Private tour company

[Blessedcruiser]

Which private tour comapnay would you go with? Liberty, Peat or Riley??? Please advise?? Is there a big difference??

 

 

Thanks,

 

Joyce

[dz63]

Which private tour comapnay would you go with? Liberty, Peat or Riley??? Please advise?? Is there a big difference??

 

 

Thanks,

 

Joyce

 

I guess it really depends on what you would like to see and do, reading reviews, deciding how much you would like to spend and then see which tour operator best suits your needs. For us, we booked our Ocho Rios excursion to Dunns River Falls, River Tubing and the Irie Blue Hole with Peat Taylor Tours. One of the reasons we choose Peat Taylor was because they were one of a few tour operators that even know about the Blue Hole. We had a private tour for just our family and we also found Peat Taylor Tours to be very reasonably priced--and when travelling with a family of 5, this was very helpful. I have read alot of excellent reviews for Liberty so I am sure they would also be a wonderful choice--but I believe their rates are higher than Peat's.

 

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our day with Peat Taylor Tours. We had Peat's eldest son, Oneil as our guide and we thought he was simply awesome. I know there are a lot of choices among tour operators, but we had no regrets booking our Ocho Rios excursion with Peat Taylor Tours.

 

If you are interested to learn more of our experience with Peat Taylor Tours, check out my review on Trip Advisor.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d780599-r176247819-Peat_Taylor_Private_Tours-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

Edited January 13, 2014 by dz63

[gskline]

I guess it really depends on what you would like to see and do, reading reviews, deciding how much you would like to spend and then see which tour operator best suits your needs. For us, we booked our Ocho Rios excursion to Dunns River Falls, River Tubing and the Irie Blue Hole with Peat Taylor Tours. One of the reasons we choose Peat Taylor was because they were one of a few tour operators that even know about the Blue Hole. We had a private tour for just our family and we also found Peat Taylor Tours to be very reasonably priced--and when travelling with a family of 5, this was very helpful. I have read alot of excellent reviews for Liberty so I am sure they would also be a wonderful choice--but I believe their rates are higher than Peat's.

 

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our day with Peat Taylor Tours. We had Peat's eldest son, Oneil as our guide and we thought he was simply awesome. I know there are a lot of choices among tour operators, but we had no regrets booking our Ocho Rios excursion with Peat Taylor Tours.

 

If you are interested to learn more of our experience with Peat Taylor Tours, check out my review on Trip Advisor.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d780599-r176247819-Peat_Taylor_Private_Tours-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

 

Thank you dz63. We've been to Jamaica before and did the Dunn's River Falls. Looking for something different. The Royal Carib excursions don't interest us!

[dz63]

Thank you dz63. We've been to Jamaica before and did the Dunn's River Falls. Looking for something different. The Royal Carib excursions don't interest us!

 

If you will be visiting Ocho Rios again and love a bit of adventure, consider the Irie Blue Hole. Featuring a 20 foot cascading waterfall, hidden caves, refreshing turquoise pools and a Tarzan rope swing, the Blue Hole is less touristy and more secluded than Dunns River--no crowds and attentive guides that treat you like a V.I.P. A visit to the Irie Blue is a different and unique experience and is not offered by the cruise lines. Our visit here was the highlight of our Jamaican vacation!

 

Read my review on Trip Advisor for more details.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d1997485-r176527386-Blue_Hole-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

[gskline]

If you will be visiting Ocho Rios again and love a bit of adventure, consider the Irie Blue Hole. Featuring a 20 foot cascading waterfall, hidden caves, refreshing turquoise pools and a Tarzan rope swing, the Blue Hole is less touristy and more secluded than Dunns River--no crowds and attentive guides that treat you like a V.I.P. A visit to the Irie Blue is a different and unique experience and is not offered by the cruise lines. Our visit here was the highlight of our Jamaican vacation!

