How the AI resort was started in Jamaica.

[poolguywindsor]

Between this board and realnegril webcasts, think of how many tourists would have never left the AI!

[lisapat]

Poolguy, that makes 2 of us, right here!!..Patrick and myself...we did Couples Resorts for 5 years before getting here and realizing that we could enjoy Jamaica without all that hype...The resort people never tried to intimidate us like I've read here so many times, that leaving the property was a scary undertaking, we just felt that, seeing the "third world" through the windows of the happy bus while getting from Sangster to AI, was a cautionary venture on it's own, and thus, didn't try to leave the comforts of our hotel. You must admit....for the price you're paying to be there, you might as well stay and drink, eat, play, relax all you can, as the outside will be "coin operated", and staying onsite is already "paid for". I couldn't help, though..looking past the "point" of Bloody Bay (Point Village) from the beach, that there was more of Seven Mile Beach to enjoy, more of Jamaica and it's people, and more of Negril. Glad this board is here

[Rob]

To set some matters straight and let the truth be known, raises in the minimum wages in Jamaica this century alone has seen the minimum wage increase in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012. I am not agreeing with the amount of the wages, just setting the record straight.

http://www.lmis.gov.jm/lmis.aspx?id=...inimum%20Wages

http://m.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Ne...-effect-today-

There are rules and regulations for all manners of pay including overtime, holiday, vacation and gratuity payments. These are laws that all employers must follow. If an employee states something different, then perhaps they are unaware or have some other reason to not let you know the facts.

http://www.mlss.gov.jm/download/HolidayPay.pdf

http://www.ilocarib.org.tt/projects/...ica_act5.shtml

Some basic guidelines for all Jamaican employers can be found at:

http://www.jamaicatax.gov.jm/index.p...ployer-s-guide

As a business owner in Jamaica, I have had to keep abreast of these laws and make sure that they are followed.

There is a reason that any job opening at a major all-inclusive never has a lack of respondents - these job are highly sought after positions.

And as for the security checks, when Lisa was dealing with some business issues with Beaches, they searched her every time she entered the property. She noticed that everyone was being searched from the groundskeepers to upper management. There were no exceptions.

[MoFromMonroe]

We also did Couples Negril for 5 years before going non AI. It was actually the Couples program of "Trading Places" allowing us to spend the day at Couples Swept Away that got us out of the AI. Once at CSA it was easy to walk down the beach and check out other resorts, bars and restaurants. Of course after that negril.com paved the rest of the way. I don't think we would ever go back but do agree it is a pretty safe way to ease into a new country.

[lisapat]

we did the same thing, Mo...did love the trading places thing, and MAy go back one day to CN, but probably not for $$ sake. We're still not totally off the inclusive thing as we just LOVE Grand Pineapple, but will start this next reach with a stay at Seastar Inn

[groove16]

Where you thinking?

I'm leaning toward

Kuyaba
Gatehouse villa
Wild parrot
Fun holiday
Nirvana.

Going to get serious in about a week or 2

think we are trying 4 days beach, 2 days cliffs, and 4-6 days back on beach....

looking at negril escape for the cliff stay

fun holiday rising up on our list
also looking at
kuyaba
travelers, which are both on our favorite end of the beach

wild parrot
fun holiday
rooms on the beach

and the deal gail put on here for tree house...never stayed on that end of the beach..

janet also found a deal across the street at coral seas....not sure about across the street, I like as close to the water as I can get....

[poolguywindsor]

Thanks for clarification Rob, from what I have heard the laws for employees in Jamaica are very similar to here in Canada.

[Piggymon]

First one in Negril was Negril Beach Village built by the gov't. Now it's Hedo. We used to call it Rutland Point which is the name if the land it's on.

I used to walk from where I lived in Red Ground to the island nearly every day and dive on the reef there by the island. I remember the trip when I discovered that some trees had been marked and a small amount of clearing had been done. It seemed pretty obvious that things were going to change in Negril. I was not happy about the pending changes but it made sense that the government would want to make money from the beautiful beach.

When Negril Beach Village opened, I would go there for the buffet lunch with free cheap wine. There was usually a wet tee shirt contest afterwards, always worth staying for to see the new talent. One afternoon after enjoying one of these buffet lunches, a Greek guy, who had a large old time sailing ship anchored offshore of the Negril Beach Village decided he was going to throw me into the pool. He had a couple of buddies helping him, but I was strong and covered in coconut oil and I didn't particularly want to be thrown into the pool at that time. They were not able to get me into the pool. That and me managing to bed a woman or two that he thought were his, made him an enemy of mine. I did not care about him one way or another, but he tried to get me busted a few times, once or twice coming too darn close. I never did anything to him. I hope his karma caught up to him at some point. I suspect it did.

I would buy the plastic shark’s teeth that they used as money so that I could get into the disco at night. It was a small disco, but the DJ was a great guy and he played some fine tunes. I brought him back a heavy linked silver bracelet from Lima Peru that gleamed against his black wrist. I ran into him in Berkeley at a memorial concert held there shortly after Bob Marley died. It is a small world.

