Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort, Rose Hall, Jamaica

Description:

• One of the grande dame resorts of Mo Bay (that includes Half Moon and Round Hill), this blockbuster complex is big, bustling, upscale, and impressive, sprawling as it does across an adequately wide stretch of white-sand beach. (Clients seeking a better beach are shuttled to the nearby Rose Hall Beach Club, site of many motorized and non-motorized watersports.) One of its major draws is the White Witch Golf Course, a 15-minute shuttle ride away. Its public areas try, at least, to duplicate the ambience of a traditional Jamaican great house that's been updated and modernized into a big-time and oversized icon to "the good life." Come here if you're looking for a somewhat sanitized stopover in a hotel saturated with international comforts, including a full-service spa. Frankly, this is not our favorite of the ultra-upscale resorts of Montego Bay -- it lacks the sense of fantasy (gazebos, lavish gardens, bougainvillea burgeoning over lattices, etc.) of Half Moon, and it utterly lacks the intimacy of Round Hill. This is not even the most impressive Ritz-Carlton in the chain. For such a big and supposedly top-notch venue, the pool isn't big enough. Accommodations, however, are appropriately luxurious, but with an upscale motif that could have been imported from virtually any luxury hotel in North America.

  Facilities: 6 restaurants; 2 bars; outdoor pool; golf course; 2 tennis courts; health club; spa; Jacuzzi; nonmotorized watersports; children's activities; business center; room service; babysitting; laundry service; nonsmoking rooms; rooms for those w/limited mobility

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010

Other features:

The highlight of this hotel is its spa and fitness center; 24-hour full service spa, beauty salon and 12 treatment rooms. The 18-hole, championship White Witch golf course is nearby. Guests who want extra privacy can opt to stay at the 36 room Ritz-Carlton Club on its own private floor.