Secrets St. James Montego Bay

Travel Date: March 31, 2025

We just returned from 10 days holiday from Secrets St James Montego Bay. Only one word to describe it- perfect! Beautiful resort, wonderful friendly people. Very clean. Food delicious and plentiful. We were staying in St James preferred club site in Butler suite. We had 2 amazing butlers Darwin and...

We just returned from 10 days holiday from Secrets St James Montego Bay. Only one word to describe it- perfect! Beautiful resort, wonderful friendly people. Very clean. Food delicious and plentiful. We were staying in St James preferred club site in Butler suite. We had 2 amazing butlers Darwin and Tajae to look after us. They went far and beyond! Every single detail was taken care of. The minute we asked for something- it’s done. They made our holiday exceptional! It feels like we made friends for life. And I’m sure we will be back! ❤️❤️

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

We stayed at Secrets St. James the last week in February. We had a great time. We didn’t have any of the issues I’m reading from recent posts. We are very early risers, and while the beach chair situation is true at 6am, this was expected. We have stayed at...

We stayed at Secrets St. James the last week in February. We had a great time. We didn’t have any of the issues I’m reading from recent posts. We are very early risers, and while the beach chair situation is true at 6am, this was expected. We have stayed at other brand all inclusive and this is always the situation so it wasn’t a surprise. Our Ocean view room was really nice and the housekeeping crew were so nice and did a great job. Not sure what was up with the clear door for the toilet lol but hanging a bath towel on the door solved the issue. We enjoyed the food , it’s resort food and if you travel anywhere the food is pretty similiar. We really loved the jerk chicken at the Backyard Grill. Delicious! The breakfast buffet was huge and had so many choices. Inlet bar is always my go to and it did not disappoint. We did not have the wait times I’m reading about for dinner. We waited about 30 minutes twice but the other days we got right in. We ate around 630 if that helps. Some restaurants are more popular than others, like the Italian, so you know there is going to be a wait there, plan accordingly. It rained one night so we ordered room service and it took a little over an hour but it was good. Staff at the resort were so nice. Shout out to Kimisha at the front desk, whose name I probably spelt wrong, she was so helpful with all of our questions and explained all our options in great detail for the hotel credits we had. She was friendly and very good at her job along with her coworkers! We sat at the pool for a little while one day but realized we are beach people. The beaches were clean and beautiful and we got our drinks served at the beach which was great. The bar staff were friendly and helpful with telling us good frozen drinks to try. We also usually asked people as we walked by them with their colorful drinks. The CoCo cafe was a great spot with delicious coffee drinks and treats. We walked around the resort a few times in the morning and it was so clean and quiet. The views are amazing! All in all we would return again!

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

Where to start….. Don’t book this Hotel, clearly not a 5* resort as advertised by TUI. Having to set an alarm for 5.30 every morning to secure a sun bed is not acceptable, despite pool and beach regulations clearly stating it is prohibited. Plenty of cabanas vacant daily but at...

Where to start….. Don’t book this Hotel, clearly not a 5* resort as advertised by TUI. Having to set an alarm for 5.30 every morning to secure a sun bed is not acceptable, despite pool and beach regulations clearly stating it is prohibited. Plenty of cabanas vacant daily but at a minimum charge of 100 US dollars per day, So NOT an all inclusive resort. The restaurant situation is unreal with waits of over 2 hours to secure a table. We were amazed to witness guests complaining loudly to restaurant about their wait and then being shown straight to a table jumping the queue. This happened nightly and became a source of entertainment for us. Unbelievable….. if however you paid extra for a butler, a reservation at your chosen restaurant was made for you and you got shown straight to a table. Butlers also reserved sun beds for their guests, we witnessed this on several occasions with those sun beds remaining unused all day. We informed reception of this and were told that it was part of the butler service package and there was nothing they could or would not do about it. Some staff were lovely, some were down right rude, if you tip high enough you got served quickly. Lengthy waits at the bars, there did not seem to be enough staff on at any given shift. I could go on, but after spending thousands of pounds for our one holiday a year, it has all been rather depressing.

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

Husband and I spent 2 weeks at Saint James preferred. Staff, Room, beds, housekeeping, cleanliness, view, all excellent. We spent each day at the preferred beach, but without the help and paying for someone to save our spot we would not have had one without getting up at 5am, not...

