Caribbean Cruise Photo Review: Falmouth Jamiaca Excursion (Disney Fantasy) - Dunn's River Falls, Bobsled and Chairlift

Welcome to the next installment of excursion destinations for the Western Caribbean!  In this post I'll be covering what we did in Falmouth, Jamaica; you should note that the above picture is actually Ocho Rios, where we spent most of time.  As always, if you have any questions after reading, please don't hesitate to ask :)

**If you are looking for a review of the ship & my stateroom, see this post.**

Departure Date: September 13, 2014
Departure Port:  Port Canaveral, Florida
Cruise Length: 7 days

Itinerary
Day 1	Embark/Sea Day
Day 2	Sea Day
Day 3	Cozumel, Mexico
Day 4	Grand Cayman
Day 5	Falmouth, Jamaica
Day 6	Sea Day
Day 7	Castaway Cay
Day 8	Disembark

Falmouth, Jamaica - Dunn's River Falls, Bobsled and Sky Lift - $134 per adult ($74 child 6-9)
If you have read my post on the Tulum Ruins in Mexico, then you know we had a less than satisfactory experience with the vendors that Disney used.  Disney definitely went above and beyond to make sure that this experience in Jamaica, which we booked through them, was much better.

Before you leave the ship, Disney has everyone going on Disney booked excursions meet in a central, large location, such as the main theater room.  Your ticket, which you most likely got the night before, will tell you where the meet up location is.  To check in, you just stop at the table in front of the theater doors, and a cast member asks to see your ticket, they assign you a character (this defines all the people in your group) and you all sit together in one row.  As my family was sitting in our row, waiting to be dismissed/follow another cast member off the ship, another crew member came up and sat next to us.  They proceeded to inform us that they had already been in contact with the vendors who would be running our excursion, and that they had a special meal planned for my sister waiting at our eventual destination.  They also had reserved the very front seat of our bus just for her, so she would be less likely to get carsick.

Of course we were very relieved to learn of this, but it didn't end there.  A Disney team member
personally escorted our family off the ship and delivered us directly to the vendors of our excursion. Our super friendly Jamaican tour guides then led us over to the bus (it was like a really large van that seated about 15), telling us that in Jamaica they were much better than any guides they have over in Mexico.  So apparently Disney let them know about our less than satisfactory experiences in Mexico, and our guides were determined to make up for it.

After we boarded the bus, we were narrated to for the hour or so drive it took to leave Falmouth and arrive in Ocho Rios, where this particular excursion takes place.  We learned all sorts of interesting stuff about Jamaica; they can grow just about any kind of plant here, signs with "jerk here" were referring to seasoning (not actual jerks!), the drivers flash their lights to warn about speed traps or cops ahead (like we often do here in the states, as well) and other assorted random trivia/history about this beautiful island.

Once we got closer to our destination, our guide told us the general outline of the day.  As this is one of the most popular tours in Jamaica, some groups would climb the falls first, and some would take the chairlift ride/bobsled ride first.  Our group climbed the falls first.

In order to get to the bottom of the falls (you climb up them, not down them), you have to descend down quite a few stairs and ramps (see right photo).  This was also where we split off from those on the excursion who did not want to climb the falls but wanted to see/take pictures.  They went off on their own path that meandered along (more or less) with the waterfall.

To the left is a view of the beach which sits at the very foot of Dunn's River Falls.  You can see the freshwater that flows out to meet the ocean.  This waterfall climbs about 600 feet, but it's pretty much impossible to get a picture of the complete falls unless you take it from the air, and even then, the waterfall is very well covered and shaded by trees and foliage.

Now, before you begin the climb, the waterfall guide goes over some basics.  First off, this guide is not the one who was in the bus with us.  This is a guide who works specifically for Dunn's River Falls and Park.  They know the safest ways up the falls and are there to help each person in the group.  We were told to follow their path up exactly and not to deviate.  We later learned the reason is because it appears they scrape the moss/algae off the rocks along the common route.  If they didn't do this, the rocks would be incredibly slippery and dangerous.  I know, because I walked along a few that were very slippery.

To the right you can see right where you start climbing up the falls.  There is an employee recording each groups assent (you can buy the video after for around $20-$30), and there are multiple groups climbing up at a time, so it's important to know your guides name, and stay with your group.  In order to help you do this, and help with safety while climbing, they instruct everyone in the group to make a human chain.  So we all hold hands as we climb the falls.  I did this for the first few minutes, but quite honestly it is a bit strange to hold hands with someone you don't know, and make them help you up the falls.  I only took the girls hand ahead of me a few times, when it was tricky going.  It's also a bit awkward when the person ahead of you is clearly an adolescent, and wouldn't be able to help an adult very well up the falls. Other than that, our family group of 4 pretty much just helped each other up the falls.

