Does anyone have any suggestions re: the best family activities in this port? From what I've read so far, it appears that Rose Hall is where most go. Do I need to book an excursion from the ship or can I just take a cab? How far is it approximately from the pier? Has anyone played golf there? Any recommendations, as far as booking an excursion for this or contacting the resort directly, would be appreciated!
Posts: 16 | Location: Oceanside, NY | Registered: May 06, 2008
It is not a good idea to book anything other than the ship's tours when in Jamaica. It is simply too risky, especially for someone who has never been to the particular port.
If you have kids in your group, I don't think they will enjoy Rose Hall. We did this tour back a year or so ago in January and it was terribly hot and humid ... It was just walking thru the house and listening to the story of the "witch". The shopping area they took you to was very secure but a little more upper end than a lot can afford ...
DO NOT DO A SHIP's TOUR !!! I found a private tour guide (Carolyn Barrett) that picked us up at the dock. We were on Rose Hall Beach a full hour and a half before the busses from the ship showed up! While they were standing in line, We were on the beach, going for rides on the banana boat and drinking pina coladas. Then we went into the hills to see the real Jamaica local areas. We then went to a non pressure craft fair. Then we went to a local jerk chicken shack that had unbelievable food! (I would have never chosen to eat there based on how the place looked !) We then went to Maragritaville before being driven right back to the ship. All we heard from everyone else on the ship was how bad a time they had in Montego Bay. We (our family of 6 plus 2 more couples we found on the ship) had the time of our lives and all wanted to return. It was and still is my favorite port. All because I hired my own private tour guide (for a lot less than the ship excursions). Since then, we have never signed up for ship tours. We always book our own!
I think it is bad to arbitrarily dismiss ship's tours just because your private tour went well. Ship's tours offer peace-of-mind when it comes to not missing the ship for one thing. People have different perceptions of safety too. What is safe to you may not be so to me or others. So, for people who have never been to a particular port, I recommend they stay with the ship's tours. For someone who has been to a port previously, or has more experience with international travel....then fine, do it yourself.
Dave is providing very wise advice that would do cruisers well to listen to. Tom, I'm thrilled to hear you had a great tour and felt you got more than your money's worth. That can be the case with many outside operators in many ports. Shopping with outside vendors can also be a crap shoot. You can get a great experience or a very poor one. That can also be said for excursions booked with the ship. The big difference is, with the ship if they get too many complaints or a vendor is excessively late getting back to the ship ontime or a number of other issues happen, they can cancel their contract and find another operator. With an outside company you're on your own. Who will you complain to? What will you do if the bus gets a flat/breaks down and is late getting back? The ship will not be held for outside excursions. They don't even know where you are.
There is an advantage in having your excursion booked and on the ships log. When X number of people are missing and they are all on X excursion booked through the cruiseline, they contact the provider (all are required to provide and emergency contact #) to see what the delay is and when to expect them. They can at that point either hold the ship and wait or arrange outside transportation to get the stranded passengers back to the ship and bill the vendor for the cost. You have recourse if you go theough the cruiseline. You take your chances if you book outside. Have a backup plan to get back if you venture on your own or take outsude tours.
Sorry but I'm still going to highly disagree. I have been on numerous ship tours and numerous private tours and as long as you do your homework and get recommendations from other experienced travelers, the private tours are a much better value. From Stingray City and snorkeling in the Caymans to Blue Lagoon in the Bahamas. To simply urge everyone to stick with the ship tours because the ship won't leave if your late back to the ship is in my opinion bad advice. But, That's why they have these forums so everyone can express their opinions and views.
My family (Me, my wife and sons age 8 and 10)did the Jungle River Tubing excursion provided by the ship. It was a fun excursion. They take you way up into the mountains of Jamaica and you get to really see what the island is about and how some people live there. The tubing was fun and not to crazy for the younger ones. (Minimum age is 6 I think). We didn't do Dunns river falls because we heard it was a zoo with a cruise excursion and we figured we would come back and do a land only trip to Jamaica some day. But after being there and to many other islands in the carrib, Jamaica is probably last on our list of land only trips, so we will probably never get to see it. Just one more excursion suggestion.
