JDiver

Thanks for sharing the report and photos; this makes my decision to visit much easier.

I've added a wikipost to reflect current information, including kids 12 and under stay / eat free; kids 13 and over are adults and incur a $99 USD per person rate; there is a $4.00 per night tax rate chargeable.

I'm looking forward to aussiemate's report! :emotional blackmail:

Points Surfer

I am thinking of trying the Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa on an all inclusive travel package booked & pre-paid from Canada.......as a HH Diamond I am wondering if that may earn me any extra upgrades/perks?... Hoping it may help improve the stay....Any feedback appreciated.

adambrock

You do get a different colored bracelet as a Diamond member, but I didn't notice any special treatment really. We did get upgraded to a room with an ocean view, which I asked for in advance.

I did get an email from the concierge about a week before my arrival, asking about when I wanted to make reservations in the restaurants. I doubt they do that for all guests (I didn't see any mention of it on Trip Advisor), so that may be a perk. We also got a bottle of champagne and (I think) some chocolates.

OTOH, I didn't really see anything they could've done differently or as a perk for diamond members only.

PedroNY

Is it a common that base room is not available for weeks at a time? I am checking this hotel out and 60k/night is available mostly in the fall. However, January of 2015 is 75,000+ per night as only "partial ocean view" rooms are available so they are premium rewards. Does anyone have any experience with rooms opening up at 9 or 6 month mark, or something similar? Appreciate any information you may have.

Cheers,

PedroNY

tandrade607

I keep getting the message that base rooms are not available too when I check for the fall, but when I scroll down, resort view rooms seem to be available for 2 queens. I would prefer a king but I will take that if only option.

skimple

Just got back from a 7 night visit here during Spring break. As HH gold, I was offered an upgrade from a two-queen resort view to a king partial ocean / golf course view, Travelling with two kids, we could make the upgrade work, but it was nice that it was offered.

Staff very friendly and helpful the whole week. Resort very clean and well kept, but I do agree that the rooms could do with some renovations.

Cabanas are running $99 per day now, with a 15% discount for HH Gold. (Not sure if the discount is different for Silver or Diamond). Each cabana has two oversized lounge chairs, and it is difficult to squeeze another chair in. If you need more chairs, be prepared to get down there in the morning and claim the extra chairs that you need. A server will come around occasionally and take your drink or food order (you can have lunch delivered). It didn't appear that tipping made them come around any faster or more often. We saw them about once an hour, regardless of the cabana we were in, or the server.

* Cabanas 1-6 are located alongside the pool, set back and separated a bit from the rows of beach chairs.

* Cabana 7 is located at the end of the row of pool cabanas, and looks out over the ocean. There are two extra chairs that sit next to the cabana, looking out at the ocean. The uplift on this cabana is an additional $29.

* Cabanas 8-13 sit alongside the backside lazy river. Foot traffic here is fairly light, so they do offer some privacy.

* Cabanas 14 & 15 sit between the pool and lazy river, on a perch over-looking the ocean. 14 allows you to see the beach and the people. 15 has a hedge in front of it that blocks the beach so that all you see is the ocean. There is a large grassy area behind and between 14 and 15 where you can set up extra chairs. There is a nice tree near 14 that gives some shade, but there is a path to the beach next to it (behind a hedge) which gets some foot traffic.

All said, if you are renting a cabana, my choice would be 14 or 15.

We ate dinner at Fresh, Luna di Mare, and the Three Palms. House wine is included for free, but Luna di Mare and Three Palms also have a wine list for purchase (nothing exceptional). I was unimpressed by the Three Palms. Food was OK, and a nice change from Fresh, but nothing exceptional. There is a free shuttle that picks you up at the entrance to the hotel and takes you up to the restaurant at the golf course. I really enjoyed Luna di Mare, and we ate there twice.

Also, although the website doesn't list it, the Seaside Grill was taking dinner reservations. We ate lunch there, but it was booked up for dinner. I think this would be a great dinner simply due to the location. Lunch was very good.

For kids - we were travelling with a 6 & 8 year old, and I'll be honest, dinner was tough.

Breakfast at Fresh was very good. My little one only ate fruit loops, but my older one tried several different things (french toast, pancakes, etc) and seemed to like most of them. After breakfast, we would take some Styrofoam coffee cups from the table in front of the restaurant and fill them with dry cereal for snacks for the kids.

For lunch, the choices became a little more tricky. The grilled cheese at Mangoes is on a dark brown bread with cheddar. However, from Seaside grill, we were able to get American cheese on a whole grain type of bread, which the kids seemed to like. My 8 year old did like the jerk chicken. There was a hotdog, hamburger, and chicken strips on the menu as well.

