Safe for US Citizens???

[tjj09]

The US Gov't has recently issued a Travel Alert for Americans in Jamaica because of all the trouble in the Kingston area...
Is this having an affect on American visitors in other parts of the island?
We're headed to Couples Negril in 2 weeks and we're wondering if we should be concerned for our safety?

[sndtrevino]

you should always be concerned for your safety, however travel to the area you are staing is far removed from where the resort is and is very issolated to a small neighborhood in kingston. We all have those "sides" of town where we live where we wouldn't go and the area of violence in Kingston is the same. no worries ebryting will be irie!

[jagorham]

Currently, Jamaica isn't on the US State Department's travel warning list:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p...w/tw_1764.html

And, to echo what sndtrevino said, the problem is primarily in Kingston, about as far removed from Negril as you can get.

[Pamela]

Currently, Jamaica isn't on the US State Department's travel warning list . . . .

Actually, a travel warning has been issued for the Kingston area. I saw the same list to which you've posted a link, but if you enter "Jamaica" in the search box, you'll find the following:

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against travel to Kingston, Jamaica and its surrounding areas because of escalating violence, shootings and unrest. Jamaican Defense Forces are engaged in an operation to arrest an alleged drug and weapons trafficker. Access to the Norman Manley International Airport has been blocked on an intermittent basis by gun battles between criminal elements and police. A number of air flights into and out of Kingston have been canceled. The Government of Jamaica has imposed a State of Emergency in Kingston and St. Andrew. The possibility exists that unrest could spread beyond the general Kingston area. U.S. Embassy Kingston is taking extra security precautions, including cancelling official travel by USG personnel into Kingston. This Travel Alert replaces the Travel Alert issued on May 21, 2010 to warn U.S. citizens against travel to Kingston and to provide updated information on the security and airport situation. This Travel Alert expires on June 23, 2010.

[AuntieMame]

My husband and I were there when this occurred. No worries. You couldn't even tell there was a problem, and everyone was still very nice to us even as we were leaving through the airport.

I have to say, their airport security people could teach the ones in the US a thing or two about how to treat people.

[melody]

My husband and I were there when this occurred. No worries. You couldn't even tell there was a problem, and everyone was still very nice to us even as we were leaving through the airport.

I have to say, their airport security people could teach the ones in the US a thing or two about how to treat people.

The airport security people at MBJ were grilling me for a long time saying I had a lighter in my purse. I didn't, I don't even smoke. They said I was lying and knew I had it hidden somewhere. I wasn't able to touch my bag at all after they put it through the machine so how could I have hidden it? I pointed out that I did have a key chain with a flashlight that was roughly the same size and shape as a lighter and maybe that is what they say but they didn't believe me. It was getting so bad that I thought they weren't going to let me fly.


Anyway, the resorts are quite a ways away from the disturbances. If you are really worried you can always stay on the resort. It's a whole different world inside the resort.

[sndtrevino]

The airport security people at MBJ were grilling me for a long time saying I had a lighter in my purse. I didn't, I don't even smoke. They said I was lying and knew I had it hidden somewhere. I wasn't able to touch my bag at all after they put it through the machine so how could I have hidden it? I pointed out that I did have a key chain with a flashlight that was roughly the same size and shape as a lighter and maybe that is what they say but they didn't believe me. It was getting so bad that I thought they weren't going to let me fly.


Anyway, the resorts are quite a ways away from the disturbances. If you are really worried you can always stay on the resort. It's a whole different world inside the resort.

Sorry for the inconvience however I take the grilling as a sign that people are doing their job while at the time frustrating and a hastle it is much better than getting on a plane with someone that is intent on destruction. Still sucks the paian we have to endure but if it makes it safer I am for it. I wish it was not this way.

[melody]

I edited this because I don't really want to get into what all happened anymore and it wasn't what this thread was really about anyway. My main point was that it wasn't just an inconvenience. I am all for a little inconvenience if it makes us all safer. What happened that day didn't make anyone safer, it probably put us in more danger. They were so preoccupied with my "lighter" that they stopped paying attention to anyone else and people were breezing through security with things they were not allowed to have. Who knows what could have gotten through. It was a matter of ego and not being able to admit they were wrong even when confronted with evidence that they were which can be very dangerous in this situation. The way they treated us was horrible but worst of all, it wasn't safe for anyone.

[nickg]

My husband and I were there when this occurred. No worries. You couldn't even tell there was a problem, and everyone was still very nice to us even as we were leaving through the airport.

I have to say, their airport security people could teach the ones in the US a thing or two about how to treat people.

I sort of disagree. We were there at the end of April and there was quite a scene on our flight. I feel like part of the job as a security officer is to create a scene of security for the passengers.

