17 People robbed on Conquest Jamaica excursion

[Kieferbell]

Regardless of what people think or want. The cruiseline should decide for the safety of all their passangers. Those that really want to go should go on their own, apart from a cruise

 

How about if you are scared of jamaica find a cruise that does not got there or stay on the ship, quite simple. Why should I go on my own when I have a ship going that way. :D Carnival is not going to stop going to Jamaica, it stands to lose too much money. I hardly doubt that there are enough people out there that would support pulling out of Jamaica. There was a poll here yeah I know but that was a very small fraction of those who sail who were for pulling out of Jamaica. If you or others don't like Jamaica just don't book that itinerary.

[Kurbanfan]

If you or others don't like Jamaica just don't book that itinerary.

 

I agree. And we made that decision never to return after our first visit long before this happened;) As I'm sure others have too. This just put the icing on the cake......

There are so many other itineraries to choose from besides that one.....

[todzie]

As far as the comment about staying on the ship and therefore spending more money, that is not necessarily true. The casinos and shops are required to be closed when in port. That leaves the spa and alcohol as their money makers. Not a bad thing, but...

 

Additionally, the cruise lines make use of port days for staff training and staff respite. If more and more passengers remained on board, they would end up having to assign more staff to duty, cutting back on their down time and/or training availability.

 

This could be used to make a point somehow, but it's also quite boring. In hindsight, I can think of 17 people who probably wished they would have just encountered boredom in Jamaica.

[Luanne21]

I just sat and read all the way through this thread, and having been on that Conquest cruise, I was scared of what could have happened to us. We did hear about the robbery, but were to concerned about the accident on the white water rafting excursion to pay that much attention.

 

This was our third trip to Jamaica, and will probably be our last, because we have done all the fun things at this stop.

 

My heart and prayers go out to this group of people who were robbed. My heart aches for the children, who will always remember what happened.

 

While the robbery was going on, I was on a city, shopping tour. One of the ladies on the trip was about 85. She was offered weed at Margaritaville, and she miss understood what the guy was offering. She said "Son, I don't want to buy your weeds, I have enough in my yard at home" Got to love those little old ladies.:)

 

Again, lots of good thoughts the those effected.

[MINIDRVR]

She said "Son, I don't want to buy your weeds, I have enough in my yard at home" Got to love those little old ladies.:)

 

Again, lots of good thoughts the those effected.

 

Should we ever be approached by anyone offering this substance I hope I can remember that line since it is priceless.....

 

For those folks that experienced that heart stopping ordeal the way some folks have talked about it they have been reduced to just "statistics" and appear to no longer be real people........so sad. It will take a while for them to recover from such a shocking nightmare........

[bnsilly]

My mother just won a 7 night cruise, and you guessed it, Jamaica is in the itinerary..guess we will be staying on board that day...:rolleyes:

[Sports Mama]

Luanne--could you tell me about the white water rafting accident? My family and I were thinking about taking this excursion :eek:. I don't know if this is the same incident, but I read in another post (the Jamaica section) a lot of boats capsized because it had rained the day before. The person who wrote this message strongly suggested no one take this excursion, unless you were an expert, physically fit, and it wasn't the rainy season in Jamaica, however it is the rainy season during this time of year. We ended up cancelling the excursion. Thanks!!

[Luanne21]

The mistake that the excursion people made was they did not send an expert down, before they sent those who had paid for a good time. I have heard great things about this excursion, but things went terribly wrong. All those participating were banged up, and bruised. It could have been a lot worse than it was. We could have lost many people.

[crystalblue0610]

I just sat and read all the way through this thread, and having been on that Conquest cruise, I was scared of what could have happened to us. We did hear about the robbery, but were to concerned about the accident on the white water rafting excursion to pay that much attention.

 

 

While the robbery was going on, I was on a city, shopping tour. One of the ladies on the trip was about 85. She was offered weed at Margaritaville, and she miss understood what the guy was offering. She said "Son, I don't want to buy your weeds, I have enough in my yard at home" Got to love those little old ladies.:)

 

Again, lots of good thoughts the those effected.

 

That's cute, gotta love older people:p

[Sports Mama]

Luanne--

Thanks for the information. I was already mixed emotion about that particular excursion and between that accident and the robbery my family and I decided it wasn't worth the chance. Were not sure what we are going to do in Jamaica, if anything at all. :confused:

[Luanne21]

I hate that you feel that way, but completely understand. Jamaica could be a very exciting fun place to be, but with the recent events, I fear that many will be turned off. As my family said when they got back on the ship, "We left the ship on vacation, but came back as a survivor." That's not the way it should be.

[szdiver]

I just recently heard about this excursion and the trial you 17 went through.....very sorry you experienced this robbery, also that children had to be put through such a tragic encounter. Please know we are praying for you all to heal.....

