TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Recently returned from the Hilton after a 5 night stay in April 2024 (2 adults and 2 kids aged roughly 7 and 9). Detailed review follows. We had been to Montego Bay 5 years earlier (Jewel Grande). Personally we come from a Caribbean background to provide context and do not seek the chaos of mega resorts. Overall this was a well-enjoyed 4/5 experience. Room: stayed in a double ocean view room on the west side of the building looking over the golf course to the water. The view and sunsets were lovely. This is an older property, your room will not look like the W. Room size was about 400sqft, beds pretty comfortable for hotel beds, storage just enough (more dresser space would have been nice) and there was a nice balcony (watch your step going in/out). Plenty of hot water — so hot you should not let young kids adjust themselves. Crabtree toiletries and bath products (large bottles). Negatives: the TV was useless for watching anything but cricket and provided no way to stream. You could perhaps jerryrig a travel router and streaming device. A bit of a bummer for down time with kids but we were barely in the rooms. Also, no Red Stripe in the mini bar. Will get to this later. Mix of outlet types was odd. I suggest brining a power plug with a mid of outlets and usb ports (Anker makes a great cube shaped one) as the lamp outlets work only when the lamp is on. The room met our needs and was comfortable but not luxurious in a modern way. Absolutely zero issues with cleanliness. Pools: There are two. A good sized quieter one (with minimal shade that only comes in the afternoon) outside the lobby and abundant chairs and cabanas. The second is the huge zero entry pool that connects to the lazy river and water slides with the activity area and pool bar. We spent much time here, the kids loved it, and adults loved the lazy river. Really a lot of fun. It was extensively cleaned each AM. The cushions could use better cleaning on the loungers. Things to note: The lazy river “opens” (current, tubes) at 10am. All the pools stay open quite late. The kids slide is actually three small slides leading into a drop pool. Small kids that aren’t good swimmers shouldn’t do this unsupervised. There are plenty of tubes for the lazy river, this was never an issue. They are big for little ones and the property could use more smaller ones. The chair hoarding early is an unfortunate reality and I hate saying this, worsened dramatically with an influx of American tourists near the end of the stay who would claim absurd numbers of chairs before 6 (ie 8+) then not show for hours. Beach: There are actually two. The main one is small, can be prone to sargassum, but they make efforts to clean it. It’s sandy bottom and shallow to quite a distance (and you escape the sargassum after about 10ft from shore) but there are warnings about urchins and suggestions for water shoes. Had no issues absent any. When very windy it can be rough, this was usually only early AM or evenings. My 9 year old loved the smaller ones otherwise during the day and had a blast. The other beach is on the other side of the restaurant and better for walking but the swimming area is smaller. Tons of cabanas here. No water sports like SUPs or Kayaks and the Jewel has them beat here. Food: we were very happy here. The Jamaican food is uniformly excellent with the exception being a lack of a real pepper sauce for those who wanted it. Local items available at the buffet for all three meals. Indian options were great as well. A reasonable amount of vegetarian dishes as well. Vegans may have issues. Lots of fruits, salads, the usual omelette stations. Desserts repetitive. A juice bar but limited. We mainly ate at the buffet for dinner and occasional lunches. There was enough for our kids, one much more adventurous than the other, to be happy. The seaside restaurant (fish sandwiches) and jerk hut are musts. I ate jerk every day, you should too, it was very good, though for a Caribbean person would have appreciated a bit more heat. Mangoes was also good for lunch items like patties (excellent), nachos, veggie options, sandwiches etc. and is adjacent to the larger pool. We missed one a la carte as kids were too tired on day one after travel, and the Italian was serviceable but coming from Toronto not close to what is available here. If you expect to eat only North American food like you would in Boston you’ll be disappointed. If you like a variety of items and especially Caribbean food (logically) you’ll be very happy. We all ate well. I miss my afternoon jerk chicken! Heck I miss the smell drifting at the lazy river in advance of my afternoon jerk chicken. The coffee shop is great with a wide variety of hot and cold drinks (including non caffeinated frappes), ice cream, pastries and other snacks. Note Saturday is Jamaican night, the evening buffet is on the east beach, they have a live reggae show and then a DJ party. It was fun. Reservations are required for a La carte dinners, you can email a day before going. I wish we tried Rum Factory. Drinks: spirits uniformly poor. This is a Dominican owned property I believe and it shows. Presidente beer is the default in mini bars. This is Jamaica; Red Stripe is a global brand. It’s widely available everywhere else however, the saving grace. No Appleton to be found anywhere. In a hotel that has a restaurant called Rum Factory. This is inexcusable at this price point. I have no clue what proof the rum they use is, but seems less substantial that what I’d expect with virtually any well known Jamaican product. Tell the bartenders at Mangoes you want the yard (local) rum not the default. I’m older with kids and don’t drink on holiday as in my 20s but the property needs to address this. Nobody goes to Jamaica to pretend they’re in DR. Service: this is not a 2000 room in your face property in Cancun and that was a factor in choosing it. I go on holiday to be with my loved ones, to relax, and have a chill vibe. The service was excellent. It was attentive, without being intrusive. People were friendly. Absolutely no issues. If you’re the type of person who leaves 1 star reviews because a hotel worker didn’t become a super animated caricature of a human as is often the expectation in DR or Cancun from North American A.I. resort tourists, this isn’t the place for you. Again, the service is attentive, very good, with rare delays for example clearing plates etc at peak buffet times but we had no issues of substance and were happy. People are not slow in the Caribbean; they have simply not fallen in the trap of hurrying every minute like in NY. Be kind and gracious and it will be returned. Other notes. There is a tennis court where you can pay for lessons at reasonable prices. There are basketball hoops there too with balls available. We didn’t use the kids club; it was small. Most of the “animation” activities/games were near the pool and mainly geared to adults but the activity schedule had lots of stuff like crafts etc as well. MJ show was fun. The gift store is not surprisingly super expensive. The sun exposure can be intense even if you are well melanated. Aloe gel is 20-25 USD a bottle. Being excess sunscreen. Mosquitos were present but minimal. Bring a long sleeve as the lobby and main hall near the coffee shop can be aggressively air conditioned. Bring whatever size of bills you want if tipping as nobody will be able to break bills there. Hotel is 15 min from the airport. If funds allow skip a shared transfer (Jamaica Tours is good but uses large buses leading to waiting before leaving MBJ and a long time back from the hotel). Absolutely find a way to get Club Mobay access on departure to go through security faster. Recommended? Despite the alcohol situation I’d definitely go back especially as a family with young kids. I met a guy who had been there over 10 times. I’d give pause with teenagers. As a couple, because we prioritize relaxation, if funds allowed I’d probably prefer the Jewel (caveat our stay there was 5 years prior when it was Jamaican owned) if looking to an all inclusive or one of the non-AI resorts around MoBay or Negril if staying in Jamaica, excluding Sandals as it’s a completely different price point.

