Not a five star! Over priced!

Our room was very spacious! Housekeeping wasn't consistent. We had turn down service one night, slippers on the last night. Had to phone twice to get the room cleaned one day... apparently you need to tip daily for good service... not a the end of your stay. My husband waited for the bartender at the pool bar to restock glasses before he was served. Have never experienced this at a true 5*. Meals took 45 minutes to get.... Lobster was delicious!! I ordered a rib eye at  [... lire plus]"The Grill" that was mostly fat. It should not been served. It was, however, nicely seasoned. The resort was nowhere near full capacity, and we waited for a table most evenings. On a positive note! The buffet had a pasta chef that made the best white sauce I have every eaten!! Fresh parmesan, cream and white wine and perfectly spiced. Was eaten alive by mosquitoes. Bring Afterbite and repellant They sprayed Monday and by Friday we could not sit on our ground floor deck. Purchased a catamaran tour from the resort, not our tour operator (who was not there during posted hours), that was cancelled by the hotel after we had been on the road for 30 minutes! Apparently it was too many waves. My husband spent 45 minutes or more trying to get a refund from hotel staff.

Highly Recommend

Just back from vacation and highly recommend this resort. Mid-size resort, gardens were well kept, beach area for Excellence Club members was well worth it, comfy beach loungers, very peaceful beach area, no vendors trying to sell trinkets which was a welcome relief. Breakfast and views at the exclusive Excellence Club restaurant every morning was the best. Overall food & service at the resort was very good. Room was very spacious, hot tub & comfy loungers on balcony, in room liquor selecti [... lire plus]on was excellent. Perfect adults only resort.

The property was very beautiful, the service good, however, the food was just okay.

This is a brand new resort that has just open last June 2018. The rooms, buildings, and grounds were very modern and beautiful. There is a restocked daily mini bar and a very nice pool bar. The food wasn't spectacular but was still good. This resort has very nice landscaping.They do have cheap snorkeling gear but there isn't much to see and paddle boards and kyacks but the you have to tip the guys to take you for a quick sail boat ride. The night entertainment was good. The beds were comfor [... lire plus]table and the rooms were spacious with 2 TVs and mini bar and double sink vanity. We had a garden view room (cheapest) and it still had a lovely view with a hot tub and lounger on the balcony. There are some even cheaper lagoon views which may be boring. We are bird watchers and there were many birds to be seen including the Vervain hummingbird and shorebirds.

Awesome Resort

This adults only resort is very private as it is situated at the end of a somewhat long peninsula with separate service and guest entrances to it from nearby Coopers Pen. Nobody was at or came around the resort to pressure sell time shares, souvenirs, goods, etc. Good selection of restaurants and apart from the Teppanyaki, no reservations are needed. In general, the food was plentiful and good but a bit of inconsistency with taste at any given restaurant (one night less than desirable and then a [... lire plus]nother night the same meal awesome). Service at the two restaurants on either side of the upper pool was consistently slow- the other restaurants had good service. The main pool is very close to the beach and sitting on the pool deck provides an awesome view of the sea. No limit on beach towels- grab them near the pool and once done return the used ones into nearby collection bins. Beach is narrow and fairly long and makes for a nice walk along its entire length as is goes around the peninsula tip and ends at the Mangrove. Very hot with the sun being super intense. Sunscreen is an absolute must! Breezy or windy every day which was nice to reduce the effect of the heat. All Staff were friendly and when asked, were always "excellent"! Daily entertainment in/around the pool was varied and good. Fat-Bike rides for a short tour into Coopers Pen are available once a day in the morning. The Entertainment team was fabulous and connected extremely well with the guests. Evening shows were very good and the venue for them is all inside and allowed for a good view of the performances. Some sound issues with annoying feedback and mics not working occurred from time to time. Was here for two weeks and my wife and I enjoyed it very much.

Top Notch - Great Resort!

We travel at least twice per winter and must say this newer resort was great. The staff were all very friendly, wanting to make everything perfect. The grounds are very clean. There was little to no wait times at the dinner restaurants. We tried most of them and didn’t find any to complain about. Buffet for breakfast and lunch had enough variety for any one picky. This is the place to go if you want a quick meal. We liked the Italian restaurant at the main pool for pizza lunches if you didn†[... lire plus]™t want to sit down. They give you a pager/buzzer so you didn’t have to wait and can get it to go. The rooms are nice, pictures are accurate based on the beach house we had. There were absolutely no beach vendors to pressure you to make a purchase. The spa is top notch. One of the best ones yet!! If you are going for a beach, really look at the photos, Excellence section had larger beaches but the maIn area didn’t have much of a beach. Overall, had a great vacation and would recommend it.

