We spent six days/five nights in Montego Bay at an all-inclusive resort in December, all on points!
We were planning our Bermuda wedding when Darren had the idea. “We should go to all of the islands in the song ‘Kokomo’,” he mused. My favorite band is The Beach Boys, so of course, I immediately fell in love with the idea. In June of 2021, we eloped on a secluded beach on the South shore of Bermuda. And we began planning our next points-play to get to Jamaica!
Flying to Jamaica on Points
American Airlines has some amazing deals to the Caribbean. You can regularly find flights from the US to Montego Bay for 8,000 points each way. What is fantastic about American is that it is 8,000 points if you fly from Dallas, and it is still 8,000 points if you fly from Wichita, Kansas. With other airlines, the flight to get to a major airport hub is often the biggest expense in terms of cash or points. But with American, we were able to get a roundtrip flight from Wichita to Montego Bay for both of us for a total of 32,000 points (plus nominal taxes and fees.) This is a fantastic deal!
Earning American Airlines Miles
It can be challenging to get American Airlines miles. Chase, Citi, American Express, and Capital One points earned on credit cards can be transferred to many airlines, but not to American. Because American is a great points redemption for us, we have prioritized American Airlines credit cards. I have the Barclay’s Aviator Red Mastercard and Citi American Airlines Platinum Select World Mastercard Elite business card. Darren has the personal and business version of the Citi American Airlines Platinum Select World Mastercard Elite card. This resulted in 280,000 American Airlines miles total. The annual fees on each of these cards is $99, so we paid almost $400 in fees, but it resulted in 280,000 American Airlines miles which could get us almost 9 roundtrip flights to two to Jamaica and back.
All-Inclusive Accommodations on Points
Anyone who is into the points and miles game, knows that Hyatt is where the value is for accommodations. We regularly earn Chase Ultimate Rewards (CUR) through our credit cards. This year, we earned 430,00 CURs from sign up bonuses on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (me), Chase Sapphire Preferred (Darren), and three Chase Ink Business Cash cards. We booked five nights at the Hyatt Zilara/Ziva Rose Hall in Montego Bay for 25,000 points per night. This was a great value because this hotel is an all-inclusive resort so all meals, snacks, drinks, gym and fitness classes were free. The only thing we paid for during the week was transportation to and from the resort, a few small tips, and souvenirs, making this almost a truly free trip.
Finding Flight and Accommodation Deals in December
December is often one of the most expensive times of year to travel. However, if you have the flexibility to travel during the first two weeks of December instead of the last two weeks, you’ll find significant savings. This is the second year we have traveled during the second week of December and we find that it is an ideal time to travel. Everything is cheaper and you don’t have to fight the holiday travel crowds. If you can’t fly until the second two weeks in December, you can sometimes find good flight deals by traveling on Christmas Day and New Years Eve/Day.
Arrival in Jamaica
It was short flight to Dallas and another 4 hour flight to Montego Bay on American. I had a colleague who had just come back from Jamaica the previous week who gave me a great tip about getting through immigration on arrival. She told us to fill out the C-5 Form online before we arrive. Because we had already filled this out, we were able to breeze right past the crowds of people trying to fill out the form at kiosks and on their phones in the arrivals area which got a head start in the passport control line. Just have the C-5 Form receipt pulled up on your phone. I recommend taking a screenshot of the receipt before you leave for Jamaica in case you have problems with cell phone wifi upon landing.
After we picked up our baggage and exited into the main airport, we went to the Hyatt Zilara/Ziva lounge. Here we paid $30 for a shuttle to the hotel. A bell hop gathered our luggage and loaded it into a car for us. It was a short 15 minute ride to the resort.
Hyatt Zilara/Ziva Rose Hall
Check-in was quick and easy. Hyatt Zilara and Hyatt Ziva are billed as two separate resorts, but in reality, they are one big resort. Zilara is supposed to be adults-only, but since all facilities are shared except for the adults-only pool, it really doesn’t matter where you stay. We split our time between both Zilara and Ziva because we couldn’t find five consecutive award nights at Zilara.
Zilara Vs. Ziva Rooms
We started our trip at Zilara. We had a ground floor room and I had requested a room away from the pool because I’d read that it can get loud and rowdy at night. In the end, I don’t think that really mattered – the pool area was never too loud. I think this might have just been because of the dates we traveled (the second week in December.) The resort was sparsely populated until the day we left when it started to get busier. We often had the beach and pool to ourselves, especially in the early mornings.
Our Zilara room was a little dated and the AC wasn’t working well. We had a garden view and were right next to the French restaurant. I’m sure we could have asked to change rooms, but we were happy enough with what we got.
