A Trip to Iberostar Grand Rose Hall in Jamaica

Overview:

Iberostar Grand Rose Hall is located about 20 minutes from Montego Bay Airport. I suggest pre-arranging transportation to the resort, as the airport can be a little overwhelming with all the people and providers asking you if you need a ride. Montego Bay is located on Jamaica’s north side. It is known for its beautiful white sand beaches and gorgeous blue water. The resort is situated among two other Iberostar resorts, suites and beaches. The Grand is the only one that is adults only. Staying at the Grand allows you access to the other two resorts but the other resorts do not have access to the grand.

The room:

The rooms at this resort were next level. When you walk in, you are greeted with a hallway with full built-in closets. There was enough room for each person to unpack and hang all of their belongings to make the room feel like home! You are then welcomed by a huge open concept bathroom with a shower, toilet, huge bathtub and two sinks. The two sinks make for the perfect area to get ready and each have our own space! As you proceed into your room, you are welcomed by a bed (or two). After taking a step down, you enter the seating area with a table and a lounge chair. As you reach the end of the room, you are greeted by huge sliding glass doors and a balcony to die for! We stayed in an ocean view room. This meant we were not facing the ocean (we were facing the pool) but we could see the ocean off to the side. The wicker hanging chair on the balcony quickly became my favorite spot to spend the beginning of each day.

The rooms were very well cleaned. The housekeeping staff came each day and made the beds and took out the trash. She replenished us with water, glasses and towels each day.

The hotel has eight different room types from the typical suite all the way up to the ocean front penthouse. They do also have a few swim up rooms.

Food:

The food at this resort was something to write home about. The grand resort has five restaurants and three quick service restaurants. Breakfast is served at the buffet. The breakfast spread was so big, there wasn’t enough time to try it all! My favorite was the build your own omelet station!

For lunch, you have two options. You can either go to the buffet which has a salad bar, a Jamaican station, an international station (which rotates each day), a pasta station and more. This food was all so good! If you don’t want the buffet, you can go to the jerk shack on the beach. The jerk chicken from this shack was to die for! It was definitely spicy but the taste was out of this world.

For dinner there are five sit down restaurants. During our stay we tried each one of them!

French Restaurant: French is not a cuisine I eat frequently. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this meal was. Everyone started out with this little quiche that was so tasty. I ordered mussels in white wine sauce as an appetizer and salmon for my meal. Both were delicious! For dessert, the chocolate cake was out of this world! My brother even claimed it was the “best dessert he’s ever had”!

Hibachi Restaurant: The food at the hibachi was very good. Everyone started out with either sushi or tempura! After appetizers, our hibachi chef came over and out for his show! The show was a little less than I am used to in the states but still just as fun! He sang us songs and cracked jokes while cooking our meats, rice and veggies! The food was very enjoyable.

Italian Restaurant: Let me put a disclaimer before I begin, I traveled with my extended family. We are a large Italian family who takes our Italian food seriously. With this being said, we were very disappointed in the food at the Italian restaurant. A few of us got pastas that were not cooked enough. The few people who got steak said their meals were good. Seriously though, impressing a bunch of Italians at an Italian restaurant is not easy!

Jamaican Restaurant: This restaurant is a must try! The bread with the jerk aioli for starters was delicious. I got a jerk trio for my meal which included jerk chorizo, jerk chicken and jerk pork. They were all delicious and they came with Festival. This is a Jamaican dumpling. These were so good and a must try while in Jamaica.

Steakhouse: The steakhouse was to die for. We started off with a raw bar appetizer. The fish was so fresh and the presentation was amazing. For my meal, I got a lobster tail which was delicious! Everyone agreed this was the best dinner we had all week!

The food at the resort was so good and I highly recommend trying it out for yourself!

The resort also has four bars, including one swim up bar. All the bartenders were so attentive and fun! They were happy to make all kinds of fun drinks and shots! We enjoyed the Jamaican Delight drink all week!

Spa and wellness:

The spa at Grand Rose Hall is beautiful! Everyone there was super helpful and friendly. I did a 50 minute massage one day. It was a great experience and I would highly recommend it to everyone!

Service:

Overall, the service at Iberostar Grand Rose Hall was amazing! Everyone from the bartenders to the waiters and waitresses to the butlers and front desk support went out of their way to ensure we had a great time!

I recommend Iberostar Grand Rose Hall to anyone who is looking for an adults only five star vacation!

This trip report is part of our ongoing series on travel to Jamaica. In need of further inspiration? Check out Cesar Monell & Alex Tufel’s guide, Carnival Cruise to Jamaica.