Falmouth

Has anyone ever gone to Ocho Rios (Dunns River Falls) from Falmouth? Is it an all day excursion? Did you feel it was worth the time and money?

We did Dunns river along with tubing down one of the rivers as part of a tour the last time we were in Jamaica. Plan on going early in the day before thrpe crowds.

Check out Courtney Taylor Tours for private excursions.

We went on a tour to Dunns River Falls from Falmouth with "Jamaica Phil" Lafayette. It was a fairly long drive but not really an all-day thing (we had plenty of time at the Falls, and then stopped for lunch on the way back).

It IS a long drive from Falmouth.

Everyone will have their own experience but mine was negative. We did a ship excursion (never again) but joined this HUGE chain of people going up the falls. The person in front was pulling me forward. The person behind me was pulling me downward. We all had a lot of shin bruises. When I got up to the top I thought..... this is IT??? :eek:

I don't know how much it costs but I'd pay double that NOT to have to go.

Has anyone ever gone to Ocho Rios (Dunns River Falls) from Falmouth? Is it an all day excursion? Did you feel it was worth the time and money?

Our particular excursion to Ocho Rios was pretty pitiful. First, the drive is not very scenic, bushes blocking the ocean view. They took us to a guarded shopping area with Diamonds International type shops, the same as you have in Falmouth! The only positive aspect was lunch on the beach, guarded by police, with "no locals allowed" signs. 7 hours for Jewelry Stores and an hour at the beach, not what I had in mind.

The current description sounds like they've beefed it up a bit, but I would honestly do tubing or something instead.

Our particular excursion to Ocho Rios was pretty pitiful. First, the drive is not very scenic, bushes blocking the ocean view. They took us to a guarded shopping area with Diamonds International type shops, the same as you have in Falmouth! The only positive aspect was lunch on the beach, guarded by police, with "no locals allowed" signs. 7 hours for Jewelry Stores and an hour at the beach, not what I had in mind.

The current description sounds like they've beefed it up a bit, but I would honestly do tubing or something instead.

Has anyone ever gone to Ocho Rios (Dunns River Falls) from Falmouth? Is it an all day excursion? Did you feel it was worth the time and money?

I've been on the fence about this excursion myself. It does seem to get a lot of positive reviews, but as bighairtexan said I think I would also be saying "this is it" when I got to the top. I've looked at youtube videos and I just can't see what the excitement is about. I must be missing something.

The last time were in Jamaica we did a zip line excursion which was probably the best we've ever done. The rainforest is a cool place with trees as big around as cars and tons of bamboo which isn't something you get see here in the states.

Has anyone ever gone to Ocho Rios (Dunns River Falls) from Falmouth? Is it an all day excursion? Did you feel it was worth the time and money?

I dont know its kind of expensive we just did the falls back in 2008 and 2012, I want to say in 2012 it was 70$. The bus ride was long. the falls were amazing to see. I just dont like the begging for money the whole time your walking up the falls they remind you about tipping then when you leave there is a kaos area of vendors trying to sell you anything and everything and i mean Everything even illegal stuff. I just keep walking and dont tell anyone there your name, Ive heard some horror stories on here in the past.

But buttom line i think its worth it to do it at least once in your life just to say you did it. Just keep some of that above info in mind and take it with a grain of salt.

We went there out of Falmouth. The ride is probably around 45 minutes to an hour, which to me isnt that bad and I live in RI where anything over 20 minutes you need to pack an overnight bag. We did the ship's excursion that had the Green Grotto Caves and Dunns River Falls. I thought that the caves were very interesting and fun to walk through. The falls were pretty cool as well, but I am not sure if I would do it again unless with my kids. They are pretty easy to walk up. The guides are nce enough to take pictures with your camera and they have a lot of fun with you.

I would reccomend ding it to anyone at least once. As for the pulling in both directions, I honetly just let go of the person in front of me and helped my wife up. They weren't overly strict on the hand holding when we went. We made it out without any bruises, and got a couple of wooden statue heads for $20. Just remember you can easily ignore the vendors if you dont want anything, but if you do want something be sure to haggle.

Not sure why climbing the falls is such a big thing! I like looking at waterfalls...but scrambling up wet rocks...I just don't get it!

