How Monty & Melo got comfortable with Negril

Inspired by all of the great trip reports that have been posted lately, I am making an attempt at a trip report of my own. A little background….

This trip was our 18th to the island and our 9th trip to Negril. We began our trips to the island in 1993. We spent our honeymoon at Sandals Royal in Montego Bay. During that trip we met a Jamaican who was working at Royal. He would talk to us after work and on his long break that he had every day (he worked the breakfast shift and the dinner shift and he had 4 hours off in the middle of the day). One day he invited us to meet him in Montego Bay so he could show us the “real Jamaica.” We were 26-year- olds, I had traveled some and had a sense of adventure about me, but heading into Montego Bay with a native Jamaican that we had only known for four days was a little intimidating to me, let alone my lovely bride. Against our instinct we did it. I mentioned to our new found friend that I needed to change some money into Jamaican before we left so that I could spend the native currency when I was in town. He immediately said, “Don’t change at the ‘otel mon, I get you betta rate in town.” Ok, makes sense to me, he knows a cambio in town where we can get a better rate than what the hotel gives. So off we went…because Sandals frowned on employees hanging with the guests, we had to walk across the street to the Blue Diamond Shopping Plaza to meet him. He had arranged a cab for all of us to take downtown. I remember as we walked down the road towards Blue Diamond the employees from Sandals asking us where we were going and advising us against walking out of the “compound.” We didn’t listen to them, by this time we felt like Rebels, like we were the bravest White People in the World, we were going to see the “Real Jamaica” with a Real Jamaican!!!.

We had the time of our lives, we walked around town he showed us the sights, he taught us to drink hot Guinness right off the push cart and how to keep the “spirits” in by replacing the cap after taking a drink. As far as changing money, he took me in the backroom of a bar (leaving my wife out in the bar sipping on her Red Stripe with some school girls who had stopped in the bar in their school uniforms for a Ting) where I got 37 for a US Dollar compared to the 34 the hotel would have given me (those were the days). We really had a great time that day and really felt good about ourselves taking the chance on the “Real Jamaica.”

We managed to stay in touch with our new found friend and returned for our second anniversary and on our fifth anniversary. Like lots of young couples, two little bundles of joy came along and our trips to Jamaica became few and far between. About five years went by and we received a letter in the mail from our friend letting us know he had relocated from Sandals Royal to Sunset Beach Resort and Spa and that they welcomed children, so we now had no excuse for not coming back to Jamaica to see him. So for our tenth anniversary we went for a long weekend as a couple to check it out. It passed our inspection so in 2005 we took our two sons with us for a week at Sunset Beach. In the meantime we started taking a trip for New Year’s every year as a couple. We were in the alcoholic beverage industry and the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s was nuts for us, so we always worked New Year’s Eve and took the first flight out to Jamaica on New Year’s Day to unwind after a couple tough months of hard work.

We continued this pattern for a couple of years, taking the kids in the summer and taking a couples only trip for the New Years. On one of our trips (2006) we took another couple with us and we heard about other tourists taking a day-trip over to Negril for Sunset at a place called Ricks. So we got our Montego Bay driver to clear his calendar for the day and take us over to Negril. Another friend that worked at Sunset Beach got us a day-pass to Sunset at the Palms so we were able to visit that resort as well as Margaritaville and Ricks. I even had the guts to jump off the cliff at Ricks, the high one. Had no idea what I was doing and the fact that I could not walk without pain in my lower back for the next six months was evidence of that fact. The next year we returned to Jamaica for New Year’s and again visited Negril for a day (no damn jumping this time though!!!). To be continued........

Excellent start, can't wait for more!

looking forward to reading more!!

Peace
Islander - Brynn

Love it! Keep going :o

Great report so far and I can't wait to hear more. I can definitely relate with your story. We started out at an AI and developed many friendships with some of the employees that the resort basically did NOT encourage. That was a beginning back in the early 90's that resulted in over 29 visits since. We also found that the Jamaica outside of the resort walls was perfection!
We soon departed from the AI route, but our friendships made in the early times....are still going strong. To this day, we always see our longtime friends that were kind enough to open their world up to us. One of our friends was 17 years old at the time...he is now 31 with one child now, and another on the way. Matter of fact, he called us yesterday, since he was worried about the effects of Sandy on our state. Jamaica is truly life changing!!! And the friendships....forever.

I am so looking forward to hearing more. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to share it with you.

Amazing, can't wait!

