The Lodge at Jaguar Reef — Hotel in Stann Creek District

We stayed at the lodge for four nights in a suite with a plunge pool using a travel zoo voucher.

Overall our stay was relaxing and I enjoyed our trip. My advice to others can be summed up in two statements: If you have traveled a lot and are accustomed to high-end resorts, I think you will find this place lacking in several areas but still pleasant. If you have not traveled a lot or travel on a low budget, I think you will find this place amazing and have a great time.

Rooms: If I were to come back, I would choose a beachfront room or a second level room. The first story rooms have the plunge pool tucked away in a private patio behind the room. While this seems nice in theory, there was no airflow back there to keep away mosquitoes. We also noticed that when it rains, the runoff from the roof drains into the plunge pool. Between the bugs and dirty lukewarm water, we didn't use our pool at all.

The second story rooms have the private plunge pool on the front balcony, so there's at least some airflow there to deter the bugs and a nice view to look at while you're soaking.

The beach front rooms have the plunge pools on the front patio so you can sit and enjoy the ocean view while in the pool. They also have their own lounge chairs on the front patio. There are not that many lounge chairs on the beach, so always having your own available on the patio would be nice.

Beds: The bed was super firm. It caused me some severe lower back pain and I found it very difficult to sleep as a result. If you need a soft mattress or have back problems, steer clear of here.

Service: Our driver to Hopkins told us that everyone in Hopkins does things slowly, so you should show up for a meal an hour before you're actually hungry. This was a great tip because service was indeed slow, but always friendly.

Food: Some reviews said the food was not good. I don't know what food they were eating, because every meal we had at the paddle house ranged from quite good to absolutely delicious. The menu had good variety, and a sizable vegetarian/vegan section. Our favorite dish was the lemongrass turmeric chicken!

The continental breakfast was a bit sad (yogurt wasn't very cold, fruit salad was too soggy), but the chicken empanadas that come with it make up for it. The quality and size of coffee drinks were inconsistent - they would come in different sized glasses and sometimes were very weak.

The fresh ceviche at the big dock bar was one of the highlights of our trip - we had it every day!

On our last day we wanted to change things up so we made a dinner reservation at hamanasi. It was a 5 minute walk up the beach. If you get tired of eating at the paddle house, I definitely recommend it!

Staff/Communication: I liked that you could communicate with the front desk via WhatsApp. However, more often than not my requests would be acknowledged but not fulfilled. Shortly after arrival, a glass was broken and it took some time for someone to respond and send someone to help (notably they did not vacuum to ensure tiny pieces would not cut our feet). I asked for housekeeping to come by while we were at lunch. We came back and they hadn't come. Instead they showed up later while we were relaxing in the room, so we hung out on the front porch while they cleaned. We consistently made dinner reservations through texting. One time our reservation never made it to the restaurant staff, but luckily they were able to accommodate us anyway.

Amenities: The beach loungers were comfortable and had basins of water next to the chairs to rinse the sand from your feet. I really enjoyed that small detail. I wish they also put those basins on the front porch rooms so you could rinse any sand off your feet before entering the room.

The pool with the swim up bar was delightful, but it is not big enough for the number of guests. The handful of chairs at the pool were always taken. They need more chairs both at the pool and the beach, as well as clean towels readily available for guests (instead of having to wait for housekeeping to...

