Question about Ocho Rios and any current restrictions in place for cruise passengers

[mik]

I have read in some posts that cruise passengers arriving in Ocho Rios are not permitted to tour independently.  The posts that I saw were a couple of months old.  I can't find any recent updates on this.  Can someone tell me what, if any, are the restrictions for passengers right now?  Are we allowed to take a taxi to the beach or walk into town?  Thanks for any help with this.

[PlanoTim]

On 2/9/2022 at 12:04 PM, mik said:

I have read in some posts that cruise passengers arriving in Ocho Rios are not permitted to tour independently.  The posts that I saw were a couple of months old.  I can't find any recent updates on this.  Can someone tell me what, if any, are the restrictions for passengers right now?  Are we allowed to take a taxi to the beach or walk into town?  Thanks for any help with this.

I heard there was a travel authorization required for private tours to Jamaica.  I looked around some and found the Government of Jamaica web site.  It has a link to a travel authorization site where this notice is posted:

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The Travel Authorization and travel related quarantine measures will no longer be required from March 1, 2022.
However, travellers 12 years and older will still need to provide a negative COVID-19 test (Antigen or PCR) conducted within 3 days of the date of travel at check-in.

 

That good news for us since we travel in mid April.  Seems like stuff is opening up.  Hope the Cayman Islands opens soon too. 🙂

 

Hope that helps some,
Tim

[PlanoTim]

18 hours ago, PlanoTim said:

I heard there was a travel authorization required for private tours to Jamaica.  I looked around some and found the Government of Jamaica web site.  It has a link to a travel authorization site where this notice is posted:

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The Travel Authorization and travel related quarantine measures will no longer be required from March 1, 2022.
However, travellers 12 years and older will still need to provide a negative COVID-19 test (Antigen or PCR) conducted within 3 days of the date of travel at check-in.

 

That good news for us since we travel in mid April.  Seems like stuff is opening up.  Hope the Cayman Islands opens soon too. 🙂

 

Hope that helps some,
Tim

The information on travel authorization site mentioned above seemed to be directed mostly to people arriving by air for a stay on the island.  So I reached out to them for a bit of clarification for cruise-ship passengers (see below):

 

I have a question about restrictions for cruise ship passengers. Can vaccinated cruise ship passengers (arriving in April) go on an independent tour if they have a negative antigen test or a negative molecular (PCR, RNA or NAA) test result taken within 3 days of BOARDING the Ship in the USA?

Thanks.

 

Their reply was prompt and to the point (I added the bold for emphasis):

 

Dear Tim,

 

Thank you for contacting the Jamaica Tourist Board.

 

Yes you may.

 

Please do not reply to this email. Click here if you need further assistance with this support request or visit http://www.visitjamaica.com/travelauthorization for more information.

 

We trust that this information was helpful and we look forward to welcoming you to our beautiful island.