Arrival: July 11-18, 2009 This is a good choice for the budget traveler who does not expect a 5 star resort from a 3 star with 3 star pricing. Our criteria are a clean room with clean linens, good food and friendly staff and the Sunspree met all of these. The hotel is older and is under new ownership and renovations are underway. We stayed in Block #6 (5, 6, and 7 have been renovated or are in the process). It was close to the adult only pool and the quieter section of the beach. Blocks 1-4 are closer to the activities pool, restaurants, etc. Our room was nicely redecorated, but the bathroom was worn and in need of some attention. However, the room was cleaned daily and fresh towels were always provided (even washcloths which are sometimes hard to find in the Caribbean). Shampoo, lotion and soap were provided and replaced as necessary. There was also an iron and ironing board, coffee maker, clock radio and flat screen TV; nice touches for a 3 star hotel.
We enjoyed the variety of Jamaican foods offered at the main buffet restaurant, but if you are not the adventurous type, there was always pasta, pizza, etc at the buffet and lots of other choices (hot dogs, burgers, fries, nachos, etc) at the poolside and oceanfront snack bars. We found the food to be very good and had good service from the staff. There was good jerk chicken, pork, fish, etc available at various times in the main buffet and daily at the Just Kiddn hut across from the watersports booth. We ate once at the Jamaican a la carte and enjoyed the food and service there. The only complaints were the blaring Michael Bolton music played there and the dribbling of basketballs on the adjacent court during dinner. If you are eating here, ask for an oceanfront table to avoid the basketball court. We did not have the opportunity to try the two other a la cartes (Italian and International) because they were booked for the nights that we were interested in.
We had a couples massage on the beach at sunset which was very relaxing. We also had a pedicure and reflexology treatment which were both nice, although a little costly compared to North American prices. We did not do any day trips while we were there, but there is a tour desk at the hotel providing a variety of options. The only disappointment to us at this resort was the lack of good snorkeling available off shore. There were a few fish, but for the experienced snorkeler, it was not exciting. There is a reef close to shore, but we were advised that we were not to swim there because of the danger of injury. They did have snorkeling trips available for $35 US each for 1 hour, but they went out to the same reef we could have swam to !!!
We felt that we got good value for what we paid and would return to this resort again on a sell-off. If you go with realistic expectations and can overlook the “bumps and bruises” of the resort, this is a good choice, in our opinion, for a budget vacation