Restaurants & Bars along d'beach mon!

[nicollet]

Wrong...it's disrespectful. Obvioulsy your not a very well travelled individual.

[Accompong]

Wrong...it's disrespectful. Obvioulsy your not a very well travelled individual.

Well, I know one thing that is pretty sure. All this works in Negril, MoBay, Ochi and other touristy areas but not so much in "country".

If you hand a shop owner in my area of St. Elizabeth a $20 US bill to purchase something, you will get some amount of Jamaican back (maybe) as most would have to make a rough guess or call someone who might know.

In 30+ years I have almost always used Jamaican Currency mostly out of necessity as I live in remote areas. Frankly, if places in Negril didn't make it easy for the non-initiated to spend their foreign currency, they probably wouldn't get as much business.

I live and work in a touristy area of So. Florida when not home in Jamaica and I almost never see anything other than US currency..... even from Jamaicans!

Just my opinion.

[Rob]

Wrong...it's disrespectful. Obvioulsy your not a very well travelled individual.

Nicollet,

No one in Negril, MoBay, Ochi, Port Antonio, Kingston, or nearly anywhere on the island will take disrespect if you use US$ currency. In fact, with the fluctuations in the JA$, many businesses are more than happy to receive US$. If they think you may be North American, you are very often asked by your cashier, "is this in US$ or JA$?'

Many of the bills on the POS systems at restaurants have multiple currencies listed so you can pay in the currency of your choice. I know this because I helped set many of them up. Obviously they are generally not giving the same rate as a cambio, but they do this not only for convenience but they also have to pay some of their bills in US$.

MegaMart actually has the best exchange rate of nearly any store, or cambio for that matter. That encourages payment in US$.

Although it may seem counter intuitive as most visitors home countries only expect payment in their home currency, Jamaica being a small island nation, much of what is needed to keep the island running is imported - steel, oil, foods, autos, etc. all need to be paid for in US$.

To all,

You are in no way disrespecting any business by paying in US$ or Canadian $ for that matter. Most if not all the businesses have a going rate for these currencies. Euros and British Pounds are a bit harder to exchange on the fly as most businesses have to find out what the going rate for these currencies.