Anyone been on the tubing and dunns falls tour in Jamaica?

[Ivy86]

:confused: How was it?

[ATOTIGER]

We just returned from Ocho Rios and we used Mark Morris with Markstours. He was wonderful. He met us and he charged only $35.00/peson and took us to Dunn River Falls and toured us all around to Fern Gully and showed us everything. He took us to 2 great scenic locations for pictures He took us shopping at Sophies and stayed with us and then took us Hard Rock and for my daughter to get a t-shirt. He was with us from 10:00-3:30pm. He stopped to show us different vegetation and got us samples of sugar cane to try. Our family of four went and another couple and they added tubing in the river for $20.00 more dollars. We dropped them off and then went to pick them up at the finsh point. You can see his web sited at markstours.com http://markstours.com/home.html

We emailed him at mark@mark.tours.com

 

Enjoy!! We felt very safe. He had a very nice airconditioned van!!

[cxjr25]

Booked through knowjamaica.com and had Javia Shaw as our tour guide (Marva's son). He was awesome, even took us to three authentic jamaican restaurants in the quest to find jerk chicken.

 

Look for my complete review in the next week. Want to go again to jamaica and do other tours with Javia.

[luv2travel29]

I did both with MARVA SHAW (knowjamaica.com) she was awesome!! and she took us shopping, not to a market, to a shopping center near the pier, no harassing.... i felt like we had known her for years... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND HER!!! :D :D :D

[jittey3]

We used Phil Lafayette 2 weeks ago. He was WONDERFUL! He took us to Dunns River Falls, sightseeing, the people who wanted to go tubing, he dropped off and then we picked them up at the end. He showed us all sorts of things. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND him.:D

[TheRobber]

My Family and I just returned this past weekend from our cruise aboard the Carnival Imagination. We visited The Cayman Islands and Ocho Rios, We were with Mark Morris in Ocho Rios, He made our trip one to remember! I will recommend him and his company until I'm blue in the face. I booked the trip online and received an email that same evening confirming my arrival and the events of the day. I was a bit surprised when we arrived at the port to be greeted not by someone from Mark Morris's company but from Mr. Morris himself. He greeted me by my name and showed us to his bus for our transport. After a short wait we were off for a fun day. Not only did we do what I thought we were going to do ( Dunns river Falls, And Tubing at the White River) Mark filled our day with loads of information about the island and took us to Fern Gully plus too a nice place to shop. A lady on the excursion

with us told Mark that she would like to try some Jerk Chicken, He called ahead to arrange a place for her to try some food while we shopped. Yes, I was a bit nervous about booking someone other then Carnival for the fear of getting back to the ship but Mark made sure that time was of the essence and we had No problems!Picture 119.jpg

A picture of Mark with my wife and kids.

[Ivy86]

My Family and I just returned this past weekend from our cruise aboard the Carnival Imagination. We visited The Cayman Islands and Ocho Rios, We were with Mark Morris in Ocho Rios, He made our trip one to remember! I will recommend him and his company until I'm blue in the face. I booked the trip online and received an email that same evening confirming my arrival and the events of the day. I was a bit surprised when we arrived at the port to be greeted not by someone from Mark Morris's company but from Mr. Morris himself. He greeted me by my name and showed us to his bus for our transport. After a short wait we were off for a fun day. Not only did we do what I thought we were going to do ( Dunns river Falls, And Tubing at the White River) Mark filled our day with loads of information about the island and took us to Fern Gully plus too a nice place to shop. A lady on the excursion

with us told Mark that she would like to try some Jerk Chicken, He called ahead to arrange a place for her to try some food while we shopped. Yes, I was a bit nervous about booking someone other then Carnival for the fear of getting back to the ship but Mark made sure that time was of the essence and we had No problems!Picture 119.jpg

A picture of Mark with my wife and kids.

 

Mark is the best!!! I used him as my tour operator this week in Jamaica and it was a great experience..

[dcgrumpy]

I did DRF and tubing with Phil Lafayette last week. We had a great time.

