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Half Moon, the largest of the elegant Jamaican hotels, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2004. The heart of the venerable old hotel still sits on its very pretty curve of sand, a testament to traditional Caribbean grandeur in a distinctive black and white colour scheme, but there has been quite a change in the five decades. Half Moon has become a large and modern luxury resort, offering all things to all comers. It is laid out over a leisurely 400 acres, where there are just under 400 bedrooms in all - almost half of which are in 33 fully staffed villas, the rest split between hotel rooms and extremely comfortable suites hotel rooms - and probably the most extensive range of facilities and activities of any luxury hotel in the Caribbean. Half Moon can turn itself to weddings, conferences, family and other gatherings - it has a golf course, a spa, a children’s centre, horse riding, even a duty-free shopping centre – or you can simply enjoy a relaxing beachfront holiday as people have done for 50 years. Half Moon has brought classic, colonial Jamaica into the modern age.
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KEY FEATURES
| The Half Moon resort Jamaica is a 400 acre luxury Jamaica hotel and villa resort with 398 bedrooms in suites, hotel blocks and villas - 33 Royal Villas with 5-7 bedrooms, a private pool, butler, cook and housekeeper - 2 miles of sandy beach, several pools, one Olympic, large lagoon pool with swim-up bar, 3 Jacuzzis, full service spa, fitness centre. 6 restaurants, 7 bars. Watersports, dive shop, dolphin lagoon, 25 acre nature reserve, duty-free Shopping Village, 13 floodlit tennis courts, 4 squash courts, croquet lawn, bicycles, children’s village, equestrian centre, 18 hole 72 par championship golf course, golf academy, 18 hole putting green. |
STYLE
| Grand, elegant, classic, some Jamaican Palladian in a theme of black and white (and latterly canary yellow), with shingle roofs and occasional pointed turrets. An extremely spacious, luxury, all round resort with remarkable amenities and facilities |
CLIENT PROFILE
| Wealthy travellers of all styles and nationalities with many reasons for travel. Families, couples, business people, singles, large groups of friends, special occasions, including weddings and family reunions. Also incentive, corporate and conference groups. |
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Weddings
Half Moon is a popular venue for a Caribbean beach wedding and the hotel has long experience in creating memorable ceremonies of all sizes. The first option to consider is whether to hold your wedding in the privacy of your own villa, but there is a good choice of delightful locations around the hotel grounds, including the classic beachfront setting at Sunset Beach, the Beach Gazebo, which is completely surrounded by sea, and the beachfront Oleander Terrace or the Lily Pond Wedding Gazebo, a very romantic garden setting with fountains. Finally there is also the centuries-old terrace at the Sugar Mill Restaurant, which overlooks an original watermill near the golf course.
The hotel has a selection of packages for weddings and the renewal of wedding vows, but they are also happy to tailor make a ceremony for you. They can arrange anything from a simple cocktail party to a gala dinner for as many as 200, with entertainment as varied as reggae and jazz, a classical trio, a harpist or even a local school choir. Their basic ‘One Love Wedding Package’ costs US$1,750 plus 18.25% service charge and tax (05 Jan-14 Dec 2008) for up to ten people. This includes a marriage officer for the ceremony, witnesses where required, a tropical bouquet for the bride and a boutonniere for the groom, one tropical corsage, a one-tier vanilla wedding cake, a bottle of Champagne, one hour’s photography with 24 images (4” x 6”), a one hour video of the occasion and a Half Moon gift bag. Couples booking 25 or more rooms at Half Moon for a minimum stay of 3 nights will receive a free wedding ceremony and 7 nights’ complimentary accommodation in a Royal Suite. Please see more details of Half Moon’s Jamaica weddings, along with information on legal requirements. |
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Useful Hints
It is a good idea to pre-order initial grocery supplies so that your cook can prepare a welcome meal for your arrival. A recommended grocery list is available for downloading from the Villas section of Half Moon’s website. Any advanced orders will be billed to your account. In the Shopping Village you will find a commissary (the 3-bedroom villa is close to the commissary by the Oleander Terrace), where you can open an account for your grocery shopping. Your butler would also be happy to sort out your shopping for you.
