Tour Guide Recommendations

[burrma]

You want a reputable guide for Ocho Rios, the best i have seen so far and most rated by many is Orville Taylor. Do a google search on ...

orville taylor Ocho Rios

 

Thanks for taking the time to share; I will contact him.

[kwilder]

I was in Jamaica last week on the Mariner. My husband & I used Mark Morris for the day. We had a very good experience. He made the day about us & what we wanted to do. We did the falls & river tubing. We also went to his fathers pottery shop & just rode around the city. We had asked to go to a beach but changed our minds when we got there which was no problem with him. He is a very gracious guide, very nice van which you can leave all your stuff in while at the falls & tubing because he stays in it & waits on you. I highly recommend his services. It was by far our favorite stop.

[mew1]

I also used Mark, he is awesome,:D really he gave the best tour I have ever had on any island. I learned so much from him about the island, he really loves his home and loves to show it off. I loved the pottery shop, and you were never bothered by the annoying people trying to sell trinkets. It was the best part of our trip. Great price TOO!!! You can find him at Markstours.com

 

mew1:)

[maggieworkman]

I reserved spots with Marva Shaw to do the Falls and tubing. She emailed me and said to bring towels. Can I bring the ones from the Ship (Carnival)? We are only bringing carryons (since we are flying American Airlines and they are charging for first piece of luggage), so I don't want to have to bring towels from home if I can avoid it.

 

Thanks,

Maggie

[maggieworkman]

Actually our day in Jamaica was a disaster (and yes it was directly in the hands of J). I couldn't mention it to her until after we got home due to the circumstances. I did receive what I believe was a sincere apology. I'm not here to bash Marva or her crew. I just wanted to point out that not everyone receives that kind of personal touch. I didn't want someone looking for recommendations to build up unrealistic expectations and then be disappointed when it wasn't delivered. I'm actually undecided about whether I'd use them again. I'm thinking I'd probably give them another chance but I'm almost positive my dh would throw me overboard once he found out. :eek:

 

Can you give us a little indication of your problem with the tour? We are using Marva Shaw in a couple weeks and now I'm nervous.

 

Maggie

[QTMichele]

Maggie,

 

As with ANY business, sometimes things go wrong. However, Marva has a great reputation on these boards (do a search with her name to read all the positives). I'm interested in learning more about what went wrong with the above poster too, but my guess (and my hope!) is that it's an isolated incident. Please don't be nervous. I'm sure you'll have a great trip!

 

Michele

[maggieworkman]

Maggie,

 

As with ANY business, sometimes things go wrong. However, Marva has a great reputation on these boards (do a search with her name to read all the positives). I'm interested in learning more about what went wrong with the above poster too, but my guess (and my hope!) is that it's an isolated incident. Please don't be nervous. I'm sure you'll have a great trip!

 

Michele

 

I know. I picked Marva Shaw because of all of the good reviews. I guess I am just a little nervous about Jamaica in general because of so many things I've read on these boards. I was hoping by using Marva that I would sort of "bypass" all the issues I've read about. But her review above made me question that.

 

I'll report back with how it goes on our excursion.

 

Maggie

[QTMichele]

Maggie,

 

I will say that having a tour guide (Marva or other) made the biggest difference in enjoying Jamaica. I have no desire to sight see on my own.

 

Have a wonderful trip and let us know how it goes.

[Floppy McTurnriver]

Does anyone know if Mark's Tours operate out of Mo Bay? (or is it only from Ocho Rios?) His website doesn't say.

 

thanks

[OviedoCruiser]

Does anyone know if Mark's Tours operate out of Mo Bay? (or is it only from Ocho Rios?) His website doesn't say.

 

thanks

 

Don't know, but I used him this week in Ochos Rios and he was fantastic. Here is his email, I'd just drop him a note and ask. Great, great guy...really made a difference for me and my family.

