Royal Decameron Club Caribbean All Inclusive Hotel Runaway Bay travel guide

When I arrived, I tried to love the resort, but within a few hours realized that I couldn't. We stayed in 3 hotels during our 10 day trip and this was supposed to be the nicest, but so many things went wrong with the hotel, that my wife described it as "a nightmare.” Our $50/night eco-hotel was more enjoyable that this $170/night all inclusive.Noise, Noise, Noise. If you go to Jamaica only to party, then this is your place. I would say about 50% of the bungalows are too noisy for a couple to enjoy, with only about 5 feet between many of the bungalows and the outside streets. The West side of the resort has constant truck noise on Highway A1, and the East side has Garbage trucks (for about 1 hour) at 4AM. If you're lucky enough to get a quiet bungalow then it'll be nice. I told the reception that I was here to relax, and they stuck me in the loudest room (right behind the main stage) and when I asked for a change, they put me next to the Garbage. Smelly and noisy.Summary: The Beach: Not a real beach. Looks like they tried to convert a rocky coastline into a beach. Thumbs down. I only used the pool, not the "beach". The Food: Much lower quality that I expected. First night was okay (Jerk Pork) but low quality (very fatty), but second night was terrible. Their Mexican night is worse than Taco Bell. A real pity, since there is so much fresh fish just outside the gates. The Drinks: All you can drink, was the only bright spot. Strong drinks too! The Staff: Okay, but very impersonal. Felt I was just 1 of 400 guests, and they didn't care about me. So many rules: Sign up for snorkeling at 9AM. Sign up for Sailing at 10AM (don’t try signing up at 9AM). Missed out on many things I wanted to do (Scuba, sit-down restaurants, Glass Bottom Boat) because their rules made it difficult to do more than one or two things in a day. And they don’t tell you about the rules in advance, only when you missed the deadline. The Low point: The main reason I picked this resort was they showed 3 sailboats in their pictures on their website, since I used to race sailboats and wanted to impress my wife. When I arrived they only had one that was “operational”, and actually it had a hole in it. We had to be rescued at sea, and it turned out they knew about the hole the entire time.If this is your only place in Jamaica, then you are missing out and might as well stay in Florida. Either go to Port Antonio (near San San Beach and Frenchman’s Cove) for the real Jamaica or pay a little more for a better resort. Either that, or drink tons of their free drinks and everything will seem better than it actually is.

2009-08-12 / follow mbabbe / report abuse