Ocho Rios - Best things to do close to ship

[hartskys]

We have been to Jamaica 4 times now and have always taken tours. What is close/safe to ship in Ocho Rios that we could do for a couple of hours? We really don't want to spend a lot of money on a tour so looking at just getting off the ship for a little while. Any suggestions? :confused:

[joeyancho]

Wear body armor. But seriously how about going out for a typical Jamaican meal??? Or going to Juici Patties for some delicious meat patties. I just made myself hungry.

[mrsfuzzmo]

For REALLY near the ship, walk to island village shopping center. This is where margaritavill is. They have a beach and some water toys, etc. It's a nice place to hang out for a couple hours and have some fun.

 

Mystic mountain is very close by. Hop in a cab and take the chairlift to the top where you can get a beautiful view, snack, swim, ride the "bobsled" or zip-line.

[hartskys]

Are the water toys free or do they charge for them at margaritaville?

[Keith1010]

Honestly, why not just stay on the ship.

 

Keith

[OCruisers]

For REALLY near the ship, walk to island village shopping center. This is where margaritaville is. .

 

Agree! Island Village Shopping Center is VERY close and extremely safe with no pesky vendors. :)

Their Margaritaville also has an inside pool and a DJ who keeps things lively. Great place to "people watch" and have some drinks of your choice.

