Jamaica excursions...What was great, what wasn't? Help!

[nswift]

I am trying to wrap up all the planning for our first adult only vaca in years and would love recommendation/information for Jamaica. We have cruised Western Carib. with Disney before but this will be the first time to stop here. Thank you for any information, pics, warnings or must sees! I hope for many responses!
Thank you, thank you!

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We are avid vintage home tour-ers (live in VA and the old plantations etc are wonderful). As such, we jumped on the Good Hope Estate tour. Unfortunately, it was not all we'd hoped. Given our experience, I'd not recommend it.

 

[dtrain]

Bobsled Jamaica and Dunn's River Falls excursion is super fun, highly recommended: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...amaica-bobsled-jamaica-and-dunns-river-falls/

 

[Winston Wolf]

Bobsled Jamaica and Dunn's River Falls excursion is super fun, highly recommended: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...amaica-bobsled-jamaica-and-dunns-river-falls/

+1 for Dunn's River Falls. That's been my favorite excursion to date. The only bad part is the long van ride to get there, but really fun and well organized with the guides. The bobsled is fun, but over in about 45 seconds (you can find videos on youtube). It was cool to do once, but for what the upcharge is from Disney to add that on vs. just doing Dunn's...I'd skip it next time. But I'd do Dunn's again in a heartbeat. Really fun.

 

[kiford]

Bobsled Jamaica and Dunn's River Falls excursion is super fun, highly recommended: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...amaica-bobsled-jamaica-and-dunns-river-falls/

We did this. We'd do it again.

The bobsled is fun, but over in about 45 seconds

It is over quickly but we really enjoyed it and would do it again. It goes much faster - or at least seems to - than most roller coasters especially if you're doing it in tandem and the brakeman decides that no breaking is required. What we enjoyed as much as the bobsled was the ride up and back down. Views were great.

 

[Minnie368]

How long did the Dunn’s River Falls portion take? We were planning to do the bobsled with zip lining but now are thinking of doing the falls instead.

 

[CamColt]

We enjoyed the Tranopy Adventure which included the bobsleds and zip lining.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Has anyone here recently visited the Green Grotto Caves? I'm traveling with my 7 year old and my parents. The 7 year old thinks the caves will be awesome and really wants to go. My parents are still quite healthy, but not the most active. Is this a strenuous walk through the caves?

 

[MnkyGirl]

We did the Tranopy Adventure as well, and while we really booked it for the bobsledding, we were blown away by the zip lining and just moderately impressed with the bobsled. The bobsled was fun and a great experience, I just wouldn't go back for it. On the other hand, I would go back for the zip lining in a heartbeat.

 

[nswift]

We are avid vintage home tour-ers (live in VA and the old plantations etc are wonderful). As such, we jumped on the Good Hope Estate tour. Unfortunately, it was not all we'd hoped. Given our experience, I'd not recommend it.

This is very helpful. Thanks!

 

[nswift]

Bobsled Jamaica and Dunn's River Falls excursion is super fun, highly recommended: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...amaica-bobsled-jamaica-and-dunns-river-falls/

We were considering all the excursions to Dunn's River Fall but undecided about which combo.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I can't remember what ours was called, but it included zip lining, bobsledding, lunch, and chair lift.

DH and I went along and left the kids onboard. Aside from being worried about them and having guilt we had a fun. My only complaint is how long the lines were for all of it. They had multiple excursion groups together for the zip lining...from other ships even. So we probably had to wait for 30 people to go through each run. The bobsledding was a super long line too. Bobsledding was fun but over super quick, esp considering how long we waited. Lunch was good.

 

[nswift]

+1 for Dunn's River Falls. That's been my favorite excursion to date. The only bad part is the long van ride to get there, but really fun and well organized with the guides. The bobsled is fun, but over in about 45 seconds (you can find videos on youtube). It was cool to do once, but for what the upcharge is from Disney to add that on vs. just doing Dunn's...I'd skip it next time. But I'd do Dunn's again in a heartbeat. Really fun.

What part of Dunn's fall would you do again? Climbing up the falls?

 

[nswift]

We did this. We'd do it again.



It is over quickly but we really enjoyed it and would do it again. It goes much faster - or at least seems to - than most roller coasters especially if you're doing it in tandem and the brakeman decides that no breaking is required. What we enjoyed as much as the bobsled was the ride up and back down. Views were great.

