Jamaica state of emergency

[MeuGreg]

I don't believe Chicago is the 2nd most dangerous place on earth.

There were 760 people murdered and another 4,600 shot in Chicago last year. Mostly occurring in a 10 square mile area. Not even comparable to Jamaica.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/01/us/chicago-murders-2016/index.html

 

[DisneyWishes14]

C'mon folks. The cruise stop is during daylight hours only. I'm sure most of the issues are at night. And keep in mind, the second most dangerous place on earth other than Allepo, Syria is Chicago, Ill. I'm sure you feel safe in Chi.

Jamaica's economy is dependent on tourism, their Government will squash any issues immediately and flood the area with security. Jamaica survival depends on tourism.

I think you need to re-check your stats. Chicago isn't even the most dangerous place in the US. I'm not going to Aleppo anytime soon either. I'm sure Jamaica knows full well their economy relies on tourism and will crack down on the violence as best they can (not sure how solid their police or security forces are), but we leave in less than two months and several countries have issued warnings including my own. Jamaica's economy is of less importance to me than my family's safety. The excursion cost a total of $96. I don't think their economy will collapse because of my $96.

Is it too late to cancel your cruise? How much of your money would you get back? You shouldn't take a vacation to a place you don't feel comfortable going to.

I could probably switch to a different sailing, but it's really fine. We will enjoy the sea days (including the Star Wars day), go to the beach in Grand Cayman and CC and just enjoy relaxing in the sun and being on the ship. We got quite a good price on the cruise so, honestly, it could be a cruise to nowhere and we could enjoy the ship amenities and be quite happy!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

There were 760 people murdered and another 4,600 shot in Chicago last year. Mostly occurring in a 10 square mile area. Not even comparable to Jamaica.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/01/us/chicago-murders-2016/index.html

That's Chicago in 2016. They saw a decrease of 16% decrease in 2017. I'm not vacationing in inner city Chicago either (which still isn't the most dangerous place in the US or second in the world).

You're right. It's not comparable to Jamaica because Jamaica (which has about the same population size as Chicago) has a murder rate that is double that of Chicago: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/...20-days-more-1000-jamaicans-killed-start-year

 

[DisMommyTX]

We have cruised a lot and generally book independent excursions. We are even comfortable taking taxis or public transportation in many Caribbean ports, but Jamaica has never been one of them! I would definitely stick with a ship excursion, but would consider anything they sponsor perfectly safe. It is easy for DCL to cancel excursions if they have even an inkling of concern regarding the safety of passengers. DCL doesn't make much on the excursions, and they would lose a fortune in negative publicity alone if anything 'bad' happened on one of their excursions. So, if DCL hasn't seen a reason to cancel it, then you don't need to either. It is a beautiful country with some wonderful things to see, but I would not travel outside the port unless on an excursion booked through the cruise line or other highly reputable agency. Shopping and exploring in the port area will also be perfectly safe. It is a very well-guarded facility much like our own military bases, nothing like a private resort with a fence and a rent-a-cop here! None of the cruise lines will be cancelling Jamaica stops any time soon--there is nothing even close to the level of unrest needed to warrant that type of response. Go and have fun!

 

[SleepyDeb]

I've travel to many countries and cities, including Jamaica (oh and BTW, I love Chicago). I will never again go to Jamaica on a land trip. If someone offered me an all-expense paid trip to Jamaica, I would turn it down. I would, possibly, consider a ship excursion. Maybe. Most likely I'd stay on board.

Grand Cayman has some poor areas, but not the pure dangerous that I saw in Jamaica.

I was one of several hosts for a group of about 125 ppl that went to Jamaica as an award for our strongest sales ppl. 5 or 6 women had their purses stolen at the 5 star resort. (Some were found in the kitchen.) One couple took a walk around Rose Hall and got threatened with machetes. The robbers tried to separate the husband and the wife. I believe it was only the wife's insistence that she was NOT leaving her husband's side that saved them. We saw a bunch of guys jump out of a Brinks type truck with machine guns and surround a bank while guards went inside to pick up the deposits. These guys weren't just showing the guns as show. They were serious. My husband and I walked toward the end of the resort beach and several menacing heads popped up from behind a rock wall. We turned right around.

Nope. No more Jamaica for me. Yes, many places are declared dangerous at night but are fine during the day. Not this one. Every single event I described above was in broad daylight.

Dunn's Falls was nice and I felt safe there. I've heard Negril is lovely and safe. Not willing to try it.

 

[cruiser21]

C'mon folks. The cruise stop is during daylight hours only. I'm sure most of the issues are at night. And keep in mind, the second most dangerous place on earth other than Allepo, Syria is Chicago, Ill. I'm sure you feel safe in Chi.

