The Caribbean Experience: Jamaica

I’ve been in the travel business for 21 years now. Because of my love for the Caribbean, I gave birth to Island Breeze Travel in April of 1992.

So where have I been in the Caribbean? I will begin with Jamaica because this is the island that I love the most. I have so many wonderful and memorable experiences in Jamaica that it would take many blogs to describe them all. The 5 times that I’ve visited Jamaica I stayed in the Montego Bay and Runaway Bay areas
The first 2 times that I visited Jamaica I stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree in Montego Bay. I liked it then and I like it even better today. I felt at home at that hotel; very laid back atmosphere. The third and fourth time I stayed at Portside Villas in Runaway Bay (a few minutes from the Ocho Rios area). Portside Villas was a very nice and quaint hotel; again that laid back feeling made it feel like home. It’s currently up for sale though.

My latest visit was this past October with my family under sad circumstances. Trevor we love you and you will always be missed. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I love traveling with my family especially the ones I was with on this trip! I love the family bonding!
Toward the end of the trip I was able to see some new resorts as well as a refurbished resort.
Today I will feature the RIU, Montego Bay:
Note: all photos you see are personal photos.

The RIU Montego Bay, an all inclusive resort, is about 1 year and a few months old. The entire hotel is painted in my favorite color, purple. Well it’s really lavender. It’s pretty big and spread out. It’s the typical all inclusive property where you can get snacks and drinks (alcohol and non-alcohol) at anytime and of course all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) are included. All inclusive resorts are definitely on the rise throughout the Caribbean. Gone are the days where you have to pay for each item or activity. You pay one price up front and "forget about it!"

Every Tuesday is a beach party and jerk chicken is served on the beach every day.

I love to see a room with tasteful décor but I have to say that I was not that impressed with the bedding and the curtains at this property. However, it is clean, neat and spacious so I can overlook the blah brown bedspread and curtain combo. The philosophy of the RIU chain is that one should not be spending too much time in the room anyway. What I did like was the bar. Yes, it’s in the room! The picture that I took of the room came out very dark so I won't post it. However, I did take a picture of the bar!

There’s lots to do at the RIU. There is a 24 hour sports bar, an awsome internet cafe and a game room with a pool table to name a few. The resort is very pleasing to the eye.

Overall, the resort is very nice and I give it 3 1/2 conch shells.