My husband & I vacationed here the 1st weekend in October, 2006. We travel to countries based on whether there is a Ritz & we were not disappointed. We enjoyed the hotel, the spa, the staff was very friendly (Cham). We had an Ocean View Suite and the view was absolutely breathtaking, day and night. Room was nice, spacious, had no issues with the air conditioning.
I researched the hotel on this site & the review suggesting ALL-INCLUSIVE was on point. The food at the restaurants on the resort was just so so...but very pretty on the plate. We left the resort only once to go shopping at the HALF MOON shopping village, not impressed.
I took advantage of the Spa package we purchased but we didn;t golf or play tennis although it was included. My husband enjoyed the beach but thought it was too rocky & small.

The resort itself is a bit plain in terms of architecture and especially the pool/beach area; however the interior definitely is unique in its Jamaican colors. I find the lobby the most elegant place in the entire hotel. The service was pretty excellent, staff are very very friendly, though they really do take their time, if you know what I mean. But that's understandable given their culture. Rooms were pretty spacious, extremely awesome bed and housekeeping 2x a day sure makes a difference as well. If you're on the lower floors, make sure you do not leave food in your room and keep your balcony doors closed as there are many ants... that's my only complaint with the room. You should definitely get the Key to Paradise Plan to guarantee a fully relaxing and delicious vacation.

This was our second trip to the Ritz (all-inclusive package). Both times were wonderful! The food is sensational and the staff friendly and professional. We were there 6 days.

My husband and I play golf. The White Witch is a terrific course and a wonderful place to eat and watch the sunset. Beware if you play golf in the afternoon - the rate is lower, but if it rains...tough...no rain check. We played 6 holes and each paid $85, plus caddie ($20). The next day we played in the am - $125 each, plus caddie ($20). The third day we played Cinnamon Hill near the Wyndham (special rate of $75 each). It is a lovely and challenging course but not as well maintained as the WW. Both courses have sensational ocean views.

Since the hotel was only at about 25% occupancy, there were few things to do in the evening. But I really needed to have a restful vacation. Three days of golf, the beach and pool, and two days out on the Hobie Cat - enough activity for us.

The room was fine and the bed comfortable. No need for more than a garden view.

We plan to return in the future.

My wife & I spent a 3 nights the first weekend in October at the Ritz and found the facilities to be very nice. As we are not into golf or tennis we found that there was not much to do other than relax. Our first excursion was to take the complimentary shuttle to the shopping area at the Half Moon Bay resort next door. The shops appeared upscale from the outside & had very nice landscaping but once inside you wished you were back at your local mall. We had an OK lunch at a local pub in the shopping area. My wife was expecting to find shopping like we had experienced on other Carribean islands near the cruise terminals & was determined to find the "Little Switzerland" store. We caught a cab into town one afternoon ($25 one-way) and thought that it was strange that the driver was going to wait on us. After arriving we were glad he did. The downtown area of Montego Bay is very dilapidated & dirty & there were a lot of locals hanging out on the street. Other than a few nice watches, the rest of the shops had cheap t-shirts & souvenirs. We were SO GLAD that our cab driver didn't leave us as my wife couldn't wait to get back to the resort. The cab driver was very accomodating & did find a shop on the return trip called "the Swiss Shop" that carried some nice jewelry but didn't have the Wedgewood & china my wife always splurged on at Little Switzerland. He also took us to a shop where he recommended we buy the Blue Mountain Coffee & rum. We think that they have him on commission! The people here were very nice & were willing to negotiate. We bought Rum & coffee here for family back home. The roads from the town & the airport are AWFUL and don't appear to have been maintained in YEARS. We were so glad to be back at the resort. At this time we learned that the Ritz Carlton owned the cab service that took us to town which explains why they didn't leave us. Upon returning we visited the tour desk and had our first bad experience with Ritz Carlton Staff. There were 2 women working the desk and neither of them acknowledged our prescence. We took it upon ourselves to flip through the available tours / activities binder & when we asked questions we never got a smile, very few recommendations & sensed a lot of attitude. We had 1/2 price spa treatments since we were staying 3 or more nights and I recommend the Ritz Carlton Signature Massage. My wife had a Pedicure the morning of our departure. I found the spa to be 1st class. The rooms were roomy and nicely decorated but the air conditioning is sub par. Engineering came to our room immediately after we checked in because our room was slighty warm and like I had read in other post, the room never got any cooler. Overall a very nice place. Will I come back? Probably not.
We have decided that Hawaii is the best island to travel to & to stick with resort vacations on US soil. We are used to the beautiful white sand beaches in Alabama & Florida & found that the beach was small, rocky and hard on the feet. They did have nice padded lounge chairs, umbrellas & all the $10 Pina Colodas you could drink.