We just got home from an 8 night trip. 5 nights at Negril Tree House which was excellent and the final 4 at Sunset on the Cliffs which was very good. Met up with lots of old friends and made some new ones. Had an interesting dinner with a woman from Kingston who is from one of the prominent families that is involved in politics. She runs a great charity and told us some really cool stories, never thought I would have dinner with someone who knew Bob and Rita Marley personally. She was very interested in how we viewed Negril from a tourist perspective.
This was our 4th trip to Negril on US Labor Day Weekend, it was by far the slowest we can recall. The tourist population was def down. Its the first trip we really noticed a lot more places closed or out of food/cold beer, etc. The hustlers were full throttle, though it was nice to see some new twists, we saw a guy hawking shrimp with an ice bag on top and carrying all on his head. We aren't really bothered by the hustlers but there were a couple that were extra aggressive. One snuck around behind us and tied a bracelet on the boss lady wrist from behind. She pulled away and insisted that he take it back, he took off and said we can just pay later. Two days in a row he approached us and tried to collect "payment". I finally had to tell him not to even come around us again and what he did was out of line and he would get no payment for us. We also had a weird experience with a "cabbie" he wasn't a licensed red plate though, he pulled up to us on the cliffs and offered a ride, we pointed to our resort and said we were only steps away and no thanks and respect. He leaned out the window and said "I am turning around and you are going to spend some money with me." I told him that would be a real bad idea on his part and he should just keep going. That was a new one or at least a previously unnoticed one. We also noticed the motorcycles were much quieter than in Feb. They seemed to be staying off beach road at least. Still pretty thick in Negril around town but def not as many on the beach front road. This was our first trip in which two bartenders told us to walk the road back to resort and stay off beach after dark. We had intended to anyways, but it was a first. A business owner on the cliffs where we stop for patties told us he had a cell phone stolen just before we got there. He was almost in tears, said second one. He said it was construction guys that grabbed it while he was making change. He said police got his last one back, and he hoped to track this guy down as well. One of the female bartenders said she even had a male come at closing time to walk her out as the "Kingston gang boys" had been coming around quite a bit. These were just her words and nothing we observed or had an issue with. Saw a 20 min dolphin show while hanging at Negril Escape, that was a nice surprise. One love pub crawl was a complete homerun as well. Our 4th time going and only went to one repeat stop which was of course at sunset as we have probably watched the sunset from about every bar he stops at. Lenbert is a great guy and great representative of Negril.
Great meals at: Negril Tree House, JA fried chicken dinner was amazing!! Italian restaurant at Mariposa was really good and had a really decent bottle of wine at a good price. LTU provided our party of 9 with really good service and an excellent meal. Alley's Little Sunset on the Cliffs served us some excellent patties and even delivers, great guy with great service. The breakfast at Sunset on the Cliffs was excellent and very cheap!!
Clive provided really good shuttle service as always and his van is new and perfectly clean. The Red Stripe Catamarran was blast and the Red Strip was cold and food good! Rasta Ringo provided some good vibes and we enjoyed reasoning with him. He is worth the walk all the way at end of beach towards town. I don't know what they call the bar but Susan is the bartender and its in the lower level of the new place being built next to the German Bar, we met some awesome folks and enjoyed several beverages as well.
All in all a very good trip and one of our best. I only tell some of the oddities to share the experience not to complain or anything like that. We talked to a lot of first timers and that was of course their biggest complaint. That and the typical slow service and JA time. We don't even pay attention to that anymore, we tell everyone pick a good spot with a view and order the appropriate beverage and actually engage in conversation. I have some job choices and changes I pondered through all week, tried not to let it stress me and harsh my vibe but hey had to be reasoned out. JA is a good place to do that.
Respect!
We had some really good food and met some really cool people and that is what Negril is all about! I would def highly recommend Negril Tree House or Sunset on the Cliffs, they were both great values with great staffing.
Originally Posted by RonMon
