Sue and Steve Matero traveled to Montego Bay, Jamaica and stayed at the Wyndham Rose Hall Resort for 4 nights, Feb 23-27, 2003. Sue asked me to write this out as she described it to me.

They flew Air Jamaica from JFK to Montego Bay. Sue said Newark is nicer. They chose the Wyndham over Trelawny to try something new and over the Allegro in Turks & Caicos because that island didn't look as beautiful as Jamaica, which is true. Jamaica has almost every other Caribbean island beat for beauty.

We signed them up for a "Wyndham By Request" number, the frequent guest program. This proved to be a good move when they were upgraded to a suite with a living room, bedroom, balcony overlooking the ocean and the golf course, and two bathrooms!

Sue could not get over the décor of the Wyndham's restaurants and the superb food. You have to make restaurant reservations immediately upon arrival or you will have to be flexible on the time that you eat. They were on the all-inclusive plan so at the Italian restaurant certain things had surcharges. Steve had seafood marinara for which he paid an $11 supplement. At the Three Palms restaurant, a more formal eatery at the golf club, they were given a completely different menu from the a la carte people. Here as well as at the other restaurant, the food was phenomenally good, but if you ordered from the a la carte menu, a steak could cost $47. And bottled water was extra. The food on the all-inclusive menu was perfectly delicious, though. In addition, there was a buffet and theme dinners every night.

The Wyndham has a river pool with a lazy current to carry you through a tropical wonderland with slides, waterfalls, and swim-up bars. There were plenty of towels and, as Sue put it, "thousands" of lounge chairs on the beach so you never had a problem. Bathrooms were always nearby. The staff was very accommodating came down to the beach to serve drinks. Sue especially liked the palm trees on the beach where you could lie in the shade to keep cool and the cabanas by the pool. The tennis courts looked excellent. Night play is surcharged. They took a catamaran ride which was included in their plan and Steve got a massage overlooking the ocean ($50 for ½ hour).

The drawback to this resort was that some people were on the all-inclusive and some weren't, and the people who were kept getting handed a bill to sign off on and were told to keep their receipts in case of any problems. This is a little tiresome compared to a strictly all-inclusive resort where you are never expected to tip or pay. It was awkward when the people sitting next to you are tipping a waiter and you're not. Since we Americans are used to tipping, it takes some getting used to and the hotel didn't give you much instruction at check in. As a matter of fact, it took the Materos an hour and a half to check in when they arrived because a group of about 300 were checking in at the same time. The only other thing to complain about was the disco's a/c was broken. Oh yes, and Air Jamaica's new terminal at Montego Bay; you get to hang around at a separate terminal and when the flight's ready, they shuttle you back to the main terminal anyway.

Some will be happy to know that you can check in for Air Jamaica flights at quite a number of hotels, now. You just leave your luggage at the front desk and it is taken to your flight for you so you can go back on the beach for the rest of the day and show up for take-off.

TThey loved the Wyndham and would definitely go back, thought Trelawny was easier to manage, where tips are not accepted and there's never a question about paying because it's exclusively all-inclusive.