Dunns River Falls/Dolphin Encounter - from Montego Bay

[exbbmom]

We will be on the Conquest, docking in Montego Bay. Dunns River Falls is an excursion that some of our group want to do and there are 3 ship excursions to Dunns River Falls. Two of them include going somewhere for a Dolphin Encounter. Was wondering if anyone has done any of these excursions - particularly the one with the Dolphins - how was the "encounter" and was it worth the extra money?

Got shut out of the Dolphin swim in Cozemel and saw this one and thought it might work in lieu of it.

Have decided to stick with the ship excursion given the time involved and want to be sure not to miss the ship.

Any info would be much appreciated

Thanks

[piggs]

We did this excursion when we were on the Conquest last summer. We went to the falls first and then you go to Dolphin Cove Park. The people that are going to "encounter" with the dolphins go off one way to get out-fitted and the rest of the tour is free to wander around the park. There were four out of our tour that had the encounter, the rest of us did not. They paid extra for this part. They really are a combined tour. There was a small buffet lunch at the park before we looked around, as part of the tour. The encounter is no where near as cool as the swim. It entails about 20 people standing on a submerged platform and the dolphins swim by. You touch them, they splash you, etc. And all the while you can see the swimmers in the water with the dolphins for the "swim" The swim is not offered by carnival and I am with you, in that I would not travel that far, in that country, without Carnival.

We choose this one over the other excursion because none of us are shoppers and Dolphin Cove Park is a really cute, relaxing place to spend some time. You can watch all the dolphins, there is a shark feeding exhibit, a cute little forest trail with guides stationed along the way talking about animals. Rest rooms, a small swim/beach area and food/souveniers are sold there too! There was even a band playing there that day but I would guess because it was their Independence Day and the park was very crowded, as were the falls! (Everyone had the day off!) I wish we had known ahead what the place was like because we would have brought our towels, etc with us. We just left them on the tour bus. We also would have known that there would be the time and a place to change into regular clothes after the falls.

Last piece of advice is too bring your own aqua shoes. They are required to climb the falls and the rental ones are $5, the same price as having your own from Wally World! And the comfort of not sharing shoes!!!

I hope this helps and is not too confusing.

Lori

 

 

 

Conquest 8/03

 

Second Cruise~ Conquest here we come again!

[triathlete]

Before you decide, check out www.barrettdaventures.com

 

Carolyn Barrett is a very neat lady who offers tours in Jamaica (she's from the US, but has lived in the Caribbean for more than 20 years and Jamaica for over 10).

 

Instead of going to Dunns, we went to Mayfield Falls. It was a shorter trip and completely uncrowded. (When we saw videos of the huge crowds at Dunns when we got back to the ship, we were very happy). It was also much less expensive.

 

She has various tours she can take you on customized to what you're looking for. I'd talk to her first before you decide.

 

Cheers!

 

Dawn Princess 12/14/03

Conquest 1/05/03

Imagination 11/21/02

Destiny 12/30/01

Fascination 11/30/01

[exbbmom]

Thanks so much for your responses. Just the info I was looking for. We had considered going with a private tour operator, but I'm just too concerned about getting back to the ship on time. The ship will wait for ship sponsered excursions - they won't wait for private ones.

 

Thanks again