Lucky my first couple trips were at non AI, but it reminds me of a stay at Beaches Boscubel years back, when I left the front gate security, "where are you going" I was asked. I told security, I was going to Jamaica, " no mon your in Jamaica" This became my line at the gates every time I passed through. A few days later I heard some other guests at the bar talking about some crazy guy that was walking the road outside the "compound" lol

When we got back from that trip, I started thinking about the possibility of making Negril our new Jamaican travel destination as I loved the idea of pub crawling up and down the beach and having the constant feel of the sand between my toes. If you have ever been to Sunset Beach in Montego Bay, the “beach” is not exactly the best part of the hotel. It was then that I stumbled upon Negril.com and quite frankly my life has never been the same. I spent hours and hours reading trip reports, looking at pictures, etc in preparation for our first stay in Negril. The idea was that we would take a little longer trip and stay for two nights in Montego Bay at Sunset (and spend New Year’s Eve with our friends there) and then head to Negril for five nights before heading back to Sunset for another two nights prior to heading back to the states. Like I said I did tons of research, and I really thought I knew what I was getting myself in to. We were going to go to Miss Sonia’s one night, we were going to go to the Roundabout and get some groceries to stock the room with snacks, rum, Red Stripe, etc. We were going to spend a week on the fabulous beach.


What follows is what we like to refer to as the “Jamiaca Mis-stake-a.” After a fabulous New Year’s Eve at Sunset, followed by a chill-out New Year’s Day, we checked out of Sunset on January 2nd and prepared to head to Negril. As we were saying our goodbyes one of our friends pulled Melo aside and gave her a piece of paper. She said “Melo, this is my phone number, if you get over to Negril and don’t like it, call me and I will see what I can do about getting your room back here for the rest of your stay.” I thought to myself, are you kidding me….this is going to be the most epic trip ever!!!!


The drive to Negril was uneventful and our taxi driver dropped us off at our Negril Beach non-AI, fend for yourself hotel. I won’t mention the name of the hotel, but I will let you know it was near the Roundabout end of the beach and is pretty popular with folks on this board. We checked in (the lobby was beautiful). We were escorted to our room and immediately our outlook on this “Negril thing” changed. The view out the side of the hotel was awful, overlooking a run-down hotel that was situated next door. The bathroom door would not quite open all the way as the door would bang into the toilet when you tried to open it all the way. The furniture in the room looked very old (and I like antiques!!!) and the whole room had a vibe that said “I was nice 20 years ago but now I am a run-down old room now.” Unshaken by all of that, I said, “come on, we won’t be in the room that much anyway,” and we ventured out to the bar and the beach. “Two Red Stripe, Mon,” I quipped to the barkeep. “250 J,” he says opening two frosty ones and presenting them in front of us. OK….this is more like it. We are on the beach, a beach that extends as far as you can see in each direction, we have a cold bottle of Red Stripe in our hands (I always hated that AI draft Red Stripe stuff!!!). Come on honey, let’s walk up the beach and drink a few beers. So off we head. We probably take 10 steps and here they come!!! Farmer this, farmer that, “you need some smoke mon?”, “how bout some mushrooms?”, “some hash?” Wow this is different, I expected to be offered, but we couldn’t go ten steps without someone in our faces trying to sell us pot, hash, shrooms, etc. It’s like we were walking around with a big sign on our forehead that said “NEWBIE!!!” After a few minutes we decided to return to the hotel bar and drink in there for a while. After about an hour, we decided to head down to the roundabout to get some supplies and eat lunch at Juicy Js. OK grab a beer and off we do, walking out on the road. Whoa!!!! Fast cars everywhere, wizzing by, honking at us, stopping us offering us rides, pot, hash, shrooms, etc. Jesus Christ people we are just trying to walk downtown!!! After crossing the bridge and heading around the shopping center to Juicy Js a Jamaican quickly approached us, “You headed to Juicy J’s, come on mon, I will walk you there!!” “We don’t need an escort mon, we know where we are going,” I replied. Despite my constant declining, he walked us all the way to Juicy’s and took us in the front door and then proceeded to tell the waitress that he “brought” us to them (I assume he got some sort of “finders fee”). While the food was quite good, the place was dark, we were the only tourist in the place and when I looked across the table at Melo, I could tell she was about to burst out in tears. So I said, “well this isn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be.” She looked at me like, “well no ShXX Sherlock!!!” I told her, let’s just hang in, we’ll go get some rum and some beers and get back to the room, go to bed early, get up tomorrow and everything will be great. She said OK, but I could tell that this was going to be a much shorter stay in Negril than I thought.


