Private guides in Ocho Rios

[BucketO'Suds]

Does anyone have any experience with a private tour guide in Ocho Rios? Looking for something to do but not sure what..will have 5 yr old with us.

[MrsJed]

My sister and I and an older couple hired a cab for several hours.

 

He took us around the different nighborhoods and then out of the town a ways, we went to a roadside place (they are all over and this one we think was a friend).

 

Had a walking tour of the gardens at the roadside place.

 

Took us to Dunn river falls to a viewing area and another craft stand.

 

Went to a gated shopping area but we wondered across the road to the crafters market, liked that better.

 

At this point the tour was over and it was about $40 for all of us plus tip, it was worth it to us and he was very imformative.

 

We always felt safe and just said no a few times lol.

[BucketO'Suds]

Thanks for the info...maybe an option.

[boatdrinx]

We used A-Z Planners and had a delightful day. The price is quite reasonable and you have the guide at your disposal for the entire day. You can customize the tour to take in the sites you want to see.

[TheWog]

www.peattaylor.com

 

Peat and Oneill showed us a great day. I am positive they would take great care of you and your little one. Contact them for age appropriate things to do while in port. They will stay with you the whole day and show anything you would like to see. Reasonably priced as well.

[Ev1995]

Hi all, we just returned , and we used A-Z planners, with Mickey as our driver, it was a great day, as said before it can be customised as well, we did the dunn's river falls and tubing with a stop for dinner and some shopping and also drove up fern gully.

 

Oh yes , we also had a five year old with us , and he had no problem climbing the falls, or tubing.

 

 

Catch you later.

[Nanatravel]

We have used Belinda and her tour company, A-Zjamaicaplanners.com for tours when docked at Ochio Rios and Mo Bay. Check out the web page and email her with any questions. As menitoned, she will help you customize a great day visiting beautiful Jamaica; Dunn's River Falls, beach time, etc. for a very reasonable price.

Bon Voyage

[55J5-5]

We booked with Phil Lafayette and loved it. We did the island tour and Dunn River falls. We saw alot of the island and learned even more. We booked a helicopter ride after and he was able to take us and return us to the ship after. Way above and beyond call of duty. Very personable. He followed up with an email after we got home to make sure all is well. Will book with him on our next visit. :D

[dgund]

Another vote for Peat Taylor.

[workn2cruise]

We had a great time with Ionie McBeam in 2002 and will again next month :)

[newanne]

We recently spent the day with Marva Shaw. We had been to Jamaica before, so we didnt want to do the standard tourist stuff. We asked Marva to show us the real Jamaica, and she did. We had a fabulous day. I have already recommended her to friends, and will definately call on her again. I've got some great pictures. Thank you, Marva.

[skolega]

Another vote for Marva Shaw. Contact me at kolegas1@yahoo.com for her email address. She will treat you right.

[mom2eli]

We also just used a taxi driver. As long as it is a JUta taxi they are reputable. You can negotiate the price for entitre day. We had ours take us to Dunn River falls, for Jerk Chicken, a tour of the island and shopping. He was very friendly and let us leave everything on his bus whil we were doing the falls.

[colababy]

Peat Taylor/Phil Lafayette/ Ionie McBeam, etc all work for the same company that organizes (act as liason) for them. They are definitely better than the cruise ship tours (eg, you get to Dunn's river a lot earlier and avoid the Disneyland). But as far as seeing the "real Jamaica"...come on...be realistic. You're on a cruise, going to see a place for a few hours. Also, many of these tour people manage several tours in one day, especially if there are several ships that day. I just needed to add that because the cruise critic posters make it seem like they are very small scale/intimate tours but they are a bit bigger that that. Also, I don't understand the person from a previous post who said their guide Peat took them to a locals place for lunch...the tour groups when I was there (including the independent tours like Peat, etc) take you to these expensive buffets or restaurants where you don't see a Jamaican eating there. (sucker lunches)

[familyplanner]

