Rose Hall Beach, Montego Bay Jamaica


We stayed in Iberostar Rose Hall Beach in December 2012 for 2 weeks. We were 3 (2 adults and 1 eight year old) joined by a friend (stayed 1 week with her daughter). Here it goes, great hotel, extra clean, never a problem with the room, superb food and drinks, the staff are incredible.

Where to start, well upon our arrival (late in the evening, so we didn’t see much of Jamaica) our daughter decided that she already loved the place. The resort is quite big, I mean very big. It is divided in 3 sections: Beach, Suites and Grand. The Grand is adults only resort, the Suites is in the middle and the beach is the most common of all. Well to be fair, it is most lively at the Beach resort and they say you are not allowed to visit the other resort (although I have heard of people going).

Well, the resort is impeccably clean, from the hallways to the rooms, to the beach itself to the washrooms. They are all friendly and take care of you without hesitating. We had a Junior Suite Ocean Front and the room was cleaned twice a day. The air conditioning was in perfect order and everything was as it should be. The à la carte restaurant are also very good, we went once to the beach restaurant and twice to the Japanese and twice to the Jambalaya.

So to give credit to the Stars at the hotels, well, there is Maria (aka the Lava Girl) that makes things happen, she will get you moving, and I guarantee that. Smiley (he’s THE best, always smiling) will make your day complete with his good buddy JR doing acrobatics, hand stand, aerobics, volleyball, pool competitions etc… Chynet (she is THE girl) is one of the waitress on the beach, always there to bring us our drinks with a beautiful smile. At the buffet, breakfast and lunch were with Alicia, she is the best waitress there, always smiling and courteous, dinners were with Milton, always a little something for the girls plus a little entertaining (sorry, I forgot the name of the girl opening the door, also with a great smile). The Kids Club is well maintained and the 3 girls there: Ameika, Annia and Vanessa, are taking extra care of all the children, they even had kids Olympics (all the kids had a medal). Not to say that all the others I forgot to mention were not good, trust me, they are all good and deserve the praise. They also have a show that lasts until 09:30pm, good to attend to as it is air conditioned, and the beach parties are also great.


The Nautical sport side is probably the worst part, they are sitting all day long (yes, they are all sitting at a picnic table doing nothing) and when you get some equipment, they sound like you are disturbing them, sometimes ignoring you. I took an ocean canoe and was basically left there; they took my ticket and said you can take this one. Upon my return, I was waiting for 20 minutes for someone to give me back my ticket to no avail, so I left everything there and headed back to my beach chair. If it wouldn’t be for Marie-Michelle there, it would be really bad, no one would try the water activities. She is the friendliest person on that side, always smiling. Even one day, our daughter found a shell in the sand not far from where they are sitting, she had to dig it up and when she walked back to show us, they screamed at her claiming that the shell belonged to them after she had cleaned it from the sand. She was so sad. On the same note, the beach is awesome but the ocean is not so good, not the turquoise you’d expect for the Caribbean but more like green with sea weeds and muddy at around 3 feet deep. The lifeguards are cleaning the water periodically from sea Urchins and our daughter got a ‘’Sea sting’’ which the lifeguards treated immediately with a special ointment. The pools are great and clean although filled with Jamaican kids at times (they have special passes).

There are Jamaican salesmen in the water early in the morning and in the evening trying to sell something to you, they are not rude and a simple: ‘’No thanks’’ is enough to keep them away. They are not allowed to stand on the beach.

Another good point, the people that work at the hotel, will come and sit with you (they will ask first) when eating, I personally think this is very nice touch as it enables you to get to know them and they will ask you how you like your stay etc…

Well, like all good things, it had to come to an end and our daughter was sad 2 days before we had to go back as she wanted to stay in Jamaica forever… Will we go back, definitively….

