montego bay mishap
One of my favorite travel tips is to book your return flight for a late departure. Particularly in the busy summer months, you are often given the option to volunteer your seat for compensation. This is usually given in the form of a credit towards a future flight, which is perfect for me since I’m always planning my next trip.
On my latest trip to Jamaica, when it was time to depart, our flight was oversold, and I decided to take the deal that Delta was offering to give up my seat in exchange for a return flight the next day and one more evening in Jamaica. For $500 and a stay at an all-inclusive, why not? I was told that I would receive accommodations like my earlier stay and transportation. However, I later learned that you can negotiate your accommodations and highly recommend that you do so after my experience.
Four people were taken off the flight and once all the paperwork was completed, we were fast tracked through customs to our transportation. Seriously, it was like the ultimate club VIP, no waits anywhere. However, that was the last luxury experience, because from there things quickly turned.
Transportation took us to the Deja Resort, a 3-star hotel in the heart of downtown Montego Bay. The hotel is all-inclusive with 2 small restaurants and a house bar. The lobby is open air, but the entire property is surrounded by a high fence because of the location. The most attractive part of the hotel is the proximity to Doctors Cave Beach, one of the best beaches located on the hip strip. The hotel offers free passes to the beach along with towels, but they have a limited number daily. However, because the hotel is right on the street, it’s extremely loud.
All the oversold customers from the flight decided to hang out together during our one evening in town which was so fun. We planned to head out to a local restaurant, since the hotel was definitely not the place to be, only to find out that Jamaica was under a 3PM curfew due to a national holiday. We were politely told by security there was no leaving the property until the next morning. No negotiating and no food delivery (possibly one of the funniest first world problem moments that I’ve ever experienced). At that point, we decided to make the best of it and head to the all-inclusive bar by the pool area. Several families were enjoying the area and there was a small grill café set up with a very limited menu. Many rum punches later, we had dinner at the full restaurant, which was extremely mediocre.
That evening, we visited the hotel bar/nightclub where an Emancipation Day party was being held. The hostess was fun and tried to keep the crowd going, but there’s only so much you can do at a hotel that felt like a mix between summer camp and Alcatraz. We decided to cut our losses and head to our respective rooms. Luckily, we were all in the same area of the hotel because there were no lights. The rooms themselves were threadbare with no telephones, no blankets for the bed and spotty television reception. I wanted to take a shower to wash off the day, only to find there was no hot water. At this point, I just decided to try to fall asleep in my clothes and hope for morning.
I made it until morning and have never been so happy to check out of a hotel. The bright spot was taking a quick trip over to Doctors Cove Beach for a final glimpse of the ocean before heading back to the airport. Luckily, my new travel buddies and I made it to the airport in time to have a proper meal before boarding our return flights home.
If you ever need bare bones accommodations in Jamaica, I still would not recommend the Deja Resort. However, there were a few other hotels in the vicinity of Doctors Cave Beach that seemed like better options if you’re interested in staying near the hip strip.