[huskerdude]

Truthfully the only way I would go back to Jamaica on a cruise would be if it was free or some one else paid for it. (If it was land based I would just turn it down totally.) Then we would still just stay on the ship and have an "extra" sea day.;)

I'd rather give my money to Carnival than to a country that does not seem to understand what would happen to it if people stopped coming.

 

Dunn's River was beautiful but my wife was physically pulled into a shop at their shopping area, that they MAKE you walk through instead of just going out of the gates into the parking lot, because she was looking but did not want to buy. Whats the phrase - NO MEANS NO.

 

Just because you are poor does not give you the right to act that way. My Grandfather was a very poor man, I mean dirt poor, but he still had the common decency to act like a human being.

 

I really hope that the 17 people, well make that anyone who would have that kind of experiance, anywhere in the world, our heart felt prayers.

 

Ernie

[gigem85]

Bottom line IMO: Jamaica is the armpit of the Carribean.

[restasured]

I don't agree with your math. There may be 97% of the cruisers that don't even know about CC but I doubt all of them want to go to Jamaica, especially after the recently publicized problems there. I would venture to say that maybe a third or less want to go, another third don't want to go, (me included, I would rather opt for Cancun even with the posssibility of that being a sea day if the seas don't cooperate, Jamaica is going to be a ship day for me anyway and that is a guarantee) and probably the other third could care less and will probably either stay on the ship or get off at the terminal, get hassled about buying weed, get a trinket and go back on board.

 

Remember there are 1 or 2 maybe 3% or cruisers using CC.. what about the remaining 97% that may want to goto Jamaica? I understand the problems some have incurred there.. but lets do the math.. if all 3000 passengers did a poll.. I do not think that Jamaica would be removed.

[restasured]

Don't know about that one. We did a river raft tour in 2003 when we were there on the Conquest and enjoyed it. I can't say I felt totally safe while on the excursion. I definitly did not let my guard down and was very watchful of my surroundings. We are again booked on the Conquest the end of September this year and had contemplated that excursion again as none of the others are of interest to us. We now will make that a ship day and just stay aboard. I am hoping by then Carnival will have come to some kind of sense and change this stop to either Roatan Honduras or Cancun. Both are excellent stops and felt totally safe in both on other cruises.

 

I was at Dunns River Falls in Ocho Rios last Sept with no problems. Was this in Ocho Rios or not. I anm planning on going on the Liberty in August and we are stopping there agaion. I have the Rafting on the Martha Brea River booked. Wonderingif it is safe now?

[starketcher]

 

Well said, and my point all along!

[Mrsg324]

I have never been to Jamaica, have no intentions of going. I also won't go to Houston's 5th ward, to me Jamaica is the 5th ward of the caribbean.

Those of you that were in the group of 17 or those who have encountered any issues in Jamaica, my heart goes out to you. Especially to your little girl Ken. One of the hardest things for a parent is to watch your child scared, I can't imagine watching you child plead for her life.

Please tell her to stay strong. I hope she finds peace & is able to vacation again without fear.

 

Also, I'm not sure how true this is but I just came across this.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/html/20070606t200000-0500_123987_obs_call_in_the_us_army_.asp

 

Jamaica ranks #81 in crime.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2006/01/060103_murderlist.shtml

 

Jamaica 'murder capital of the world'

 

Every year global crime statistics present a planetary picture of crime and safety. In the past, some Caribbean cities have appeared on the list of the most violent in the world - but countries like South Africa and Columbia have topped the list.

 

But according to the Caribbean Media Corporation, Jamaica has now been classed the murder capital of the world, after 2005 saw more than 1600 people killed; a tally of at least five people murdered a day.

 

Jamaica's Prime Minister PJ Patterson said, in this final New Year message to the nation before stepping down, that crime was the country's most pressing problem and called on Jamaicans to play a greater role in the fight against it.

 

As BBC Caribbean Magazine has reported in 2005, Jamaica's Operation Kingfish - a task-force set up to deal with violent crime - remains one of the Government's initiatives at tackling the problem.

[Kieferbell]

I have never been to Jamaica, have no intentions of going. I also won't go to Houston's 5th ward, to me Jamaica is the 5th ward of the caribbean.

 

Also, I'm not sure how true this is but I just came across this.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/html/20070606t200000-0500_123987_obs_call_in_the_us_army_.asp

 

Jamaica ranks #81 in crime.

 

It's obvious why it's best that "you" yourself not go to either place.

