Dunn"s river falls

[ScotFi]

Hi

Contemplating booking an excursion to Dunn's River falls. Is there any way you can do this without having to experience the market. Is this where the bus drops you off.

How difficult is it to get to the top.

 

Scotfi:D

[Canadian Tyler]

We didn't have to walk through the market on the way in, but we did on the way out.

I was told in advance to exit through the entrance to avoid it. Of course, I forgot until it was too late. Definitely the pushiest out of any port I've been to. Wish I would have remembered this advice, although I can't vouch for it's effectiveness.

 

Re: difficulty getting to the top, it is difficult and slippery at parts. My wife and I both thought it wouldn't work well for our parents, as they would have a hard time navigating the falls.

If you are able though, I would highly recommend it. It was our most memorable excursion.

 

Good luck!

[Gina S]

Its not really that difficult to climb to the top at all...you'll have a guide and a long line of people holding hands they will take photos of you along the way and try and sell you those and a tape once you reach the top. My husband and our 20 something kids all did this a couple years ago and we had a blast...:D

[jen-ja-fer]

Like the other's said, there will be a long line and everyone will be holding hands. You can rent shoes (I think you rent them. They may have been free) and this is HIGHLY recommended. Helps to keep your balance on the slippery rocks.

 

This was by far my favorite exursion ever. There were people of all ages and weights and no one fell as far as I know.

[martinchem]

They also have rental boxes if you want to have a place for things like a wallet or such.

[BigBoatsForMe]

Just there in May, they require you so wear shoes. Its a blast!

 

You don't have to book thru the boat either, once your off the ship go to your left and it has self guided tours. It was so nice because your bus guide waits for you. Ours was awesome, She remembered everyones faces.

 

And.....we never had to pay for our ride to the Falls and Back. There was a mixup, so it was REALLY nice :D

[olemissreb]

My DH and I did this on our second cruise. Since there were only 4 of us on our tour that wanted to actually climb the falls, we were lumped in with a larger group. Yes they all hold hands to climb to the top and yes the guides stop and take pictures. Herein lies the problem - if there is a large group, the guide will take pictures of everyone at every stop. We had a limited amount of time to climb the falls and this seriously impacted our time. We had finally had enough and climbed the rest (about 2/3 of it) with the other couple from our tour. We simply followed up another group that wasn't stopping every 5 feet to take pictures.

 

Our tour guide was waiting for us at the top and started to reprimand us for being so late - we politely explained to her what happened and she quickly shut up. We ran back to the bus and apologized to everyone else back on the bus and off we went.

 

That was back in 1993 so things may have changed since then. We wore our tennis shoes to walk up the falls - had a change of shoes on the bus.

 

Have fun! It's an experience you won't soon forget!

[dleafy]

Hi, we did Dunn's River Falls in January, but not through the ship.

 

Got off and jumped in a minibus and paid $10 each for the round trip.

 

got dropped off at the door and went in and hired the water shoes for $7 each.

 

when we went down to the falls there were large groups of people going up the far side of the falls holding hands. this seemed very boring and unappealing to us, so we got a guide, (they have 'GUIDE' written on the backs of their tee shirts). who said he would show us a way to go up the near side.

 

He held my tee shirt and took pics at what seemed like every 10 feet, using my camera.

 

He stood at the side and told us where to hold on and such.

 

When we reached the top, we got our stuff back and checked out the photo's which he had taken. They were fantastic.

 

The guide was sitting on the fence and never once asked for any money. However when we said goodbye I gave him $20 and he was over the moon.

 

as we approached the shopping village on the way out, there was a guy standing there telling everyone, 'this is the way out', but we ignored him and just walked to the way in and exited there.

 

As we stood waiting for the minibus to return we saw people carrying all kinds of tat that they had bought in the village.

 

It's a great half day out, well worth a visit!

 

Cheers

 

davy!!!

[dirtgirl]

We loved this excursion! We went with Ione McBeam, and also did river tubing. It was the favourite port of our cruise.

 

We did go out the entrance instead of the exit. All these women started screaming at me that I was going the wrong way. Even my kids and DH started in on me, though I had forewarned them - they had forgotten!:eek: I just kept walking, then my family followed me, looking sheepish.:rolleyes: There was no problem leaving that way, and even Ione recommended we do it that way.;)

[Ships R Great]

We climbed the falls in 2000. We were the only ones with grey hair that made it all the way to the top. And, yes, I fell right off. The guide put me at the front of the line and I held his hand which really helped.

 

The trick at the market is to walk fast and don't make eye contact with anyone! Just shake your head, "No", to anyone who speaks to you.

 

It was great fun. Glad I did it then 'cause I sure couldn't do it now!

[F5Loar]

Best to buy those $2 WalMart water shoes and then leave them there in a trash can. Cheaper then the rent and you know who wore them beforehand. It is slippery and can be dangerous. After all it's all rock. Slip and fall you could bust your head open pretty easy even if you are holding hands. There are deep sink holes you could fall into.

Worth doing at least once in your life if you go there so be sure and get the T shirt that says "I climbed the Dunn River Falls Twice today- My first and my last time". The Market is not that bad, just keep walking through saying no thank you not today.