Peat Taylor tours

[jaredcoreymama]

We just used Peat last week. He was awesome, and falls were awesome. BUT Iwould not recommend tubing. Peat just had us pay separately each place, so tubing was $20 each. Entire ride was only 20 minutes, guide didn't talk to us and he also said my 9 yr old daughter couldn't do the part you jump into the water, Not sure why, couldn't understand him???? Anyway Peat was wonderful, but would skip tubing.

 

Is there an age requirement to be able to jump in off the cliff? This is what my boys are looking forward to. They are 10 and 8. Please let me know!

[Warrior64]

No there is no age requirement, but Isaid my 9 yr old was so excited about this and could not do it. Not sure why, it was a real disspointment to her. So you should tell them. Also Its not a cliff, only a wooden platform, and not that high.

[missingtn]

Does the prices quoted on his site actually include the cost of the horseback riding or is that something you havr to pay to the loation he takes you to? TIA

[Stircrzy]

We were two women traveling alone, used to striking out by ourselves, but hesitant to do so in Jamaica due to some unfortunate events we’d read about on Cruise Critic last summer. Things can get dicey even on a Carnival sponsored excursion. After much research, we decided to go with Peat Taylor Tours (http://www.peattaylor.com). We made an excellent choice. After several emails back and forth with Oniel, another of Peat’s sons, we had our day planned out.

 

Port of Jamaica:

The port area was immaculate and the officers and staff very friendly and helpful. We were directed to the independent tour guide area and found PJ Taylor waiting for us there. We had requested that Peat leave us with someone who would spend the day at our side, and PJ never left us for a moment. We had an air conditioned van, with Keith as the driver, and PJ riding shotgun in the front seat. As we left the port area driving along to 9 Mile in Saint Ann’s parish and our pilgrimage to pay homage to Bob Marley, PJ filled us in on his country. We talked about geography, demographics, religion, education, the economy, and culture, as we passed scenic and not so scenic views as we travelled the twisting and winding road up to 9 Mile.

 

Along the drive back to the port, we saw children in their school uniforms walking home, cabbage fields, and stopped to eat a Jamaican Beef Pattie, buy coffee and jerk seasoning.

 

It was a very long drive, but a splendid day, made all the more special with the interaction with PJ and Keith. They were kind, courteous, clean, funny, and gave us an appreciation for Jamaica and her people that we hadn't had before our trip.

 

One Love.

 

(Photos at http://gallery.me.com/greeneacres#100073)

[songyen]

heard Peat has a new site anyone has the info.

[citcatt1]

Never mind I think this is an old one

 

 

http://www.peattaylor.com/island_tour.html

[MrsPete]

Another thumbs-up for Peat Taylor!

 

We went on his tour on our last cruise and had a great time. We were cruising in the fall, and the four of us were literally the only people on the bus -- not that that mattered! He didn't scimp on service a bit; he told jokes and sang all the way to the falls, etc.

 

The biggest plus is that he got us to the falls BEFORE everyone else. We were literally in the second group who climbed the falls. We were not crowded, and it was safer NOT to share the place with so many people. As we were leaving, the ship's excursions were just starting to arrive, and I don't see how they had any fun -- especially knowing they were paying more and waiting longer.

 

If you're going with Peat, please consider bringing things for the children's school (school supplies, tee-shirts, candy). The school is nothing but a little shack on the hillside. When we were there, the children were soooo proud -- they just got a bathroom at school. These people have so little. It definitely made my children open their eyes wide, and we talked later about just how fortunate they are to live in America.

[songyen]

Did anyone got the of Peat's new website, I would highly appreciate it.

[carbon]

Want to visit Bob marley grave site, how far is it from OR? What sites are along the way? Will there be time for a beach? Is there an opportunity to visit a school and how many children to a class/school so I know how many school supplies to bring?

[CruiseMark]

The new Web site is http://www.peattaylor.com/

[jetucker85]

Bob Marley's Grave site is about 1 hour and 15 minutes away.

 

The trip allows you to see the other side of Jamaica that most tourists don't see. This is great because you get a chance to see how the local people live.

There are many schools along the way. So I am not sure how to give you a clear cut answer. I would suggest bringing as much as you believe you can.

It is great that you are thinking of how you can contribute to the lives of the children.

 

 

I do believe that after the tour you might be able to check out the beach.

Be sure to let the driver know what your plans are and they will work it out for you.

[Barklee]

Thank you everyone for your input. We were at Ocho Rios on July 8th and used Peat Taylor. Peat and his family run a great company; the bus looked brand new and they were always on time to meet us. His nephew Oneil met us at the dock and got us onboard. We were the first group to arrive at Dunns River Falls and were able to climb them before they got crowded. Some of our ship mates booked their DRF tour through the cruise line and we couldn't believe how crowded it was in some of their pictures. We also did the river tubing which was short (less than an hour including a 15 minute stop to jump off a platform into the river and use a rope swing), but fun. I highly recommend Peat.

[dawnrae]

Thanks for your recent post on Peat Taylor. My family group of 11 is booked with him in January. We are doing the same, DRF and tubing. Looking forward to it.

 

Dawnrae

[cccer]

We just got back from our cruise today and spent last Monday with Peat and Craig doing the Falls, rafting and lunch at The Ruins. We were with a family of seven and there were four of us. It was a wonderful time. I highly recommend doing a tour with Peat. I was in Jamaica four years ago and did not have the best experience and was not sure if I wanted to even go on shore. We usually book through Carnival, but we wanted to do the Falls and rafting, but we could not do both with Carnival so we booked private and thanks to cruisecritic we heard about Peat.