 

mark@markstours.com

[Floppy McTurnriver]

Thanks Oviedo

[lovealaska]

I wouldn't worry for a second about a day with Marva or her son Javia! We spent the day with them in June, doing the Dunn's River Falls and tubing. We were a party of 9, two families. We had a GREAT time. Marva met us at the dock and was professional and so friendly. We felt immediately that we were in safe, competent hands and could just relax. We were taken to the falls, which are just hilarious. Herds of tourists laughing their way up the water. It's controlled chaos. :-) Once finished there we stopped for some shopping and picked up souvenirs. Then we were off to the tubing. Marva hopped out of the van to check us in and make sure we were getting the guides she wanted for us. (They were so fun, happy and upbeat, bursting into song randomly all the way down the river). She was waiting for us at the end of the river. We went to a terrific lunch at a restaurant Marva took us to. My husband LOVED his jerk fish. I loved my conch balls. Marva had arranged a surprise birthday cake for one member of our party! Afterwards we made a quick stop at a beach and went back to the ship at our convenience. It was a terrific day and I love the pictures we brought home! I would not hesitate to recommend Marva to anyone. And I would not return to Jamaica without planning to spend my time with her. Go ahead and look very forward to your day, you made a great choice.

[ratherBcruizin']

Can you give us a little indication of your problem with the tour? We are using Marva Shaw in a couple weeks and now I'm nervous.

 

Maggie

 

Honestly I wouldn't worry about your day in Jamaica. Ours was bad but if you've done your research you know that complaints are pretty much non exsistent with her.

 

For those that care about our day, we got left. We met with them at the pier. Paid for the acitivities that we were wanting to do, everything was fun and good. The entire group went river tubing. After that some on the tour were going shopping, some were going to Dunn's River, we were going to the beach. Javia said he'd drop us off at the beach while the others did their thing and then we'd all get back together.

 

So Javia drops us off at Mahagony Beach (which I wouldn't recommend) at 11am, tells us he'll be back to pick us up at 12:30pm to continue our day/tour. So at about 12:20 we pack up our things from the beach and walk closer to the drop off/pick up area to wait. We waited. And waited. And waited.

 

At 1:30pm a gal walks up to us and asks if we are with Marva. We say yes. She says she had Javia on the phone and he wants to speak with us. My dh talks to him. Javia says he is delayed at Dunn's River Falls and will be there to get us in 20 minutes. Fine my dh says. So we wait. And wait. And wait.

 

Finally at 2:05 my dh was livid and he got a taxi driver (at least he said he was a taxi driver, who knows for sure!) to take us back to the pier.

 

 

We spent our day waiting for the tour we had already paid for. My dh was mad and I was just immensely disappointed. I was shocked after all the research that I had did and all the things that I had read that it turned out the way it did.

 

On one hand it was our fault for waiting so long. On the other we had already paid our money for our day. Like I said in pp, I emailed Marva when we returned home about what happened. She and J both emailed an apology. I believe it was a sincere apology.

 

I was glad that we had been to Jamaica numerous times (even on land vacations) because if that had been our first trip to Jamaica I would have been so upset. We spent the majority of our day looking at a parking lot. Also looking back, I suppose we could have went back to the beach and tried to enjoy it, while hoping that J would have came looking for us.

 

Also I said in a pp that I would more than likely give them a second chance as it seems this was an isolated event. But my dh would throw me overboard if he found out I had booked with them again.

 

I'm sure your trip will be just fine like the countless others on here have posted. :)

[garptsmqt]

I'm about 90% sure that Mark is only out of Ocho, but if you had a big group I'm sure he'd make the drive to Mo Bay. It's a pretty good drive, and gas ain't cheap anywhere except Saudi Arabia and Venezuela these day...:)

 

He was a great guide and appeared to us to really care about representing Jamaica in it's best light.

[Floppy McTurnriver]

I'm about 90% sure that Mark is only out of Ocho, but if you had a big group I'm sure he'd make the drive to Mo Bay. It's a pretty good drive, and gas ain't cheap anywhere except Saudi Arabia and Venezuela these day...:)

 

He was a great guide and appeared to us to really care about representing Jamaica in it's best light.

