Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort and Spa

Grab a Red Stripe at a kiosk just outside the terminal before getting on the shuttle bus to the hotel. It's about a 30 minute ride. Check into the hotel and get a golf cart ride to your room. The expansive rooms are grouped into small buildings around a covered atrium. Very clean and comfortable rooms. Grab a chair by the pool early because they go fast. Enormous pool with food and drink service, although going up to the bar to place your order is quickest. If you walk around the property you will find scattered smaller quieter pools. There are also several beach options, the largest offers a variety of water sports, ping pong tables. The spa on site did not appear too popular. The dinner options are all OK. Evening entertainment performances were not of our taste, subpar. Live bands were fun to dance to. The "nightclub" was a little sad, but we danced anyways. Most enjoyable was to just stroll the property and enjoy the weather, discovering a hidden hut selling cocktails in a coconut... You really don't have to go out of the resort for a great vacation, everything is there including shops. One must go to place is Rick's Cafe for the sunset. The hotel can order a private car to take you there, they will wait for you to have dinner or just have a fun night there! The staff is amazingly helpful and friendly, but do remember that they are always on island time.

A very pleasant holiday. Holiday was a package deal with TUI flying from Manchester. We got caught up in the coronavirus crisis which affected the hotel and the staff. More later. The hotel is enormous and split into two halves, the Jamaica and the Lady Hamilton. Guests can use all the amenities regardless of where they are located. There are lots of bars and restaurants of differing styles. The restaurants are themed apart from two buffet style restaurants and the food was very good in all of them, if a little limited. The buffet restaurants have good choice but are heavily aligned to the USA guests. Some of the bars are also themed with one being a sort of mini casino, if you enjoy a flutter. We thought the food was good and the bar service and drinks also good. The staff at the hotel were great. All were very friendly and willing to help out. The rooms across all the hotel, both Jamaica and Lady Hamilton, are located in mock colonial type blocks. All are very pleasant and you can opt for sea views etc if you wish. There is a fridge in the room that acts as a basic mini bar which is refilled daily with beer and soft drinks as part of the all inclusive deal. There is also a TV with a mix of channels (no UK of course), an iron and ironing board and a safe that is free of charge. Power is 110v and use an American type plug/adaptor. There is another upgraded section of the hotel which we didn't visit where you can choose more elegant buildings and rooms but we never went there. The rooms themselves are large, regardless of what part of the hotel you stay in. In the second week of our stay we were moved from the Jamaica side to the Lady Hamilton side as no new guests were arriving and we assume the hotel wanted all the guests in just a few of the buildings to minimise costs etc. The difference between the Lady Hamilton and the Jamaica rooms is the décor and fit out. The rooms are the same size but the Lady Hamilton rooms have been refreshed and have better decoration, more modern beds and bathroom fittings etc. They are also located in better gardens and nearer the beach. Whether the $80 a night difference is worth it is a value judgement. Entertainment is varied with a show of some sort on every night. We usually opted to go into the main bar and watch the band that was on. The bands rotated so you saw three or four different acts. Most were reggae based. The pool area is huge with towels available for guests. For the first week the hotel was very busy yet there was plenty of room and no sunbed reservations. There are bars around the pool that open at 10am. Towels are available from 9am. The location is well outside of Lucea and there is not much in the local area at all. If you want to go shopping or out to a few bars it is a taxi ride to Negril or Montego Bay. Our second week was impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. Jamaica put a stop to all inbound tourists and with lots of flights to the USA and Canada the hotel emptied very quickly. As a result many of the restaurants closed and there just were not the number of guests staying to merit keeping them open. We were all moved into the Lady Hamilton side. The staff were brilliant and even though they were being furloughed (without pay) in a few days time remained cheerful. Flights were with TUI, We upgraded to Premium and were glad to do so as on the return the plane was filled with people who should have been travelling to Gatwick and Birmingham but had had their holidays cut short as the Jamaican authorities were going to close the airports. The plane was rammed full. Would we go back? Yes, but I think we would try Negril next time as there was nothing except the hotel in the location and it would have been nice to get out other than on an organised tour. We rate this with four stars. The hotel is great, the rooms a little dated in the Jamaica side, the grounds etc very clean, the food fine and the staff lovely. We found some of the guests to be loud and noisy in the early hours occasionally, mainly at the weekend with people coming for a short break but this wouldn't put us of coming here again. One word of warning - There are no lifts in the accommodation buildings so opt for a ground floor room if you don't like stairs or require a wheelchair.

Went with a group of about 15. Review ranged from 1 to 4 star. My personal thoughts, rooms were clean pool was great pool side serves poor dining just ok . Mexican was the best Italian was the worst. They are constantly bugging you to buy the vacation package. Overall had a good time, would I go back probably not