Very nice resort with greater potential

We are regulars to the Excellence brand having tried all their places with the exception of this new resort. This is a nicely laid out modern resort. We stayed in the # 4 block overlooking pool and ocean. The room was clean and spacious and well appointed. Minibar service was great once you made it clear your preferences. If you are a beach fan you may be disappointed as the beach is not very long and it's narrow. There is not lots of space to hang in the sand unless you go with the Excellence c [... lire plus]lub. The pool area provided lots of options for lounging with little need to reserve and it was at 72 percent occupancy during our stay. The food and service was very good with only one instance of slow service in Spice that was rectified. Our favourite restaurants were the Grill, Chez Isabelle and the Lobster House. The bar service was also very good but excellent at the Martini and Ceilo bars. This resort is really a 4.5 star but with time it will be a true 5 star very soon in our opinion.

Work in progress

The layout of the resort is great. But for being less than 1 year its already in rough shape. Being a new resort the staff needs some training, they are slow and not enough staff on hand. For the most part food was very good. We had a private pool which got no sun. The water in our pool was very cold. We asked to be moved to another room, they moved us to building 2 the only one that got sun. If you are wanting a private pool request building 2 or do not bother.

Beautiful resort on your own private pinisula

The hotel itself is stunning. Because it is situated on a private beach you have no one trying to sell you things every 5 minutes like other resorts. We stayed in a beach house the views were amazing. Our air conditioner stopped working one day I called the front office and someone was there to fix it within a couple of hours. The food is by far the best we’ve had at an all inclusive. The staff is so friendly and accommodating we never ran into a person who wasn’t smiling or trying to please [... lire plus] us in some way. We were treated like royalty. The main pool is also the warmest main pool we have swam in in the Caribbean. It is a new resort that has some issues but with time I believe they will figure out want needs to be done so that things run smoother. One more thing we had the best couples massage that I’ve ever had. I usually am waiting for the massage to be over but this time wanted it to go on forever. Very relaxing!

Really nice

Great service. Amazing beach. Really nice hotel. I would highly recommended this resort. We love Jamaica. The sand is white and wonderful to walk on. 5 star hotel. Good for couples. Lots of honeymooners. Only 39 minutes from the airport. The food was outstanding

