We had never been to Jamaica and booked our trip through Travelocity. The cab ride to Country Country was quite eventful with our Junta driver (we paid $20 per person, which is much less than Country Country offered to arrange for us, and also less than the Taxi drivers initially offered---- be prepared to negotiate). You will drive through mass chaos in Montego Bay, be propositioned by drug dealers and prostitutes at red lights and your vehicle may be approached by "thieves" with window washing equipment (our driver told us). I was very surprised to see the living conditions in Jamaica, even near the big resorts.

Country Country is beautiful. I didn't see any other hotel on the beach I would have rather stayed in. The others look shabby and more like motels. We had a great cottage near the beach. The room was beautiful and had a pitched wooden ceiling. The airconditioner worked (thank god!!) and the room was clean. The bed was too firm but it was nice that it was King sized.

The bar/restaurant is in a great location, really cute, and right on the water. The service there was very cold at first, but after a few days, the staff seemed to warm up to us. I'm not sure if that's a cultural thing, or if they appreciated when we started tipping more... After being there a few days we learned that you are expected to tip for EVERYTHING. I heard that they even tip the cashier at the supermarket. It became annoying after a while, and we definitely felt that the staff expected tips for routine hotel service.

The food was not very good for most meals, but was ok. We found almost all restaurants cook ALL food in margarine. Even if you order steamed fish it has a margarine sauce on it. Lunch is especially over priced and yucky at CC. We had dinner there once and it was on par with the other restaurants we visted, including Norma's (which is supposed to be the best on the beach). We did have a good meal at Cosmo's ($5 cab ride and the driver, Ernie, at Country Country picked us up right on time afterwards).

Our first night we arrived fairly late and went looking for dinner after 10pm. The restaurant staff told us to walk down the beach 2 properties and check another restaurant. We were approached by a 'hustler' in front of Country Country who tried to charm us and offered us drugs, and then help finding a restaurant. We had a hard time shaking him. After we ate and walked back to Country Country, he found us on the beach again, this time more aggressive and put a bag of ganga in my husband's hand. My husband refused it but the guy insisted we buy him a beer. We were very scared, and tried to get away from him. Up the beach, a ways, his friend stopped us and told us we were rude to his friend and insisted we buy them beer. We walked away, but were very scared, and never saw any security guards (we didn't even know they existed yet).

The next day we were very unsure how safe the beach was and felt scared to venture out at all. Luckily this was an isolated incident, and we learned that if you are just friendly to the 'hustlers' they leave you alone pretty quickly. This does not mean it isn't REALLY annoying to be propositioned at least once every 2 minutes walking down the beach. This is my #1 complaint about Negril in general. The sales people on the beach are VERY aggressive and take all enjoyment away from taking a walk on the shore. As long as you are parked on a lounge chair on Country Country's beach, they won't bother you (otherwise the security guard tells them to leave).

Anyways, the other reviews about the loud noise at night is correct. The club music was BOOMING from the Treehouse Inn next door. We didn't bother complaining... it's Negril. It's a party scene, what do you expect? There was one night that was especially loud and long, but we just tried to ignore it.

Tips for anyone going to Negril:

-American $$ is accepted almost everywhere, and we were given a better exchange rate if we paid American vs. Jamaican.
-Get lots of $100J for tips! Tipping is expected everywhere, for everything.
-Don't expect amazing cuisine. At all. We went to several of 'the best' restaurants in Negril, both tourist places and local places. The food is pretty good. Maybe I'm really spoiled (I live in Portland, OR). The margarine sauce got old quick. The 'patties' that are sold at lunchtime are really good though. Also, the food at restaurants takes a bit longer to arrive than in the USA and the portions are smaller.
-Take the tour at Mayfield Falls and try to call ahead and schedule Tony as your tour guide! He was awesome. The trip in to 'the country' made us appreciate Jamaica much more, especially after being so turned off by the hustlers on the beach. Beware, this is a SWIMMING tour, not a 'river walk'. You swim up a river... literally. It was incredible though, and very safe.
-Hire a qualified driver (we had great luck with Junta drivers) to take you on a tour of the area. We paid $150 US for a full day with a Junta driver/tourguide.
-Unless you have never snorkeled in your life, skip the snorkeling on the reef near Negril. There are some cool fish, a nice variety, but we negotiated down to $50 US (couple) and were really underwhelmed for the money. The reef has been totally polluted and is unhealthy, so you're not missing much if you skip it. Also, the water tastes like boat gasoline. Yuck!
-If you are horrified about being offered drugs, don't go to Negril. Or stay at an all inclusive resort and never leave the grounds. We were offered ganga, cocaine, and hash every single day, several times a day.
-BRING BUG SPRAY!! I was eaten alive, despite my thorough use of Off! The mosquitos are no joke.

We enjoyed our stay at Country Country and would return, especially now that we know the flow of things over there. The grounds were beautiful and well maintained. The other issues are more about the condition of the country, which at times was quite depressing to me. People are living in squalor and trying to make a living doing anything they can. But they are also proud of their country, very resourceful people, and usually very kind. Enjoy!