Marvellous Marva Shaw's Jamaican Tour!

:) My hubby and I arrived in Jamaica on February 2 on the Costa Magica. I had made prior arraingements with Marva Shaw from positive posts I had read from this forum. Marva happily greeted us at the pier we were a bit early but the helpful port assistants quickly called Marva and she arrived in her air conditioned mini van shortly after. Marva is very proud and knowledgeable about her Island, she had many points of interest to show and stories to tell. The tour consisted of just my hubby and I and that was so nice, especially when we were seeing groups from the ships that have 100 or more people in them....reminded me of a cattle drive!

At any rate our day was perfect with Marva, we first made a stop at the Botanical Gardens, simply a beautiful place and I recommend you get there early as it starts to fill up with bus loads of people. After that we drove to the East side of the Island and thru Fern Gully that was quite interesting the locals sell there wares all over on the sides of the roads in small huts...mostly wooden sclupture and there are some interesting sites of other statues of Jamaican men with shall I say "very large" genitals! LOL The artists have quite an imiganiation and I comented on this and Marva told us that most Jamican men have up to 7 lady friends!!

Moving on we toured Dunn River Falls and by the time we got there there were many bus loads of tourists which in my opinion took away from the falls, if you are trying to get a nature picture of the falls go early otherwise you will end up with pictures of hundreds of people climbing the falls instead. My hubby and I did not chose to climb the falls as their was a train of people hand in hand from the top of the 600 ft. fall to the bottom with lines of people waiting to climb from below...so we simply walked down to the beach and walked the beach to try and get away from all the people. Dunn River Falls was a bit of a disappointment for the both of us but I suppose it depends on what you are looking to do their, if you think you want to go there for the "nature thing" think again as it simply is an over priced tourist trap filled with people....nature is in second place in my opinion.

We then were taken by Marva to a local Jerk restraunt and sampled some of the Jerk chicken and Jerk Pork for lunch washed down with the local favorite beer Red Stripe. Yummy!

After lunch we drove thru some higher end homes on the beach that the "richer" folks live in...that was fun to see how they live, we also saw Mick Jagger's Mansion (from afar ofcourse).

We did some other small sight seeing of various other points of interest but I have listed all the major stops for you.

We really enjoyed our tour with Marvellous Marva Shaw and would highly recommend her. We were able to leave our belongings in her van and we felt very comfortable with her abilities every step of the way.

Now for a break down of what things will cost on the Island in Ocho Rios which by the way seemed fairly safe to us...Marva says the real troubles and crime are more over in Kingston than Ocho Rios, but please never let your guard down.

Ok here is what we spent approximately for the day less what purchases we made on our journey of souvinors I hope this helps you.

MARVA SHAW TOUR PRICE: $80.00 & TIP (for my hubby and me)

DUNN RIVER FALLS: $15.00 PER PERSON

BOTANICAL GARDENS : $5.00 PER PERSON & TIP FOR GUIDE

LUNCH AT THE LOCAL JERK JOINT FOR TWO: $30.00 (we had three total beers if you drink more beer is approximately $3 per bottle)

Marva....if you are reading this Thank You my dear for a wonderful time, if Ken and I ever get back to your area we will definately look you up!!!:)

;) It sure is good,

to know that all the negative things that are being said about Jamaica there's always people out there who've enjoyed themselve's in jamaica and can tell the world about it.

thank you all once again for making it Jamaica.

One Love.:cool:

Glad you had such a great time Cruisemaiden!:) Only 20 more days til my fiancee and I leave on our cruise...counting down the days as you can see.:D We have booked with Marva Shaw as well...thanks to some positive posts on this board. Thanks!!

Kathy & Thom

Glad you had such a great time Cruisemaiden!:) Only 20 more days til my fiancee and I leave on our cruise...counting down the days as you can see.:D We have booked with Marva Shaw as well...thanks to some positive posts on this board. Thanks!!

Kathy & Thom

Excellent Kathy! I am ready to go again and envious of you both! I wish I could be on a ship every month LOL! You will like Marva, she was good to us. One note I am not sure I mentioned in my original post. Marva will stop at various people that sell "handi-crafts" along side of the roads....there are tons of folks whom do this and this is how the local Jamican folks make their money....if you do not wish to make these stops than just tell her and she will gladly honor your request. We did stop at two of these little places one was with a guy whom was a "fire breather" if I ever get my pictures on my CD compiled I will have to post a few, but this was kinda cool and then I walked accross the street and bought a few little goodies from another lady whom makes change purses and stuff like that...these places where when we were leaving from the Botinacial Garden if you are going there. Marva is pretty happy to do whatever you are comfortable with so....HAVE FUN!

By the way...what ship will you be on? I am trying to figure out our next trip and the ship that we will be on...I am thinking of giving Princess a try as we heard alot of good things about them on our cruise.

-Mary

Hi there Mary. Thanks for the great info. I have already mentioned to Marva that I do want to do a bit of shopping, etc.and that I'd rather give my money to the "smaller" shops/stands that do not usually get the masses of tourists. If you can share any of your photos from Ochi I'd appreciate your sharing:)

By the way...what ship will you be on? I am trying to figure out our next trip and the ship that we will be on...I am thinking of giving Princess a try as we heard alot of good things about them on our cruise.

Thom and I are sailing on the Costa Magica. We've sailed on Celebrity and NCL before. I have also heard nice comments about Princess. We'll have to let each other know how they were.

Kathy

Hi there Mary. Thanks for the great info. I have already mentioned to Marva that I do want to do a bit of shopping, etc.and that I'd rather give my money to the "smaller" shops/stands that do not usually get the masses of tourists. If you can share any of your photos from Ochi I'd appreciate your sharing:)

 

 

Thom and I are sailing on the Costa Magica. We've sailed on Celebrity and NCL before. I have also heard nice comments about Princess. We'll have to let each other know how they were.

 

Kathy

We were on the Magica too! I wrote a rather legnthy review on the Costa board you may want to read up on we were in room 2409 Tintirito Deck (Deck 2). You will have a good time, it is a beautiful ship, plenty of deck chairs and they have rolled up towels in them everyday for you. We loved our room even if it was an inside cabin it was set up really nice and the bathrooms were really nice and big with alot of counter space. Make sure to take part in the "horse races" on the lido deck and on Saturday night you dress up in Toga's and it is really quite funny. We had fun, there was not as much to do I don't think for entertainment as on past cruises but we did not care we were just happy to be on the ship walking the deck in the evenings and we were not too concerned about the "shows" as we have seen many others like it on previous cruises.

Well, tell Marva the Beerman's from Michigan say HI..she will remember us I am sure! Oh by the way...on Marva's tour we were the only couple in her little van...it was really nice!

Have fun!

Mary

We have booked a private tour person. Lunch will be involved. Should we plan on buying lunch for our tour guide? What have others done?