After lunch we headed to the Valu-Master, bought 12 Red Stripes and a bottle of Appletons. We also got some plantain chips and some Ting and we found a couple of cups that we could use in the room to mix drinks in. OK…back to our hotel. As soon as we walked out of the store, we got attacked again, by guys wanting to give us taxi rides, sell us smoke, etc. We declined ALL offers and walked through the roundabout and up to the hotel. We spent a few minutes unpacking our supplies and Melo all of a sudden said, “I’m going to call Montego Bay and see if there are any rooms available at Sunset, just in case we don’t end up being able to handle this.” I said, “OK, always good to keep our options open.” I thought we were keeping our options open, but in the back of my mind I figured we would be back in Montego Bay in less than 24 hours. Ends up there was room for us and our friend said she would hold a room for us “just in case.”


After another trip down to the bar/beach, we came back to the room to get ready for dinner. I decided we would walk down to Miss Sonia’s and I thought it would be a quick walk, out to the road we go. It is dark, there are cars wizzing by in all directions, lots of honking, cars stopping to offer us rides, etc. After walking what I thought was plenty of time to get to Miss Sonia’s, a car pulled over and asked us where we were going. “Miss Sonia’s mon,” I proclaim. Driver said, “it’s down the beach a ways mon, get in, I will take you, 500J.” I thought, Ok, that is not too bad (route fare back then was 80J, but I knew I wasn’t brave enough for that yet), so we jumped in the car. After about what seemed like 30 seconds, the cab stopped, “Miss Sonia’s” the driver proclaimed, I thought “Wow, that was the shorted $7.00 taxi ride I have ever taken!!”


We sat down at Miss Sonia’s and had a meal, it wasn’t the greatest as they were out of most things that we wanted to order, so I was disappointed. All of the research that I did and the plans that I had made for this great Negril vacation were turning out to all go wrong. I was having a miserable time, and Melo, even though she wasn’t saying it would have left Negril that moment for the familiarity and the comfort of Montego Bay. Once we were back in the room, I mixed up a Rum and Ting and Melo was getting ready for bed. I piped up and said, “Confirm the room at Sunset, I will call our driver and you figure out how to get our money back for the room that we have paid for here (Melo has always been the negotiator in our family!!!).” She said, “Really, you want to go back to Montego Bay?” I simply said, “look, I thought I knew what I was doing, I thought this was going to be great, but we can’t walk 10 steps without being offered “stuff” and I can tell you are miserable, and it just isn’t worth it.” Needless to say, she was on the phone, quickly, confirmed the room and we got our driver and told him to pick us up tomorrow at 10am for the drive back to MoBay. (One more background post and then the October Trip Report, I promise)

I like it, I can't wait to hear more!

Very nice report. Looking forward to the next installment!

Great story so far. Our first trip to Jamaica was in 93 for our honeymoon at Sandals Royal also. We went like lambs to the market on our own (much to the chagrin of the staff at Sandals) and did OK, I think the rain (liquid sunshine) and moments at a little stand drinking Red Stripes with some really nice folks saved us. The rest of our trips have been to Negril, #5 coming up for the 20th next year.

We got up the next morning feeling pretty good, we were getting out of this mistake, and were headed back to the comfort of the AI in Montego Bay. One thing left to do, Melo still had to get our money back from the hotel in order to keep up her end of the bargain. Off she went, and in no time she was back with a smile on her face and a credit slip in her hand for our credit card, showing a full refund for our remaining nights there. She said she told them at the front desk that we just simply could not stay there, the tears running down her cheeks probably sealed the deal.

So an uneventful ride back to MoBay and 5 for nights in the AI hotel, off we went back to the states. It was an interesting trip to say the least, but I still had a hunger to figure this Negril thing out once and for all.

The next year, we agreed to head off to Jamaica again for a New Year’s trip. I had continued my obsession, I mean research on Negril on Negril.com. I read several trip reports about the Grand Pineapple. All Inclusive, on the beach, in Negril. Wow, I thought, all good things!!! So we gave it a try, 6 nights in January, right after the first of the year. That trip went great, the comfort of the All Inclusive atmosphere coupled with the wonderful beach in Negril, it was literally the best of both worlds. The only problem was we liked to get out and explore and did that most days while at GP. We would walk up the beach, hitting little bars and then turning around and heading back to GP for dinner. Great fun, I thought. Each day on the way up and on the way back we would stop and hang out at Rondel Village. They had this great bar right on the beach and the bartenders there were great. We talked to a lot of guests there, most of them were returning guests, many of them multiple-time returning guests. We talked to the security guards and they offered us a tour of the property. Great, I said as Melo sat at the bar and put down some serious Negril roots. The tour of the property was great and I thought to myself, OK, finally, we found a place, non-AI, on the beach, nice place, good rooms, very secure. Next trip we are staying at Rondel Village, we are finally going to do it, breaking out 100% from the AI mold. The only thing I didn’t know was how soon the next trip would be.

