After touring South Coast, Sandals Royal Caribbean and Sandals Montego Bay, we hopped on our bus and headed two hours to the Ocho Rios resort area for our three night stay at Sandals Ochi Beach.

This resort is different – it has a beachfront or seaside area and a hillside area.  95% of the Butler Suites are on the hillside and all with either private or semi-private pools.  In fact, the Sandals Ochi Beach property has 120 pools!  THAT is pretty cool! 

The Seaside Area – a beautiful waterside area with private dining gazebos over the water that double as spa treatment areas during the day – and the ocean here is gorgeous!!!!  Now, the beach leaves a lot to be desired – it is small, pebbly and not very appealing in the middle section – but the left and right beach areas of the resort are lovely!

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The seaside area has much of the entertainment and dining areas – including Soy Sushi and Kimonos hibachi style dining.  The seaside has the watersports area and also a large stage where Sandals puts on some super fabulous shows!!!  The grounds are mature, lush and absolutely breathtaking!  The resort is well laid out and the staff is attentive, helpful and FUN!

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The Hillside Area (which you must take a shuttle called the Hop to reach – and you can go between the two areas freely all day and night) is more recently renovated and I loved the large pool area.  We arrived very late on our second day of touring and ate dinner at the Southern Kitchen (think fried chicken, grits and comfort food) and had to check out the party on the pool deck outside.  This was the night of the week (Wednesday at this resort) that the resort partied in their White Clothes (known as a white party) and danced to the beat of their own drum at a silent disco.  Guys, this was so fun to see!!!  People dancing with headphones on the blacklit pool deck – and it was quiet!!!  So cool!

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Since we stayed at this resort for three nights, I’ll just say that overall, I didn’t mind going back and forth between the seaside where I stayed and the hillside, where I enjoyed visiting.  Sandals Ochi Beach has a fun, party vibe with couples of all ages – oh – and another cool, one of a kind experience at this resort – a SPEAKEASY – with a secret password and everything!

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As much as I loved Sandals South Coast for its layout, its size and its overall feel, I really enjoyed Sandals Ochi!  It was fun.  It was fresh (even though I had folks tell me they visited in the late 80s) and it’s fun (I know I said that already – but it IS)!!!

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