[Mikel1733]

Carnival and any other Line have investments and relationships in each port they use. The vast majority of cruisers pick either the ship, the itinerary , or price to book. Most don't go beyond that to research anything else such as safety. The only changes made will be from passenger booking numbers changing due to high profile cases such as this 17 passenger assault and robbery. Discussions here and other place starts a ground swell and bookings change. Then Carnival goes to Jamaican authorites and say things have changed. You do something about these problems as our clients no longer are booking to Jamaica. Then something will change. What will immediately change is that the markets where drugs and forced selling will cease. And those that do the stepped up assaults and robberies will will arrested by the authorities. This problem with crime can be turned around........but it will take the cruise lines, Jamaican authorities, and passenger and their booking patterns to do it. Jamaica is a beautiful country and worth saving. But the money flow has to be legitimized.

[PINEVIEW01]

and this CD should never have said that... it's simply not true :(

 

The CD's have been making this claim since my first cruise to JA in '94. They have made it on EVERY cruise I've been on that goes to JA This is thier big selling point at this port. Carnival is very aware of this I'm sure

[kbahamas7]

OMG!!! Will this thread ever stop!!:D

[Snoozeman]

Bottom line IMO: Jamaica is the armpit of the Carribean.

 

don't forget Haiti :rolleyes: much worse.

[kwilliams6045]

There has been bits and peices, but here is my full story.

On June 10, 2007, my wife, 12-year old son, 10-year old daughter, and I set sail on the Carnival Conquest from Galveston, Texas. Being that this was our first cruise, we were looking forward to spending some quality time together as a family. The first stop was Jamaica, where my children and wife lost their safety and innocence, when we opted for a Carnival excursion, “Lethe Village Tour”. We selected this tour to show the kids the culture of Jamaican natives. We had no idea how this decision would change our lives forever.

I am a 17-year police veteran. Before my current profession, I proudly served in the U.S. Army. Safety and protection is my number one goal with anyone, especially with my wife and children. With this in mind, I attended the excursion meeting that was held on the ship by the Cruise Director, Mr. Price.

During that excursion meeting, the Director's exact words were… “In order to see the true Jamaica, you have to take a Carnival Shore Excursion." He added, “The Carnival Shore Excursions are guaranteed safe." He explained that in the port city, we may encounter some undesirables, attempting to sell marijuana or pressureing you to take their cab. He explained that the Red-Tag cabs were the only registered cabs. He continued to persuade us to take a Carnival Excursion. It was definitely a sales pitch for Carnival Shore Excursions, using safety as a very attractive sale point. There were no other warnings spoken of, other than the marijuana and high pressure taxi sell. After the meeting, I was confident in my decision to take the Carnival Excursion, because of the “guaranteed” safety.

We arrived in Montego Bay on June 13th, where my family and I boarded the excursion bus, along with 13 other passengers. Two of the passengers were my father and step-mother. My father, who is 67 years old has had two major heart attacks, the last one in July of 2006. This was the perfect relaxing Excursion for him.

We drove approximately 30-40 minutes into the country of Lethe, Hanover. Along the way, we observed extreme poverty, which made me uncomfortable and feeling as though we were not safe at all. The people looked at us as though they were angry with us for some reason.

We arrived at the plantation and met with a few natives, who explained a few things about bananas and coconuts. Then, we boarded a green and yellow trolley, connected to an old John Deer tractor. The excursion tour guide had turned us over to an elderly Jamaican plantation worker, Dalton, who pulled the trolley further into the plantation, surrounded by lush, thick jungle vegetation. I was relaxed and felt secure, as my family and I observed the flowers and tropical plants. Dalton had given a presentation on the banana plant and was pulling us through the plantation, towards a botanical garden to view some flowers and listen to a kindergarten class sing to us.

As we traveled further through the plantation, we approached a side-road to our right that was also surrounded with vegetation. It was here that our world came crashing down… Two men ambushed our trolley, approaching with guns and a knife. They immediately took control of our lives, pointing a pistol at the driver and ordering him to stop. Visibly shaken, Dalton exited and pleaded for the men not to hurt anyone.

The two gunmen began yelling, "f_ _king foreigners. Give us your f_ _king money, man. Don't f_ _k with us, man. We're f_ _king crazy." They approached on opposite sides and were either madmen or on some form of drug. My two children were sitting behind my wife and me, next to my stepmother and my father.

One of the gunmen placed an 8" revolver in my 10-year-old daughter’s face. My daughter was crying and pleading with the gunman not to kill her. I have never felt so helpless in my life! I still get physically sick thinking about this. As visions of my daughter’s life passed before my eyes, all I could think of was how badly I wanted her in my arms. The gunman kept the gun in her face, as he stole her disposable camera and all the belongings of the other passengers. These gunmen were jerking passengers around as they removed the valuables. One gunman took his knife and cut a camera from around one of the passengers neck. There was no doubt that these guys were violent and on the verge of hurting one of us. They continuously called us F_____king foreigners and it appeared as though they were angry about us being there. Once they had stolen everything, both gunmen disappeared back into the jungle, leaving my family and all the other victims visibly shaken, violated, and terrified.

