Is Jamaica any good?

[nhbbear]

Funny, I just had this conversation a couple of hours ago on Xbox.

Jamaica, like anyplace, can be real nice, but I personally did not have good experiences once we left the hotel.

You get bombarded by drug dealers trying to sell you shit and offering to buy an hour with your wife. At Dunn’s river falls, there are kids that try to steal anything they can-so don’t hand them your phone to take pictures. They also try to cop a feel on the ladies. A twelve year old grabbed my wife’s ass.

The food at the hote was not great, though the jerk stuff was great and especially the plantains.

I guess that overall, Jamaica was just not as nice as Mexico, Bahamas, or many of the other hot spots on the carribbean.

 

[God_Emperor_Of_Mankind]

There's lots of excellent Jamaican restaurants here in Nola. Jerk chicken is awesome. @paynebringer

Looks delicious

 

[RoryFan]

If I say "Beer can" with my British accent it sounds like a Jamaican saying "bacon".

That's my entire repertoire of knowledge of Jamaica.

 

[KOQ24]

Beautiful Island, but hella crime-ridden, like most of the caribbean.
Cuba might actually be the safest big island.Unless youre going around starting anti communist demonstrations........

 

[God_Emperor_Of_Mankind]

lol.

That is the weakest, tamest looking tourist spiced jerk chicken I've ever seen.

Jerk chicken should be slightly blackened and with lots of spice.

There's no need to be a jerk about it,

 

[MikeMcMann]

Funny, I just had this conversation a couple of hours ago on Xbox.

Jamaica, like anyplace, can be real nice, but I personally did not have good experiences once we left the hotel.

You get bombarded by drug dealers trying to sell you shit and offering to buy an hour with your wife. At Dunn’s river falls, there are kids that try to steal anything they can-so don’t hand them your phone to take pictures. They also try to cop a feel on the ladies. A twelve year old grabbed my wife’s ass.

The food at the hote was not great, though the jerk stuff was great and especially the plantains.

I guess that overall, Jamaica was just not as nice as Mexico, Bahamas, or many of the other hot spots on the carribbean.

Interesting how we had such different experiences.

My gal and i were just there across New Years and we do like to do the tourist stuff but we also like to get off the beaten path quite a bit.

I would say we are both seasoned and smart tourists and know how not to stand out except when she has to take her selfies.


We did Duns River falls and the only people who reached out to us where the vendors trying to sell stuff as you approached and left. No one bothered us otherwise. We left the resort most days and walked around the town with the locals and were only approached a few times by guys wanting to sell us stuff (weed, anything) but never in a pushy or intrusive way. We even got a little too far off the beaten path while strolling along 7 MIle Beach in Negril and ended up at the far end down at the Shanty town and instead of turning back and going to the beach we decided to walk through.

It took us about 35 minutes to wind through. Not something I recommend to anyone generally but I gave her the pep talk about 'looking like you know where you are going at all times and not acting lost or like a tourist' and we walked through and got in a few random chats with locals. It was a highlight of our trip.

I found I got far more bombarded in Cabo and PV Mexico and heck even in New York city time square, but if you ever want to be bombarded go to any of the big cities in Morocco. If you go to a Medina

...and they get a sniff of you being a lost or wandering, window shopping tourist you will be absolutely assailed by locals trying to be your guide (for free) so they can lead you to their friendly stores and/or get tips from you.


But like I said I think people generally have a different view of the developing and 3rd world when they go on vacation and want it all to be like the life behind the gates on the All Inclusive Resort. Paradise. Because when they leave those gates they complain about things that happen in New York (Time Square) or Vegas with regards to being solicited and that is a tourist thing in most anywhere you go.

 

[MikeMcMann]

Beautiful Island, but hella crime-ridden, like most of the caribbean.
Cuba might actually be the safest big island.Unless youre going around starting anti communist demonstrations........

Cuba, Barbados, Turks and Caico's are the safest of the Caribbean Islands I have been to where I would tell even novice tourists they can pretty much go anywhere and do anything they want just as if they were still in Canada. You can actually be a dumb tourist in those islands.