I spend 8 days last year on my honeymoon in Jamaica and loved it. Never felt unsafe or hassled. We hired a driver through our hotel to take us to the Waterfall-excellent tour by the way. Wouldnt have any problems going back.
Jamaica is beautiful, don't stay on board but don't try and do it on your own. It is one port that I highly recommend doing a ship's tour. Mo Bay is great, Ocho as well, it's just a few that give the island a bad reputation. Stay with a group and you'll be fine. It is a really gorgeous island, with lots to offer. It is a foreign country, so just use good sense.
We went to Mo Bay last month and we had the most fantastic time. What we did was go to the doors through the shopping area where a security guard got us a cab. We went to Sunset Beach Resort, not far from the port. We could still see the ships while enjoying the beach. The resort was secured and was an ALL INCLUSIVE. $40 pp for all day. You just give them your sea pass so that they know when you leave the area. Security guards were also on the beach. I tell you it is safe and secure. We had so much fun and no worries. By the way...the jerk chicken was great and we found a nice reef not far from the beach area. We already plan to go back when we get to visit again. Hope this helped.
I would not be willing to give anyone my seapass card. If they loose it you are not getting back on the ship without a major hassle. Too many possiblities for fraud exist too. The seapass card gets you in the port area and onto the ship...
Maybe I'm too cautious but I wouldn't be willing to part with the seapass.
__________________
================================================== ========== Carnival Cruise Lines:
Fantasy 90, Celebration 95, Victory 05, Conquest 05, Spirit 6/06, Freedom 6/08, Holiday 7/08, Victory 6/09, Valor 9/09, Dream 6/10, Splendor 8/10,Conquest 8/11,Magic 11/11,Triumph 4/12,Spirit 7/12,Freedom 11/12, Triumph 2/13 - The fire cruise
NCL Dream October 2006, RCCL Mariner OTS June 2007
Maybe I'm too cautious but I wouldn't be willing to part with the seapass.
Me too. I've never heard of having to surrender a cruise card to use a facility. Security in Jamaica at the pier is bad enough (as in tough). I can't imagine the hassles involved if I showed up without my cruise card.
This is something all inclusive resorts do to try to convert cruisers over to land vacations. It gives cruisers a taste of what a land vacation would be like. I'm sure they ask for the cruise card to verify you're on a cruise and not from one of the other land resorts. Why they have to keep it, I don't know; they could just simply write down your name and the ship your on. If they are holding it to make sure you turn in towels etc, they could ask for a different form of ID such as your DL. But then a lot of people might not be carrying that off the ship either. So I think the ship ID is easiest. While it might make some people feel uneasy handing that over, I don't believe there is anything to be concerned about. It can't be used anywhere but on the ship, and if someone tried to get on the ship with it they would be stopped by security. If by some chance the hotel would lose the card, which isn't likely, then I'm sure you will get back on the ship. It may be a hassle and delay, but it wouldn't be the first time a card was lost in port, and the ship has ways to deal with it.
Feb 05 we went to Sunset beach. There were 13 of us. At that time enterance was only $20.00pp and $10.00 for kids but since they put in the waterslides I heard it doubled. The security guard collected the money and all our sign and sail cards. We were told we would get them back when we left and we did. Walked up to the guard gate and asked for them back and they were given back immediately.
My grandaughter left hers in the taxi. Another taxi driver offered to drive them to catch up to the taxi for $25.00. They told them all they had left was $12.00 and he took it. The taxi was not 2 blocks away. Talk about applying the pressure! I did not find out about this till much later. We were told thought that another one have been issued with not much problem. Seems it happens on every cruise. Not this incident but just losing it in general. Go to Sunset Beach. You will have a blast. All your drinks (alchohol included) and food are included. What a great day we had!
Linear Mode