 

Read my review on Trip Advisor for more details.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d1997485-r176527386-Blue_Hole-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I have one arm that is handicapped, so I'm not able to jump off the Falls, even though it looks really cool. We were interested in a partial day at a Beach. RCCL cancelled the Chukka Beach Break that we were planning on doing.

[dz63]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I have one arm that is handicapped, so I'm not able to jump off the Falls, even though it looks really cool. We were interested in a partial day at a Beach. RCCL cancelled the Chukka Beach Break that we were planning on doing.

 

Sorry to hear about your handicap and that RCCL cancelled the Chukka Beach Break. Most tour operators should be able to provide transportation to a beach and if you like, include some sightseeing or shopping with it. Since we booked with Peat Taylor Tours and had a positive experience with them, I checked their website and they do offer a private beach tour. If you're interested, you can check their beach option here:

http://www.ochoriosjamaicatours.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=200&Itemid=185

. . . or perhaps something like Jamaica Resort for a Day may be of interest to you?

http://www.resortforaday.com/Jamaica-s/1818.htm

 

Good luck with your planning!

Edited January 14, 2014 by dz63

[gskline]

Sorry to hear about your handicap and that RCCL cancelled the Chukka Beach Break. Most tour operators should be able to provide transportation to a beach and if you like, include some sightseeing or shopping with it. Since we booked with Peat Taylor Tours and had a positive experience with them, I checked their website and they do offer a private beach tour. If you're interested, you can check their beach option here:

http://www.ochoriosjamaicatours.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=200&Itemid=185

. . . or perhaps something like Jamaica Resort for a Day may be of interest to you?

http://www.resortforaday.com/Jamaica-s/1818.htm

 

Good luck with your planning!

 

Thank you for the great links!!

[VermeulT]

DZ....

 

In the end, how much did you pay for this tour, including all tips?

How long was it? I am paranoid about getting back to the ship late.

I will be in port (Ocho Rios) 8a-4p. And would like to plan on being back to port no later than 2:30p, shop locally and then hop on the ship.

I would love to do Irie Blue Hole and maybe the river tubing......

 

Thanks for your info.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Edited January 14, 2014 by VermeulT

[dz63]

DZ....

 

In the end, how much did you pay for this tour, including all tips?

How long was it? I am paranoid about getting back to the ship late.

I will be in port (Ocho Rios) 8a-4p. And would like to plan on being back to port no later than 2:30p, shop locally and then hop on the ship.

I would love to do Irie Blue Hole and maybe the river tubing......

 

Thanks for your info.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

We came in from Montego Bay and since we did this excursion on a land vacation, we did not have the same time constraints as you would have coming from a cruise ship. With that being said, we were able to spend 1 1/2 hours at each site (Dunns River Falls, River Tubing and the Blue Hole). We paid $100/person and this rate included transportation and all admission fees. How much you would like to tip really depends on you. We spent a total of $110-$120 on tips--this included our guide from Peat Taylor Tours, the Falls guide from Dunns River, our River Tubing guide & his helpers and then 2 more guides from the Blue Hole--as you can see, there are alot of people to tip on a triple excursion! If you are coming in on a cruise ship from Montego Bay, and factoring in the 3 hour r/t driving time, you would not have enough time to do all three of these excursions. However if you are arriving in Ocho Rios, you would be able to fit all three of these excursions in--but depending on how much time you spend at each stop, you may not have much if any time left for shopping. According to Peat Taylors website, the option for shopping, swimming and lunch afterwards is available. How much shopping time you could actually get, would best be confirmed by your tour operator as they do this all the time and would be best able to anticipate a more accurate time estimate.

 

We also stopped for lunch at Scotchies. For authentic, local jerk chicken served in an outdoorsy atmosphere, this is the place to go! We found the food here to be very good and reasonably priced--it was under $5.00 for a 1/4 chicken with Festival.

