Catalonia Montego Bay

Just returned from 14 nights here on the 11th may,and have to say we had a fabulous holiday here overall. We were given a room on the fourth floor in block 1,just amazing views of the resort and the beach and sea. We loved sitting on the balcony watching the Pelicans diving for fish ,and the bats leaving on an evening and returning in the morning. If you’re a fan of swimming it’s very limited.The pool is shallow,and the sea is even shallower around the resort.On saying that,you can snorkel easily around the island and see lots of fish.i saw barracuda,lion fish,puffer fish and rays. The food is generally ok in the main buffet,lots of choice,but maybe could be a bit warmer.We mostly went to the al a cartes of an evening,and these were excellent.Omelettes were fantastic at breakfast in the main buffet. The jerk chicken and pork is just lovely at the blue sea shack,and the sweet and savoury crepes just nearby are also very tasty and worth trying.Drinks are very good at all the bars,take a big cup and you won’t be disappointed..! Room cleaned every day,and water left,and I asked for a kettle so I could make my Yorkshire tea on a morning and this was sorted,Also great fridge in room for my red stripes …! Most of staff are friendly and welcoming,special mention to the pool guys,working all day in that heat can’t be easy,but they just get on with it. If you want specialty tobacco,shall we say (it is Jamaica),the guys on the beach are brilliant,top quality and good prices.yeh man..!!! All in all a brilliant holiday,loved every minute of it,and the weather is just scorching…. Hoping to come back here for Christmas.🇯🇲🌴 Read less

After leaving a harsh review from our last trip in summer 2024 to the Catalonia I wanted to re-review after our most recent trip. This trip outlines our March 13-19 2025 stay. We have been coming to this resort for over 30 years. Let me start by saying that now that the new owners of the old Holiday Inn have been there for several months that they are starting to turn things around for the better - MUCH BETTER! ARRIVAL: We arrived on Wednesday March 19th and stayed through March 26th. The line for check in was only 3 deep. YAY. After waiting for 4-5 minutes and the 2 front desk people were engaged with other guests a manager booted up a machine and called us over. This was a breath of fresh air because over the years I watched people in lead positions ignore waiting guest time and time again. These are the small things that show they care. We did have a voucher from our previous stay due to some issues we faced. I emailed before our stay to ensure they were aware and could accommodate redemption. While they did receive and honor the voucher, they did fail to respond back and let me know this. I was worried prior to arriving since I didn't receive proper confirmation as expected. Even a followup email was ignored. ROOM: We did upgrade our room category when we booked our trip and stayed in a Privileged Ocean Front One Bedroom in building 6. The room was recently updated and looked amazing in comparison to before the updates. It was a large room in an L shape. You walk into the dining table area upon entering the room which leads to a living room space and finally to the right is the L into the bedroom. The balcony was large and the view of the ocean is exceptional. The bathroom has a large jacuzzi tub with a stationary spray nozzle as well as a wand hand held nozzle. The walls and floor are covered in granite like tile. The mirror is large as well as the sink. While this all looks amazing the problem that remains in the resort is water related. Trying to take a shower between 4-7 is nearly impossible. The water pressure is literally a trickle and unusable unless you get lucky. Hopefully this is on the list of things the new owners intend on resolving at some point. We couldn't use the nice jacuzzi tub because it would be cold after the hour it would take to fill up. There is also a nice shower area next to the tub. THE FOOD: Buffet - The food remains inline with what the Holiday Inn served. There is a kids section with noodle and sauce, meatballs, fries/potatoes, chicken nuggets. Catalonia, can we get some ranch and honey mustard by the nuggets rather than forcing people to walk to the salads to get dipping sauce? Maybe some BBQ sauce as well? There is typically a chicken dish and a fish dish each meal for both lunch and dinner. Beef dishes were not common other than a burger. Salads were nice and make your own. Sides typically include: potatoes, rice, vegetable. They have a pizza station which is tasty considering its Jamaica (keep in mind I come from Chicago so its hard to say its excellent LOL). With some basic spices and more accurate cook times it could be excellent through (hit me up Catalonia and I will help you out with some tips). The Jamaican and Italian restaurants are pretty good. They are busy and do require reservations but the service is very good. Check in for the restaurants is a bit hectic and there were lines to do so each night. The privileged restaurant Bloved is open for walk in sit down service. The ribs were not good when I had them but other guests I spoke with did indeed enjoy theirs. I will have to try them again next visit. Otherwise the food was decent here. Its a nice option to get away from the crowded food options. The room service that comes with booking a privileged room was AWESOME! We enjoyed breakfast 3 mornings in our room. This included omelets, bacon, hash browns, juice coffee etc. A few things room service needs to do better at- 1) The phone number for room service is for Catalonia Dominican Republic! I called and she kept telling me my room number was wrong. It took me a minute to realize I was speaking with someone who had a Spanish accent and asked her where she was. We both had a laugh but in the end a hassle. 2) When you order you specify a delivery time. The first morning they showed up like 1٫5 hours early while we were sleeping. The second day was an hour early and the third day it was on time. BEACH: The shore line is lined in sand and there is a man made island that you can walk out to containing chairs and a few huts. The water is shallow so actually swimming in head covering water is a challenge. Overall a nice beach to relax and take a dip. The towel hut is hit or miss but mostly miss. I was able to exchange my towel on the first attempt one day. Most days I had to keep coming back to see if they were available 2-3 times. BARS: Most bar workers hustle but there are a handful that just plain waste time and help guests out of order in which they arrived. Bars at at times understaffed so it can be frustrating for both staff and guests. Over all the experience at the bars is OK. Bring or buy a cup from the gift shop to avoid so many return trips for drinks to refresh you. This also comes in handy when returning to the room for the night. COFFEE & TEA SELF SERVE STATION: I am glad they kept the guest self serve tean and coffee station. I like to have a cup of coffee after dinner and this hits the spot! One request for the resort is to please keep it better stocked with DRY sugar. Every night I had to chase down sugar. One thing we noticed that they seemed to have stopped doing is having a returning guest dinner with staff managers. This was seen as a nice gesture by the hotel in the past and I wish the Catalonia would rethink about having these dinners. We feel at home at this hotel after visiting between other trips throughout the years. We have booked another return trip to arrive July 3rd 2025 and hope to have similar feed back after that trip. Keep up the great work Catalonia staff it IS BEING NOTICED! See you again on July 3rd. Read less

