Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Quick Negril trip report

Hi everyone,

I felt I needed to post a report since so many of you provided me with great information for my trip report back in January & February.

I traveled to Negril back in February (around President's week) and I had many questions since my last trip to the island prior to this one was back in 1999 and I was traveling alone.

I flwe via Spirit Airline from NY's LGA Airport with a brief stop over in Fort Lauderdale before continuing on to MBJ. I will not fly Spirit again out of the NOrtheast unless I'm absoultely desparate. If you fly them from Florida, though it's not a bad deal. My grief with them was that on the return leg of my trip, they never (including my flight manifest) indicated that I would be stopping over in Florida on the return. My manifest clearly stated Non-stop from MBJ to NY's LGA but this did not happen and I ended up traveling the entire day and night to get home.....any enough of that.

I left NY early and got to MBJ 1pm. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to see that the MBJ airport had undergone major work. You no longer have to embark the plane and walk from the outside to get into the building. I had to laugh because that airport is now much nicer than LaGuardia in NYC. Ok, ok, wasn't this suppose to be a quick report?

Let's back up a second. When the airplane approached JA, I had forgotten how striking the island was from the air. Needless to say, I started de-stressing immediately.

I proceeded to customs with no problems, I only took 1 piece of luggage so I was out in a jiffy. I went past the reception area to look for my transportation that I had arranged prior to leaving...many thanks to suggestions from some of you Fodorites. I went with Clives Transport and was greeted by Clive himself who was already waiting. This tour company charges $36 US round trip to Negril. I did a combo package that inculded the Black River Safari as well as the Martha Brae River trip.

I elected to stay at Charela Inn, which was the only decent resort that had any rooms left at that time. Charela was a repeat stay for me but I was disappointed with my room this time. I got the last ocean view room that was available but it was just a basic room in comparison to what I had with them years prior.

I have to say that the weather was just stunning that time of year. Not once did I ever have to turn on the AC. My previous trips to JA was always off-season.

Boy, did I forget what a beautiful beach Negril beach is...I immediately regretted not bringing my 3yr old son along, but then again, mama needed some desparately R&R.

I got to Charela at exactly 2pm and the first thing I did was headed for the beach. I needed to soak away some stress. I walked up and down the beach to check out the vibe and found some agressive beach vendors along the way. With a polite no thanks, I was just fine.

Following morning we ventured off for the Black River Safari/YS Falls Tour. Which was really nice. Got to see the the wonderful country side. I got some great picts of the crocs. YS Falls was nice. To all those who try to compare the different falls in JA, I realized that you really cannot do that. I just find that YS falls is a totally different experience than Dunns River, I mean totally different!

I took the advice of many of you and went to dine, yes alone and I did so on many occassions on this trip, at 3 Dives. The food was great! I had enough lobster tails that my stomach was busting at the seams! Couldn't beat the price, though. I also dined at Xtabi on the cliffs, Barn B-BArn & Cocoa LaPalm. My only unpleasant dining was at Cocoa LaPalm. I had a dinner meal there that I could not touch after the first morsel which was just awful. Guess it was probably just a bad cook that night. Most of my meals came from a little shack on the beach next to Charela called Rainbow Arch. I spend many mornings and evenings there just hanging out talking to people. The food was reasonable and good.

I also did the Martha Brae River rafting. For me this a let-down since I've always rafted the Rio Grande in Port Antonio. Nevertheless, the Martha Brae was unique and pleasant experience in it's own right.

Some differences I've noticed with this trip:
Food on the island is waaaaay to expensive. Even more so now. Cost of eating out is definately more expensive. I find better bargains in NYC (swanky NYC restaurants excluded). I'm a small eater and am dismayed when I order a salad to receive a few pieces of lettuce in many establishments. Same for a fruit salad. I've learned that on my next trip there I will avoid restaurants altogether and just stick to the mom & pop establishments which provides better food, better prices, etc for your money. I also find that the food at many of the restaurants is just not good (ok, ok, so shoot me for being from NYC. We just know good food when we taste it.)

I was also struck by how much Negril has grown since my last trip back in 1998!

So when is my next trip? I already booked my flights for me and my son for the end of June through July 8.

Thanks to all of you who provided me some valuable information for this trip.