Husband and I spent 2 weeks at Saint James preferred. Staff, Room, beds, housekeeping, cleanliness, view, all excellent. We spent each day at the preferred beach, but without the help and paying for someone to save our spot we would not have had one without getting up at 5am, not what we are going to do on vacation. Those with butlers get the royal treatment for pool or beach spots and dinner reservations. There are no wrist bands here which means you can go anywhere and eat anywhere you want even if you didn't pay for preferred. The chair game is real as is the restaurant wait times. We met an elderly couple from the UK in there 80's there for the 4th time while we were waiting to get into the Portofino restaurant I noticed the wife go to the front of the line to see how much longer it would be and walk away I asked her how long her and her husband had been waiting....2 hours and they were still 8th in line. They left. Broke my heart. There only alternative would have been room service at that time of night IF room service got there order. The last night we were there (March 9/25) we waited 2 hours to get a table at Himitsu restaurant, when I asked how much longer there were 13 ahead of us, it was 9:30 when we walked away. Ordered room service on the way back to our room, we were leaving early the next morning. After 2 hours and 3 attempts ordering room service it finally arrived. It is common sense to ourselves and many others we spoke with that an evening buffet option is desperately needed. We met so many amazing people from all over the world. The staff goes above an beyond, they are the heart and soul!!!! We will not be returning.

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

The number of poor reviews I could give this resort are countless. We’ve stayed at several other secrets resorts including Cap Cana, Akumal, Maroma Beach, etc. We assumed this Secrets resort would also be a 5 star resort and be just as amazing as the rest. We aren’t really people...

The number of poor reviews I could give this resort are countless. We’ve stayed at several other secrets resorts including Cap Cana, Akumal, Maroma Beach, etc. We assumed this Secrets resort would also be a 5 star resort and be just as amazing as the rest. We aren’t really people to complain but something needs to be written so people realize how awful this resort was. We would never go back here. We stayed at Secrets St. James which is basically combined with Secrets Wild orchid and the breathless resort. They claim to be “separate” although they are all mashed into one resort. It was way overbooked because they couldn’t accommodate any needs of the guests. The wait time for dinner was excessive, some nights took as long as an 1.5 hours to even be seated and once finally seated several meals took as long as 2.5 hours to complete a meal, appetizer to dessert. Food was very poor quality, terrible compared to other resorts. Workers would say things like “oh the crepe machine doesn’t work today, the coffee machine is out of service, we’re out of chicken at this time, we ran out of dessert, check back later, etc” I’m sorry but if I’m paying this much money for an all inclusive resort, it should be all inclusive. Service was horrible and barely even present at all when needed. God forbid you actually needed something important, it would be impossible for staff to accommodate you. The Resort was old and outdated. Rooms were gross and uncleanly, couldn’t even use the room jacuzzi because it was so gross. Resort is in dire need of a remodel and fresh paint job. Some workers were very friendly and kind, but majority of the workers were rude and didn’t care about you. Majority never even flashed a smile, maybe because the workers are as miserable as the guests are. There are not nearly enough pool or beach chairs for the amount of guests between the 3 resorts. You had to get up at sunrise to reserve chairs if you even wanted a slight chance of being able to have a spot for the day at the beach or pool. I could go on and on, don’t waste your time or even consider stepping foot into any of these 3 Jamaican resorts, look elsewhere. I’ll never return, this resort sure gives Secrets resorts a bad name.

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

What a lovely hotel, just got back, was a celebration for the wife's 40th birthday, we had such a great time, place is so beautiful, staff were brilliant, from bar staff to entertainment team. Actor boy had us laughing all the time around the pool. The only thing I say...

What a lovely hotel, just got back, was a celebration for the wife's 40th birthday, we had such a great time, place is so beautiful, staff were brilliant, from bar staff to entertainment team. Actor boy had us laughing all the time around the pool. The only thing I say that could improve, personally I think a booking system would be better when it comes to eating at night time, apart from that couldn't fault the place, would definitely return and recommend to other people.

Travel Date: January 31, 2025

What a wonderful experience at the New Years Eve celebration on the beach at MBJ Secrets. Ms. Delrose, Pace Band, special singers along with the entire entertainment team provided the resort with an awesome celebration. As always, the restaurants, pools, Coco Cafe, bartenders and staff went above and beyond. Housekeeping...

