Half Moon Resort
Montego Bay, Jamaica
In March of 2002 my husband and I traveled to Jamaica. Our first child was 9 months old at the time, although we left her at home during this trip. This was our first time to Jamaica. We stayed for 5 nights at the Half Moon Resort in Montego Bay. We stayed at this resort, because my husband was taking continued education classes that were being held there with a dental association group. Montego Bay is the closest vacation area nearest to the airport. We took a taxi from the airport and it was not a long ride, thankfully. I would not recommend renting a car. They drive on the left side of the road and you just don't know which areas are ok for tourists to go. Jamaica is a poorer country and the sights you see on the way to the airport is much different than most areas in United States. On the way to the resort, we did see a hooker standing on the side of the road giving some gestures to our taxi driver. Jamaica is a place that you mainly stay at your resort and not venture out much. If you're planning a trip to Jamaica, make sure you select a resort with plenty of activities and dining options. The Half Moon Resort is on a very large piece of property. It is supposedly ranked the most popular and complete resort in the Caribbean. I don't know about that?? The best I can describe it is, yes it's a nice place in the Jamaican way. I think that Jamaica has different standards, or at least different than my standards. If you are making reservations, don't expect it to be a 5 star resort in Hawaii or something. The Half Moon is ok. Like I said, the place is pretty large and spread out. There is walking involved between the lodging units. There are some golf carts available for those staying farther out on the property. There is also golf cart pick up stations where you can catch a ride. There is also a bus that can take you to some of the restaurants and shopping that is further out on the property. We had a basic room with a queen bed and bath. There was also a small bar area with a mini bar fridge. Our room was very old. The building looked like it had been there forever and had experienced some hurricanes. The interesting thing was that our room was literally 10 feet from the ocean. We had a set of french doors that opened up to a small patio. There then was an alarming short distance of sand and then the water. If a tsunami hit, a storm surge, or even a gigantic wave, we would have been definitely swept out to sea. It was a little scary. It was obvious that our room had been flood a few times. The room had a constant musky smell. Everything in the room was quite run down from the floors, walls, and furniture. There was air conditioning, but it was a window style air conditioner. At least we had that, since the weather was horribly humid and hot. The bathroom in our room was the worst. It was very old, cracked, and stained. The toilet didn't seem trustworthy to flush, and the shower and sink were a little scary and old. We were disappointed in the room we had. I just didn't know if this was the standard of "nice" in Jamaica or if we were just in the worst lodging building at the resort. Some of the other people that were associated with our group had gotten a suite or villa type accommodation that slept a larger group of people. I guess they had several bedrooms with a common area and kitchen. It also included a personal cook/butler. The cook was supposed to prepare meals for you. Although, the deal ended up being that the guests had to buy the groceries and ingredients at the small convenience store on the resorts property and then tell the personal cook what they wanted to eat and how to prepare it. I don't know, that seems like to much work to me. If you look at the Half Moon's Resort website now, it says that they have completed many upgrades and remodeling. The pictures of the accommodations on the website look much nicer and nothing like the room we stayed in. So, it sounds like there has been improvements for the better. Before making a reservation, ask questions about the room you are staying in and specify that you want one of these new remodeled rooms. Also, since we were there in 2002, they have added a dolphin lagoon with live dolphins that you can pay to have an experience with. When we were there, I remember the area where they were going to build the lagoon. My husband had swam in that area. A lady on the beach had told him that dolphins were going to go in there. My husband had commented that it must have been the reason why it was so deep in that area. The 2 miles of beach is ok. There is nothing about it that really makes me remember how wonderful it was. It was just ok. There wasn't any good snorkeling there, so leave your equipment at home. There are some water sport items that you can rent on the beach. My husband rented a kayak for about a half hour. There is supposed to be 51 pools. I don't remember there being that many, but I am sure there is. There are some bigger pools, but also some really small ones that are more like