Boscobel Beach Resort, Ocho Rios, Jamaica

A detailed review of a family stay at Boscobel Beach Resort, a very different style getaway than the Sandals' company other Beaches family resorts on Jamaica.

Boscobel looks and feels much larger than its 224 rooms, which sprawl around tennis courts, three pools, coconut palms and an outdoor buffet restaurant. Like other all-inclusives, the focus on noisy, communal events that revolve around the oversized pool reminds us of our college days, but Boscobel pulls it off with a seasoned confidence. We were thankful our room overlooked the ocean and not the main pool, away from the daytime and nighttime microphone and music.

Our room was a step above the ordinary with a king bed and pullout sofa for our kids and plenty of space. Like other rooms overlooking the beach, our sliding glass doors shared a terrace with dozens of guests, so we had to choose privacy or a view. We soon accepted the fact that privacy is not the reason people come to an all-inclusive, family resort.

The resort's family highlight is an exceptionally well-run children's program in an expansive, attractive space. The complimentary Kids' Kamp is staffed by local nannies that receive two weeks of training in childcare, CPR and first aid. The new management has retained the resort's focus on providing kids a safe, spirited program, and thereby giving parents the peace of mind to enjoy all the resort has to offer.

Tiny Town is for newborns through age 3 and the cast of "Sesame Street" make this a particularly delightful place to hang out. Whether in or out of the organized program, your kids may see Elmo by the pool, or have breakfast, parade around, or celebrate a birthday with those furry friends. The supervised club is open from 9am to 5pm, so the 2 to 3-year-olds may spend the rest of their day on lawn, pool and beach games and watching the big kids put on fashion or magic shows. Infants are pampered primarily with indoor games. When it's time for a nap, there is a quiet, dark room with eight cribs and two nursing chairs. After 5pm, the Tiny Town nannies sit for $7 per hour per child (up to two kids) until 10pm at Tiny Town, or in your room until the wee hours.

Beach Buddies (ages 4 to 7) are kept busy from 9am to 10pm with pool games, crafts, tennis, nature walks, movies, parties and trips to GameWaves Interactive Zone, an air conditioned room full of up-to-date, complimentary video games. (Heaven to some kids, purgatory for some parents). The Boscobel Bunch (ages 8 to 12) adds bike tours, pool Olympics, jewelry making, snorkeling and bonfires. There is also a Teen Centre on property where older kids can hang out and shoot pool.

There is a decent choice of restaurants to make mom, dad and kids happy most of the time. The breakfast buffet has everything kids and adults could dream of and some interesting Jamaican dishes (breadfruit, salt fish and ackee). The barbecue lunch is simple and near perfect. For dinner, the Tex-Mex (in Jamaica?) was disappointing, but the Italian (after an hour wait) was a nice change from the buffet line.

The calm beach seemed small for such a large place, but it was rarely crowded and was well suited for little tikes and teens. We rode aqua trikes and paddleboats and bounced on the water trampoline. Boscobel also offers kayaking, windsurfing, organized scuba, sailing and glass bottom boat rides, though the beach attendants seemed a bit disorganized and unaccommodating at times.

Our kids (ages 9 and 10) were disappointed only with the resort's water slides -- one was too slow and they were too short for the other but overall felt that Boscobel was full of fun and well-worth the bumpy ride to get there.

For more information and the best values in booking family rooms, visit the Beaches Boscobel Resort and Golf Club site.