Dunns River Falls with infant

[wcw57]

Family has decided that they absolutely MUST do the Dunns thing....
One DDIL has a 9 month DGD....
Is it feasible for her to put her in a forward facing papoose-type thing and climb up the stairs or is THIS too dangerous?
I assume the stairs are slimey (as has been my experience by waterfalls) but I am asking for opinions of people with experience....
BTW, I WON'T be climbing up any dern waterfalls....stairs or otherwise

 

[jrabbit]

Just a few weeks ago I climbed the falls. If not the BEST excursion we've done, it in the top 5!!! IT WAS AWESOME.

As far as the dry path goes - I don't know. There were at least 6 people on our bus that did this and I did not ask them how the path was, but there was an older lady with a cane that possibly walked the dry path. I don't really know if the people that didn't climb the falls did the path or not. They were separated from the herd and they headed off their own direction.

There is a "park" and artisan booths inside the falls gated area, so that is also an option while everyone else is having a blast.

Hopefully someone can be more helpful.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

BTW, I WON'T be climbing up any dern waterfalls....stairs or otherwise

Then the baby needs to stay with you! Can you imagine the baby's mother slipping and falling into the baby... possibly face first into the water?! Put your foot down, grandma, and keep the little one with you!

 

[OrcaPotter]

I definitely wouldn't have an infant with me on the falls. You could easily slip and hurt the baby in the fall.

 

[wcw57]

That is my opinion....I'm big on avoiding unnecessary risk......

btw, this is grandpa and ddil asked me to find out

 

[RoseSanti]

When we went there was a family who took their baby. The mom took the baby through the dry path that was pretty much next to the falls most of the time. The stairs did not appear steep at all as they gradually rise up with the terrain. They also seemed well maintained and had well placed hand rails and fences. Whenever we looked up or stopped for pictures, the mom was on the above trail with the camera out. Turns out mom and baby had walked the entire trail with the bus tour guide. The trail is perfectly safe. I would definitely not miss out on the Dunn's River Falls. Just be prepared for a lot of walking and enjoy.

 

[Flossbolna]

Agree with others, I would not bring the baby into the waterfall. You need to work on your balance quite a bit and carrying anything makes that much more difficult. When we climbed there was a couple of guys with a backpack. There are actually signs telling you that you are not allowed to bring bags. They really struggled with their backpack because it made it more difficult for them to balance.

However, I also agree with others that Dunn's River Falls is amazing! We did a private tour in Jamaica and just climbed up there on our own speed without a guide. We took some breaks sitting in the pools in the middle of the river and it was just wonderful! Absolutely the highlight of the cruise!

There is also a nice little beach at the bottom of the fall where you enter and maybe baby would have fun with non climber to dig in the sand a little there.

 

[elaine amj]

Dunns River Falls is awesome - especially for an active, outdoorsy day. We were going to pay for a private guide (cheaper than the ship excursion), but ended up deciding to rent a van (group of 8 of us) and do it ourselves. Its something like $10-20 pp to enter the park and this saved us a bunch and gave us complete flexibility. We felt completely safe (even with kids) driving the well maintained roads (we found a blog with plenty of photos first) and even stopped and bought a coconut from a roadside stand! The big joke was we sent just my husband out (and locked the doors) to buy it from a guy holding a machete!

We MUCH preferred climbing the Falls by ourselves. The Falls guides pretty much makes the whole group of 20-30 people hold hands the entire climb up. We gave each other boosting hands here and there but many of us (me!) felt more comfortable taking our own time to climb at our own pace. Plus, I was paranoid about pulling my kid down.

Re:the baby...I wouldn't bring the baby into the Falls itself but the stairs next to the Falls should be perfectly safe either with u or with Mom. They are a set of well maintained concrete stairs with railings.

 

[wcw57]

yeah, thanks....

to those who thought my ddil was stupid and would bring the baby into the actual falls, please note that i asked if they would be safe on the stairs.....
the general consensus seems to be that the stairs are safe....

 

[MissMet]

I'd just leave the baby on the ship in the nursery so everyone can truly enjoy the experience how they want to. That's what we'll be doing in April with our DS(2) & DD(1). We want to snorkel, so we'll leave them onboard & just do an excursion through DCL so that they know exactly where we are, know how to get ahold of us, and the ship won't leave without us. We left DS in the Fantasy's nursery when he was 1 and we had such a great experience with it. Just throwing another idea out there. Have a great trip whatever you decide!