Secrets Wild Orchid – Montego Bay, Jamaica

For our 3rd Annual Adults Only Group Trip, and our first one to Jamaica, we stayed at Secrets Wild Orchid in Montego bay and it did not disappoint! For months, we touted amazing experiences in our first individual visits to the home of Irie. Every single one of those exciting factors were in full force during our stay, which we will elaborate on later. Aside from the destination and resort itself, what is always prevalent on all of our group trips are great people and great conversation. One of these conversations started at dinner and ended up being the theme of the trip. The theme of the conversation was “POW, WOW, CHOW” and it was a theme that would wind through our conversations throughout the trip.

To explain:

POW – This term was used to tell everyone something that wasn’t good or perfect during the day.
WOW – This was the term used to tell everyone something great or the best thing that happened to you that day.
CHOW – This was a description of the best food you ate that day.

We made it a point to go around the table every night and discuss each person’s thoughts on these three descriptors. The following is our review of the resort and the trip using them.

POW – this is always the toughest one, as there will almost invariably be small problems that arise throughout ANY trip. No resort is perfect and you can always find something to fault. It’s important to note that the positive factors far outweighed the negative. With that being said, here are our POWS.

1. The French Restaurant is your best? We ate dinner the first night at what is supposedly the best restaurant on site – The French Restaurant. Of the 6 of us at the table, the group as a whole did not like at least half of their dishes. With that said, this ended up possibly being the most fun night as we laughed it off as a group and learned the Pow, Wow, Chow Game. Then went on to dancing!
2. Service with a smile? We have been all over the place and seen all levels of service. I would argue that the island generally has a lot of folks who will bend over backwards for you, but it also has a lot of folks that aren’t extremely service oriented. Be cognizant of this, but understand that it’s not the end of the world. There are SO many people that want to make you smile, too, and do!
3. No drinks in the room? Maybe we are spoiled, but we like to have certain adult drinks available  in the room, especially in a Preferred Club room. We received one small bottle of Rum for the entire stay.

WOW – a lot of these factors are island-wide, but some are resort specific.

1. The water – we talked about this for months leading up to our trip. The water in Jamaica is crystal clear. The beaches are beautiful. Because of this, many resorts, including this one, have a great focus on the beach as opposed to the pools.
2. The people – for those few people who were not the best at customer service, there were 10 that were extremely nice and always wanted to make you happy. Irie is the motto of the island, after all.
3. Close to the Airport – you don’t have to go far to experience some amazing resorts. However, there are some really amazing and unique destinations on the island if you’re willing to stretch your distances.
4. The activity – specifically for the complex of Secrets and Breathless we were on, this place was ACTIVE! There was always something going on – from yoga at daybreak to basketball and tennis, the gym, pool activities and more – there always seemed to a lot to do.
5. Breathless Rooftop – Secrets Preferred Club guests have access to the Breathless Resort, and the rooftop experience is worth getting Preferred Club even without the other perks! The food and the views from the rooftop are quite amazing and our group dinner on the rooftop was one of our very favorite parts of the trip.

CHOW – as usual, we had some amazing food. Here are some highlights:

1. Jerk Chicken and Pork!  If you like spicy, you will love this stuff. The jerk carts were out and about throughout lunchtime, you just stop by and they will slice you off some chicken and pork onto a plate and you can keep on walking. They also had a jerk chicken wrap at the seaside grill which was A-mazing!
2. Official Group Dinner on Breathless Rooftop – this experience was certainly augmented by the location and features of the venue, however, the food was amazingly good this evening. Seafood stew and lamb chops were two of our favorites.
3. Late night food – 2 factors here: first, the menu and quality of the room service after hours was top notch for what one might expect at later hours. Also, the jerk carts were out and about around midnight each night!! I mean, come on!! What an idea.
4. Breakfast Buffet – to put it succinctly, it was great and had anything you might be looking for. Coffee (Blue Mountain?) was amazing, too.
5. 24/7 snack stand with popcorn and ice cream. Need I say more?

Overall, we give a gleaming overall review of our resort: Secrets Wild Orchid. Do it right and get Preferred Club Oceanview, so you can get the view we have in some of our pictures. This was a huge differentiating factor of this resort. At night, when the hills were lit up, the place truly looked like the Amalfi Coast. It was quite spectacular. Located on the end of a peninsula and just 15 minutes from the airport, there’s not much to dislike! We also very much loved the activity level of this place. It was as social as you wanted it to be. If you are a social creature, you will especially love this place.

To wrap things up, we simply love Jamaica. All the factors above and much more are reasons you will fall in love with it, too. You should go! We will always recommend it, plus it’s usually a direct flight from major markets. Yah, Mon!!