divot33

Good to know, Wagges

I'll be able to give it a test in our pool in a few months (and prior to our cruise).

I liked the Olympus, they are a bit more pricey. I'll keep an eye on eBay.

I had a small Olympus years ago and the screen died on it three times. Twice, it was under warranty, the third time was going to be $100 to fix. I didn't bother.

Looking for something that takes clear underwater pictures without excessive cost. Thank you in advance.

Check over in the Photography board.

You might be asking for something that does't exist - lower cost, good quality - in an underwater camera.

I just picked up a Fuji Finepix XP70 from eBay for $100. Seems to get decent reviews for a low cost camera.

I haven't tried it underwater yet, but to my eye, the normal pictures it take look pretty good - point and shoot quality.

I think I can speak for Jen here. She did use Great Vibes. Click her name and select "Find all posts by Jen70".

I've had plenty of questions for her, and she's provided a lot of good information.

When is your cruise? We are thinking about using Donavan, too in early June.

Hi Divot33 - It's me again. I know you wanted other feedback, rightfully so...but I wanted to additional info.

 

<snip>

 

In the end, you just should go with who you are comfortable with (and not based on the price). :-)

 

You will have a fantastic cruise.

Thank you for the additional information, Jen. I really do appreciate it. The funny part is, if he had quoted a higher price, I wouldn't have questioned it as much. ;)

I was hoping for another trip report to ease my mind a bit.

Just curious, do the prices on their website just cover your transportation (van ride for the day) or does it include the cost of all the activities associated with the tours?

Also are the prices per person or does it cover all (up to) 4 people in your group?

Thanks!

bradysmom - the best way to know is to email the operator and ask.

For us, we didn't choose one of the tours from his site. I emailed him, gave him the details (date, time of arrival, port, ship, number in our group, and the places we wanted to visit) and asked for a price.

Donavan got back to us very quickly and was clear in his quote that the price was only transportation (for our group as a whole, not per person) and that we would have to pay entrance fees (he also listed those prices for our reference.)

I got quotes from 4 other operators, and all but one did not include admission fees in his quote - and all were very clear on what was and wasn't included. The only one that include the admissions in his quote was Peat Taylor.

I know that Jen70 has, and gave us a great recommendation. I'm just looking to see if anyone else has experience with Donavan.

7 of us will be in Falmouth on the Disney Fantasy.

We've decided that 5 of us want to go to Sun Valley Plantation then, based on the time we have left, do Blue Hole or Dunn's River.

The other 2 want to do Rose Hall, Witter Village shopping, then Dr Cave Beach.

We separately contacted a few other private drivers and in both cases, Donavan was significantly lower than the others.

I don't really see any other reviews, not here, not other cruise sites, not TripAdvisor.

Thanks!

divot 33....I wish I had known about Sun Valley Plantation. I just read the TripAdvisor reviews and mapped it. It's not too far from the Blue Hole. We would've went had we known about it.

 

There aren't much chatter on this website about it, that's why I didn't know. BUMMER!!!! It sounds cool...

Yeah, that's why I found it odd that Courtney said they don't take cruise passengers to Sun Valley due to the distance from the port. :confused:

Sun Valley looks like something that everyone in our group would like - which is pretty rare!

Still deciding on Cozumel, too. We're between a few of the beach resorts - Paradise, Passion Island, Chankanaab, Playa Plancar, Papitos.

Cool...

 

I am doubly jealous. (1) you're going on a cruise and (2) it's a DISNEY cruise. a disney cruise is on my bucket list. :-) we've been cruising on Royal and Princess for so long - hubby likes consistency and doesn't want to change.

 

I am counting down to our Hawaiian Cruise in May...it just seems soooo far away. ;)

 

What other islands will you be visiting?

This is our first Disney cruise. My family (5 of us) has been on one RC cruise. This is my parents first cruise. Disney was very pricey, but we decided to see what it was all about.

We're going to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Castaway.

Donavan got back to me very quickly. He said he'd be willing to do all three tours since the ship docks early that morning. He said we could leave at 9am and quoted a good price, especially for 7 people.

I don't think we'll end up trying to do all three - you made a great point about quantity vs. quality. :cool:

Lastly, he said that you and Michael are some of the nicest people he's ever been on a tour with!

Now I just have to see if I can get both families to agree to book this day.

I know, right?

We just decided to do this a few days ago and I've been in planner mode ever since.

None of the group has done Blue Hole, so that tips the scales a bit towards Blue Hole.

I emailed your island friend ;) - I'll let you know how he responds.

Reviving this thread. Has anyone done the Time Travel excursion at Prospect Plantation?

Thanks!

All great info, Jen. Do you mind saying who you booked with?

Thanks!

Thanks, Jen!

I was thinking about one active excursion (Dunn's or Blue Hole), and one not as active (Sun Valley).

I think 4 (out of 7) in our group would prefer Blue Hole for the jumping and rope swing, but the remaining 3 would probably end up as non-jumpers.

All 7 would do Dunn's (3 of the group have done it before and all 3 suggested going back).

Decisions, decisions.

Whoops, sorry. We will be docked in Falmouth.

Doing two out of three would be a lot or all three?

Thanks!

We will be in Jamaica on June 3 with the Disney Fantasy - in port from 7:30 - 4:45. There will be 7 of us in our group aged 20 - 70.

We were hoping to do Dunn's or Blue Hole (or both) and Sun Valley Plantation all in one day. Seems like a lot and we are willing to skip Dunn's or Blue Hole if needed.

I emailed Peat Taylor, Courtney Taylor, and Errol@traveljamaicatours.

Errol responded that we would have to skip Dunn's or Blue Hole. Doing just one of those would allow us to do Sun Valley.

Courtney seemed less confident. In the first response, Samantha said that they don't do Sun Valley for cruise passengers due to the distance. She said we could look into Prospect Plantation (but I haven't seen many, if any, reviews for that place). Google maps shows that the drive to Prospect is only 3 minutes less than the drive to Sun Valley, but there may be local conditions that I don't know about.

When I asked if we could skip Dunn's or Blue Hole, she said she asked Courtney and he said that he would take us to Sun Valley first. Then, based on the amount of time left, we could see if there was time to do Blue Hole (Dunn's seemed out of the question).

Haven't heard back from Peat yet.

My question is - has anyone done Sun Valley Plantation + Blue Hole or Sun Valley + Dunn's River on the same port day?

Are we crazy for wanting to try for 2 out of 3? (it sounds like I was crazy trying to get in all three, so I'm willing to drop that idea)

Thanks!

Great info malmo288 and maldenmusic!

Thank you!

I want to make sure I have the prices correct.

We'd have to pay for the taxi to Playa Palancar. There will be 5 - 7 of us going, so that is $30 - $40

The snorkel tour is ~$35

Is there an 'entrance' fee to the place?

I know it's not AI, so any food and drinks would be extra.

Trying to decide whether to go to Playa Palancar, Chankanaab, or Paradise Beach.

Thanks!

Anyone have an idea of taxi fares for 3 adults and 3 kids from cruise port?

This site shows you cab fares: http://www.cozumelinsider.com/Taxiinternational?From=Taxiczm

I linked to the fares from the International Port. You can change location at the top.