Tom Following our stay at Sunscape Splash Montego Bay, we headed over to Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay, 20 minutes away by car…
Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay Deluxe Room
During our check-in, we were surprised to note that we were upgraded to the VIP status. This meant that our wrist bands were gold…
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With the Gold VIP wrist band at Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay, you’ll be able to access the Rose Hall Club Lounge – exclusive for VIP guests. We’ll talk a little more about the Rose Hall Club Lounge in the next section. The other main perk with the VIP wrist band is that you’ll be able to make multiple reservations for restaurants in the resort. Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay uses the reservation method so as to not “overcrowd” the restaurants especially during peak hours. However, for standard guests, you’ll only be able to make 1 reservation for the next day. With the Gold wrist band, we were able to visit more restaurants on the same night – to bring more information to all of you guys! 😉
Our Deluxe Room was simple with a king sized bed and a fully stocked mini bar. What we enjoyed was the view of the Caribbean Sea right outside our balcony, albeit partially blocked by the pool. We also found out that our room was RIGHT NEXT TO THE Rose Hall Club Lounge…
Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay Rose Hall Club Lounge
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The Rose Hall Club Lounge is exclusively for VIP guests at the Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay. Inside, there’s is a separate menu where you can have light bites such as soup, salad, sandwich and dessert. There’s also a separate bar where you can order some cocktails or simply have a Red Stripe beer to go with your meal. If you have read our previous post at Sunscape Splash, you would have learnt the following Jamaican words…
1. Hi/How are doing/What’s going on : Whaa Gwan
2. Good/Excellent : Irie (pronounced as eye-ree)
3. See you later : Cya Likkle More
During a typical meal, you can say
You: “Whaa Gwan”
Waiter: (Surprised and gives you a fist bump) “What can I get for you today Sir?”
Waiter: (Comes back after food was served) “How’s the food?”
You: “Irie Mon” (mon is like the slang for man, fist bump again if the food is really awesome)
(Before you leave)
You: “Thank you for the wonderful dinner. Cya Likkle More.”
We used some of those words and again were duly welcomed in the Rose Hall Club Lounge. If there’s something we’ve learnt during our travels round the world, it’s that learning the local words and culture really does help you to bond with the locals!
This time, we tried the Tuna Melt and RoseHall Club sandwiches and they were served in our favourite style – toasted! Delish!
Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay Restaurants & Food
There are essentially 5 restaurants where you can dine during your stay at Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay. They are Sorrento Italian, Portside Buffet (International Buffet), de Terrace (Jamaican cuisine), Seabreeze (Seafood) and Kenko Japanese (Teppanyaki – Additional $20 per pax applies).
Portside Buffet Restaurant
Portside Buffet Restaurant is an international buffet restaurant located near to the lobby of Holiday Inn Resort. During our stay, we visited Portside Buffet for breakfast & dinner…
The cool thing about the Portside Buffet restaurant is that they have kid’s corner where you’ll find pancakes for dinner and fish & chips for dinner.
Seabreeze Restaurant
Seabreeze Restaurant is located at the furthest end of the property (facing the sea, furthest right) with a location right next to the beach. Here, we were able to sample the sea food dishes that the restaurant is famous for…
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This evening, we had cold poached mussels and sesame shrimp ceviche for starters. For entree we had the catch of the day (white fish) and Baked Trout Banana Parcel. If you’re in for a celebration, you can also have the special menu at a surcharge of $25USD per pax which includes Lobster Thermidor and Jumbo Black Tiger Prawns. As with all-inclusive resorts, you can have house wines or beer to complement your seafood dinner.
We found that the white fish (Catch of the Day) was really fresh while the baked trout banana parcel was a little tough – overbaked? As for ceviche, the best ceviche we’ve tasted is at Secrets The Vine Cancun, so the ceviche here really pales in comparison. Nonetheless, the ambience and service did make the overall dining experience a pleasant one.
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Sorrento Italian
Sorrento Italian is where we would recommend for nightly dinners. By the way, even for seated dinners, if you enjoy the steak, you can ask for seconds. That’s another perk of staying at an all-inclusive resort.
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The other thing that you can do (see above) is to combine 2 entrees. For instance, Tom was torn between steak and alfredo pasta. Why not choose both? Of course, the portion of the alfredo was smaller compared to the entree size. But you’ll get to taste both dish on a plate. If you like it, you can choose to go for seconds. We enjoyed the steak which was juicy and tasty. The lamb chops came in a close second. These also paired well with the red wine that we ordered. With the ambience, service (yes, we said “Whaa Gwan” and did the fist bump) and great food, Sorrento Italian would be the restaurant of choice for dinners at the Montego Bay Holiday Inn Resort.
