Montego Bay - Doctor's Cove Beach?

[mikehn]

We are a family of three with a 7 year old. We would like to go to the beach in Montego Bay. What is your opinion of Doctor's Cove Beach? Is it safe? Most of the reviews of Doctor's Cove beach on Tripadvisor are pretty good. I've read good reviews of Sunset Beach and Hilton Rose Hall also, but would rather not pay the hefty cover charge to these places. We are 'no frills' cruisers. Just give me sun, water, and some adult beverages and I'm happy. Please share your opinions, thanks.

[World Gallery]

We were there in Nov. and have kids 10-17. We went from Falmouth to Dr. Cove Beach then walked right down the street to Margaritaville. There are also a few shops along the "Hip Strip", the little street you walk down. It was a very nice day. There is a very fast tube slide at Margaritaville that my kids loved but it is very fast, so be careful.

My kids love any beach. It was clean, had a water trampoline, and you could order off of the menu if you wanted anything to eat or drink. I think it was5$ to get in and umbrellas and chairs were another small fee. Nothing fancy like the beach clubs in Cozumel but a very nice day and not crowded the day we were there. You can always check cruisett.com and see how many ships are in port at MB before you leave. This may help determine how crowded that beach will be.

We used a private tour guy I booked before we left. I can't remember his name.

[irwins0001]

I went to Drs. Cove about 2 years ago with my boys who were 5 and 9 at the time. We had a very good time. The beach is very nice. It does get crowded but certainly there is room to lay out, etc. We felt very safe. The bar area is nice as well as the restaurant for lunch.

I am going back to MoBay soon. This time I do want to do something more "upscale", but there is nothing wrong with Drs Cove.

[crazy1here]

Doctors cave is awesome. Its right on the strip so you can do stuff when you leave the beach as well, plus as was said, marguritaville is 5 mins walk.

 

Go doctors cave, you'll enjoy it im sure.

[runner15km]

I was just at Doctor's on Feb 22, cab ride was $5 p/p ea way. Entrance fee was $5 p/p but all chairs were rented.:(

We walked along the beach side walk way and found a table, chairs and umbrella. We only ordered drinks and we stayed 3 hours with no issues. Chairs did free up as people left. The beach was quite full with 2 ships in port but the beach and water was beautiful.

[mikehn]

Thanks for your replies. $5 per person to enter Doc's beach sounds much better than $60 per person to go to Sunset beach. Sounds good to me. Thanks for the tips about Margaritaville. My son will love the waterslide and I will love the drinks. We will be a happy family.

[crazy1here]

Thanks for your replies. $5 per person to enter Doc's beach sounds much better than $60 per person to go to Sunset beach. Sounds good to me. Thanks for the tips about Margaritaville. My son will love the waterslide and I will love the drinks. We will be a happy family.

 

Across the road from marguritaville is a casino.......incase you wanna sneak off for 20 mins or so :P

[elizabeth89]

Dr caves beach is great.entry fee is now $6 and chair and umbella rentals are $5 per.floating mat is $6 also.Have a great time.Food and drink prices are reasonable.I had a great time last week.

[crazy1here]

Dr caves beach is great.entry fee is now $6 and chair and umbella rentals are $5 per.floating mat is $6 also.Have a great time.Food and drink prices are reasonable.I had a great time last week.

 

Glad you enjoyed :)

 

WTH at it being 6$ now.... god damn greedy bastards!

 

Hmmm, I wonder what local price is :-/

[ailinsh1]

We're a family of 4, with 2 teens. I'll say up front that we are not seasoned international travelers by any means; this is only our 2nd cruise, and the first with the kids. So, we're approaching the task of finding our way around with caution given the horror stories we have heard (and yes, knowing they're in the minority, but we want to be sure we don't end up in the minority). I don't want to be ignorant/naive, but I also don't want to be paranoid; just reasonably prepared and smart.

 

We'll be in Falmouth on VOS in early April, and are thinking that a trip to Margaritaville/Dr's Cave Beach sounds like fun. We dock in Falmouth at 8 AM and depart at 5 pm.. Most of the excursions I've seen that include Dr's Cave are only about 3 hours long. I'm thinking we don't want to be limited to just a couple of hours at the beach/club/"hip strip" if we're having a great time. I see people on here talking about just taking a taxi to Dr's Cave from Falmouth. So my questions are:

 

1) How easy/safe is just getting off the boat and finding a taxi at the port?

 

2) What do we look for to be sure the taxi we're getting is "legit" and safe and we won't end up with unexpected charges, in some back alley somewhere, or detoured to some shopping district where we don't want to go?

 

3) How do you arrange for transportation back to the port? Does the driver wait for you? Do you just grab a different taxi? And where would one do that?

 

Thanks for any guidance/advice. We can't wait!

 

Sondra