If You Don't Like Being Violated Don't Book A Cruise To Jamaica

[Gosap]

Again, we don't need to be told what to do.

 

Ahh, the quote by an important historical figure; nice tactic.

[sixgun8]

I am starting to really feel like I missed out on the jamaican experience since I didn't get squeezed.

[GinnyJ]

Sixgun8,

I tell you what, on our CC, I'll tell the guards that you have a baggie full in your pants....I'm sure they'll give you "extra" attention! hahaha

[Schlepporello]

I am starting to really feel like I missed out on the jamaican experience since I didn't get squeezed.

At least the guard that's doing it is female.

(I'll skulk back into my corner now:o )

[Joedog]

At least the guard that's doing it is female.

(I'll skulk back into my corner now:o )

 

Hate to ruin your fantasy but the "official" that "squeezed" me was a man.

[Schlepporello]

Hmm.

It was the heavy set female that got me.

When I went back to the terminal buildiing later for more shopping, I made a point to go through the other line and a slender man was working that station. He patted me down, but no grab.

[Texaslandshark]

If I think it's a "grope" day when I go to get back on the ship..I'm going to strategically have a spill from my water bottle on my lap. Check it out mama!:p

[hoop4321]

has anyone been in a line where they have found something on someone?

[sixgun8]

not in a cruise ship line, but coming across from Juarez to El Paso we went to the little building to pay our federal tax on the liquor and they were pulling in a six wheel dolley full of boxes. They told us our liquor was tax free that day because they had a confiscation that they had to deal with. Pretty impressive since it was about 6-7 boxes.

[Joedog]

has anyone been in a line where they have found something on someone?

 

Yes, the day that I went through my "search" a young man (mid-twenties) in line a bit in front of me was caught with a small amount of marijuana (it was in his pocket, not in his underwear).

 

I had a long conversation with him later that night back on the ship (yes he was lucky enough to be allowed to leave with the ship) and this is what he says happened:

 

He bought the marijuana from one of the beach staff at Sunset Beach. It was a small amount and he paid $20 for it. When the searcher back at the cruise terminal found it he asked him if he had any money, he had spent all his money at the craft market and told the searcher that he had no money. The searcher than called over a constable who took the man over to a counter on the other side of the Xray machine.

 

His father was behind him in line and was allowed to follow him to the counter. The young man was taken to the other side of the counter where there was a small "booth" set up and strip searched. While the constable was strip searching the young man, the father was talking to another man who was sitting behind the coutner. It was an hour before the ship was supposed to leave. The father asked the other man what was going to happen and the man told the father that his son was going to have to stay in Jamaica and see a judge in the morning. The father asked the man if there was anything he could do, pay a fine etc. but the man said no, his son would have to stay when the ship left. The father then asked the man what he was supposed to do since his son had no money, no clothes, no credit cards and no passport. The other man told him to go the pursers office on the ship and tell them what was going on.

 

The father then went to the pursers office and told the purser what had happened and asked what he should do. The pursers told him to go to the pier and talk to Carnival's agent "Sean" in the terminal, who would help him. They also tried to call Sean with a cell phone but it wasnt working. So the father went back to the pier to find Sean.

 

While the father was on the ship, the son was waiting on the pier. At this point the reporter and camera man from the British documentary crew that was filiming in the terminal came up to talk to the son. The cameraman quietly told the son that he saw about three of these "detainments" a day and if the son would sit there and look remorseful he would be allowed to leave with the ship.

 

At this point the father returned to the area in the terminal where the son was being held, looking for "Sean" the Carnival Rep only to find out that the person who had sent him to the ship to see the Pursers was Carnivals agent Sean, the person that the Carnival Pursers said would help.

 

After a while a different constable told the father and the son that they had talked to Carnival security and since the amount of marijauna he had was so small, Carnival was going to search his cabin and if there was nothing else there, the son would be allowed to leave with the ship. It was now 1/2 hour before the ship was supposed to sail.

 

After some time past, the constable told the son and father that the son could go so they headed out quickly to the ship, just barely getting back onboard before they lifted the gangway.

