Surrounded by Montego Bay Marine Park, Sunscape Splash is a kid's dream come true vacation destination. The in-resort Pirate’s Paradise Waterpark features a full-size pirate ship and fort, a 40-foot pirate's plank bridge, a lazy river, and a pair of 250-foot waterslides.
Located about a 15-minutes from the Montego Bay airport, and 10-minutes from the famous "Hip Strip" it's hard to beat this destination. After a few long flights, we were ecstatic to arrive at the resort so quickly after landing. We stayed in suite 5607 which had an amazing view of the ocean, which also overlooked the adults-only pool with the swim up bar. Staying in a suite in Sunscape Splash, we received Sun Club benefits and received a black key card which gave us access to two extra restaurants at Sunscape Cove. Sunscape Cove is a sister resort connected to Sunscape Splash. While Cove goers pretty much can go anywhere between the two properties, Splash guests are limited to only Splash bars and restaurants unless they also get Sun Club privileges.
Six restaurants serve a variety of international cuisine while five bars and lounges will pour endless domestic and international beverages. Guest staying in the Sun Club can also enjoy the two restaurants at Sunscape Cove. Our favorite restaurant was "The Terrace" which was part of Sunscape Cove. The Jerk Chicken salad is a must try! While we're not usually big fans of buffets, we did eat at "Windows" a few nights and were pleasantly surprised with the selection of food offered. Our kids are picky eaters but always found something they liked, and that is a win our my book. Our children really enjoyed the Barefoot Grill where they could get jerk chicken and french fries or nachos every day for a snack if they wanted. At Barefoot Grill, you can hop right out of the pool and grab a quick snack, lunch, or a drink.
We spent a lot of time at the waterpark, and there was never a line to go down the slides, which surprised us. The resort does sell day passes to Pirate's Paradise Waterpark to people from the cruise ships that come in. One day during our stay people from the cruise ship came in to use the waterpark, it never felt overcrowded and did not seem to affect the lines for the slides at all, you could walk up the stairs and get right on the water slides. The main pool was filled with poolside actives every day. Everything from "Name That Tune" to scavenger hunts. We never used the adults only pool since we were traveling with our children, however, they do have a family pool that is connected to the swim up bar, this was a plus. There were many frozen kiddie drinks for the young ones to choose from also and they even get their own drink menu with fun names like a Mickey Mouse or Pink Dora.
The resort offers a Kids Club, where you can drop your children off to play in a fun-filled environment filled with activities all day. They will give you a pager in case your child is ready to return to you before you come back to pick them up. You have 10-15 minutes to return and get your child before they start charging you babysitting fees, which is plenty of time to get back from anywhere on the resort. They also offer babysitting services in case you want to take kid free excursion or have a romantic dinner. Our children never wanted to leave the waterpark or beach, so we never took advantage of the Kids Club activities during our stay.
The resort has kayaks that you can use and you can paddle till your heart's content. Since building sandcastles is in almost every kids DNA, the resort does allow you to check out tools for them to use as they architect their masterpiece. We found this out after we purchased a kit from the gift shop, but hey, you live and learn. Hopefully, this little tip will help you save some cash or room in your suitcase, just check them out at the activities hut when you arrive.
We spent a decent amount of time on the beach, which was amazing. Located within Montego Bay Marine Park, Jamaica's first fully underwater national park, the protected swimming area offers superb snorkeling with crystal clear water. The resort offers a free guided snorkeling tour through the reef every day at 10:00 am. We took full advantage of this and did a good amount of snorkeling during our stay. You can literally swim from the beach to reef, it's that close. We saw a wide range of ocean wildlife and even had the opportunity to swim with a large spotted eagle ray.
All the employees were extremely nice and helpful. Our favorite had to be Stephen, part of the beach wait staff. He was hilarious and always knew what to say to put a smile on your face. He has a joke for just about everything. He will seriously do backflips to entertain the kids, literally if you ask him he will do a running backflip right there on the beach.
To date, this has been our children's favorite resort. We really enjoyed our stay and are looking into going back!