Jewel Runaway Bay: Roy - June, 2012

Jewel Runaway Bay  June 26- July 2

We have visited Jamaica many times since the late 1980's and have visited  this resort several times but this was the first since Breezes Runaway Bay became Jewel Runaway Bay.   The sale of the resort took place months after we booked our trip and many in our group of 6 were very concerned about what we might find there when we arrived.  

Overall:  SuperClubs had been allowing this resort to fall into disrepair for a long time.  Same with the golf course.   My first and pleasant finding was that Jewel and the new GM are very serious about making this beautiful property back into the showplace it should be.  Repairs, painting, cleaning, scrubbing, etc....  were going on all the time.  The lobby is being transformed into a classy place as some of the garish paint is being replaced with classy stained wood.  It is going to look great.  Improvements were being made all around us, but in ways that did not disrupt our vacation.  This same is true at the golf course where we found work and improvements going on everywhere.  Truckloads of new sand was spread in all the traps (which had mostly been mud or 'hardpan') and were mostly all done by our third day there.  The course is heading toward taking its place as one of the best courses in Jamaica again.  Even the caddies were excited about the renovations at the course.   Good things are happening all over the place at Jewel Runaway Bay.

Transfers:  This was one of the things I had been concerned about with the change from SuperClubs.  With no 'airport lounge'  we were sent to the JTL desk (#21) and were taken to a bus quickly.  The bus was going to stop at two other resorts besides ours but we were fortunate that the other two were in Ochie so we were the first off in Runaway Bay.  It seemed a little silly that we stopped for a restroom break just a few minutes before getting to JRB but the others on the bus were going to be on the bus for a longer time so we just relaxed and enjoyed a Red Stripe!  The trip back to Sangster was also very good.  We stopped at Grand Bahia on the way back to pick up a couple of people but that was the only stop.

One Airport Note:  Margaretville's prices (the one down by gate A-1, can't speak for the other one this trip but I assume their prices are similar) have gone wild.  It cost $150 USD for 6 of us to have a burger (single patty) , fries, and a drink (only one of them a beer!) at it took way longer than in the past too.    They will have to earn my business back in the future as there are many other food options there now.

Rooms:  We had three ground floor rooms in building three.  The rooms were as I remembered them.  They were very clean, the A/C was good, the TV worked well, and they were bright and attractive.  This is not a new resort by any means, but the rooms we were in were in good shape and comfortable.   Some rooms are already under some renovation.  Ours were nothing fancy but were just what we expected.  The staff did a great job of keeping the rooms very clean.  When there was a problem (and there were a few small ones) they were taken care of immediately.  A leak in the sink drain was fixed right away with one call to the front desk.   One of our other rooms had a problem with the safe not working (something we have experienced at many resorts in Jamaica) a guy was sent immediately to get it working properly.  Even when we found some mosquitoes in the room a call to the front desk resulted in coming back to find the room had been sprayed with something that did not stink ... and the mosquitoes were gone.   My point here is that if something is wrong... .tell them about it so they can fix it if possible.  I am so very tired of reading reviews about how people had something not working in their rooms only to find that they never even reported  the problem to management but instead just endured it all week and then complained about it in their trip report.  Even worse since they did not report the problem it does not get fixed before the next person checks into that room and they have to deal with it.  Some people just prefer to complain I think.  

Food:  Breakfast was great every day at the main buffet.  Lunch was good with several options and even more it you wanted a wrap, burger, or Jerk Chicken over at the beach grill.   Dinner was good but we tried to eat in Moonstone (formerly Martino's), the Japanese Restaurant (formerly Munasan), and the Starlight Grill most nights since we tended to be at the buffet for breakfast and lunch.  All were good.  Service was excellent at all the restaurants.   There is no reason to ever be hungry at JRB.

Activities:  The pools were clean and nice.  The Infinity pool had lots of music and fun while the main pool was quieter most of the time.  It's nice to have the choice as we did both for a while every day.  My kids had their first scuba dive and loved it. The golf was a great value and the course was in very good shape for a resort course.  If you expect to play at a world class, top quality course then a resort course that is included for free in your package is probably not what you are looking for.  The JRB Course is the equal of the average public courses near my home.  I was pleased with the course.  We used a caddy named Morris every day who was excellent and we highly recommend him.  Tell him Roy and Bob said 'hello' and 'thanks again for a great time'. 

 Some in our group also took advantage of the snorkeling trip, wind surfing lessons,  sea kayaks, and hobie cat rides as well.   Fun stuff. 

For the future:

While pricing and how things will be arranged with families with small children being  welcomed into the resort in the future are being ironed out, I still think that Jewel Runaway Bay has earned a return visit from us in the future because this trip was a great value and a great time for all of us.  In addition I ended up being very thankful that we went to this resort when Jewel Runaway Bay was taking over and getting things in order rather than the month before when SuperClubs was letting it fall apart and preparing to pull out altogether.  Jewel seems a 'class act' to me and the management style of the GM at JRB has both guests and staff smiling.  It's all good. 

Roy