This is my personal warning to people like me who are thinking about traveling as a tourist to the island of Jamaica.
My girlfriend and I spent 8 long days and nights on the island of Jamaica, if we need to describe it in one word it would probably be: tourist nightmare.
We made the mistake and ignored all the warning signs we saw on Internet travel forums and message boards.
The books we bought for our trip used very vague words regarding safety issues or ripping off tourist’s prices on the island.
We thought we where smarter, especially thanks to the experience we have traveling all over the world (Europe, Australia, the middle east, Egypt, south east Asia and south America).
But, if you are seriously considering traveling to Jamaica, make yourself a favor and read this article, than decide for yourself.
I have no interest in disappointing or making any one angry; I simply share the story of our trip from our point of view and with an understanding that we will never go back to Jamaica again, nor we would recommend any one we know to go there.
There are 2 kinds of tourists in Jamaica; the all includes resort tourists, and the “get along by yourself” tourists. We are of the second kind. The resort tourist never sees the “real Jamaica” and that’s only for his advantage. Been guard 24 hours a day by armed guards, locked behind 9 foot walls (reminded us military camps) does gives one a sense of safety. Having said that, the resort could be anywhere else in the world and the person inside it couldn’t tell the difference. Also, these resort could cost around 300$ to 800$ a night.
We also thought it would be a good idea to “meet the people” and get to know the local culture.
We landed at the Montego-Bay international airport and left right away to Negril by a Taxi service (as for the price for the ride, any relation to the price mentioned in the Jamaica book guides is accidental)
We booked our hotel on-line so our room was waiting for us. Since we didn’t eat much during the day we went out to “the main road” of Negril looking for something to eat.
First, there are no side walks, and there for it is like playing a Russian rollet with the cars that drive like crazy on the road.
Now, let me get one thing clear here, it’s lots of fun to watch one of “Cheech and Chong’s” movies where people stoned or drunk drive cars at high speeds, it’s nothing a like to walk next to or take a Taxi with a driver who has no basic understanding of his actions.
The locals’ attitude towards tourists true out our stay was somewhere in between annoying to frightening. We personally met two male tourists who left Negril after receiving life threatens from a local seller (in his words “I know where you are staying and I will come at night and kill you”)
There only mistake they made was arguing with him about the rip-off price he asked for a local souvenir.
All the tourists that we meet on the island during our stay (from all over the world) shared our thoughts and feelings.
We know about a number of horror stories concerning the local police and tourists.




At nights we where too scared to leave our hotel because we where afraid to go into a local “taxi” at night with a stoned (and or) a drunk driver, or we where just scared to get mugged.
One day we asked the receptionist in our hotel (a local Jamaican) if we could take the bus to Kingston, the island capitol.
She looked at us as if we just lost our minds. As a local she highly recommended us to stay away from the public transportation system.
As for Taxi services, there is no such thing; any one with a working car could be a “taxi”.
One of our “Taxi” drivers drove his car holding a half empty bottle of beer in one hand, and a huge joint rolled in his other.
At all times we where walking by ourselves in the streets, we felt the anger of the locales towards us.
Forget about the lovely warm image the Jamaican tourist office is trying to sell you. The people we saw in Jamaica where the most aggressive, angry and violent people we have meet in our life.
And getting stoned all day long does not make things better.
I understand the “ripping off the tourist” game in any country people travel to and I play this game well, but in Jamaica it comes with so much hate towered tourists and white people.
It was like they are angry with us for coming to tour their country.
At “Ocho Rios” we walked out of the hotel one evening to look for a phone to call home, the atmosphere on the streets was like of a prison, where the prison guards have left their posts and now the inmates are running the show.
We had 3(!) different lock mechanisms to lock our door from the inside in our hotel room.
The prices asked from tourists for local products are crazy. There is no such thing as a low budget trip to Jamaica. For Jamaicans all the tourists are millionaires. For a small pineapple piece on the beach you would be asked to pay 6$ to 8$ US.
Dinner? Sure, no prob. How about 25$ per person?
A 5 min. “Taxi” ride; 15$ to 20$
You can argue, but you are risking your life by doing so.

I’ve seen on some message boards messages like; if you are traveling for the first time to Jamaica, it’s a good idea to stay at one of the resorts. I agree. I just didn’t understand what would make the difference the second time you would travel to Jamaica? Will it change the locales attitude toward tourists? Will it make it a different experience

Thanks for sharing. Had wondered if the stories were true.

What hotel did you stay at and when did you go?

Seems a little research would have helped.

1. Book a driver for the airport ride ahead, many good ones recommended on this board (Chef Thompson, Talk of the Town Tours, Carolyn Barrett, Clive's Transport, etc).

