Why does Ocho Rios, Jamaica receive so many negative reviews????

[oncruisecontrol]

When we're on vacation we shouldn't have to feel like we're walking on eggshells. It sounds as if these pesty locals make travelers do just that.

 

 

You needn't feel that way. To reiterate what I said a few posts back: Just say "no thank you", be firm but polite, do not relent, do not be apologetic, and most importantly, do not give off a "vibe" that you are intimidated. If you behave as if you're waliking on eggshells, the vendors will know, and they will think they still have a chance to "hook" you into looking at their wares.

[kujobie]

LOL Swap your word "travelers" for "tourist" and what you said might be correct. Travelers know how to go with the flow, politely say "no" and not be offended by people just trying to make a living.

 

I am offended by people who become physical with me, and each other, over a $6 cab fare. I am not unsympathetic of the people of Jamaica and the political problems they face, but I would choose not to be a part of it while I am on vacation. I hope that doesn't make me a bad person.

[Suite Travels]

I will tell y'all that, Jamaicans hate all gay men and women. They have zero tolerance and we know someone who was beat up presuming that he was gay because he went off with a friend <male> and the wives stayed onboard because they just wanted a spa day.

 

We have been there three times and that will be the last time. No wonder the luxury lines don't stop there anymore.

[Nunu]

I will tell y'all that, Jamaicans hate all gay men and women. They have zero tolerance and we know someone who was beat up presuming that he was gay because he went off with a friend <male> and the wives stayed onboard because they just wanted a spa day.

 

We have been there three times and that will be the last time. No wonder the luxury lines don't stop there anymore.

 

Generalize much?

[kujobie]

I will tell y'all that, Jamaicans hate all gay men and women. They have zero tolerance and we know someone who was beat up presuming that he was gay because he went off with a friend <male> and the wives stayed onboard because they just wanted a spa day.

 

We have been there three times and that will be the last time. No wonder the luxury lines don't stop there anymore.

 

Now you're generalizing. That ain't cool. Jamaicans hate everyone equally.

[Suite Travels]

Now you're generalizing. That ain't cool. Jamaicans hate everyone equally.

 

Very true and very sad.

[Name Of The Game]

LOL Swap your word "travelers" for "tourist" and what you said might be correct. Travelers know how to go with the flow, politely say "no" and not be offended by people just trying to make a living.

 

Tourist, traveler, same difference. Here's the definition of tourist:

 

tour⋅ist  /ˈtʊərɪst/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [toor-ist] Show IPA

–noun 1.a person who is traveling, esp. for pleasure.

[oncruisecontrol]

Hell..

 

 

I hope you are being sarcastic. If anyone said that my country (the USA) should be annexed to hell, I'd think they were making an unfair generalization, summary judgement based on supposition, preconception, and just plain pretension.

[maxamuus]

Generalize much?

 

Gay Eradication Day In Jamaica TODAY

 

GAYS MUST LEAVE TODAY

By Dwayne Mcleod, Staff Reporter

Today has been proclaimed ‘Gay Eradication Day’ by residents of the McGregor Gully community in East Kingston. Residents say that they will be taking action as a two-week notice given to all gays and lesbians to flee the community has now expired.

 

THE STAR learnt that about two weeks ago angry residents who declared that they were fed up with seeing the activities of several gay persons in their community, ordered that they leave by today or suffer the consequences.

 

Some residents who admitted to THE STAR that they are a part of the “gay clearing out” scheme said that it is being done to protect their families and the community on a whole.

 

“Yu nuh si seh dem waa mash up di place an gi wi bad name, me haffi protect my yute dem from dem type a influence deh,” one resident said while pointing out that they will not sit back and watch while their community falls into disrepute.

 

When THE STAR visited the area, a small group of residents pointed out an old community centre which is said to be the main ‘hang out’ spot for the lesbians. According to the residents the lesbians gather there almost nightly and can be seen hugging, kissing and even “touching”.

 

The residents say they are mostly worried about the lesbian group as they are most prevalent and influential. The number of persons in this group is said to be steadily increasing.

 

In terms of the suspected gay men, the residents claim they are not as bold as the lesbians and are fewer but they too are expected to comply with the two-week notice.

