bar and stocked up fridge...the first night we had trouble sleeping because of the sound of birds and crickets outside out balcony...even with the door closed...(not sure if anyone else has heard this)

-the balcony we got was huge
-the bathroom was clean
-no bugs
-no iron but we called for one and got one in the morning
-fridge stocked up with water, beer, and pop

FOOD:

the food was good...the breakfast buffet always had something for everyone...

lunch we always had jerk from the jerk hut on the beach!! it was delicious everyone must try it at least once...

the a la cartes were Great..we could only do 3 because we were just regular room guests......reservations weren't as hard as I thought it would be, we just called down 9:30 ish and booked...

the asian one wasn't worth the wait at all....we ended up eating at
the buffet afterwards....

BEACH:

-the beach was beautiful, the water was calm and clear....
-always plenty of sunbeds

POOL:

-we only went into the pool once....in the suite side....the water seemed clean a lot quiter than the other pool...

Excursions:

we did 3 excursions..and we book them with LEE'S TOURS


The bob marley tour (9mile)

It was a great experience, especially if you are a bob marley fan...but be prepared to be offered ganja, if you don't want it just say no ....everyone there is very nice...you see the kids on the fence singing along with the tour guides..after the tour we went to a field full of ganja .and we got to meet CAPTAIN CRAZY...look him up on youtube...he's a character!!

Dunn's River Falls

This was a Crazy experience ...It felt so unreal ...the water just rushing down while you try to climb .....definitely a once in a lifetime experience..I would suggest to buy swimming shoes if you plan on doing this because the rocks are slippery and it costs 5$ to rent them ...some parts get deep so I wouldn't suggest this excursions for kids who don't really know how to swim....

Hooves:

This excursion was sooo much fun...great for all ages....
we went down a trail through st Ann to the bottom...by the ocean once we got to the ocean we took a break they gave us complimentary limeade and then we got back onto the horses and rode them into the ocean...it was great! my husband was last so when we were in the water ....some of the horses ahead would poo, and it would go to him so he didnt enjoy it too much!! but it was exciting ...cause the waves would push on the horse and you would be trying to stay on it while it gallops faster to keep up with the other horses...


We also went Snorkeling but just with scuba caribe with the resort....

it was okay....we went on a glass bottom boat to maybe a 5 min ride away ....got off the boat...got to see some stingrays....tiger fish...blow fish ....and some other fish that I wasn't sure of the name ...but plenty of them for sure

Overall it was a lot of fun....the staff was friendly.....the place was clean....I felt safe where ever I was....the FOOD WAS AWESOME!!
and nothing was really that expensive ..just remember nothing is the last price in JAMAICA!!


I would Highly recommend a Private driver....
-it gets you to the resort faster
-you can take your time when your on excursions
-you basically have your say in your whole vacation

go to one of the bars and TRY A MIAMI VICE....it'sdelicious ...

just go there with an open mind....

and you will have the time of your life!!

We just came back from our 6 day trip to Jamaica. We were 2 couples and we stayed at the Riu.

Drive from MBJ to Riu
We arrived at the airport and met our driver Damian Beckford who was waiting with a placard. He had a nice new airconditioned Toyota van and we were zipped to the resort in 1 hour 20 mins. We stopped at a local shop to down a couple chilled Red Stripes. You can reach him at damian_beck2003@yahoo.com. I highly recommend him.

CheckIn
Breeze, 5 mins, very lovely smiling lady who put us in Deluxe wing (Jr Suites). I had an ocean front booking (std) and our friends had the suites. She also called and checked for reservations at restaurants but they were full for that day (4 pm). They give you 2 cards for Towels ($20 if you lose) and a safe lock and key, bring both the lock and key to desk when you leave. (Score 5/5)

Room
We were in 1257, Outstanding, clean, fresh, NO smells. The baggage bell boy prepared rum drinks for us and we tipped him $5 for the smile on his face. The view from the room was breathtaking and the balcony was large enough for 4 chairs. The mini bar had Rum, Gin, Vodka and Scotch(?) and the fridge had RED STRIPE BEER. :) (Score 5/5)

Pools
Very nice. 2 pools. One on deluxe is quieter but we liked more. Devon was a great smiling bartender here. The other pool is larger and more kids/music etc. (Score 4.5/5)

Bars
Very nice friendly bartenders. Lawrence at the Lobby bar is great. The drinks menu is same everywhere but they can make different drinks for you. They ran out of mint all the time (No Mojitos). Also note that the liquor brands are generic (no Black/Red label, Grey goose, Absolut etc.) Overall I give the bar (3/5)

Food
I was a little dissapointed here. The buffet is repetitive. We ate at Japanese (Tushima) and liked that, Asian (Mandalay) was dissapointing, could not get reservations for others. Best way to reserve is to go to FD and ask nicely and then give $5 tip! Pizza place (Piccola Italian) was only good when they had fresh pizzas. Desserts were repeated and so were the salads. The Jerk Chicken hut was awesome but open only from 12 to 4. (Score 2.5/5)

Beach/Grounds/Non motorized watersports
No complaints here. Beach was clean, Pools were clean, there were plenty chairs and trees, we did the pedal boats and Kayaks, some part of the beach were rocky but just walk a little sideways to get into the sandy area. The beach side bar and afternoon games kept up the energy. (Score 4/5)

Night Entertainment
We liked the MJ show, Reggae night and the latin dances were good too...some of the days there was a boring audience interactive show. We mostly missed most shows as our dinner would get over by 10:30...and the shows end at 11 or little after.

I would definitely recommend the hotel. They do need to improve their food. The people working here are friendly. Single women do need to know what they are in for though. I would probably visit another Riu property after this experience (not 'definitely' because of the food)

Cheers and yes, Jamaica is (5/5).

Regards,
Ash

Following a trip to the Clubhotel in Negril we were not disappointed. The usual Riu standards were upkept, it is beautfiul. The Sandals hotel next door looked like a concentration camp in comparision. The staff work so hard keeping the place clean and tidy.

The lobby, beautiful ,clean, spacious and airy. Our check in was well organised, we had filled in the registration form on the coach so upon entering the hotel we handed over the form and our keys, towel cards, safe key were already bundled together, a wonderful 5 minute check in.

The rooms were up to the usual Riu standard, spotlessly clean with a wonderful view of the pool and sea. I would say that on a couple of occasions our rooms were not cleaned until after 5pm. A bit of a pain when you have been on the beach all day and are dying for a shower.

The food was excellent, we only ever ate in St. Annes which was more than ample, the choice was wonderful. We had a great waitress Marleen who looked after us so well, as soon as we entered the dining room she would wave and as soon as we sat down 2 glasses of wine appeared.

The bar staff were such a laugh and good fun. We often sat at the bar during the evening but beware if you tip them you get drinks even when you haven't asked, you wonder why I say beware, you didn't have my head in the morning!!!

Pool staff are really friendly, Ryan looked after us well giving us extra pool towels every day without even asking. Most days there were games around the pool which was good entertainment.

Scuba Caribe staff also friendly, hello to King David and Tenise. We did the trip to Dunns River Falls with Scub Caribe (much cheaper than Thomsons) a great trip well worth doing.

Entertainment was good, the bands were excellent and the beach party good fun.

Jerk hut was great but you do need to queue, when you taste the chicken you will know why there is always a long queue.

The beach is beautiful much nicer than Negril as are the hotel grounds.

In general I would recommend this hotel, the negative reviews that you read are usually from American's (very hard to please) who don't seem to know the words "please" and "thank you". It is a wonderful place, clean with lovely friendly hardworking staff. I would definately return without hesitation.