Jamaican Bobsled Excursion

[John Darling]

We are sailing on the Fantasy this Saturday. One of our stops is in Jamaica. We are currently booked on the Dunns River Falls & Jamaican Bobsled Excursion, but I would rather just do the bobsled. A couple of questions.

Does anyone know if you could skip the first part of the excursion (the falls) and just catch up with the group at the Bobsled (I think it's called Mystery Mountain)?

Alternatively, has anyone done the Bobsled thing themselves without booking through DCL? If so, was it a good or bad experience? I'm nervous to get off the ship without booking our excursions through DCL.

 

[tlprice]

It's a long drive if you do it yourself. You also won't know which order the group is going in. They may do the waterfall first or the Bobsleds. You won't know until you get your wristband. Our group did the Bobsleds first. Why don't you want to do Dunn's River Falls? We didn't plan on doing it. We were supposed to do the Tranopy which included zip lining instead, but not enough people signed up so we ended up with the falls. It ended up being really fun and was my daughter's favorite of all of our excursions.

 

[John Darling]

It's a long drive if you do it yourself. You also won't know which order the group is going in. They may do the waterfall first or the Bobsleds. You won't know until you get your wristband. Our group did the Bobsleds first. Why don't you want to do Dunn's River Falls? We didn't plan on doing it. We were supposed to do the Tranopy which included zip lining instead, but not enough people signed up so we ended up with the falls. It ended up being really fun and was my daughter's favorite of all of our excursions.

Well, if I'm being honest my main hesitation is I don't want to get up and be ready at 7:00 in the morning. But my wife has decided we're going, so now it's a moot point. Ha!!! Guess I'll just enjoy the falls. With a cup of coffee or three.

 

[Bear3412]

Bobsled rocks. You can buy more tickets at the top of the run if you want to go more often, time permitting.

We have done Mystic Mountain a few times, never with a DCL excursion.

DCL does have neat little air conditioned buses though fwiw. No worries there.

We have used private drivers twice in advance. Roughed it one time, and negotiated at port.
All these drivers within the port are vetted, registered, etc.
They write down your info when you leave the gated port; Driver, passages, car, cruiseline, cabin, registration, etc.
It all up and up nowadays.
Don't be scared using a private driver within the port, ... to the right, ... for private transportation.
A private driver who may cost near what a cab would. So IMO consider it. Price it out.
Advantage of negotiating at port is you can see and inspect the vehicles. And pit them against eachother for a deal.

You can negotiate a great price on site fwiw.

Our driver had never done the bobsled, so we paid his way. He was going to wait anyway. He had a blast.
It was amazing seeing him have a blast. He got a resident rate which was peanuts fwiw.

You must take a ski lift up to mountain top though. That is a deal breaker for some. This lift is highest going up, less so going down. They stop it at times going both ways to unload zipline gear and it will rock. Makes if fun for most, terrifying for others I heard.

They used to drive the ski lift reluctant scared pax up by vehicle, but that stopped a few years back under new management unfortunately. Last I heard.

HTH

Enjoy, regardless of transportation.

ETA; Another advantage of private conveyance. You set the time.

Also they do take pics on the Bobsled at one point. Check the screens prior to boarding to figure out where. Actually that is to the left, at exit. Check that out first and ask if you care.. MM can all be credit card. DRF films a video of your group. IIRC they need cash.
Although I'm sure now they can swipe. It was a mobile guy. The DCL buses I saw actually waiting for the video dude to return to sell.

It was one of our best family excursions videos ever. Of course I was in the lead up the falls, so I got abused, all on video. Forgot price, $30 -50. Well worth it, with lots of graphics. It did show the whole group, but helped, IMO.
Bring cash IOW. The folks at DRF will take good care of DCL customers.
Take a moment and notice . "Rccl, NCL, pax stand over there in the sun!! While they let the DCL pax waiting in the shade with cold water bottles, enter first. Etc, etc, imo. Please notice for youselves and report back.

 

[Bear3412]

Mystic Mountain Bobsled photos 3/4 way down track;

Height of ski lift;

 

[tlprice]

Well, if I'm being honest my main hesitation is I don't want to get up and be ready at 7:00 in the morning. But my wife has decided we're going, so now it's a moot point. Ha!!! Guess I'll just enjoy the falls. With a cup of coffee or three.

I understand about the early morning. I wasn't thrilled about that either. Unfortunately on our trip, we got up, went to the theater and then sat there for almost an hour because it was super windy and the captain was having a hard time docking. We weren't even sure he was going to be able to dock.

You can sleep on the ride there and on the way back. Most people in our group did.

 

[Bsmitty]

I've done this exact one. We LOVED Dunn's river falls. I liked seeing the view from the top where you do the bobsled, but wish we would've opted for the zip line from the top instead of the bobsled. DO NOT miss Dunn's river portion. It was by far one of my favorite parts of that cruise. I'll tell you at the bottom of the bobsled area, avoid getting sucked into those little tourist shacks. They were so aggressive & pushy. Just stay on the outsides of them. A guy said he wanted to show us something, asked us our names & before you knew it, had carved our names into these dumb salt & pepper shakers & then tried to force us to pay him $40 for them because our names were in them. We wanted away from him because he was so irritated & pushy that my husband just threw him a $20 & scooter us out of there. This was only at the base of the bobsled area. The shop at the top was where I'd get your souvenirs.

 

[kiford]

We did that excursion and went to Dunn's River Falls first. The instructions we had weren't that clear and it was only because we'd seen some videos earlier that we decided to put on bathing suits under our clothes and bought water shoes the day before on the ship. The video showed people standing waist deep in some pools but I thought that you just climbed up along the falls and then could go into the water so almost didn't bother to put on the bathing suit. I didn't realize that you actually climb up in the middle of the falls through the water. Lots of people didn't even have a bathing suit with them, much less wore one (you can actually just walk up a path alongside the falls and enjoy the view). So glad that we did it. It was a blast but they could do a better job of letting people know what to wear. At first we were also a little annoyed that we went there first as I had to put my clothes back on over my suit and my pants got wet. But it was sooo hot that by the time we got to Mystic Mountain I was really glad to be damp and even that dried up pretty fast. The bobsled was a blast too. One of our best excursions. The walk up the falls is quite energetic and fortunately there was a guide who shows you where to step, helps you if necessary and shows you various places where they let you slide down or drop backwards into some fairly deep pools.

 

[jrabbit]

Did this excursion in January. LOTS of people from the ship. Lots of mini buses going that way. Half went to the falls first and the other half went to the mountain.

To be honest, the "bobsleds" were a let down after climbing the falls. That was one of the coolest things we've done!!! BTW - We also had the best guide leading us up the falls - and I think that makes a bit of difference.

The bobsleds are like a roller coaster (I LOVE those), but not as much fun. And we only had one run. Three or Four would have been great (One full speed down, the others - more sightseeing).

Lunch was pretty good. The chairlift up the mountain has lots of great views. But in looking at the pictures above, the bobsled does NOT go down nearly as far as you go up.

I wished that I brought an extra shirt to wear after the falls. Since I only had the one, I left it in the bus. I would have been more "comfortable" wearing a mesh shirt along with my swimsuit (When wearing just my swimsuit - I have to keep a look out for Captain Ahab - 'cause I'm the great white whale)

at Dunn's River Falls, there is also a videographer that stays with your group. Cost for a DVD is $40. They ask you when you exit the top of the falls if you want it. If yes, they take your name and bus number. You DON'T pay then, you pay when they deliver, otherwise your bus might sit there for an hour vs. a few minutes.