There were hemispherical windows in the disco that looked into the pool. Occasionally someone would moon the crowd at the disco. It was always better when the mooner was woman. I took a lot of good looking women out of that disco to my bed. One of note was a big blond Lufthansa stewardess. She had long wavy blond hair all the way down to her waist. She was big, but not fat, just large and thick, but shapely. She was there with a guy, a Lufthansa Pilot I think, but she managed to give him the slip long enough for us to get together.

The prettiest girl I ever met at the disco was there with her family, a younger brother, father and mother. I never saw her at the disco at night, but I saw her around the resort in the afternoon when I played beach volleyball and made a point to flirt with her. One afternoon they had a little music in the disco. It must have been impromptu since I don't remember ever going there in the afternoon other than that one time. There were not many people in the disco but she saw me head down there and joined me. They were serving rum punch gratis. I think that may have been the first time that she ever had anything to drink. I told her to slow down, but she was having fun and those little plastic glasses of rum punch went down easy. She was only wearing a bikini and a sheer beach coat. We danced and laughed and hugged a bit. She thought my suggestion to go to my room an excellent one. The inevitable occurred and then she promptly fell asleep. Or passed out. Whatever.

In any case she was not going anywhere for a while. It was after dark by the time I was able to get her up and moving. She looked a little out of place in the dark with her beach wear on. We had not gone very far before some woman came up and claimed her, shooting me dirty looks, and said that they were all worried about her and were looking everywhere for her. The woman hustled her off to her family leaving me standing there.

That evening, was the first night that her family allowed her to go the disco at night. No use shutting the barn door after the horse is out, I reckon. We danced and she promised to leave her door unlocked for me that night. She was leaving for home the next morning. I said I would be by later, but met another woman and never showed up at her door. She was a Canadian of Scots decent. At least she was not mad at me for getting her drunk and helping her to lose her virginity. The maid raised hell about the bloody sheets the next morning, but I gave her a tip for her trouble and that was that.

I usually did not spend the night at Negril Beach Village, but did sometimes when they would not let you just buy sharks teeth but said that only hotel guests could enter the disco. When that happened, I would pay for a room for a night or two. One morning I woke up alone in a room at the village with a terrible hangover. I often woke up with a hangover but usually did not wake up alone. I have found that there is no cure for hangover, except the passage of time, but smoking some good ganga at least mitigates the worst effects. It was still early, but with my throbbing headache, I was not going to be able to get any more sleep.

I rolled up a small doobie and walked up the beach towards Red Ground. Back then, there was very little development past the Sundowner, so once I was on the open beach, I lit up my jay. The morning sun, the green of the jungle, the blue of the water and sky, and the sweet herb made me feel better as I strolled along the beach. I was getting down to a small roach when a fully clothed Jamaican came out of the bush from the left and stood in front of me, barking angrily. He looked to be about 35 or 40 and I suspected that he was a plainclothes cop.

I flicked the roach into the surf and faced him. He asked me what I was doing and I said nothing. I was not overly concerned until he bent over to retrieve the roach from the sand where a couple of wavelets had washed it up on shore. The bad part was he was gathering evidence. The good part was bending down and reaching for the roach while trying to keep his leather oxfords dry put him in an awkward position. I used that split second to exit, stage right, hoofing it back towards the Negril Beach Village. I did not run regularly or workout, but I did live an active lifestyle and I was in good shape. After about a hundred yards or so I figured that I had put a good amount of distance between myself and my pursuer, since compared to me, he was an old man. I looked over my shoulder to make sure and was aghast to see that the old SOB was right on my behind.

That freaked me out and I put it into overdrive. It discouraged him when he saw me kick it up a notch since he was already going full speed. He dropped back and I slowed to a trot, my energy spent. Then the old man started hollering and yelling to another cop down the beach. This cop started walking towards me, yelling and waving his arms. So now I was exhausted and trapped between two plainclothes policemen. I was wearing nothing but a bathing suit and swim like a fish, so I jumped into the ocean and struck out for the open sea. The police did not follow me into the water, but I could see that they were marking my progress, so I swam further out until I could no longer see them watching me. I swam parallel to the beach back towards the Negril Beach Village. Once I was offshore of the hotel, I slowly worked my way towards the beach, merging with the guests who were swimming, and eventually climbing out onto the beach. I went to my room and had a shower and changed into the clothes that I wore the night before. I spotted the cop hanging out at the bar and he gave me the evil eye, but did not talk. That was as close as I ever got to getting busted for smoking ganga in Jamaica.

[Face Down]

Now BEFORE you start defending your AI and telling me all this is BS, I will tell you that these are places I STAYED and became friends with the people who worked there and i KNOW what I am talking about when it comes to this AI.

As someone who have been to both Hedo's over the last 10 years and have become friends with many of the staff...some who have been there 10...15...20+ years I can say that they love and appreciate the jobs that they have. While all AI's may not be equal...I think calling it slavery is quite over the top.