Dinner at Fresh was a problem. The only "kids" choices seemed to be spaghetti with meat sauce and some dubious chicken nuggets. Every night the same, and most nights only one or the other. When I asked for non-meat sauce, we had wait quite some time to get it heated up. And there were no "plain" side dishes, like simple vegetables without seasoning. They did have a pizza station, but they only made one small pizza at a time, and it was usually gone so fast that your shot at getting a piece was slim to none. Even the desserts were generally too fancy for the kids and they stuck with the soft serve ice cream, but eventually became tired of that.

My kids don't drink soda, and the staff seemed taken aback by the request for chocolate milk. It took about 45 minutes for someone to "find" chocolate milk. After the first two days, there didn't seem to be an issue, though.

So - if you are travelling with younger kids that are finicky eaters, make sure that you fill them up at breakfast and lunch, because dinner may be a challenge. The kids did like the spaghetti at Luna di Mare better than at Fresh (I know its probably the same stuff), and they really enjoyed the upside down "hard" ice-cream cone there too (not soft serve).

The beach is beautiful and clean, but very silty. The water always looks churned up. We still enjoyed it though, and this was a minor issue to us, but if you are looking for real sand, this isn't going to be the best beach. There are sea kayaks, wind surfers, and catamarans available to use for free. You just need to sign up with the lifeguards for your turn.

There is an adults only beach if you want to get away from kids. I never checked this out (for obvious reasons).

There is a water-sports shack at one end of the beach where you can sign up for scuba, para-sail, glass bottom boats, etc for a fee. You can charge it to your room, but apparently it doesn't earn Hilton points because it was missing from my point total. The cost to para-sail was $130 for two people, which includes about 10 minutes in the air. We signed up for this, and really enjoyed it. The crew was very friendly and funny.

A taxi into Montego Bay was $35 each way. There is a free shuttle that takes you up to some "shops" up the road. We didn't get up there. Sunscreen at the hotel gift store is running $23 a bottle, so make sure to pack extra. We just squeezed by without having to buy any there.

There was some form of entertainment every night out at the stage area. The entertainment was different and enjoyable. My only other comment with this is the same that I have for everywhere in Jamaica - are Jamaicans deaf? Do they know that volume knobs have numbers other than 10?

We started out not really liking the resort, then just sort of liking the resort, then deciding that we would consider coming back. I would be willing to try some other resorts first (in Negril maybe), but if the price was reasonable I would visit Rose Hall again. I'm not sure that it was worth the amount of HH points that I spent, but considering that it is an all-inclusive resort, and the only room charges we had were for optional things like cabanas and water sports, it is probably a better deal than I realize.

adambrock

At both AI resorts I've been to (Puntarenas and Rose Hall), I felt like I would've been pretty upset if I had paid the going rate for rooms (US$400-$500 / night). Mainly because I didn't think a week at the resort was worth $3,000. I don't regret spending the points for the week at Rose Hall though, but I think I value points less than some people on this board.

seekingsun

Does anyone know whether the dress code is enforced at the non buffet dining places? Per website you need collared shirts and slack pants.

And at what time do they run out of pool chairs in morning?

skimple

When we went to Three Palms, some class act got off the shuttle wearing jeans and a tank-top, so I suspect they don't enforce it too heavily.

Running out of pool chairs isn't the problem so much as where they are located. There were always chairs around, but a lot of them would be in places you wouldn't want to be the whole day.

I was waking up at 6:30, and when I went down, usually the "prime" spots were all taken.

Do yourself a favor and rent a cabana for at least one or two days. 15% discount for Gold & Diamond.

adambrock

Dress code did not appear to be enforced. I frequently saw people in shorts and tshirts. I doubt they would say anything if you wore shorts and a collared polo. Every night I sat in one of the hot restaurants, I regretted not being ballsy enough to wear shorts.

We visited the last week of November / first week of December. We usually got to the main pool by 10:00am and there were ample chairs available. Then again, we weren't picky. We usually just looked for a spot near an umbrella at the main pool.

seekingsun

Thank you! That will help with keeping the luggage under control. I'll skip dress pants then.

I just checked the eStandby options that came with my reservation and they offer cabana rentals for $65 per day. Sounds better than the regular rate of $99 and HH Gold discount.

sharklover

I definitely would not wear pants. I wear dress shorts and a polo shirt. The chairs with the umbrellas at the lazy river pool go very early. Probably all gone by 8 and the better ones by 7. I will be back for the 3rd time in july. My kids love this place.

sharklover

Lets hope this remains a hilton

PedroNY

I hope so too. I assume even if they sell it, they will still honor my reservation for 2015.

Cheers,

PedroNY

sharklover

Very unlikely if you used points and its no longer a Hilton.