Jerk Hut, Barefoot Bar & Jus’ Kiddin’
As with all Jamaican all-inclusive resorts, there would be a venue for Jamaican Jerk Chicken. You can find your fix at Jerk Hut. By this time, we were already experts at ordering Jerk Chicken. We would order the thigh and drumstick for the tender chicken parts and have it lightly splashed with Jerk sauce – not too much else it might get really spicy. The other cool thing about dining at Jerk Hut is the row of seats next to the sea. Kate and I had the front row seats where we could see some fish swimming (cause the water’s so clear!) and enjoyed the sound (and view) of the waves. Gusts of wind can come up, so be careful not to let your plate (and Jerk sauce) fly in the wind!
Our other favourite snack place is at the Barefoot Bar. It opens at night as well. After we finish listening to the piano man (see below), we would drop by and have a grilled cheese burger. Nope, this is not the conventional burger that you’re thinking about. It is grilled cheese sandwich with a burger patty. The bread slices are first toasted on the grill (lightly doused with oil) to get the crispy texture. Cheese and burger patty are then added. On each bite, you’ll enjoy the crispiness of the toast on the outside and oozing cheese and juicy patty on the inside. Sinful but oh so good! You can end a meal with an ice cream cone @ Jus’ Kiddin’ 😉 (Are we kidding?! The calories!)
Facilities at Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay
There are 2 swimming pools closest to the hotel lobby. There’s a shallower pool (for toddlers) near the Portside restaurant and nearer to the beach, a deeper pool for teens and adults. For adults, there’s an adult’s only pool (facing the sea, extreme left). There’s also a man-made island off the beach that you can walk to (highest tide was about 1m). It creates a lagoon for the hotel by blocking the direct waves of the sea. But while we were there, the wind was quite strong. Nonetheless, during the day, with the sun out, it was still pretty enjoyable.
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During our second day at the resort, 2 unfortunate things happened. Firstly, THERE WAS NO TOWEL at the towels booth – FOR THE ENTIRE DAY! We suspected that the laundry must have been down that day. Secondly, as it was really windy, the red flag (meaning unsuitable for activities) was up the entire day. This meant that we were not able to utilize the snorkeling and paddle boating facilities which were free for guests to use. Kate did make up for the “loss” by shopping at the sourvenir shops within the hotel. She was able to purchase a Jamaican flag dangle (though not part of the Pandora series) to add to her travel colletion. We compared to the price at its official website (islandtrinketz) and found that it was cheaper at the hotel (which usually doesn’t happen). But the best place to shop as we found out, will be discussed in the next section…
Again, Kate challenged Tom to another game of mini golf. And she won! Mostly because the last hole was on a mini slope. If you missed, you’d roll back to where you started. Tom did that shot 8 times while Kate did it in 3, MIRACULOUSLY! There’s also a beautiful pavilion nearby where we saw someone fishing. Good place to see the reefs close to the shore as well.
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Nearby, you’ll be able to play beach volleyball, have a game of tennis or even shuffle board – a game which we played nightly on the Norwegian Cruise to the Caribbean. In the evenings, we would head to our favourite wind down bar, Port Royal and listen to the Piano Man.
The Piano Man, as we call him, is a really funny and talented pianist. He was able to play any tune that you wanted to sing along to. There was a guest who even found a score to a song that he didn’t know. He played with the score while the guest sang to it – akin to a karaoke session! He also introduced us to the Do Re Mi Beer Song – a Classic!
DOUGH… the stuff that buys me beer
RAY….. the one who sells me beer
ME…… the one I buy beer for
FAR….. thats where I go for beer
SO…… I’ll have another beer
LA…… lalalalala beer
TEA….. no thanks, I’ll have a beer
That will bring us back to DOUGH
2 cocktails and a couple of Red Stripes Beer later, everyone were having so much fun. Hence, the loud background noise. Definitely a venue you should check out during your stay here. The Piano Man starts at 10:30pm at Port Royal.
Where to Shop at Montego Bay Jamaica
With our previous shopping experience from Sunscape Splash and the shopping area across the road from Holiday Inn Resort, we found that the best place to shop at would be at Sam’s Jamaican Culture Gift Shop across the street from Holiday Inn Montego Bay…
Apparently, this shopping area across the street is not listed on Google Maps. Probably not to affect the sales within the hotel. Somehow, we stumbled upon Sam’s gift shop in the heart of the shopping village (you’ll have to walk past all the shops at the front to reach Sam’s) and hit it off with Sam. He’s of Indian descent and has been staying in Jamaica for the past 10 years. Friendly and honest, he told us about life in the Caribbean and gave us tips on our next stop Cuba – a place he frequented in his younger days (sorry for ratting this detail out Sam!). He was also not pushy in sales and we did find the cheapest souvenir such as Jamaican Rum Cake ($5USD each) at his place!
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We hope you have enjoyed our coverage of Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay. If you’re there, have another grilled cheese on our behalf! Cya Likkle More!
