Switched to the Ritz at the last minute.

So glad we did!! Our original destination was getting such poor reviews.

You check into the hotel right at the airport. That was great!! One of rooms was ready and when we got off the bus at the resort - the bell hop was waiting there with our key.

The resort is beautiful and clean. The beach is rocky and small, but beautiful to look at.

Since I was in Jamaica before, I knew that I did not want to leave the resort. We therefore went with the all inclusive plan. It was expensive but I think worth it. And no silly wristbands!! You were given a check which you charged to your room. There were no surprises charges at the end of the trip. They give you a list of beverages included. Stoli vodka, Heineken beer, Champagne - all included so we were happy.

The food at all restaurants was good not great.

The staff and the service was unbelievable. They truly made you feel at home. They are incredible. Everyone is helpful and cheerfully. We did tip all throughout the trip, but they never made you feel like that was the reason they helped you. We were welcomed by name by our waiters and by the maid services.

No fighting for chairs!! And no towel cards!!! We vacation during school breaks and getting a chair early is always a must. Not here! We were there during spring break and the resort was full but there are more than enough chairs and umbrellas. When you walked to the towel cart, the person there always offered to help you set up.

There were a lot of younger kids but not too many teenagers. The lifeguard would jump into the pool and play with the kids. The social director saw my teenager was alone and would stop by to ask him to play pool or got a volleyball game together .

They had some organized activities - dance lesson water aerobics . At night either by the outside bar or inside there was always a singer. Not much else went on. There were some water sports.

Our flight was delayed 5 hours. We returned back to the hotel rather than sit at the airport. We were greeting like family. They made the delay bearable. The bartenders order us an appetizer so we have something to eat before heading back to the airport. They could not do enough for us.

The Ritz is great resort with a wonderful staff.

My family and I attended a rewards trip with my company and I stayed six nights from April 19-25. Ironically, I was awarded the trip for the exceptional service that I provide to my clients. So naturally I was excited about staying at the hotel chain that sets the bar for it’s industry for service. However, for the Ritz there was no real bar, and if there was one in almost every instance they failed to meet it.

To begin with, my husband, son, and I arrived two days earlier than our program date for our conference. We checked in (or so we thought) at the airport and proceeded along to the hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel (it was around 3:30) we learned that our room was not ready but that it would be about 30 minutes. We waited in the lobby (by the way we were never served champaign as a few guests were and most of the glasses sat on a silver tray on a table untouched. I don’t know if every guest was suppose to receive a glass as it seemed random.) Several colleagues had checked in and told me that it was past check in and that I should ask about my room. So I did. I was told that a “supervisor was inspecting it and it would be a few more minutes.” About 15 minutes later I was told that the room did not pass inspection and as it had recently been renovated and it smelled of paint. I am not sure why they did not tell me this to begin with.

My travel department had arranged ahead of time for my family to have a ground floor location with easy access to the pool and beach. The group planner for the Ritz had assured us that it was no problem. My son has had three major foot surgeries over the past two years and uses a wheelchair for distance. Additionally, the floor is more stable on a ground floor for him and it is easier to move around with a wheelchair. The girl at the front desk now said that she could put us on the second floor but it would not be close to an elevator. However the room was not ready and it would be a little while longer. I explained the situation, again that the Ritz had guarantee us a ground floor room, and that is what we needed. She told me she did not have a room like that. I told her I would be willing to take a king bed and they could put a roll away for my son. Again it took her 10 minutes to do this. Finally, after two hours in the lobby we had a room.

Ironically when we got to the room I noticed little imperfections. We only had one bar of soap (the bathtub and the shower were both missing, odd if a supervisor inspects the room.) Additionally, our patio had only one chair–yet all the other patios had two. We requested our room to be unfeathered when we went to dinner and an hour and 45 minutes later when we returned, it had not been done.

As the week went on, we experience far too many levels of poor customer service. However, I first must mention that at all of the group functions the service was amazing. I guess you want to impress companies, but not individuals. The waitresses at the pool never asked us for drinks, we were constantly having to call them over or walk up and order ourselves. Not exactly a beach resort experience. Additionally, every day at the pool your attendants never offered to set up chairs, hand us towels, or even so much as to say hello. They simply stood their talking to each other–we were on our own. In the morning the pool area had dirty towels out from the night before. There was a total of three rafts, two for the pool and one for the beach. When I inquired about it an employee said that was all they had I am not sure how such a large resort could only have three total rafts?

The property itself was very pretty and kept up well. The beach was small, cloudy, with not a lot to do. You can not take long walk on the beach. The food was good, but very expensive and you are stuck on the property with cab rides costing $25 to go into Montego Bay. The room and bathroom were nice with a beautiful view from our patio. The gym was clean and equipment was in good condition, and the spa looked lovely.

One of the nice touches was the coffee bar in the morning. However, even this was inconsistent. Coffee was supposed to be out at 6:00 a.m. each morning and one morning it was not out until 6:30. After waiting 10 minutes, I inquired about it the man was rude. On our final evening we never received turn down service and had to seek out housekeeping the next morning for towels.
On our second day I contacted the manager on duty to express my dissatisfaction with the service and our experience thus far. She wrote me a hand-written apology, left a cheese platter in my room, and gave me a $100 credit on my bill. While this was a nice gesture, so many things went wrong to change my overall opinion about this hotel and the Ritz Carlton.

