Looks a lot like a place where I got married
This isn’t the Grand Palladium is it?
Yes, that's the place
- Topic Starter MapleDots
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Yes, that's the place
theinvestor
DNC.ca
Very nice. Great choice!
Yes, the locals are great, very friendly, and the facilities are amazing.
can you go out and about into any nearby towns, or just stay on the resort grounds?
When we visited Negril one kid that looked like he was 10 asked me for a dollar. At first I said no but he kept chatting and seemed like a nice kid so I gave him 10 bucks. He ran back home and minutes later the bus was surrounded by kids and then the teenagers came, we quickly began to feel quite uncomfortable and walked across the street back into the tourist bar. We then waited for the bus driver before we returned to the bus.
If I was by myself I would not have been as worried but my kids were there and I wanted to assure we all stayed safe.
That said, everyone we met was polite and they cater to tourists like crazy but you have not seen poverty until you see how some of these poor folks live. We give 5 bucks to every single person that helps us at the resort. Five bucks is a lot to them and now we cannot go anywhere without being asked if we need something. I brought $500 in fives and that is rapidly depleting. Your heart goes out to them and you feel you should do more but I don't think anyone goes hungry. Yesterday the guy on the beach reached into the lobster trap, gutted the poor thing and had it roasted and ready for his dinner in under 10 minutes. They toss a line in the ocean and catch a fish, easy supper.
If I was by myself I would not have been as worried but my kids were there and I wanted to assure we all stayed safe.
That said, everyone we met was polite and they cater to tourists like crazy but you have not seen poverty until you see how some of these poor folks live. We give 5 bucks to every single person that helps us at the resort. Five bucks is a lot to them and now we cannot go anywhere without being asked if we need something. I brought $500 in fives and that is rapidly depleting. Your heart goes out to them and you feel you should do more but I don't think anyone goes hungry. Yesterday the guy on the beach reached into the lobster trap, gutted the poor thing and had it roasted and ready for his dinner in under 10 minutes. They toss a line in the ocean and catch a fish, easy supper.
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Glad you're having a good time. That plane story sure sounded scary to me... and I read about it on the news as well.
rlm
Bonfire.ca
Well that's good. Usually you see someone sitting on the edge like that its because they're chumming for fish, haha.
I've heard similar stories about Jamaica - to the point where people are scared or at least quite uncomfortable. That's one reason I've never really wanted to go there, but also its a long trip from BC, by that point we'd rather just go to Hawaii or Mexico or Europe. Not that Mexico doesn't have its issues either though.
We all realize though that the average person there is very grateful for any help, so we do try to do our part. This past November we had a room that faced the ocean on one side but the hall corridor was open aired and looked over a side street where employees would come and go via a large touring style bus. They'd have to wait in line to get out, everyone got the metal detector wand treatment, had to open their bags and purses, etc... It was quite the process. Definitely makes you feel bad for these people. But I guess I also understand why the resort was doing that. Unfortunately as is true anywhere and everywhere, there are always a few bad apples that ruin it for everyone one else.
Personally, when in resorts like that in MX, I go the $1 route per person per interaction, for anything & everything, with occasional splurges of more for exceptional service or friendliness or whatever. If my waiter never stops by to refill drinks, etc, he gets the minimum (which never happens), but more for someone who stopped by frequently. Its enough that it gets you good service and they're always coming back but not enough to attract the attention you got. And those interactions total up way more per day than you'd probably think. So planning for 100 interactions isn't going to be enough, and at $5 per interaction, that was certainly very generous on your part, but you're gonna run out of fives!
One year we had this great waiter down in Cabo bringing drinks poolside and a friend we were there with was a VP of Sales for an oil & gas services company. He asked the waiter if he wanted to come to Canada with his family and come work for him in sales - and he was serious. The waiter was like how much? My friend said I'll start you at $100K and the waiter just laughed and said I make more than that here, so thanks but no thanks! And when you think about it, that's like $50/hour and each tray they carry probably has 5-10 drinks at $1 tip for each drink. It's really not out of the realm of possibility to earn that for someone that hustles and has a good personality, humour helps a ton too.
