6 of the 7 Continents For The Budget Traveler: New Year's In Jamaica

It was 2020 going into 2021, big plans were made to celebrate New Year's in Hawaii, but as with all things Covid, plans had to be changed. Growing up in NYC I knew a lot about Jamaica as it was a popular destination for NY tourists and I met many great Jamaicans in Brooklyn. So having an inkling already that it was a good spot was enough to add it to a possible NYE destination for the year, and then they had the easiest Covid option, with a window of 10 days to test. On top of that we had already been vaccinated, so it was a safe and great replacement when Hawaii closed it's doors (understandably). Although we were not allowed to enter Kingston and were limited to the tourist areas it was still an incredible way to start the year. Here's my go to hit list for Jamaica, minus Kingston of course :(

The first big debate was Montego Bay or Negril, Montego won for party aspects, as it was New Year's, convenience being closer to the airport during Covid times, and all inclusive deals. We didn't have a lot of time to plan something, and although all inclusive is at times limiting, it was the best option with closures due to Covid to know we had all meals covered, and drinks!
Next was the resort, this was an easy choice, Holiday Inn Montego Bay had SMOKING deals. We got an ocean front balcony room on the top floor for around $250 a night, all inclusive! The Hawaii deals were around $500 a night for an ocean view, with nothing included!

View from the room New Year's Day
Getting to and from the airport is no issue as Uber's were a plenty
Now what to see and do, obviously the beaches are gorgeous, spend plenty of time there! We also went and did an excursion to Dunn's River Falls. Beautiful scenic falls that you hike up! The water was perfect and an easy, fun hike.
We stopped on the way back in town for some Jamaican chicken and beef patties! I've had some in NYC but it would never be the same after eating it local! Other notable dishes were red bean soup, Jerk Chicken, Jamaican Callaloo, and on New Year's the Jamaican flag NYE cake!
Scuba diving there was top notch! My only tip is to review your under water camera's depth limits, I was catching great photos! Great videos! Unforgettable moments! But you won't see any of that because the depth got the best of the camera!

1 meter down before the camera died on the dive!

We headed into town one day to Margaritaville for lunch and some drinks. I'm not a fan of eating at an American Chain Restaurant while on holiday abroad, but the place has a water slide from the bar into the ocean! Had to do it!
Final tip is MoBay lounge and my chase sapphire reserve card experience. This is probably going to be an article in itself but I became a card holder of this traveler's card earlier in 2020, it gave me priority pass lounge access which saved us a good 2 hours leaving the country! If you are going to MoBay lounge you have a fast pass thru customs (51 countries and counting and this is the only time I've experienced this). We got to the airport to see a line almost out of the airport for customs, but the MoBay fast pass line with priority pass took about 5 minutes. If you don't have priority pass I highly advise looking into how to get a MoBay lounge pass to cut that line, and of course enjoy some complimentary food and drinks in the lounge, we opted for more beef patties!

Somewhere on this blog I have written that as budget traveler's things can't always go as planned, so we must plan on things not going as planned! Nothing ever held more true than Jamaica for New Year's as our plans for over 10 months rapidly changed. And nothing could have changed for the better. Hawaii can happen another year. The people we met made the stay amazing, the hotel was convenient and perfect, the views, the memories, the food, the culture, and the smell of the ocean which unfortunately I can't send you on this blog was a start to 2021 that could not have been more perfect. If you are thinking of going to Jamaica for a visit or for New Year's I couldn't recommend it more Mon!