Jamaica! Oh my God.
 

It you are reading this post, I am assuming you are reading it as you have some interest in Jamaica and the negatives surrounding it. It is human nature in general to always talk about the bad and never take the time to mention the positives.

I am Jamaican and come in contact with visitors daily. I have travelled the world over and I have found that visitors from developing countries always except a level of service for the meager prices they pay for accommodation and services.

This they would never get if they are in their home country.

If you think you are getting a bargain. INVESTIGATE IT, it is so tiring to hear people complain when they don't take care of their possessions. The hotels cannot control the integrity of their staff hence the reason for safes in your rooms. Take my advice ask for information at the front desk before you venture out!!

Don't act like a victim. Say NO and you will be left alone and stop acting like you are doing everyone a favour by flashing your cash around. This is sure to draw attention to yourself.

I'm not sure i agree with this in particular: "The hotels cannot control the integrity of their staff "

....they certainly can control that, and they do. Very few people with a hotel job are willing to jeopardize it for a minor item left out in a room.

What they cannot control is the integrity of their other guests.

I'm sure some employees steal, but I also know that guests steal from other guests as well.

Remember Dirty Dancing?

I would like to take the time to reply to your post about people always talking about the bad and never the positive. I don't know if you are responding to my post about our bad experience at Couples Negril or not, but if so here goes! First of all we did not pay a meager amount to stay at Couples! Secondly, the items stolen from us were not a case of us not being able to keep up with our possessions! We had a jacket and a bottle of cologne stolen, not items that you would put in a safe. So if you think that the hotel cannot be held responsible for their employees, than who is? We have traveled all over the world too, and this is the first time that this has happened to us. I did not come to Jamaica expecting a high level of service above the prices that we paid for accomodations, but what I did expect was for our belongings that do not go in the safe to be in the room when we returned each day. People do have a right to hear about the negatives as well as the positives!

I guess we should all just look at Deneis's experience at a wake up call. Sadly at her expense. What happened here could have (and does) happened anywhere. Yes Jamaica has it's share of challenges but for my money (14 times and counting) it's still one of the best. Be prudent, watch your stuff and the odds are you'll be fine. Every now and then however.....the odds go the other way. Once again as poor Deneis found out. BUT.... the resort should stand behind their guests at all times and make things right!

While I appreciate and respect your love for Jamaica, your posting name taints your info because you appear to be selling something, or benefitting from convincing people to travel to Jamaica. I noted you said elsewhere you are associated with the travel industry in Jamaica.

Having traveled extensively in the Carribean including Jamaica IMHO you are not more or less likely to get ripped off any more than you would in Orlando Las Vegas or Minneapolis.

No hotel would tolerate dishonest staff--it is the kiss of death in the internet age.

However, we do use common sense--a lot of people do not. Yet we know that sooner or later it MAY happen--maybe here at home or maybe on vacation.
Life is full of risks--mostly low thank goodness

Seejamaicacheaply (a misnomer, btw...):Why are you provoking people into such a cas-cas?
Jamaica, as you may have noticed, is no longer inexpensive. But a certain graciousness without attitude is still endemic to most of Jamaica. I'm surprised you've not either learned or adopted it....
Petty thievery is, and always has been a problem on island. On island, we joke about it as the cost of doing business.
(I have stories that would make you laugh til yuh belly hurt.) In the States, it's the same but it's euphemistically called 'shrinkage' and just written off the bottom line.At hotels, slack management who do not summarily fire workers either responsible or warn once and then fire the same operate run of the mill generally mass tourist/package hotels where one gets what one pays for as an undiscriminating traveller, perhaps. But regardless of whether it's a chain hotel or a local, the same standard of concern applies -- not a thinly-disguised who cares or worse attitude. Sure, hotel workers make little/but should indifference replace principles? Fi sure, you would not tolerate the same treatment regardless applied to yourselfyourself? Few places anywhere in this world are more than
average for high prices.That vacationeers to Jamaica are generally paying a fair sum, and are lulled by advertising and a sense of need/expectations regardless is a fact of life. Howev3er, tiefs, bandalous, samfimen and rude bwoys aren't tolerated by Jamaicans,so why should they be tolerated by visitors, nahso? It's not Jamaican to do so, nor is yelling in caps about visitors' perceived lack of tolerance or ignorance or 'grousing' about problems that happen worldwide, anywhere, not just on island. Manners, suh.

To tivertonhouse - Would never go to Jamaica no matter what anybody says, but as a translator I have to wonder: what are 'bandalous' and 'samfimen'?

bandalu, samfiman are small-time cons, hustlers, riff-raff

Carola:E-mail me for a very good Patois
Dictionary (no Trados tools needed). Though it varies from village to village, area to area entirely, patois
is rich in vocab and idioms as a translator you'd appreciate.

Tons of info on patois here, and a dictionary:

http://www.jamaicans.com/speakja/index.htm

OK--this thread is dead

I am fully aware of the reasons persons use these forums. These are great places to go to find information. I for one is very grateful for it as I learn from the different perspectives and opions on my island Jamaica.

I will respond if it seems like someone is being unfair in what they say.

I am aware of the faults of Jamaica and wish to take this opportunity is saying that my message was posted with the intent of telling you the potential visitor of what to look out for when you get to Jamaica.

I have been to Bali with a group of friends, I had a safe in my room and I used it, my friends didn't. They were under the misconception that Bali was beautiful, and the people wonderful (which is all true) and that nothing will happen. However people are people and bad things will happen and so this will not deter me from visiting again

If you are planning to travel to Jamaica, ask me and I will be online to help answer any question you have.

One Love!

Where i live in so. new jersey jamaicas reputation is terrible.the dozens of people i have spoken to who have gone there trash the experience.

I think people's experiences in Jamaica depend on where they stay and if it meets their expectations. We stayed once at Sandals Negril and thought it dreadful- mediocre food and a trashy drunk crowd. On the other hand, we spent a week at Jamaica Inn last year and thought it was absolutely lovely.

When I was last in Jamaica, I was talking to a bunch of locals at a dance and I asked if any of them had been to Margate, Atlantic City, or Wildwood in South Jersey. Each one told me about a relative or friend or relative of a friend, or friend of a relative who had been to Atlantic City and found that it was dirty and filled with homeless people who kept bugging them for money so they could afford bus fare home after losing everything at a casino. Also they heard that crime was rampant, drug use was out of control and that there were prostitutes on every corner. They all said that everything they heard led them to believe that South Jersey must be a terrible place to live and that they would never go there, and would advise everyone who asked to stay as far away from South Jersey as possible.


Now, do you see how stupid that sounds?

golf guy: my point is that with all the other places to go in the carribean why bother with the baggage of jamaica.

to: pgmargate

Your post speaks about your "dozens" of friends from South Jersey who have visited Jamaica and "trash the experience".

May I politely suggest that before you give information on this board...it should be personal information.

If you've been to Jamiaca and had an unpleasant experience, then I welcome your comments. I would also welcome positive comments, if that was your experience.

That is what this board should be about....an exchange of positive and negative for the benefit of those who read wisely here.

To just *trash* without personal experience is offensive...at least it is to me.

"dozens of people.... trash the experience" So you have talked to that many? Utter exaggeration. Clearly this person has an axe to grind. If you can't speak from your own experiences don't make up trash to get a point across that is wildly off home plate ala Rick Ankiel. We have been to Ja. three times and loved it.

Before i spend my hard earned $ i research a destination by asking people who have gone there about their experiences. having done that the overwhelming responses are negative. I then choose to go some place else without the bad rep that most people know jamaica has.