Chuka Beach Break at Falmouth?

[39august]

Looking for input about this excursion, please. It is listed for only $29 pp, pretty cheap for a ship excursion. We very rarely do ship tours, but since there is no transportation to a nearby beach, (that I can find) that is what we may want to do in Falmouth.

[jkskrap]

Go to this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1641757

[HB Cruiser]

Looking for input about this excursion, please. It is listed for only $29 pp, pretty cheap for a ship excursion. We very rarely do ship tours, but since there is no transportation to a nearby beach, (that I can find) that is what we may want to do in Falmouth.

 

We did this very excursion in May. Had a great time.

 

Note: Chuka is the name of the company doing the excursion, not the beach itself. If I did this again, which I would, I would choose the excursion that included the lunch for the higher price. The beach for this excursion had no restaurant or dining area at all at the beach. Snacks yes, food no. The other excursion at a different beach had lunch included.

 

Tim

[Room Service!]

HB Cruiser, Can you tell me how long the ride to the beach is? Thank you.

[redcrown]

We did this very excursion in May. Had a great time.

 

Note: Chuka is the name of the company doing the excursion, not the beach itself. If I did this again, which I would, I would choose the excursion that included the lunch for the higher price. The beach for this excursion had no restaurant or dining area at all at the beach. Snacks yes, food no. The other excursion at a different beach had lunch included.

 

Tim

 

We enjoyed the beach. However, we did the lunch package and would not do that again. We have done several different lunch included packages and this was the first time we found the lunch to be horrible.

[Russ Lomas]

HB Cruiser, Can you tell me how long the ride to the beach is? Thank you.

 

Once the bus leave the port area, you have about a 10 minute ride. It is very short. We did this excursion in March. We just wanted a beach for the kids to swim at and we did not want to pay much more for a long bus ride to Montego Bay. The beach was ok. I prefer most that I have been to over this one, but as for the price and location, it is about the best that you will likely find. IF I visit Falmouth again, I will likely just stay on the ship for the day and save the $180 I paid for 6 to go to an average beach for a couple of hours.

[mlmbar]

How long did you stay at the beach? I booked the one with lunch only because the one without was sold out. I plan to check when I board to see if it is available and if so, I will cancel the one with lunch. I can do that, can;t I? The excursion guy I spoke to on RCI said I could but obviously english was his second language

[mlmbar]

How long are you at the beach? I booked the one with lunch because the one without was sold out. I plan to check once on board to see if the one without lunch is open and if so, cancel the one with lunch and book the other. I can do this, can;t I? The guy at RCI said I could but English was obviously his second language

[cruisegirl1]

Nevermind - found my answer in the thread posted above.

Thanks. M

[Room Service!]

Russ Lomas - Thank you! :)

[Russ Lomas]

How long did you stay at the beach? I booked the one with lunch only because the one without was sold out. I plan to check when I board to see if it is available and if so, I will cancel the one with lunch. I can do that, can;t I? The excursion guy I spoke to on RCI said I could but obviously english was his second language

 

The cheaper option without the lunch was sold out when I traveled too. I was told they limit it to a really small number hoping more people will buy the lunch. As soon as you arrive on the ship and the excursion desk is open on the first day, go straight there and they will almost certainly have the $29 tickets available for purchase. If not, the one with lunch will definitely still be available. I do not know what policies are for canceling the one you have already purchased are though.

[Russ Lomas]

How long are you at the beach?

 

You have a choice of how long you are at the beach. We arrived around 9:30 am I believe. About 11am, another group arrived. I think that was the Chukka group that did ziplining or shopping first and then went to the beach afterwards. Buses usually start around 1pm or so to go back to the ship for those who want to. We did not feel like buying lunch because it did not appeal to our kids, so we asked to go back. After a couple of minutes of explaining the kids did not want the food, they said that they would call and get us transportation back, which arrived about 5 minutes later. We could have stayed another 3 hours if we had wanted to, but we were hungry and were only on a 5 day cruise on the Liberty, so we wanted to get back and enjoy the ship (the kids wanted to see Kung-Fu panda in 3D).

[jkskrap]

For those that have done this:

My 2 daughters want to do this by themselves (18 & 21). Should I worry about anything? I know Jamaica, like anywhere, can get a little sketchy. Thanks!

