Great family fun

I cannot say enough good things about this resort. This was our second visit and with the addition of the Waterpark, it even surpassed our first time. We have 2 boys 11 and 8 and they were constantly active and entertained by the highly engaged, enthusiastic staff. The food was excellent. The vibe is off the charts as the staff have a laid back, cool demeanor that is infectious. They are proud of their resort and their culture and they deserve to be.

Short trip but amazing staff

Front Desk people need to improve on people skill and smile , the rest of the Staff were amazing, just my Son and i went for only 4 days to strictly play golf and thanks to Laura Spry from trip central organizing this trip on a very short notice (2 days) took some amazing pics , showed them to my wife and now we are planning our next trip here. A very Special Thanks to our CADDY Joe and his son Giovanni for making our golf experience in February so awesome. Jean and Sheldon. John and Sheldon

Perfect family vacation

This resort was everything I wanted in our vacation. The staff were all amazing, food was delicious, pools were great and the waterpark was perfect. The resort is a perfect size so that my daughters could go off on their own to the tween club and easily find us even if we had changed pools. it rained 80% of our time there but it didn't make a difference. We sat in the cabanas or by the bar while the kids played in the tween club, pool or waterpark. They never complained until it was time to go.  [... lire plus]They want to stay for 3 weeks next time. The staff really made the difference here. We felt well taken care of and safe at all times. Can't wait to go back to the Jewel at Runaway Bay!

Welcome home Mon

I'm very reluctant to give a positive review of Jewel Runaway Bay...because it means more folk will go and we might have difficulty getting bookings! Jewel is just that, a jewel of a resort. Granted, it is not big at around 300 rooms, but that is part of its charm. The rooms are well appointed and immaculately kept, the restaurants offer enough choices that even the pickiest eater should be happy (suggestion for ordering in the Italian restaurant-- pasta? ask for a 'half' serving or order a serv [... lire plus]ing between two people!! HUGE portions) the grounds are lush, beach pristine the water is a beautiful turquoise blue with an amazing coral reef just beyond the roped off swimming area. The 'designation' is a family resort, and it is that -- not only are there activities for all age groups but you are also treated like family. The staff actually recognize you and, if you make a return trip, remember you. Case in point -- we were at Jewel last September, and have just returned from a January visit, on our first morning heading for breakfast Kerry Ann the hostess for the buffet, stopped dead in her tracks and said 'you're back!' and came over to give us a hug ...she wasn't the only person to recognize us, and when they did, the greeting was usually 'welcome home' -- not something you get at a mega resort like Riu, Bahia or similar. If you are looking for lots of night life and local clubs, this may not be the resort for you but if you prefer good evening entertainment and a variety of daytime activities to choose from I think you'll find what you are looking for here.

Perfect resort for families or anyone !!

This resort has it all, great staff, good comfortable rooms, excellent restaurants and all stretched out on a beautiul beach just steps away from anything that you want. The waterpark is first class fun for all ages.

Relaxing retreat!

Resort and Staff were wonderful, only thing I could criticize was that they did not seem used to a large group. All our reservations were made the last thing we want to do is wait in line to fill out papers

Family resort

This would be a great resort for famlies with young children, to remote for adults wanting to explore the island. We were told unsafe to leave resort and taxi's from the resort charged way to much even more than Vancouver.

Amazing Vacation

I would recommend this hotel. It was good. The staff was friendly and the food was good. There was some confusion when we arrived regarding rooms but I think that might have been more our travel agent than the hotel.

Excellent and Amazing Resort

The hotel is very comfortable and classy. Food is incredible.We had a minor issue with our room and Stacy at Reception and the GM Mr Scott Robbins resolved it to our entire satisfaction. Every member of the staff smiles and is cheerful at this resort. I am very critical generally but had a hard time finding a fault with this resort. My wife and I had a wonderful time at this resort !! On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give 11 !!!!

Amazing Place. Very friendly staffs. Perfect

Very nice place , Friendly and caring staffs, Kids enjoyed superb water park. Great food. Jewel bay located in the middle and easy access to Airport and you can do some shopping too. Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!

The best!!!

