Full Text | Mocha Fest cancels Jamaican parties; guests to be compensated

The following is the full text from the organisers of the Mocha Fest Jamaica. 

Important Update Regarding Your Mocha Fest Jamaica 2021 Itinerary.

Hello Mocha Fest Family,

As many of you may be aware by now, Mocha Fest has become the centrepiece of the local media over the past 24 hours. Videos of the afternoon we spent at Rick's Café went viral, which ultimately triggered a series of backlash from local promoters and other members of the entertainment community. We must first declare, as was made clear in the newsletters we sent out, modifying our itinerary to remove all our public events, our intention was to visit the island of Jamaica and enjoy this trip while isolating the group from the local community. We managed to successfully do that with some of our activities; however, we could not have Rick's Café agree to exclusive use of the venue for our guests. We moved forward with the group to Rick's, trusting that as a reputable and licensed attraction, they would do what's necessary and close the gate once maximum allowed capacity was reached in accordance with local COVID protocols, to which they verbally agreed to do. To our disappointment, they did not close the gate.

Due to the local protest and media backlash on Mocha Fest and the local Government, our hotel partners have informed us that they have no choice but to have Mocha Fest guests participate in the regularly scheduled hotel itinerary. This means we will no longer be hosting our private activities at the respective host resorts. Mocha Fest understands the impact this may have on your vacation, and we are willing to do what we can to offer every Mocha Fest [guest] one of the following options for compensation:

• A full complimentary general party pass to Mocha Fest Jamaica 2022 or any other Mocha Fest event you may choose to book.
• For our VIP guests, the complimentary pass will be in the VIP category
• Complimentary VIP tickets to either our Atlanta or DC Super Weekend
• A 20% discount on any of the following Mocha Fest Bucket list trips; Mocha Fest Thailand, Brazil, Costa Rica, Greece 2022 or Kenya.
• A 50% refund on the party package you purchased.

We have also decided to split the remaining Catamaran excursions over 2 days to ensure adequate room on each boat for proper distancing. This will be ONLY for those that have yet to enjoy the cat cruise. Those that already participated on [Wednesday] and Thursday, we ask you to enjoy the resorts, so we can ensure we get everyone on board. If you leave Jamaica on Sunday, you will be on Saturday's boat schedule at 10 a.m. all others will be on SUNDAY at 10 a.m. ( buses will leave at 9:30 am sharp, [please] do not miss it). An RSVP link will follow.

For those that purchased bottles for the various nights, those will still be fulfilled or refunded based on your request. We are still very much here and with you. We may not be able to control who gets to Deejay by the pool and at nights, but our team plans on being more present than ever in helping to enhance the rest of your Mocha Fest trip in whatever way we can. Our full team of Mocha Fest girls and partners will be with you by the pool and bars at nights to share this experience with you, listen to your feedback and ensuring that we put things in place to make the next Mocha Fest you attend be the best experience of your life. We will be passing through each hotel over the coming days.

Your experience at Mocha Fest is our responsibility, even though there have been so many things out of control. We went through extreme lengths with planning this event in these difficult times. Though the majority of these circumstances are beyond our control, we sincerely apologize. We are looking forward to Mocha Fest Jamaica coming back to its full glory in 2022 with this pandemic and restrictions most likely behind us, and we can have complete control of your experience by going back to our independent venues off the resorts.

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