Ocho Rios Excursions ... Carnival or Private?

[cougarcb16]

Anyone go on a excursion in Ocho Rios before? Did you go Carnival or book privately? How did it turn out? Any recommendations? Did you go to Dunns Rivers Falls? How was that? I looked in the Jamaica Section but didnt find good information.

[Tracy1]

You can easily do Dunn's River Falls on your own. We did. It allows you to go at your own pace and it seems to me that it would be safer to climb up by yourself instead of in a line where if one person falls they could drag the person next to them down with them.

[hstrybuf]

We took a tour with Peat Taylor. $30 per person and included the entrance fee to Dunn's River Falls. He also took us to the Wassi Art Pottery Factory, through Fern Gully and dropped us off for lunch close to the ship. He is very friendly and knowledgeable. Do a search for his website. He has several options and will work with you to do the kind of tour you want. The Falls themselves are great fun. The water seems cold at first, but you quickly get used to it. If you're going to climb, wear a swimsuit and watershoes. I thought I was in pretty good shape and still only made it about 1/3 of the way up.

[miclane001]

We did the Falls, river tubing, Fern Gully, lunch and shopping with Phil Lafayette. Cost for everything was $50/person.

[finoky]

You can find out more about her at her website http://www.ocho-rios.com/about.php.

[01 Cobra]

We just e-mailed Ionie McBeam and they picked us up at the Port and took us to Dunn River Falls, the Fern tour and to the shopping mart. We were the only ones and it was like having a private escort all day. He (her husband took us) even took us to a nice resturant for lunch overlooking the ocean. It was $40 I think for both of us and we paid for the falls seperately. We also didn't go in the long line of people on the falls, we saw them climbing holding hands and we also saw a lot of small children and I would have been thinking about the children the whole time if I had gone with them so we asked for our own guide and just gave her a tip up front. She took us up the steep side of the falls and it was great!!! She also took lots of pictures of us with our camera.

Good Luck!

[Tamhugh]

I have to agree with the recommendation of Ionie! She was fabulous! After we emailed her, she wrote back and asked what we wanted to see. She customized a tour for us and only charged us $20 a person. My ds wanted a carved giraffe that he saw at a store and she took him to a man who had a little table along the road. His giraffe was bigger and cheaper. She recommended stores to us and took us to a little shopping center that was less crowded than the others. It was just a nice safe feeling to have someone who knew her way around the island. She was also full of information on the political and economic situation in Jamaica. Even my kids enjoyed talking to her about it and learning from her.

 

Tammy