Heartbeat of Jamaica, Discover Falmouth Excursion

[SCYankees]

Has anyone taken this tour? We see it listed on RCCL's Oasis of the Seas excursion list and were wondering if it is worth it?

[AdventurousCruiser07]

I'm also really interested in this excursion, but I can find next to no reviews on it. What's the deal?

[AdventurousCruiser07]

The official information from Royal Caribbean is:

 

A Heartbeat of Jamaica - Discover Falmouth - FYA7

 

- Overview: Join us for a day of discovery on a tour that takes you to an historic town, a rural school, a working plantation and food tasting at an overseer's house. - Highlights: Tour historic Falmouth, including St Peter's Anglican Church. Visit an 18th century plantation and enjoy a jitney ride through the sugar cane fields and papaya groves. Visit a rural school and interact with the children. Jamaican snack of jerk chicken, fresh fruits, juices, and Jamaica's famous rums included.

------------------------------------------------

 

I would like to know if you, or anyone you talked to, actually went on this tour. Was it a good experience? Or would you recommend a different tour instead? When visiting new countries, I like to see more of the culture and learn about the country if possible. Minus the drug part of Jamaican culture ~ we'll pass on that! Why does this tour appear to be unpopular? There are hardly any reviews at all!

 

I'm 23 and my boyfriend is 26 - I've been on medical mission trips in the poorest parts of Guatemala, so I'm not going to be overwhelmed by the poverty here. Josh is a former Marine, so it's unlikely that he'll be intimidated either if we walk outside of the gates. We're going to pass on the Dunn River Falls - the last encounter Josh had with slippery rocks ended with a cracked skull and staples. :/ We thought about the catamaran excursion with snorkeling, but the reef and sea life doesn't appear to be that outstanding here from what I can tell.

 

Any thoughts would be welcome! Thanks! We'll be sailing on the March 25th Liberty of the Seas.

[ladyhawk415]

Hubby & I took this tour in early February. We had a great time! First off let me say, we're both in our 50's, but definitely no stick in the mud (we did the flight line in Labadee and swam with the stingrays in Grand Cayman.). We wanted something in Jamaica that did not revolve around a beach, as we had two busy beach days already on the itinerary.

 

As to the tour...It is a 30-40 minute ride out to the plantation in Trelawny. There are some patches of road that are not fully paved and the road is a little bumpy. The driver was very knowledgeable and answered any questions we had and was very entertaining.

 

After arriving in Trelawny, our first stop was the elementary school. For anyone from the States, this was a real eye opener, and as far as I'm concerned, a must see. The teachers and their wonderful students were very friendly and accommodating.

 

From there, our jitney picked us up and took us to the plantation. Our guide, Dana was wonderful. Very friendly, energetic and knowledgeable. The first stop was the papaya fields where we were given papaya seedlings to plant. This was actually a lot of fun. Kind of cool to think something we planted would be left there in Jamaica. Anyway, we then went on to the huge sugar cane fields. Dana explained the whole process, and we saw an enormous flatbed truck bringing in some of the new harvest. From there we went on to the grounds of the "Big House". Here, we were treated to a wonderful tasting lunch of fresh papaya juice, fresh fruit (all grown locally) and some of the best jerk chicken I've ever had. After lunch, it was on to the rum tasting room, where a variety of local rums were available for tasting. While waiting for our coach, we had more fresh papaya juice and a beautiful spread of fresh fruits. We also had a Q & A session where Hubby won a t-shirt. :)

 

Once our coach picked us up, it was off to Falmouth and a stop at St. Peter's Church. Beautiful church from the 1700's and a very interesting graveyard right by the front entrance. There are some local sellers right by the front entry. Just in case you didn't want to shop in the local markets right outside the cruise port, where you get hawked to death. (We just waited until we got back to the port village to shop.)

 

All in all, this was a really nice tour. If you're not looking for the beach, I would definitely recommend it.

[AdventurousCruiser07]

Booked the excursion! Thank you so much for your help!

[brimwithjoy]

Thanks--I was wondering about this excursion also!

