The Half Moon Resort is located in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in the West Indies. A full-service luxury resort, it features white sand crescent beaches, whispering palm trees and Georgian-style accommodations nestled in lush tropical gardens. Boasting a wide array of amenities, it also features an award-winning, par-72 championship golf course and a 68,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor Fern Tree Spa.
The Half Moon Resort was founded in 1954 by a group of wealthy and renowned individuals, including Donald Deskey, designer of Radio City Music Hall, and Harvey Firestone Jr. of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, who wanted to build an exclusive resort. When the resort first opened it featured 17 cottages and 30 beach-front homes. Today it has grown into one of the Caribbean's most complete and luxurious resorts, with a star-studded guest list ranging from Joan Crawford to Clark Gable; HRH Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family to Prince Rainier of Monaco; and John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy to George H. W. Bush.
The Half Moon Resort has experienced several renovations, but today 11 of the original 17 cottages remain on the beach for which Half Moon was named, and many of the founders' descendants remain as shareholders.
The Half Moon Resort features many forms of luxury accommodations. The basic rooms offer king or twin beds. Two-story Deluxe Suites are ideal for family vacations and include kitchens with the option to arrange for a personal chef. Beach-front Hibiscus Suites feature spectacular ocean views and plantation-style décor. The pinnacle of luxurious accommodation are the one-bedroom Imperial Suites.
Additionally, all rooms offer typical hotel amenities as well as small luxuries, such as magnified shaving mirrors, bathrobes, twice-a-day maid and turn-down service, and a balcony or patio.
Half Moon Resort's golf course is world renowned; past honors include being named Best Caribbean Golf Resort by Caribbean World Magazine, and it is a member of the Jack Nicklaus "Great Golf Resorts of the World." Recently renovated by Roger Rulewich, the par-72 championship course was designed by renowned course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr.
During the renovation process, Rulewich carefully maintained the course's respect for its natural location and the land around it, while at the same time fully modernizing the course.
Visits to the Fern Tree Spa begin with a ceremonial lavender water or nutmeg oil foot bath, as you register and sip Jamaican Bush tea. The spa design imitates the colonial design of Half Moon's original Fern Tree Villa, and features hardwood floors, grand entryways and opulent furnishings, all set among lush, fragrant tropical gardens.
Spa services include massages, facials, nail treatments, wraps and hydrotherapies.
A true tropical paradise, Jamaica is also the largest English-speaking island in the Caribbean. The island is 146 miles long, 22 miles wide at its narrowest point and 51 at the widest. The island sits 90 miles south of Cuba and 600 miles south of Miami. Much of the terrain is mountainous.
The first people to live on Jamaica were the Tainos, who are thought to have originated in South America and called the island "Xaymaca"--"land of wood and water." Discovered by European Christopher Columbus in 1494, it was later captured by the British in the 1650s, who transformed it into a bustling and wealthy colony with a flourishing economy. By the 1700s it was known as "the jewel of the British crown."