If you have any dietary requirements, or would like to arrange a special celebration during your visit, please advise the resort directly or discuss them with your travel organiser so that arrangements can be made at the time of booking. In addition to full-service in-villa catering, Royal Villa guests can opt to dine out at any of the resort’s six restaurants. The closest are the Royal Stocks (English Pub) and The Akbar Restaurant (Indian cuisine), which are located in the Shopping Village.
All Royal Villas are supplied with two golf carts for use within the Royal Villas and main resort areas of Half Moon.
Staff at the 5, 6 and 7-bedroom Royal Villas include a resident butler, a cook and a housekeeper.
Service charge is no longer included in villa rates. An additional gratuity to show your villa staff your appreciation for excellent service is at your discretion and is always a welcome gesture.
All villas are equipped with a washer and dryer, and your housekeeper will attend to your personal laundry and ironing at no extra charge. |
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Practical Facts
Annual Closure Dates: open year round.
Dress Code: Within the resort casual during the day however no swim suits allowed in the restaurants. On evenings attire is elegantly casual with no shorts, jeans or t-shirts in the restaurants for dinner.
Facilities: Royal Villa guests have use of the resort facilities at Half Moon which include an Olympic size lap pool, the Hibiscus lagoon pool with swim-up bar and the Oleander pool. 3 Jacuzzis in the Hibiscus area. Fern Tree Spa. Fitness centre with nautilus gym, aerobics and yoga classes. 6 restaurants and 7 bars. Watersports including waterskiing, snorkeling, paddle boats, kayaking, glass bottom boat, lilos, aqua view boards. Dive shop. Dolphin Lagoon (exclusive to resort guests) and a 25 acre nature reserve. Lily Pond Wedding Gazebo. 13 floodlit tennis courts, 4 squash courts, a croquet lawn, giant chess, table tennis and bocci ball. Anancy Children’s Village. Video Games Room. Equestrian centre with show and dressage arena. 18 hole, 7,119 yard, 72 par championship golf course, an 18 hole putting green, Club House with bar, Golf Pro Shop, press office, tournament room, 2 meeting rooms and the Half Moon Golf Academy. Shopping arcade with duty free gift shops and boutiques, and an ATM (US$). Commissary in the Oleander area. Shopping Village with duty free shops, boutiques, gift shops, Post Office, ATM (JAM$)/NCB bank, photo studio, dentist, beauty salon, craft market, English pub, restaurant, the Bob Marley Experience, a commissary and a florist. Full service business centre. Internet lounge. Meeting facilities with 26,000 sq ft indoor meeting space including 12,000sq ft Cornwall Room and a 4,600 sq ft Conference Centre. Arrival lounge at Sangster International Airport with TV and internet access.
Complimentary: children’s centre. Weekly manager’s cocktail party (Mondays/Fridays). Nightly entertainment including pianist. Use of tennis courts day and night, fitness centre, sauna, 18-hole putting green, table tennis, volleyball, basketball, squash and and badminton courts. Use of the Hibiscus and Oleander swimming pools, the Olympic size lap pool and the Hibiscus jacuzzis. Shuttle bus between the resort and the Shopping Village (located next door to the Royal Villas gate).
Other Services (main resort area): Concierge service. Glamour Tours desk for excursions. Car and cell phone rental. Deep sea fishing arranged. Tennis pro and tennis clinics/camps. Squash lessons. Personal fitness/health trainers. Wedding co-ordinators. Nurse. Major international news papers. Bicycle hire for adults and children. Occasional art exhibitions. Wireless internet connection in the main lobby and around the Hibiscus and Royal Court swimming pools. MoBay Hope 24 hr medical centre and pharmacy.