2. There are no sidewalks in Negril, this has been stated over and over again. there is a shoulder, of course, I have walked the road many times.

3. Why argue about prices for things? Make an offer and if they don't want to sell, no problem, don't buy. Everyone has a choice, no hard feelings when you don't accuse someone of cheating you but rather state that you simply cannot afford the asked price.

4. There is a taxi system in Jamaica, licensed and insured taxis have red plates. JUTA taxis and vans and buses - esigned to carry tourists specifically - have a JUTA sign on them.

5. Your receptionist was right, Kingston is a bit tough for a first time tourist, though many do go and have a great time, usually with a local guide. There are definitely areas to avoid there.

6. Not sure where you ate but we rarely pay more than $10 for dinner. Prices are posted on menus or chalkboards in most restaurants so there is no surprise when you get your check.

It sounds like Jamaica wasn't going to be appealing to you anyway, and I certainly understand how some people can feel uncomfortable there.

I've been going once a year or more since 1985 or so and can count on one hand the negative experiences I've had with people there....it would take 100 hands to count the friends I have made and the positive experiences I have had...just two months ago we were in the mountains looking for a cave we'd read about online. We had a rental car and knew what town the cave was near, but not exactly where. So we stopped every 1/2 mile or so and got friendly, cheerfully given instruction about staying on the road, what turn to look for, etc. Not one person asked for money or refused to help us.

When we arrived at the forest preserve where the cave was, there was no one there, no ranger, no nothing. We stood around for a few minutes wondering where to head when a farmer walked up the road (he had a machete...but EVERYONE in the country carries a machete, it helps to know this).

He pointed us to the road down to the cave, as he had business to attend to elsewhere. When he saw us hesitate, he offered to delay his own errand and take us himself...no money ever asked for.

We gratefully accepted, offered him a soda from our cooler, and had a wonderful hour with him at the cave. We dropped him off back on the road and I, feeling bad about delaying him, tried to give him $500J - about $8US. He refused. I insisted, saying that if he hda time we'd have taken him to lunch or something and couldn't he accept it and have a meal on us later? He finally agreed, with many thanks.

That is only one example but it is not atypical.

I always wonder why Jamaica is such a love-it-or-hate-it place when we are all going to the same island, but there it is.

Thanks for sharing your experience

Well, at least for once a naysayer for Jamaica has actually vacationed there. I'm really sorry that your trip was not more to your liking. I made my first trip to Jamaica in 2005 and loved every moment of it--we stayed in the community of Treasure Beach on the south coast and felt quite welcomed by the community. I cannot wait to return, personally.

Did you ask at your hotel for them to call you a reputable taxi driver? I would think that most hotels have a list of reliable folks to call on for their guests.

I will continue to remember my trip to Jamaica with fondness and look forward to the day when I can return.

Been traveling to Negril since 1985. Been to many other islands in the Caribbean, as well. Jamaica remains one of our favorites and we love it! Have never stayed AI and never will. We would feel most comfortable traveling the entire island other some areas of Kingston. Jamaica continually gets voted "friendliest people of the Caribbean" by many publications and periodicals. Many love Jamaica, some do not....it isn't for everyone and you sound exactly like the type it is not for. Best of luck in your next trip to the Caribbean.

This e-mail came in to us yesterday from 2 honeymooners, first=time visitors to island, who actually rented a car and drove:

"We are home! We had the most wonderful
two weeks in Jamaica you can imagine!
And, the Sea Ranch is the coolest! We are definitely coming back to the Sea Ranch next year. Thank you for all
your help."

Everyplace on earth can be a love it/hate it destination. As well as a
sometime shock to first-time first=world
visitors who've never been exposed to
other realities in life.

There ARE many tawdry. merchantile,
gravilicious/greedy places on island,
in the resort centers of Negril, MoBay and Ochi especially.

The trick is going outside the obvious, beyond Lonely Planet, tripadvisor, Rough Guides, Fodors, Frommers -- the often conflicting guides one must read
carefully.

And into country Jamaica.

Negril's never been appealing to me.
And many Jamaicans consider it
'sodom and gomorrah'. A bit strong,
but, Jamaica is strong on religion.

The values and the experiences of island
to search for, savor and remember
are outside the resortlands and the
tourist magnets.

Anyone besides me find it odd that this is this person's one and only post, no hotels or restaurants were named, and the OP has not come back to answer requests for more specific info?

Just the fact that they were thinking of going to Kingston makes me feel that not much advance research was done...

I've also been to Jamaica - Negril and Ochi as the poster - and had nothing even remotely approximating his experience.

