Ocho Rios What to do

[innlady1]

Stay on the ship. We heard several horror stories from the staff in the spa about people being robbed even on excursion buses. I would never get off the ship again in Jamaica. I was under the impression that HAL had stopped going there.

 

They did for a while, Carol, but they've recently resumed. We have many Jamaicans who come to Nantucket to work...some on H2B visas, some w/o papers. In our 18 years, we've had many work for us so I've heard lots of stories.

I would concur with most everyone else here: Stay on the ship.

[boards]

We will not take a cruise that includes Jamaica. We have enough of that island.

[ajcruiser]

Two more votes for "stay on the ship". Got off once. Never since.

[JJ33328]

Green Grotto was nice but other than being a limestone cavern theres not much to it. The people there were very nice and we felt comfortable there. Dunn River Falls, though beautiful was full of less than savory characters who will try to scam you out of whatever money you have.

Scam #1: A man walks up to you and says welcome to Jamaica I have a gift for you, whats your name? As soon as you tell him he whips out a small wooden statue and starts carving your name on it. He thrusts it into your hand and says where's my gift, give me $20. Best advice is to keep $5 in your pocket and give it to him. If you pull out your wallet it's gone.

Scam #2: Dunn River Falls DVD, if you walk up the falls with a guide, he will hound you all the way back to the bus to buy the DVD of your experience there.., trouble is it probably isn't even your group on the video if there's even a video at all on the disk he tries to sell you for $50.

Scam #3: A man will offer to take your picture then will either run away with or hold your camera for ransom until you tip him.

The week before we went there was a tourist robbed at knifepoint of his wallet. The cruise director was warning people to be on guard and stay with your group.

The island is pretty but the people are obnoxious. Stay on the boat. If you must get off go to a resort or go on a bus tour that doesn't stop.

[CentennialColoradoCruiser]

I thought Dunn River falls was amazing and would highly reccomend it. Take it as a tour with Holland America and stay with your group . Your guide will make sure you are safe the entire tour .You will be missing out on an awesome adventure if you Just stay on the ship ....

 

......Just my Opinion....

[GeriatricNurse]

I thought Dunn River falls was amazing and would highly reccomend it. Take it as a tour with Holland America and stay with your group . Your guide will make sure you are safe the entire tour .You will be missing out on an awesome adventure if you Just stay on the ship ....

 

......Just my Opinion....

 

Did you read about the three different "scams" at Dunns River Falls, as described in Post #29? ;)

[wilsonqbc]

I was hit by Scam # 1,

Guy carves your name under 2 figurines ( At Dunns river falls, at the top near the parking)

that will be 40.00, What, You said it was a gift,

I ended up giving him 10.00, but was not threatened at all, just a scam. But other than that we did not have any problems there, and walked around the city, but would def not do it at night !!

We also went to a Beautiful garden, lots of massive plants and trees, and into the Rain Forest.

with a tour guide though, which felt very safe to us, but yes you never know until it happens I guess.

[wilsonqbc]

Merry Xmas ....

[IndyDenise]

We spent the day at Margaritaville ( and on the beach right there ) . I have to say that even the walk , which was short, was scary! The locals stand right by the water trying to get you to buy their wares.

 

I told two local women ( Jennifer and ?? ) that I would buy from them when I was leaving...and not one minute before . They actually stopped anyone else from bothering me! Then before I left we did buy some necklaces..not with money but with cigarettes! Our cigarettes can be worth as much as $5.00 for ONE there!! :confused: Jennifer and Mary " do not smoke the island weed" . I actually spent some time talking to Jennifer, it was interesting to learn about her culture.

 

Walking back to the port I spied Jennifer by some building, away from her beach selling point, and asked her what she was doing. She said she was watching to make sure our group made it back to the ship okay. ...when I realized that even the locals know how bad it ( and obviously some try to help tourists and keep us safe ) ..well that is time to never go back.

 

 

Never ever ever ever again.

[Harris Jeffer]

STAY ON THE DAM SHIP OR strinks and I am being generous!

[FrankNJ]

If you read the Port section on cruise critic , Ocho Rios sounds like Disneyland.

The only caution I read was against walking at night .

But , if we ever happen to end up there , we will stay on the ship based on the stories here and many more .

[iancal]

We did Dunns River with a private tour. It was fine but we had a very good tour leader who watched over us like a mother hen. He dropped us off in town and we walked back to the ship....with several people offering to sell us various controlled substances. It was our first visit. We avoid Jamaica...it is not even on our list when we are considering AI's, let alone port stops.

 

Like several other areas of the Caribbean, much of the crime goes unreported-locally and internationally.

[IRL_Joanie]

After reading all the posts about Ocho Rios and the warnings....And hubby just booking our next Caribbean cruise, which does have this port on it... and reading that HAL had taken this off their ports of call until 2012 (I think that is what was said), I have a question....

 

Do you think that IF and I repeat IF HAL sees problems such as whatever it was that caused them to not go there previously... do you think I might be wise and wait to book excursions because we may get switched to a different Island altogether, like they did for some of the Mexican Ports of Call last year??

 

Do you think HAL will rethink Ocho Rios?

 

I am not concelling this cruise whatever happens. We will just stay on the ship or do HAL Excursions.... but am curious as to thoughts of a different Port/Island being substituted.

 

Joanie