I will start my review by saying two things:

1. I never go out of my way to write negative reviews or really listen to them. I figure that people are sort of whiners and I think, "Hey! You are on vacation. Relax! Things are never going to be perfect, but you have to look for the good and be grateful you are even there."

2. I will never ignore negative reviews again

We were at the Grand Palladium from May 2-9th 2012 for our wedding. Due to travel issues, we were unable to arrive on the 2nd and ended up arriving on the 3rd. The 2 positive things I can say about the resort are that they upgraded us to a beautiful honeymoon suite, and the grounds are truly as beautiful as the photos. It is breathtaking.

Other than that, it was pretty awful. It was bad enough that when we arrived on the 3rd, we asked to stay an extra day to make up for our lost time at the resort, and by the end of it, we left a day early because we couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Here's why:

 - Most of the staff is very rude. There is a front desk gal with short hair (man, I wish I could remember her name! I think it had a V or a Z in it) and she was just awful. Any question was met with a curt, rude response and usually went unsolved. There are a few exceptions - Olivia in one of the buffets and Kamar in another buffet - they were great.

 - Everyone expects to be tipped - ALL THE TIME. They will stand there and wait until you give them money. Seriously? This is an all-inclusive resort. Sandals has a no tipping policy and I think that's great. Not having to worry about bringing money with you everywhere is what vacation is all about. If you don't tip one person (remember - most of them are rude and don't deserve a tip) then word travels fast and you don't get helped. Nice, huh? Trust me - we tipped the people who deserved to be tipped well, but for people to EXPECT it is b.s.

- The FOOD IS AWFUL. We weren't expecting the most amazing food in the world, but every meal, we would get something and ask each other, "How does the (fill in the blank) taste?" and the response was never, "Good." It was either, "Edible or inedible." The cheese is some odd processed, WET, gross blob. Sick. The 3 buffets that they boast have the EXACT same food in them. If you don't care for one, you are out of luck. It was so bad, that we would go back to our hotel room in the evenings starving and would resort to eating Beef Jerky and crackers that I happened to have brought with me. I am 4 months pregnant, and literally did not gain ONE OUNCE that week. I should have at least gained a pound from the baby PLUS eaten my fair share of food on vacation, but I didn't. We were disgusted and hungry for an entire week.

- The rooms had so many things wrong with them. The screens on the doors were ripped and almost impossible to slide open. There was no clock to be found (although apparently other guests had them and some didn't). The mini-bar was only stocked occasionally (BTW - it only has Red Stripe, soda, and water. It does not have hard liquor or juice like Sandals All-Inclusive Resorts) and the sliders don't have handles on the outside so if you make the mistake of going on the balcony and shutting the door all the way, you are pretty much going to be locked out.

- THE ROOMS WERE DIRTY. Filthy. The counters in the bathroom were not wiped down ONCE (I looked). The bed was made, but the sheets never changed. I would find crumbs or beef jerky bits from the evening before made into the bed. Gross. The water glasses were nasty. I don't know if they just left them in there from the people before, or what. I even left the maid some cash (as an incentive - didn't work) and a nice note asking her to please leave some clean glasses for us. We drank coffee every morning and would anticipate clean cups to be left. Reasonable expectation, right? Nope. She rinsed them (not well) and left them out. Gross. I had to wash water glasses and coffee cups with shampoo in a so-called luxury resort. There was a beautiful jacuzzi tub in the bathroom (who wouldn't want to take advantage of that on their honeymoon??) that we didn't use because we were concerned that it hadn't been cleaned between guests based on how dirty everything else was.

The second to the last day I had enough. We came back to the room to find sand on the dresser, the ice bucket full of water and left out, a half used sewing kit on the dresser, the door hanger on the towel hook (you couldn't put it on the door?) and the towels half folded and tossed up on the rack. I called and complained to the front desk and they didn't even say they were sorry - just that they would change maids.

We were so upset with our stay at the Grand Palladium. We wouldn't even go back for free. Please save your hard earned money for another resort. This one is awful and you will regret it.