[Devo1994]

My family and I just did the falls and tubing with Peat Taylor. It was very adventurous. Peat's driver was great, he took us tubing first. It was not crowded at all. The river was beautiful but a little cold at first. We slowly got used to the cold and the water felt good. I wish I had a water proof camera as I would have loved to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. The river was fairly smooth with a few small rapids, nothing scary. I would diffenately do this again. After tubing we went to the falls. It was more crowded here. I was somewhat hesitant as I heard people screaming as we walked to the bottom where you start to climb. I couldn't see the people or the falls at first so I wasn't sure why they were screaming. Well, I found out real quick. The falls is somewhat dangerous! I read reviews on it and thought I could handle this but it was slippery and the water was rushing down on you pretty quickly. There are points where you can't see where to place your footing and some of the rocks are hard to grab a hold on to pull yourself up. One person slipped and fell. She was alright but I have to admit, I was somewhat nervous and I was going to come off at the nearest exit (there are four exit points as you climb up). My family convinced me to continue climbing all the way up. I'm surprised I made it all the way. It was exciting and thrilling. I was screaming quite a bit too!

[zuscruiserz]

We also just got back from the Western Caribbean, and Ocho Rios, Jamaica was one of our stops.

 

We and some friends booked with Peat Taylor far in advance and he took us to Dunns River Falls first (such a rush!) and then thru Fern Gully with an ongoing narrative. Took some awesome pics from a scenic point up in the hills with our ship as the backdrop - lovely! When we were done he asked who wanted to shop, eat, etc. and most of us opted to go back to the ship for lunch. Some of us arranged to meet him an hour later for tubing down the White River, and we enjoyed this greatly as it was only the 6 of us (2 adults and 4 teens). Never did we feel unsafe, as everyone knew Peat and we weren't hassled in the least, nor offered ganja (thank goodness). Per special request he took us to a place to buy Blue Mountain coffee, where we purchased 3 lbs. at a really great deal!

 

I would book Peat again in a heartbeat, and highly recommend him to others considering an excursion in Ocho Rios.

[KRAZYKRITTER2000]

I would highly recommend Mark Morris. He was very professional and gave us a wonderful tour of the island. Mark got us some bananas to snack on. We climbed the falls and did the river tubing. We had 2 seniors that didn't want to tube or climb. He took them around some other parts of the island and treated them great. It was a wonderful experience for both of them. If you want a great guide, contact Mark Morris.

[Ivy86]

I would highly recommend Mark Morris. He was very professional and gave us a wonderful tour of the island. Mark got us some bananas to snack on. We climbed the falls and did the river tubing. We had 2 seniors that didn't want to tube or climb. He took them around some other parts of the island and treated them great. It was a wonderful experience for both of them. If you want a great guide, contact Mark Morris.

 

I Agree he is the best!!!:)

[pugmommy]

We also just got back from the Western Caribbean, and Ocho Rios, Jamaica was one of our stops.

 

 

I would book Peat again in a heartbeat, and highly recommend him to others considering an excursion in Ocho Rios.

 

We too used Peat in November last year and loved him. we especially liked how he would work with each group and take you to any of the many placed on the island. We wanted to do the falls, the river tubing, the pottery factory and eat at a non touristy place for lunch--he met all our expectations and made our visit a great one.

 

just like zuscruiserz--we highly recommend Peat!

 

~pugmommy

[mtebor]

We used Marva Shaw 2 weeks ago and would HIGHLY recommend her.

[WVince]

This is for anyone onboard hitting ocho rios this week and doing the tubing.

Just off of the Mariner this week and did Dunn River and the tubing, but had an incedent involving one of the guides having a fight with one of the "locals' during our tubing at the "cliff jumping" point. ( Really just an 8 foot ledge <g>, You'll know what I'm refferring to when you see it).

 

Definately not the guides fault. The local was the aggressor, but he picked the wrong fellow to mess with, the guide being larger and built like a strong safety <g>. Fight was broken up fairly quickly, but due to the situation my family is concerned there may have been retaliation afterward.

 

Did not catch the guides name, but you'll know him if you see him. (About 6 ft tall. Extremely athletic looking.)