I wonder if the other Zilara rooms were nicer because I did not make the “away from the pool” request at Ziva, and our room there was gorgeous – much more updated and on a higher floor overlooking the resort and ocean.
Dining
Darren and I had never stayed at an all-inclusive resort, and we worried about our vegetarian dietary restrictions. My research on Trip Advisor was generally positive about the vegetarian options.
Overall, we were very pleased with the vegetarian food and number of options we had to choose from. There was a small menu available for room service all day and many restaurants to choose from each night for dinner.
We ate at the main buffet (Choicez) every day for lunch where Darren was able to load up his plate with fresh fruits and vegetables. There was an amazing variety of food available at Choicez including Indian, Italian, American, Jamaican, a huge salad bar, breads, and desserts.
You are encouraged to make reservations for dinner each night (even though it is all still free.) Each dinner kept getting better and better. Our favorite restaurant was a bit of a surprise, because it advertised only one vegetarian dish, but the French restaurant, “Petit Pariz”, had an appetizer buffet that was a meal in itself, including salads, cheeses, loafs of fresh breads, olive and fig spreads, root vegetables, and more. We also enjoyed the live piano during dinner.
For those who drink, there were plenty of high quality free options. I brought my own NA wine to a couple of the restaurants for dinner. This was not a problem at all, and added greatly to my dinner experience! I wish bringing my own NA wine to restaurants back home wasn’t frowned upon or not allowed like it is now.
The Beaches
The resort is right on the beach and there are three or four small beaches for laying out and swimming. These beaches are protected inside a rock retaining wall, so the waves are not too rough. Outside the coves the waves were high and crashed harshly against the retaining walls. The beaches on the Zilara side were a little rocky, but we still went in without swim shoes. The Ziva side was a little easier on the feet.
There were plenty of chairs on the beach when we visited, but they were stacked very close together. Again, because of our less busy travel dates, we had the sea of chairs to ourselves!
You can also rent a cabana which is a big outdoor bed under a thatched roof. One afternoon when it rained and Darren and I were the only ones on the beach, a resort attendant offered to let us have one for free so we could stay dry. That was an amazing experience and would probably be worth the price to pay for one of these cabanas for a day.
The beaches had golden sand and the water was bright blue in the sunshine. Unfortunately, we had quite a bit of cloud cover during our stay. But it was still very warm – 80 to 85 degrees, so we were happy with that! If you are looking for long sandy beaches where you can walk for miles, this is not it (and in fact, not commonly found in Montego Bay). But we enjoyed sitting by the ocean and listening to the waves crash while reading and napping.
Activities and Entertainment
The resort has an app you can download to see the weekly schedule of activities and entertainment. (You can also make dinner reservations from here, but I don’t recommend it – they don’t always sync to the restaurant. Use the concierge instead.) Note that some of the fitness classes are not listed in the app, but you can find announcements for those on a board at the fitness center. We started every morning with beachside yoga and became friends with our yoga instructor, Michelle!
During the day, there were some activities for families, and in the evenings there was live music and performances. Most of it was very family-centric, but Darren and I did enjoy Casino Night where we played Roulette with pretend money for a couple of hours.
However, our evenings were really all about dinner – getting dressed up, walking along the path at sunset to our restaurant, and enjoying a relaxed three course meal. After dinner, we enjoyed talking and cuddling in the big loveseats next to the fire pits placed around the grounds. Somehow we easily filled up our days and nights by doing absolutely nothing!
Fitness
Besides daily yoga, Darren and I had to keep up with our training. I was in the heart of my half-marathon training. I was hoping to run outside, but there was not anywhere to run more than a mile within the resort, and we were told that it wouldn’t be safe to run outside of the resort. So treadmill it was! The fitness center was very nicely appointed with plenty of high quality treadmills placed along large windows overlooking the resort. And Darren had everything he needed for lifting – free weights and machines. Again, we had the place pretty much to ourselves every afternoon at 4 pm.
Excursions
There were many different excursions that the resort could arrange for you for an additional fee – snorkeling, river rafting, hikes, etc. We wanted to keep this trip really frugal and focus on relaxation (very different from our adventures in Costa Rica this past summer), so we only left the resort once for souvenir shopping. There is a daily free shuttle that takes you 10 minutes down the road to a shopping village where local vendors sell their wares. After an hour and a half there, we were all set for Christmas gifts!
Final Thoughts
There is a difference between “traveling” and “vacationing.” Darren and I are usually travelers. We try to eat local food, stay in unique accommodations, interact with local people, explore the natural environment . . . This trip was not that. Our all-inclusive resort experience was definitely an escape from our normal lives and was very, very relaxing, but it was not a cultural experience. I can’t say that we really experienced Jamaica. However, that wasn’t the purpose of this trip, and we absolutely loved our romantic, relaxing, FREE vacation in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
