Wednesday, 8 Feb 2017 Montego Bay

We followed the same morning pattern today. We then decided to hire a cab into town to look around and hit the gift shops from 10-12:30. The driver dropped us at one of the shops and took us inside to meet the operator, who had his phone number in case we had to call him and change plans. Clearly, they had an arrangement. I figured we might be paying a small premium, but it was offset by the convenience of one stop shopping, the fact that they would hold our purchases for us while we explored, and by their excellent service, complete with samples of anything you were interested in. We left there for a walk along the seawall and to peek into a couple of more shops. In one shop I learned that we may have paid a little more premium than I thought. In the first shop a particular bottle of rum was labelled $60USD, but he gave it to us for $30USD. In the second shop, the same bottle was labelled $85USD. When I picked it up to look at it, an employee appeared out of nowhere and said I could have it for $20USD. I said no thanks and moved along. I came back again later and another employee appeared and told me $25USD, but the first guy was nearby and corrected her to the $20USD he had already quoted. I again declined and started moving toward the exit, then the first guy said 2 for $30USD. I guess we left a few dollars on the table at the first place.

The view from Ron and Cheryl's room.

The view inside our room.

We returned for lunch and a sojourn by the pool, then back to our rooms for a nap before meeting up at 6 for the Asian restaurant, Bamboo. We awoke from our naps to find that it was raining pretty heavily. It persisted for over an hour and flooded some of the resort grounds.

The evening entertainment show was called Cinemania. It was patterned after iconic movie dance numbers and other dances crafted around iconic movie songs. Having seen a few of these shows now, I am becoming a little bit more critical. They are still entertaining and most of the performers are pretty talented, but some of the choreography is odd or weak, the performers sometimes lack polish and precision, and sometimes the timing is a bit off. I am not complaining though, just observing. After all, it’s not Broadway. These shows begin at 9:30 and run 60+ minutes. They are preceded by another act, usually a little reggae band with a singer starting around 8 for an hour, then a comedic audience participation game.