Celebrity ship going to Jamaica

[beshears]

Some people on Cruise Critic may not know there is a section for Jamaica, but for those that do not, I am asking my question here. If you have cruised on the Celebrity Equinox going to Falmouth Jamaica within the past couple of years, would you give me your pros/cons of the ship, as well as Falmouth Jamaica too.

[hcat]

inside the  port gates are shopping, food. music at times.. .. sort of a " fake" port but we enjoy it! Felt safe and clean!

 

we went on an excursion from there. It.was poorly organized.. we would not do it again,  AND  we would not walk outside the gated port!

[MCC retired]

Nice enclosed port area shopping and such.

Bamboo river rafting tours are always enjoyable in Jamaica. 

[PTC DAWG]

Took a trolley tour of the area, visited a very old Church, made a short shopping stop..it was a decent overview of the town..worth the $25 we spent, bought the tickets at a booth inside the port.

[hcat]

the trolley tour sounds nice because it is authentic rather than made fir cruisers.....we'd try that..thanks for the idea!

[upwarduk]

We were walked through a market, where we were warned not to shake hands, otherwise you would end up ringless.

[NutsAboutGolf]

Do not interact with anyone who approaches you, often they will have their fist out for a fist pump and say "respect", do NOT fist pump them and instead, just say "no thank you"

 

If one is physically able to hike, Dunn's River Falls is a very unique experience 

[NC State]

We have visited many times.  Love the inside the port gates (purchase RUM CAKES) we enjoy it! We felt safe and clean! We always book with the cruise line for excursions. I recommend not walking outside the gated port too!

[hcat]

2 hours ago, upwarduk said:

We were walked through a market, where we were warned not to shake hands, otherwise you would end up ringless.

do not wear jewelry.. and secure wallets! 

 

also at the falls there is an old scam where they offer to hold your camera etc..but costs quite a bit to get it back!

Edited April 10 by hcat

[d9704011]

7 minutes ago, hcat said:

do not wear jewelry.. and secure wallets!

All of this advice is good for Paris, Rome, London, etc...

[Essiesmom]

2 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

All of this advice is good for Paris, Rome, London, etc...

Barcelona…

[hcat]

2 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

All of this advice is good for Paris, Rome, London, etc...

exactly..and BARECELONA..the city of thieves!  and NYC too!

[d9704011]

46 minutes ago, hcat said:

exactly..and BARECELONA..the city of thieves!  and NYC too!

I thought Barcelona's nickname was 'City of Counts'.

[beshears]

Thank you ALL for your responses.

[Milhouse]

This is a bit dated but we ended up in Falmouth as an alternate port of call (hurricane) during a Royal Caribbean cruise in 2017.

We walked to St Peters Church, ate some Jamaican patties at a shop, and checked out some markets.  Personally, I think we felt safe enough walking around the town.  YMMV.  Inside the port gates was obviously fine.

 

But we had mixed interactions with locals.  The couple of folks in the tourism industry we chatted with were great which I suspect is in no small part, from them benefiting from tourist dollars.  On the otherhand, we got sworn at from a random group of kids when we declined their request for some dollars.  And a rando made small talk and walked with us a bit before also eventually indirectly asked for some money but beat it when we passed by a cop.  We didn't feel scared/unsafe by the interactions but it was uncomfortable.  Yet, I can understand it as well.      

 

On a previous cruise, we docked in Ocho Rios and had a somewhat similar experience.  Had a great experience eating lobster on the beach from a friendly guy that was probably raking it in from tourists visiting his shack.  Also got sworn at, at Dunns Falls by one of the trinket hawkers when we declined his somewhat manipulative sales pitch.

 

Anyways, Jamaica is a beautiful island overall but it's my least favourite ports of call because of the mixed interactions.  If we ended up there again, we'd probably do a tour to be sheltered a bit by the guide.

[beshears]

Milhouse, thank you for your post too. I hesitate about going, but I'm thinking since there are 7 or 8 adults that will be together, I really don't see how we would have problems with the people.

[George C]

I miss when cruise ships stopped at Ocho Rios, not much at Falmouth, I read that margaritaville there recently closed.

[mac_tlc]

We have been to Falmouth a number of times, most recently on Beyond in February. By far, I find this to be the highlight:

 

 

[mac_tlc]

3 hours ago, George C said:

I miss when cruise ships stopped at Ocho Rios, not much at Falmouth, I read that margaritaville there recently closed.

Here is what Margaritaville looks like now.

 

 

[George C]

1 hour ago, mac_tlc said:

We have been to Falmouth a number of times, most recently on Beyond in February. By far, I find this to be the highlight:

 

 

We were in a royal suite a few weeks ago , one of the things I asked butler to do was stock fridge with red stripe 😁

[beshears]

Thanks for your in put.

[jlawrence01]

I have been to Falmouth twice.  The first trip we took an excursion that was a 45 minute van ride.  I am glad that I was not driving as there were so many near misses with vehicles trying to pass on narrow two lane highways.  I do not remember much about the excursion other than it involved too much shopping and a promised restaurant meal that turned into a carryout.

 

When we returned to the cruise port, we left the port area heading into the town itself.  It is not something that I can recommend unless you have numbers.

 

  On our last trip, we stayed in the cruise port.

[George C]

1 hour ago, jlawrence01 said:

I have been to Falmouth twice.  The first trip we took an excursion that was a 45 minute van ride.  I am glad that I was not driving as there were so many near misses with vehicles trying to pass on narrow two lane highways.  I do not remember much about the excursion other than it involved too much shopping and a promised restaurant meal that turned into a carryout.

 

When we returned to the cruise port, we left the port area heading into the town itself.  It is not something that I can recommend unless you have numbers.

 

  On our last trip, we stayed in the cruise port.

Driving in Jamaica is also very interesting, we have been here about a dozen or more times , lots of cruises and lots of resorts. It is a beautiful island and would definitely do another sandals resort.

[beshears]

George C yes my grandson said we should do the Sandals as well.

[phoenix_dream]

I've sailed to Jamaica many times including several stops in Falmouth.  Inside the gates is nice.  I would never, ever go outside without a tour.  One trip we were in Jamaica at the Ocho Rios port with our teenage son.  People swam up to us in the ocean trying to get us to buy drugs.  On the street walking back to the ship, people approached our son and kept following us trying to sell him drugs while he was walking with us!  

 

Not to say all Jamaicans are criminal as they are certainly not.  Did my first ever snorkeling trip on an excursion in Jamaica at the age of 60.  I was pretty scared.  The Jamaicans onboard that boat couldn't have been nicer to me - patient and kind.  It's a shame there is so much crime on that island that you can't be safe just walking around.  I know many other places in the world have the same issues (hey, I live outside of Chicago!) but there is really nowhere on the island I would wander alone.

Edited April 13 by phoenix_dream