 

Thanks - it's just a party of two, so we'll pick someone else operating from Mo Bay.

 

Thanks

[cheerfulkim]

I said that I would post when we got back, so here it is. We used Mark Morris for our large group on August 1, and he was fabulous! I can't say enough good things about him. We had 24 of us on the tour, and he had all of us happy. We were still talking about him and how much fun we had after the cruise ended. For many of us, Ocho Rios was our favorite stop. Mark truly loves Jamaica, and it shows. I have a detailed account of our day on the Mark Morris vs. Phil LaFayette thread if you are interested in reading about what we did. We will definitely book with him again next time we are there. I will also recommend him to anyone I know who is planning a cruise to Ocho Rios.

[atomicaunt]

I emailed Marva a couple times for information on a tour with her to the Falls. She initially got back and seemed nice but now will not reply when I am trying to confirm the tour. Now I am seeing some bad posts for her. Anyone have a similar experience? Any other recommendations for tour operators out of Montego Bay?

[atomicaunt]

With regard to my previous post...Just heard back from Marva, she had a family emergency, which was whey there was a delay in repling. Didn't want to leave a bad post. I write to let you know how it all went.

[Wmiller86]

We just returned from Ocho Rios and we used Shalton "Speedy" Whyte for a boat tour to snorkle, then to the secluded Laughing Waters Falls for a beach day. This was the best day of our entire cruise!

 

 

You can contact him at ShaltonWhyte at hotmail dot com.

 

 

 

We had the falls to ourselves the entire afternoon. It was awesome! The falls ran right into the ocean and cooled the ocean water. There were small pools of water that we all played around in.

 

This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. And Speedy did a great tour.

Drop me a message with questions.

 

Here are a few pics-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wmiller86]

I tried to email Speedy to see how he fared the storms this Summer, but have not yet gotten a reply. Anybody heard how Ocho Rios made out ? Are the ships still stopping there?

[BNBear]

We were in Ocho 9/25 on Destiny. We used the services of Trevor Hudlin as a guide for the day. Excellent service, clean vehicle, wonderful man with high integraty. We custom picked what we wanted as we did not want to go to the falls. He took us to all the places we asked and even stayed with us while we shopped and then took us back to the ship with plenty of time to spare. I would highly recommend his services.

[boiler babe]

i looked on her web site and emailed her. SHe seems very helpful. My only concern that she charges $30.00 person and then an additional admission to the falls or $32.00 to the plantation. Is this worth it?

 

 

 

MARVA QUOTED ME $70.00 PER PERSON & WE PAY ADMISSIO TO FALLS & REGGAE BEACH...SEEMS KINDA HIGH:confused:

[QTMichele]

MARVA QUOTED ME $70.00 PER PERSON & WE PAY ADMISSIO TO FALLS & REGGAE BEACH...SEEMS KINDA HIGH:confused:

 

You may want to contact her again to clarify. Marva's prices have included admission in the past - I can't imagine they don't now if she wants to be competetive. Although, her prices do not include gratuities for the guides at each destination (you'll have to tip your guide at the falls, for example).

 

If you tour with Marva, please tell her Michele says hello. :) She's great!

[boiler babe]

You may want to contact her again to clarify. Marva's prices have included admission in the past - I can't imagine they don't now if she wants to be competetive. Although, her prices do not include gratuities for the guides at each destination (you'll have to tip your guide at the falls, for example).

 

If you tour with Marva, please tell her Michele says hello. :) She's great!

 

 

That's why the $70 per person shocked me because that did not include admissions to df or reggae beach or tips...I emailed her back and explained to her I wasn't trying to be cheapskate but that seemed high...we'll see what her response is.....:rolleyes:

[QTMichele]

Hopefully it's just a misunderstanding. Let us know, okay? :)