This year, for my birthday, I decided to travel to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Last year was Cancun, Mexico. I travelled with a friend. We stayed at The Royal Decameron, an All-Inclusive resort. We were there for 4 days and nights.

If you like to read about my experience in Cancun here’s the link: https://vickychilesheblog.com/2018/10/16/1394-2/

The Resort: The Royal Decameron is located on a private beach, just a 5-minute drive from Montego Bay International Airport. Due to poor planning on our part, we flew in through Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica. This airport is approximately a four-hour drive to Montego Bay. The taxi ride to the resort set us back by $375!! Check in at the hotel was not the greatest; the room we were offered was not what we had reserved. To our disappointment, this issue was not rectified until the next day. The resort did offer us a bottle of wine for our inconvenience. The resort boasts 2 swimming pools and a hot tub. The pools are nice and not crowded at all, however, with the beach being so close, we didn’t use them much. The resort offers evening entertainment in the lobby. They had performers singing and dancing to Jamaican music, the show was amazing!

The food: On the first day we ate at Passa Passa, a buffet restaurant. Menu offerings included American and Jamaican dishes, and a variety of tropical fruits. I tried the Ackee and Salt (Cod) fish, a popular Jamaican dish, loved it! It is served with chicken dumplings and boiled bananas. Ackee is actually a fruit which to me, tasted like scrambled eggs. The picture may not be too appealing, but the meal was very tasty. The food was so good we ended up eating at Passa Passa the entire trip.

Zion Bar offers these incredible alcoholic shots called the Bob Marley which I absolutely enjoyed. Trivia for those that may not be familiar with Bob Marley, he was a famous Reggae singer/songwriter and music pioneer who died at the age of 36. The Bob Marley Museum in Kingston is dedicated to his life. I did not get a chance to visit the museum but it’s definitely on my bucket list.

Let’s talk about the Jamaican culture, which I was very impressed by. We ventured into Hip City, where we encountered the locals. The people were very polite, friendly and respectful. They truly value peace and unity; their motto is “Out of many, One people.” We mostly heard people speaking English and Patwah. There were many vendors on the streets selling souvenirs, Jamaican clothing and weed. Their hospitality is exceptional. 

Few traveling trips:

I highly recommend getting an All- Inclusive resort, which was very convenient. At most resorts, you can make dinner or lunch reservations to exclusive restaurants within the resorts.

Do your research regarding distance between your place of stay and the airport etc. This could save you time and money on travel.

Have minimal cash and utilize a credit card/bank card, to avoid currency exchange (well it just didn’t work out for me). $100 in Jamaican currency was equivalent to 80 cents in American currency, trying to calculate the conversion each time I made a purchase was so confusing.

Have an itinerary of activities you would like to do during your stay in Jamaica. There are many popular attractions such as: Dunn’s River Falls, The Blue Hole, Mystic Museum, etc.

Lastly have fun and create memories 🙂

Thank you for reading! Have you been to Jamaica? if so how was your experience? Please share and comment.