Overall the property is just OK…room was dirty…the food 3/5 at best and the service sub par. Two days in a row we came in from our day out to find our door unlocked/open with no one in sight and no housekeeping on the floor (we asked for our room not to be serviced bc our door handle wasn’t working properly) Reported to the front desk and no repairs were made prior to our departure. Thankfully we didn’t find anything missing…honestly can’t recommend and for the life of me we can’t figure out how they have such high reviews.

First class resort with excellent service. We had an ocean front room and the view was amazing. To wake up every morning and go on the patio with the sound of the waves and warm breeze was great. Fiona at the lazy River bar was exceptional. Only 15 minutes from the airport.

A cozy resort that sits right on the beach with easy access to main amenities and buildings. Staff are helpful and attentive, food has a good variety and plenty options throughout the day. Jerk hut lunch is a must have. Drinks were flowing and they will refill your cups no problem. Entertainment was satisfactory not much of a night life resort, which is expected for an all inclusive family resort. Pools and beach were super fun, lazy river best of all. Getting to see the island and excursions were easily arranged with a local guide from Top Choice Jamaica Tours, we did the blue hole and ATV rides, highly recommend it. Its a beautiful country and experiencing outside the resort was well worth it. That said, we had a great time and look forward to another trip.

Just got back from 5 days/4 nights at the Hilton Rose Hall. We got a very good post-Easter deal so that’s in the background of this review, if we were paying $900/night at peak season I’d probably be more critical. The good - Our kids loved, loved the water park, so much so that we barely used the (very nice) main pool. They have two water slides, one with a 48” height limit that they very nicely let slide (ha) for our 47 1/2” younger son, and one for littler kids. Also a lazy river they probably did 100 laps of. Very nice swim up bar that’s a fun scene. The grounds are beautiful overall - the one part of the resort that’s truly five star. We got a bit of a misleading start because we arrived right during the Saturday afternoon DJ party and there was a large wedding crowd getting wild, but once that ended everything was super family and kid oriented. The resort staff does a really good job hosting fun games for the kiddos throughout the day. This is not the place to go for nightlife, I enjoyed the quiet evenings sitting outside once the kids were asleep. Some of the food/drink options were solid - there are plenty of bars and they give healthy pours, some have international brands. The jerk hut at the beach was legitimately good, and we had fairly solid dinners at Moonstone (the Asian option) and Three Palms (slight upcharge, on the golf course). The wi-fi is free and works everywhere on property, even well away from the main building on the beach. The so-so: the food is pretty mid for a place that bills itself as a 5* all inclusive. You’re not going to starve, but would it be so hard to get some nice fruit at breakfast? The omelets/eggs saved the buffet overall. The lunch choices are flat out bad outside of the jerk hut, which only does meat. The buffet is about what you would expect, and the food and service at the sit down restaurants for lunch was pretty mediocre. Dinners at Seaside (Italian) and the Rum Factory (Caribbean) fell into this category also. It would be nice if they had a place where you could grab things like nacho chips, fries, tenders etc to go, snacks have to be ordered to go from the sit down restaurants and can take a little while. The bad - the rooms are on par with a Days Inn back in the US. They’re old, small, and badly in need of a facelift. It doesn’t ruin the trip or anything as we spend little time there, but they are nowhere near Hilton brand caliber. They offer room service as an option but there’s literally nowhere in the room to eat it, etc. Pro tips - they offer a paid late check option but it’s not really necessary, you have access to everything until you leave and there are shower facilities and bag storage. You can make dinner reservations two days before arrival by calling or emailing the hotel. The hotel gift shop is extortionate even by hotel store standards - $30 for sunscreen, etc. you can book excursions through the concierge though we didn’t as weren’t staying long enough. Overall this is the perfect place for a shorter family trip that won’t break the bank. If you’re not picky about food it’d be a solid option for a weeklong trip as well.