I got married on May 31st and my husband and I were torn as to where we would go for our honeymoon. There were some great reviews and terrible reviews for many of our choices and finally we decided to splurge on the Royal Plantation.
Let me tell you one thing...if you are going to Jamaica on your honeymoon you must go to the royal plantation. The staff was amazing and we didnt lift a finger. The food was great, our room was spotless and the other people staying at the resort were very nice.
Several couples decided to go to the nearby Sandals to check it out (since we can go there and they cant come here) and everyone we spoke to said it would be a good idea to go and just see what your honeymoon could have been like. People passed out by the bar, pushing to get a drink, no reservations to eat so its a fight to get a seat, vacationers yelling insults at eachother...just a mess.
When you book at the Royal Plantation not only are you going to have a great vacation but you also get your own car at the airport. You aren't pushed into a huge shuttle with strangers, instead you and your mate have a private car stuffed with Red Stripe and a great driver who will tell you anything you want to know at the area.
Also, there are several stand-outs at the hotel. Cleon, the main beach guy, is just amazing and so is Sibony in the Appleton Bar and Gary is the best waiter I have ever had. You you will have great stay, meet some great people and never want to go home!

We just spent 11 nights (Honeymoon) at Royal Plantation and it was GREAT.

What we really liked:

The people - very friendly and willing to do anything to make you happy. Marcia was friendly, funny and very helpful. She became a highlight of our trip; we wouldn't miss tea with her on the terrace. We also liked Ramone who served us breakfast each day and knew how I liked my coffee by the second day. Leon down at watersports was also great, always smiling and getting our chairs ready as soon as he saw us.

The resort - absolutely beautiful. The beaches are great and the landscaping is amazing. The terrace is a great place to relax, open and airy and a beautiful place to sit and have a drink.

The service - everyone from the wait-staff to security to the landscapers are friendly and helpful, always smiling. People don't just do THEIR OWN job, but they do anything to make sure you are happy. This can be confusing at times, wondering who should actually be bringing your drink, or getting your beach chair, etc. but it didn't really matter because you can ask anyone and it will get done. It is island time though, so don't expect everything to happen immediately like we're used to in the states.

The food - amazing. After 11 days, the menus can get old but Silvio did customize a delicious dinner for us which was outstanding. The steaks and desserts are incredible. We are not seafood eaters but we enjoyed the lobster, snapper, etc. Also, even if you don't like soup, always try it. Their soups are delicious.

What we didn't like:

The tours - the tours are good but very overpriced. We did most tours on our own for a lot less (sometimes saving over $100 between the two of us). We would just get a taxi (still a racket, but cheaper than the hotel's tours) and go to the place on our own.

The spa - the massages were good, but when I splurge for 80 minutes, I expect to get 80 minutes. As we were signing the receipt, we noticed it was 4:15, when our massages were scheduled for 3pm (and didn't really start until several minutes after). You do the math. We guestimate that we got 60 minutes at best. Their response was that the 80 minutes includes ALL your time in the spa. BS - I've been to spas before and have never seen this.

The resort was under filled - because the resort was supposedly only half-full, they closed the Royal Grill at night, stopped the breakfast buffet and canceled the Friday marketplace. These were things we had our first few days and really enjoyed. It was definitely a bummer to see these taken away. Especially, when there are only 3 restaurants to eat at, and then they take one away for dinner each night. The other two (La Terraza and Le Pappilon) were great, but again, the menus get old.

Overall, the resort and service are impeccable. For the money we spent, the accommodations, food and service were completely worth it. The tours and spa were not, in our opinion.

We would definitely go back, and will do the Royal Plan again when we do.

Wife and I (both in our mid-30s and well-traveled) spent 7 nights at RP from 5/23 - 5/30 and enjoyed almost every moment. I don't know that I can add much more to the positive reviews everyone else has offered, so let me just provide a few tidbits and helpful hints.

