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Dunns river!

Stu K

By Stu K,
in Jamaica

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Stu K

Stu K

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Ok Never been to jamaca before have heard good and bad reports but been a james bond fan i have to go see the dunns river falls!

 

Those that have been which trips do you recomend?

 

Thanks inadvance.

 

Stu K

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MetathoraX

MetathoraX

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We quite enjoyed Dunn's River Falls until the very last part where the make you go through a line of shops to get back to the bus. Many people may not care but I hate when people put stuff in your hand and say "It's free for you, just give me a tip." I would recommend going with the cruise line for the time issues. FYI, make sure no one calls out your name like my wife did to me. All of the sudden everyone there knew me and was my best friend :confused:

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FreshOffTheBoat

FreshOffTheBoat

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We quite enjoyed Dunn's River Falls until the very last part where the make you go through a line of shops to get back to the bus. Many people may not care but I hate when people put stuff in your hand and say "It's free for you, just give me a tip." I would recommend going with the cruise line for the time issues. FYI, make sure no one calls out your name like my wife did to me. All of the sudden everyone there knew me and was my best friend :confused:

 

I agree the market after the falls was kind of crazy. People there were very pushy and when you said no some of them got really nasty and rude with me.

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sbridgeman

sbridgeman

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I would have to 3rd the above posts. It's been a while since we've been to Dunn's River Falls, but when we did go the fall's were beautiful and it was worth going to see. BUT once you get to the top of the falls, the harassing begins.

 

My personal opinion, book through the ship and enjoy the beauty of the falls.

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crazy1here

crazy1here

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To save yourselves some trouble exit the way you enter and bypass the vendors. Just tell the security if they try to stop you that youre meeting some people at the entrance.

 

As for going thru the liners, unless you dock at falmouth or montego bay. If you dock it ocho rios, the falls is pretty much like 10 mins drive away, once you dont wait till the last minute to leave there'd be no probs getting back in time....if you dock in ocho rios. Hell, even if there is a traffic accident, you can still walk and get back in time lol.

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GradUT

GradUT

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Totally agree with Crazy1here. If you are in Ocho Rios, you can easily do the Falls on your own by taking a taxi or you can go with a private guide (e.g. Peat Taylor) as we did. Either of those choices will be cheaper than the ship's excursion.

 

Also, we totally avoided the "Island Market" vendors by walking out the way we walked in as Crazy1here suggests. A couple employees (not Security) told us we were going the wrong way, but we just smiled, said we were meeting our tour group and kept walking. We had absolutely no problem doing this and we totally avoided the pushy vendors.

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elcuchio24

elcuchio24

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We did a catamaran to the falls, climbed up, then walked back down, hung around the beach and then back on the catamaran. That we we didn't walk through the crux of the 'market'. We had a great time, really beautiful and fun, and the locals were fine, just tell them 'no thanks' and you're all set.

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Ckrewz

Ckrewz

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We did a catamaran to the falls, climbed up, then walked back down, hung around the beach and then back on the catamaran. That we we didn't walk through the crux of the 'market'. We had a great time, really beautiful and fun, and the locals were fine, just tell them 'no thanks' and you're all set.

 

 

We have done the falls twice and our favorite was the catamaran booze cruise. Pretty much same as above, we climbed the falls, back down and then did some snorkling off of the cat. For those who were interested the crew had a bunch of drinking games to play, but if you just wanted to relax and enjoy the view there was no pressure to play.

 

We also prefered getting to the falls by sea rather than by land.....;)

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mickiemac

mickiemac

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We did the catamaran to Dunns River Falls. I think it was called Cool Runnings. The rum punch was freely flowing, the music was playing and the lady was dancing with the tray of drinks on her head. I would do it again. Great time, but watch that punch!!

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elcuchio24

elcuchio24

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We did the catamaran to Dunns River Falls. I think it was called Cool Runnings. The rum punch was freely flowing, the music was playing and the lady was dancing with the tray of drinks on her head. I would do it again. Great time, but watch that punch!!

 

We did Cool Runnings too. Nice crew, really pretty sail down to the falls....and as said above, there is nothing like approaching the falls by boat, beautiful.

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elcuchio24

elcuchio24

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Was this a ship excursion? Sounds like what I want??? More info please!?

 

Yes, it was ship excursion. The catamaran leaves right from the dock. Probably a half hour sail to the falls along the coast with music, punch, water, etc.

 

The falls entrance $ is all included, although you might want to have some $ to tip the guides. They will take your cameras and take pics of you during the climb. You get wet so the only camera you would want to have on your person would be a waterproof one. I brough a cheap-o digital and gave it to the guide, he kept it dry and took some priceless pics for us during the climb.

 

after you climb up it's an easy walk down the stairs back to the beach, where you can hangout, or go to the craft market, or take a swim, or just go back to the catamaran and start drinking:). They take their time going back, probably 45min, with rum/cokes, rumpunch, etc for free. Also Redstripes for a couple bucks....dancing, music, good times.

 

I think it was like $45pp? Somewhere around that. We had a blast, would do it again.

 

"Cool Runnings Catamaran Sail and Dunns River Falls"

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elcuchio24

elcuchio24

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What cruise line? We are on the Liberty of the Seas RCCL 3/12/12...would love to have this option. Do you know if any of the private tour groups have something similar.

 

The one I described was through CCL in Ocho Rios. I would assume the same/similar would be available thru RCL, but can't swear to it as our ship was the only one docked that day so all excursion members were from CCL ship.

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ARcruisin2

ARcruisin2

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Stu K - I recommend the Mini-Boat Adventure w/ Lunch & Falls

We booked this one thru Carnival a few years ago with some friends and had a blast. Coming up to where the water from the falls goes in to the ocean, like you see in the movie was way cool!

We had plenty of time to hang out in the tour operator's little shops and sea life experience area...which we didn't mind - had free samples in the rum store (hubby & his buddy hit it both before and after :rolleyes:) And we watched other folks doing the dolphin encounter and a shark encounter...no charge to watch.

 

irishayes -

I would say know your limitations. They encourage everyone to hold onto each other, but our friend ended up helping a lady the whole time that really was over her limitations...he stressed the whole time that she would fall & get hurt. It is a natural waterfall to climb, not stairs, so there are places where you have to step up pretty high and fast moving water running over the rocks. Google some pics for a better idea. If you go - wear non-skid shoes, not flip flops. Also I think it would be really hard to go back down alone.

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elcuchio24

elcuchio24

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OK . . I am in . .not great shape. Am I going to be able to climb the falls? If I feel that it is too much, can I just go back down at any point?

 

No one knows your ability except you....It's not like hand over hand climbing, more like climbing large uneven cement stairs for 40 minutes, but of course they are also covered in running water:). There are a few places that you can exit during the climb, or you can always opt to walk up the side of the falls on a dry path, still easy enough to take pics, etc, but you won't get wet.

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ARcruisin2

ARcruisin2

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No one knows your ability except you.....

 

So true - i didn't mean to talk anyone out of it.

 

Just to be realistic about your limitations after looking at the pictures to get a better feel of the climb. As you can see if you Google pics, there are people of all shapes and sizes that climb it every day.

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