 

If you tube and he's your guide... please let us know he's OK... and tip him well. He works extremely hard making the tubing great for all... and really earns whatever you give him.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Ivy86]

This is for anyone onboard hitting ocho rios this week and doing the tubing.

Just off of the Mariner this week and did Dunn River and the tubing, but had an incedent involving one of the guides having a fight with one of the "locals' during our tubing at the "cliff jumping" point. ( Really just an 8 foot ledge <g>, You'll know what I'm refferring to when you see it).

 

Definately not the guides fault. The local was the aggressor, but he picked the wrong fellow to mess with, the guide being larger and built like a strong safety <g>. Fight was broken up fairly quickly, but due to the situation my family is concerned there may have been retaliation afterward.

 

Did not catch the guides name, but you'll know him if you see him. (About 6 ft tall. Extremely athletic looking.)

 

 

:eek: yes!! I remember the athletic guy, he was very nice to us.

It's a shame like some people make trouble 4 nothing.

[dz63]

We did the Dunns River Falls and River Tubing Excursion down the White River in July. Both excursions were a "blast" and were definite highlights of our vacation.

 

We booked a private tour with Island Marketing. We were the third group to arrive at Dunns River Falls that morning. The guides were taking groups of 20-30 people up the Falls at a time. We asked for our own guide to take our small group of 9 up the Falls and they happily complied. We were assigned Norman as our guide. Norman has been guiding at the Falls for 19 years! We told Norman that we wanted to pass by the large groups and he whisked us up past the crowds quickly.

 

The water was cool and refreshing. The falls is fed by spring water coming from the mountains surrounding Ocho Rios. Our 8 year old son found the water to be cold and was soon shivering--but the rest of us found it very comfortable! Norman was quick to point out which rocks to step on. If you went off the "beaten path", the rocks were quite slippery. There were a few steep areas but overall the climb up the Falls was not too difficult. No one in our group slipped or fell or got hurt. There was also a ship photographer as well as a Dunn's River photographer taking photos in the water.

 

At the top of the Falls, we walked through the Craft Market and bargained with the vendors there. We found the vendors to be very friendly. They asked us to look at their wares but we did not find them to be rude or too pushy. The vendors were happy to carve the names of our boys onto the wooden items that we bought.

 

After that, our driver Paul took us River Tubing on the White River. Our tubing guide was Jack. He was very friendly and helpful. He floated along with us, pushed us out of a spots when we got stuck and generally tried to keep our group together. We had a blast! With the exception of our 8 year old son, we did not find the water to be too cold. It was the same temperature as the Falls—cool but very refreshing! The tubes are quite large with a fiberglass bottom tied in, so you don't scrape your bottom. At no point did anyone fall out of the tubes--the water was not that rough. At one point on the trip we all stopped and got out. There were photographers at this location and they had some really good photos of our family tubing and jumping off the cliff, so we bought some photos at $5.00 each.

 

At this location, we were able to jump off a 15' high embankment into the river. The water is very deep at this spot. They point to where you should jump in and you do hit the bottom with your feet, but not very hard. Once you surface, the river current takes you down stream a bit where you can climb up the embankment holding onto some roots and jump in again. DH and all three DS's jumped into the river here at least 4-5 times. This was definitely a highlight of this excursion! At this location there was also a rope swing in the middle of the river. After jumping, we got back in the tubes and continued down the river for approx. 10 minutes to the end. If you looked off to the right, you could see the river running out into the ocean! The total trip down the river, including jumping, was about 1 hour. We tipped our guide $10 and he was very grateful for the tip.

 

After tubing, we asked Paul to drive us up Fern Gully. He had to pick up another group of people, so we had limited time, but he did manage to drive us up part way—to keep us happy--where we could take a few photos before he dropped us off at Island Village.

 

 

 

Click on the following link for some video footage/slideshow of our port excursions. Towards the end of the video you will see our photos of our excursion to Dunns River Falls and River Tubing.