 

In getting back to the ship on time, don't worry about this. Independent tour operators have a reputation to uphold and are very aware of your time constraints. They will make sure you arrive back in time before sailing as their business depends on it! In 2007, we visited Ocho Rios off a cruise ship and were in port from 8:30-3:30. We booked a tour through a private tour operator which included Dunns River Falls and River Tubing. We completed these two activities by noon and had a good 2+ hours to shop at Island Village and hang out in Margaritaville before heading back to the ship at 2:30. If you plan on just visiting the Irie Blue Hole and go River Tubing, you should have no worries about having enough time to shop before boarding your cruise ship.

 

If you're interested to learn more about our recent excursions in Ocho Rios with photos, check out my reviews on Trip Advisor here:

 

Dunns River Falls

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d4339935-r179490738-Dunns_River_Falls-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

River Tubing down the White River

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d1390584-r179264227-Calypso_Rafting-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

Irie Blue Hole

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d1997485-r176527386-Blue_Hole-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

Have a great trip!

[VermeulT]

If you're interested to learn more about our recent excursions in Ocho Rios with photos, check out my reviews on Trip Advisor here:

 

Dunns River Falls

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d4339935-r179490738-Dunns_River_Falls-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

River Tubing down the White River

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d1390584-r179264227-Calypso_Rafting-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

Irie Blue Hole

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d1997485-r176527386-Blue_Hole-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

Have a great trip!

 

Thank you so much. Your input above and the links are much appreciated.

[VermeulT]

We came in from Montego Bay and since we did this excursion on a land vacation, we did not have the same time constraints as you would have coming from a cruise ship. With that being said, we were able to spend 1 1/2 hours at each site (Dunns River Falls, River Tubing and the Blue Hole). We paid $100/person and this rate included transportation and all admission fees. How much you would like to tip really depends on you. We spent a total of $110-$120 on tips--this included our guide from Peat Taylor Tours, the Falls guide from Dunns River, our River Tubing guide & his helpers and then 2 more guides from the Blue Hole--as you can see, there are alot of people to tip on a triple excursion! If you are coming in on a cruise ship from Montego Bay, and factoring in the 3 hour r/t driving time, you would not have enough time to do all three of these excursions. However if you are arriving in Ocho Rios, you would be able to fit all three of these excursions in--but depending on how much time you spend at each stop, you may not have much if any time left for shopping. According to Peat Taylors website, the option for shopping, swimming and lunch afterwards is available. How much shopping time you could actually get, would best be confirmed by your tour operator as they do this all the time and would be best able to anticipate a more accurate time estimate.

 

We also stopped for lunch at Scotchies. For authentic, local jerk chicken served in an outdoorsy atmosphere, this is the place to go! We found the food here to be very good and reasonably priced--it was under $5.00 for a 1/4 chicken with Festival.

 

In getting back to the ship on time, don't worry about this. Independent tour operators have a reputation to uphold and are very aware of your time constraints. They will make sure you arrive back in time before sailing as their business depends on it! In 2007, we visited Ocho Rios off a cruise ship and were in port from 8:30-3:30. We booked a tour through a private tour operator which included Dunns River Falls and River Tubing. We completed these two activities by noon and had a good 2+ hours to shop at Island Village and hang out in Margaritaville before heading back to the ship at 2:30. If you plan on just visiting the Irie Blue Hole and go River Tubing, you should have no worries about having enough time to shop before boarding your cruise ship.

 

If you're interested to learn more about our recent excursions in Ocho Rios with photos, check out my reviews on Trip Advisor here:

 

Dunns River Falls

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d4339935-r179490738-Dunns_River_Falls-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

River Tubing down the White River

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d1390584-r179264227-Calypso_Rafting-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

Irie Blue Hole

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d1997485-r176527386-Blue_Hole-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html

 

Have a great trip!

 

Thanks again. I have booked with Peat... $60pp includes transportation & entrance fees (only leaves tipping) - for both Blue Hole & the tubing.

Cheers!