It was clean, beautiful and a true five star. The staff are all very nice and helpful. The beds had feather tops with summer down comforters. The bathrooms were beautiful and full of complimentary toiletries. The rooms were cleaned twice a day. We felt safe that I allowed my kids to play in the pool by themselves. The food is great.

We boogie board most of the time and they have great lifeguards. The lifeguards are very attentive and fast. They recued some folks from drowning and stayed with them on the shore until they are alright.

I highly recommend JW for a safe and relaxing vacation spot.

I'll begin by saying that my wife and I NEVER go anywhere. I won a trip with Toyota corporate, so we were very much taken care of. But I have never been treated so well by a staff, from the cleaning ladies to the waiters, anywhere else . This made the trip wonderful. Also, there was no tile saw or other construction present when we were there( April 23-27). The pool area, the beach, the room, everything was perfect. The beach is narrow-but it was cool because there was less distance between you and the water! Plenty to walk on, but you aren't worn out by the time you make the water. Wish I was there right now, and we will return!

Second visit to the JW in less than a year and we won't return. The construction/on-going maintenance continues on the beach and room balconies near pool (jack hammers, grinders & tile saws). The only good food we found at the hotel was the breakfast buffet at Simply Seafood.
Luckily, we had an additional 5 days booked at the Ritz Carlton in an oceanfront and once again they exceeded our expectations. Overall, JW location is good, resort is nice, service was fair, but it's no Ritz Carlton.
Regardless of where you stay, you must dine at Harry's - prime steaks, lagoon location, and cotton candy after dinner. We were impressed that if one wore dark attire, you were given a black napkin.

My husband, our 12-year-old twins and I travelled 4/12 thru 4/19. This hotel is fabulous. Our stay couldn't have been more pleasant. The staff is extremely courteous and took very good care of us. Our room (Caribbean Suite) was wonderful. At almost 1000 sq. feet, it gave us all the space we could need. There was plenty of closet space, drawer space, 1 1/2 baths, 2 balconies, 2 flat panel tv's, robes, slippers and a complimentary in-room safe. The shower was also equipped with dual shower heads. We were a bit surprised by the fact that there was no coffee maker in the room, but my husband just ran down to the gift shop each morning. If you visit the hotel's website, you can see the layout of the various room types and where they are located in the hotel. There are only 17 Caribbean Suites, and I would request one on a higher floor so that the roofline of Simply Seafood does not obscure your view of the pool. We were initially given a room on the 4th floor, but when we saw the view, requested a higher floor and were moved to the 7th. Much better. We had a king bed (extremely comfortable) and sofa sleeper (thin mattress, but my son didn't complain.) We also requested a rollaway. It didn't take up too much space and had a surprisingly comfortable mattress.

We spent quite a lot of time lounging by the pool. Our first day, I woke at 6:30am and was surprised to see that people were already saving chairs. We don't really love the chair saving game, but when in Rome.....so we put our towels out with everyone else. The chairs under palapas seemed to go first and then those under umbrellas. The infinity pool was the most popular spot, but if you plan to stay later into the afternoon, go to the pool closest to the Beachwalk Cafe. The sun is not obscured by the hotel as early. We ate at the cafe several times. They will serve you poolside if you desire. They make fabulous drinks and there's always a server nearby.

As others have mentioned, the beach is quite narrow and rocky, but we did manage to do a little boogie boarding and body surfing. They are currently doing some much-needed repair to the steps that lead to the beach. It's fairly treacherous, as I bruised the bottom of my foot on a rock.

We dined at Mikado (tepanyaki at the Casa Magna), Beachwalk Cafe, Simply Seafood and Gustino (my favorite.) Prices are high everywhere, but we knew that going in.

To sum it up, we enjoyed our stay immensely and would be comfortable recommending this hotel to even the most fussy traveller. I have read a small number of negative reviews and, either those people had extremely bad luck or there's just no pleasing them. This resort is wonderful!