Other Services (Royal Villas): Front desk. Grocery stocking service. Unpacking service. Laundry service. Baby-sitting and nanny service – see below. Desktop computer with high speed internet access in living room.
Children: Welcome. Children under 12yrs stay free when sharing with adults (except over Christmas/New Year). Baby sitting and nanny services can be arranged with 24hrs notice and costs from US$14 per hour for the first three hours followed by US$4 each additional hour. The Anancy Children’s Village in the main resort area provides supervised activities for children aged 3-12 years (potty trained children accepted only, unless accompanied by a nanny).
Weddings & Honeymoons: Half Moon offers a number of wedding packages, with their basic starting at US$1,750 plus 10% service charge and 8.25% tax.
Accommodation: 398 rooms: 33 Royal villas with 201 bedrooms and 197 hotel rooms and suites
Villas: All 5, 6 and 7 bedroom Royal Villas are located next to the Village Gate within the main resort but with a separate gated entrance and front desk. They all feature a resident butler and cook, plus a housekeeper. All villas have a private swimming pool with terrace, a living room with personal computer, colour printer and internet access, a dining room and fully equipped kitchen. All bedrooms are air-conditioned with their own keyed entrance, all with king size bed or twin beds (many can be converted to king), safe, hair dryer and en suite bathroom with tub/shower. There is cable TV and AM/FM radio both in the living room and in each bedroom, a CD player in the living room only, Direct-dial telephone with voice mail, a barbecue and two golf carts. 7 x 5-Bedroom Villas with two beachfront, one located near the beach and the remainder in the gardens. Five villas are two storey with bedroom distribution dependent on the villa’s design, and two villas are single storey with all rooms on the same level, one of these is a beach front villa. 13 x 6-Bedroom Villas with two beach front, three across the road from the beach and remainder dotted around the gardens. All are two storey with 4 bedrooms upstairs and 2 bedrooms downstairs, a large living room with dining area and pool terrace for sun bathing and al fresco dining. 12 x 7-Bedroom Villas are all located in the gardens with large pool with surrounding terrace for sun bathing and al fresco dining, large living room with balustrade stairway and gallery to four bedrooms upstairs, downstairs has three more bedrooms, a formal dining area and rear garden terrace. There is also a 4-Bedroom Villa located in the main resort within the Oleander area. It has a garden setting and is single storey with 4 en suite bedrooms (each with keyed entrance) a living room, dining room, full kitchen and a private pool in the rear garden. The villa has a staff of three and comes with two 6-seater golf carts. Please see under the Hotels & Resorts section for a full review of Half Moon, plus rates, special offers and information for the resort (rooms and suites) accommodation.
Credit Cards: VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club and Discover. |
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Rates
| ROYAL VILLAS | 16 Apr- 14 Dec 2007 | 15 Dec- 15 Apr 2007-08 | 16 Apr- 14 Dec 2008 | | 4-Bedroom Villa (1-8 persons) Garden View | 1,175 | 1,880 | 1,175 | | 5-Bedroom Villa (1-10 persons) Garden View Sea View Sea Front | 1,250 1,450 1,950 | 2,000 2,350 2,850 | 1,250 1,450 1,950 | | 6-Bedroom Villa (1-12 persons) Garden View Sea View Sea Front | 1,500 1,740 2,340 | 2,400 2,820 3,420 | 1,500 1,740 2,340 | | 7-Bedroom Villa (1-14 persons) Garden View | 1,750 | 2,800 | 1,750 | | Extra adult villa | 60 | 100 | 60 | All rates are in US$ per villa, per night, are subject to 18.5% tax and service, and include a butler, housekeeper and cook. Children under 12 years stay FREE of charge when sharing with adults, except during period 20 Dec-01 Jan when there is a charge of US$60 per child, plus 18.5% tax and service. All rates are subject to change without notice. A minimum booking of 7 nights is required for stays during 16-23 Feb and 19-25 Nov, and a minimum of 14 nights for stays during 20 Dec—1 January. A non-refundable deposit of 3 nights (6 nights for stays 25 Dec-02 Jan) is required to secure all bookings, with full payment due 30 days (60 days for Christmas/New Year) prior to arrival and is non-refundable, however credit for cancelled bookings can be applied for to use against another stay within 12 months based on availability of villa space. |
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How to book
If you would like further details of Half Moon Resort Jamaica, or if you wish to make a booking enquiry, please use the WEB LINK or DIRECT EMAIL ENQUIRIES facility a the top of this page, or if you wish to telephone them, their telephone number will be revealed if you click on the CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER link.
