Falmouth excursions

[Eeyore34]

Hello! We are cruising to the Western Caribbean next summer and I'm already thinking about excursions! I'm pretty sure we want to do a beach outing for Cozumel (I'm leaning toward Paradise Beach) and something with stingrays for Grand Cayman. I can't figure Falmouth out though. We have 4 kids -- 15, 12, 9, and 9. We really don't want to spend over an hour each way in transportation, so that limits our choices because it rules out Dunn River Falls and the bobsled. My husband and two oldest would like to zip line, one of the twins and I prefer to keep our feet pretty close to the ground, and the other twin is unpredictable. Any suggestions?

 

[cyclenut]

An hour bus ride is a bit of a harrowing experience in Jamaica, but I do recommend Dunns River Falls. We did an excursion once that stopped on the way to the falls to experience the Green Grotto (I believe that's what it was called). It was basically a hike through a series of caves to a grotto. Pretty neat and it broke up the ride a bit. Dunns River Falls is really a pretty easy hike up through the falls. I've never seen anything like it. The bed of the falls is basically man-made. There really isn't any other way to do it with as many people hike the falls. A natural bed of rocks and mud would be pretty torn up, but it is still very natural looking with plenty of natural rock and lots of trees and brush.

 

[Eeyore34]

An hour bus ride is a bit of a harrowing experience in Jamaica, but I do recommend Dunns River Falls. We did an excursion once that stopped on the way to the falls to experience the Green Grotto (I believe that's what it was called). It was basically a hike through a series of caves to a grotto. Pretty neat and it broke up the ride a bit. Dunns River Falls is really a pretty easy hike up through the falls. I've never seen anything like it. The bed of the falls is basically man-made. There really isn't any other way to do it with as many people hike the falls. A natural bed of rocks and mud would be pretty torn up, but it is still very natural looking with plenty of natural rock and lots of trees and brush.


We did Dunn River Falls on our honeymoon 20 years ago, and it's the one excursion that my husband and I keep coming back to as a reason why we'd do a longer transportation time. Such a beautiful place!

 

[CamColt]

We did the Tranopy Adventure, which includes both the bobsled and zip lining. While we enjoyed that very much, that may not work for your party with some not wanting to zip line, I will say though the bus ride, which we were dreading too, did not seem bad. Our guide talked the whole way there. She had us singing the Banana Boat song, asked everyone their names and told us what it would be in Patois (their dialect), and gave us a lot of great info about Jamaica. It was interactive and interesting so the time flew by. On the way back, almost everyone was asleep, LOL! She even made a comment at the end that she was going to make an announcement but didn't want to disturb everyone. So that was a nice rest time for us.

So my point is the ride isn't as bad as it sounds, and I felt it was even part of the excursion.

 

[Tulip2796]

My husband and 6 year old did the Green Grotto cave tour. It concludes with a visit to a beach resort. They loved it!! It wasn't far from the port and they said it was their one of their favorite excursions. Interestingly, we didn't have high expectations for Jamaica but it was a highlight. I stayed on the ship bc we also have a 2 year old who was too young for the excursion.

 

[Buckeye218]

In two weeks my wife and I are doing the horseback Ride 'n Swim Tour at Braco Stables. Got lots of good reviews on Trip Advisor. We will be picked up at the port and its a 10-15 minute drive. The tour itself is about 2 hours. So we'll still have half the day to stroll around the port area, shop or spend some extra time on the ship.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

We went to a resort with water slides, nice pools and beach. It was really nice to be able to swim in an expansive pool and have a lounger and lots of space for our family -- all things we could not find on the ship. We loved the authentic jerk chicken they cooked there. Definitely not a big adventure but a great family day for sure!

 

[dcassetta]

Considering a trip to see Good Hope Estate. One of the excursions is specifically with Chukka tours, does anyone know if there's advantage to going with them over one of the other Disney excursions to Good Hope?

 

[quickcat]

My husband and 6 year old did the Green Grotto cave tour. It concludes with a visit to a beach resort. They loved it!! It wasn't far from the port and they said it was their one of their favorite excursions. Interestingly, we didn't have high expectations for Jamaica but it was a highlight. I stayed on the ship bc we also have a 2 year old who was too young for the excursion.

So glad to hear this- This is what we are doing this Jan and I think it looks like fun. Happy to hear your family enjoyed it

 

[cyarealsoon]

Check out the blue hole. We used travel Jamaica tours and went there, it was amazing. It wasn't commercialized at all, and you get to see a little of the country. You can search it on YouTube.

Also check out Fat Fish Adventures for Grand Cayman, they do a boat or jet ski tour to stingray city that is fantastic. We have used them twice, always a great experience.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

We did the Horseback Riding with Swim and the Dunns River falls. True, it was a lot of time in the bus, but I didn't find it harrowing. Way more peaceful than the NJ Transit Bus in Newark, NJ.