Relaxing resort

We had a lovely 10 days vacation at Excellence Oyster Bay. I think that some of the reviews are not fair. This is a new resort so some ‘hiccups’ are expected and this is Jamaica and everything goes by ‘Jamaica time’. People are very friendly and more laid-back than Mexico. So what if you are waiting for 2 hours at the restaurants? Are you in any rush? Just enjoy your vacation and take it a little bit slower than your daily routine. The setting of the hotel is gorgeous, on a private peni [... lire plus]nsula, close to the Montego Bay airport, with a beautiful view of the port where you can enjoy, couple of times a week, large cruise ships anchoring there. They are building another Excellence resort next door (not sure which one Beloved or Finest) and the construction is not impacting the existing resort – not noticeable. We were spending our 22nd anniversary there and I sent an email to the Concierge prior to our arrival to inform them. I cannot thank enough to Derise Forbes and her team for the way we were welcomed and for the smooth check-in. Nice decorations were waiting for us on the bed, cold champagne and cake in the room. We swap a vodka bottle for tequila. ROOMS – the rooms are huge, with a California king size bed, a little firm but comfortable. The sitting area is larger than any other resort we’ve been to. We traveled a lot to 5* hotels and resorts, including other E resorts. We asked for a room with a nice view of the sea. We were in building 7 (in front of EC beach area), 2nd floor EC. The terrace is huge and there are 2 separate large beds with 2 Muskoka chairs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy the terrace too much because of the mosquitoes and I will explain below. The rooms are serviced twice a day and you can add to your file the time when you would like the room to be cleaned. The bed sheets were changed every 2-3 days. We ordered room service one night and it arrived after 40 minutes. In the same time, our friends waited the same amount of time to be seated at the Lobster House. Nothing special in the room service menu, too much fast food like. Another morning we ordered the romantic breakfast with champagne, it came on time however they missed the cutleries. The breakfast was good. RESTAURANTS – we liked all the restaurants. We haven’t tried the Lobster House for dinner again because of the mosquitoes. They do have the coil mosquito repellent and they can put it under your table, just ask for it. The rib-eye steak was good everywhere. We went twice to the Chez Isabelle, 2nd time for our romantic dinner. We simply loved having breakfast at the Magna restaurant EC, the best French-press coffee, the best service and the best view. The dinner was very good there as well. We liked the menu and the service at the Grill. We went twice to the Spice restaurant, first time to Hibachi. We did not enjoy Hibachi but we liked the food at the regular Spice restaurant. The girls at the Aroma Café are very nice and they make good coffee. We had jerk chicken almost every day for lunch. Please do not forget to tip the cook – poor him BBQing in that heat. I loved the pasta made fresh at the Kitchen Table restaurant. BEACH – you can take a nice walk around the property however the beach is very narrow, almost non-existent in front of the main pool. There is a nice size beach at the EC. The water is mixed, patches of nice sand with patches of seaweeds and algae so not very good for swimming. There are many people along the beach cleaning it up all day long. You can do snorkeling between the main pool area and EC beach area. Blowfish, clownfish, barracuda, black sea urchins, stingrays etc. Be careful with the jelly fish and sea urchins. We saw a white sea urchin right on the beach, closer to the main pool area. Sunbeds, umbrellas and sun huts / palapas everywhere on the beach and at the main pool. The main pool is big, and it has a large jacuzzi in each corner. There are floaters and we never had an issue obtaining one. People from the Concierge service come regularly around to ask you for drinks and/or food. EC has its own pool much smaller and quieter. In general, this is a quiet resort. While we were there, it was around 70% full. ENTERTAINMENT – We were not able to stay at the nightly shows as much as we wanted to because of the mosquitoes but there are good shows and good music bands every night. Jazz band, International band, Michael Jackson show, African show, disco fever show etc. Every Wednesday at noon they have an Aquatic show by the main pool, synchronised swimming – excellente!! MOSQUITOES – this is a problem and not sure if it could be fixed. The resort is surrounded by mangroves and swamps. If you are prone to insect bites, like me, your trip could be a challenge. I knew about the mosquito problem and I came prepared. Repellent 50% DEET – 3 sprays, Off clip-on, taken vit B1 a month before the trip and during the trip, essential oils that repel insects, ultrasound insect repellent for the room and I asked the hotel to fumigate our room every day. After-bite, hydrocortisone cream, fast-aid cream. With all of these I had around 20 bites. My husband, on the other hand, not prone to mosquito bites had only a few and he also used all the above. We did not have a problem with the mosquitoes in the room but we could not open the balcony door. They spray the rooms and all areas every morning and they are very diligent (fyi they get the same bites as we get) however there are days, especially when there is no wind, when the mosquitoes are more aggressive. SPA – as part of our EC package we had included the use of the hydrotherapy facilities at the Mille Spa. We had a lot of fun and we also got a very good head and neck massage. I went back for an anti-oxidant wrap and it was amazing! Thank you Ambretta! We really enjoyed our time there and the services are very good starting with our housekeeper. Prince and his team at the EC beach area are amazing. They learned our favorite drinks and they were waiting for us every morning with a cold drink and our favourite sunbed arranged with towels. They knew our schedule and our habits and tried to make the holiday a paradise for us. We didn’t have to lift a finger. They used to work as butlers at other Jamaican resorts, so they understand what a guest wants during the holiday. Concierge called us every day to ask us if everything is okay and if we needed anything. You can always see the managers walking around the resort so if you have any complaint, I am sure they will look into it. We did tip as in any other resort. They work really hard. Our travel agent told us that you need to write a note if you would like to give away your clothes or other things to the resort staff, even when you leave the resort. Otherwise those things will go to the lost and found as they are not allowed to pass the main gate without a written note. Thank you to all the bartenders, waiters and personnel of the resort making a very nice vacation for us (sorry for not remembering all your names)!

Excellence Oyster Bay, Jamaica

Hands down best vacation we have ever taken! This resort is stunning and the people even more so! Your every wish is taken care of quietly before you even ask for it! They are there to make your experience the best possible one. If you are not having a good time there, it would be your own fault. Although the resort construction was not of highest quality perhaps, it did not affect our trip whatsoever. Small shower leak was minimal disturbance and repaired quickly. The food was over the t [... lire plus]op and highest quality drinks possible with wonderful bar specials. Entertainment was great, Michael Jackson show was so fun! Too hard to have a favorite restaurant-favorite breakfast spot was either Lobster House or Kitchen Table, and dinner -Magna/Spice Hibachi/Chez Isabelle. Would recommend one thing to coordinate food/alcohol supplies little better to ensure enough for each restaurant. Gorgeous property for relaxation!