River Tubing & Emerald Pool Adventure - Review of Cruise Line Tour

At Dominica we took the ship's River Tubing & Emerald Pool Adventure excursion. I have some really mixed feelings about this trip as I had a really great time but I'm not sure I can recommend the river tubing in Dominica.

Personally, i think the trip was fantastic. I really enjoyed the river tubing and had a great time floating down the river, including some minor rapids, while enjoying the wonderful scenery of this rain forest island around us. The staff from the tour company, Fun Sun tours, seemed to do a great job throughout the day. Including the Emerald Pool as part of the trip was great as well as it gave us time to enjoy a tiny glimpse into the rain forest and natural beauty of Dominica.

The issue is that of our group of six (friends along with a larger tour group from the ship) four of us suffered some uncomfortable to painful bumps and bruises along the way and one of the four got thrown from the tube over a short rapids area and had some more severe cuts and bruises including one on his nose. While none of these injuries were serious, of a life threatening or permanent nature, the fact that four of the six of us had such issues makes it difficult to recommend this trip or consider repeating it in the future despite the fact that it was loads of fun and even the injured ones had an enjoyable time. I have no idea if this ratio held up among the rest of the larger tour group although I did see one woman who had a good collection of scrapes along her legs which needed some minor care (ointment and band-aids) at the end of the tubing trip

I have photos of our trip here: http://simon-pics.smugmug.com/Cruises/2012-Equninox-10-Day-Caribbean/Dominica/22757220_3mzSHL#!i=1825356331&k=znhgG4X

Thank you

Just what I needed to know

Thanks for the pics. Even with the scrapes and bruises, looks like lots of fun.

I fell out of my tube during our shore excursion. We felt that the river was a little rougher than we had expected.

Sounds really nice. For how long did the actual tubing take?

Sounds really nice. For how long did the actual tubing take?

I think from the time we first got into a tube in the water until we climbed out at the end it was around 40 minutes. This excludes time getting there, passing out equipment, etc - it is just time actually on the water.

Thanks for the review!

I think from the time we first got into a tube in the water until we climbed out at the end it was around 40 minutes. This excludes time getting there, passing out equipment, etc - it is just time actually on the water.

Do you think a 10 year old boy could handle this?