We left Grand Pineapple on January 7, 2009. When we reached Atlanta for our connecting flight, we received a call on our cell-phone telling us that my Grandfather, who was in very bad health, had passed away that morning. He was 89 years old, had lived a great life, travelled everywhere (I mean EVERYWHERE!!!) and was the one that influenced me to get out and see the world and while I was doing it to make sure that I saw the “real world,” not just the ones in the tour book. So back at home now, we worked one day and then off to visitation and the funeral. About 2 weeks after we were back, we had a couple of accidents at our businesses involving cars driving through windows and doing major damage. Then towards the end of January, we had a big ice-storm at home that knocked out power to lots of folks around us (we only lost it for a few hours, a lot of people were without power for days) and then after the ice storm we received a large amount of snow. Returning to work after a couple of days and getting curious about airfare, I checked out USAirways.com just to see what airfare was for Superbowl weekend to Jamaica. WOW….I checked (it was Thursday) and we could fly to Montego Bay on Saturday for $360 each. I knew what I had to do. Call Melo… she answered, I didn’t say Hi, I didn’t even tell her who it way (she knew of course), all I said was “how does $360 sound?” After a slight pause, she said “is that airfare??” I said “Yep, leave Saturday, come back on Wednesday, the least we are going to do is go down there and spin ourselves backwards in the sand to change our luck.” “Where are we going to stay, she said.” “I’m taking care of the flights right now, you figure out where we are going to stay!!” So I booked the flights, best airfare we have ever scored!!! 15 minutes later, the phone rings, it’s Melo. “I called Grand Pineapple, they don’t have any rooms.” “Oh, OK.” I replied. “But Rondel Village has room and we are booked there.” “Seriously!!!! Awesome!!!” I said.

There you have it, “How Monty and Melo got comfortable with Negril”…trip report soon come on our latest weeklong adventure. We just returned from our 8th stay at Rondel Village since 2009. These trips have included our kids, some family members, another couple with their kids and of course our yearly (now February) trip with just the two of us. I simply can’t imagine how life would be if we hadn’t been stubborn enough to give Negril a second chance. I truly feel more at home there than I do when I am at home here in Southern Indiana. I love my stateside life, but I really “live” when I make it to Jamaica and Negril.

A few notes about the trip report (soon come, I promise). When I say “we” did this or “we” did that, I am referring to Melo and Myself. When I say “I” think or “I” thought, that is purely me, please don’t hold my thoughts or opinions (assuming you don’t like or agree with them) against my lovely bride. She may have a different opinion than me, or simply doesn’t think about things that happen to her on vacation as much as I do. We travelled with my brother and his girlfriend, and out of respect for them, I will not list their names, but I will refer to them as LG and JMA. I will be posting many pictures of the week, including a trip to a friend’s house in Lucea where we attended an old-fashioned Jamaican BBQ, including a live goat (he wasn’t alive very long), Curried Goat, Mannish Water and lots of white rum. I hope your enjoyed the story of our Negril background (sorry it was so long!!) and that you will enjoy our trip report. I will post it under a different thread, just to keep this one from getting too long.

Hey man, you know I am sitting here awaiting this report, but most importantly, you owe me an answer on the goat. Did you do it? And please forgive my lovely wife and her love for all things goat. She's in the business of making animals better and sometimes gets a little overzealous with her love for animals, and slap her full of Red Stripe she becomes an extremist. Great meeting you and the clan by the way. Your brother broke the mood quite well.
"I have never been so F'ing happy in my life, ever." I'm so F'ing happy right now, you can't pay for this happy." You guys cracked me up at Bentley's that night.

I absolutely love this story. Can't wait for more!

Looking forward to reading more of your trip report! I'm really enjoying it so far and I love the backstory!

Hey Booger.....

I'm going to make you wait for the trip report, but suffice to say, the goat met it'd demise, but it wasn't due to my hands. Let's just say once we shared a ride with the goat from Negril to Lucea, I was faced with the fact that I was going to have some large bills to pay with Melo if I got a knife anywhere close to the goat. You'll see what I mean in the trip report.

We got some great videos of Bentley and his laugh the night that we met you guys, it was one of the highlights of the trip for us.

Soon come....

Great report, I'm waiting for more!

thanks monty - it's never too long - we LIVE for trip reports :-)

Excellent backstory, can't wait for the report! I'm curious about which hotel it was - the one you didn't name. I understand why you couldn't post it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seveen

thanks monty - it's never too long - we LIVE for trip reports :-)

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What Seveen said

Great writing Monty,can't wait for the report!

Righteous report!

Happy Travels...

SKB!