If you can’t be in the Caribbean this holiday season, the new Christmas album by reggae star Shaggy will fill your stocking with island cheer.

The multi-Grammy Award winner and native of Kingston, Jamaica says the record was inspired by seeing so many tourists coming down to Jamaica for the holidays without necessarily getting introduced to the different Christmas traditions of the Caribbean, like drinking sorrel and kids shopping for toys at the Grand Market on Christmas morning.

“The Caribbean has a different vibe at Christmas than New York,” the artist said from his stateside home on Long Island. “It’s almost like a Carnival season — the family gathers, but there’s also back-to-back parties.”

Christmas in the Islands, released on Nov. 20, throws in a couple of sentimental favorites, with Shaggy taking a solo turn on I’ll Be Home for Christmas and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. But the bulk of the 15-track record are uptempo original holiday songs recorded in collaboration with more than a dozen other artists, from relative unknowns to A-listers like Beenie Man and Joss Stone.

“It’s a party CD,” says Shaggy, who said he enjoys collaborating with new artists who are unafraid to take risks — like doing a dancehall Christmas song, for example. “My collaborators are people I have a relationship with,” he adds, lending the sense of trust needed to make a record like Christmas in the Islands authentic and not just a walk-through.

If the title sounds vaguely familiar, it’s perhaps because Jimmy Buffett recorded the similarly titled Christmas Island in 1995 and, before that, a song called Christmas in the Caribbean.

Shaggy laughs at the Buffett comparison.

“Jimmy Buffett — that guy made an empire on one goddamn song,” he said. “He’s my hero.”

It’s no surprise that an artist whose biggest hits have included “It Wasn’t Me” and “Mr. Boombastic” readily shakes off critics and doesn’t hesitate to take chances that other, more image-conscious singers might not, whether that’s sampling the syrupy pop song “Angel of the Morning,” recording something as potentially uncool as a Christmas album, or unexpectedly teaming up with Sting for the surprise hit album 44/876 in 2018.

Shaggy describes his partnership with the former Police frontman-turned-ballad crooner as the result of a random encounter in the studio — the two share a manager — but said the artists bonded instantly over a shared love of reggae, ska, and calypso music.

“Sting is the brother I didn’t know I needed,” he laughs.

“My music is really a hybrid,” continues Shaggy. “I’m not going to say I’m going to [be] Bob Marley only better, so I have to do me.”

“I don’t take nothing about music too seriously,” he adds. “Some people say music is like birthing a child. That’s fucking bullshit. I can write a song every hour — it’s not a child, it’s a song.

“Every major artist you know, including Bob Marley and the Beatles, had more flops than hits. Nobody remembers the flops.”

Shaggy served in the United States Marine Corps during the Gulf War and shuttles frequently between New York and Jamaica, but leaves no doubt about where he considers home.

“I’m a Kingstonian,” he proudly declares, fondly recalling his grandmother — otherwise partial to Mahalia Jackson and Patty Page records — introducing him to the sounds of reggae pioneers Toots and the Maytals as a young child in the early 1970s.

Looking back at his grandmother, who Shaggy describes as a proper “church woman”, “I was like, how the fuck did Toots get into the middle of this?” He says. “When I did a record with Toots, it felt like I had made it — I wish she could have seen that.”

Whether it’s the music, or the food, or the people, “You should not come down here to a little resort and that’s it,” Shaggy advises Jamaica visitors. “If you come to Jamaica and you don’t experience the culture, you’re missing out.”

“This island of three million people, think about the impact it has had on the world,” he said, name dropping people of Jamaican heritage like Colin Powell and Kamala Harris. “It’s really amazing.”

“We’re the best of everything, whether we’re doing good or bad,” he says with a laugh while encouraging travelers to put Kingston, and especially Nine Mile and the Bob Marley Museum, on their vacation itinerary.

For the singer, some of the best of the Jamaica includes stopping at the fish fry at Screechies on Hellshire Beach in St. Catherine Parish or the Portland Jerk Center in Port Antonio.

And just like a lot of touristsH, Shaggy can sometimes be found rafting on the Rio Grande River.

“I go with a bunch of my friends,” he says. “One raft is the sound system, and the other is a bar. It’s crazy — we jump off into the river, stop halfway for lunch — it’s one of my favorite things to do.”

While you may or may not get surprised by Shaggy and his crew around the next bend on the Rio Grande, the Jamaican musical icon is sure to keep listeners guessing with every song he records.

“When you hear a Shaggy record you know what you’re getting,” he says. “Some funky, funky shit.”

The post Shaggy Is Spreading Caribbean Christmas Cheer in Jamaica and Beyond appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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The latest Caribbean Photo comes from Caribbean Journal reader Oleg Gutman, who sent in this lovely shot of the beach in Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera in The Bahamas. 

Have you taken a great photo in the Caribbean?

Send it to news@caribjournal.com with CPOTW in the subject line, including your first and last name and the location of the photo. 

It could be the next Caribbean Photo of the Week!

