twigsbuddy

I loved your "story." If you went to the cliffs, did you meet "Spiderman?" If only I knew how to download my fotos!

caribtraveler

Thanks and nope, we didn't make it to the cliffs.

Knowing

Loved your trip report and pictures. Glad you made it to Rose Hall. So much sadness for the loss of the slaves lives though, wasn't there? Annie Palmer was not a very nice woman.
I'm imagining some really good jerk pork now. Yum!

caribtraveler

Knowing: Thanks. One of the most sobering moments for us was when we were shown one of the traps that could be found around the slave quarters to catch any slave trying to escape. Unfathomable.

KVR

Thanks so much for the very detailed review. It was quite helpful. We've had Jamaica on our 'to go' list for several years and keep pushing it to the bottom due to the various things we've read on the boards. We have finally booked a trip to Negril for the week after Thanksgiving. We're staying at the RIU Tropical Bay. We have to have AI. I would definatly be very unhappy with a hotel such as Idle Awile. I'm looking into excursions now and the tours you took gives me great ideas. Thanks again. The pictures are a great also.

Hope you enjoy your trip to T & C. We went in May. The beaches and water are wonderful, but we found the Island too boring for our taste.

caribtraveler

Thanks KVR. Have a GREAT time in Jamaica. We really did love it despite the lack of sleep .
We know T&C is slow/quiet. Since we're leaving our very active son at home, we definitely were looking for total relaxation with nothing much to do!

JAGIRL

Just found this link...anyone want to know what the famous "Scotchie's" looks like?

http://www.picturesfromjamaica.com/

threehearts

Excellent report with well-founded advice. Thanks for the easily accessible photos and many tips. Can't wait to hear about T&C. Threehearts

laustic

I'm bumping b/c this is such a great report!

Debden

laustic,This is a great trip report but I'm curious as to why you felt the need to bump it to the top??
I would say this trip report is very outdated.Excellent but outdated.Many have come on after this and raved about Idle Awhile.Just take a look at TripAdvisor.com
Not one bad report.All raves....
Debbie

caribtraveler

Debbie: I'm not sure why you'd think it's outdated. It's not even a year old. I'm sure Jamaica is as beautiful today as it was last August with the same fantastic places to see. And I'm sure Idle Awhile didn't replace all their inefficient windows. Just because other people's great reviews followed mine doesn't mean mine is outdated. It just means they're better sleepers than me, and what mattered to me didn't matter to them.

Laustic: Thank you. Compliments are always appreciated.

Debden

Hi caribtraveler,The reason I say your review is outdated because lot's could have changed in 8 months at Idle Awhile.
Actually at any resort.When I look for reviews on a place that I want to stay at I always look at all the reviews but the one's I'm more interested in seeing are the more recent ones that are posted.Just me I guess!It had nothing to do with better reviews after yours,just that there were more recent reviews to consider.
I certainly did not mean any offense.As I said I thought your review was great.
My reason for asking why your review was brought to the top was because it seemed too coincidental that Tweeter just posted a great review on Idle Awhile.
Debbie

soggydollar

in island time, 8 months is nothing. though i know nothing about jaimica, i am sure this is a fair and accurate report and not much changes in these islands, except for the occasional bar/restaurant...actually, i enjoyed reading it...i was not a regular in june of 2006!!

laustic

I bumped because I thought it contained a lot of great information (beyond just the hotel information). I thought it could be useful for lots of people Just trying to be helpful -- sorry if I offended.

CaribbeanSoul

One of the best trip reports....ever! It deserves topping today, tomorrow and 5 years from now.

Debden

Laustic,You didn't do anything wrong.I guess I just mistook why you topped.Sorry.
Yes Caribbeansoul this is a great trip report that deserved to be topped.
My mistake.
A thousand pardons please...
Debbie

Crasht1224

Hey Carib,

Just got through reading your post. Thanks for all the great info!
After checking out the pics, I noticed that you’re a part of an inter racial family.
My boyfriend and I are going to JA this May. We’re both really looking forward to it, but were a bit concerned that we might encounter some hostility b/c of our relationship (he’s white, Im black)

As odd as it sounds, we still get looks from people (usu black guys who get angry at me or hi or both of us for being together) We live in New York City so I couldn’t help but wonder whether we’d get the sae kind of response in Jamaica.. Anyway, Im just wondering whether that was an issue for you guys – just want to mentally prepare myself.
We always wonder whether things will cool off once we settle down and have kids.. I think people tend to be less hostile when you’re part of a complete family unit

By the way – that “big hair” comment.. What did you do to prevent that? I just know my relaxer will be out the window with all that salt water!

Thanks so much for your time, Carib.. your blog was great.

-Toni

caribtraveler

Hi. We had no problems in Jamaica. Did we get looks that lasted a little longer than normal? I'm sure we did. We don't really pay attention to that, especially with a very active child around. Our eyes are on him 24/7. If we catch people looking at us, we like to think it's because our son is so darn cute.
Did we get any bad vibes in Jamaica? None whatsoever.
The tour company we used did ask us about our relationship, but that's because they themselves are an interracial couple. Sienna is white American and Solomon is Jamaican.
As we told them, we have no horror stories to report. Nobody has ever said anything negative to us (we live in NJ, 30 minutes outside of NYC and travel quite a bit). I think the fact that my husband is a big guy could be part of the reason. It'd be pretty stupid of anybody to say something.
For my hair, I'd just wash it every evening after beach time, blow dried it and straightened it with my flat iron. A pain, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
Have a great trip.