The food and drinks were excellent. The staff are very friendly and extremely helpful! The property needs renovating but for the price it's decent. There is lots of entertainment, and activities to participate in. The little island was a great feature and there was lots of beach chairs along the beach available. It is close to a busy road so you will hear traffic and see all the plane's leaving Montego Bay Airport as its a quick 10min drive away. Overall, had a great experience and would recommend especially if traveling with children. Just be prepared that it's an older property that needs updating. Read less

Our family stayed at Catalonia Montego Bay from April 22nd–29th. While some staff (especially in the buffet) were friendly and helpful, our overall experience was completely overshadowed by a disturbing and unsafe incident on Sunday, April 27th. My daughter ordered a tonic water at the Sea Blue Snack Bar by the pool and discovered, after sipping, that there was a frozen frog inside one of the ice cubes. By the time I brought it back, its legs were floating in the drink. Not only is this a serious contamination issue, but the lack of concern from bar staff was shocking. They offered no apology, just tossed the drink away and barely acknowledged it. The on-duty manager, said the ice was delivered from outside and said she’d get it changed, but we don’t know if that actually happened. No clear steps were taken, and her response to me “I’m not saying you’re lying… but I find it hard to believe” was dismissive and inappropriate given the distress of my crying child. The rest of our holiday was spent trying to comfort a traumatised child, with both children refusing anything with ice and only trusting the bottled drink in the room (given to us by the duty manager after my daughter rescued everything offered. A complete breakdown in safety and guest care. Extremely disappointed and concerned. Read less