Should I be concerned? ... and Christmas plans

[ukran1ans]

I've brought my daughters and grandson down a couple of times. They have a ball. If you're nervous about walking the beach at night, grab a cab. My girls have gone to the jungle a couple of times by themselves too.

[stonyplainclint]

We stay north of Rondel, at CSA. We walk the beach everyday past Rondel to visit our beach friend and vendor Ozzy. He’s just south of Rondel with a huge palapa. We never have an issue walking during the day. Few respectful no thanks and higglers will leave you be. Last year we walked a few times even further south to see and visit Octavius down at Negril Gardens, again issue free.

Plus we will grab a taxi or one of our local friends to go up to the cliffs to visit some local restaurants. Go and enjoy! We are there from December 18-26, maybe we will see ya on our travels to Ozzy

[original spanky]

Lucea is about 2/3 rds of the way to Negril from Mo Bay .

[phineasfreakears]

“Lucy” is the bustling little town of Lucea, about half way between Montego Bay and Negril

[Accompong]

Our family will be spending a week during Christmas (23-30) at Rondel Village. This probably wouldn't have been our first choice had we have booked earlier, but I'm sure we'll be very happy there. We've been to Jamaica in 2018 at an AI in Bloody Bay. We spent an afternoon at 7 Mile and decided this is where we wanted to return. Since booking, I'm starting to be a bit nervous. I've been reading about the state of emergency and that's concerning. Then I read that everything is costing more as a result of the Jamaican dollar devaluation.

Our plan once arriving (Dec 24th) is to walk along the beach into town to a store and buy a few things to have on hand, alcohol, mix, munchies, etc. (all our meals will be in restaurants) then taxi back to our hotel. Our kids are adults so I expect some later nights also, walk to restaurants for evening meals. I've read to stick to the roads, not beach.

Are my concerns unfounded? (fingers crossed)

I just returned from 40+ days out on the island and only visited Negril a couple of times for an hour or two and came in contact with the SOE forces several times at different check points. One time we were "extorted" for $1000 Jamaican by a soldier which was irritating and, other than the wait to pass through the check points, the minor inconvenience is worth, in my opinion, the reduction in serious crime most everywhere on the island. If you are staying in the Negril area you will probably not encounter a Check Point except for on the way to Negril which you will just be waived through most probably.

I assume you are coming from the US (your profile doesn't show a country) so any price increases will be offset by the higher valuation of the US dollars you exchange so that should not be much of a concern.

Uncross your fingers and have a great trip.