05 Aug 2022
Just an -inclusive hotel; will likely not come again. Positives include nice beach, the serving staff, bartenders and butler are all very friendly, attentive and helpful service, safe and clean property, Our butler Camoy was awesome as we traveled with a large party with 4 other family with children. Kids club was also great and the staff took great care of our children. The evening entertainment was a bit cheesy but entertaining none the less. Negatives include slow check in and front desk staff, the food is horrible in most of the restaurants on the family section including the buffet, any meal from room service and without question the worst service and food was at the french resturant. We waited over an hour for our meal - half of the table was served their main meal food while the other half took another 30 mins to arrive including the cocktail so we could not toast and dine together. A simple cocktail -Maker’s Mark and coke and glass of cranberry juice - pretty simple. Everyone we spoke to said the same - French resturant was extremely poor in service and cuisine. There was clearly a push to get ride of lobster because at all the restaurants they pushed a $39 lobster tails special. So we tried it and it was beyond horrible and actually tasted as if the lobster had spoiled and was over-cooked. My husband and I took one bite and had to spit it out. The best dining experience was the Jerk Hut (excellent) and essentially any authentic Jamaican cuisine served in each resturant including the adult only Jamaican resturant on the adult side, was awesome. The Italian resturant was just OK. Calypso was also ok. So we basically ate the same food while on property which was Jerk Chicken with Rice & Peas, Pizza and Chicken Nuggets/Fries for kids, Jerk Quesadilla via room service, fresh fruit (when we could find it), smoothies (had a decent smoothie & coffee bar), lots of boozy cocktails and water. Outside of the basic house wine, all wine was 200-400% mark-up. A $20 bottle of wine in the states was $145-175 at Hyatt Ziva. I would recommend getting the Butler service as it was helpful in securing bungalows, excursions (although they do not arrange for activities not affiliated with the hotel), etc. It was my first time to the island, and many have told me that there are safety issues. I felt 100% safe on this property and while on the island, We had a great experience to Ocho Rios at Dunns River falls and stopped to get some great Patties. We took a day trip to Negril to Skylark Beach Resort to Miss Lilly’s for lunch and had a fantastic beach day. Folks are friendly, loving and just so chill. Overall a great experience minus the sucky all-including dining which was the biggest failure.