Let's talk about Jamaica excursions!

[bfamily5]

I am worried now! My DH has a heart condition and now a frozen shoulder - swimming will be very difficult for him. I have the Blue Hole booked and had thought we could just wade in somewhere and hang out in/near a waterfall..is this possible? Or will he have to jump and swim? TIA!

 

[Robin"D"]

We are booked for Green Grotto in June. It's DH, myself and DD--9 so I can post a review when we return. I only wish our cruise were sooner!

... ... ...

Any thing to report .... ....

We booked this for NOV, just want to hear if it is worth it?
is there any time for shopping?

Robin & Angel "D"

 

[joycsk]

I am worried now! My DH has a heart condition and now a frozen shoulder - swimming will be very difficult for him. I have the Blue Hole booked and had thought we could just wade in somewhere and hang out in/near a waterfall..is this possible? Or will he have to jump and swim? TIA!

My understanding of Blue Hole is that it is Very active. You have to climb down to get to the water. There is jumping required to get to the swimming. The road is at the top, not the bottom. (Typical for falls.) It looks beautiful, but since we were traveling with my 80+ mother, it was not an option for us.

We did, however, LOVE rafting on the Martha Brae. Booked it privately. Gorgeous and totally relaxing. Even my 10 yo ADHHHHD son enjoyed it.

 

[joycsk]

OK... this is the first I've heard of this... Going in Nov of 2014. What exactly are the sea lice. And where are they supposed to be. Details please...

Are like baby jellyfish. They are suppose to be Really bad around Pelican Plunge. You end up with an itchy, burny rash. I bought Safe Sea for our cruise 2 week ago. At 9 am, my DS went on Pelican Plunge 2x once each slide. I did the slower slide once and then we came in. DS went back to the ship (sadly, I'm the only one in our family of 4 who is a beach person) and DH and I went to Serenity. I doubt DS needed the safe sea, but he also did not get a rash - neither did I.

 

[PolyPrincess19]

We are sailing on the 11/8 sailing of the Fantasy and we are doing the Chukka Horseback Ride and Swim. I have always wanted to horseback ride in the sea and this excursion offers that and it's not overly expensive (booked through Disney)

 

[Coldflame]

I couldn't find a thread devoted to just this topic, so thought I would start one. We are on the 10/11/14 Western with a stop in Falmouth. Would love to hear any reviews of Jamaica excursions, what people are planning on booking, etc. Also, if you didn't book anything but just got off the ship and explored, let us know about that, too!

Please include the ages of your family, what you booked, your thoughts, advice, etc. Since this is a fairly new stop for DCL, it is harder to find info on port excursions and Falmouth in general.

Can't wait to start planning!

Do to age constraints due to little ones, our choices were essentially beach days or kid-boring ride on a bamboo boat on a river. So, we chose what made most economic sense and that was the Chukka? beach day. Fair price and looks like fun. However, I'm following this thread because next year most of the age restrictions will be gone and I'd like to see more of the adventure stuff.

 

[2boysmommy]

This thread has taken me from dreading our stop in Jamaica to being excited and even torn over what adventure to take that day! Thank you for the information! Keep the reviews and tips coming for those of us still planning!

 

[Doingitagain]

Has anyone done the Chukka Amazing Race? I am trying to figure out how it works. Does everyone on the team do everything, or can some skip ziplining, kayaking,etc.? Can a team member just go along without doing the activities?

 

[ALMinVA]

Has anyone done the Chukka Amazing Race? I am trying to figure out how it works. Does everyone on the team do everything, or can some skip ziplining, kayaking,etc.? Can a team member just go along without doing the activities?

My dh and my dd13 and her best friend 13 are signed up for this for our nov. 30th Magic cruise. I can report back if that helps you any.

 

[joycsk]

Do to age constraints due to little ones, our choices were essentially beach days or kid-boring ride on a bamboo boat on a river. So, we chose what made most economic sense and that was the Chukka? beach day. Fair price and looks like fun. However, I'm following this thread because next year most of the age restrictions will be gone and I'd like to see more of the adventure stuff.

My 10 yo DS, who is ADHHHHD, actually Loved the raft trip. I'd tried to psych him up before we left. The captain allowed him to pole a bit, and was very friendly. (He was on a raft with my parents, so I can't fully report.) I can say that he had a good time and treasures the carving the captain gave him.

Of course, ymmv, but kids Can enjoy this trip, and my 13 yo DD, myself (44) and my parents (70+) Adored it.

 

[Doingitagain]

My dh and my dd13 and her best friend 13 are signed up for this for our nov. 30th Magic cruise. I can report back if that helps you any.

That would be great! From DCL response: We have received information from our tour operator regarding ... the Chukka Amazing Race in Falmouth, Jamaica. This tour is setup like the Amazing Race TV show. They have groups that are racing against each other to the finish line. For each activity, the group cannot move on to the next activity until all group members finish. All guests would have to participate in all activities of this tour.