What a wonderful experience at the New Years Eve celebration on the beach at MBJ Secrets. Ms. Delrose, Pace Band, special singers along with the entire entertainment team provided the resort with an awesome celebration. As always, the restaurants, pools, Coco Cafe, bartenders and staff went above and beyond. Housekeeping always came before we got back to the room along with the minibar. Chase and Dane our butlers, as always were wonderful. A special shout-out to Andre at the piano bar. One Love! Jeff & Kathleen

Travel Date: March 31, 2025

An excellent 7 day holiday with my wife. We stayed in the Preferred Club in block 4 on the third floor. The resort is fantastic and the staff are amazing. The hotel room is spacious and has everything you need for luxury. The bed is comfortable so you get a...

An excellent 7 day holiday with my wife. We stayed in the Preferred Club in block 4 on the third floor. The resort is fantastic and the staff are amazing. The hotel room is spacious and has everything you need for luxury. The bed is comfortable so you get a good nights sleep. The food in every restaurant is amazing, fresh and very flavoursome. The hotel resort is very clean and the staff work here with pride. Each member of staff is very pleasant, always has a smile on their face. The pool areas are very clean, staff are always on hand if you need them. Drinks are good and selection is vast. I can’t fault the resort to be honest. We’ll definitely be returning.

Travel Date: March 31, 2025

We stayed at the Secrets St. James for my wife's 30th birthday last week. This was our fourth Secrets all-inclusive trip and this was by far, the absolute worst. The good: The area itself was beautiful. Aside from the occasional quick rain shower, it was sunny and warm the entire...

We stayed at the Secrets St. James for my wife's 30th birthday last week. This was our fourth Secrets all-inclusive trip and this was by far, the absolute worst. The good: The area itself was beautiful. Aside from the occasional quick rain shower, it was sunny and warm the entire time. The beaches and ocean were beautiful! Romane, who worked as bartender at the outdoor pools was awesome. He took the time to get to know us and vice versa and even on the days where he was working at a different pool, he would come find us on his breaks and ask if we needed anything. He truly made our underwhelming experience better. The bad: Starting with the rooms, while understanding this is a slightly "older" resort, the rooms are less than desirable. Upon checking into our room, we had to call and request for it to be recleaned since it was clearly not properly cleaned for newly arriving guest. The fridge was only restocked one time over the course of our 7-night stay. We ordered room service three times and each time there was an issue; either the order was wrong, the food was undercooked or something was missing. We didn’t bother to call to request a correction because it had already taken too long or it just became not worth the hassle at that point. The shower and toilet area were also not appropriately cleaned upon our arrival or on a daily basis. Moving onto the food service, by far the worst dining experiences we've had at an all inclusive. Regarding the actual food itself, the meals were less than desirable regardless if it was breakfast, lunch or dinner. For breakfast, it seemed like some of the food was reheated leftovers from the morning before. On more than one occasion we were told that either the omelet station or crepe station was not working, although there was clearly heat coming off the burner, the ingredients to make either were prepared and ready to go, all it seemed that needed to happen was for the worker to actually make the food. For lunch, Barefoot grille was always one of our favorite spots at the other Secrets resorts. At Secrets St. James, we only ate there every day because it quite literally the only option unless you wanted to sit down for 1.5 hours and wait to be served. Even then, Barefoot grill never once had every option (only 8 options total) on the menu available. The only options available were a meat pie, pizza, "jerk chicken" and fries, or "jerked pork" and fries. Even with only half of the menu items actually available, the wait time for something that was supposed to a quick grab and go was anywhere from 10-40 minutes because they were often out of food and waiting for more to arrive. Lastly, for dinner, The wait time to get into any of the evening restaurants was anywhere from 2-3 hours every single night, if you weren't lined up right at 6pm when the restaurants opened. Then once you were finally seated service was less than desirable and you often felt like you were inconveniencing the wait staff. On three separate occasions, the food was brought out wrong and we didn’t even bother to ask for it to be corrected because it had already taken 45-60 minutes to be served after already waiting anywhere from 2-3 hours to be seated. El Patio and Blue Mountain smelled like dirty mop water the two times we had dinned there. Regarding the staff, it was again by far the worst experience we've had at an all-inclusive. As I mentioned earlier, you were often made to feel like you were inconveniencing the staff by simply asking for a drink or showing up to dinner. The bar tenders very rarely were pleasant, aside from the two guys working the bar next to the lobby and Cruze who worked at the swim up bar at the St. James pool. Very few workers smiled or appeared to be enjoying any aspect of their job and they would only talk to you if you were putting a tip on the bar first. Other than that, they would ask what you want, begrudgingly make you drink and just hand it to you. We're generous tippers given we have experience working in the service industry and we continuously tipped the waiters throughout this trip, but to be made to feel like the only way im going to get sub-decent service is from tipping at what is supposed to be a 5-star all inclusive, is simply unacceptable. Almost all of employees appeared visibly unhappy, inconvenience and the resort appeared to be understaffed. After talking around a little bit, there was a strike/employee walkout for three days in November due to employees being unhappy with their working conditions. Based on our experience, doesn’t seem much has improved since then. Although we were unhappy with our service, we felt bad for the workers Additionally, almost everything was an upcharge. If you wanted a to have a decent seat at the pool where you'll actually receive service, you had to rent a cabana for the day for $110 Since all of the cabanas are lined up in the front row by the pool, you were often stuck 2-3 rows away from the pool and had to get your own drinks anytime you wanted one, since the wait staff did not come around. Not the end of the world, but you expect differently at a 5-star all-inclusive. Also regarding the pool area, towels from the day before never seemed to be removed from chairs or properly cleaned up. Overall the resort was quite unkept. Overall, an absolutely horrible stay and unless there's significant evidence things have changed, we'll never be back.