[AdventurousCruiser07]

Brimwithjoy - I really enjoyed the excursion! Below is my review as well:

 

 

In Jamaica (Falmouth port) we did the Heartbeat of Jamaica excursion through RCI - the trip included a stop at an elementary school (which we missed since the kids were on Easter break), a farm tour, a stop at a historical church in Falmouth built in the 1776, and a tasting of different rums, excellent jerk chicken, roasted squash, Blue Mountain coffee, papaya, sugar cane, pineapple, chutneys, and jams. We had a tour guide on the bus that took us to the 1,000 acre farm that would teach us all about the history of Falmouth, the education system in Jamaica, etc. When we got to the farm, we got on a jitney and had a tour guide from the farm, Dana. She had a great sense of humor, but also taught us a lot about the agriculture methods in Jamaica - did you know they plant a row of 'sacrificial' corn along the papaya fields because the bugs that like papaya like corn better? You could also plant a papaya sapling in a field - I passed because it was muddy that day (the first rain in 9 weeks!) and I'm from Kansas.. but it's still a cool idea to know that you're leaving something behind in Jamaica that'll grow and produce fruit for the next 3 years. Oh, and we didn't cover the entire 1,000 acres in the tour - don't worry! Ha. The farm was 200 or 300 years old.

 

I give the excursion an A+ because it really did give you taste of the culture (and the food!) and you got to see some of the 'real' Jamaica while still being completely safe. The tour lasted about 4 hours, so there was plenty of time to go shopping and explore Falmouth after we got back. PS - we made it through our entire day in Jamaica without once being offered any drugs! Yay Jamaica!

 

I thought the excursion was an excellent value - it was $50/pp for a 4 hour excursion and with everything they included, it was well worth it. The farm was located in the Trelawney parish (county equivalent), which is the same as Falmouth, ~ 20 minute bus ride from the port.

[brimwithjoy]

Brimwithjoy - I really enjoyed the excursion! Below is my review as well:

 

Thanks! It's so helpful to hear reviews from people who have experienced it recently!:)

[jkcrutchfield]

Hubby & I took this tour in early February. We had a great time! First off let me say, we're both in our 50's, but definitely no stick in the mud (we did the flight line in Labadee and swam with the stingrays in Grand Cayman.). We wanted something in Jamaica that did not revolve around a beach, as we had two busy beach days already on the itinerary.

 

As to the tour...It is a 30-40 minute ride out to the plantation in Trelawny. There are some patches of road that are not fully paved and the road is a little bumpy. The driver was very knowledgeable and answered any questions we had and was very entertaining.

 

After arriving in Trelawny, our first stop was the elementary school. For anyone from the States, this was a real eye opener, and as far as I'm concerned, a must see. The teachers and their wonderful students were very friendly and accommodating.

 

From there, our jitney picked us up and took us to the plantation. Our guide, Dana was wonderful. Very friendly, energetic and knowledgeable. The first stop was the papaya fields where we were given papaya seedlings to plant. This was actually a lot of fun. Kind of cool to think something we planted would be left there in Jamaica. Anyway, we then went on to the huge sugar cane fields. Dana explained the whole process, and we saw an enormous flatbed truck bringing in some of the new harvest. From there we went on to the grounds of the "Big House". Here, we were treated to a wonderful tasting lunch of fresh papaya juice, fresh fruit (all grown locally) and some of the best jerk chicken I've ever had. After lunch, it was on to the rum tasting room, where a variety of local rums were available for tasting. While waiting for our coach, we had more fresh papaya juice and a beautiful spread of fresh fruits. We also had a Q & A session where Hubby won a t-shirt. :)

 

Once our coach picked us up, it was off to Falmouth and a stop at St. Peter's Church. Beautiful church from the 1700's and a very interesting graveyard right by the front entrance. There are some local sellers right by the front entry. Just in case you didn't want to shop in the local markets right outside the cruise port, where you get hawked to death. (We just waited until we got back to the port village to shop.)

 

All in all, this was a really nice tour. If you're not looking for the beach, I would definitely recommend it.

 

Ladyhawk, or anyone who has done the heartbeat of Jamaica tour, we are considering this tour but wanted to know a little more information. We are going to this port in October and it is me, my husband, 5 year old daughter, 70 year old mil and 71 year old fil. My fil walks fine but has a lot of pain if he in on his feet for too much time. My mother in law is wondering about how much walking would be expected. It says the physical ability level is mild, but I just wanted to confirm that to be true. Thanks!

[AdventurousCruiser07]

No real walking required at all for the majority of the tour - all via bus or jitney. However at the end of the tour there are some steep steps up to the tasting area.