 

Falls were really fun and rafting was better then expected. Going to the Ruins was a special treat. We wanted to go back to the ship, but the family we were with wanted to go eat there. I'm glad we went, for $15 a person there was a buffet with really good food and all you could drink Red Stripe.

 

Anyway, it was really fun and next time I am in Jamaica I will give Peat a call.

[songyen]

Thanks for the new site info.

[jetucker85]

It's great to see that they are still doing a great job.

Can't wait to get down in December.

[teeny25]

Peat Taylor Tours was the highlight of our 7 day cruise. I will only book him again when we go back to Ocho Rios. We had his son Oneil and he was amazing.. if you're interested here is my review:

http://pub40.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3418264573&frmid=126&msgid=783516&cmd=show

[rozzo12]

i took a tour with peat taylor on dec 7 2009 he was very punctual and friendly got to dunns falls early no crowds then picked us up on time and took us to beach and made sure we were taken care of!!drove us back to ship!! no problem!! for half the price of carnivals price you can book on his website!!:mad:

[welovecruzin]

Wondering how far apart these two are. Don't want to spend too much time traveling but both places look beautiful. Anyone been to cool blue.

[1cruise2U]

Jamaica: Booked with Peat Taylor, had a great time, but only did the Ocho Rios Highlight as it was raining so hard, you could not drive, it was like flash floods. We didn’t have Peat but one of his drivers, his driver was very nice and had a lot of information to share, he stopped us by a local citizen’s house, who had a small shop on the patio and a very clean bathroom, and this turned out to be a nice experience instead of fighting the rain all morning. Still I love Jamaica and will go back.

 

Peat was excellent with the emails as we were undecided on what we wanted to do, he just said no problem, and that we could do anything that we wanted to do or not do.

 

Driver also took us shopping and waited for us do to the rain, we went back to ship after a liquour stop, but once the rain stopped briefly we walked around just a bit.

 

If you like Irish Pubs, there is one about 2 minute walk from the dock area, there is also a craft market about a 6 minute walk from the ship where you can make deals with the locals. Jamaica is also a good place to get rum or rum cream. If you come to the main street you will also run into a local jerk chicken booth along the street, very good, this is not a restaurant but a real BBQ grill. About a 5 min walk from ship.

[dasey]

Okay, I have notified Peat about our upcoming trip in May and would like to go to the Falls. DH is not a swimmer so tubing is out, DH and DS ride horses all the time and don't care to pay to go horseback riding. Anybody have any other suggestions? We will be docking in MoBay and so how long of a drive is it to Dunns RIver Falls?

 

I want to book everything and just tell the group, follow me!! Your help would be most appreciated..

 

Rhonda

[pwkreis]

Thanks for your recent post on Peat Taylor. My family group of 11 is booked with him in January. We are doing the same, DRF and tubing. Looking forward to it.

 

Dawnrae

 

We have this booked for Feb. Please let us know how your excursion went!

[dawnrae]

We did our tour with Peat Taylor last Thursday. Family group of 11 doing Dunn River Falls, tubing, sightseeing. Ages from 5 to 61. We had his son "Repeat" as our guide. He sang songs and gave us a commentary while en-route to the Falls. He did not have our tickets so we had to pay at the gate and then take it out of the balance we owed him. A little bit frustrating since I don't do math well in my head with 8 adult fares and 3 children fares and then figuring out how much less I would then owe. We had booked a private tour but we had another family join us just for the ride to the Falls. He then dropped us off and said he would meet us outside the gate in two hours. I had previously asked if we could leave some items on the bus (confirmed by email with Peat) but he insisted we take everything with us and put it in the lockers. So we did. The Falls were amazing and the entire family did well. I was hoping that I could get up front with the guide (since I was clearly the senior in this group) but another lady about 20 years younger claimed she was "more scared than I was" so she was able to be next to the guide. I immediately fell three times at the beginning - getting wet but no injuries.

 

We also bought the video and it took about 20 minutes to track the guy down to pick it up (he did not give us a receipt for the money). My college age grandsons were approached several times in the park to buy drugs. The vendors were tenacious as previously described. Repeat was waiting as we exited the park and we continued on our tour to the tubing

 

We had three guides for our tubing and had a lot of fun. When we got to the place with the diving platform, the front guide said we could not stop. I asked him three times to stop so the kids could jump and he said "the driver said you have to get back". Did not argue but I still am not sure why he would not let us do this part of the trip. It is a rather short (and expensive) tour and I was looking forward to this part.

 

Next we visited a preschool and dropped off some supplies. The children sang a song for us and the teacher gave us a tour. This was very interesting for all of us to see the differences from their schools at home.

 

We drove through the rainforest and our guide said he would stop if we wanted to see something but some of the areas did not look safe so it was really difficult to know if there was some place that we could stop safely. We returned to the port area and he dropped us off in the shopping mall where we could walk back to the ship.

 

It was worth the money for the private guide. Several things were different than confirmed in the emails. Tubing was fun but I would not pay to do it again. Kids loved the singing and chanting in the Falls, on the bus, and while we were tubing. Really put us all in a Jamaican mood. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Dawnrae

[pwkreis]

Thanks for the review dawnrae...sounds like you went on the same excursion we did back in 06 with Peat. He was great and we felt we got an excellent tour for the money.

 

It's nice to hear he hasn't let his standard slip. You get a lot of that as time passes with some companys.

 

4 more weeks until we are underway...hope all is the same when we get there too!!

[huskertim]

We have been to Jamaica several times.

But the last time we were there, we used Peat Taylor Tours they were awesome.

From the booking with "no down payment" to the meeting us at the pier the whole package was great. :)