Jaime, with the SOE currently in place, according to my Jamaican family and friends, it's currently safer than usual, mainly because of curfews and extra policing. Tourists are still walking around areas, including Montego Bay, freely and without tour guides. Runaway Bay is, in the main, safe, just use normal common sense if you go out, keep jewellery and cash to a minimum.

It's fine - very safe IMO. I was in the area two weeks ago driving around by myself. Stopped at Sharkies (Salem) for soup and drinks. Parked and used the ATM in Runaway Bay. Drove up the B3 to Brown's Town and visited the market. No problem. Good vibes and friendly locals everywhere.

NorCal - on a totally unrelated note, how was the market? We'll be visiting in March and plan to visit on our outing. What day of the week did you go? Was it busy? What kind of things were there? We're planning to head early in the morning on a Wednesday...

I am travelling to Suncove/sunscape splash Montego Bay which is in St. James parish. should I change my hotel to a further parish?

I am booked to stay at Sunscape/Suncove splash Montego Bay in St.James Parish. Should I change my hotel to one in a different parish?

I did a lot of research last nite and St. James Parish is where the alert is. Jewel runaway is about 2 hours, from my understanding. I would call your travel agent and hotel....

The Sunscape resorts are located on a peninsula that extends into the Montego bay waters. There are only resorts and very upscale residences located in that region. Perfectly safe.

Satellite image of that venue: http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=18.460926&lon=-77.934544&z=16&m=b

The tourist area of MoBay are safer than ever.

Casperjj - The market was a hectic but fun scene. If you've been to the markets in any of the other towns it's similar but bigger than most. My memory is hazy but I think it's a bit bigger than the one in Ochos Rios, probably twice or 3x as big as the one in St Ann's Bay. Any thing that grows in JA, any spice that's cooked with, any meat/fish and a lot of clothes, household goods, etc. It's all under one roof, filling the whole big block. It was a Friday so super busy (payday!). Good place to have lunch - very good curry goat, fish, soup, etc. - there's a couple of picnic benches inside next to the cook shop. Vendors very nice and patient with us - we were the only foreigners around that I could see. It's particularly impressive to be driving through the hills, just seeing a house here, a shack there and then boom, a big busy place in the midst of the hills.

Timmay, you are good if you can drive to Norwood in 5 minutes. going through bottom road or top road alone is more that 5 minutes. What about salt spring. That's not 5 minutes either.

Thanks NorCal! Sounds like fun. We have a driver booked for the day and I think that'll be our first stop so it'll be early in the morning. Too bad. I'd like to try curried goat. Maybe if I ask nicely someone at JRB can make it for us :-)