Has anyone had fun in Montego Bay?

[Kwickido]

We will be cruising on the Conquest soon and that means a stop in Montego Bay. Although this will be our 10th cruise, we have only been to Jamaica once and that was many years ago in Ocho Rios. We will be taking several first time cruisers with us and, although we can offer advice about Grand Cayman and Cozumel, we have no idea how to prepare them for MoBay. Everything I have read seems to be negative. My question is: Has anyone actually had a "good time" in Montego Bay? Is so what did you do. If not, why, what should we avoid, and do you think if you had more information you could have found an activity that would have made for a better time.

[JohnG]

Take a look at:

http://www.cruisemontegobay.com/excursions.htm

We stopped there some years back and after shopping stopped at [url=http://www.doctorscavebathingclub.com/index.html]http://www.doctorscavebathingclub.com/index.html for the afternoon.

[chm1219]

1. The river rafting trips are nice (we book through the ship).

2. Be careful of taxis anywhere except there at the terminal.

probably the most fun we've had was sitting on our balcony facing the terminal watching folks race back to the ship, last minute, packages and cameras flailing in every direction.

Our thought-it's time for Carnival to replace the Jamaica stop for another destination. It seems this sentiment is shared by plenty of other cruisers.

[jbond]

We have never stopped at Mo Bay on a cruise, but spent a week at Sandals. We spent most of the time on the beach, but did visit Dunns River Falls again. Last time in Ocho Rios we visited Rose Hall. It's closer to Mo Bay than Ocho. We had a really enjoyable time there. I like Jamaica. I think it gets a bad rap. If you have never been to Dunns River, try booking a private tour over the internet, I wouldn't recommend a cruise ship tour, too many people. Like an earlier poster said, beware of the taxis, make sure you get a government authorizes one. If you get a taxi at the cruise ship dock you will have no problem. You can see our photos of Rose Hall at Rose Hall Photos

[thebrat99]

When in Montego Bay in October of this year, we arranged to spend the day with Carolyn Barrett of Barrett Adventures. This was an independant shore trip. The day was wonderful. We never were bothered and went to a rain forest, climbed Mayfield Falls, had lunch on a private jetty complete with hammocks and finished the day at the humminbird sanctuary. I cant say enough how wonderful Carolyn was!

[Ghost]

We love Jamaica and agree that it gets a bad rap, especially Montego Bay. The secret is to get out of town where the ships dock and see the country. It's really beautiful. We hired a taxi on our last trip and negotiated an all-day rate before we started out. Our taxi driver Barry took us to the Martha Brae River where we had arranged for a rafting trip. It was wonderful and relaxing. Barry was waiting when we finished and proceeded to take us on a tour showing us many sites never seen by tourists. He was a native Jamaician and very proud of his country and anxious to share it with others. He took us to pick up his daughter at school then drove us up into the mountains where he was building a home iwth gorgeous views of the harbor. We meet his family and even had lunch with them. He took us back to the ship and urged us to recommend Jamaica to all our friends as so many on the island depend on tourism for their livelihood. We have found the majority of people there to be warm and friendly and anxious to leave you with a good impression of their country. At dinner that night we talked iwth many who just stayed in town and they hated it and never wanted to come back, as they were constantly harrassed. Our stops at Montego Bay have been some of our favorites.

Whatever you do, get away from the port area and see some of this beautiful island.

[Mebert]

We sailed the Carnival Conquest in August. When we stopped in Montego Bay, we joined six other passengers at the port and took a cab to downtown. The cab driver offerred to give us a tour of the area for only $6 or $7 more per person.

Only take cabs from the pier and ask if the same driver can pick you up from where ever he leaves you. Better yet, try to stay with the driver for the afternoon. Don't go off with anyone else. Use your street sense. Our driver not only took us on the impromptu tour, he also waited for us for 90 minutes to two hours while we shopped.

In downtown Montego Bay the vendors are very agressive. This is typical of many Caribbean islands. Sometimes you can bargain for a lower price with some of the vendors. Usually the first price quoted is an inflated price. They expect you to bargain sometimes.

If you are in to purchasing liquor, check the prices at the pier first. Make sure you are calculating the equivalent currency before making a decision to make purchases downtown. Prices for liquor seemed to be more expensive in the downtown area than they were at the pier.

If someone offers you something that you do not want, politely say no thank you. Avoid getting into arguments with the inhabitants over petty issues. Treat everyone with respect.

I enjoyed myself thoroughly. But then, I'm from New York. I definitely know how to avoid trouble.