— CJ

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After a recent visit to the Dominican Republic by Caribbean Journal, it appears as though new COVID-19-related safety measures are making hotel guests feel comfortable booking at AMResorts’ two hottest properties in the country.

CJ was on hand recently as AMResorts, an Apple Leisure Group company, officially reopened Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana following a $36 million renovation.

We stayed at Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana and took a tour of the new Dreams Macao Beach Punta Cana development, which first launched to the public on March 23 before having to shut down soon after, due to the coronavirus. It officially reopened on July 15.

At the time of CJ’s stay at the all-inclusive Secrets Royal Beach, the occupancy was about 20 percent, representing about 200 people, said Luis Nunez, regional commercial director of the Dominican Republic for AMResorts.

That number is actually more impressive than it appears considering the hotel’s occupancy, like all AMResorts hotels, is now capped at 60 percent and that travelers are still getting their feet wet vacationing during the pandemic.

Nunez said when hotels come close to hitting 40 percent, management will close off the cheaper rooms and even consider raising rates to maintain the cost of operating the resorts.

Nunez said most guests were tested at the airport via breathalyzer equipment made in Israel. If a guest gets sick at the hotel, they are brought to an isolated room, treated by a doctor and then sent to a hospital, said Nunez.

“It makes guests a little more comfortable eating, drinking and dancing with other people when they know they were recently tested at the airport,” he said.

During our stay, CJ noticed that many of the guests, which included U.S. travel advisors and even the president of the Dominican Republic, were engaging in social distancing and mask wearing. The reopening ceremony consisted of a panel with tourism executives that was held in-person and virtually.

As far as rooms go, we highly recommend the one we stayed in, an upper-level Preferred Club Junior Suite Tropical View room. This category ranges in size from 495 to 581 square feet. It features views of the gardens surrounding the resort from a private balcony or terrace.

These rooms come with either one king or two double beds, and feature all the upgraded Preferred Club amenities.

Here are some of the most notable amenities the Preferred Club suites offer: Personalized check-in and check-out with the hotel’s concierge service; “Preferred,” or VIP, status and amenities; an upgraded mini-bar and room service menu; and upgraded bath amenities.

“We were given a Preferred Club swim out, used our pool every day and night,” said Sally Jane Smith, co-owner of the TravelSmiths travel agency in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. “What a great job they did on this property. I highly recommend the Preferred Club.”

As far as dining goes, there are no reservations required at any of the restaurants. Guests can choose from seven dining venues, including five gourmet a la carte restaurants. There are also 24-hour dining options, including late night bites next door at Now Larimar’s Carnival Buffet.

While we didn’t get to dine at all restaurants, our favorites were Himitsu, which served gourmet Pan Asian fare, along with a pretty cool cooking demonstration, and Bordeaux, which served French cuisine.

As far as safety and cleanliness go, guests of Secret Royal Beach, and all AMResorts for that matter, will be reinsured to know of AMResorts’ Cristal International Standards certification, as well as other standards it has met.

According to an AMResorts statement, “We are also working closely with Cristal International Standards to secure an even higher level of quality, safety and hygiene verification prior to re-opening resorts.

“This is the Prevention of the Spread of Infection Audit Protocol (POS), or the Cristal International Standards POSI-Check certification, one of the industry’s most advanced third-party verification standards, and is being implemented across all AMResorts branded properties specifically to address the post COVID-19 world. AMResorts is one of the first to employ the standards.”

The completed $36 million renovation project, which had the support and approval of the Dominican government, signifies continued growth and economic recovery for the destination despite the pandemic.

Guests at Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana will have access to enhanced offerings and amenities.

Some of the most notable include the addition of 90 rooms, bringing the resort total to 639, suites featuring private pool access (a new suite category), marble floors, hydro tubs and updated décor; a new El Patio Restaurant serving gourmet Mexican cuisine; and two additional bars, making the resort total 11.

There are also two new pools. The pools are a 52-meter Olympic-sized pool and a lazy river with a swim-up bar and a connected infinity pool. We expect the Olympic-sized pool to be the more popular considering everything is about spacing out now.

At the time of our stay, CJ noticed about five to 10 people maximum in the larger pool at one time, but nothing like pre-COVID swimming days when people clustered at the swim-up bar.

“Regarding health and safety, this was my second trip to Punta Cana in three weeks and the attention to the COVID-19 safety protocols is consistently better than what we have in the U.S.A.,” said Randy Otts, co-owner of 2 GETAWAY Travel, which is a travel agency based in Klein, Texas.

The reopening of Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana follows that of several other properties in the country, including Zoetry Agua Punta Cana, Dreams Dominicus La Romana, Dreams Punta Cana Resort & Spa, Dreams Palm Beach Punta Cana, and Sunscape Puerto Plata. All AMResorts branded properties in the Dominican Republic will be reopen by the end of the year.

“The beach is spectacular,” Smith told CJ of Secrets Royal Beach. “The property has a really great vibe. We were pleased to be there while the president of the Dominican Republic rededicated the property. This property is ready for clients.”

For more, visit Secrets.

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