While the majority of my stay was a disappointment, I must point out one individual who went above and beyond his call of duty. I believe that he is what all of employees of the Ritz should strive to be like. His name was Wayne and he worked in the water sports area. Additionally, he helped with the children’s activities for our corporate event. He was kind, helpful, and energetic. He addressed my son and I by name, took us sailing twice, was the only one in the pool area who asked us if we needed anything. He was a delight and while my comments are mostly negative, please accept my appreciation for the lasting impression he made.

As I mentioned before I am, and probably will always be disappointed with my stay at your hotel. I once looked to the Ritz as a standard for what everyone should hope to be like. However, this is no longer the case. Additionally, if I had to pay for the trip to Jamaica, I would have been highly disappointed.

My family (three children ages 11, 9 and 7) and I just returned from our five day vacation at the Ritz Carlton Rose Hall in Jamaica and the experience exceeded our expectations. The website does not do the resort justice. The beach was smallish but fine for kids--make sure the kids bring water shoes as the beach can be rocky. The all-inclusive Keys to Paradise package was certainly the right way to go as food and drinks are expensive. The sun is very intense so bring plenty of sunscreen, hats, swim shirts etc. Service was outstanding and the staff was very accomodating. A visit to the Great House and Dunn's River Falls were well worth it. We'd go back to the Ritz in a heart beat.

All Inclusive Option
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My wife and I along with another couple just got back from a five night stay at the Ritz Carlton. We really enjoyed the vacation due in large part to the our experience at the Ritz. We chose the all inclusive option (aka - Keys to Paradise) and booked the vacation through a local travel agency. I must say that the all inclusive is the only way to go (unless someone else is paying the bill). The food is very, very expensive. On a per person basis, expect to spend $30 for breakfast, $50 for lunch and $100 dinner. Drinks by the pool run about $10 each. Find a travel agent that can get you a deal around $2500 per couple for 5 nights. We ate and drank throughout the day and night, pretty much whatever and whenever we wanted. Our bill on checkout was $13 which was for some extra gratuities I charged to the room when I forgot to bring cash with me. The meals and drinks will certainly taste better when you are not worried about how much they cost.

Food and Drink
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For the most part, the food is "good not great" - something we found ourselves saying over and over. Some things are really good, like the lobster from the Jerk Shack or dinner at the White Witch (highly recommended). We did bring a couple of extra bottles of nicer wine with us that I bought at the duty free store at Philly airport on our way down. Although the house wine is okay, I agree with prior reviewers that thought it should be a little nicer selection. There was no charge or problem with bringing a bottle with us to the table. They give you a several page guide to the all inclusive program when you check in. The most important thing to read is which liquors are included and which are considered "premium". We mostly stuck to coconut rum or Ketel One the whole time. In the morning, get the Blue Mountain coffee in the Cohoba bar and take it to breakfast.

Our Room
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We had confirmed an ocean view room and I had e-mailed the hotel before arrival to request a room in the west wing away from the elevators, stairwells and ice machines. Our room was very nice with cool tiled floors partially covered with a tropical colored area rug. There was a large LCD TV with a great channel selection (incl HBO, Showtime and Cinemax) and a box that you could hook in a PlayStation, or portable DVD player if you had one with you. The bathrooms were quite nice with two sinks, a separate tub and walk in shower. The toilet was located in its own small room as well for extra privacy. Our only complaint was the water pressure which was rather low during parts of our stay. In addition, the phone in our room was not able to receive calls so the hotel gave us a free cell phone to use instead in case they or someone back home needed to reach us. For the ladies - a very large and powerful hairdryer seems to be standard in the rooms. Rooms also have a safe, a coffee/tea bar and free high speed (wired) internet access.

Pool and Beach
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From all the negative comments we had read regarding the pool and beach, we were prepared for the worst. We were pleasantly surprised by the uncrowded beach and although small, plenty large for us to splash around in when we got hot. As several reviewers have said, the ocean floor is rocky and we did bring water shoes with us which were useful. The beach area itself is plenty large and sandy. There are ample chairs but perhaps the hotel could add or fix a few more umbrellas. Drink service on the beach is not quite as good as by the pool, which was readily available. There were a lot of children around, but they all seemed very well behaved and did not bother us in the least. The staff seemed to take an interest in entertaining them giving parents a little break every now and then. The pool is not small, but it isn't a mega pool either. There were always chairs available and not very many people actually went in the pool. We found ourselves running into the same people over and over again which was nice.


Transportation / Shopping
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The Ritz has a very nice lounge located in the arrivals hall of Montego Bay airport. They will check you into the hotel there and arrange for your transportation (which was also included in our package).

We did not do any of the Jamaica Tours excursions. Instead, we hired a taxi for the afternoon to take us shopping. The driver's name was Clover and she was excellent with a very nice vehicle. For $50 plus gratuity, she took us to the straw market, the duty free shops and anywhere else around MB that we wanted to go. The Straw Market is a real experience and can be a little overwhelming if you've never been to one. You will likely get hustled there, but remember that many of these folks live in absolute poverty and could use that extra one or two bucks that you would have saved if you bought that basket at a regular store. The jewelry stores are full of good deals and don't hesitate to do some hard bargaining there (we bought a necklace for $170 that had a price of $525 on it). If the shop owner isn't mad at you or calling their manager over, you haven't made the best deal.

Final Thoughts
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This particular Ritz, as others have already said, is not quite up to the same sparkle as say the one in New York or Philadelphia. It could use a little touch up here and it runs at a slightly slower pace too. However, the staff is very warm and friendly and strives to make up for any shortcomings. You can tell that they take a lot of pride in their job and in keeping up the reputation of the property. For the price we paid as an all inclusive, it was worth every penny and we would definitely go back again.