My wife and I just returned from 13 days in Jamaica with the last 5 being spent in Negril and thought I would share a few thoughts of what we did/saw.
- stayed at Treehouse as we did the last 3 years. I still believe it is one of the best Negril deals especially when you use a Living Social voucher as we did.
- Weather was unsettled and the seas rough (OK only by Negril Standards). We did not get a clear sunset the week of March 13th.
- Seems to be less hustle on the beach than previous years. Vendors seem less aggressive. This has never really bothered us in the past but there just seems to be less.
- I would use the word expansive to describe the state of the beach. The negative is "too much sand" means that it is often not deep enough to bob in the ocean, one of my favorite past times.
-Boatbar and Drifters did not seem as busy on music days as we recall in the past. i would say in general the beach seemed quiet by comparison to previous March trips.
-A visible police presence (not tourist police) was noted on the beach. Saw them at Treehouse bar area, drifters, and around Sunnyside. In fact a vendor selling coconut to my wife was noticeably jumpy and on edge looking around when she returned to the room for money. I am not sure the two are related but suspect they may be.
- We added Canoe and Qualities as new visits this year. I think Canoe has one of the most impressive views in Negril. Just make sure you look right when stepping out the front door. Quality rocks!! Great food and we loved the complementary drive home. The only other comment would be that the service is "Jamaica style" if ya know what I mean. We have learned to expect this over the years and always go prepared.
Dru's is the best place for cold/cheap redstripe and have great bathrooms. The woodwork at Woodstock is unbelievable.
- walked the road, on the sidewalk a few times through the day which is something we would not have done pre-sidewalk (not for pleasure anyway). Lots of cool places to stop. They do need to consider dumpster locations though.
-A lot of development going on as part of Long Bay Beach Park phase 2 and and the 2 all inclusive's.
-Seemed to be a lot of younger visitors this year. Actually saw a couple of "official spring break" groups this year"
All in All another great trip!