 

~~~~~

[mrsfuzzmo]

Are the water toys free or do they charge for them at margaritaville?

 

Last time I was there, they where free, but once I was there they didn't have any out. It's a crap shoot. I wouldn't want you to count on them and they aren't there.

 

It is a fun place to hang out and people watch, get some food, swim, get some sun and be entertained.

[Dagaleaa]

We booked a day pass at the Dunn's River Jewel Beach Resort. It was all inclusive--included all you could drink & eat and access to their private beach and pools. We were there about 5 1/2 hours...had our own area on the beach under a tiki hut...towels.. nice lounge chairs...a cabana person who brought us food & drinks non-stop...a beautiful ocean to swim in, and we also took a hobie cat sailboat from the beach on a 50 min tour where we saw The Prime Minister's Beach House, beautiful waterfalls emptying onto the beach, and the area they shot " Dr. No" the James Bond movie. The Dunn's River Jewel was adults only, but two other nice resorts cater to families, and offer day passes too. We booked on our own, and a bus took us to the resort and back to the cruise ship. It felt very safe, and we had a nice relaxing day.

[bunnyette]

We booked a day pass at the Dunn's River Jewel Beach Resort. It was all inclusive--included all you could drink & eat and access to their private beach and pools. We were there about 5 1/2 hours...had our own area on the beach under a tiki hut...towels.. nice lounge chairs...a cabana person who brought us food & drinks non-stop...a beautiful ocean to swim in, and we also took a hobie cat sailboat from the beach on a 50 min tour where we saw The Prime Minister's Beach House, beautiful waterfalls emptying onto the beach, and the area they shot " Dr. No" the James Bond movie. The Dunn's River Jewel was adults only, but two other nice resorts cater to families, and offer day passes too. We booked on our own, and a bus took us to the resort and back to the cruise ship. It felt very safe, and we had a nice relaxing day.

 

What was the process for booking? Did you contact the resort directly or another way. This sounds something we would be interested in.

[Katy Henry]

you can checkout this article for the best things to do in ocho rios - http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-5-Places-to-Visit-in-Ocho-Rios-Jamaica&id=7338607

[Dagaleaa]

What was the process for booking? Did you contact the resort directly or another way. This sounds something we would be interested in.

 

You can contact the resorts directly and buy your day pass....they require $20.00 per pass as a deposit and pay the rest at the front desk when you arrive. If you contact directly you are responsible for your own transportation to the hotels and back to the ports by taxi. The hotel we booked at was The Jewel and it was next to the Dunn's River Falls...about a 13 min ride.

 

This was our very first cruise and we were unfamiliar with Jamaica so we choose to book our resort day pass through Jamaica For a Day...which included the day pass and arranged transportation. We had no problems...one bus was waiting for us at the port, and then we boarded another bus once we got away from the port that took us to the hotel. The buses were nice...the drivers were great and it went without a hitch.

At the hotel we kept up with the time, and we had a set time to meet the bus outside at the end of the day.

 

You can go to http://www.jamaicaforaday.com/ and choose which port you are at, and take a look at all the resorts offered. They each differ a little...some are adult only, and others are for families. I enjoyed the Dunn's River Jewel....all adult...the drinks and food was good! We had Jamaican Jerk on the beach and tried several different drinks. Before we left we had a pizza at one of the restaurants on property, and it was good too. The sailboats and guide was also included in the day pass price. There were people in the pools playing different fun games or relaxing...lots of activities were going on...

 

I hope you have a great trip whatever you decide!!! I wish I was going again!!:p

[mafig]

 

Mystic mountain is very close by. Hop in a cab and take the chairlift to the top where you can get a beautiful view, snack, swim, ride the "bobsled" or zip-line.

 

 

This is one of the very few times when a tour through the cruiseline is cheaper than doing it yourself. Cabs in Jamaica can be unreliable.

[Ms_Flo]

This is one of the very few times when a tour through the cruiseline is cheaper than doing it yourself. Cabs in Jamaica can be unreliable.

 

That isn't always the case. Our DIY trip to MM & DRF was cheaper than the cruise ship options. PLUS for the lower price we got all 3 activities @ MM (only 2 available through the ship). AND we were able to spend more time at each place than would have been possible with an excursion group. Because of that, we were able to climb DRF twice!

 

Cab reliability should be much higher if you make sure to get a Jamaica Tourist Board government-licensed taxi. Avoid any cab that doesn't have a red license plate!

[joeyancho]

Honestly, why not just stay on the ship.

 

Keith

 

Because experiencing other cultures is the best part of traveling. It broadens the mind. Would you stay in you room in Rome just because the place is crawling with pickpockets? Would you stay in your room in Paris just because everyone smells?

[bearette]

That isn't always the case. Our DIY trip to MM & DRF was cheaper than the cruise ship options. PLUS for the lower price we got all 3 activities @ MM (only 2 available through the ship). AND we were able to spend more time at each place than would have been possible with an excursion group. Because of that, we were able to climb DRF twice!

 

Cab reliability should be much higher if you make sure to get a Jamaica Tourist Board government-licensed taxi. Avoid any cab that doesn't have a red license plate!

 

Who did you use? We were looking at doing the same thing but the quote I got from Courtney Taylor was more then what the ship was. I have twins infants so I can't use the ships tour as their minimum age is 6 years old.

[Ms_Flo]

That isn't always the case. Our DIY trip to MM & DRF was cheaper than the cruise ship options.

Who did you use? We were looking at doing the same thing but the quote I got from Courtney Taylor was more then what the ship was. I have twins infants so I can't use the ships tour as their minimum age is 6 years old.