 

“Some yute deh bout di place whe wi hear seh gone di nex way. Wi neva actually ketch dem, but wi hear from good source who si dem out a road a par wid man weh known as ‘fish’. Dem nuh nuff still eno, but dem affi lef to, wi nuh want none a dem in ya,” another female resident added.

Another resident who was not afraid to point fingers at a specific group of youngsters said that the alleged gays are all friends and are well-known in the community. “Yu si dem bway deh weh a walk up an dung inna dem tight pants an ah bleach out dem face, a dem enuh, nuff a dem a f …. t an a talk bout dem a danca,” he told THE STAR.

 

Since the notice was handed down, at least one person has already fled the community. “… a nuh joke ting eno, one a dem cut out since week, him not even wait pon di last day, him jus cut, nobady not even kno weh him gone,” THE STAR was told by a resident.

 

The residents say they will not stop until their community is “gay free” and are not afraid of resorting to extreme measures.

“Mi nuh know how dem come an a gwaan like seh dem tink a farin dem deh, dem tink seh dem can come inna gangsta town wid dem wrong up behaviour an nuttin nuh happen? Dem haffi leave, anyting a anyting,” one obviously angry male said.

Efforts by THE STAR to speak to at least two of the persons alleged to be lesbians were unsuccessful.

[maxamuus]

Generalize much?

 

 

Brian wears sunglasses to hide his gray and lifeless left eye—damaged, he says, by kicks and blows with a board from Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton. Brian, 44, is gay, and Banton, 32, is an avowed homophobe whose song Boom Bye-Bye decrees that gays "haffi dead" ("have to die"). In June 2004, Brian claims, Banton and some toughs burst into his house near Banton's Kingston recording studio and viciously beat him and five other men. After complaints from international human-rights groups, Banton was finally charged last fall, but in January a judge dismissed the case for lack of evidence. It was a bitter decision for Brian, who lost his landscaping business after the attack and is fearful of giving his last name. "I still go to church," he says as he sips a Red Stripe beer. "Every Sunday I ask why this happened to me."

 

Though familiar to Americans primarily as a laid-back beach destination, Jamaica is hardly idyllic. The country has the world's highest murder rate. And its rampant violence against gays and lesbians has prompted human-rights groups to confer another ugly distinction: the most homophobic place on earth.

 

In the past two years, two of the island's most prominent gay activists, Brian Williamson and Steve Harvey, have been murdered — and a crowd even celebrated over Williamson's mutilated body. Perhaps most disturbing, many anti-gay assaults have been acts of mob violence. In 2004, a teen was almost killed when his father learned his son was gay and invited a group to lynch the boy at his school. Months later, witnesses say, police egged on another mob that stabbed and stoned a gay man to death in Montego Bay. And this year a Kingston man, Nokia Cowan, drowned after a crowd shouting "batty boy" (a Jamaican epithet for homosexual) chased him off a pier. "Jamaica is the worst any of us has ever seen," says Rebecca Schleifer of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch and author of a scathing report on the island's anti-gay hostility.

 

Jamaica may be the worst offender, but much of the rest of the Caribbean also has a long history of intense homophobia. Islands like Barbados still criminalize homosexuality, and some seem to be following Jamaica's more violent example. Last week two CBS News producers, both Americans, were beaten with tire irons by a gay-bashing mob while vacationing on St. Martin. One of the victims, Ryan Smith, was airbused to a Miami hospital, where he remains in intensive care with a fractured skull.

 

Gay-rights activists attribute the scourge of homophobia in Jamaica largely to the country's increasingly thuggish reggae music scene. Few epitomize the melding of reggae and gangsta cultures more than Banton, who is one of the nation's most popular dance-hall singers. Born Mark Myrie, he grew up the youngest of 15 children in Kingston's Salt Lane — the sort of slum dominated by ultraconservative Christian churches and intensely anti-gay Rastafarians. Banton parlayed homophobia into a ticket out of Salt Lane. One of his first hits, 1992's Boom Bye-Bye, boasts of shooting gays with Uzis and burning their skin with acid "like an old tire wheel."

 

Banton's lyrics are hardly unique among reggae artists today. Another popular artist, Elephant Man (O'Neil Bryant, 29) declares in one song, "When you hear a lesbian getting raped/ It's not our fault ... Two women in bed/ That's two Sodomites who should be dead." Another, Bounty Killer (Rodney Price, 33), urges listeners to burn "Mister Fagoty" and make him "wince in agony."

