First trip to Negril Jamaica trip report

Oh my gosh...We got up this morning at 2:15 A.M. to get ready to go to the airport. Left the house at 3:15. Arrived at the airport at 4:30 and proceeded to go to ticketing. Great! The first class line is really short. Oh no....Some Japanese tourists have their luggage covered with plastic wrap and don't understand why they have to unwrap their luggage..guess they have not heard of TSA...:p. We get shuffled over to the self serve kiosk..which works out just fine..because the line is now HUGE..check in the luggage and we are off to ride the Willy Wonka train (If you have ever flown into Denver you get it..Gene Wilder version). We get to the gate..only 4 minutes till boarding..woohoo..soo excited. We get on the plane..get seated and take our first picture..will post it later. Plane takes off and we are airborne..1 1/2 hour flight to Dallas / Fort Worth..then the real flight to Jamaica..I find out that the airplane has inflight wifi..how cool is that..We are in the air and I am posting this..:cool:

Have a great trip! Enjoy the ride from the airport to Negril. Maybe a short stop for a Red stripe while in route to Negril.

Can't wait to hear the rest of the story.....

Enjoy the sunsets!

VVHT

Lucky! Cant wait to read more!

Attachment 27470Attachment 27471Attachment 27472Attachment 27473We are currently off the coast of Florida. Nice Lunch provided on the flight. I have posted a few pics of the morning so far!

Enjoy! Can't wait to read your report...getting my fix every chance I get until my return in August!

Your first trip that's awesome. The feeling of being in Jamaica is almost magical. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

This is going to be a GREAT trip report!!~Have a BLAST!!

We have a 7 hour layover in Denver .. What's this willy wonks business

Have a great trip. Can't wait for more.....

Love to see how it is in a newbie eyes, brings back memories so long ago 87

we have been going since '84.....many-many trips have passed, BUT! nothing will ever replace the "FIRST"...they may get better as they did, but never equal our first time........

read our blog on our first trip, if you wanna funny story.........see link below
have FUN

I have a good feeling about this report .....

newbies!

It's kind of an inside joke on the Willy Wonka thing..If you have seen the Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory..there is a part where he is on the wacky boat and the ride is really weird. The train that goes from TSA security to the various gates..has that same feel to it the lights flash on and off as you get really close to the wall. It used to trip our kids out..and they would call it the Willy Wonka Ride. So it stuck. if you don't have to travel between gate areas you won't see it. And you really won't see the wacked out statue of the blue horse with the evil red eyes as you drive into the airport..the artist must have been really wacked when he put that sculpture together.. Anyway..we got through customs lickity split..we had the MOBAY lounge package and it took us 5 minutes to get through customs. Our mobay guide was wonderful and we had some punch in the lounge and headed over to the Sandals lounge where they had our luggage ready to go..The Sandal's rep told us it would be about 20 minutes to 1/2 an hour before we would head out. That was fine..it was going to allow us to sample some punch.. Well we were only there 5 minutes and the Sandals rep said they had a car for us..we had a personal driver named mark, and he was awesome.. The GP is a nice place..It's not fancy but that's not what we were looking for. The room is clean and the right size for the 2 of us.

We just hung out on the beach and watched the folks walking around (actually not too many) and the few vendors walking around. Had the dinner buffet at the GP and basically are really tired as we have been up since 2:00 A.M. mountain time. Will post a few more pics from today later. Tommorrow is slug day..mrs Stang wants to just lay out and get some sun! I will have to keep myself occupied keeping her hydrated

Haha that's hilarious

tomorrow night, tues, alfreds is right next door and will have live entertainment...enjoy your trip

Enjoy your trip, I loved having in flight wi-fi

Make sure you take in the beauty of Jamaica on the way to Negril via taxi (I'm assuming)... I've always enjoyed seeing that part of my journey, stopping at an occasional
rum bar, grabbing a Red Stripe.... having an overproof shot lol (only twice) ... Ive always loved seeing that portion of the island and how life moves and shakes and lives....
enjoy that first taste of Negril, I'm sure it will be 1 of many......cheers

Well here we are at Day 2..It was a great day. spent some time walking around the beach in the morning..picked up a couple of items and Mrs Stang got her hair braided. We had a couples massage for an hour and a half..it was soooo relaxing..the beach was great, however it is not crowded at all due to the offseason..had a nice almost sunset..but the clouds got into the way. Tommorrow is the One Love Bus Bar Crawl! Will post more pictures tomorrow after the bus crawl....BTW..has anyone else had a hard time getting a buzz on alchohol at the GP...we have had to have them double the amount of alcohol to get even anything going. anyway..here are a few more pics.Attachment 27543Attachment 27544Attachment 27545Attachment 27546

Woke up this morning to a beautiful beach. Had lunch at Alfreds. Got tour scheduled for the Black River, YS Falls, and Appleton tomorrow. Then went to Alfreds for lunch! busy morning.Attachment 27598Attachment 27599Attachment 27600

then we went on Lemberts One Love tour! What a blast. It was packed..We were the last 2 to get on the bus but they shoe horned us in. First Stop was the Justice of the Peace. What a great hostess! We had complimentary appetizers that were wonderful. Attachment 27601Attachment 27602. Then we went to another bar that we can't remember..Then to the Country and Western Bar. The electricity went out right before we got there..so there was no country music playing..too bad...It was fun, then it was off to the No limit Bar, which was fun. At one of them Lembert brought out a Parrot which everyone got a kick out ofAttachment 27603. Then it was off to Xtabi which was really cool with the caves.Attachment 27605 We then went to another bar where some of our group jumped into the water from a tower. Don't recall the name of that place. After that we headed over to Bella Donna's Now I have read all the things about Bella Donna's and I have to say from our experience that the first thing Lembert told us when we got off the bus was if we wanted Pizza it would be 200 J per slice..Not a problem mon! Mrs Stang and I bought 2 slices and a couple of cold ones. I paid 500 J for the 2 slices cuz I felt like it, and 800 J for the cold ones. We didn't have a problem with it and the pizza was very good! Attachment 27607 Last we headed over to the last place..just past famous Ricks...the sunset was gorgeous there, and everyone had a great time. Lembert was awesome, and if you get a chance you should definitely do this. It is fun and show's a different side of Negril. Of course for most of you it's old news..For us Newbies though it is really cool.Attachment 27608Attachment 27609

:)

Thanks for posting!