Jamaica's economy is dependent on tourism, their Government will squash any issues immediately and flood the area with security. Jamaica survival depends on tourism.

Have you ever been to Falmouth? The area is not flooded with security. It's a dump...I'd use other words but they're not allowed. I work with people from Jamaica and they tell me how bad is outside of the resort area. If it's getting bad inside the resort area that's scary.
I'm not sure what the south side of Chicago has to do with Jamaica. I personally wouldn't take a vacation in either one.

 

[MUN]

There were 760 people murdered and another 4,600 shot in Chicago last year. Mostly occurring in a 10 square mile area. Not even comparable to Jamaica.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/01/us/chicago-murders-2016/index.html

So, is this your evidence that Chicago is the 2nd most dangerous place on earth? And what does this have to do with Jamaica?

 

[Prock]

Only 5 states in Mexico are affected and that doesn’t include Cozumel so that will be fine I suspect.

Only 5 states are considered “Do not travel” but every state in Mexico is level two or higher. And certain cities within those states are considered do not travel as well. However some, like Cozumel, are considered safe.

In Mazatlan, US Government travel is only permitted between the town center and the cruise terminal. DCL is still scheduled to stop there multiple times this year.

I agree with you, the current warning for Jamaica won’t stop me from going there yet. Mexico is a borderline war zone in certain parts but none of us are batting an eye about going there.

 

[Spork24]

I would call them and ask..!

They “should” either have to cover you on your trip or reimburse you for not being able to go due to the travel advisory. Definitely call them.

Edit: I thought I had reached the bottom of the thread, but then saw where you already canceled the excursion. These new ads in the middle of the threads on mobile are still killing me.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I've travel to many countries and cities, including Jamaica (oh and BTW, I love Chicago). I will never again go to Jamaica on a land trip. If someone offered me an all-expense paid trip to Jamaica, I would turn it down. I would, possibly, consider a ship excursion. Maybe. Most likely I'd stay on board.

Grand Cayman has some poor areas, but not the pure dangerous that I saw in Jamaica.

I was one of several hosts for a group of about 125 ppl that went to Jamaica as an award for our strongest sales ppl. 5 or 6 women had their purses stolen at the 5 star resort. (Some were found in the kitchen.) One couple took a walk around Rose Hall and got threatened with machetes. The robbers tried to separate the husband and the wife. I believe it was only the wife's insistence that she was NOT leaving her husband's side that saved them. We saw a bunch of guys jump out of a Brinks type truck with machine guns and surround a bank while guards went inside to pick up the deposits. These guys weren't just showing the guns as show. They were serious. My husband and I walked toward the end of the resort beach and several menacing heads popped up from behind a rock wall. We turned right around.

Nope. No more Jamaica for me. Yes, many places are declared dangerous at night but are fine during the day. Not this one. Every single event I described above was in broad daylight.

Dunn's Falls was nice and I felt safe there. I've heard Negril is lovely and safe. Not willing to try it.

Have you ever been to Falmouth? The area is not flooded with security. It's a dump...I'd use other words but they're not allowed. I work with people from Jamaica and they tell me how bad is outside of the resort area. If it's getting bad inside the resort area that's scary.
I'm not sure what the south side of Chicago has to do with Jamaica. I personally wouldn't take a vacation in either one.

Yowza. Yes, we've been to Falmouth before so I'm not making this decision without some firsthand experience or out of some irrational fear. The last time we went, I privately booked a day pass at the Royalton White Sands Jamaica (I wouldn't recommend it for a variety of reasons) and booked a private car service to take us there and back. I remember walking through the port toward the gate and a security guard stopped us to make sure we weren't just going to walk around Falmouth. She literally had us point out our taxi driver to her (whom she knew) and would not let us through until he physically came to get us. Got the idea really fast that tourists should not be walking around alone in Falmouth. After that experience and the poor experience at the resort, we knew we didn't want to visit Jamaica (any part of Jamaica again). We are, obviously, going back on the Disney Fantasy and I thought an excursion might be ok, but it's just not worth it. Just to be clear, I picked this cruise because it is over my son's spring break and, all in, it was a cost effective spring break vacation (free flights, VGT stateroom). As I mentioned in another post, we would be more than happy to stay on the Fantasy the whole time as it's such a lovely ship with so much to do. I certainly don't feel like I'm losing any value in the trip because we won't get off in the port. If we had booked the cruise specifically for the ports I would have felt otherwise (and I wouldn't have booked this itinerary!!) I'm really wondering what the cruise lines will do with these advisories. I know RCL pulled some of their ships from Falmouth last year, but apparently that had more to do with a port development dispute with the island and not tourist safety.