To simply urge everyone to stick with the ship tours
Who said that? I didn't. I said the ship's tours are a good thing in Jamaica. Booking private tours in Alaska, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and other places is fine.
And as a general guidance issue - I suggest that people on their first cruise to a new place stick with the ship for that first time. Once they gain some familiarity with cruising and the ports, then fine, go ahead with the private tours. I don't understand how this can be construed as bad advice.
Not everyone is an experienced world traveler such as you. Many people on a cruise have never left the U.S. and visiting Jamaica can be an exotic and also scary event for them.
Originally posted by Tom Sodemann: Sorry but I'm still going to highly disagree. I have been on numerous ship tours and numerous private tours and as long as you do your homework and get recommendations from other experienced travelers, the private tours are a much better value. From Stingray City and snorkeling in the Caymans to Blue Lagoon in the Bahamas. To simply urge everyone to stick with the ship tours because the ship won't leave if your late back to the ship is in my opinion bad advice. But, That's why they have these forums so everyone can express their opinions and views.
Sodey
Sorry, but I am going to highly disagree that it is bad advice to recommend cruise line excursions. Saving money isn't everything. There are many reasons for booking cruise line excursions. However; one big one is that cruise lines work with reputible operators. The cruise lines ensure the operators they deal with maintain the maintenance and insurance on vehicles, and meet all local government standards and regulations. Tell the families of the people that died going over the cliff in the Andes that it was better booking with the private tour operator that didn't keep up maintenance on the vehicle.
Sodey, it is not a wise idea for booking an excursion in a foreign country with foreign laws thousands of miles away from where you home when you've never been there. I don't care if you've traveled the globe a thousand times. Jamaica is not the US, UK, Australia, or any other familiar judiciary regulatory system. Some travelers will not even carry the cruise ship map off of the ship with them. If they become lost, disoriented, abducted, accosted, or any number of reasons, the ship will not know where they are, who they went with, when they were suppose to return, nothing-zip-nada. The ship will sail, without these passengers, not knowing the fate of them. In good conscience you can suggest that someone take that risk on their first visit to an unknown place? I can't, but you're right, that's what these forums are for.
I am with Tom's advice with one caveat: NOT IN JAMAICA! I love to do independent tours nearly everywhere else and have never been sorry, but Jamaica is a third world country, edging toward fourth world! We did a ship's tour this year and it was supposed to take 3 1/2 hours and took 5-1/2 and the ship waited for us (the driver nearly killed us all and almost wiped out a pedestrian to get us back even close to the time. ) Jamaica is not the place to test this out. They have in excess of 30% unemployment, and those who are unemployed outnumber those who have full time jobs. I know a woman in a party of four who was sitting in a cab at a stop sign when a man reached in the cab and took her purse off her lap--and it appeared that cab driver was in co-hoots with the thief. I stick with the ship in that country. I do not want to have to navigate flying to the next port of call from there with little money, passports on-board the ship, etc. Cayman, yes! Cozumel, sure! Jamaica, NEVER! Having said this: I absolutely love Jamaica, the people, the island, the scenery--I am not even particularly bothered by the most aggressive merchants in the Caribbean. We do tours with Shoretrips.com--they are US based and insured and check their venders as well as the ship does, but are only marginally cheaper--we use them because the groups are all smaller, occasionally even just our family!. All our experiences are positive. By the way, all but two of the cruises listed in my signature went to Jamaica--I have an idea of what I am talking about. I am in no way affiliated with a cruise line or shoretrips.com, just experienced with cruising, as are all the other posters who are trying to discourage you from going independently in Jamaica.
