Let's talk about Jamaica excursions!

[mltran]

We are goingon our western caribbean cruise this June and it makes a stop in Falmouth. Has anyone ever done the dolphin encounter and Dunn's River Falls excursion? If so, what did you think of it?

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We are doing the bobsled adventure with the zip line option in June. Will be me (45), wife (43), son (14), and daughter (13). I'll be sure to give a report on it when I return. Happy cruising everyone!

 

[MsJiminyCricket]

We are doing the bobsled adventure with the zip line option in June. Will be me (45), wife (43), son (14), and daughter (13). I'll be sure to give a report on it when I return. Happy cruising everyone!

That one sounds amazing! Make sure to watch Cool Runnings beforehand.

 

[Pooh93]

Giving this a bump. We will be there in July aboard the Fantasy and are looking for an excursion.

 

[conandrob240]

There is a Beaches resort for families in Ocho Rios which is excellent. They do day passes and all is included once there- food, drinks, nice little beach, waterpark, sports activities.

 

[oklamomof4boys]

I'm interested in this thread also. We don't go until May 2015 so I have some time. My kids really want to do Chukka's amazing race (I think that is what it is called).

 

[muse7mom]

Has anyone done the green grotto caves or the Hilton Rose beach break? We are starting to think about excursions for our trip next April. Our children will be 13, 11, 7, & 7 by then. Thanks!

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!

 

[AliceIn]

We picked the Tranopy Adventure. You ride a gondola up the mountain over the rainforest, then you can do the bobsled run and zip lining. There's also an infinity pool with a large slide there that looks amazing. You get a lunch while you are there also.

This port was difficult for us. Some of the activities had age restrictions that would have kept some of my kids from going. The dolphin excursions look cool, but they don't sound like a lot of fun for the animals, so we're skipping those entirely for all ports. I really thought about doing the pottery class at the plantation, that really looked interesting. I wasn't keen on trying to bring 5 pieces of breakable artwork back home though. We'll be doing beach activities at Cozumel and Castaway Cay, and then snuba on Grand Cayman.

I can't wait for this trip!

 

[tinkerone]

No problem. Here's a picture of the taxi prices from October 2013 so you can add that to your cost as well. Even though we had to pay $100 for the taxi, it still came out cheaper for us than going through Disney.

do you happen to know how long the drive was? we have six adults going on this cruise and this sounds great.

 

[tinker6]

We sailing end of May and doing the Dunns river falls/Bobsled excursion through Disney. Cannot wait for this fun filled adventure...2 - 10 year olds and 2 - 45 year olds...

 

[psimon]

We stopped at Falmouth last November on the Wonder and it was our favourite stop. We booked a private excursion through Courtenay Taylor tours - got picked up inside the port area and then driven to Ochos Rios area (my kids are still talking about the jerk chicken & festival we got at Scotchies!!!).

Courtenay kept up a steady stream of interesting info on Jamaica. The people we met were super friendly - yes, the sales pitches were very direct but a simple 'No thank you' generally sufficed.

If you don't mind my asking, how much was your "private excursion"?

Thanks....

---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[psimon]

We stopped at Falmouth last November on the Wonder and it was our favourite stop. We booked a private excursion through Courtenay Taylor tours - got picked up inside the port area and then driven to Ochos Rios area (my kids are still talking about the jerk chicken & festival we got at Scotchies!!!).

Courtenay kept up a steady stream of interesting info on Jamaica. The people we met were super friendly - yes, the sales pitches were very direct but a simple 'No thank you' generally sufficed.

Forgot to ask what you did when you got to Ochos Rios? Was it just touring on your own? Was it an escorted tour? Can you tell me about the "lunch"? How long was your excursion?

Many thanks...

---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[Homemom]

do you happen to know how long the drive was? we have six adults going on this cruise and this sounds great.

To get to the Hilton it was only about 1/2 hour away.

 

[tinkerone]

To get to the Hilton it was only about 1/2 hour away.

thank you so much, this looks like a great day to me.

 

[cwehrstedt]

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!

Yes please that would be great. Very interested in the green grotto to or the river tubing! Yippy. My Dd will be 11 and DS 9!

 

[robin09]

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!

We are also on this cruise! Have you joined our facebook group yet? and we will be watching this closely...

 

[FergusBC]

Forgot to ask what you did when you got to Ochos Rios? Was it just touring on your own? Was it an escorted tour? Can you tell me about the "lunch"? How long was your excursion?

Many thanks...

---Paul in Southern NJ

We basically had a private car & driver for the day. Courtney picked us up at Falmouth around 8am. We had pre-arranged to go swimming at the Blue Hole, then lunch at Scotchies, and ended with a bit of time at the beach before heading back to the port (around 2:30/3). It's about a 40 minute drive from Ochie to Falmouth. I think the whole day cost us about $150. Well, not including lunch.

Here's the links to the Jamaica part of my trip report for photos.

Part I
Part II
Part III

It was the best day of our cruise and we had a fantastic cruise, so that's saying a lot

 

[n8nally]

Yes please that would be great. Very interested in the green grotto to or the river tubing! Yippy. My Dd will be 11 and DS 9!

We're thinking about Green Grotto too for 9/27. Can't wait to hear about it!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Falmouth is a relatively new port, I think it was built for those monster ships that Royal Caribbean has now. So there isn't much around there.

There's a shopping area at the port itself that is walled off. Reports are that the sellers are less agressive if you stick to that area, but they may be subsidized by the cruise lines. Some stories show complaints that the town of Falmouth itself is not profiting from the cruise port location. Guests either stick to the port area or they get right into buses and go elsewhere.

There's now some options for private tours of Falmouth itself and I think DCL has a walking tour.

 

[psimon]

Falmouth is a relatively new port, I think it was built for those monster ships that Royal Caribbean has now. So there isn't much around there.

There's a shopping area at the port itself that is walled off. Reports are that the sellers are less agressive if you stick to that area, but they may be subsidized by the cruise lines. Some stories show complaints that the town of Falmouth itself is not profiting from the cruise port location. Guests either stick to the port area or they get right into buses and go elsewhere.

There's now some options for private tours of Falmouth itself and I think DCL has a walking tour.

Nothing is decided yet, but we were thinking of the DCL "18th Century Great House and Plantation Tour with Lunch". Anyone have experience with this one?

We are saving our water adventures for Castaway Cay, so we didn't want a beach visit. How is the shopping or touring in Falmouth compared to going out to Ocho Rios?

Has anyone had issues taking a non Disney excursion with respect to how you were treated, worrying about getting back to the ship, etc? At least taking at DCL excursion, they have to live up to a certain standard.

Thanks...


---Paul in Southern NJ