This was our 4th vacation to FDR, and we enjoyed another relaxing, fun week. The food was terrific - our meals were prepared fresh to order and there were lots of healthy options to choose from. The resort itself is perfect for kids. My son is now 5 years old and loves all aspects of the resort; his favourite activities are fishing with Captain Harry, swimming in the pool, and going down the blue slide. The best part of FDR is the amazing staff. They are always friendly and willing to help. My son loved spending time with his Nanny, and it allowed us to have a chance to relax and have some 'date nights' just the two of us. Unfortunately, my son fell and cut his head during our stay, but everyone from the lifeguard to the manager to his Nanny (Garcia) handled the situation very well. We were quickly taken off-site for my son to receive medical attention/stitches, and Garcia did an amazing job at keeping him happy and entertained for the two days he couldn't go in the water afterwards. Even with this incident, he still had a great day, and I was comforted knowing that medical care was easily accessible should the need arise again. Overall, we love FDR and hope to be back soon! I would highly recommend it to any family looking to vacation with young children.…
My husband and I brought our daughters, 3&5 yo, to Franklyn D for a week. And it was amazing!!! We were upgraded to a 2 bedroom 2 story suite. The rooms are very spacious, clean and comfy. We had a large balcony with a partial sea view and the rooms were very quiet. We met our nanny, Karlene, and instantly felt very comfortable leaving our kids in her care. All of the nannies lookout for all the kids there and they work together to make sure your kids are safe and having a great time. Our nanny made our trip so special-her care of our kids, helpful hints, stocked our room and her overall kindness filled our hearts. Our kids did crafts, played, swam and met friends. We loved the food and drinks-the Jamaican food was really delicious. We brought insulated cups to keep our drinks icy and the bartenders filled them with water and drinks. We spent a few hours every day at the beach next door so we could have some quiet time-it’s only steps away from the main resort and a picturesque Caribbean beach with clear water and gentle seas. All the staff are helpful and so kind. Most families we met were return guests and they all seemed to add days to their next stay. We will definitely return next year and add a few extra days to our stay.…
What can I say that hasn’t already been said? We visited FDR for a 4 day break over thanksgiving and will definitely be back. The decor is dated, the food varies from average to great but we just loved the people who worked there from the lifeguards, the restaurant servers and the kids club team. Our biggest surprise was how much our 2 boys (5&3) loved our nanny; Shanique, we thought that our eldest son would be reluctant to leave our sides but within 5 minutes of meeting her there was no looking back, after 2 days our youngest declared that Shanique was his best friend! Being able to sit by the pool and read a book was a rediscovered luxury! Without a doubt we’ll be back and making a request to have Shanique take care of our boys.
Let me be CLEAR; if you do NOT need a nanny, I highly advise you do NOT consider staying at this resort. We walked into this place and almost instantly understood we would have to make the best of it. My husband and I are carry-on travelers and really blessed to be frequent travelers all over the world; we’ve stayed in large chain and small boutique hotels - this was my third visit to Jamaica and this resort was simply disappointing. In any case, our kids did enjoy themselves and we did make great memories as a family. How anyone chooses to return here is beyond me. CLEANLINESS ** 2 STARS Aside from being very outdated, this resort was just tolerable when it came to cleanliness. Our nanny did a great job straightening up our rooms but there is just too much wear and tear here for anyone to actually get anything to a clean state. Oddly enough, the shared bathrooms near the pools and beach were exceptionally clean. You will find trash around the property and throughout the beach and pools. I’d expect some of it given that children aren’t all that aware but this was more than a kid just leaving a plastic spoon behind. At one point, I collected trash around our beach chairs, along with cups and plates left behind, and piled it on top of a nearby picnic table for it to be easily disposed. The next morning, the pile was still there, atop of the picnic table. ROOM ACCOMMODATIONS *** 3 STARS Again, this property is VERY run down. Beds are stiff and uncomfortable for our taste. However, after our move to room 35, we had all the basics we needed. Our air conditioning unit contained a remote control but the screen was not functioning so we just played with the