TAN #178: If TANning were an Olympic sport ... (Page 44)

Yes do the long booze cruise, the guides are a lot of fun and do it early on in the trip.  Good way to make connections early on :-) 

When My sister went she mentioned something about going down a water slide (that was in a bar) topless into the ocean and then almost drowning at a foam party. Sounds reasonably fun. 

good times

No. That particular sister is actually the predictable, conservative one.

Yeah, it's my brother you have to look out for! 

Can you believe I'm the normal one of the family? Seriously.

Yup. Same here. By far.

Me too.  That just makes the dumbest also.

I tried to text you but realized I didn't have a number!

Newk's is an express casual dining experience in a refreshing and stylish atmosphere with an emphasis on freshness and flavor. Serving fresh tossed salads, oven baked sandwiches, California style pizzas, made-from-scratch soups and homemade cakes from Newk’s open kitchen.

Very tasty

What kinds of salads?

i'm an expert at explaining everything, too.

It's the bomb. Newk's would go over well in Oak Ridge.  We should see if we could get a franchise.

sounds like jason's deli?

I have eaten at Jason's Deli before and this place seemed to have a fresher menu than Jason's

Your belly wants a nice steak.

I got a new profile pic. Hit refresh to see it.

Crap have to resize it

 Ok there we go

Lisa,

Mine was a nightmare trip for MANY reasons.  But I did learn a lot and much of it was culture shock, so I know what to expect now.

I loved the property and the food and the drinks.  Fantastic time!  The pool and beach, etc was fantastic.

But I figured I wanted to get out and do some shopping and see the sites.

Basically, they have NOTHING but tourism to get by so be prepared for the most aggesive onslaught of people wanting to sell you stuff you will EVER see.

They will put things in your hands or around your neck and as americans, we smile and take it just to look, but then THEY WILL NOT TAKE IT BACK, and pester you and try to barter constantly.  I had to just put stuff on the ground and walk away, then at times, they will start yelling at you for ignoring them when you finally get to that point.  They will physically grab you and pull you into shops.

They constanty guilt you into tips and are very vocal when they don't think it's enough.  Carry TONS of small bills (usa singles are good).  Everything on excursions is to make money.  They "made us" hold hands on the Dunns falls because it was "SO dangerous", meanwhile, kids are playing in it unsupervised.  They insist you buy aqua shoes because it's SO slippery, but kids are barefoot.  They say you will get drenched so you need to rent a locker.  With you looking like a dumb arse holding hands in a long line, you can't take pictures, so they take your camera and one guy has 30 around his neck.  So you tip the lead guide, the guy following, and the camera guy.  I wanted to give them a couple bucks but only had large bill so went to the entrance to ask if they would break one.  They said they had no 'ones' to help, as I looked over her shoulder to see someone counting a huge PILE of them.  So they didn't want to break it thinking I would be forced to give the large bills.

They say it's not allowed to pressure guests on property, but even the staff would "covertly" ask for money for a video they shot of our scuba dive day.  And wanted the money before even seeing the movie.

They force you to have a caddie on the golf course, so you have to tip him.  Even if you rent a cart, you have to take a caddie and they just sit there and ride along (and demand a tip for doing nothing)

Then there was a lot of other things that happened that was just bad luck.  Nothing against Jamaica.

Knowing that now, I would know to expect it and not be so "nice" and just move along if not interested and keep my hand in my pocket and ACCEPT NOTHING.  I would also probably just stay on the property and try to relax.

It really get's annoying and uncomfortable to be off property and NON STOP saying 'no' to people to buy things, or pressured for tips and made to feel bad if it's not enough, etc...  It made me sick to my stomach that it's MONEY, MONEY, MONEY and they don't take no for an answer.  Even when you buy something, they try to make you buy something else.  It's never enough.

I'm not saying they are wrong.  If that's what I needed to do to survive, I would be pushy too.  But if you are there for your vacation?  It's stressful.

ANYWAY, I can see it being fun to go back KNOWING that and just enjoying the free drinks and food and activites on property.  I would make it my little getaway and not venture out much - sad, I know, because I LOVE to venture out.  Oh, and be approached to buy drugs all the time - I suggest against that because they wanted me to follow them around corners into hiden allys and stuff.

I'm actually looking forward to hearing about your trip!  to get your oppinion after hearing what we are telling you.