Royal Decameron Cornwall Beach reviews
1279 TripAdvisor reviews
Perfect Girls Trip
DeniseHubley (Halifax, Canada) on Mar 16, 2024
I giggle when I read all of the negative reviews and wonder what it is people are looking for! We travelled February 26 - March 4 and arrived at the Royal Decameron Cornwall Beach to no line ups at reception, a very quick check in, greeted by Dane (who was a beautiful soul) with rum punch and sat in a comfy spot in the lobby while the rest of our party checked in and Dane took our bags to our room. We were a party of 6 - us girls had the best time!!! Was it a 5 star resort....probably not, but to be honest, yes, I'm Canadian, yes, Nova Scotian, generally easy to please and so was very happy to leave the snow and minus temperatures behind for a week in paradise. The staff were friendly, beautiful inside and out. We were pampered, fed, clean rooms with lovely housekeeping staff, good drinks, yummy food, beef tenderloin at the a la carte was melt in your mouth, salad was crunchy and fresh, entertainment was fun & lively - we were well looked after during the week and enjoyed every second of our time in Jamaica. And the beach......oh my, those beautiful turquoise waters, so warm, such a treat to swim in! The only unfriendly people we encountered were a few Karen's on the beach who seemed to have a problem that we were having more fun than they were!!! All in all, we had a perfect vacation with no complaints! If i could leave one comment for improvement it would be more beach chairs :-). Thank you to the resort staff for a perfect vacation....we all (plus maybe a couple more) look forward to seeing you in 2025!
Realistic review
Sophie W (Wigan, United Kingdom) on Mar 16, 2024
Most of these reviews don’t do this resort any justice; if you want a realistic review with a positive spin, read on. We arrived at this hotel as a party of three following a cruise (booked with TUI). We arrived late morning around 10am and went to the check in desk, were given our wristbands but were told our rooms wouldn’t be ready until about 3pm. The man who served us was very polite and apologised for the inconvenience, but it was a shame as we had to sit in the bar/lobby area of the hotel for the majority of the day (we were unable to change into swimsuits). Still, we enjoyed our first all inclusive drinks (note: they do not hold back on alcohol measures) and then we went to the JamRock restaurant and had some lunch. Based on first impressions, the choice and variety of food available isn’t that extensive, considering this is a four star. However, the food was all delicious and great quality. There was unfortunately a lot of flies coming in and landing on the food (which is quite off-putting), so I would suggest using fly screens particularly during food service times. Desserts particularly were exquisite - even if you’re not much of a “sweet-tooth”, you’ll love the desserts here! At breakfast time, my particular favourite food was the French toast they make - it is to die for! Restaurant staff were very ‘hit-and-miss’. We met a couple of servers who were very hard working and polite, unfortunately I didn’t get their names, but one of these was a very tall, slim girl. Otherwise, we were often ignored by the restaurant staff; one mealtime we asked for some water as we sat down and didn’t receive it until 15 minutes later. We expect that this is because the vast majority of residents in the hotel were American/Canadian and tipped every mealtime (and every time they got a drink from the bar), which we did not (typically we tip those who provided good service at the end of our stay), so we think the others got priority service. When we were given our room keys, a gentleman from the hotel helped to bring our cases to our rooms (in retrospect, he probably expected a tip too, but none of us had cash at this point). The rooms were very nice; all rooms have a sea view (although a tree did obstruct my view a little) and a comfortably sized. I had a double room (two double beds) to myself, which had an adjoining door (locked) to the next room, which I thought was odd but wasn’t a problem unless the guests in that room were being loud. The maid service throughout the stay was fairly average- some things were very thorough (glass balcony doors cleaned every day) but most things were limited (one the first day there was a hair in my shower, and the other guests in my party reported that there was urine in the toilet bowl and the seat left up when they arrived in their room). There was also an issue with the phone in one of our rooms; calls couldn’t be made or received and it flashed all night, which affected sleep. This was reported to reception who initially said that the guest needed to stay and wait in the room. 40 minutes later no one arrived, so the guest in my party went back to reception and explained that it isn’t fair to ask him to wait any longer as he’s on holiday and it’s the first day. The staff were understanding and fixed the fault fairly quickly whilst we were on the beach. The setting of the hotel is absolutely faultless. The beach is big enough, beautiful and clean; it’s actually alongside Doctors Cave Beach, and the other two members in my party who previously visited Doctor’s Cave Beach agreed that the hotel beach was much nicer. This is especially