Bamboo Beach Club/DRF

[xan51090]

We are looking at excursions for our April, 2008 cruise. Does anyone have any info, good or bad, on the Bamboo Beach Club/DRF excursion? Also, how close is shopping/dining to where the ship docks and what's available?

[Bruce&Pam]

We did that excursion when we ported at Ocho Rios. Bamboo Beach is just a short walk from the ship. There's light shopping nearby. From Montego Bay, it's a 2 to 3 hour bus ride each way.

 

The beach itself is nothing special. It was rather boring as far as I was concerned. The water is roped off so the swimming area is very small and is more of a wading area. They sat everyone in a beach chair. We were lucky enough to be under the shade of a tree. Some were out in the sun. They brought us jerk chicken and rum punches. I enjoyed the food and drink.

 

The trip to DRF wasn't very pleasant. They herded us to a bus, through the park, and down to the bottom of the falls. The crowd going up the falls was huge. After climbing the falls they herded us back to the bus and back to the beach. I would have liked to walk around at the DRF park and taken pictures, shopped, etc. but we felt very much like cattle on a cattle drive. I would like to do DRF again, sometime, when I have a little time to enjoy it.

 

That was our experience. It's personal and maybe would be different on a different day with a different guide, etc.

 

---Bruce

[stoneharborlady]

We are looking at excursions for our April, 2008 cruise. Does anyone have any info, good or bad, on the Bamboo Beach Club/DRF excursion? Also, how close is shopping/dining to where the ship docks and what's available?

 

 

We did this excursion in early July. A longtime cruiser did it the year before, and gave it an A+. It has gone WAY downhill since then, and we were not happy with it at all. It was a very small beach, fenced in and topped with barbed wire. There were about 30 lounge chairs under a plastic awning. You were assigned a young lady (very nice) to take care of you, bring you watery drinks, and lunch. Lunch consisted of a piece of chicken, a fried piece of bread or something similar, and a plate of chopped cucumbers, onion and something else. You could have more if you wanted, but it was exactly the same as your first plate. The water was murky and dirty, with rooted plant life covering the bottom. Plastic cups and utensils floated here. Around the other side of the beach, it was lovely in front of a hotel, the water clear and pretty. Our beach had Tshirts and the like for sale, but there was NO change available, for any bill you paid with. We stayed for two hours, but could not leave fast enough. We were surprised that this was a ships sponsored excursion, it really was NOT nice. If you do a search on the Princess board, there was another group there a week or so before/after us, and they had the same opinion.

Karen

[BcIcemen]

I was at the Beach Club in August 2007 and would not reccommend going. I thought it would be like a beach BBQ but it was nothing like it. Find something else to spend your time doing:(

[shwh03]

We just came back from Bamboo beach club and had an amazing time. The beach was clean, the water was clear (it was a little shallow but we're not such big swimmers so no big deal), and the most amazing hostess Tamara kept bringing us plates of food, and glasses of beer - she even brought us mojitos into the water. They had unbelievable entertainment that went on throughout the day - singers, dancers, Jamaican drummers - and we had such a good time watching them. And all this for $45, especially since we ate and drank a value of at least $300!!! We will definitely go back but next time we'll take the bamboo beach & dunn's river combination.

[klmorg]

I posted this (below) in a similar thread...We enjoyed it so much, we're doing again with the college-age kiddies in December.

 

We had a great time on the BBC & DRF excursion (booked this one thru Carnival). Our hostess with the mostest, LaToya, met us at the pier and escorted us to the Bamboo Beach Club, which is really closeby. You can see the ship from the BBC, and the beach is nothing fancy if you want to swim & stuff. When it was time for Dunns River Falls, she gathered her group up, took us to our van, and off we went to the Falls. That was a blast! Afterwards, she met us at the top of the Falls and escorted us thru the high pressure shopping area. We were so thankful for that because from what I heard and saw, these vendors will nearly accost you.

 

Back to the BBC, Latoya brought us all we could drink all day long... Mojitos (yummy), Rum Punch, Beer, Lemonade. She also brought platters of food... chicken, fruits, dessert bread, potatoes (from what I can remember). They also had lots of entertainment on the beach... dancing, limboo, etc. There was a shopping center (Island Village) and a couple other little shops within walking distance. Some of the locals and taxi drivers were hanging out along the way, but we walked pretty fast and avoided eye contact and had no problems; just an uncomfortable feeling for some of us "sheltered" Americans! We had a great time, and crawled back to the ship! We found it to be worth the money in many ways... including safety!