buttons according to our best guess. Otherwise, we had a functioning refrigerator, enough beds, enough storage space, two functioning bathrooms, etc. we were only given three towels for showering but our nanny requested more that were eventually delivered to us later in the evening. I requested a better powered hair dryer and was provided one. FOOD * 1 STAR Everyone has their own taste and no one can please them all. Our kids are basic chicken finger and fries esters and my husband and I enjoy all types of food. However, this place offers the *very basics* with little to NO assortment. Food (when it finally reached our table) was always cold and the portions were smaller than usual. I know we’re used to huge portions in the US but I promise you, were talking tiny portions. On day two, we knew what to expect so my husband ordered two entrees to solve; he was, instead, given two HALF portions of each entree! 90% of the time, we were not provided with napkins and 100% of the time, we never had enough utensils; we were often told to wait until they could get more. On the two nights where we were to order dinner from the menu, the appetizer page was turned over and we were only given three entree options. We’re a family of five who appreciate room service as it takes a while to get three kids ready and having our coffee and a quick bite can be helpful. There is no room service available here AND there are signs throughout the establishment instruct NO FOOD is allowed in rooms. On days where the kids wanted to sleep in, we had to wake them prior to the end of breakfast to be sure we could make it down in time and get food. Almost forgot; we had chicken soup and three of us removed tiny bones from the chicken in our soup :( dirty dishes were piled up alongside the buffet areas so you had to make your way around finished plates to serve yourself some of the time. The “ice cream tree house” was something our kids enjoyed but they weren’t able to get cones or sprinkles as they had run out on two occasions. DRINKS *** 3 STARS We were never given a drink menu and our cocktail waitresses weren’t aware of any special drinks to prepare. It is in my opinion that this resort could barely pull together a pina colada; I later learned that these were prepared with coconut powder. We had to ask for double shots in order to actually get a taste of alcohol and drinks turned into frothy messes with paper straws that fell apart two seconds into your drink. Do not be fooled by the “smoothie” options. They are sugary, mixed drinks that are more like convenience store slushees (at best). STAFF ATTENTIVENESS **** 4 STARS Management, front desk, life guards, nannies are all wonderful. They truly want to help out and, whenever we raised a concern, they did do what they could to solve it. Wait staff, however, seemed annoyed to be there (not that I blame them). It almost felt as though we were annoying the wait staff by ordering food or drinks. **Worth noting about management staff** - we were not pleased with the first room we were placed in as we were advertised a two-bedroom suite for five. After waiting two or more hours beyond the “guaranteed check in time at 3:00pm” (we were checked in some time after 5pm but front desk profusely apologized and, we get it, stuff happens) we arrived to a two bedroom suite (126A) where three beds were literally shoved together to barely fit within the space and almost like one, large bed. The Bathroom door in this room would not fully close, our safe did not work (dead battery), we had no hair dryer, and could not locate a remote for our air conditioner unit. We spent our first night in this room after a long day of travel but found ourselves frustrated the next morning. Upon raising these concerns to management, we were greeted by the room manager later in the day and shown another beach-front room (35) in another building. This room had more space and our three beds for the kids were placed apart. This room was much better suited for our needs and we appreciated the prompt response to our concerns. **worth noting about lifeguards** - the aquatic staff and lifeguard was great with the kids. The lifeguard helped us all into kayaks and, since we were one adult short, took one of our kids out on the kayaks with us. He made sure we had chairs once we got to the beach and showed the kids sea urchins, etc. The water sports staff originally provided us dirty, broken snorkeling equipment - I brought it back but they immediately apologized and said I should have never been given the broken items AND found new equipment which they cleaned and disinfected in front of me. I felt bad having to ask but I was also bothered that I ever had to do so in the first place. NANNY SERVICE **** 5 STARS Our nanny was great. Shelley knew exactly when we needed her and precisely when we just wanted to spend time with our kids on our own. Our three daughters are in the tween