[addicted2]

For those that have done this:

My 2 daughters want to do this by themselves (18 & 21). Should I worry about anything? I know Jamaica, like anywhere, can get a little sketchy. Thanks!

 

We have done this excursion twice and am doing it again in September. Your girls would be fine by themselves. The beach is very safe with security to keep the vendors away. I would just recommend that they leave when others are leaving so they aren't riding back by themselves. (you can leave whenever you want and they have vans/buses that leave throughout the day so they could be by themselves if they are the only ones wanting to go back at that time). It is a small very secure beach and they will be dropped off back at the port.

[jkskrap]

We have done this excursion twice and am doing it again in September. Your girls would be fine by themselves. The beach is very safe with security to keep the vendors away. I would just recommend that they leave when others are leaving so they aren't riding back by themselves. (you can leave whenever you want and they have vans/buses that leave throughout the day so they could be by themselves if they are the only ones wanting to go back at that time). It is a small very secure beach and they will be dropped off back at the port.

 

Thanks very much!

[TEXASMUNK]

Next stop Chukka Beach when we get to Falmouth

[HB Cruiser]

HB Cruiser, Can you tell me how long the ride to the beach is? Thank you.

 

Yes, about 10-15 minute ride.

 

For the person with the young girls, I would have no problem with my teen, male or female, going on this excursion, felt safe the entire time.

 

Tim

[BeachChik]

I did a review including pictures of when we were there in October. If you look through my posts you can find it. Its a nice beach. No snorkeling just swimming. When we were there they had two guards to chase off anyone selling stuff. The food IMO wasn't bad. It was chicken, rice and coleslaw.

[Room Service!]

Yes, about 10-15 minute ride.

 

For the person with the young girls, I would have no problem with my teen, male or female, going on this excursion, felt safe the entire time.

 

Tim

 

Thanks! Sounds like something we're going to be doing ... in Nov. of 2013. sigh.

[mdtcoll]

Does anyone know the name of the beach or which hotels it is near? We will be there in January. Thanks.

[efields2]

Does anyone know the name of the beach or which hotels it is near? We will be there in January. Thanks.

 

I've been under the impression this is RCL's beach only. There aren't really any hotels nearby. The closest hotels would be further away than this beach.

[Russ Lomas]

I believe that the Chukka trip takes place on White Bay (from what I remember and looking at Google Earth). There were a few larger hotel or condo complexes to the left looking down the beach and nothing that I could remember to the right. I believe that one of the hotels, a good walk down the beach, was Starfish Breezes Trelawny. The transportation provided by Chukka and the "security" keeping people away from you on the beach would make me feel safe sending my daughters alone on this trip if they were 18 and 21 as a previous poster had mentioned as long as they travel with the group as a whole on the bus provided in the excursion.

[coolcat12]

Went on this tour last May with my 21yo daughter and had a great time. We did the no-lunch option and booked while aboard the Oasis. We had a great time swimming and enjoyed a few Red Stripes. Felt very safe. I usually don't do too many shore excursions through the ship but this seemed fun, safe and not too long of a day.(also had $$$shipboard credit..lol;)) We went back to the ship at our leisure...they had buses waiting.

 

The only thing bad about this tour was the cluster-you-know what at Falmouth waiting for the bus. It was hot and we had to wait for way past the meeting time for the bus to get situated. People were grumbling and I remembered all too well that while I LOVE cruises, I HATE crowds of cruisers...especially hot angry crowds of cruisers.

 

 

 

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[roe2ship]

I did this excursion last week. I purchased it for 29.00 w/out the lunch on embarkation day. While the beach is nice.....I wouldn't do it again. There ARE vendors there and they walk by from each side of the beach trying to sell you things. The later in the day it got, the more aggressive they became and that did get annoying. Bottom line, I didn't feel all that comfortable there and am quite surprised that Royal offers an excursion like this one.

[HB Cruiser]

I did this excursion last week. ........

 

Bottom line, I didn't feel all that comfortable there and am quite surprised that Royal offers an excursion like this one.

 

Not saying you are wrong but you had a TOTALLY different experience than we had. Ours was back in May and yours just this past week, things could have changed.

 

Tim