Montego bay help, please!

[jsmith2531]

We are two young married adults (34 and 40). We know what we want to do, but it seems as though we are not sure how to plan our day.

 

We know we want to:

 

1. zip line (we have decided on http://www.zipline-tours.com/description.html) They will pick us up from and take us back to the dock.

 

2. We also want to eat some lunch and shop, but we are unsure of where to go for these. We thought about Margaritaville, but what about shopping? Is there decent shopping nearby? One thing we do want is rum. I am assuming that once the zipline company takes us back to the pier Margaritaville and shopping is easily accessible?

[Cruisingzs]

You can buy rum in the terminal. There is also some shopping to be done there. We took a private cab to the craft market for some really cool stuff. We had a great time and the "merchants" were really cool. At first they were aggressive about coming into their "store". But when they saw we were looking at everyone's stuff they were cool. My husband actually had a young guy as a beer runner. Troy kept him in Red Stripes the whole time we shopped. We felt very safe as the driver took us straight into the gates of the market and then straight back to the terminal

[Gathina]

Pork Pit, all the way. Margaritaville is hardly Jamaican, even the Jamaican food there is more American.

 

Go to the Craft Market next door to the Pork Pit and ask for Annette Pottinger..her shop is in the back at the top..she is a very close friend of mine and has a shop there. Unfortunately, the "hawkers" in front of the market will try to get you to their shop. Annette is not a hawker and works very hard to try to support her family. She's the best! :)

 

The rest of the shopping is typical "tourist stuff", up near Margaritaville. They are owned mostly by Indians and much of their tourist stuff isnt even locally made, it's made in China. Saw a show on that last week when I was there.

[jsmith2531]

Thanks for your help. We plan to do the zipline as previously mentioned, plus a liquor tasting tour at the same locale. I believe they are located in LETHE. I have no sense of direction, but is this too far from the "craft market"? The zipline company representative told me the driver will take us for our lunch or anywhere else we want to go. Will he know where the "craft market" is? Is the PORK PIT easy to find at the craft market? Are there other trustworthy places to eat there? How far is this from the terminal? We are responsible for our return transportation to the ship. Will it be easy to find a trustworthy cab?

[Gathina]

The only zipline I know of is closer to Ocho Rios and that's an hour drive or so.

 

The craft market is next door to the Pork Pit. There is a downtown craft market that is neat, but the whole city itself looks dumpy and it might frighten you as there are huge crowds, though tourist security is everywhere on cruise ship days. Upstairs from the craft market is also a nice jamaican restaurant owned by a lovely married couple.

 

Scotchies is on the main drag outside of town and that's reputable for food, but to me, I swear by the Pork Pit. I ate there three times last week and you can also get jerk or bbq chicken as well as pork. You can walk within 5 minutes to the Pork Pit, then keep walking right up to the "hip strip" as they call it, where Margaritaville is. Just past the Pork pit is a local bar, too, which is better to drink at then the tourist places up the road a notch. Local bars look like a hole in the wall but have great prices.

 

Cab drivers know the craft market well as most of the tour buses stop there...the pork pit is a local joint and well known. I stayed at the villas behind there once for $50 US per night which was a bargain.

 

Make sure your taxi is "red plated" which is approved by the gov't..and bear in mind he might not use the air conditioer in the cab as few do although the big tour buses generally do.

 

Thanks for your help. We plan to do the zipline as previously mentioned, plus a liquor tasting tour at the same locale. I believe they are located in LETHE. I have no sense of direction, but is this too far from the "craft market"? The zipline company representative told me the driver will take us for our lunch or anywhere else we want to go. Will he know where the "craft market" is? Is the PORK PIT easy to find at the craft market? Are there other trustworthy places to eat there? How far is this from the terminal? We are responsible for our return transportation to the ship. Will it be easy to find a trustworthy cab?