We also used Marva Shaw in January and our group loved it! You can check out her website and contact her at knowjamaica.com:p

[dimama]

We too used Marva Shaw. We were cruising with our 3 and 5 year old boys, and she custom tailored a trip to meet our needs. We were the only ones in her van. She took us to Coyoba Gardens where we toured the gardens and climbed the falls they have there. They are much smaller than Dunns, so the kids were able to come along and enjoy it - it gave us a taste of climbing falls. Then we went to a beach and had lunch there at a small restaurant. It was wonderful! She also took us into Ocho Rios to buy some sand toys for the boys (didn't want to pack them from Montana) and she assisted us with a coffee purchase.

 

We loved our tour with Marva and would definately use her again!

 

Diana

[captNcrunch]

We had a good experience with Trevor Edwards (trevprestige_1

at yahoo dot com) ! Wonderful man, very well spoken, good sense of humor and very reliable. If you contact him tell him Tom from the Dawn Margarativille crew says HI!

[RDLuckey]

We just got back last night after a cruise on Mariner of the Seas. In Ocho Rios we used Phil Lafayette as well. He really did a good job. Uses an air conditioned van that will hold probably 18 people. He was there when we got off, and hauled us around all day for $20 per person plus tip. The only issue we had was that there was major road work going on between dock and Dunn River, which held everybody up, and threw him a little off schedule. Did lunch after tubing instead of before, which made it a long stretch without eating for kids. He was a great host, very funny, and he took us to a dinner where, if my impression was correct, we were the only non-islanders eating. My wife and I had a total of three Red Stripe beers, and shared a plate of chicken and ribs, for $10 each, which seemed really reasonable to me. I would certainly recommend Phil and would use him again.

[MOteacher]

Peat Taylor/Phil Lafayette/ Ionie McBeam, etc all work for the same company that organizes (act as liason) for them. They are definitely better than the cruise ship tours (eg, you get to Dunn's river a lot earlier and avoid the Disneyland). But as far as seeing the "real Jamaica"...come on...be realistic. You're on a cruise, going to see a place for a few hours. Also, many of these tour people manage several tours in one day, especially if there are several ships that day. I just needed to add that because the cruise critic posters make it seem like they are very small scale/intimate tours but they are a bit bigger that that. Also, I don't understand the person from a previous post who said their guide Peat took them to a locals place for lunch...the tour groups when I was there (including the independent tours like Peat, etc) take you to these expensive buffets or restaurants where you don't see a Jamaican eating there. (sucker lunches)

 

I don't know about the above tours, but I do know that when we were with Marva Shaw last week we did indeed have a small, private tour. There were just two couples (us and our friends). We asked for a private tour with a local flavor, and that is exactly what we got. We felt we did see the "real" Jamaica. It was actually almost too real, my friend was a little concerned when they pulled up to a thatched roof shack for lunch where the mode of cooking was on an outdoor grill (not a buffet in sight). I am positive we were the only non-islanders there. The other customers were obviously local road and construction workers. Marva gave us exactly what we asked for. And it was wonderful!

[GramaFran]

Ionie McBeam might work for a larger tour company but she really geared our tour for 8 to what we wanted to do and see. We did not have lunch in a hotel or buffet, we ate at a Jerk Shack with many other local people. You order at one window and pick up at another and eat on picnic tables out on the grass or under a shelter. Very local to me. Food was fantastic, a little hot but that is what Jerk is all about.

While there she arranged for our girls to get their hair braided - they loved it. After touring, doing Dunn's falls, tubing on the river and having lunch she took me back to the ship and the rest to Margaritaville for drinks and a little shopping. She stayed around to take them back to the ship as we were docked down the road by some industry area.

I would recommed her to anyone. We did not want to see the flora and fauna as family from Hawaii and have seen it there daily. But we took a drive into local neighborhoods to see the houses and schools. Interesting for the grandkids as they had to write about every place we went for school.

Francine