The driver brought us back to the starting point of the plantation, where we exited the trolley and told other tourists of our nightmare. They all loaded back onto their buses, and were taken back to the Carnival Conquest, leaving us at the plantation still in fear and shock.

The other plantation workers were upset about us being robbed and grabbed their machetes and some sharpened cane poles. They wanted to go back to the robbery site to search for the gunmen. I had never seen the sharpened cane poles, but later I figured that they knew it was dangerous around there or they never would have had the weapons. As a police officer, it was easy to tell that these guys must have known this area was dangerous and they needed these weapons on hand for protection. Carnival should have known, it was a Carnival Excursion.

Approximately 20-minutes later, the Jamaican police arrived. One officer took shorts statements from all of us, however, I wrote out a statement for him. He stated that he was new at this and he appeared to be overwhelmed with the number of victims. He kept saying that some more officers were suppose to come and help with statements. They never showed, but I believe all available officers were out searching for the robbers. The officer told me that they were notifying the local villages to look out for the suspects. I did find out that the owner of the Lethe Village Tour Plantation was running for the Ministry of Tourism. I couldn’t help but laugh, knowing that we had just been violently robbed on this person’s plantation. I thought if it could happen here, it can happen anywhere in Jamaica.

After approximately 3 ½ -hours, we were transported back to the Carnival Conquest, where some of the crew shuffled us back onto the ship and into a debriefing room. They apologized, stating that they had no idea that something like this could happen to us.

After the debriefing, we were released back to the cruise. We began hearing from Carnival employees, regarding their knowledge of how dangerous Jamaica can be, and their reason for not leaving the ship. Every crewmember to whom I spoke with stated that they do not leave the ship, because they fear for their safety; yet, Carnival allowed us and other passengers to leave the ship, guaranteeing our safety.

The next day, I was told that the two gunmen tried to exit the jungle approximately 2 miles from the plantation around 10:00PM, where the encountered the Jamaican Police and tried to shoot their way out. One gunmen was shot and killed and the second one got away.

Carnival brought a Crisis Intervention Therapist onboard, who met with us. She remained on the ship, all the way back to Galveston, Texas. At the end of the cruise, she recommended that our family seek further counseling in order to deal with this traumatic event. My wife and I agreed. A letter was also delivered to our cabin from the CEO of Carnival, apologizing for the incident. It also stated that Guest Relation Supervisor, Dorothy Georges, would be standing-by for our phone call on Monday morning, June 18th. When I called on Monday to inquire about the additional counseling, Ms. Georges was not available. I left a message.

When Ms. Georges returned my call, I expressed my concerns and asked how we would go about having Carnival pay for our counseling. She stated that she could not confirm whether or not Carnival would pay for the counseling, and would not have an answer on this for a few days. This infuriated me even more, thinking that if it were THEIR 10-year old girl, who had a gun shoved in her face and forced to plead for her life, they would have immediately said, “Yes” to my counseling request. At this point Carnival began handling this incident as ‘strictly business’. There was no compassion whatsoever!

My wife continues to shake at times, so much that she has been unable to return to work. My son claims that he sometimes sees one of the gunmen in our house. My daughter has broken out in hives. I for one get so angry and upset that I physically shake and then cry. I go back and forth. I am nauseated just writing this story. We all have nightmares in relation to this incident. It is ridiculous and totally neglectful on the part of Carnival that we were not given the true facts and information about Jamaica. I would never have subjected my family to this if I had received this valid information, in advance, and I will now live with that decision forever.

I wish to strongly encourage anyone, who is considering traveling to Jamaica, to STOP! It is not worth the risk. They prey on the tourists, knowing that they carry money and other valuables. The natives earn approximately $50-$100 dollars a week (according to our tour guide). The two gunmen, who robbed us, escaped with approximately two to three thousand dollars. This is the equivalent to someone robbing a bank in the USA. This will only continue. They have no choice. The poverty is too bad.

Word of this cash crop will spread and there will be more excursion robberies. I am hoping to get this information out to the public and caution all tourists, who are contemplating a cruise or trip to Jamaica. It’s not safe! I want to warn you, because Carnival will not.

[mrdood]

How about if you are scared of jamaica find a cruise that does not got there or stay on the ship, quite simple. Why should I go on my own when I have a ship going that way. :D Carnival is not going to stop going to Jamaica, it stands to lose too much money. I hardly doubt that there are enough people out there that would support pulling out of Jamaica. There was a poll here yeah I know but that was a very small fraction of those who sail who were for pulling out of Jamaica. If you or others don't like Jamaica just don't book that itinerary.

 

Very well said - against it - don't sail there, there are many of us that look forward to sailing there again!!! Please don't try and take my freedom of choice from me, if I and many choose to sail there, so be it!!!