Jeez, I think I want to be that guy, that's the kind of experience I would actually love, to me that would be relaxing. My wife likes the security of a resort, but I'd like to rent a modest place near the beach for a month, wander down to the beach and angle or spearfish my food each day (failing that a nice walk to the market), come home and cook up a fresh simple meal, rinse and repeat. That'd be the perfect vacay for me.
Yeah Jamaica is nice but Cancun Mexico is safer. We walked the whole strip and would never do that in Jamaica.
Aruba is the safest, we rented a car and I went the wrong way down the street. A cop pulled me over, told me where to drive and wished me a great day. He said we love our tourists and to remember that Aruba is not called the friendly island for nothing.
Aruba is the safest, we rented a car and I went the wrong way down the street. A cop pulled me over, told me where to drive and wished me a great day. He said we love our tourists and to remember that Aruba is not called the friendly island for nothing.
rlm
Bonfire.ca
Thanks for the advice, your Aruba experience sounds great! Just wish it was easier to get to!
theinvestor
DNC.ca
I’ve been to both Jamaica and Mexico and in my opinion both of them are not the safest. It’s all about what you do though. I am not the type to just stay at a resort for an entire stay so I like to get out. It’s best not to venture out on your own but the last time I went to Jamaica we ended up renting a car and driving down to Negril. Although sometimes it did not feel safe we never had any issues.
There’s always alerts on both Jamaica and Mexico to use caution if you travel. So they recommend it is best to stay on the resort. Generally though the tourist areas in Jamaica are pretty safe.
There’s always alerts on both Jamaica and Mexico to use caution if you travel. So they recommend it is best to stay on the resort. Generally though the tourist areas in Jamaica are pretty safe.
Beautiful... enjoy your vacation. I just read about the scary news about the plane. I have flown WestJet, but not SunWing. Well stay safe, enjoy well and return safely!!
Yesterday evening
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It's number one on Canada's most dangerous travel location, had I known I might have booked Mexico again.
The Cancun strip is so commercial with the Hard Rock cafe and such that we had no issues walking the strip.
I would never walk the strip in Jamaica, maybe drive it in a car but I would never walk it.
rlm
Bonfire.ca
A lot of western canadians are snowbirds, live in mexico for months, or go permanently. If you are the adventurous types who like to leave the resorts, I'd recommend avoiding the tourist areas, and instead googling expat cities in Mexico. Places with high concentrations of expats tend to be safe, good services, good prices and good tolerance for foreigners, yet still have a lot of mexican charm and authentic food, while also having some more western food when you need a break. Compare that to the tourist traps of Cancun and you're encouraged to stay in resort, and when you do leave, it can definitely be sketchy or uncomfortable at the least. Some of those tourist trap areas you are accosted every 20 feet by hawkers. Playa del Carmen is right up there with the worst in my memory - probably even worse than Marrakesh Morocco - and that was pretty bad too.
We had nothing but fun in Cancun, my kids still talk about it.
We were only stopped ones by the guys in the green masks and I gave them 10 bucks for the photo op.
They said they would give me a memorable picture and they sure did.
rlm
Bonfire.ca
The 737-800 is considered one of the the safest commercial aircraft in history... And the 737 Max is the replacement for it. It has only the 2 crashes that grounded the fleet, but that was due to foreign pilots not being trained properly. And foreign pilots are known for just turning on autopilot every chance they get, where as north american pilots seem to take more pride in doing things manually as much as possible. I think that has a lot to do with training as well. People who are trained well in something want to use their skills, not autopilot. People who don't trust their own skills defer to autopilot.
So no, a 15 year old doesn't know that. A 15 year old is a product of social media. (no offense).
rlm
Bonfire.ca
We had nothing but fun in Cancun, my kids still talk about it.
We were only stopped ones by the guys in the green masks and I gave them 10 bucks for the photo op.
They said they would give me a memorable picture and they sure did.
Is that the Riu Palace Las Americas? We stayed just up the street at the Riu Palace Peninsula in November (the one with the giant square hole in it that you can't miss). We've been pretty happy with staying at Riu's (just don't stay too long or you get sick of it - but that's true of anywhere for me).
rlm
Bonfire.ca
Nope, she's 22 now. But she's still always right.Hehe, do you still have a teenager?
They are always right
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