We stayed at the Jewel Runaway Bay Sept 12 to 19, 2015. This resort is truly amazing. The food was great, the room was amazing and the service was impeccable. The staff were so friendly and helpful.Would recommend .

Enjoyable trip

Jewel Runaway was great! In summary: the hotel is a good 4 star in my opinion and is generally very children and family oriented. the food is great, lots to do for children and the staff are AMAZING!! Altogether we had a great time! And might go back! Now on to the details! 1. Ride from the airport to the hotel: about 80 min - which the driver made it interesting for us by pointing out interesting sites on the way (and even stopping for people to take pictures)! He also talked about history, ge [... lire plus]ography and anthropology of Jamaica that (if accurate) was very interesting and good to know! So at the end, most of us really enjoyed the ride (more like tour bus!). 2. Arriving at the hotel: Upon arrival, the hotel seemed very small and dark and nothing like hotels I have seen in DR, Cuba or Costa Rica. There was no "Welcome drink" or welcome anything! No one was there to guide us to where we needed to go. 3. Checking in: the process was very simple, easy and quick. Unfortunately, the flight was not timed well with the hotel check-in time!!! We arrived I think around 11 or so, and the check-in was at 3! That was not good especially since all of us were up early in the morning for our 6 am flight! I was dying, so my husband kept asking if the room was ready and eventually at about 1:30 they gave us a room which was nice of them! 4. The room: it was nice, clean and comfortable! The minibar has only water and pop and no alcoholic drinks...we were happy with the contents! 5. food: The food at the main buffet is good. I eat most kinds of food, and I could almost always find things that I liked. they always had Jamaican food, which was amazing! I loved jerk chicken and even bought the spice to make it at home!! :) The a la cart restaurant were all "fantastic". the food tasted soooo good that i often ordered 2 plates just for me! the best restaurant in my opinion was Platinum. they had AMAZING tasting dishes, with fabulous designs and super nice staff! we ended up having dinner and breakfast there I think 5 days!! too bad they were closed for lunch! 6. pools there are 2 main pools and a little pool with the swim-up bar. deep pool - was nice with the deep area clearly marked. They could have tried to keep it a little cleaner. Small pool, good enough i guess for people with small children Pool with a swim-up bar: good, but usually not staffed and we had to wait for some time or go out for a drink! 7. Bars: Drinks were great! there were quite a few and any where in the resort you were close enough to a bar to get a nice drink. 8. Entertainment and activities: Well, we only stayed twice for the evening entertainment and it was really worth staying up for. the talent show was interesting! I think the entertainment group could have tried to engage the guests a little more. for example, a lot of resorts have the entertainment team going around in the pool and start various games, like pool volleyball, etc. but the team at Jewel, wasnt really active in that sense. most i saw was 1 or 2 of the girls asking trivia questions usually around 2-3 and giving jewel dollars to cash in the gift shop. 40,000 Jewel dollar is about 3 dollars at the gift shop!!!! 9. Gift shop: Don't buy rum there. I bought small bottles of rum cream at the hotel for $5, the exact same bottle was $2.5 at the airport!! 10. Water park: good and as much fun as the brochure and website say! we enjoyed it!! 11. Staff: AMAZING!! they are making the difference in this hotel. their general manager, I think Scott Robin, should be commended for the training of the staff and the quality of service the provide. Everywhere in the hotel, staff are nice, smiling, sweet and asking you how they can make your stay nicer! I couldn't ask for nicer staff in a resort! 12. Beach: was nice, quite, soft, sandy....lovely!

Return trip

Nice beach. Excellent staff. Food is OK. Lots of variety. Underwhelming decor in lobby and entrance area. Poorly lit . No AC in lobby or restaurants except Platinum. More umbrellas needed on the beach.

Amazing Family Resort

the reviews on this resort are spot on!!! great family vacation with the kids. Friendly helpful staff always going beyond to service you , Food was amazing and Lots of different options. Rooms were clean , grounds were kept clean , beach was amazing and waterpark was fun for the whole family . Id recommend This resort for any family to go , I will go back again for sure!!

