Transatlantic sunset

[Trishastravels]

Can anyone tell me if we will have time to see a bit of Montego Bay, our flight arrives at 3 pm and the ship leaves at 8pm. If so does anyone know the best thing to do to give us a little flavour of Jamaica

[kruzseeka]

Can anyone tell me if we will have time to see a bit of Montego Bay, our flight arrives at 3 pm and the ship leaves at 8pm. If so does anyone know the best thing to do to give us a little flavour of Jamaica

 

 

Hmm....... bit difficult to advise on this one. You may be lucky and get on board fairly quickly as you don't have to worry about collecting your cases on arrival at the airport on Caribbean cruises - they go straight to the ship and will arrive at your cabin. But you still have the bus transfer and must register to get your ship's card to allow you to board. This can be quick - but will depend on whether other plane loads of passengers have arrived at about the same time in which case it can take some time. An hour and a half I would suggest from your plane landing would be pretty good going taking account of: getting off the plane if you're not amongst the first, plus walk to buses or airfield shuttle transer, queue to get on the buses, journey time, registration, find cabin, freshen up, then ready to disembark. And it could be a fair bit longer.

 

Then the dock is a bit out of town. From there you need to take the shuttle bus ($5?) into Montego Bay or take a taxi. We're fairly keen on DiY in port and wandering around but didn't fancy Montego Bay much. You may get a flavour of the town on your airport transfer - don't know which way that goes.

 

However Doctor's Cave Beach is great. It's in town, about 10 minutes in a taxi and is private and has security. You pay to get in then extra for loungers and sun umbrellas but I could recommend it for somewhere to go if you fancy a couple of hours on the beach and have time. There are nice beach bars there too if you're not bothered about sitting on the beach. If they don't make any concessions for you being there only for a couple of hours though and it's the same price as for the whole day, it could work out a bit pricey if you want beach furniture. But I wouldn't recommend going into the town just to explore!

 

There was a bar somewhere near the port some passengers went to when we were there overnight but it gets dark quite early, The road outside the secure port compound has no pavement or lights and I didn't feel confident about wandering around looking for a bar I didn't know where to find exactly. Other passengers said they went and it was great (was it a converted boat?) - I would have done that if it had been light and I could see where we were making for but not in the dark.

 

There is a small port terminal but not much there. If you fly back from Montego Bay you might have more time on departure day to do something as return flights usually don't leave until late afternoon. Your transfer to the airport probably won't be until after lunch. Thomson may also have half day trips in the morning suitable for passengers with afternoon flights. That may provide you with the opportunity to see something more of the island than on arrival day.

Edited April 5, 2015 by kruzseeka

[kruzseeka]

Sorry, just realised that you are doing the TA so won't be flying back from Jamaica. :o

[Trishastravels]

Thank you so much for your reply and useful information, we realise that time is short here and it seemed such a waste to fly all the way to Jamaica and not see any of it except the transfer to the ship! We are usually quite resourceful and do DIY ourselves. I think our best option will be to take the taxi to the beach you suggested even if it's just for an hour, a nice stroll along the sand to stretch our legs from the long flight and maybe a local cocktail

[kruzseeka]

Sounds like a good plan!

 

 

[happy v]

We sailed from here a few years ago and the coach took over two hours to get to the ship because of the traffic. So you may not have any spare time. However I will say from what we saw from the coach window we didn't feel we were missing too much.

[Dartmoordan]

We did a farewell tour in Montego bay and have to say we will go straight to the ship next April and stay there, Mo Bay was not really that good and a bit off putting in places. It did take a long time from Port to town so don't think you will have a lot of time.

[Trishastravels]

Thanks for your replies everyone, we shall just have to see how our time goes, if we manage to get into mobay after check in that will be great if not it will still be great after all we will be in the Caribean for our 1st time, 7 days and counting[emoji3]

[BaggersCruising]

You won't really have any time to see Montego Bay as the port is a little out of town, and on completely the other side of town from the airport.

 

By the time you've got to the port, checked in etc., time will be getting on, and you will have the drill to attend, which will probably be scheduled for around 6-6:30pm as they have to allow for all of the flights to board, and being it's a re-positioning cruise, it means a near full contingency of passengers embarking that day!

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I, too wouldn't recommend Montego Bay town. It looks very nice from a distance, but travelling through it to a beach on the last day, well it did not appeal at all :eek:

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I, too, wouldn't recommend Montego Bay town. It looks very nice from a distance, but travelling through it to a beach on the last day, well it did not appeal at all :eek:

[Trishastravels]

Thanks for all the helpful comments, we are off on Tuesday, can't wait[emoji3]

[happy v]

Thanks for all the helpful comments, we are off on Tuesday, can't wait[emoji3]

 

Enjoy yourself.:)