It did take the whole day, but it was very memorable. If you like active experiences, you'd love these. And if you ask me if it was TOO much exertion, I'll tell you that my 70 year-old mother went with us. The guides paid extra attention to her and kept her safe and secure. Not that I'd suggest it for just any 70 year-old. I must admit my mother has been climbing and hiking her whole life, but I will say that several people in our group, whom I didn't know, told us afterwards that they kept looking up at her for inspiration. If she could do it, they could do it.

 

[Bear3412]

An hour bus ride is a bit of a harrowing experience in Jamaica....

It's a 40 - 50 minute drive on a massive beautiful new 4 line highway. Buses will never go over 50 mph.
It's more scary on I95 by my home.

DCL has awesome little buses if booking thru the ship. Very well organized. The herding didn't even look too bad at DR or MM.
Perhaps because everyone is frightened to leave the port.

This is a beautiful country with awesome people. It a shame pax miss some of it's culture and activities due to fear mongering.

No I don't work for the Jamaican Tourist Board.


ETA; DCL pax are taken care of very well in Jamaica, better than others fwiw, trust me.

 

[Eeyore34]

It's a 40 - 50 minute drive on a massive beautiful new 4 line highway. Buses will never go over 50 mph.
It's more scary on I95 by my home.

DCL has awesome little buses if booking thru the ship. Very well organized. The herding didn't even look too bad at DR or MM.
Perhaps because everyone is frightened to leave the port.

This is a beautiful country with awesome people. It a shame pax miss some of it's culture and activities due to fear mongering.

No I don't work for the Jamaican Tourist Board.


ETA; DCL pax are taken care of very well in Jamaica, better than others fwiw, trust me.

My concern with long travel times isn't about the bus or safety. We went on the Eastern Carib. this past summer and did excursions to St. John's and the Baths. We loved the excursions, but felt like we spent more time en route to them than we did actually enjoying Trunk Bay or the Baths. The boat rides were great, don't get me wrong, but I'm just trying to maximize time at whatever the destination might be.

 

[Eeyore34]

Considering a trip to see Good Hope Estate. One of the excursions is specifically with Chukka tours, does anyone know if there's advantage to going with them over one of the other Disney excursions to Good Hope?

That's what I've been looking at too. I'm not sure of the difference.

 

[Eeyore34]

Check out the blue hole. We used travel Jamaica tours and went there, it was amazing. It wasn't commercialized at all, and you get to see a little of the country. You can search it on YouTube.

Also check out Fat Fish Adventures for Grand Cayman, they do a boat or jet ski tour to stingray city that is fantastic. We have used them twice, always a great experience.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely check them both out!

 

[czmom]

My husband and 6 year old did the Green Grotto cave tour. It concludes with a visit to a beach resort. They loved it!! It wasn't far from the port and they said it was their one of their favorite excursions. Interestingly, we didn't have high expectations for Jamaica but it was a highlight. I stayed on the ship bc we also have a 2 year old who was too young for the excursion.

Was this through DCL or a private company?

 

[Sytrace]

We enjoyed the Good Hope Estate tour with a great lunch ( kids were 12 and 13 at the time) and the Green Grotto Caverns ( ages 13 and 14 then) with a beach stop the times we have been there.

Cozumel we went to Playa Mia beach a couple of times and once that beach stop went with the ruins tour ( ages 11 and 12 and 12 and 13)

Caymans we only did one excursion over our 3 trips out there and it was a tour of Hell with a turtle farm stop. That was pretty cool. (ages 11 and 12)

 

[CesD]

anyone mind sharing what they paid for the private tour / car from port to Blue Hole? and if it included the entrance fees?

if we dont want to go to lunch afterwards, what are other spots where our driver can take us?

 

[SonyaShay]

anyone mind sharing what they paid for the private tour / car from port to Blue Hole? and if it included the entrance fees?

if we dont want to go to lunch afterwards, what are other spots where our driver can take us?

June 2015 my group of 6 used SNL Jamaican Tours for a private trip to Blue Hole. We paid $280 and that included a full day with our driver, entrance fees to Blue Hole and some signtseeing time to get some amazing photos. We had lunch at Scotchies and it was delicious! We ordered a little of everything from the menu and had more than the 6 of us could eat for less than $40.

 

[Bree]

Considering a trip to see Good Hope Estate. One of the excursions is specifically with Chukka tours, does anyone know if there's advantage to going with them over one of the other Disney excursions to Good Hope?

Chukka owns Good Hope Estate. All tours on that property will be with them. That includes the house tour, zip lining, ATV, etc.