Oh my goodness, where do I even begin!? I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PLACE!
I guess I'll start off by saying I'm a 20 year old female and I was travelling with my 17 year old brother and my parents. This was actually our second visit, as we came here for New Year's last year and loved it so much we decided to come again.
My favourite part about our trip last year was the entertainment staff, and I have to say they were even better this time around. Marlando, aka Smiley, is super fun! As soon as he saw us, he recognized us from last year! It made me feel like we were visiting an old friend, and I do feel as if I have become friends with some of them. Even the trainees are great, especially Opia! (If management happens to be reading this, please tell her boss that she's such a hard worker and does a great job!) They'll certainly leave you alone if you're not in the mood to socialize, although I highly recommend taking some time to talk to them. They are all really interesting people.
Ok, now what are some other things that might be of interest?
FOOD: We did not try the a la carte restaurants. I'm not exactly sure why, probably because my brother was too picky about the menu and would rather eat at the buffet. I was totally fine with that because the buffet has a lot of selection and I always found really tasty food to eat (I'm a vegetarian and I had plenty of options to choose from).
DRINKS: bar in every direction? Check! Just fyi, if you don't order from the bar directly, it takes a little while to get your drinks because the waitress does a full round and takes many orders at once. That being said, we were on vacation so we had no problems waiting the 10-15 minutes haha no rush in Jamaica mon
SHOWS: the shows were great this year compared to last year! I mean, they were good last year too, but they really improved the whole production. The costumes are elaborate and beautiful, the dancers are very talented, and the shows themselves are very creative. Every few nights, they have a show that involves the audience, which is always a good time. Who doesn't enjoy watching drunk people play games for prizes? ;)
ACTIVITIES: every day around 11am, the morning activities start, run by the entertainment staff. They usually involve beach aerobics, a dance class, and some beach games like volleyball or soccer. They run these as tournaments and whoever wins gets to claim their prize before the show at night. Then the staff takes a little break and they come back around 3pm for some more activities and a "crazy game". Half the fun is trying to guess what the game will be so I won't give anything away haha
ROOMS: clean and comfortable, doesn't really get much better than that.
Alright I think I got everything... nope I lied, I just remembered something else. There were a lot of young children at this resort, but they weren't bothersome because there were always plenty of activities going on for them. The entertainment staff is really good with them as well.
As for people my age, there were a lot of them too... and we were probably a lot more noticeable than the children hahaha. Also, the disco is open every night from 10pm until 3am, I believe. I went three times and it got busy starting from around 12-12:30, but not overcrowded so it was pretty fun actually. They play a great mix of Jamaican music and "American" music. Although I could have done without Gangnam Style, amiright? haha
Ok I've definitely blabbed on long enough. I hope this review helps someone out there!

Christmas 2012 caught my son and me home in Jamaica, where besides celebrating my sister's 50th birthday we were able to spend a couple of nights at my home away from home, the Hilton Rosehall. Complements of the Hilton's management staff, I was able to stay a night at the Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Hotel. Even as late as I checked in the staff was helpful and accommodating. I was accidently dropped off at the Iberostar Grand, but once the reservation was located, I was transported quickly to "The Beach". A busy time of year the hotel was seemingly quite, even though "The Grand" had a musician playing in the reception area. The bellman was efficient, and the room was adequate. The bedding however left must to be desired, as I found the pillows hard and the matrass uninviting. The hotel is set in a quadrangle which makes everything easy to find. Seating at breakfast, is on your own, I rather prefer a warm greeting at the entrance and enquiry as to my preference of seating, this allows for the guests and the hotel staff to get to know each other, so on the next visit to the dining room one can be greeted in a welcoming and familiar way. I asked for and did a very short site inspection. I was given several brochures that highlighted each property, which will serve me well as I was not able to see an of the other room categories. This hotel has a lot of potential, with a great location, good staff and adequate resources.

I stayed at this hotel for 4 days and there's one word to describe it ....BORING. the decor was nice, the customer service was slow, the room service was ok, the spa wasn't half bad and spent most of my time there. the place was really quiet if that's what you want. I spent 3 days before coming to this hotel in Ocho Rios and had a better time there.

what to watch out for the most? ROACHES! every day I came back from a tour i saw roaches coming from every where. really disgusting. i spent most of my time screaming in disgust and repeatedly calling the front desk. what was their response? a can of raid. before i left i made sure to shake all of my clothes and luggage. definitely won't be referring this hotel.

this hotel is 20 mins from downtown mobay. you can find better hotels closer.