bam7058

Carnival has an $85 excursion on scarab powerboat. Cool Runnings has same boat excursion for $75 with (Gilligan's Island, private island, 2 snorkel stops, fast boat) with addition of snacks/drinks. Great reviews but none after last summer. I have private messaged with them for the info. Concerned about booking since no recent reviews.

Doing a blue hole tour with Courtney Taylor next week and was hoping any of you can answer the following:

1) What is an appropriate tip for the driver?

2) Is blue hole appropriate for younger children (8 and 11 yrs old)?

3) Does Scotchies offer any non-spicy items for the young ones?

4) Would you go to Bamboo Blu or another beach?

Thanks for the help.

We had no idea how much to tip our driver/tour guide. But since there were only 4 passengers, we knew he wasn't making as much. We ended up doing $20 pp. I have never tipped that much and have no idea if it was right amount. We weren't aware that we also would be expected to tip Blue Hole Guy and Dunn River Guy. But all in all I think it was $128 including lunch for all tours/transports and then maybe $30 more for tips. So $80 pp for the 2 of us for all day was acceptable to us.

I just spoke with CT about a private tour for 4 to the Blue Hole, was quoted $59 per person including the entry cost for the BH. We are sailing into Montego Bay, and was wondering if it was worth the time we will have to travel from MB to get to the BH? I have been told the drive could take up to 2 hours each way, our ship arrives in port at 9am and departs at 6pm.

 

Thanks for the advice,

Since you are arriving later into port (we were off ship by 7:30 am) and your drive is so long you will most likely arrive when it is crowded. See how many ship arriving at the 3 ports and what times. Yes, the Blue Hole was very fun and your guide will make your drive interesting--but I am not sure I would want to drive 4 hours and be with a crowd there. Also, if you are not booking entire van with just your party, other people may get off ship later and delay your departure. That happened with us, but we didn't have a 2 hour drive.

When using private tour companies while taking a cruise, I always do my homework and research them on more than 1 site. It would be terrible to miss your ship at the end of the day or feel unsafe in a foreign country. Courtney #2 was our guide. We arrived in Falmouth, which is quite a drive to get to Blue Hole and Dunn River. The ride seems short with all his information and history of Jamaica. Lunch at Scotchies is definitely worth it. Do the stop you want most first thing in the morning before it gets crowded.

We were a party of 2 & were sharing transportation with another party of 2. With the 8 passenger vans, it is easier to be flexible on your plans. I will say that if it is very important to you to do every single thing on the schedule, book the van with just your party. Not everyone is prompt about getting off the ship and can delay your departure. We were all flexible and ended up dropping the beach stop so we could get back to ship before last minute crowd.

No worries on leaving your money or personal items in van with tour guide. I would definitely visit Jamaica again and use Courtney Taylor Tours.

So are alarm clocks not provided in the rooms?

Thanks for the pix. Carnival lists this room as 220 sqf as opposed to 185 in our previous inside room. None of us are big or tall. I know it will be crowded, but we don't spend much time in the room. The Carnival person said bathroom was bigger too. We will see!

Finally got thru to Carnival, the room has 2 beds, trundle, sofa. So I think that will be fine. There is an outside deck above us, so we won't be entirely under galley. Also we are around corner from elevator and across from laundry room. It's bigger and has bigger bathroom. I was on the phone for 2 hours--with no success applying the special 15% discount that they promised us from the "galley" cruise. So at this point I guess we're staying in the room. Nothing can be worse than last time. Just wish I could find someone who had been in that room or room close to it.

seem to get conflicting configurations. I only see that there are 2 beds and one single sofa. Trying to get with Carnival to see what actual config is and see about being under galley again. Looks like we are on outside under the galley--but it looks a littler different than some gallies that go all the way out to edge of ship. It may be hallways or storage? Of course, while on hold they just disconnected me!

Going on a cruise with 4 other gals. Last time we went we were on Valor and on main deck inside room under galley. It was absolutely horrible in both rooms with unbearable noise 24 hours. Just one of the gals called to pay a balance and noticed price had gone down. They couldn't lower our price cuz we didn't do early saver. As a consolation LOL they changed our room to outside balcony. I was not the one on the phone or I would have asked! We are below the galley on main deck and right by stairs and elevator. Might be better cuz it is on outside edge. Have searched Youtube and these forums can't find anyone mentioning this room or rooms right around it. Anyone ever stayed in this room?