Trip motivation
In May 2019 we took a family trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica. A lot of travel blogs I follow rave about the all-inclusive hotels and we wanted to use our Southwest points/companion passes to go somewhere extra awesome. For more info on how we traveled there, see here
Hotel
This hotel was not cheap but its important to consider all the things included. $400/night was the cost for the 4 of us (Ellie was free). The price included the room, all you can eat food and drink, the kids club and all the activities. There was the option to book this hotel using Hyatt points but it ended up being slightly more cost-effective to use cash for the trip. For reference the points would have been 32,500 a night (25,000 for 2 adults + 12,500 for Carter (age 4)+ Free for Ellie (age 2) Still something to consider if you don’t want to use cash. (The cash rates have definitely gone up since then.
This was an amaze-balls place. This was our first all-inclusive. We’ve been on a cruise before but we still had to pay extra for alcohol and special dining. We barely spent any money beyond the hotel rate and loved it. Everyone who worked there was really great and helpful.
On this trip, we mainly spent time at the resort. The only time we left the resort was a quick taxi to a nearby shopping area for some souvenirs. When the kids are older, we may go on hikes or bobsleds. On this trip, we just lived the resort life. One of the highlights was the kids club. Carter is 4 and so he was free for as many hours as he wanted every day from 8am to 9pm. Ellie was underage and cost an extra $20 per hour so we did a mix of playing all together and booking a few blocks of baby sitter time for both so we could have time to do fun adulty things without kids (like kayaking, board games, and naps). Beyond the paid time, Ellie was always welcome to be included if I was there. Both kids adored the ladies at the club and the activities. They had bounce houses, blocks, games, a playground, scavenger hunts, fish feedings, video games, arts and crafts, movie nights, and dance nights!
Besides the kids club, the kids loved the pool and we spent most of our time there. There was a lovely short area for the kids to stand up and play! Carter got to show off his swimming skills. There was a swim up bar and tubes from the resort to share. Other included things included kayaks, board games, lawn games, dance shows, and fitness classes. We spent a little bit of time at the beach but mostly just played at the pools.
Food and Drinks
There was rarely a time when we didn’t have a drink in our hands. We got champagne (and guava juice for the kids) at check-in and there were always people passing out Pina coladas, strawberry daiquiris, top shelf liquor, wine, red stripe, etc. Carter loves “red drinks” and the attendants were happy to bring milk for Ellie. For food we did the buffet a few times, but really enjoyed the non-buffet options. The brazilian steak house was great and I remember I went back after our first visit for cheese balls and rum balls to eat while Game of Thrones-ing in the room while the kids were at the kids club. This is my dream.
The Asian restaurant had scallops and shrimp and a kids menu that Carter and Ellie ignored for 6 orders of sushi instead…. There was also all you can eat ice cream and a chocolate fountain place and desserts were everywhere. There was a jerk chicken hut on the beach that was delish. We also got room service breakfast on our last day (it was included!) which was amazing. We realized towards the end of the trip that a lot of parents were leaving their kids in kids club during the evening and going out for fancy restaurants at the adults only restaurants on their own. We didn’t even think about doing that! Next time, we’ll probably wait until Ellie can go to kids club for free too so we can have along time on our family vacation!
