Mo Bay/Ocho Rios on CB

[britsbest]

I see from web cam that CB has docked in Montego Bay for the second cruise on the run. We are booked for August 6 for b2b and were expecting Ocho Rios. Any one know why the change?:confused:

[britsbest]

bump

[coiran]

They have been doing this with no apparent explanation.

 

Ron

[britsbest]

thanks, any more info?

[pamwinn]

The change was not a surprise. Montego Bay was listed on our 6/4 itinerary from the start.

[KAJOKG]

I see from web cam that CB has docked in Montego Bay for the second cruise on the run. We are booked for August 6 for b2b and were expecting Ocho Rios. Any one know why the change?:confused:

From what I understand, it's not a Princess decision. That comes from the port authorities in Jamaica. There is not a dock to handle large cruise ships in Montego Bay so the ship anchors and you get tendered in. It's awful. I do not like Jamaica, so I will never go ashore there at either port, but at least in Ocho Rios you have a nice shopping area at the pier. With so many cruise ships sailing the Caribbean, the lines are hard pressed to find docking space. Of course, Grand Cayman and Belize have the coral reefs which are protected, so there will never be any docking piers there.

[pamwinn]

We were docked in MoBay. The only tendering was in Grand Cayman and of course Princess Cays. We were also the only ship in Mobay that day as I recall. The shopping area at the port looked good from the ship but most of the buildings were vacant.

[KAJOKG]

We were docked in MoBay. The only tendering was in Grand Cayman and of course Princess Cays. We were also the only ship in Mobay that day as I recall. The shopping area at the port looked good from the ship but most of the buildings were vacant.

Where did you dock? We were there this past April and I did not see another ship docked. There was a warehouse type of building which sold merchandise, but not really shops and we had to be bussed from that area, where confusion reigned, to an area where we caught the tender....AND we waited in line in torrential rain with no covering. It was awful!!!! We were on the Star cruise where 9 busloads of passengers took excursions to Ocho Rios, got caught in the torrential rains which flooded and washed out roads. The roads are terrible. They were stuck on the buses until local authorities actually built up the roads with bull dozers - one lady told me their bus almost overturned. The authorities came on the busses and told everyone to stay on the bus and make sure all doors and windows were locked. They didn't get back to the ship until after 2 a.m. Can you imagine what those folks who did not take ship's exursions went through? It was a horror.

[spongerob]

Both ports have very limited docking facilities. Ocho Rios doesn't look like it can handle more than 2 ships at a time. Montego Bay can handle 2 or 3 depending on the size of ship. Once they're full, they're full. Ships are being added faster than places to dock them, and since most 7-day cruises are Saturday or Sunday departures, they all hit the same place at the same time.

 

I don't think it would be very easy to tender in at Ocho Rios; it might even be impossible with the reefs offshore (no place to anchor). Tendering does appear to be an option at Montego Bay.

[cabana]

We dock at Mobay last Sept. If you look close at the cruise sched , it will tell you when they change. They pretty well stick to it too. Unless there is a problem. Dock in Mobay was beside the big market. Ten minute cab ride to downtown. Visit Dr. Cave Beach it is nice there and close. The Groovy Grouper will serve you drinks on the beach. It's 5 minute walk from Margaritaville. This year we docked at Ocho. IMO , not so nice old dock, dirty and smelled bad.That is just my two cents. But it is the dock they filmed James Bond flick 30 years ago. Too bad they didn't put any money into since then. Maybe they are waiting for Ursala Andress to come out of the water again. :) But you can walk to town from it. Just keep KYST. KYST means keep your **** together.

[britsbest]

We were docked in MoBay. The only tendering was in Grand Cayman and of course Princess Cays. We were also the only ship in Mobay that day as I recall. The shopping area at the port looked good from the ship but most of the buildings were vacant.

 

Not so much a question of tendering/ docking more will we be going to MoBay or Ocho. We have a trip planned for dolphin encounter at OR and wonder whether to plan for this in Cozumel. But Cozzie we were planned for Paradise Beach, see what I am getting at it all knock on effect!

[pamwinn]

I think if your Itinerary says Ocho, you can pretty much count on that. I booked in December and at that time the Itinerary for 6/4 was Mobay. The western cruise preceeding ours was Ocho. So it was not a surprise or spur of the moment change.

[KAJOKG]

I think if your Itinerary says Ocho, you can pretty much count on that. I booked in December and at that time the Itinerary for 6/4 was Mobay. The western cruise preceeding ours was Ocho. So it was not a surprise or spur of the moment change.

In April our itinerary said Ocho Rios. When our docs came there was a letter included explaining that there was a change in itinerary to MoBay. Although I do not like Jamaica, Ocho Rios is a much better stop than MoBay.

[jmrfamily]

We were on a cruise in November and scheduled to go to Ocho Rios. The night before we were to land in Ocho Rios, the Captain came on and said we were going to Montego Bay due to docking issues (too many ships were scheduled to go there so we were bumped). It was a mess--2000 people trying to reschedule their shore excurisions in one night. I love Princess, but they really should get this situation worked out. In reading these posts, I notice this bump to Montego Bay happens a lot.

[britsbest]

I have emailed Princess in UK, not even had a reply ! Hmmmm:mad:

[britsbest]

Any more views?