age group and we wanted to spend time with them. They’re pretty self-sufficient. We didn’t need a nanny at all but we had slim pickings in hotels for holiday travel and figured it couldn’t hurt. Shelley would tidy our room, get the girls strawberry slushees and water, helped us tie dye shirts (which the kids LOVED) and would even get me a drink when I was on the beach. I saw plenty of other nannies with younger children and can see how parents with multiple small children or children with special needs would really value this service while on vacation. I think the nanny service is a fantastic addition - it’s just not something that *we* needed or were looking for. BEACH *** 3 STARS I wanted to give the beach area a four but it’s just not possible. The cove area is set up nicely to keep an eye on children but it’s dirty. There’s trash in the sand and all around the chairs; between families and staff that do not clean it up, it gets worse. The floating tubes out in the ocean were fun and our kids did enjoy swimming out there. The hotel provides life vests but some are broken so be sure you’ve got the appropriate size and it’s ok. Never enough seats but if the right staff is around, they offer to get them for you! We recommend heading to the beach shared by another resort on the other side; snorkeling here was awesome! IF YOU CAN BRING YOUR OWN TOWELS, you’re better off. The resort never seemed to have enough towels to provide our family of five. Our nanny often made requests for us and tried to be sure we had what we needed. POOLS / WATER SLIDES ** 2 STARS I’m sure that you’re getting a good sense of my “standards” if you’ve come this far but, without any surprise, I didn’t find the pools to be clean. I wish I had because one of my three kids is more of a pool person than she is a beach goer BUT we found a bandaid and dead bugs floating near us on day one so we chose not to return. For what it’s worth, two of our kids liked the water slide! And the depth didn’t seem to reach beyond four feet (from what I could see) so that’s helpful with younger ones :) ACTIVITIES ***** 5 STARS An above average offering of activities and things to do is definitely something this resort has under its belt. Not to sound like a broken record but everything is outdated and dirty. That aside, we did enjoy going out on the glass bottom boat + using life jackets to make our way out to the pad, see saw, and slide in the ocean + using the snorkeling gear to check out the coral reef and neat fish & sea urchins + tie dying shirts (we did pack our own white shirts in advance to avoid high costs at the resort). Our kids briefly played on the jungle gym equipment. They did not use the internet room but I did peek inside and it seemed nicely cooled by the AC and kids seemed to be enjoying themselves. We did stop by the game room atop the bar but there were mainly pool tables and one ping pong table currently occupied. TOWELS - We never had enough towels. Not once. They weren’t available at the water sports area or there weren’t enough ready in our room. Our nanny was fantastic about this and kept checking for us or was sure to have them delivered later once ready but it was a frustration point for us on several occasions. GUARANTEED CHECK IN - 3pm check in but we weren’t provided our room until after 5pm. Our nanny continued to check for us as we went to the pool to hang out and, once she said 15 mins, we picked up and went to front desk. They told us they couldn’t get ahold of the cleaning crew so they didn’t know it if was ready, just wait. Our nanny communicated that they said 15 minutes & a clearly annoyed gentleman at the front desk said, “I don’t know what to tell you, you’ll have to come back”. However, the woman at the front desk was very apologetic and they did get us into our room. We never went over to the adults only restaurant bar.…
FDR was wonderful! This was our first stay. Our children are 7 and 11, and while they don’t need intense supervision, having the nanny, Danae (sp?) to help entertain them made our visit much more relaxing. All the staff was attentive and helpful. My husband and I went running one morning with Mercy, and next visit I hope to take advantage of morning yoga. The beach was lovely and we enjoyed the various water sport activities with our children (kayaking, glass bottom boat). The meals were nice and the children enjoyed the grill. Overall it was a great experience and we can’t wait to return!
"The disco was meters from our room, so at night, the music was loud. If a light sleeper, request a room away from club."Read full review
"Would advise rooms away from the pool area and kids club/playground area as those areas tend to be the noisiest."Read full review
"Spring for beachfront. The views are far superior. Room #1 has nice views and good location, but is right next to ice machine."Read full review
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