how safe?
 

Is Montego Bay fairly safe for the average traveller? Anyone been to Montego Sandals resort? Good? Bad? Thanks in advance for any info...

I was in Mobay a few years ago. We stayed at the Wyndham Rose Hall resort. In Jamaica, as in most places these days, you have to be careful and aware of your surroundings, staying in the more touristy areas.<BR><BR>My suggestion would be to stay at a resort that has most ammenities you are looking for. Then, you can sign up for various tours and excursions thru the resort. That's what we did.<BR><BR>We enjoyed ourselves and we never really felt unsafe. I will admit, though, that we are usually loners and prefer to do our own thing when we travel. This is one destination, however, where we did the "group things."<BR><BR>Good luck!

Jamaica SUCKS!!!!! Anywhere they need guards with automatic weapons outside the stores isn't my idea of paradise.

Oh come on! Jamaica is safe, you just have to use common sense as you would anywhere! I have been to Jamacia many times and NEVER seen armed guards in a store. People love to talk trash and pass the trash about someone who knew someone who had a cousin who had this terrible thing happen somewhere. <BR>Sandals is great fun, go and enjoy.

MoBay is safe for the average traveler - just use common street smarts that you would in any unknown city and you will feel very safe on the resorts.<BR><BR>Sandals MoBay is great fun! It is the most active Sandals so there is always something going on. The beachis huge - largest private beach in JAmaica which makes up for the rather small pools. Great food and music and the people are wonderful!

Turned on your local tv news or read your local police log lately? The MONA UNIVERSITY report cites violence and aggression to be true, but it is citizen-vs.-citizen violence that amounts for the tremendous majority of cases on island. One uses street smarts anywhere in the world, including Jamaica. One also doesn't cite reports to prove a point skewed far distant from the fact. Gloucester Ave/aka The Hip Strip and Doctor's Cave are the tourist areas aside from the resorts.<BR>Aside from restaurants and a few galleries, there's little in downtown MoBay tho that will prove that intriguing that you'll really ever need <BR>to spend more than a day investigating.<BR>You can find trouble anywhere in Jamaica if you go looking for it, just like in any US city. Rarely does it look for you.

I disagree. A tourist is a major, easy target for many criminals and when this is the case, yes, they do come looking for you.

Jamaica is not the safest destination in the Caribbean, but I happen to like it anyway.<BR><BR>When you are at the Sandals resort you won't really be in Montego Bay and you will be quite secure. If you visit the main tourist strip in MoBay during the daytime (Gloucester Ave.), you'll be approached about buying various things, but it didn't seem "unsafe" to me.<BR><BR>I didn't go into town at night but some tourists have visited a couple of bars on Gloucester Ave. after dark and lived to see another day.<BR><BR>The main adjustment I make in Jamaica is that I won't rent a car. On some other islands I like to explore on my own. In Jamaica it's better to go places with a guide/driver or escorted group.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>

We stayed at Sandals MOBAY and it was great. They advised us not to go out alone, especially at night. There were guards, barbed wire and glass toped walls everywhere. Many houses in Mobay had bars on the windows and doors.<BR><BR>At Sandals, we wondered if all this was to keep us in, or someone else out. On tours they treated you like kids on a school field trip. Sandals was great, the water was gorgeous, but I don't want to go to an island where I am treated like a prisoner, even if it's for my own good. I want to go where I can rent a car and explore in relative safety.(Using common sense street smarts of course) There was a couple we knew that had a guy jump into their car an announce he was their guide for the day and he refused to get out. Maybe things have changed....