decorative features that they must be counting in the total. The pools were ok. Nothing spectacular and a little old and not kept up extremely well. I remember lots of leaves in the pool. There are 6 restaurants at the resort. The main complaint we had was that all the food was kind of fancy and gourmet. By the end of our stay we just wanted a plain old hamburger. One night we just asked if they could make up a burger for us and they did, even though it wasn't on the menu. For several of the restaurants you have to take a quick bus ride to get there, because it is too far to walk on the property. A couple of the restaurants you have to drive out onto the main road and enter a different entrance on the other end of the property. The main restaurant in the lobby area of the resort is Sea Grapes Terrace. It was open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We ate the breakfast buffet there a couple of times and a couple meals. There is an Italian restaurant called Giardino. The food was ok and the atmosphere was nice. We sat outside by candlelight under lighted trees. There is an English Pub call Royal Stocks. I didn't really like the Sheppard's pie I ordered, but the fish n chips my husband got was good. We also went to Akbar, which was an Asian restaurant where the chefs cook on grills right at your table. It was good, although you have to be in good spirits to sit with strangers and talk during the meal. The building was a little worn down, but I remember it being good. There are also two other restaurants. One is the Sugar Mill and the other is La Baguette, both serving Jamaican/International cuisine. We went to one of these, but I can't recall which one it was. It was the farthest bus ride from the resort. We went and ate outside on a candlelit veranda that was pretty nice. I remember the waiter bring Caesar salad and preparing it right next to the table and mixing in the raw eggs. I didn't need to see that. When we were done eating we had a really long wait for the bus to take us back. Our service took so long that we missed the scheduled pick up time to go back to the resort. We had to wait until the next group was done eating and take the next bus. We had to really negotiate to even get that situation settled. There are several shopping areas throughout the resort. Nothing that totally wowed me. The stores contained mostly souvenir items, t-shirts, and some Jamaican artwork and such. The Half Moon is for couples, groups, singles, and families. There is a kids club area. They also offer personal babysitting and nannies. We did see a few families that had a nannie who followed them around and took the kids when needed. It is nice if you are comfortable with that. The resort also has a golf course, golf academy, 13 tennis courts, 4 squash courts, 24 hour medical center, crocquet lawn, putting green, jogging & cycling trails, bike rentals, basketball & volleyball courts, equestrian center, gym with personal trainers, duty free shopping, spa, game room and a small convenience/grocery store. While in Jamaica we also went on a tour to Ocho Rios to go to Dunns River Falls. We went on a bus with only people that were with our group. It was a long drive. We witnessed a lot of the local scenery along the way. It gave you a good picture of how people live there. At Dunns River Falls we stayed as a group and climbed the series of waterfalls from top to bottom. It was fun and we are glad we did it. It is something that we could not do now with 3 little kids. If you go, wear your bathing suit and water shoes with good grip. Some people rented rubber aqua socks there, but I recommend bringing your own. Keens would be great or a waterproof gym shoe. Everyone holds hands as your Jamaican leader leads you up. The leaders know exactly the best places to climb up. It is fun and a little hard, but if you are in decent shape it is not a problem. You will of course get wet and may slip a little and might even fall. Holding hands in a big chain does help. You will get pulled from the front and pushed from the back and the support of people around you really helps. Try to position yourself between two sturdy people. For example, I was holding hands with my husband in the front and an 11 or 12 year old boy behind me. The younger boy didn't help my situation. Bring a disposable waterproof camera with you. As you climb, the leader will stop at various spots to have each couple, family, or person pose and take pictures. When we went to Dunns River Falls, we got there, climbed, and then went home. We didn't stick around. It looked like the beach and the ocean there was beautiful. I would have liked to have stayed and checked it out. Our trip to the Half Moon in Jamaica was not the best vacation we had ever been on. It was ok, but it always could have been a lot worse. I don't think I would go back. If I had to go back I would try a Sandals resort if it was just me and my husband. If I were to go with our kids I would try the Beaches family resort.
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