[babsmv]

We did the river tubing, Dunn's Falls, and the beach with Marva Shaw last week. Actually we had Marva's son Javia. He was absolutely the best!! While we were waiting at the port for everyone, Marva came over from the other pier because a ship had been re-routed to Ocho Rios from the storm and she accepted some reservations. She wanted to meet us personally and introduce us to her son. They kept in contact all day so they could report how the crowds were at each of the places and where the best place to go was. We didn't have any long lines at all. The river tubing was incredible and I would do it again in a heart beat. I just wished it could have lasted all day. The guides there were wonderful too, helping everyone who was headed towards the side or just needed a push. Javia gave everyone a choice of what they wanted to do. We went to the beach for an hour while he dropped others off at shopping or Margaretta ville. When he picked us up we went to the Falls. He kept an eye out for us so we always knew he was there. I just can't say enough about this wonderful young man. He and his mom are just the most wonderful loving people and really gave us a wonderful memory of Jamaica.

Barb

[SAILSKAT]

We loved this combo. It was really a great day. Our daughters are 10 and 20 and all 4 of us really had a wonderful time. We booked with Mark Morris and can't say enough about how great he was. I've posted a full review in another tread. This was a great combination and it was really nice an shady. After several days of being blasted by the sun it was so nice to be cool and comfortable in the shade (both falls and tubing are primarily in the shade). This was a great day and added a little adventure to our trip!

[zoe girl]

i really want to do this excursion however we're docking in montego bay. does anyone know if we can do this? i know ocho rios is 2 hours away.

[Ivy86]

i really want to do this excursion however we're docking in montego bay. does anyone know if we can do this? i know ocho rios is 2 hours away.

 

I Don't think so..probably another place near montego has river tubing..but not for the Dunns falls since is too far.:rolleyes:

[dz63]

[

i really want to do this excursion however we're docking in montego bay. does anyone know if we can do this? i know ocho rios is 2 hours away.[/

 

quote=Ivy86;11652887]I Don't think so..probably another place near montego has river tubing..but not for the Dunns falls since is too far.:rolleyes:

 

 

I also do not think that you would be able to do both Dunns River and River Tubing--due to the distance of Montego Bay from Ocho Rios. But there is a 4 hour "Jungle River Tubing" excursion which is near Mo. Bay. I know that both Carnival and Royal Caribbean offer this excursion.

[carmenb]

Zoe Girl,

 

Why don't you contact a-z jamaican planners.

 

I used them a couple of years ago when we were in Jamaica. We had a fantactic time and would highly recommend them.

 

They have exursions to Y-S Falls and River Tubing or the Mayfield Falls in MoBay.

 

a-zjamaicalplanners.com

 

Hope this helps.

 

Carmen

[kc320]

Another Vote for Phil Lafayette here!! We did a tour with him last week & it was the highlight of our whole cruise. He shared so much information about his island & it's history. I wasn't doing the tubing portion due to my fear of possible spiders.....Phil assured me there would be no spiders and that I would be in great hands with the guides. When I admited I had not brought enough money to do the tubing he offered to pay for me & then pay him back after I got back to the ship. I declined, but it was really nice of him to offer.. he then insisted I at least walk down & look at the river.....I did & now I have another reason to return to Jamaica.....:D

 

AND when I got back home there was a very nice email from Phil hoping that I enjoyed my tour & the rest of my vacation.

[clooz4u]

Another Vote for Phil Lafayette here!! We did a tour with him last week & it was the highlight of our whole cruise. He shared so much information about his island & it's history. I wasn't doing the tubing portion due to my fear of possible spiders.....Phil assured me there would be no spiders and that I would be in great hands with the guides. When I admited I had not brought enough money to do the tubing he offered to pay for me & then pay him back after I got back to the ship. I declined, but it was really nice of him to offer.. he then insisted I at least walk down & look at the river.....I did & now I have another reason to return to Jamaica.....:D

 

AND when I got back home there was a very nice email from Phil hoping that I enjoyed my tour & the rest of my vacation.

I have tried to get in contact with him and I'm afraid it may be too late to book with him...I'm leaving this weekend...was he quick replying to you?