Falmouth - Rio Bueno River Tubing - Review - w/pictures

[Floridaman5115]

I have gotten so much helpful info from this site; I thought it was time I provide some.

Recently off the Independence of the Seas and while in Falmouth, I did the ships excursion FY97, Rio Bueno River Tubing, cost $79 per person.

Meet time was 7:30am. We were greeted by our tour guide, Latoya and taken to our clean, air conditioned bus. There were a total of 19 people, 10 doing the tubing and 9 rafting. On our 20 - 25 minute drive to the river, Latoya pointed out the local sights and told us interesting info about the local area and Jamaica in general.

Upon arrival at the river we were told to leave our personal belongings on the bus. They would be safe and the bus would meet us at Bengal Beach. All you need for tubing are sandals or water shoes. A quick fitting of life vests and helmets and we were off. A quick 10 minute walk up river and in the water we went.

The water was cool but pleasant. We spent about 40 minutes heading down river. Each group has a "tour guide" in the water to keeping you moving down river. No major rapids, but enough to make you laugh and have a good time. About half way down the river we stopped at a rope swing. Here you could give it a try or just watch. Just before the river meets the ocean a small boat picked us up, a 10 minute ride took us to Bengal Beach. The beach was nice, nothing breathtaking, but enjoyable. The bus was already there along with everyones belongings safe and sound, they were selling jerk chicken, red stripe beer, snacks and a few Jamaican items. They also where selling pictures of your tubing adventure. They were asking $40 for the cd of pictures. Seems most people were able to buy just their own 10 - 12 pictures for $25. We spent about 1 1/2 hours on the beach and then the bus took us back to the pier. Total excursion lasted 4 hours.

I few tips that might be helpful. The "rapids" are nice for tubing, but I'm not sure they are much fun for rafting. Always felt safe and secure. Wear sandals or water shoes you need to walk a good 10 minutes up river. Cameras, towels, money, change of clothes are left safely on the bus and waiting for you at the beach. Bring cash to spend at the beach, tip your "river" tour guide, bus driver and tour guide.

This really was a nice excursion. Plenty of time left in the day to walk around the port. Below are some pictures of the tubing and Bengal Beach.

[drmomsc]

Thanks! I've been trying to decide what to do there with my two teens sons. This sounds like a good choice!

[akcruz]

Thanks, we will be in Falmouth on my sons birthday (18) and looking for something fun to do that doesn't take forever to get to (such as the falls) and still gives us some time to spend in port.

 

One question, were you required to hold hands going down the river? Have heard that on some of the tubing excursions in Jamaica.

[didicruiser]

Thanks for the review. I'll be in Falmouth next month and may do this excursion:)

[WetToes]

Thanks! Looks like fun, and a reasonable price too.

I was wondering about the holding on to each other too.

[SkiQueen2007]

Thank you so much for the review and the pictures! We are signed up to do this in 2 weeks! We are very excited and glad to hear there was some haggle room on the picture CD price, we love the pictures but hate paying a ton for them ;)

[ckmommy]

We did this excursion while we were on the Mariner. We did the rafting as we had little ones with us. It was very fun. The rapids were gentle, but a good ice breaker into rafting for my little kids. I wish I had asked just for my pits off the photo CD. I bought it for $40 and had to sort of where our families pictures were.

 

This excursion was not offered through RCCL on the Mariner. we had to book it on the internet. I would recommend it as well!!

 

DSC_0230 by ckmommy4, on Flickr

 

Our rafting trip!!

[al kabel]

Hey Floridaman..we were the couple with you on the 'tubes'. Great review and thanks for the pics. For the rest of you I agree with all you said. We had a great day.

 

Chris/Beth

[earn]

Do you know who RCI used for the tour? WE are planning to go with Braco tours as our cruise also does not do this activity. think their tubes are orange, though that might just have been the pics I saw.

 

Looks great fun.

[CruzieSue]

So glad someone finally posted about this excursion (tubing - RC #FY97) !!! We went ahead and reserved for next month and looks like it will be great !! :D

 

We will be on Mariner middle of March and the RAFTING excursion is #FY96. I originally found these excursions online through River Rapids Adventures (aka Braco Tours) @ http://www.riverrapidsja.com but saw that they had to be reserved through the cruise ship. I contacted Braco and they confirmed they are the same excursions through the ship as shown on the private website. They also have kayaking (not listed as a RC excursion) and river boarding (#FY98). Great photos and information on the website if anyone is interested.

[earn]

We have booked Braco river tubing through tour operator Courtney Taylor. At least that s oh he says he is using.

[Floridaman5115]

Holding tubes was required for much of the trip down the river, except in center areas.

Hi Chris and Beth, hope you didn't mind me posting the picture. I did the blurring to hide all of our identities. I little mystery is always intriguing

[Coralc]

Who was wearing socks? :D:D:):D Forgot the water shoes?

[Floridaman5115]

It was socks, barefeet or ruining my sneakers.

[Coralc]

It was socks, barefeet or ruining my sneakers.

 

That makes sense......it looks like everyone else had water shoes. :D:):D

[akcruz]

Holding tubes was required for much of the trip down the river, except in center areas.

Hi Chris and Beth, hope you didn't mind me posting the picture. I did the blurring to hide all of our identities. I little mystery is always intriguing

 

Thanks for the response.