Falmouth Beach Day - Recommendations

[kstetser]

We will be porting in Falmouth on December 22nd and right now are the only ship in port that day.   We dislike being herded and avoid ship excursions.    2 adults and one 17 year old.   Looking for close beach/pool without a lot of hassle  (so a resort for a day or private beach club would be great).   Relaxing and swimming are our goals and hopefully avoiding crowds and anything terribly loud.

 

I see Royalton White Sands, Hyatt Ziva and Iberostar Rose Hall are fairly close and have resort for a day packages.   Any thoughts on how the experience is in 2021?   Any other suggestions?   (We are HUGE fans of Nachi Cocom on Cozumel, if that helps.)    Our backup is to just go to Margaritaville in the port to get some lunch/drinks and swim in the pool for a bit and then get back on the ship and see a movie - which is pretty lame, but still relaxing with no hassle.

 

Thanks!

 

[jmaedcruise]

Following< would like to hear responses to this as well… our Grand Cayman port stop just got changed to Falmouth Jamaica for February.  

[dotsofunn]

Same for us with Grand Cayman to Falmouth the end of January. Looking for recommendations as well. 

[Gordo]

We will be in Falmouth in March 2023, and wanted to see what you did for your stop.  Hope you had a great cruise.  

[CaliforniaAC]

Hi,

 

We did have a great cruise, and Falmouth was one of two tied for the worst stop in 21 days of sailing.

 

We were in Falmouth On March 30th, sailing on Celebrity Equinox. None of us had been to Falmouth, and all of us had been to Jamaica many, many times. We started researching this port for something to do on our own, So we did research three of the beach clubs, but none of them sounded worth it. After we saw what the cab fare would be, we decided it would be best if we went ahead and took the ship tour to Bamboo Beach Club, with transportation and admission for $79.00 per person. and the tour was going to start at 1:00pm, so it was only 3 hours long.

 

We were all shoved into a bus from 1969, with worn out and cracked seats (picture sitting down, and you bum goes below the seat frame and touches the wheel well), with more passengers than the bus should hold, bald tires, no A/C, and some of the windows wouldn't lower. We figured for a twenty minute ride that we would be okay. 45 minutes later, we were still on the bus. The young lady that we were assigned to, who was a contractor, not employee, explained very, very clearly that she was the only employee we were to talk to, and she would get us everything we need, and then promptly disappeared for twenty minutes, after she herded us to some lounge chairs at the back of the beach near the rusty chain link fence. When we returned we had the first of what would turn out to be an all you can drink package that was limited to two 4oz. beverages. She brought us a punch. It was so bad, and I mean really bad, that I dumped it out. Our meal was appetizer proportions, and some of it was edible. Just before being put back on the bus, she brought a glass of flat warm champagne. 

 

The good news was that the trip back was only 30 minutes. I wished we had spent an enjoyable day on the ship.

 

I wish we had known about Margaritaville. It would have been a much better way to spend our day in Falmouth. 

 

Also, Please check the cab fares, and the estimated time to get to either Ocho Rios or MBJ. Most likely you will be flabbergasted, and that will save you time and hassle.

[mcatmcat]

On 4/28/2022 at 8:59 PM, CaliforniaAC said:

Hi,

 

We did have a great cruise, and Falmouth was one of two tied for the worst stop in 21 days of sailing.

 

We were in Falmouth On March 30th, sailing on Celebrity Equinox. None of us had been to Falmouth, and all of us had been to Jamaica many, many times. We started researching this port for something to do on our own, So we did research three of the beach clubs, but none of them sounded worth it. After we saw what the cab fare would be, we decided it would be best if we went ahead and took the ship tour to Bamboo Beach Club, with transportation and admission for $79.00 per person. and the tour was going to start at 1:00pm, so it was only 3 hours long.

 

We were all shoved into a bus from 1969, with worn out and cracked seats (picture sitting down, and you bum goes below the seat frame and touches the wheel well), with more passengers than the bus should hold, bald tires, no A/C, and some of the windows wouldn't lower. We figured for a twenty minute ride that we would be okay. 45 minutes later, we were still on the bus. The young lady that we were assigned to, who was a contractor, not employee, explained very, very clearly that she was the only employee we were to talk to, and she would get us everything we need, and then promptly disappeared for twenty minutes, after she herded us to some lounge chairs at the back of the beach near the rusty chain link fence. When we returned we had the first of what would turn out to be an all you can drink package that was limited to two 4oz. beverages. She brought us a punch. It was so bad, and I mean really bad, that I dumped it out. Our meal was appetizer proportions, and some of it was edible. Just before being put back on the bus, she brought a glass of flat warm champagne. 

 

The good news was that the trip back was only 30 minutes. I wished we had spent an enjoyable day on the ship.

 

I wish we had known about Margaritaville. It would have been a much better way to spend our day in Falmouth. 

 

Also, Please check the cab fares, and the estimated time to get to either Ocho Rios or MBJ. Most likely you will be flabbergasted, and that will save you time and hassle.

I always had in this port and will continue this year ( I am staying on the ship , not worth it )

[kanadakid]

Thanks for the heads up - I think Margaritaville and a bit of shopping in the compound will do nicely for this stop.

 

[Island wannabe]

On 1/8/2023 at 10:16 PM, kanadakid said:

Thanks for the heads up - I think Margaritaville and a bit of shopping in the compound will do nicely for this stop.

 

Just confirmed with Margaritaville HQ today that the Falmouth location has permanently closed 😢

[Tigerfan85]

We also wanted a beach day so I hired Real Tours Jamaica for our group of 4.  We were met at the independent contractors area, loaded into a good-sized van and driven up to Montego Bay.  First we went to a beach and took a boat out to snorkel.  The water was a tiny bit rough, but the snorkeling was fun.  Then we went to Doctors Cave Beach and our admission was included.  By then the chairs were all booked up, but we had our own towels to sit on the beach.  Some of us purchased ice cream or drinks and we spend a couple of hours swimming in the gorgeous water or out on one of the huge floats.  There were lifeguards, food and drinks for sale and restrooms.  On the way back to Falmouth we stopped to taste and buy rum and buy jerk chicken.  We bought beer back at the port shops and had a delicious chicken lunch.  I can recommend Real Tours Jamaica.

[funtoocruise]

Hi we are going to Falmouth Jamaica next month and are looking for a nice beach day. We read bad reviews about the cruise ship tour so are looking for independent tour/advice. I read Red Stripe Beach is nice does anyone know anything about this beach? Can we just take a cab from the Port or is that not recommended? 

Thanks for any info

[Marie51]

We just booked the day pass to Hilton Rose Hall Resort in Falmouth. For anyone who has been there I would like to know opinions about this place. TIA

[theopup]

We have been to this hotel on a day pass on our last cruise several years ago, and enjoyed it. Nice hotel, pool music and food, plus the bus ride was ok

[Marie51]

On 3/30/2023 at 10:19 AM, theopup said:

We have been to this hotel on a day pass on our last cruise several years ago, and enjoyed it. Nice hotel, pool music and food, plus the bus ride was ok

😊 thanks