El Hubbo and I are going on a 7-night caribbean cruise next year. We have to plan ahead or we won’t save up the money, so we put a deposit down last week.
We’re looking at excursions and are wondering about Ocho Rios. Two of El Hubbo’s cow-orkers have been there with a cruise and they both said, “It’s scary. Stay on the boat.”
The excursion in which we are most interested is a Mountain-to-Sea Bike Excursion; sounds innocuous enough…
Anyway, we’re looking for advice and tips in addition to anecdotes about Ocho Rios in particular.
Any cruisers out there?
My MIL is a seasoned cruiser, and she DOES NOT recommend getting off the boat at Ocho Rios. Apparently, the “natives” are becoming very violent and aggressive towards cruisers (she said four have been killed). She suggests checking out the message boards at cruisecritic.com for further information.
Got a link, Avarie537?
I was just on a cruise in Ochee a few months ago, enjoyed it, and saw nothing of the sort, unless you think of all the street vendors imploring you to look over their wares as being “scary”. If you’re with a group, you’re not likely to get into trouble no matter where you are, anyway. Be cautious but not fearful, but that’s true of anywhere. Your cruise director will make a shore-excursion presentation the day before, and you might ask the question there if you have any concerns.
The climb down and up Dunn’s River Falls (it’s a blast - prepare to get wet) seems to be where most of the tours end up, whether it’s biking, kayaking, visiting Enchanted Gardens, or whatever else is in your line’s package. You’ll probably get to spend a little time in the tourist-trinket shops (Cuban cigars! Genuine tanzanite jewelry at half US prices! Crappy T-shirts!), like anywhere else in the Caribbean.
Great, just great. Now I’ve got Billy Ocean’s Carribean Queen stuck in my head.
/me wanders off to find a trump song.
–IDB
My experience in Ocho Rios: Stick to Dunn’s rivers falls-my wife and I liked it so much, we did the climb 3 times! The water is very clean and refreshing. The town itself: a dirty little rat trap, full of stores selling tourist junk-even the t-shirts are crap (you will notice that the labels are torn out of them-meaning that the vendor bought damaged goods! The jewelry stores: enter at your own risk! If you really want to buy something, get a price in the USA or on the net, and use that price to bargain on in jamaica. The merchants (most are lebanese) are sharp, and will screw you if you are not careful. I would not advise eating ANYTHING in Ocho Rios-the street vendors are not concerned with claenliness, and I’ve heard of vendors selling refrozen icecream-and a bout with salmoneella can ruin your vacation.
Jamaica is really a shame-it is a beautiful island, but the crime is frightening…and most of it is unreported!
(Should you be assaulted, and not hurt, don’t bother filing a police report-the cops won’t do anything!)