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

The resort was great and the people who work there are wonderful. I would like to thank Tajae and Darwin who were our butlers through out our stay. They took very good care of us 100% I would also like to recognize Kerri-Ann who was our server on the beach...

The resort was great and the people who work there are wonderful. I would like to thank Tajae and Darwin who were our butlers through out our stay. They took very good care of us 100% I would also like to recognize Kerri-Ann who was our server on the beach who’s personality just made the day and Shanae our Cabana hostess, she was checking on us all day to ensure we had a wonderful day Overall, our stay was awesome. Great food, great service and fun time. Thank you Secret’s St James!

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

My husband and I have been to Secrets St. James/Wild Orchid/Breathless Montego Bay. We have celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, holidays (Thanksgiving/4th of July/New Years, and Jamaica's Independence Day). We had an amazing vow renewal there in May 2022. This past vacation Feb 22 to March 1st 2025 was incredible. I was...

My husband and I have been to Secrets St. James/Wild Orchid/Breathless Montego Bay. We have celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, holidays (Thanksgiving/4th of July/New Years, and Jamaica's Independence Day). We had an amazing vow renewal there in May 2022. This past vacation Feb 22 to March 1st 2025 was incredible. I was able to celebrate being a 5 year breast cancer survivor in Jamaica. We enjoyed our breakfasts at World Cafe and in the Secrets St. James preferred lounge. Chelsea, Joy, and others took great care of us in the preferred. We know that we are home as soon as we see Chris Brown. He is always friendly and takes great care of our luggage. The Secrets St. James Preferred pool Kerry-Ann took excellent care of us. Everett, Marlando, Sashonia, Alvin, Philip, O'Neil, Ernell, Michael lots of others are excellent bartenders. Always lots of fun and laughter. We enjoyed going to Coco Cafe and seeing Erica along with others. As always, our amazing butlers Chase and Dane did an excellent job taking great care of us. We always have to stop in at the SWO preferred to see Lisa, Matthew, and Asheekie. They are always welcoming and friendly. We always enjoy listening to Pace Band. Housekeeping did a wonderful job along with the mini bar. The lifeguards are terrific! Floyd, Brian, Patrick, and the lists keeps growing. Audley preferred towel hut took great care of us. UVC rep - Schan is always going above and beyond. We also would like to thank Paul and Tracy at the woodcarving hut for a beautiful handcrafted University of Tennessee sign. We have bought several handmade items from them. The entertainment team is absolutely the best! I can't name them all but just a few T-Jay, Sky, Samii Jo, Bleu, Redstripe, Chad (Adonis) and of course Ms. Delrose! We want to thank you to all of the amazing staff. They are what keeps us coming back. There are so many wonderful staff that we can't name them all. We have been to other places but there is no comparison. The staff here are amazing! A huge THANK YOU to Daniele- resort manager, Ms. Delrose, and Kyle for making our stay so magical. We are very excited to come back in August! Thank you! Kathleen & Jeff Whitson

Travel Date: March 31, 2025

Nice property, well laid out with all amenities you’d want from an all inclusive resort. Staff was great and welcoming from the first moment. Thanks to Bevrica at check in, Kerry Ann for all the drinks at the beach. Jordan and Andrea for helping set up our spots every morning...