We were waiting at our gate when a couple showed up with a slew of security people following them. The lady went to the restroom and some of them followed her! One went in and two stayed at the door. The officers were making such a scene that we thought they were about to be arrested. I thought for sure they were fugitives or they had a ton of drugs in their bags or something like that. The officers were talking with the employees at the gate so we thought they were going to detain them as they got onto the plane. It was obviously upsetting to everyone sitting there waiting for their flight.

I was shocked when they let these people board the flight! They went to all this trouble and made such a scene. Clearly whatever these people did was pretty bad, bad enough to scare everyone in that part of the airport. Some people even switched flights.

We were lucky enough to sit one row behind the couple in question on the other side of the plane. When the lady tried to get up to use the restroom a few hours into the flight they told her she had to stay in her seat! I never found out what these people did but they were followed all through customs and immigration in Dallas.

If whatever they did was that bad then the security people in MBJ should not have let them fly, if it wasn't that bad they should have backed off and not upset everyone who saw this major scene. As far as I saw they were never arrested so I really think security was overreacting. It was completely unnecessary. I have been on a few flights where someone really was arrested and there really were emergencies and nobody acted like this. I was flying on Sept 11th when all the flights were grounded and this was still alarming to me. My wife is a nervous flier to begin with and this sure didn't help. She thought we were going to die the whole flight.

[RDYJMJM]

The bad news is that Dudus Coke is reported to have fled the Kingston area for the Ocho Rios area. That would mean he has a better chance of blending in with the 1000's of people moving about already.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead1.html

Let's hope that he surrenders so that he can have his day in court rather than have all his cohorts fight it out in the streets of Jamaica.

[melody]

The bad news is that Dudus Coke is reported to have fled the Kingston area for the Ocho Rios area. That would mean he has a better chance of blending in with the 1000's of people moving about already.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead1.html

Let's hope that he surrenders so that he can have his day in court rather than have all his cohorts fight it out in the streets of Jamaica.

That doesn't sound good at all. I'm praying they end this soon so no one else gets hurt.

[Kackle]

We just returned Saturday from CN. Couldn't tell anything was going on. We went off property to play Golf and Shop and even there, no sign of anything going on. Have a GREAT time, we know you will!

[M&S_B]

We also just returned from CN. Everything was great. Not the first sign of any problems. I wish I could go back right now!!!!

[Billy_Audra]

We returned from CTI on June 15th. I can honestly say that we never heard a word anywhere about anything while we were at CTI (June 5 - 15). We were the only couople on the good-bye bus back to MBJ, so we talked extensively with the driver about many subjects. I finally asked him what was up with all the mess in Kingston and he told us that it is being blown way out of proportion. he explained that the new government in Jamaica has decided to crack down on crime and this guy is their first main target. Many of the people in this gangsters neighborhood are trying to protect him because he is a Robinhood type that gives a lot of his drug money back to his community. Our driver, who is originally from Kingston told us that he could not believe it had received so much press coverage when it was truly not that big of a story......until the media started blowing it out of proportion and then it snowballed.

Please understand that I am not saying that it is impossible that something might happen to a tourist, all I am saying is that I believe it is extremely unlikely. I base that solely on the conversation I had and the feeling I got when I was there last week.

[london1817]

-We just got back from CSA today. No problems with safety. Everything was GREAT!!!

[rwhip]

We just got back...no issues. We spoke to a couple that went to 9-mile for the Bob Marley tour, and they said that there were zero issues...you wouldn't even know of any problems being stated in the news.

I feel bad for those who cancelled their trips. If I hadn't read the headlines, I would have been totally unaware of any "problems".

[KrisJamie]

I feel bad for those who cancelled their trips.

I want to buy them all some maps.

[cicurn63]

That was also a concern of mine and my husband. We actually leave tomoorrow morning for CN-I CAN NOT WAIT!! My neighborhood got hit by a tornado June 5th---my in laws house specifically. My husband has been such an awesome person - he has been sooo helpful to his parents and eveyone who has needed him this last coulple weeks--and that would have been horrible if he could not have gotten away for this long planned vacation! tjj09-I bet you're going to be there about the same time we are---we're Beth & George hope to meet you there!!

[acranger]

The US Gov't has recently issued a Travel Alert for Americans in Jamaica because of all the trouble in the Kingston area...
Is this having an affect on American visitors in other parts of the island?
We're headed to Couples Negril in 2 weeks and we're wondering if we should be concerned for our safety?

.....This all involves a "Drug Kingpin" and drug violence in Kingston. The "Kingpin" has been captured.I really see no problems at the resort. See linc below;

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100623/..._slum_standoff