We vacationed at The Lodge at Jaguar Reef on an all inclusive package. When we arrived at the Philip S. Goldson International Airport, our driver was waiting with my name on a sign, and whisked us away. The ride to the Lodge was almost 3 hours. Our bags were taken to our room for us, and we were thrilled when we saw our home for the next 8 days. It was a Sea View Pool Villa. We were on the lower floor, with a covered patio that had a padded bench with pillows for reading or just lounging, a two-person hammock, and a wooden rocking chair. There were hummingbirds on the hibiscus right outside our door. The room was absolutely beautiful! There was a king sized bed (very comfortable), a full sized couch that pulled out with a trundle bed (we didn't need that), a flat screen t.v., air conditioning that we could control with a remote, and a bottled water dispenser and glasses right in our room. Our room included a lovely vessel sink, and the largest shower we've ever seen. Between the shower and our bed was a plunge pool with sliding glass doors on two sides; one side opened into the shower, the other into the bedroom. It was kept at a constant 88 degrees, and was relaxing to use after a tiring day of adventure. Above the plunge pool was open to the sky, allowing views of tree tops and hummingbirds. The towels were super soft, and were replaced daily. The Paddle House restaurant was only a few yards walk from our room, and it sits on the beach only a few yards from the Caribbean. We were there during the beginning of the rainy season, also the off season, but the weather was beautiful. There was a constant breeze, which helped take the edge off the heat & humidity, but meant that I needed to pull my hair back out of my face when dining. Most of the doors to the Paddle House were kept open all day long, and we always had a view of the sea. The wait staff were wonderful! I must mention our servers Reuben, Alex, Tomas and Jason. They were always friendly and smiling, and helped make our vacation a memorable one. Chef Rahim's dishes were excellent, and that's saying something , because both of us are picky eaters. We found several dishes which we enjoyed more than once. The Paddle House Tostadas were our lunch favorite. The all inclusive package included breakfast, either continental or by your order, a 2 course lunch and a 3 course dinner. Seafood dishes and pasta with seafood were the mainstays. The Lodge was not overly crowded, again, due to the off season, which meant that we could always find lounge chairs under tiki huts right by the water. There was an Adventure Desk where we could ask questions about our upcoming adventures, and I borrowed and returned a few books from the lending library. Kendra was wonderful. When there weren't enough people signed up for the zipline and water repelling activity we had prepaid for, she arranged for someone to drive us to the location to mix in with another group. Jamal was our driver, and he was so friendly and pleasant to spend time with. All of the staff we encountered at the Lodge and on all of our adventures were friendly. The grounds were very well kept, fallen flower petals and leaves were swept up quickly and the sand was even raked in the early morning, which looked lovely. On the grounds of the resort was the Big Dock, with many wooden chairs and pillows, swings, netting to lay on over the water, a rope to swing out over the water, and a bar. The chips and salsa were excellent, and Erwin was the friendly bartender. (A note: we had one of the downstairs units of the Sea View Pool Villas, and it was often very noisy with walking sounds overhead. Despite that, we enjoyed stepping right out onto our patio and walkway to The Paddle House, rather than taking stairs down to the ground). The restrooms in the reception area attached to the Paddle House were a pretty surprise: they each had no roof and had botanical landscaping! We prepaid for 4 adventures (reviewed...

My husband and I recently stayed at The Lodge at Jaguar Reef during our honeymoon in Belize. Overall, we had a really great experience. We are choosing to give a 4/5 because the management overlooked some small details (described below).

For the good - the lodge itself is absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a fantastic room with a large bathroom and patio with a plunge pool. We had a direct view of the beach (about 200 feet away). We could walk down the beach, stopping in to other bars and restaurants also on the beach.

The restaurant was great. The food was fantastic and the chef offered awesome specials at both lunch and dinner each day. The serving staff was great. We particularly adored Stacey, who helped us and asked about our day even when she wasn't working with us. Bol is the man behind the scenes helping all of the servers and cleaning up when needed. He was the hardest worker by far. I don't think I ever saw that man stop moving. For the management reading this - he is fantastic! Please cherish his hard work!

There are three bars - one in the restaurant, one at the pool (swim up), and one on the ocean (see attached picture). We loved all of the bars and had great conversations with each bartender, including Marvin (Big Dock), Marvin (double M), Miguel, and Charlie (pool). All four of these individuals were so incredibly friendly, taking a true interest in our lives and experience at Jaguar Reef.

Snorkeling! We went on the South Reef Snorkeling adventure with Ru as our guide. It was absolutely fantastic. Ru is very knowledgable, allowing us to explore on our own, but also teaching us about the local fish and corals. We HIGHLY recommend this tour. Kendra, one of the women working the Adventure Desk, was great. She was very friendly and helped set us up with each of the excursions we were interested in.

The front management staff was fantastic, particularly Shakira. When my husband wasn't feeling well, she sent someone to the pharmacy to pick up a medication and then personally delivered it to him. Beyond that, she is an incredibly friendly person who takes care with each person she meets.

Now for the bad (again, not much, just small details missed by the management) - there are only two keys to each room. One is for the guest and one is for housekeeping. The housekeeping staff's key to our room broke the morning we arrived. For our entire 3.5 day stay, anytime anyone needed to get into our room (for housekeeping and to fix some other issues), they had to find us. No one made another key during our time there. There was one day our room didn't get cleaned because no one came to find us. Overall, it was pretty inconvenient. Secondly, there weren't any desserts offered during our entire stay beyond ice cream. Although there was dessert on the menu, it wasn't available. This was annoying for us as we opted for the all-inclusive menu, so I felt we were missing out.

Beyond that, there were a few large groups staying at the resort. When they would come to a meal, the rest of the guests would be put on the back burner. We even came to one lunch and had to wait an hour because the kitchen was too busy (although there was a group of 10 from another resort that was being helped). This just left a bad feeling for us. As for the all inclusive, it was confusing as to which drinks were included. It would have been helpful if we had received a list when we arrived.

Overall, it was a very nice lodge. The location was great. The town of Hopkins had lots of different restaurants and bars to explore (and for that reason, we would not do an all-inclusive package next time). The staff was all amazing. We will probably go back, even though there were some...