That hits on my question about the bobsled...it says your ride is about 8 minutes and you go down as fast or slow as you would like (I vote for super fast) and then you are brought back up. Do you return up via the chair lift, of is the bobsled pulled back up with you in it? The last option sounds pretty neat with cool photo ops.

 

[nswift]

I can't remember what ours was called, but it included zip lining, bobsledding, lunch, and chair lift.

DH and I went along and left the kids onboard. Aside from being worried about them and having guilt we had a fun. My only complaint is how long the lines were for all of it. They had multiple excursion groups together for the zip lining...from other ships even. So we probably had to wait for 30 people to go through each run. The bobsledding was a super long line too. Bobsledding was fun but over super quick, esp considering how long we waited. Lunch was good.

I hadn't taken into consideration long lines. My real concern when looking at all the excursions was the transportation there and back. My first choice, initially, was the Dunn's fall option that included all the attractions - esp zipline, but have seen the movie COOL RUNNINGS so the bobsled would neat even if it was short because of that. The chair lift would be scarier, for some reason (okay, scarier b/c I would be questioning there upkeep/maintenence while riding it, but neat for picture taking. And I have always wanted to zipline! So this would be my first choice for my husband and I, but the idea of riding in a van for a full hour to and from is excruciating. I did see the Hope Estate has the dune buggy off road and a zip line and it was closer at a 25-30 min ride. I feel like the zip line must be shorter or lower to the ground and that would be disappointed. I haven't seen any reviews for those excursions at Hope.

 

[nswift]

Thank you all for taking time to reply. This will be my DH and my first vacation alone in about 26 years and would normally have all these things booked and taken care of but for a last minute trip to my parents for a procedure for my dad. This makes me feel very unprepared!
I am excited that my DH went along with the idea of a Disney cruise even without kids

 

[kiford]

That hits on my question about the bobsled...it says your ride is about 8 minutes and you go down as fast or slow as you would like (I vote for super fast) and then you are brought back up. Do you return up via the chair lift, of is the bobsled pulled back up with you in it? The last option sounds pretty neat with cool photo ops.

You go up to the top on a chair lift where the bobsleds are (there's a few things to look at up there as well as potentially lunch). I think that was about 15-20 minutes or so. You then go down on the bobsled and then it's pulled back up. Then you return to the parking lot on the chair lift. You an interesting look around when you're pulled back up on the bobsled but you probably won't be able to take pictures. The thing goes so fast, you really have to have all of your stuff secured (I think we had it with us). So you don't have much time to dig it all out again. You also mostly see just jungle. But going up and down on the chair lift gives you a good opportunity to take pictures because you can see over the top of the trees in many places.

 

[gatordoc]

We are avid vintage home tour-ers (live in VA and the old plantations etc are wonderful). As such, we jumped on the Good Hope Estate tour. Unfortunately, it was not all we'd hoped. Given our experience, I'd not recommend it.

I'm sad to hear that. My wife loves carriage rides, and is especially interested in that part of it. How was that, and what in particular did not meet your expectations?

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

I'm sad to hear that. My wife loves carriage rides, and is especially interested in that part of it. How was that, and what in particular did not meet your expectations?

The house is poorly maintained and surprisingly small. That in and of itself isn't so off-putting, but combined with the fact that it was a very long drive and that the lunch was late and rather plain (which was a surprise given that it was Jerk Chicken); the sum of the excursion was disappointing.

The tour consisted of the main house (five rooms), an outbuilding which contained the bath and then lunch. It was quite a long drive for not a lot of return. When we were dropped off at the base of the mountain by the bus, we waited for approximately 30-45 minutes before the shuttle bus took us up the mountain. There was some *amazing* views of the Blue Mountains up there, truly beautiful. We were led into the house to a docent who, while very outgoing and friendly, didn't know much about the house, the residents or the architecture aside from her script.

Eventually, we ate prior to be shuttled to the base of the mountain where there was another 30-45 minute wait before the tour bus back to the pier.

We love touring period homes, taking the opportunity whenever we find it. The kids (sometimes) playfully groan, "Another old house?" All in all, I'd not recommend the house tour. Just checked with the boss (DW) and she concurs; try another excursion or even stay on the ship.

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We enjoyed the Tranopy Adventure which included the bobsleds and zip lining.

My DH and DD really enjoyed the bobsled and ziplining. But DH decided that was the last time they would be ziplining outside North America. He didn't feel the safety guidelines/instructions were nearly as strict as they are used to in the US/Canada.