Nice property, well laid out with all amenities you’d want from an all inclusive resort. Staff was great and welcoming from the first moment. Thanks to Bevrica at check in, Kerry Ann for all the drinks at the beach. Jordan and Andrea for helping set up our spots every morning under the shade and all the others. Lots of Americans (you decide if that’s good or bad) and many who don’t think the no smoking policy don’t apply to them (again, decide for yourself if that’s good or bad…)

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

We visited the hotel from the 24 Feb to the 6th March. It is close to the airport so a quick transfer. Check in was great, hotel room was nice. Staff were very friendly. Location is good. It is pretty and you can walk along the beach front to the...

We visited the hotel from the 24 Feb to the 6th March. It is close to the airport so a quick transfer. Check in was great, hotel room was nice. Staff were very friendly. Location is good. It is pretty and you can walk along the beach front to the main area for dinner. However, trying to get a sunbed with a shade was really hard work. We are up early even on holiday around 6am, which was just as well. Any later and the sunbeds are all taken around both the pools and the beach. You may be lucky if you want one and do not require shade. The disappointing part of this is that the hotel have plenty of room for sunbeds but they have installed cabanas around all of the pools which you can hire for an additional $100 dollars a day and these take all the prime spots around the pool. The irony being, they really were not used that much and general sunbeds would of been much better. On at least 3 occasions when we returned to our room to get ready, about 4pm, the house keeping staff had not been to us. I think this was due to the fact that there were not enough of the housekeeping staff. Especially as the hotel had a substantial number of American weekend guests. The other main issue we found is that we were unable to book a restaurant, unless you had a butler suite, the butler could book for you. You had to queue for the restaurants to open. Generally you would queue from 5.30pm for them to open at 6.00pm. If they were unable to seat you then you were given a buzzer to come back later. This was not an issue for us as we do not mind eating later, however, if you were called at 9.30pm and the restaurant shut at 10.00 the service stopped. They did not stay open to accommodate you. Restaurant food was ok overall. We found the Italian was the best restaurant and went there for 5 nights of our stay. We also had a couple of meals in the Mexican and if you like spicy food, this is the place to go. We ate at Bordeaux twice, we had one good meal and one bad meal in there. We did raise all of the above issues with the hotel reception as did many other guests. The staff were helpful and did what they could to resolve the situations, but there hands were tied with the set up put in place by management. We had lunch every day at the fish restaurant around the pool. Food was pleasant and the service was good. Piano bar was nice in the evening for a drink and to watch the sun set. In summary a nice location, lots of issues for the management to work out to make your stay easier and more enjoyable. However, all of the general staff were pleasant and friendly. They appreciated the issues everyone was having with the sunbeds, booking restaurants etc but could only do so much. We would not return to this hotel or the group based on our experience.

Travel Date: March 31, 2025

Where have the last 15 years gone? Our first trip to Secrets Jamaica was on our honeymoon shortly after it opened. We fell in love with the resort, the entertainment, and most importantly, the staff. Little did we know that Secrets would become our second home and that we would...

Where have the last 15 years gone? Our first trip to Secrets Jamaica was on our honeymoon shortly after it opened. We fell in love with the resort, the entertainment, and most importantly, the staff. Little did we know that Secrets would become our second home and that we would be welcomed time after time with open arms and truly be made to feel like part of the family. We have celebrated so many momentous occasions here, including birthdays, 10 NYEs, our beautiful vow renewal, our retirement, and many more. Jamfest has become an annual highlight for us and we appreciate all of the hard work that goes in to marking Jamaica's Independence Day. Our recent trip has been no exception. In March 2015, we had to cancel our trip to Secrets because I had a major health crisis. From Feb.22-March 5th we were grateful to honour a 10 year survival milestone at our favourite place, along with friends who were recognizing an important moment as well. What a vacation it was! There is no place we would rather be, and that is still because of the staff.Every department from housekeeping, food and beverage, entertainment, Uvc, outdoor areas, maintenance, lifeguards/pool, butlers - the list is endless, goes above and beyond to ensure the best possible experience. The talented entertainment team captured our hearts a long time ago.We have been to many other resorts, and the entertainment here is heads above the rest. Thank you to Delrose, Francois, and all of the Ent members, as well as Kyle, for making this trip so special. It was also a pleasure to chat with hotel manager, Daniele, and he is to be commended for the interest he showed in getting to know repeat guests such as us. While I can't mention everyone by name, I would be remiss by not thanking Andre Clarke for making every trip perfect since 2010. We had the best time and left with so many memories. Thanks, Secrets, and see you next month!