 

Reggae's anti-gay rhetoric has seeped into the country's politics. Jamaica's major political parties have passed some of the world's toughest antisodomy laws and regularly incorporate homophobic music in their campaigns. "The view that results," says Jamaican human-rights lawyer Philip Dayle, "is that a homosexual isn't just an undesirable but an unapprehended criminal."

 

Meanwhile, gay-rights activists say Jamaican police often overlook evidence in anti-gay hate crimes, such as the alleged assault by Banton in 2004. His accuser, Brian, says cops excised Banton's role from their reports of the 2004 beating. A police spokesman denies that. But in dismissing the case earlier this year, the judge in the trial warned Banton to avoid violence and "seek legal recourses" when he has complaints against gays in the future. Banton refused TIME's request for an interview. His manager, Donovan Germain, insists that the singer is innocent and that "Buju's lyrics are part of a metaphorical tradition. They're not a literal call to kill gay men."

 

There are some signs that Jamaica may soften its approach. Jamaica's ruling party last month elected the nation's first female Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, a progressive who gay-rights supporters hope will eventually move to decriminalize homosexuality. She hasn't yet said that, but Jamaica's beleaguered gays say they at least have reason now to hope their government will change its tune before their reggae stars ever do.

[maxamuus]

Generalize much?

 

Nunu it isnt a generalization... i can post hundreds of articles showing that it isnt a generalization, it is a fact.

[Nunu]

So who gave them the title "most homophobic place on earth"? :confused:

[rrraydon]

We went to Ochos Rio in Dec '08. My DD (10) and a friend of mine from work. We did a beach excursion. Day at the beach with bahama mamas and lunch (the lunch was horrible). The beach was pretty and we felt very safe as there were armed Militants on the left and right side of the private beach area keeping "unwanted guests" out. And there were quite a few of these "unwanted guests" on each side. I thought maybe it was just a time of unrest in the country, but the hostess told me they are always there "to keep us safe":eek:. Well that's all she had to say to my friend and she had the manager over there insisting he provide us with transportation back to the ship. Although I was embarrassed, she was quite funny in her tirade. My daughter and I did a little shopping at the shops by the port and got back on the ship. I must say it was a bit trashy in the port area and smelled really bad.

[maxamuus]

So who gave them the title "most homophobic place on earth"? :confused:

 

The article was from Time magazine.

[Nunu]

The article was from Time magazine.

 

I would think some Muslim controlled countries might give them a run for the money but I guess I stand corrected.

[maxamuus]

I would think some Muslim controlled countries might give them a run for the money but I guess I stand corrected.

 

I would agree with you that they aren't the worst in the world, but they are probably the worst in the western hemisphere.

[Traveler353]

Tourist, traveler, same difference. Here's the definition of tourist:

 

tour⋅ist  /ˈtʊərɪst/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [toor-ist] Show IPA

–noun 1.a person who is traveling, esp. for pleasure.

 

 

OK you can keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel any better.

[Nunu]

I would agree with you that they aren't the worst in the world, but they are probably the worst in the western hemisphere.

 

So, you're in Utah huh? :D

[Suite Travels]

We will not step foot on Jamaican soil again. Too many other friendly places to go.

[TMarie]

I have been to Jamaica twice and really have no interest in going back. I haven't taken enough cruises to justify not getting off the ship in any ports (especially since there are so many cruises to ports I haven't visited) but I would consider staying on the ship in Jamaica. If I did get off, it would only be for a guided excursion.

 

I've already done Dunn River Falls twice, so not big on that. It's something to see, and it sounds really exotic, but I wasn't impressed. I went when I was a kid and I just remember standing in line forever to climb a foot or so at a time. When I went back as an adult, I remember it seemed shorter and even more crowded- more like a photo op.

 

We've shopped down in the open air markets and couldn't believe how many times we were offered weed. It was kind of comical...plus, all the paraphernalia and T-shirts (I bought the one I thought didn't have a pot leaf, and the first time I wore it at home- low and behold- there's a pot leaf on the chest....