 

It was the opinion of the son that if had had money to give the searcher he would not have been detained. He also felt that everyone knew from the beginning that he would be allowed to leave with the shio and that they made him sit there until the last minute to scare him (it worked). He also said that no one from Carnival ever came over to talk to him while he was waiting in the terminal although there were Carnival "officers" in the general area.

 

It should be noted that the son's cabin was never searched by anyone.

 

I guess that is a long answer to your question.

[hoop4321]

Wow, if that were my kid you would be reading about us in the paper the next morning.

[RePeteN]

Joedog...

 

 

We sailed together on the Crown Princess in 2006...tracking you down for some info. We had those Meet & Mingles...thought you organized. Attempting to get these put together for our next sailing on the Carnival Victory for the May 18th sailing.

 

I found this latest posting that you made and hope it catches up to you.

 

What can you tell me about these??? Did you organized?? If not...do you know who was the organizer???

 

Say...can you repond in the Roll Call for the Carnival Victory - May 18th???

 

Thanks...

[nrdsb4]

Well, I'm not in favor of the groping the OP received at the hands of Jamaican security, but what the young man did was illegal. On top of that, it just seems really stupid. What was he thinking?

 

If it were my kid, we'd be having some serious talks about her poor judgment, not pointing the finger of blame at the authorities, regardless of whether or not they are corrupt.

[sixgun8]

JOE,

 

Let's think about something here. You said that a young man was found with marijuana ahead of you in line?? How far ahead? Let's think about this. People travel together so if it was just a few people ahead of you then it stands to reason that the guards would be on a heightened sense of security and now searching passengers more thoroughly because they found one and another in the "group" may be guilty likewise.

 

Second, the story of them detaining the kid until they almost pulled up the gangway is flawed. We were late leaving Jamaica while waiting for a MOTHER and her SON. We left almost 30 minutes late. I have a short film or at least a pic of the two running for the gangway.

 

I am not saying you are lying, but I think the guilty party may have in fact accentuated the story to make themselves look more like a victim than the criminal that they truly were. I am also sure the question of money was supposed to entail that a bribe was going to be neccesary to get the kid back on the ship!

[Joedog]

Well, I'm not in favor of the groping the OP received at the hands of Jamaican security, but what the young man did was illegal. On top of that, it just seems really stupid. What was he thinking?

 

If it were my kid, we'd be having some serious talks about her poor judgment, not pointing the finger of blame at the authorities, regardless of whether or not they are corrupt.

 

I did ask the young man what he was thinking and he told me he figured since everywhere he went people were offering him marijuana so casually that it was okay to buy it. Certainly he was both mistaken and stupid.

 

Personally, I do not believe that if one out of a thousand cruise ship passengers has a little marijuana on them when they return to the cruise ship from their day in Jamaica that warrants the searches that they were conducting in the terminal there in Montego Bay.

 

I see the searches for what I believe they are, harassment with the intent to persuade people not to buy marijuana from the local drug dealers. Certainly if you think you are going to get caught smuggling marijuana you are not going to bring it back to the ship with you. Makes sense sort of, but there needs to be a balance somewhere between the value of having a few cruise ship passengers afraid to buy the marijuana and the cost of making the rest of the cruise ship passengers who had no intent on buying drugs too afraid or too angry with the search policy to get off the boat and spend their tourist dollars.

 

That of course is for the Jamaican authorities to determine for themselves just as it is for the cruise ship passengers to determine if Jamaica is worth the hassle.

[Jeanie821]

I was just on an excursion in MoBay last month. No poking, prodding or squeezing. However, since I slipped and fell just outside the port terminal :o , maybe the security staff saw me and figured I'd been punished enough.

[sixgun8]

I was just on an excursion in MoBay last month. No poking, prodding or squeezing. However, since I slipped and fell just outside the port terminal :o , maybe the security staff saw me and figured I'd been punished enough.

 

Probably thought you already smoked it.