Laurie RCCL Nordic Empress 1993 RCCL Nordic Prince 1994 RCCL Explorer 2003, 2005 RCCL Navigator, 2004, 2007 RCCL Mariner 2006 RCCL Liberty 2008
By the way, after our protracted-break-neck shore tour through the ship RCCL gave us most of our $$ back--someone with a similar experience through an outside vendor will not see this person again after (if) they get back on the ship and are out of luck.
Laurie RCCL Nordic Empress 1993 RCCL Nordic Prince 1994 RCCL Explorer 2003, 2005 RCCL Navigator, 2004, 2007 RCCL Mariner 2006 RCCL Liberty 2008
There are those whose tollerance for risk is higher than others. After reading through this thread, if someone is comfortable with an outside operator and the risk factor, go for it. Just understand that there is risk, even with a ship excursion there is risk in a foreign country any time you venture out. Some places more than others, as has been pointed out. There is always increased risk in going with outside vendors. Penny's and Cruise Fanatic's points made it as clear as possible. Although serious circumstances of violence or abduction or other tragedy are rare, there are cases of people who have missed a ship or worse. No matter how many cruises or excursions you have personally been on, you have only a tiny sampling of the tens of thousands of excursions that take place every year and the peoples experiences on each. Cruise Fanatic and other agents on this site get the calls and reports and releases from the cruiselines on a much broader sampling of experiences. They get the travel warnings and advisories from the State Dept when things are are dicey in certain parts of the world.
If any of you are thinking that I or others here are biased because we're T/As. Be aware that T/As do not make a dime on shipboard services like cruiseline excursions. The advice is not given for personal profit reasons as some may assume. It's given because when something goes awry, we get the call with the details and are questioned by clients about why we didn't warn our client of the possible risk factors. The old saying "Better safe than sorry" applies here.
Price shouldn't always be the deciding factor for something. Convenience and peace of mind matter too. To me, "bad advice" is telling someone it is safe to wear a Rolex and flash a roll of cash in an alley in Montego Bay, and not that they should consider the ship's tours.
You are right! Also don't take anything on shore anywhere that you can't afford to leave behind. Let someone else attract a criminal with their Rolex while you enjoy the beach!
Laurie RCCL Nordic Empress 1993 RCCL Nordic Prince 1994 RCCL Explorer 2003, 2005 RCCL Navigator, 2004, 2007 RCCL Mariner 2006 RCCL Liberty 2008
Did I not say to do your homework and get referrals from experienced travelers? I never said to jump off the ship and find the first vagrant you see and ask him to show you Jamaica just so you can save a buck! There are some extremely good private tour operators in Jamaica. I have used two of them. Carolyn Barrett in Montego Bay and Phil Lafayette in Ocho Rios. I found both of them via referrals on web sites such as this one and I investigated both before booking with them. So, once again, it's your decision anf your opinion. I've explained mine.
Did your homework come across any of the incidents that have happend to tourists in the past? Even on a cruiseline excursion, things can happen. For that matter they can happen at home and do. Will the ouside vendor pay for the mental health professionals you, your wife and children may need or cancel future excursions to a locale that develops safety related issues sometimes unknown to the public? Perhaps they will. Again, I'm not saying unfortunate incidents are common, they're not. Outside vendors and the vendors that are contracted by the cruiselines are all prone to the same risk of an incident. It's what happens in the aftermath of an incident that may differ. Having someone checking for licensing, insurance, financial viability and other such things are better screened with approved vendors. I'm glad you're happy with your providers and they are great at providing a great excursion and great value. That's why so many exist. They are popular, some very low cost and some have equal or better insurance and all the licensing needed. Some may be far superior to the cruiseline products offered. Referrals are great and I'd recommend everyone have at least one before choosing a provider.
You are however missing the entire point of all the posts that have been made as a word of warning. There is risk not associated with how well your tour operator performs or how good of a value they are. Having a multi-million dollar company like the cruiseline, in some small measure responsible for the health and safety of their passengers, along with the screened operator, has some benefit should something tragic happen on your vacation.
Cheers, Neil
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dave Beers,