I didn't speak with one tourist the entire time who was not having the time of his/her life. I guess JA is not for everyone, and that is fine with me!

I read this post with interest. I am sorry whenever anyone does not have a good vacation in the Caribbean.
Butyou can't please all the people all the time either.
The poster said they were seasoned travellers.
but yet she seemed shocked and unhappy that there were no sidewalks.
this is funny!
sidewalks?? on an island in the Caribbean that is outside of a town area?
I truly wonder how seasoned these travelers were..at least as far as travelling in the Caribbean.

It's a legit post.There's a longer, more detailed post on lonelyplanet.com from sputnik, travellers more used to Austrialia and
travelling in Far East.

Barbara1,

I have been on almost every island, large and small, in the Caribbean. My first five trips were to Jamaica. With each trip, I could feel the undercurrent of hatred toward Americans more and more. I was amazed when I first explored other islands in the Caribbean that one could actually walk in the open and not be harassed and feel unsafe. Without a doubt, Jamaica is the least desirable island destination in the Caribbean (maybe Haiti would be worse). The beaches and resorts in Jamaica are wonderful on the whole and one can have a great vacation there as long as one pretty much stays within their resort. That's why there are so many all-inclusive resorts there. Spunik is to be commended on his warning..so many on this board are afraid to post anything negative. I felt safer in Egypt a year after terrorist attacks than I did in Jamaica.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I wouldn't wish a bad vacation on anybody, and it's too bad that sputnik and jlillberto didn't like Jamaica. But my own personal silver lining is that the more folks who dislike the places I love, the fewer tourists there will be when I return.

Too bad sputnik's vacation was ruined.

If only he had planned it a little bit better things may just have turned out better.

*sigh*

"my own personal silver lining is that the more folks who dislike the places I love, the fewer tourists there will be when I return. "

Amen

Our Jamaican vacation was intellectually stimulating as well as spectacular. One less guest to have to share a great island with.

I've stayed all inclusive in Jamaica and I've stayed not all inclusive.

When I stayed not all inclusive, we went as a group and went off property all the time and had a blast.

I remember on local bar we went to (up in the mountains) and the DJ used a record player that was a kids record player from the 1970s. It blew my mind!

While we did have several offers to buy pot, we refused and that was that.

While I'm not discounting sputnik's trip report, I found the locals to be lovely and engaging.

Also, I for one would avoid Kingston.

I can only say I'm glad I never went to the Jamaica that sputnik_1970 went to. I've been going to Jamaica since 1983, including a 3-year period when I worked in Kingston 1 week every other month. I never, ever, ever, had the kind of experience poor sputty had in his one visit.
I will continue to visit Jamaica and enjoy the wonderful people I meet there, and greet friends I've made over the years I've been there. Maybe they are excellent actors, but it always seems to me they are as happy to see me again as I am to see them. And when I am in Jamaica, I am very aware that I am not just anyplace, but in Jamaica, around Jamaicans who are proud of their country and their heritage, and aware that their circumstances may be different from mine, but that difference makes them neither better than me nor me better than them.
I hope that I never find myself in the Jamaica sputnik_1970 visited. I have a hunch I never will.

Personally I think the OP is a troll. I don't believe a word of this. For someone who is so extensively traveled in SE Asia, So. America and Egypt his utter amazement about dirt roads and fast drivers is grossly inconsistent as well as his assertion that all the other tourist he met there felt the same as him. This is simply to build up or support his fiction.
We have been in Ocho Rios 3 times and the atmosphere on the streets he described is, well ridiculous. I'll bet the only thing sputnik has,(very appropriate name BTW. Sounds like he's in space. ) in common with Jamaica is the ganga. I wonder what orbit he is in now. Yah Mon.

For those of you who have taken taxis in Jamaica (not the book-ahead, but just casual) have you encountered pot-smoking drinking drivers?

Where ever one goes on holiday, there will always be someone with a bad experience. I have travelled extesively and on one trip to Miami I was held up. Life goes on.

As a Jamaican, I am truly sorry that anyone coming to Jamaica has bad esperiences. It gives us a bad reputation. If you do not know your way around, it is best to ask the managers in hotels or where you are staying, advice as to how to get around, where to eat, where to go, etc. Do not try to do it on your own.

I have a small Bed & Breakfast in Treasure Beach and I try to treat my guests like family and give them the best advicem take them where they want to go and really look after them. Sometimes the smaller places are best.

I like to consider Button Bay as "The path less travelled" but trust me, we take care of guests because we want them to come back and send more.

Sorry about your bad experience, Do not give up on us.