[MonaCD]

Maybe soon we won't have to worry about it, but I doubt it, especially after reading paragraph 4. Darned if they do and darned if they don't

 

http://www.medbroadcast.com/channel_health_news_details.asp?news_id=14613&rss=67&rid=999999&channel_id=1004&rot=3

 

Mar. 01, 2008

 

 

Provided by: The Canadian Press

Written by: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

 

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaica is again considering the legalization of marijuana.

 

A seven-member government commission has been researching possible changes to the Caribbean country's anti-drug laws.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Kenneth Baugh says the commission is now preparing to report to the prime minister on the legalization issue.

In 2003, a government commission recommended legalizing marijuana in small amounts for personal use.

 

But legislators never acted, saying it might entail the loss of their country's U.S. anti-drug certification. Countries that lose it face economic sanctions.

 

Marijuana is revered by members of the island's large Rastafarian population who say smoking it is part of their religion. Many in the police force also complain that the courts and jails have become clogged with marijuana-related cases.

 

A U.S. State Department report Friday said that Jamaica is the largest producer of marijuana in the Caribbean and a major hub for drugs bound for the United States.

 

Members of the Rastafarian movement, which emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s out of anger over the oppression of blacks, have long lobbied for the legalization of the drug that they say brings them closer to the divine.

 

There are an estimated 700,000 Rastafarians in the world, most of them among Jamaica's 2.6 million people.

[Jeanie821]

I was just on an excursion in MoBay last month. No poking, prodding or squeezing. However, since I slipped and fell just outside the port terminal :o , maybe the security staff saw me and figured I'd been punished enough.

 

Probably thought you already smoked it.

 

LOL! Actually, I'm deathly allergic to marijuana. My ex used to smoke weed like there was no tomorrow, and because I have virtually no sense of smell, unless I saw the evidence, I had no way of knowing. All I knew was that I was having continuous allergy symptoms that wouldn't let up until I left his sorry butt. (Then again, maybe I was just allergic to him.)

 

The reason why I fell was quite simple. The tiles inside and just outside the port terminal are very slippery, and I was wearing flip-flops, which had absolutely no traction. I stepped off the tour bus and planted my right foot on the tiled floor, which promptly slipped right out from under me. I landed on my well-padded rear end and not-so-well-padded left shin (my left leg was still bent), bruising and scraping said shin. The shin is still a bit sore three weeks later. Note to self: If ever in MoBay again, wear sneakers!

[leighuf]

my husband was pat down but not in the same ... area. That's bizarre!

[JHCALLAHAN]

Hmmmm. Maybe something was going on that day or something. We were there in Sept. then again just last week and experienced nothing of the sort. They just x-rayed our bags and herded us through.

 

First time we went we wimped out and went to Sunset Beach, last week we hired a guide thru Marva Shaw. We had a great time touring the island, all the natives we encountered were great. Maybe the guide service just knows where to take you. It is a sad sort of place with all the poverty and garbage laying around. All in all we had a blast. Had lunch at a place called the Pork Pit I believe it was that was fantastic and inexpensive.

 

Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

JHC

[stevesul]

I was on Voyager that same day (Feb 20) and the guy pat me down just in the chest area. I get worse going to an NFL game.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. FWIW- I enjoyed Jamaica and the people I met and places I visited.

[rcprncss]

Wow! We have been to Jamaica twice, Ocho Rios and Mo Bay. I don't remember getting patted down. Does everyone in line get patted down? Just curious. We will be in Ocho Rios in May.

[sixgun8]

I was on Voyager that same day (Feb 20) and the guy pat me down just in the chest area. I get worse going to an NFL game.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. FWIW- I enjoyed Jamaica and the people I met and places I visited.

 

i think the fact that some guy got caught a few people in front of him is what triggered the more extensive searches. This thread has went on quite long enough.

[clackey]

Ok, you've talked me into it. I had decided not to go to Jamaica because of all of the horror stories that I've read about vendors and pushers and scarey people in general, but now I am ready to go. You see, it has been a long, long time since I've had anyone feel of my goodies.

 

Which port has the best chance of any action. I once thought about sneaking some pepper spay onboard. That way if I wasn't molested I could use it to have a good cry.