Please click here to reach our Hotels & Resorts section which has a full review of the resort, plus rates for Half Moon's rooms and suites. |
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UK Tour Operators
If you wish to book through a tour operator or travel organiser, please follow the TOUR OPERATOR link below.
See List of UK Tour Operators
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Locality
Half Moon is located on Half Moon Bay in the North-West of Jamaica, in the Rose Hall area just to the east of Montego Bay, Jamaica’s second town and one of the island’s major tourist heartlands. A short drive to the East will bring you to the historic great houses of Rose Hall and Greenwood, which have been restored and give an idea of plantation life in the Eighteenth Century. Just over half an hour away in the same direction is the historic town of Falmouth and beyond there is the Martha Brae River, which is popular for its excellent bamboo rafting trips.
Heading in the other direction, on the road towards Montego Bay, you will pass a couple of shopping centres, first the Blue Diamond Shopping Centre at Ironshore, which has a supermarket, and then the Holiday Village Shopping Centre, which has a selection of souvenir, craft and duty free shops. It’s also worth remembering Half Moon’s own Shopping Village, one of the largest along this section of the coast. At Ironshore there are two small supermarkets at Texaco and PetCom at the Golden Triangle Mall off the main road, where you can pick up basics. At Coral Gardens you will find Scotchies, which many people consider the undisputed hotspot for roadside jerk fare. Half Moon is approximately 15 minutes from Sangster International Airport, beyond which it takes another five minutes to reach the centre of Montego Bay. In the downtown area of the city there are several craft markets and shopping centres, including duty free outlets. On the northern edge is Gloucester Avenue, which calls itself the “Hip Strip”. Here there are cafes, shops, craft markets and restaurants serving anything from jerk at the Pork Pit to fine cuisine at The Townhouse by the Sea, as well as some lively clubs and bars, including Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. The best beach in the area, Doctor’s Cave Beach, is also on the strip. |
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Meet & Greet
If you are travelling independently, taxis are available at the airport, but one can be arranged for you by the hotel. Half Moon has an airport lounge just outside the arrivals hall which all guests can use whilst waiting for transfers. The journey from the airport takes around 15 minutes. Alternatively, if you would prefer to be taken care of from the moment you arrive at the airport, with a range of services that can include limousine transfers and a personal Concierge Service, then this is available through Glamour Tours.
If you are booking through a travel organiser, it is likely that their representative will be at the airport to meet you. This service and your return airport transfers should be included in the cost of your holiday. Please check at the time of booking. |
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Getting Around
While a hire car is recommended for most villa holidays in Jamaica, with all the facilities of Half Moon on your doorstep it might be possible to do without on if you particularly want to. That said, the island is exceptionally beautiful and so it is great fun to explore. Book via your tour operator or through the resort. If you do decide to go for a hire car, ask for your vehicle to be delivered to the property (there may be a delivery fee) approximately three hours after your scheduled time of arrival on Jamaica or the following morning. Vehicles can be returned at the airport or collected from the property at a pre-arranged time on your departure day. If you would like a private driver to take you for a tour (quite a popular way of exploring the island in Jamaica), taxis with qualified guides are readily available through the hotel, through your butler or through Glamour Tours, who have a tour desk at the resort. |
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