 

[cruiser21]

Yowza. Yes, we've been to Falmouth before so I'm not making this decision without some firsthand experience or out of some irrational fear. The last time we went, I privately booked a day pass at the Royalton White Sands Jamaica (I wouldn't recommend it for a variety of reasons) and booked a private car service to take us there and back. I remember walking through the port toward the gate and a security guard stopped us to make sure we weren't just going to walk around Falmouth. She literally had us point out our taxi driver to her (whom she knew) and would not let us through until he physically came to get us. Got the idea really fast that tourists should not be walking around alone in Falmouth. After that experience and the poor experience at the resort, we knew we didn't want to visit Jamaica (any part of Jamaica again). We are, obviously, going back on the Disney Fantasy and I thought an excursion might be ok, but it's just not worth it. Just to be clear, I picked this cruise because it is over my son's spring break and, all in, it was a cost effective spring break vacation (free flights, VGT stateroom). As I mentioned in another post, we would be more than happy to stay on the Fantasy the whole time as it's such a lovely ship with so much to do. I certainly don't feel like I'm losing any value in the trip because we won't get off in the port. If we had booked the cruise specifically for the ports I would have felt otherwise (and I wouldn't have booked this itinerary!!) I'm really wondering what the cruise lines will do with these advisories. I know RCL pulled some of their ships from Falmouth last year, but apparently that had more to do with a port development dispute with the island and not tourist safety.

We did the tram ride around the Falmouth. It wasn't too impressive. This was four years ago. I wouldn't do it today.

 

[kmix78]

We were in Jamaica about a week and a half ago, and it was as beautiful as ever. My family and I felt totally safe, even though we didn’t do a typical Disney excursion ( we hired a driver for six hours to the ship, instead of doing a group tour ).

 

[surfer_ed]

Booked a Disney excursion. The catamaran/snorkel/Dunn Falls.

I am a cautious traveller and have lot s if experience so usually go on our own but I am a little worried. So booked thru Disney. Mostly the falls area concerns me since I understand there are allot of residents milling about and offering everything from hairbraiding to drugs.

Might cancel not sure...

 

[phinz]

Just cancelled our excursion. Ugh. We weren't planning on getting off in Cozumel either. Beginning to wish I hadn't booked this cruise . . .

Why? My wife didn't bother getting off the boat in *any* of the Western ports in November and she had a great time. She paid for the big floating resort so she took full advantage of all it had to offer.

 

[cruiser21]

We were in Jamaica about a week and a half ago, and it was as beautiful as ever. My family and I felt totally safe, even though we didn’t do a typical Disney excursion ( we hired a driver for six hours to the ship, instead of doing a group tour ).

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/...-after-shootings-lead-to-state-emergency.html

Things seem to have escalated in the last few days.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Why? My wife didn't bother getting off the boat in *any* of the Western ports in November and she had a great time. She paid for the big floating resort so she took full advantage of all it had to offer.

LOL! No, after second thought, I don't regret it. My DS10 will actually be thrilled that we will be getting off the boat less! We'll have a blast. We have beach days at Grand Cayman and CC, a pirate night and a Star Wars day. It will be awesome!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/...-after-shootings-lead-to-state-emergency.html

Things seem to have escalated in the last few days.

Wow. I really wish DCL would dock somewhere else at this point.

 

[phinz]

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/...-after-shootings-lead-to-state-emergency.html

Things seem to have escalated in the last few days.

This doesn't say anything different from the original article posted. It just says everything in a more sensational TL;DR manner.

 

[cruiser21]

This doesn't say anything different from the original article posted. It just says everything in a more sensational TL;DR manner.

I have no idea what TL and DR mean. I was just trying to be helpful to anyone that might be wondering why they issued the state of emergency. I could care less. I have no intentions of ever stepping foot in Jamaica again.

 

[jane01jp]

I think the state of upheaval in some of these islands and countries may become very difficult for the cruise industry to navigate (sorry for the pun).

Let's face it: Nassau is reasonably safe, but not worth getting off of the boat. Jamaica is probably best avoided for now. Disney has cancelled stops in Mazatlan in the past. Much of the Caribbean has been plagued by the Zika virus and/or dengue fever. Then, there is hurricane devastation in the Eastern Caribbean. The problems are really stacking up.

There are so many ships traveling to these destinations, it doesn't seem sustainable from a business standpoint.

I love cruise vacations, including to the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and Mexico. But, it is getting kinda dicey.

I think the cruise lines are going to have to be a lot more nimble, flexible, and creative, including developing entirely new markets/routes, and scuttling (again, sorry for the pun) the stops that unduly may put passengers in harm's way.