Montego Bay - Croydon Plantation or ???

[tessa_59]

We will be in Jamaica in early March and I have heard so much negative about Dunns River Falls that we are shying away a bit.

We have a group of 13 that includes a 4 year old. Has anyone visited Croydon Plantation? How much of the day does this take to visit; I noticed they serve lunch as well.

Any other ideas would be great - it is getting close and time to make a decision :confused:

We are docking at Montego Bay.... does this make a difference?

Thanks

T

[texaspappy]

We sailed on the Carnival Conquest to Montego Bay in Jan. 2006 and booked this excursion through the ship. It takes 5 to 6 hours to complete this trip because it takes approx. 1 and 1/2 hours travel time to and from the plantation. We took the excursion so that we could see some of the interior mountains and villages of Jamaica on the drive to the plantation. The roads to the plantation when we went were not very good (narrow and winding and full of pot holes). The only other excursion we have taken from Montego Bay is the one to Negril. Beautiful long white sand beach and the road to Negril is very good. This excursion also takes 5 to 6 hours and the drive is along the northwest coast of Jamaica. We enjoyed both of these excursions and Jamaica is a beautiful island!

[Gathina]

I can't imagine what you heard negative about Dunn's River...the place is beautiful and they are considering making it a national park. I love it there.

 

The plantation would be nice..but I think the 4 year old would enjoy the falls more...even if you don't climb the falls there is a lovely beach and this is a huge tourist place so there isn't any safety concerns. He would also enjoy splashing around in the bottom of the falls.

[tessa_59]

I can't imagine what you heard negative about Dunn's River...the place is beautiful and they are considering making it a national park. I love it there.

 

I have just heard that the merchants are more aggressive than anywhere else. I am on the fence about that as we have been to plenty of places where the merchants are doing all they can to sell - and you just walk on if you don't want anything.

 

At this point we are thinking the falls and maybe white river tubing. I am just not sure which guides go out of MoBay.

 

Thanks

 

T

[Gathina]

You need to get over that real fast because the entire country is like that and I got news for you..they hawk worse at the Jamaicans than they do the tourists. I've posted numeorus times on the need for people to understand that they see a behemoth ship with big Americans and they think "big money". Other places I've been in the Caribbean I think it's worse.

 

Go for the falls..it really is a must see.

 

 

I have just heard that the merchants are more aggressive than anywhere else. I am on the fence about that as we have been to plenty of places where the merchants are doing all they can to sell - and you just walk on if you don't want anything.

 

At this point we are thinking the falls and maybe white river tubing. I am just not sure which guides go out of MoBay.

 

Thanks

 

T

[HappyCruiser383]

I've been to Montego bay twice. The first time, our group of 6 simply got a taxi and did some local shopping. A couple of men tried to get us off onto a side street. Very scary but we were savy enough to avoid somethign ugly. Stay alert if you go off on your own . . . just like in ANY country. The second time I opted for the ship tour of the Appleton Rum Estate. It was fantastic! A two hour narated ride through many villages and towns. It was like Mr Toad's wild ride, doing 60mph, 4" behind the van in front of us, in the rain through twisty country roads. :eek: The estate tour was wonderful and included a lunch, tasty beverage samples and time to pick up liquid souveniers. The ride back wasn't as scary . . might have been the 12 samples of rum? :rolleyes:

 

I also got the recipie for Jamaican Peas (really red beans) & rice that I still make today.