We didn't use anyone. DIY = Do It Yourself :D If you just get a cab at the pier, you'll be able to go & stay as long as you want. Just be sure to look for the red license plates.

 

Are you planning to do both places? If you're planning to go to MM, I would take a couple of secure sling carriers to use for the babies while riding the sky lift. I would have freaked out if I'd had to hold an infant while riding it. :eek: ...NOT saying that the sky lift is unsafe. I just would have been scared holding an infant for that long while that high in the air. (While we were going up on the sky lift, DH & I even talked about being glad that we didn't have small children with us. It's really high!) I think taking kids on the sky lift is doable (& probably even enjoyable ;)) so long as you're prepared. If you don't know what you're getting into, it could be very scary.

[Thebosn1]

My wife and I bargained with one of the cab drivers and for about $40 he took us up to Coyaba River Gardens. It's really pretty up there and gives great views looking back down to the town and the ship. There is a little diner up there we staopped and had a cold beer and just enjoyed the view.

[hartskys]

Does anyone have a picture of the "official" cabs to use in Ocho rios?

[ElementN]

We had a stop in Ocho Rios on a Celebrity cruise in 2009 and we had an excellent time. Right where the ship was docked you could walk to the left and come to a sandy walk way towards a beach. There was a white stand with a girl sitting in it at the beginning of the walk way, we weren't sure if she was charging for entry or what, but we just smiled and walked by and she didnt say anything. We got to a long beach with a chain link fence topped with barbed wire blocking off the city of Ocho Rios, it was basically ocean, beach, and fence. We found a nice private spot and posted up, we had a clear view of the ship from where we were. There were a few locals offering to get you anything you needed but were not pushy and actually very nice, we took advantage of the two Red Stripes for $5 which I highly recommend. There was a guy with a tent that was playing reggae music and selling CD's by local musicians. We hung out the whole day and drank Red Stripes wondering why there was so much bad stuff out there about Ocho Rios. Has anyone else been to this beach? If you end up checking it out let me know if its still there and if our man is still selling Red Stripes. YYYyyeeeaaaa MMMooooonnnnnnnn!! :)

[ThisFemmeKat]

You can contact the resorts directly and buy your day pass....they require $20.00 per pass as a deposit and pay the rest at the front desk when you arrive. If you contact directly you are responsible for your own transportation to the hotels and back to the ports by taxi. The hotel we booked at was The Jewel and it was next to the Dunn's River Falls...about a 13 min ride.

 

This was our very first cruise and we were unfamiliar with Jamaica so we choose to book our resort day pass through Jamaica For a Day...which included the day pass and arranged transportation. We had no problems...one bus was waiting for us at the port, and then we boarded another bus once we got away from the port that took us to the hotel. The buses were nice...the drivers were great and it went without a hitch.

At the hotel we kept up with the time, and we had a set time to meet the bus outside at the end of the day.

 

You can go to http://www.jamaicaforaday.com/ and choose which port you are at, and take a look at all the resorts offered. They each differ a little...some are adult only, and others are for families. I enjoyed the Dunn's River Jewel....all adult...the drinks and food was good! We had Jamaican Jerk on the beach and tried several different drinks. Before we left we had a pizza at one of the restaurants on property, and it was good too. The sailboats and guide was also included in the day pass price. There were people in the pools playing different fun games or relaxing...lots of activities were going on...

 

I hope you have a great trip whatever you decide!!! I wish I was going again!!:p

 

I was in Ocho Rios on my very first cruise several years back and hated it.. I have avoided it since. I decided to give the port a second chance. My fiance has never been there so I want to see some of the beauty of the island and not so much the carved male body parts and drug references.. We are not at all up tight but I feel like there is so much more to their island and culture than that.

 

This information with the included boat tour sounds amazing.. I am going to look into it.. was it very expensive? We are going in 3 weeks and the idea of this day at the adults only jewel sounds like i may have a new view of jamaica. Thanks for the great info.

[Dagaleaa]

I was in Ocho Rios on my very first cruise several years back and hated it.. I have avoided it since. I decided to give the port a second chance. My fiance has never been there so I want to see some of the beauty of the island and not so much the carved male body parts and drug references.. We are not at all up tight but I feel like there is so much more to their island and culture than that.

 

This information with the included boat tour sounds amazing.. I am going to look into it.. was it very expensive? We are going in 3 weeks and the idea of this day at the adults only jewel sounds like i may have a new view of jamaica. Thanks for the great info.

 

Here is a video I made which shows the resort....the beach area, and the Hobie boat ride and tour we took:

 

 

The day pass which included all food, drinks ( yes, alcohol drinks), towels, hobie boat, beach and pools, towels, and transfer to and from the resort was $75.00 per person. I didn't think that was a bad price...we each had two meals and 3 drinks...the boat ride...a relaxing time, and no hassles with getting there and getting back to the boat. There was one guy on a boat that came close into shore offering boat rides and he got shooed away from hotel guests.

[bearette]

This sounds more complicated then I thought. We may end up just having some of us go and I will just shop by the ship with the babies.

[JoAnn&Mike]

You might want to check this out. The reviews on this company have been fantastic.... http://markstours.com/tours.html :)