We did the Dunns River Falls Express and it wasn't bad. Took about 45 minutes to get there. I climbed the falls but the wife didn't. She walked up the stairs along the side of the falls and was able to take pictures and videos of me at various locations while I was going up. That came in handy as I didn't need to purchase the video that they try to sell you at the end of the climb. I thought it was fun as a one time thing but I would not do it again because it would now be a "Been There Done That" type of thing. The holding hands wasn't bad and really don't take from the fun of climbing the falls. As someone else said, they don't enforce holding hands once you start up the falls. There was a family behind me on the climb and they had a son who was about 6 or 7 years old and I assisted him up most of the falls becuase after I helped him out a couple of times he clung to me all the up. I didn't mind though and he was a good kid!

When you walk past the vendor area back to the parking lot to bus, you just keep it moving if you don't want to buy anything from them...no problem!

On the way back to the port we made a quick stop for lunch at a small road side place that had pretty good food and there was a bar also. From the time we left the port, did the falls and the quick lunch stop we were back in about 3 1/2 hours so we still had plenty of time to walk around the port area when we returned. This was the Dunns River Falls Express through the ship! :cool:

This is one of the ports our cruise is stopping at. I've never been there. Is there anything to do in Falmouth? Or do we need to travel or book an excursion?

I'm not opposed to just walking around a port, but, if there is nothing there and nothing to do, we'll need to plan for that.

We went there 4 weeks ago and went on a nice trip with Joe cools taxis there were many places I would not go without a local

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This is one of the ports our cruise is stopping at. I've never been there. Is there anything to do in Falmouth? Or do we need to travel or book an excursion?

 

I'm not opposed to just walking around a port, but, if there is nothing there and nothing to do, we'll need to plan for that.

Ive never been there either but if I get off the ship at all, it will be to go to Margaritaville for a while. From my understanding, its right near where the ship docks.

I have no interest at all in going "outside the gates". Being accosted by pushy vendors was a horrible experience in Nassau. I even had some lady come up to me and put a bead necklace around my neck and then DEMAND payment from me.

I have heard that Jamaica is even much worse. No thanks. I will use this stop as a way to enjoy a mostly empty ship.

As already said drive is long and Jamaica roads can be very interesting and not in a good way ( but they have improved over last few years). I have done Dunns river about a dozen times and fell on my last trip, but it can be fun. I would wear some good aqua shoes if attempting.

We sail at the end of April. I did Dunns River Falls a number of years ago, but not really interested in doing it again and my husband has no desire to ever go. We are booking a private tour to go to the Irie Blue Hole. You might look into that. Nearly everything I have seen about it is positive. Lots of reviews and pictures on trip advisor and there are some great videos out there. Most of the tour companies that go to Falmouth go there and the entrance fee is only $10! Some tours will include that and some won't.

So, it seems I'm going against the grain of everyone else's opinion, but my husband I did the ship excurson that was dolphin swim & dunns river falls combined. We enjoyed it thoroughly. We had a great shuttle driver that gave us lots of educational info on the way there and back. Personally, I like seeing "the real" Jamaica too....not just the tourist version.

In our travels I got to see real homes and real churches and a real got standing on top of a fence to reach fruit on a tree! I loved it all.

We were at our destination before we knew it. The falls are beautiful and you feel a sense of accomplishment when you reach the top. The views are amazing, but it is work and you do have a chance of slipping and falling, so if you are not physically fit you may want to think it over before taking it on. I had to laugh at one point because for some reason, I thought I had reached the top and my husband pointed out I was only about half way there! lol

I would not hesitate to book the excursion and I agree with pp, you should at least do it once!

We went there out of Falmouth. The ride is probably around 45 minutes to an hour, which to me isnt that bad and I live in RI where anything over 20 minutes you need to pack an overnight bag. We did the ship's excursion that had the Green Grotto Caves and Dunns River Falls. I thought that the caves were very interesting and fun to walk through. The falls were pretty cool as well, but I am not sure if I would do it again unless with my kids. They are pretty easy to walk up. The guides are nce enough to take pictures with your camera and they have a lot of fun with you.

 

I would reccomend ding it to anyone at least once. As for the pulling in both directions, I honetly just let go of the person in front of me and helped my wife up. They weren't overly strict on the hand holding when we went. We made it out without any bruises, and got a couple of wooden statue heads for $20. Just remember you can easily ignore the vendors if you dont want anything, but if you do want something be sure to haggle.