 

[Renysmom]

We are sailing on the 11/8 sailing of the Fantasy and we are doing the Chukka Horseback Ride and Swim. I have always wanted to horseback ride in the sea and this excursion offers that and it's not overly expensive (booked through Disney)

We are doing this at the end of September. I am so looking forward to it as well.

 

[dodle]

Can anyone tell me what time the meet is for the river tubing in Jamaica? We are considering this for our cruise, but would like to know some kind of time line. Thanks

 

[KarBear]

My dh and my dd13 and her best friend 13 are signed up for this for our nov. 30th Magic cruise. I can report back if that helps you any.

We have been trying to find out any info on this....please report back -we travel next summer and love the description of this but can not find any feedback.
Thank you in advance!!!

 

[bekkio]

Jamaica was our (DD 16 and myself) favorite port! Beautiful scenery, wonderful people, we are itching to go back to explore everything it has to offer.

We booked the Chukka ATV excursion and would highly recommend it. We were picked up in a mini-bus along with the Dune Buggy excursion folks and taken for a "Jamaican Butt Massage" - the driver's words! The roads are very bumpy, but scenic. He stopped several times along the way to point out various things - like banana trees, the market, etc. The ride was about 30 minutes, and then we arrived at the Good Hope Estate.

We had a bit of time to get a locker ($5 - option for our excursion, I carried my camel bak backpack the whole time), and used the rest room. Then we got on the ATVs. DD had some problems managing the steering (it takes a bit of strength), so the guide offered to let her go with the Dune Buggy excursion instead. We followed mostly the same path, with the ATVs zooming in and out of the sugar cane and orange tree fields a bit more. We both had a blast.

The Chukka staff were very friendly and informative about the Good Hope Estate's history. There were hourly busses going back to the Fantasy, so we stayed a while to shop, eat some jerk pork, and use the WiFi.

 

[Renysmom]

Can anyone tell me what time the meet is for the river tubing in Jamaica? We are considering this for our cruise, but would like to know some kind of time line. Thanks

Excursions are not set times, they run throughout the day and the times vary depending on how many ships are in port. You are assigned your time based on when you sign up.

 

[DLW8]

Just returned Saturday and we did zip lining and bobsledding. Tons of fun, part was me, DW, DS(14), and DD(13). Its a long day, met in WD theater at 7:15 am, drove about 75 minutes, got on the chair lift to go to top of mountain, (takes a family picture at tower 11). Broke into smaller groups for zip lining, did 5 lines and a 20ish foot vertical drop that got us to the fifth chair lift tower. Had to take chair lift back to bottom, stayed on lift to go back to top of mountain. Had lunch up there, jerk chicken was great but sauce was pretty spicy, I had them put it on side and was happy with that decision. Hot dogs were not so good, kids didn't like them at all. After that did the bobsled. If you do the zip lines and bobsledding be sure to get in the line on the left, the line on the right is just for bobsledding only and moves much slower. Bobsled run is fast and fun, we enjoyed about half of it until my daughter's iPhone jumped out from between her knees and fell to the forest floor . When we returned the GM happened to see her crying and rushed over to see what was wrong, told him about phone and he got an approximate idea of where it fell out and sent an employee to try to find it. About 30 minutes later he returned with her phone after that did some shopping, rode lift to bottom of mtn, waited for other family in our van to return and headed back to ship. Got back to ship around 3:00. All in all was a great time, tour guide was very knowledgeable and very nice, zip line guides were amazing and super nice as well. GM was beyond helpful and all the employees in the gift shop were super caring, they all came up to my daughter to let her know they would probably find her phone. The people of Jamaica were all so incredibly nice. I would do this again in a heartbeat.

On a side note it was really cool to see how excited the Jamaican cast members on the ship were the day before we sailed there. Most had family visiting them while docked. DCL was very gracious in letting friends and family of cast members join them on the ship to see where they worked.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

We have booked this for our November trip, so glad to hear another positive review. Are there lockers to put your stuff in while you zipline and bobsled? Did you do the infinity pool? Are there places to change there? Last question..do you recall how much another bobsled ride is? I heard it was pricey, but want to have an idea in case I cave when the kids want to ride again...

Thanks!

 

[Doingitagain]

River tubing in Jamaica starts at 7:45 am for our Jan 1 excursion, that is an early start for the day after New Year's Eve! Concierge said it was the only time offered and that most of the Jamaica excursions start early.

 

[yaddakal]

Just got back. Used country tours -most amazing day ever!!! Blue hole!

 

[JBMunzner]

We did the green grottos cave tour last week. My kids are 11, 9 and 7 and they enjoyed it. Our tour guide at the caves, Dwayne, did a great job adding some fun and excitement for the kids. It's not physically difficult, the caves are big enough to walk through with minimal bending, some steps down to one portion that a few people found challenging to navigate. At one point the lights go out- on purpose and it is completely dark, a few kids didn't like that (including my youngest). The cave tour was about an hour, then we went to a beach for an hour where they had lunch. The kids and I didn't eat because we wanted to spend the time in the water and jerk chicken wouldn't appeal to them anyway. My husband said the food was fine, and there's a gift shop there and they sell bottles of rum on the beach. Overall it was a decent tour.