RCI sponsored Jamaica excursion to Rose Hall Hilton

[Lavani]

I'm hoping someone can help me - we are going to be on the Navigator in May and we want to go to Hilton Rose Hall when we are in Jamaica. We have been before and loved it!

 

We are trying to decide between the cruise sponsored excursion or doing it independently. Usually we do it independently but we will have our two small children with us, and may choose RCI for the safety/security aspect (I know I'm a little paranoid.)

 

My issue is the RCI excursion says it is 4 hours long, and I know Rose Hall is about 45 min away from port. Does that mean we will only be there for 2 1/2 hours? Or is travel time not included in the tour length? We will be in Jamaica from 8-5, so I would hate to miss out on good beach time if that 4 hours includes travel. Has anyone taken this excursion before with RCI? Any help appreciated. Thank you!!

[gambler]

Book it with resortsforaday....much cheaper, pick up is at 9:15 and return from the resort is at 3pm. We are doing this on the May 17th Navigator sailing

[parrotfeathers]

I went on the ship sponsored excursion a couple years ago. I don't think the time on the bus was bad. That was part of my decision to take it since I'm not interested in long bus ride just to stay an hour somewhere. If I had thought it was unreasonable I would have remembered that.

 

I did not do the luncheon thing and have read reviews that said it was not that great. I do believe we were given ample opportunity to explore the grounds and the buggy ride. I thought the buggy part would be longer and more involved than it was.

[alliemcb13]

We did Rose Hall in June 2014. We booked independently because it saved some money and we had much more time at the hotel. We used resortfortheday also. They were super! Never were we worried about missing the ship, they accounted for everyone before we left the resort. One thing I must say is that if you are looking for a beach day you may be disappointed. The beach is very short and full of sea grass. We went in just to say we did but then spent the whole day in the pool. We did have a great time, our son was 8 at the time and he also loved it!

[nwcruisemamma]

We used resortforaday in 2014 with two young kids and it was perfect!!!

[breezy_carol]

We used Resortforaday this past October. It made me more than a little nervous because the bus was a half hour late each way. But otherwise, a nice day. I enjoyed the lunch and drinks. The lazy river and slide were nice. The beach was small but pleasant. It was rocky so be sure to take water shoes.

[Lost_in_BC]

We booked our visit through Resort for a day and have no regrets. It was a great day, with lots of beautiful grounds to explore and an awesome pool to just drink the day away as you float around the lazy river. It was quite nice. Will do it again if we return.

[Lavani]

thank you for the replies. I think we will just do resortforaday as well.

One more question - for those who did that, what was the transportation? Was it just a typical tour bus? Van? Thanks.

[breezy_carol]

When we took it off the Freedom from Falmouth in October, it was a large, plush air-conditioned coach bus.