- Rooms we all nicely appointed but if you are on the first floor try to avoid a room like we had with the air conditioners right outside the sliding door. There is only one prime minister suite and one governor-general suite in the entire resort. Those plus the honeymoon suites all had true balconies. We thought initially we would have like to have a real balcony so we could sit out there and still have our room stay air-conditioned. By the end of our trip we decided it wasn't worth the extra money as it was really pretty hot and muggy most of the times we wanted to be out on a balcony anyway...

- We went through $200US in cash...mostly in tips (I should have taken $300). Staff was fabulous and they work very hard. If you tip early and often you will find that it is very appreciated. If you get in a pinch, the RP will advance you $100US for a 10% fee.

- If you go on Dunn's River Falls tour (don't miss it), avoid paying that pirate who will meet you $40 for a DVD of your climb up the falls. It's a scam...you'll get a DVD with nothing but a Jamaica commercial on it.

- Food was all unbelievable with the notable exception of breakfast...that was mostly atrocious. I don't know how anyone can screw up eggs and potatos but they managed. All else was 5 stars in my opinion. If you are a person who eats hot dogs and mac & cheese for most of your meals then you won't like RP. If you can appreciate fine dining and are willing to try new things then you will really enjoy the food. Don't miss the local dishes...although I'd stay away from the ackee (ew!)

- We didn't watch but about one hour of TV the entire trip but if you like to do so, be advised that the TVs are small CRT sets and there are no DVD players...just VCRs.

- Like many others have said, it's a pretty mellow place and almost a completely upscale crowd (plus a lot of young honeymooner couples when we were there). If you cannot function in that kind of crowd, RP isn't for you. If you are looking for a lot of loud music and partying, stay at the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios next door. We walked over there one day...Yikes!...hauled our behinds right back to RP after perusing their gift shop. Won't be vacationing there any time soon!

- Be sure to use the concierge services. They somehow find a way to manage almost anything you could want from trips, to special food requests, to special liquors, etc. Make your dinner reservations for your whole trip early on if you want a good table. There is always space to eat but you won't always be able to get thebest tables unless you make reservations early.

- Dress code: I spent a lot of time stressing out about dress code. Here's the deal: they frown upon shorts on the terrace areas after 6PM...however if you are going to eat at the grill you can where whatever you want as long as you are clothed ;-). For Terrace restaurant you need a collared shirt and can probably get by with dressy shorts although you may get the stink-eye from the maitre'd as they prefer pants. If you can deal with that then you're good. Le Papillion you need to have a collared shirt and khakis with closed toe shoes at a minimum or they'll turn you away. I saw a few guys wearing golf shirts and dockers and they were fine.

- Ok...so this part was hard for a lot of people there: The service when dining and/or ordering drinks on the beach is sloooooooowwwwwwww. Most days we spent two hours at lunch. We finally (after a couple of days) realized that the staff is not dragging their feet...it's just that they work on "Jamaican time". Once you resign yourself to that and decide not to get irritated by it, you're fine and actually start to get used to it. If you can't handle that then I'd suggest you get room service a lot. That takes about 45 minutes.

- Room Service: Order it early and often. In the AM you'll get that kick-butt Jamaican blue mountain coffee (yum!). The food is usually brought promptly (for Jamaica tme) and they put out a nice spread with tableclothes and such. Very nice... Oh...also...there is no longer a $10US fee for each room service order when on the royal plan. Found that out after our arrival.

Overall I give RP 4/5 stars and we'll be back next year!

My husband and I just got back from our honeymoon where we stayed at the Royal Plantation. We were both so impressed by this place, we loved how quiet it was, the grounds were beautiful and the room was amazing.

We definitely agree it is the perfect honeymoon spot, we could relax on the beach every day and never worry about it being too crowded or not getting a spot. We had the most romantic dinners, dinning under the stars. The food was amazing. Bottom line you never had to worry about a thing, everyone was so incredibly friendly and went out of there way to make your time so relaxing and enjoyable.

We had the Royal plan (an inclusive) and would definitely recommend it.

I would return in a heartbeat!