No more Ocho Rios for me!!

[GJM]

Thank you - so I am thinking I will add on the transfer's. I am hoping this day goes well, we will have 3 boys with us, 1 (12) and 2 (14) - I just want to sit and relax!

[mitsugirly]

Thank you - so I am thinking I will add on the transfer's. I am hoping this day goes well, we will have 3 boys with us, 1 (12) and 2 (14) - I just want to sit and relax!

 

No problem. Have fun and let me know how you liked it. :)

[capncarp]

DW and I actually preferred the non-sterile, real-life Ocho Rios to the "sanitized for your protection" Island Village. Yes, the local street vendors are enthusiastic. Yes, they can be a bit off-putting at first. BUT--We found most of the local folks to be nice people who are trying to get by. Try the local food, visit the little supermarket to buy coffee, buy a cheap necklace for a dollar from "Grandmother" if she's still at the straw market in town. I still have mine. If you haven't been to Jamaica yet, take the chance and have your own experience, for good or ill. You may actually get to love it.

[mrsfuzzmo]

DW and I actually preferred the non-sterile, real-life Ocho Rios to the "sanitized for your protection" Island Village. Yes, the local street vendors are enthusiastic. Yes, they can be a bit off-putting at first. BUT--We found most of the local folks to be nice people who are trying to get by. Try the local food, visit the little supermarket to buy coffee, buy a cheap necklace for a dollar from "Grandmother" if she's still at the straw market in town. I still have mine. If you haven't been to Jamaica yet, take the chance and have your own experience, for good or ill. You may actually get to love it.

 

Well said. I completely agree.

[lovevacadays]

I was there in 1997 and said no more for me. We did enjoy the tour we took through the ship but that was it. Once we were on our own and walked through the shops at the port and then over to one of the shopping malls, we decided that all the advertising about how friendly Jamaicans were was false advertising. One of my least favorite ports of all time and I wouldn't take a cruise there.

[nik23]

My husband and I took our 2 boys 8 and 10 to DRF last year and the ventors were horrible...they lured the kids in with little trinkets. The vendors came right up to my son and husband and started engaging in conversation and asking his name, before he knew it, he had carved his name in a wooden figure and handed it to him...asking my husband for $40. My husband refused and the man continued to berate him and telling him he has children to feed and he should understand....he handed him a $10 and walked away...he never let up, followed them the whole way back to the tour boat. Very overwhelming...Myself and my younger son never were confronted because we just walked directly passed and never made eye contact or conversation. (I read the message boards..my husband didnt !!). NO need to be rude to the locals, just walk away and all is well.

[djcass4199]

With so many people seeming to not care for Ocho Rios, I'm really surprised they haven't axed it as a port stop.

 

I was there in 2007 and hated every minute of it. Pushy vendors wanting to sell weed and crap souvenirs. A very uncomfortable day off the ship.

[mitsugirly]

With so many people seeming to not care for Ocho Rios, I'm really surprised they haven't axed it as a port stop.

 

I was there in 2007 and hated every minute of it. Pushy vendors wanting to sell weed and crap souvenirs. A very uncomfortable day off the ship.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath on them axing it. I've been waiting since...um...1989 for them to stop going there. :p

[djcass4199]

I wouldn't hold my breath on them axing it. I've been waiting since...um...1989 for them to stop going there. :p

 

LOL guess we have to keep waiting.

[2 cruzen]

Considering the fact "they" just invested in a huge cruise port in Falmouth - guessing they will be going there for quite some time. :rolleyes:

[05mak05]

We're so disappointed that the Mariner Christmas itinerary out of Galveston has only 3 ports this year and one of them is Ocho Rios. We are also booked on the Crown Princess and the Carnival Magic. I thought we had settled on the Crown for our family Caribbean Christmas, however, we rec'd an email from Princess that they have cancelled Costa Maya (our favorite port.) Bummer!

We are usually loyal Royals. For 2012, I think we'll try the Magic as Rose Hall Hilton out of Montego Bay looks like a better option. I can't believe that RCI would include Ocho Rios on an itinerary when they know there will be over 1000 kids onboard.