 

We also visited a small school once and it was very humbling and pretty sad. I mean, schools in the US don't just let tourist's come into the class room and have their students entertain them...but for them, it's a way for the schools to earn money...

 

In our case, it was a small school on the side of a steep hill. It had a dirt floor and very little lighting. The kids sang the ABC's and their national anthem. I can remember standing in the back of the room and one little boy reached out and grabbed onto my leg. He just wanted my attention. They bickered over who got to hold my hand. It was really heartbreaking. I know my Aunt (a school teacher) sent them supplies and funds when she returned home.

 

While I do feel sorry for them, and realize how important tourism is to their society, it's just not a place I would choose to spend my time- for me vacation is carefree and light- this trip was just depressing...

 

Between being depressed and being annoyed, I'd rather stay on board and be pampered ;)

[kujobie]

OK you can keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel any better.

 

ix-nay on alling-cay the aveler-tray a ourist-tay! e-hay ates-hay at-thay!

[kujobie]

I hope you are being sarcastic. If anyone said that my country (the USA) should be annexed to hell, I'd think they were making an unfair generalization, summary judgement based on supposition, preconception, and just plain pretension.

 

You use a lot of big words, but what I want to know is, have ya spent much time in Jamaica?

[Karmalady]

Hi all! Our family is scheduled to take a cruise on the Carnival Liberty this year. One of the designated ports is Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We have been really excited and looking forward to going on this itinerary. It will be our very 1st cruise!!! ; ) HOWEVER after reading some of the posts on various threads I'm starting to think we should have chosen a different itinerary. : ( I've read so many different horror stories about Jamaica. . . . from drugs being planted on tourists. . . . . to feeling unsafe in the port. What gives? I'm sure there must be some good aspects about Jamaica. I know that Jamaica is a poor country and they rely heavily on tourism as their livelihood. Can someone reassure me that I will have a good time. I don't want to stay on the boat. . . . I want to go and explore and have fun in each port.

 

Vacation Chic... Jamaica is so beautiful. We had a cruise stop in Montego Bay and because of all the reading on CC, I was scared to leave the ship. :eek: It was suggested to get a tour guide for the day and enjoy Jamaica. We did and our family of four had one of the best days of our lives! We got to explore the falls, enjoy the beach, have jerk chicken at a local spot. We were guided at the falls by a Rastafarian who shared with us so much about the land, the people, the culture. It truly was a day that we will never forget!

 

We loved it so much that hub and I went back for a weeks stay at Couples AI in Negril. It was unbelievable! The natives were so cool; we loved them.

 

I just wanted to put my two cents worth in because had I read this thread, I would have never ventured out in Jamaica! I would suggest getting a guide or booking an excursion through the ship, but get out and see Jamaica! In my opinion , it's a great island! :)

[salty dingo]

I think the best part about cruising to Jamaica is...

 

I won't have to share the ship with any of the idiots who say they would never go... or would never go back.

 

I don't care if someone offers me pot. Acually I would love to take them up on it, if it were legal, but I am not that stupid. Still, it does not bother me. They are just trying to get by, however they can. How can you complain about that. It is THEIR COUNTRY! Let them be... accept it!

 

So, anyone so snotty that they don't want to be around that sort of thing... is not my kind of cruise mate. I'd rather not have them around me. So I think a cruise including Jamaica will have a better class of passenger!

[kujobie]

I think the best part about cruising to Jamaica is...

 

I won't have to share the ship with any of the idiots who say they would never go... or would never go back.

 

I don't care if someone offers me pot. Acually I would love to take them up on it, if it were legal, but I am not that stupid. Still, it does not bother me. They are just trying to get by, however they can. How can you complain about that. It is THEIR COUNTRY! Let them be... accept it!

 

So, anyone so snotty that they don't want to be around that sort of thing... is not my kind of cruise mate. I'd rather not have them around me. So I think a cruise including Jamaica will have a better class of passenger!

 

If it makes me snotty that I don't like to be physically harassed over a $6 cab fare, then so be it. That works out well for both of us, because I don't want to cruise with someone who's OK with that. I don't mind people offering me pot either. I've smoked more pot than Bob Marley and Cheech and Chong combined. But after being offerred it 50 times in a couple hours, it got old. So, enjoy your classy cruise to Jamaica. Cheerio! Pip pip!