Falmouth with 3.5 year old?

[dan1rk]

We are headed to Falmouth this month for a day and wondered what excursions people would recommend to do with an active preschooler. Dunn and Blue Hole don't sound very safe (or fun for her!) so I wondered if there were any other good ideas. We'd prefer to have her come with us rather than stay on the ship :)

[Tagong]

I haven't done it but tubing the Martha Brae was recommened to me for for 2.5 yr old. However; as we are beach people we chose to visit Jewel Runaway Bay.

[acceber32]

Curious about this as well. We'll be in Falmouth with a 6 and 2 year old. We are looking at possibly doing an all-inclusive like Hilton Rose Hill or Jewel Bay but really we'd just like a safe/clean beach.

 

 

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[Tagong]

acceber32 - Since you brought up the beach and specifically Rose Hall/Jewel Runaway Bay. Here is my review of Rose Hall. I was there with a group a couple Thursdays ago. Our group included 2.5, 1.5 and 7-month old.

 

Booked Jewel through Resort for a Day but ended up at Rose Hall. Hear my story below.

 

Last time we ported in Falmouth we walked around the Port and headed back to the ship. Only two ships can port in Falmouth and we didn’t realize that with two large ships a wind tunnel was created. As such it was quite breezy so we decided perhaps it wouldn’t be a good beach day. This time around we booked something in advance. Again; doing lots of research we decided to book a beach day through Resort for a Day. We had the choice of going to Hilton Rose Hall and Jewel Runaway Bay. I decided upon Jewel because reviews had indicated it had the nicer beach (we’re beach people) and that the food was better. The bonus was that they were building a waterpark similar to Rose Hall that was scheduled to be completed end of 2014. For those interested that waterpark still isn’t completed and Jewel is being very cryptic with when it will be completed. That’s neither here nor there since we didn’t end up at the Jewel. We encountered some poor weather which prevented us from docking in Falmouth so we ended up docking in Montego Bay. The terminal at Montego Bay is not nearly as nice as Falmouth. It is actually kind of rundown by comparison but we didn’t’ care as we weren’t spending the day at the terminal anyways. Since our ship wasn’t scheduled to port in Montego Bay our ship docked at a shipping yard and we took shuttles to the main terminal (2 min ride). I was a bit worried about our bus transfer given we were supposed to port in Falmouth however I knew we’d find someone at the terminal representing Resort for a Day given they do tours from Montego as well. After asking a couple people we found the Resort for a Day rep and were on a shuttle to our beach within 10 minutes of arrival. The Jewel is closer to Ocho Rios and Falmouth so it was about 1hr 10min from Montego. About 10 minutes into our transfer our driver asked if we’d prefer to go to Hilton Rose Hall which was closer and wouldn’t cost us any more than what we would have paid at Jewel. We agree and spent an amazing day at the Hilton Rose Hall. The beach was closed because of the weather which was really just windy so we found a nice spot near the lazy river/water slides. Our daughter loved…loved the lazy river and water slides and we couldn’t get her out of the water. Our waiter was amazing and kept the drinks and patties flowing all day. Other than the patties the food was ok but when you compare any food to what you’re eating on the ship everything is just ok. If we port in Montego again I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to Hilton Rose Hall but I am a little disappointed to have not gone to Jewel since it seemed to offer everything my wife and I look for in a land based vacation. Again; great day despite the curveball and kudos to Resort for a Day for scrambling to make sure we had a fantastic day.

 

Happy to answer any questions you may have.

[acceber32]

acceber32 - Since you brought up the beach and specifically Rose Hall/Jewel Runaway Bay. Here is my review of Rose Hall. I was there with a group a couple Thursdays ago. Our group included 2.5, 1.5 and 7-month old.

 

Booked Jewel through Resort for a Day but ended up at Rose Hall. Hear my story below.

 

Last time we ported in Falmouth we walked around the Port and headed back to the ship. Only two ships can port in Falmouth and we didn’t realize that with two large ships a wind tunnel was created. As such it was quite breezy so we decided perhaps it wouldn’t be a good beach day. This time around we booked something in advance. Again; doing lots of research we decided to book a beach day through Resort for a Day. We had the choice of going to Hilton Rose Hall and Jewel Runaway Bay. I decided upon Jewel because reviews had indicated it had the nicer beach (we’re beach people) and that the food was better. The bonus was that they were building a waterpark similar to Rose Hall that was scheduled to be completed end of 2014. For those interested that waterpark still isn’t completed and Jewel is being very cryptic with when it will be completed. That’s neither here nor there since we didn’t end up at the Jewel. We encountered some poor weather which prevented us from docking in Falmouth so we ended up docking in Montego Bay. The terminal at Montego Bay is not nearly as nice as Falmouth. It is actually kind of rundown by comparison but we didn’t’ care as we weren’t spending the day at the terminal anyways. Since our ship wasn’t scheduled to port in Montego Bay our ship docked at a shipping yard and we took shuttles to the main terminal (2 min ride). I was a bit worried about our bus transfer given we were supposed to port in Falmouth however I knew we’d find someone at the terminal representing Resort for a Day given they do tours from Montego as well. After asking a couple people we found the Resort for a Day rep and were on a shuttle to our beach within 10 minutes of arrival. The Jewel is closer to Ocho Rios and Falmouth so it was about 1hr 10min from Montego. About 10 minutes into our transfer our driver asked if we’d prefer to go to Hilton Rose Hall which was closer and wouldn’t cost us any more than what we would have paid at Jewel. We agree and spent an amazing day at the Hilton Rose Hall. The beach was closed because of the weather which was really just windy so we found a nice spot near the lazy river/water slides. Our daughter loved…loved the lazy river and water slides and we couldn’t get her out of the water. Our waiter was amazing and kept the drinks and patties flowing all day. Other than the patties the food was ok but when you compare any food to what you’re eating on the ship everything is just ok. If we port in Montego again I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to Hilton Rose Hall but I am a little disappointed to have not gone to Jewel since it seemed to offer everything my wife and I look for in a land based vacation. Again; great day despite the curveball and kudos to Resort for a Day for scrambling to make sure we had a fantastic day.

 

Happy to answer any questions you may have.

 

 

Thanks for the review!! I've been watching to see when/if the waterpark at Jewel will be finished or not. If its not finished we won't be going there. Let's hope it doesn't book up by that time.