More please!

VVHT

Keep it coming, I'm enjoying the report.

cant wait to read more we were hopeing to get there this year but it looks like it will be next year

I think this is the first on site report from a newbie, wow Thanks

I have a smile on my face. Thanks for sharing!

Great TR Mr./Ms. Stang - loving it. You're only a first timer once, and I'm enjoying your perspective. Spoken as a first timer just dying for the second time!

Where did you find a couples massage and how much did that run ?? My lady really wants something like that! Great report keep it coming

Great pics and trip report!

One question - Where is "Justice of the Peace"? I'll have to check it out when I'm down there next week.

She is actually the Justice of the Peace in Negril..She runs this bar out of her back yard after she is done with her JP duities. That's what Lembert told us. She was so nice. She kicked out her regulars for a bit while we were there. It was funny some of the ladies with us had to use the bathroom, and she said Mi Casa Su Casa..its in the house! How cool is that!

I will be posting pics of Black River and Appleton later today. We went with another couple. I wasn't able to take any pics at YS Falls as my camera is not waterproof. But the cother couple we went with took plenty of pics for us. Hopefully they will get emailed to us and I will post them. Today is gonna be a lazy day cuz yesterday was a busy day..might go snorkeling tomorrow depending on how the water is.

Loving your report. You must try the fish and chips at Alfreds. They are awesome!

The couples massage was available at the hotel. The Grand Pineapple may be small but it is nice. They have their own spa across the street on the Garden side of the Hotel. The Ladies were great and attentative..as this is the off season there is not much going on for them so they have been by the beach to try to get some folks to go over and have something done. I might take them up on it on Sunday if they are open...would be nice to get another relaxation massage before our flight on Monday. Will be posting pictures of our day yesterday shortly.

Yesterday we did the 3 site southern tour..Black River, YS Falls and Appleton Distillery. It was booked through Island routes which Sandals resort has a contract with. (Grand Pineapple is a Sandals corp resort, but not designed for only couples, and a lot less of the ameneties.) We went with another couple from South Carolina. They were newly weds on their honeymoon. It was kinda cool hey were first starting out and we are on our 30th. anyway.. the ride to the black river took forever..due to the poor condition of the roads. They are working on them due to the Sandals resort opening up in Whitehouse. We arrived after an almost 2 hour drive. We headed to the boats.Attachment 27790 Then it was out on the river..It was amazing to see all the various species of birds. Right now is the nesting season for some of the species.Attachment 27791 Neaby was a crocodile named Phillip. he comes out when the boat comes as he sometimes gets a treat from the "captain". The captain said that they don't feed them all the time so that the crocs don't get dependent upon handouts. That way they still have to hunt. Phillip stays by the nesting grounds to pick up any hatchlings that may drop into the water.Attachment 27792Attachment 27793. We then headed out into the mangrove forest. It is really cool how the branches drop the tubes down to the water to pull moisture up. We then headed out to another area where there were 3 crocs..two males named Tom & Jerry and one large female Josephine she was about 12 feet long. There was this bird hanging out around there looking for some baby crocs..evidently according to our guide it's the circle of life..the bird eats the baby crocks..and if the crocs make it later they eat the birds!Attachment 27794 I'll post about Appleton after lunch.

sorry didn't get to finish the report from Wednesday. Here are pics from Appleton. Attachment 27810Attachment 27811Attachment 27812Attachment 27813

Yesterday we had a bad case of laziness... We just laid on the beach and played in the water. Oh..We bought our first patties, and coco bread. They were awesome. Today we went out snorkeling. Our first time. Mrs Stang did great..I sucked...I'm not a great swimmer and coming from the desert, not real comfortable in the water. We went out with "captain" Moses..he is located next door to Alfreds. We picked him because the other guys were way too pushy, and Famous Vincent was busy. It was really cool to see all the fish, and we brought some bread to feed them while we were snorkeling. It was wild to see all the fish crowd around taking pieces of the bread from Mrs Stang. She really enjoyed the trip. Me....I'm gonna have to practice this snorkeling thing before we come back. It's raining now and we are sitting on our balcony just enjoying the rain. Hopefully it will break and dry out as we have a sunset dinner planned on the beach. Will post pictures of it tomorrow. ugh.. tomorrow..Tommorrow will be our last full day here and we really don't want to leave. It is so true what they say..Once you go you know.

I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your first trip to Negril. I first visited in 1990 and have been returning ever since.

Thanks for the on-site 1st timers report Stang.

The last full day is always a struggle between enjoying it and dealing with the fact that you must leave the next day.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 68Stang

Tommorrow will be our last full day here and we really don't want to leave. It is so true what they say..Once you go you know.

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Are you reading this Lion? Isn't your time "soon come"?

Can't wait to hear your thoughts also.

Thanks for the pictures 68Stang! Time to plan your next trip :), it helps ease the pain of having to leave... Enjoy your last day in paradise!

You write a really sweet report, thanks.