Great Value

There was so much to do at this resort and too little time. Great beach & house reef, sea sports, pools, access to water park any time (with food and towels). Morning work outs, night entertainment. Plenty of choice for eating. Kid's activities. And we did not even use the golf course or tennis courts.

JEWEL RUNAWAY BAY

THIS IS A FIRST CLASS RESORT. I NEVER HAD A BAD MEAL. THE PEOPLE WERE FRIENDLY ALWAYS AND ALWAYS SMILING. THIS IS ALSO A GREAT RESORT FOR KIDS. THE WATER PARK IS EXCELLENT AND YOU CAN'T BEAT THE DAYCARE.

Great resort

Great resort, with good food, activities for families with kids and friendly staff. Would definately go again. would be nice if when we arrive , there is something like a welcome drink and luggage is more organized. Other wise had a great time.

Great Family Resort!!!

Great family friendly resort, well maintained, with the nicest staff!!! For a smaller resort the food was fantastic!! Japanese Restaurant was fun and interactive and was the only a la carte that required a reservation and no restrictions on how many times you can dine at any a la carte. Most restaurants were open air with a beautiful view of the ocean. The waterpark was a blast for all ages and there is an infinity pool with swim up bar with either view of ocean or mountains. Another pool is adj [... lire plus]acent to the buffet which is deeper (lots of pool noodles available to float around with!!) Snorkelling is great off the beach....lots of fish and coral to look at! Rooms were modern and decent size and wifi throughout the resort. Activities going on constantly for either kids or adults. Had a blast!

Amazing Resort!! Planning our trip for next April

We stayed at the Jewel Runaway Bay from May 4-11, 2015. We had the most amazing trip. My second trip to Jamaica and my husbands first and we are planning on going back next April. The rooms are spotless, the food is amazing, the staff are out of this world friendly. We were in building 3 facing the back of the resort. It was an ok but next time Id want to be facing the resort or pool view to be closer to the action and music. It would be a perfect room for those who go to bed early. We met a lot [... lire plus] of very nice people and long life friends. We went to every restaurant and tested every bar and grill. All were fantastic. We had 8 days of 31+ weather with no rain, lots of wind but not a drop of rain. I can deal with the wind. We stayed by the infinity pool every day and ventured over to the big pool once in a while. The beach was an arms length away from the infinity pool and one of the nicest, cleanest water I've seen. Very windy most days but calmed down in the evening. There were tons of empty chairs everywhere, every day. Go to the managers party and go talk to Scott. He doesn't seem to be approachable when you stand back but looks are deceiving. He is very friendly and takes pride in his job and the resort is improving daily. If you have a problem, (which we didn't) they fix it asap. You can tell he really cares about this resort and hopefully he treats his staff great. They seem to really like him. We went to the water park daily. Our favorite day was when the locals came in on the weekend and we got to enjoy their company and had a lot of fun on the lazy river with the little kids. We went down the slide where both of us could get on the tube, we had a blast. Most days we just went on the lazy river and relaxed. There is something for ages 0 to 95 at the water park. It's truly built with all ages in mind. We went on vacation with relaxation on our minds after the terrible NS winter and that's exactly what we did. Bugsy (cabby) took us to Ocho rios for a 5 hour trip for $80 American. On our way back we had lunch at margaritaville, met Birdman where he made us birds out of palm leaves and told us jokes. This was the only excursion we went on. So if you're looking for a small, close to everything, 4+ resort with friendly staff and very family oriented in every way. This is the place for you. So don't sweat the small stuff and just relax and enjoy. Because we apologized to the staff for the actions of some guests who we didn't even know, as they were just down right rude and there was really no need to be. The staff just smiled and said thank you.

Fantastic Resort

The resort was well laid out and accessible to everything in a 5 minute walk. The staff is amazing and very welcoming. If you happen to bring your kids along, then they will be in great hands in the kids club and will be entertained all hours of the day. The food was great at most restuarants and worth a try. The beach was out of this world with a coral reef accessible to do snorkeling right there. The water park was awesome and again if kids are with you, they will be entertained for hours. We  [... lire plus]didn't have any issues and will definitely be back again. Shout out to Garnet and the ladies of the kids club. This was a fantastic trip. Thank you Jewel.