[Bluewake]

We were in Ocho Rios in 2010. The most aggressive vendors we encountered were in the flea market at the top of the hill on the way out of Dunns River Falls. We just started walking as fast as possible and left. When we got back to the pier, we spent some time in the Island Village shopping area which was fine...no problems at all. We then walked across the street to the "Taj Mahal" shopping plaza and although we were approached by vendors a few times, a polite "no" seemed to be sufficient. From what I've read on these boards about Jamaica, perhaps we were just lucky but we enjoyed it. It was no "worse" than Cozumel in terms of aggressive vendors.

[kdawg954]

I was approached in Jamaica 31 times to buy weed. I was only in the main area for about an hour and a half or so. They did back off each time when I told them I had upcomming job interviews and I couldn't risk it, so I respect them for that but DW laughs about it until this day because I'm sure they asked others as well but in our group they only asked me lol.

[kdawg954]

With so many people seeming to not care for Ocho Rios, I'm really surprised they haven't axed it as a port stop.

 

I was there in 2007 and hated every minute of it. Pushy vendors wanting to sell weed and crap souvenirs. A very uncomfortable day off the ship.

 

Even if you don't get off the ship, the view from the ship onto Ocho Rios is absolutely gorgeous . . . it is literally paradise just seeing that.

[cc1824]

I had a horrible experience there years ago as well and swore I would never return. However, our upcoming cruise will be going there (not my choice but the other 3 places I wanted to visit was on the itinerary). I'm really nervous about it because I will have 2 of my daughters with me.

 

We booked an AI resort and hopefully this will keep them away.

 

If the people there in Jamaica would only realize that their "people" skills on trying to sell things is the reason no one wants to buy things or visit their island, they would sell a lot more and have more people wanting to visit their beautiful island. :(

 

My upcoming trip will make or break whether we EVER go back again.

 

We have only flown to Montego Bay and stayed at Sandals royal-awesome all inclusive. I loved it. This will be our 1st cruise to jamaica and we plan on booking an excursion. I will always love jamaica because of our 1st trip to Sandals. sorry you had a bad time.

[mitsugirly]

We have only flown to Montego Bay and stayed at Sandals royal-awesome all inclusive. I loved it. This will be our 1st cruise to jamaica and we plan on booking an excursion. I will always love jamaica because of our 1st trip to Sandals. sorry you had a bad time.

 

No worries. Our ship was in port there 2 months ago and we booked an AI and didn't have too many problems. So if we ever go back, we'll do the same again.

[sweetcurves]

Oh man I love the idea of a resort for the day, BUT, my ship gets in at 7:30 am and departs at 2:30 pm, so it doesn't seem worth it. Blah I don't know what to do as 2 single young women. I'm pretty scared after reading all the threads about how pushy some of the locals can be.

[kiraryker]

We'll be heading to Ocho Rios this September for our next cruise. I've been to Montego Bay and hated it.. I swore I'd never go back, it was dirty, and the locals were very pushy.. we still talk about "Cheap Charlie" who tried to drag my father up stairs to "Smoke in his shop!" and the lady that chased down my 7 year old niece to make her pay for a picture she had taken of her.. I would be happy to stay on the ship, but alas DH wants to explore Jamaica since he's never been.. I need some ideas on what to do so that I don't hate this port like the last one..

 

Our ship stops at Montego Bay - we were thinking of doing the "hip strip" and then margaritaville - would you suggest not?

[cruise_csuf]

I'm surprise by the number of people here that hate this port. It's so nice. in 2006, we took a cruise on Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Sea (sometime in December) to this port and love it. We hire a private tour guide that took us around (Dunn River Falls and Tubing down a river, then Fern Gully). He basically protect us from all those annoying vendors that try to harass us, sell us craps. Definitely be back to that port next time.

[sweetcurves]

My sister and I were thinking about getting off the boat around 9, chilling at the beach near Margaritaville (Ocho Rios), lunching @ Margaritaville and doing a little shopping in that same area. Recommend? Anyone?