good considering that it’s around $25 per day per person to get onto Doctors Cave Beach and hire a sunbed, whereas the hotel beach next door was free for guests to use and use sunbeds. This being said, you have to get a sunbed VERY early in the morning if you want one on the beach. The sunbeds by the pool are usually all reserved by 7am, too. The pool is perfect; 4ft deep, clean, large and a great temperature. The hotel next door has two pools that are smaller that you can also use (one has a swim-up bar in it). During the day, the music is quite loud (I personally had no issue with this; we’re in Jamaica so I expected it) and the entertainment is limited. Most of the entertainment is done in the sister hotel next door, although it wasn’t particularly well advertised. The evening entertainment spaces are quite small so it can feel very busy. Again entertainment is somewhat average; no complaints, but certainly nothing to write home about. The hotel also offers two separate specialty restaurants; one Jamaican and the other Mediterranean (Oliva). We did not try the Jamaican restaurant but we dined at Olivia (which is, by day, the snack bar on the beach) on two nights, Thursday and Friday (it is closed on Wednesdays). To make a reservation, you need to book at reception by 9am on the day of (we were told). On Thursday morning I went down to reception at around 8:30am to find a huge queue through the lobby. I joined the queue and waited 30 minutes to be seen to (it seemed like no one was serving on reception until 9am). I was told that there was only 8:30pm dinner service available at Oliva, so we took this (although we would’ve liked an earlier time ideally). In the restaurant, it seemed there was only two servers who were quite busy (we didn’t receive a starter as we’d ordered on the first night). The food was very good quality and cooked very well (we had beef tenderloin for the main course). On Friday morning, I went to reception even earlier (around 8:15am) to find a smaller queue than Thursday, but I was still waiting to be served for around 45minutes. I was probably fifth in the queue and was told again that only 8:30pm was available for dinner service, which I couldn’t make sense of but we took it anyway. We got a starter on the second night (chicken soup, although it’s more like chicken noodle soup) although we noticed that other tables had bread served with their soup, whereas we were not. Overall, I’d stay here again. I think managing expectations is important though; this is four star by Jamaican standards (if you venture out of the resort other places look quite shabby by comparison). It’s worthwhile staying here just for the pool and the beach (and the French toast!)
Some of these reviews are too negative
Pasties19 (Orpington, United Kingdom) on Mar 15, 2024
This was our 2nd stay at this hotel and although there are still some issues it’s not as some people make out. There were issues with availability of towels, certain drinks & sunbeds but we didn’t allow this to impact our holiday. Some of the staff are a credit to the company. Namely Dwayne & Brando in reception, Diandra in the main bar, Daniel in the Jamaican restaurant, Georgia in the coffee bar & Tevin in the buffet restaurant. The hotel has stunning views and a wonderful beach and is perfectly located for Montego airport. We enjoyed our stay and definitely wouldn’t rule out staying here just because of a few minor issues. Also Karen, the Tui rep, was always available and seemed to take a lot of unfair flak for these minor issues. On several occasions we witnessed her checking that there was sufficient food, plates & cutlery available in the buffet restaurant. Karen was also approachable and pleasant to talk to.
Music is too loud
donald d on Mar 06, 2024
Music is painfully loud. Staff will not turn it down. Impossible to talk during dinner due to loud music. Pool bar also played painfully loud music. Could not sit on my balcony as music was too loud. Will not return unless music is turned down. Otherwise a great resort.
The worst resort we have ever stayed in, to be avoided at all costs.
Lynn m on Mar 05, 2024
This was the worst resort we have ever stayed in. I actually cannot think of a single positive comment to make. The location was good but very near the flight path. The beach had so few sunbeds there was constant hostility between guests.The food was unattractive, cold, repetetive and in very short supply. The a la carte was no bettter. As a diabetic my husband had very poor choices of food and drinks available to him. The crockery was chipped and cutlery unavailable(we had to stir coffe with the end of the forks!) I bought wine from the shop over the road as the resort was constantly running out for hours at a time and the wine list was hardly extensive, one chardonnay, one merlot and one cava.The room was poorly stocked , often only two towels and no bathroom mat, and poor mini bar upkeep. The staff were surly, unhelpfull, ineffective and often downright rude. I suspect this was because so were the senior management, from the Night Manager, Resort Manager and Customer Service staff . The TUI Rep appeared to be supporting the Hotel and not her Clients, which is why none of our complaints were supported or rectified. Overall a thoroughly disappointing and costly experience.