Irie Ideas

Hello Negril fans!

Yes, I promised my wife that we would embrace the sand gravity and plan nothing on this vacation ... yet I want to make the best of a short week in Negril. This will be our first reach to JA. We are arriving at Sangster about noon-ish on Tuesday, October 9th and flying home the following Sunday morning. I would welcome your opinions about where to be each evening we are there. We are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and while we are certainly fun-loving folks, we would be seeking a more refined experience than, say, The Jungle on Thursday night!:eek:

What are the best nights and/or where are the best spots to find ...
a.) live music - Jamaican, of course
b.) dancing (remember, we are in our 50's :cool:)
c.) MLB Baseball playoffs / NFL Football
d.) quiet relaxation
e.) making new friends for light-hearted conversation
f.) dinner specials (we'll be doing Bentley's one time for sure, mon!!)
... in no particular order :rolleyes:

Bonus points for venues that are right on the beach or cliffs!
-keef-

Hi Keef

Happy Anniversary!

My hubby and I were married in Negril (10/10/10) and spent our one year anniversary there as well....I am not sure where you are staying but you MUST consider Ivan's at Catcha Falling Star for your anniversary dinner. IMO, nothing on the planet is better (I may be biased of course)

Other great places to check out for nice meals would be (IMO) Rockhouse, Pushcart, Xtabi, Kuyaba

For Sports viewing I would recommend Seastar for sure
Also you have to check out the Saturday night party at Seastar for dinner buffet and show....great time for dancing as well

On the beach there will be plenty of places to catch live music at night (depending on the night) Alfreds, Bourbon Beach, Roots Bamboo, etc

And for making new friends and having an awesome overall time I can't recommend the Wednesday One Love Bus Pub Crawl enough!


Have a blast!

I can second Ivans, we celebrated our 25th anny. there a couple of years ago, and it turned out to be the first of many meals we've been able to enjoy there. Just up the road is Seastar, we had a real good time at their Saturday nite show, and the food is good there always and they have sat tv. Chris is a great host. Congrats and Cheers!!!

What Marley says! Would add "Night of one hundred candles" service at Ivans for your 30th. The food is really good everywhere but what makes it special is the people and location. 150US$ includes private cliffside table, dedicated service, bottle of sparkling wine,personalized special table d'hote menu and magic. Search Guirigays post under 100 candles for the best description.

Marely, canuk, dash ... Thank you so much for sharing all your great irie ideas with me.

I made reservations for the 100 candles dealio at Ivan's ... can't wait to see the huge smile on my wife's face!

Where and what time can we catch the Bus Pub Crawl?

bananaznegril@hotmail.com

This is Lenbert Williams' email. He drives the One Love Bus & will pick you up from your hotel. It is such a good time!!! Just make sure you tip him when you get off the bus... that is all he requests!

Congrats on the 100 Candles Dinner! And enjoy your trip.

What is an average tip for Lenbert?

We gave him 1500j which I think is ab $16

Quote:

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Originally Posted by keef

Hello Negril fans!

Yes, I promised my wife that we would embrace the sand gravity and plan nothing on this vacation ... yet I want to make the best of a short week in Negril. This will be our first reach to JA. We are arriving at Sangster about noon-ish on Tuesday, October 9th and flying home the following Sunday morning. I would welcome your opinions about where to be each evening we are there. We are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and while we are certainly fun-loving folks, we would be seeking a more refined experience than, say, The Jungle on Thursday night!:eek:

What are the best nights and/or where are the best spots to find ...
a.) live music - Jamaican, of course
b.) dancing (remember, we are in our 50's :cool:)
c.) MLB Baseball playoffs / NFL Football
d.) quiet relaxation
e.) making new friends for light-hearted conversation
f.) dinner specials (we'll be doing Bentley's one time for sure, mon!!)
... in no particular order :rolleyes:

Bonus points for venues that are right on the beach or cliffs!
-keef-

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a. Depends on the night in question and who is in town. Alfreds is a reliable spot on the beach for a reggae show. SeaStar on Saturday night is another go-to for a Jamaican show, and is just off the cliffs. Look and see who is playing where when you are there...
b. Hmmmm.....SeaStar on Saturday night and anywhere there is live music! What type of music do you want to dance to?
c. SeaStar. Lots of other places have satellite or cable, just ask...BTW, do you watch a lot of TV on vacation?
d. Bloody Bay, Half Moon Beach, most everywhere on the cliffs...Seven Mile beach may not be conducive to quiet relaxation, depending on when you go. Early October should be........fairly quiet..
e. Negril, in general. What type of friends do you want to meet? Visitors or locals? If you really want to go local, try Red Dragon. Everyone is pretty chill in Negril, you can strike up a conversation just about anywhere over anything. Negril's bars are good places for that....cliff bars better than beach bars, IMHO.
f. What type of food do you want? Depends on when you visit....try to find some BOGO's or check negril.com. You will be there in a fairly slow week, so there should be lots of specials...

My best advice is to just go with an open mind. If a place has great food smells, eat there. Don't worry about what it looks like. If you see people having a good time at a bar, go there. Don't worry about what it looks like. Don't overplan your vacation. Go to a webcast and pick the brain of the Man Behind the Curtain or attendees. Make your own memories, take your own adventures!

Keef, check your private messages

Thanks RockRobster! The info. you gave me is very helpful, and the smattering of questions very interesting.
To answer your questions:
b.) I like to dance to the reggae beat for sure. Other than that, anything that rock n' rolls like the Rolling Stones would move my bones (I'm stuck in the 70's for sure)
c.) I love this question and thank you for asking! I knew when I listed this one I would get people wondering. No, I don't plan on watching TV much, but I might want to catch part of the Thursday night NFL game, and at the time I posted I still had hopes that the Phillies would be in the MLB playoffs.
e.) What kind of friends do I want to meet? People that like to laugh and have fun ... those are the only qualifications.
f.) I want to experience good Jamaican food ... chicken, pork, seafood (notice the lack of emphasis on fruits and vegetables?)

How do I know where and when the webcasts are?

BTW ... I love the Zevon sandwhich reference ... way cool! RESPECT!! :cool:

hi, I think I can help a little...we just returned...where r u staying, beach or cliffs, if u dont want to give out hotel, maybe just the area...ok slow season so the choices for live entertainment is limited...tues is alfreds on the beach, wed is dj at bourbon beach, live music at roots bamboo, but one of the two weds nights it didnt happen, thurs is west end gang live at bourbon beach, fri is alfreds again and saturday is cant miss seastar party....keep in mind alfreds and roots are gonna b later getting started as most of the live shows are....west end gang and seastar shows actually get started earlier and are the ones my wife like, I am 49, she a little younger, did our 23rd anniversary last week...seastar has nfl ticket, but not on water, bourbon beach has a big screen they set up for football, Margaritaville for more commercialzed, and expensive,setting, but most places will turn their set to a game if requested...

the pub crawl listed above the the best way to meet people and see different places on the cliffs...we did 8 bars in about 5-6 hours....those would b the 3 cant misses in my opinion to get the expierence u asked about in your post...I have the same requirements as u on most of the above so I hope this helps...

bourbon beach has good jerk chicken, but everyone has their favorites on food,

btw, lembert of the pub crawl is a great source of info as well, gave us several tips to keep in mind while we were on the rock...he lives somewhere on the cliffs, and during our stay he saw me out walking a couple of times and stopped to offer me a free ride each time...

another relaxing area not mentioned is rhodes hall plantation, just past half moon beach, about 15 minutes from negril....

How was your trip??