Dunn's, Blue Hole, and Sun Valley Plantation in one day?

[divot33]

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!

[lifeasme123]

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!

 

Which port will you be docking?

 

My personal opinion...that is a lot given the short time you are onshore.

[divot33]

Whoops, sorry. We will be docked in Falmouth.

 

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

 

Thanks!

[lifeasme123]

Whoops, sorry. We will be docked in Falmouth.

 

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

 

Thanks!

 

We docked in Falmouth last month. Dunns is about one hour away and give it another 1/2 hour to get to Blue Hole. We spent about 2 hours at BH and got a good workout from that. I have seen excursions where they did both Dunns and BH. Adding in a 3rd...you won't have time.

 

Do you prefer to get as many excursions in as possible? Or do you prefer to get quality time?

 

Personally BH is way much better and more fun than DRF. Check out this forum and Tripadvisor for comparison between the two. I would say majority of the people would take BH over DRF.

 

FYI...DRF admission fee is $20, BH is $10-$20. You may need to factor that in for your total costs.

[divot33]

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.

[lifeasme123]

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.

 

You are welcome! I know how much work it goes to planning. And the details are what we really want to know, right? ;-)

 

Have the 3 who have been to DRF been to BH? The non-jumpers can swim at the blue hole. Plus there are places where the jump height isn't high.

 

It's only been one month and I am having withdrawls already. lol

[divot33]

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.

[lifeasme123]

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.

 

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?

[divot33]

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.

[lifeasme123]

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.

 

Aww...that is very nice of Donavan to say that. Our family is pretty laid back and we enjoy learning different cultures and meeting people. Donavan is like a gentle giant. He gave all of us great big hugs when we first saw him in person. Some people may not like that, but we were totally fine with it. We were over 1 1/2 hour late getting off the ship because we had to wait on someone who didn't follow directions re: where to meet on the ship prior to disembark. We were so happy to see that Donavan was still right there waiting for us.

 

Disney cruise prices are what is stopping my hubby from wanting to go. Having spent a week at Disney World after our cruise in Dec...he definitely does not want to go on a disney cruise. One day I will take our little girl and it will be just us two. :-)

 

We have only been to DRF and BH. So I cannot provide feedback on the 3rd place you want to visit.

 

Do you have plans in Cozumel already? We hired a driver for the day - very reasonable! $125 for 5 of us. For that price he gave us an island tour, he made recommendations of what to do but left it up to us to do whatever we wanted. He dropped 3 at the marina to catch their boat for scuba dive and didn't charge them a penny!

[lifeasme123]

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...

[divot33]

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.