There are parts where the going is like walking up stairs, and then the falls level off.  The water temperature was actually very pleasant, nice and mild, just a touch cooler than you might expect.  Then as you climb, you start to wish the water was a LOT cooler, because even though you're soaking wet, you still manage to sweat.  It was the weirdest thing (at least, to a native Californian who is used to no humidity).  The high humidity and the exercise climbing made the water feel that much nicer.

As a side note and precaution: don't bring along things that can't get wet!  Bring a waterproof camera, and don't use a cell phone.  If you must bring your expensive SLR, double

ziploc bag it and then put it int a waterproof bag as well.  It's possible to keep your bag mostly dry, but you should be fairly agile and able to climb holding it over your head for parts of the excursion.  My sister brought along her moderately expensive camera, and while the guide felt that it would get ruined, he offered to carry it for her to keep it safe.  She decline his kind offer (she wanted to take pictures!) and she was able to keep her camera safe and dry.  She is also an avid hiker and sure-footed, so just take caution when doing this excursion for your expensive electrical gadgets.



Difficulty: 
I have read mixed reviews online about this excursions difficulty, ranging from extremely difficult to a walk in the
park.  The truth, as it usually does, lies somewhere in the middle.  I would put it a moderate, almost moderately easy.  It's not like you climb straight up for 20 minutes.  You can take short breaks along the way, and climb as slow as you need to.  For any difficult crossings, the guide is always there to help.  We were quite please with how they just sort of magically appeared right when you needed them to.  We were a few feet behind the main group, but our guides did not forget us!  They would also stay and wait at the difficult parts and make sure that everyone in the group was caught up before moving on.  To the left/above you can see the human chain we were instructed to make for most of the climb, and the guide leading us, as well as the guide/cameraman.

There were a few places along the falls where you were able to either slide down like a water slide, or fall backwards into deeper pools of water.  The only one in our family who was willing to do any of this was my mom!  So way to go, mom!  She took one for the team.  You can see two short clips of her braveness below; and sorry for the blurriness...they were taken on my waterproof camera, and water drops were hard to wipe off the lens.




This hike really was quite fun and enjoyable, and I would definitely do it again.  I'll share some more pictures from the rest of the hike up the falls below before continuing on with narration about the rest of the excursion.

  

After successfully hiking the falls (and seeing the above sign) you are left with the journey back out to the bus.  They give you very little time to walk among the vendors, and actually recommended that we not stop among them at all, but only follow "track 2" out.  You see, on the ground were two painted lines; one led you through all the shopping, and the other was basically the quick way out.  They told us to go the quick way out.  Not entirely sure why.  Also, don't be surprised to smell lots of marijuana floating out from the various stores!

Once we made it back to the bus, we boarded again for a quick trip back down the road to the Sky Explorer chairlift and bobsled ride (probably 10 minutes from the falls).  This area is also where you eat lunch.  Once we arrived at the next area (called Mystic Mountain), our guide gave us the general plan for the rest of our time.  We were told to meet back at the bus by about 2:20 PM local time, and we could do whatever we liked after we took our chairlift up the mountain.

The chairlift can seat about 3 adults comfortably and takes about 15 minutes each way. so plan accordingly when you are going to depart for the bus.  I'll be honest, the chairlift is a bit scary.  I am not fond of heights, and so going up is pretty intense.  Only this flimsy bar between you and the ground 40 feet below.  If you have ever taken a ski lift, this is the same thing (or so I am told, as I have never taken one before).  I just tried not to look down, and instead focused on the incredible views offered as you slowly travel through the treetops of Jamaica.

  

I don't think this can be said enough: wear lots of sunblock!  Apply it often!  I was so glad I brought a towel with me from the ship (they actually suggest you take several, and provide them for you in the main theater I talked about earlier) as I wore it around my head to protect my face/neck from the sun.  I'm very fair skinned, which means I burn quite easily.  I applied lots of sunscreen before leaving the cruise ship, and reapplied it after climbing the falls, but I felt like I could still be burning with how hot the sun beats down on you.  

Once you reach the end of the ride, you have arrived at the area where the butterfly gardens, bobsleds and lunch is located.  We were very hungry from our climb up the falls, as was almost everyone in our group, so we all made our way to the lunch area.  As Disney says in the description of the excursion on their website, you have the option jerk chicken, fish, or hot dog, along with sides of either fries or beans & rice.  There was no soda option, but they did have a kind of nonalcoholic punch.  I also didn't see any water bottles, which they were supposed to have for us.  The jerk chicken was good; I'm not a huge fan of spicy things, but it was mild enough that I enjoyed it.  I didn't try the fish, but my parents did, and they said it was not that great, and had a very fishy taste to it.  Overall, the food was good.  The only problem I had with it was that it was not very warm.  I got a side of french fries, and they were room temperature and soggy.  The chicken, too, was not hot, just sort of luke warm.  

