SLEEPING OVER – HOLIDAY INN SUNSPREE – ROSE HALL

It’s been a long time since I last stayed at the Holiday Inn, Rose Hall and it’s always good to see how properties have ‘grown up’ as new owners make changes and improvements. In the years since it first opened, this property has changed hands several times and is currently owned by Octagon Hotels Ltd. The Hendrickson family, Jamaican operators of the Courtleigh and Knutsford Court Hotels in Kingston, purchased the hotel last year August, renovated the property completely and re-opened to the public in October 2008 as the Holiday Inn Sunspree, a family all-inclusive.

Finding that the hotel offers local rates of an affordable US$85 per person per night with children under 12 staying and eating free, we felt it would be a good place for a summer holiday break, so we set out from Kingston and after a pleasant 4-hour drive soon found ourselves arriving via the new highway into Montego Bay, cruising past the verdant gardens and golf courses strung out along the landscaped verges of Rose Hall, before turning into the Holiday Inn Sunspree.

The size of the hotel’s 524 rooms spread several tower blocks was awe-inspiring and the lobby was full of arriving guests moving about, but the welcome smile from check-in clerk Marsha Watson was just as large. A fruit punch was offered and Bellman Wayne walked us through the flowering gardens lined by Royal Palms to the lift for our tower block. The rooms set on the 3rd floor faced the sea and we opened the sliding door to let in the fresh breezes, hoping there would be no mosquitoes flying in at night. Thankfully, there weren’t.

MOBAY NIGHT LIFE
With Mobay’s night life within easy reach, we opted to spend our first evening at the nearby Rose Hall Aqueduct venue enjoying the opening night of the CCGI entertainment festival. The event, organized to raise funds for school computer labs, included an excellent dance tableau of Jamaican music through the ages choreographed by L’Antoinette Stynes, a stellar performance by Tessanne Chin, and the music of reggae band Chalice and it was lovely to relax and enjoy the cool breezes, lively company and good music.

It’s always nice to return to a hotel room to find the beds turned down. This simple act puts a hotel in a certain class, and it was good to see this sign at the Holiday Inn. We rose early for buffet breakfast in the huge dining room and noticed that perhaps half the guests were Black people from America, Canada, Britain or Jamaica. This made the hotel feel very comfortable for us vacationing Jamaicans and it was clear that the staff was used to giving both Black and White guests equal treatment.

ZIPLINE CANOPY TOUR
Breakfast over, we boarded a bus that had come to take us to the start of our holiday adventure. We had chosen the Chukka Zipline Canopy Tour, as this was something new for us Jamaicans who have experienced all the usual attractions. I am scared of heights, but everyone was ready for the adventure. After a rocky ride up into the hills of the Rose Hall estate, we arrived at the start where a bright young man named David McLean welcomed us all in a manner so enthusiastic, so happy and so Jamaican that it was clear that this was going to be a special experience for us all. David carefully strapped and buckled us into safety harnesses, hard hats and gloves, explained in detail the procedures and safety measures, then took us to a platform on the edge of the hillside covered densely with tall trees.

Attached to one such tree was a wire attached to another tree in the distance with another platform. David clipped us one at a time to the wire and we each slid with gravity momentum to a platform at the other end of the wire. Then hooked the next wires, we continued sliding our way in rapid descent from one platform to the next through the forest, screaming at the exhilarating thrill of being both in danger and safe at the same time. One scream-making slide went perfectly vertically from up to down in seconds. Another brought a bright vista of the luxurious Rose Hall residential community and the far away seascape.

The screams that accompanied each zipline journey were mixed with joy and excitement, and the visitors from California, Ohio and Germany (including a 10 year old boy) were full of praise when it ended, saying the adrenaline rush and the spectacular views made a great first-time vacation experience.

After the tour, I spoke with the other personality-plus young Jamaicans Tricia Knott, Wendy Sutherland and Monique Griffiths who run the tour office, who told me there are special discounts for Jamaicans on all Chukka Tours, which include two other Zipline tours at Montpelier and Llandovery in St. James, plus their River Tubing, Bike and Jeep Safaris and the Horse Ride & Swim. For me, it was wonderful to just be in the middle of the Jamaican countryside, with views of rolling hills and green trees undisturbed for miles.

POOLSIDE ENTERTAINMENT
We could do nothing but rest when we returned to the Holiday Inn. Descending to dinner, we found a sumptuous buffet laid out that included a variety of dishes for my vegetarian taste including grilled eggplant, scalloped potatoes, vegetable risotto, salmon steaks and a wide variety of salads. Elsewhere on the buffet table were leg of lamb, pasta and pizza, burritos, jerk chicken and pork, plus a wide selection of creamy pastries, cheeses and fruit. I couldn’t help going for seconds.



With full stomachs, we joined the other guests resting post-dinner around the pool. The dining room verandah and upstairs balconies, as well as poolside lounge chairs that had earlier held sun tanned bodies, became front row seats for an excellent evening’s entertainment on the well-positioned pool stage. We were pleasantly pleased to enjoy some excellent Jamaican performers, beginning with the Magic Moment jazz band that played a very professional set, singer Dennis Smith and especially a vibrant young steel band that was more orchestra than just plain pan. At the end of their performance the foreign guests flocked them to purchase CDs and Videos, having been asked prior to their performance to respect their copyright rights and not film them. Wise artist management!

SOL MER SPA
All packed next morning and with a big breakfast over, I decided not to leave without indulging myself in the ultimate luxury -- a pedicure. So with a few more hours to checkout I visited the hotel’s Sol Mer Spa and relaxed, while 24-year old Tevon Green demonstrated the cosmetology skills he learnt at the MoBay HEART Academy with a salt, sugar and coffee foot scrub before painting on some delicate pink toenail polish. Never had a man do my pedicure before, but believe me, it was excellent!

All too soon the restful country break was over. Just a few more moments to feast our eyes on the blue sea, white sand beach and the endless sunshine that people pay so much money to come and enjoy. For us there were no tickets to buy, no flight to catch, just a promise to do this more often – take a vacation in our own Beautiful Jamaica.