My impression of the hand-holding was that this was just a way for the "guide" to keep track of who owes him a tip at the top of the falls. I hate the whole tipping dynamic in Jamaica. I don't mind tipping and even consider myself generous when tipping, but you could hand someone a $1000 tip in Jamaica and they'd still complain you are not giving them enough.

We did Dunn River Falls when the ship docked in Ochos Rios. Private excursion through Ionie McBeam. We loved it and our son still says it was one of the best excursions ever. We did not have the long ride from Falmouth so I do not know about that. We are back in Falmouth this June and are still deciding what to do.

We did Royals river tubing, lunch, and Dunns River falls. It was an all day excursion. I was happy with the trip. The calypso tubing was great, but the guides are what makes it. If the guide was boring, the trip would be poor. I found humor in the fact that the trip ends right next to a nudist resort. We had lunch at some beach resort. It was fantastic. Buffet style with traditional Jamiacan dishes. Then went to the falls. This was, in my opinion, the worst part of the trip. We did it to see if it was something that our youngest child could do. Keep in mind it is a man made structure, not a natural waterfall. And as others have said, it is a human chain pulling and yanking their way up the falls. We had one lady that was transported back to the ship by ambulance after falling and injuring her leg. When you are done they want you to tip and buy a $40 video of your trip. Walking the sales "gauntlet' back to the bus reminded me of Labadee.

I'm writing up my trip report from last week on the Oasis so I've snipped out the Dunn's River Falls part for you.

We docked just before our scheduled 10:30 and were off the boat right away, not having to wait until 10:45, which was good because that’s the time we were supposed to be meeting the tour for Dunn’s River Falls / Dolphin Cove. Chaos for the organized tours! We stood in a line for 45 minutes to get on a bus. They finally got the 8 of us on a 10 person bus with one other couple. Then it was a 15 minute wait as they checked every bus leaving the port. ARGH! The hour drive to Dunn’s River was fine, with our bus driver going like a maniac to try to make up lost time and passing buses right, left and centre. We dropped off the other couple at Dolphin Cove around 1:00. I was already concerned because that’s where our lunch was being served and now we wouldn’t be getting lunch until after our one hour hike of the falls. Ha! Silly optimistic tourist! Over two hours at the falls. 20 minutes standing outside the compound to get wrist bands (We got the Dolphin Cove ones at the port. Why couldn’t we get the Dunn’s River ones at the port as well and skip the line?) Then a 45 minute wait for a falls guide, standing in the hot sun. Are you freaking serious? Some groups got to go ahead of us which made the line even longer. Our bus guide tried to do the same thing but we were forced back. I assume we’re all from cruise ships. What makes those tours so special? Thousands of people inching up the falls at a snail’s pace, hand in hand took over an hour. Accessing the falls from the beach is gorgeous, but the first part of the falls was the steepest and scariest. The 8 yr old got scared and cold very quickly. Then she stayed scared, even when the falls got easier. But she was a trooper and although she had a shivery sad face for most of the falls, she didn’t complain as she knew there was a string of 20 of us going up those falls with her and she couldn’t back out. There’s a cheater way into the falls that avoids the steepest part. I saw a group of older and less mobile people taking that route. Also noticed that there were different routes of different levels of difficulty. Our guide seemed to take us on the hardest route, although we did end up passing other groups that way. The annoying thing is, if I`m going up a gorgeous waterfall, I shouldn’t have a mindset of hurry, hurry, let’s get this done faster. I should be enjoying the views, but instead I found myself checking the time. The river is also a lot deeper than I remember from 25 years ago. I was right in past my waist on several occasions and was concerned for the ziplocked stuff in my sling purse that I never expected would end up fully submerged.

Eating lunch at Dolphin Cove by 3:30 when we were supposed leave there at 4:00 to be back at the ship by 5:00. We stayed an extra hour but everything was rushed, we missed most the park, and showed up 20 minutes late for early dining with soaking wet hair or just not showered depending on the person. I considered going to guest services and asking for a partial refund since we missed so much of Dolphin Cove but that would have involved more standing in line and it probably would have triggered PTSD.