After we gathered up our food, we went to find the food they prepared for my sister so we could all eat together.  We were a little nervous about this, based on our previous experience dining off ship with her in Tulum.  We were told by our tour guide earlier that we were to head upstairs to the restaurant at the top of Mystic Mountain and ask for them to prepare Angela's food when we arrived.   The view from this restaurant was incredible!  You can see it to the left.  That alone is a good enough reason to eat at this place. Another reason, though, is that the food itself is actually quite good.  

We all sat at a table and waited while they brought my sisters food out and just soaked in the awesome view.  The waitress kindly brought us all waters, too, as we were very thirsty.  When they brought her food, we were in awe with how pretty it was, especially compared to our rather average looking cuisine (which you can see in the background of her picture).  You can see in the photo to the left that they didn't just slap something down on a plate, but tried to make something delicious and appealing.  Next to the food served on the ship, my sister enjoyed this most of all.  They were very careful to not have anything she was allergic to in this meal, and my sister throughly enjoyed it.

After eating lunch, we decided it was time to ride the bobsleds, which take you through 3,280 feet of track.  My sister was a little nervous about this, but was relieved to find out that two cars can be attached together and allow you to essentially ride with another person.  I went down the track with my sister, me in the lead car and her behind.  The lead car controls the speed via a hand brake, and I was super excited to do this.  You pull back to go faster, which requires muscle (as in you can't just free fall and go super fast down the track) and release the brake to slow down.  When you don't pull back on the brake, it will stop your car from moving at all.  You have to keep some pressure and pull back on the brake the entire ride.  My sister gave me strict instructions not to go too fast, but about halfway through the ride she was yelling at me to go faster.  Before you ride, there are safety videos telling you what to do or not do, as well as signs depicting the various rules (the most important being don't stop on the track).  Then the employees who buckle you into your seat also explain the rules again before you go.  Below you'll see the few pictures we got of this, as well as a big water slide that dumps you into a pool.  Guests to Mystic Mountain were encouraged to swim if they so desired.  While we did not do this, plenty of other people did.

This next photo is a view from the observation tour you can climb; its about 2 or 3 flights of stairs up.

The bobsled was incredibly fun!  Like being on a ride at Disneyland, only you get to be in control of what you do.  I wish I had videoed parts of it, because it took you through very beautiful scenery.  The way you build up speed on this ride is by gravity; the ride goes downhill pretty much the entire way.  At the very end of the track, you catch on to a tow cable and it lifts you waaaay back up the mountainside (your bobsled is still on the track...it just tows you up a steep track, like how roller coasters get towed up a hill).  It's a really cool system, and it lets you see just how many feet you descended, too!

I don't have any pictures of the butterfly garden, because it was very small.  Mostly it was a walkway that had lots of flowers that would attract butterflies.  While we were on the path, we saw lots of brilliantly colored hummingbirds, which I think is a lot cooler than seeing butterflies.  We also didn't really spend any time at the exhibits they had here.  We really wanted to ride the bobsleds a second time, but we just ran out of time.

I'll say this, the only negative about this trip was waiting at the end for our 2nd tour guide to show up.  She had told all of us to be in the bus back 2:20, and so everyone was there.  We waited.  Waited some more.  Finally the driver radios her and asks where she is, and she's riding the chairlift down.  15 minutes comes and goes (that's how long this lift takes) and still no sign of her.  We waited for a good 45 minutes for her to show up, and didn't end up leaving till shortly after 3:00.  Our driver was literally about to pull away and leave her when we saw her sauntering down the parking lot with a bag of food in her hand.  When she boarded the bus she acted like she had no idea why we were all there by 2:20, she never told us that time to be back!  That frustrated almost all of us passengers, and you could tell her tour guide partner/driver was upset, because unhappy customers don't tip well.

The port at Falmouth, Jamaica is actually pretty cool.  I don't think I have any pictures of it, sadly, but it has obviously had some money spent on making it look really nice.  Above is a picture from the portoffalmout.com and it shows how they've tried to improve the area.  They've given it an old time feel, with brick stores and tall store fronts.  There are lots of places to shop just feet off of the boat, so if you have no excursion planned, you can shop right here.  It also makes it convenient for those returning from an excursion who wish to shop.

My Rating: 9.5/10

The reason for the less than perfect rating was because the general food they served us was not that great (cold food is never fun when it's supposed to be hot) and the inconsiderateness of our tour guide, making us wait around the bus while she was obviously just getting food.

I would highly recommend this tour to anyone thinking about taking it!  It's a once in a lifetime experience you will never forget.