Dunn's Falls is a Must...Just not on this excursion

When we started researching excursions in Falmouth, we quickly realized that basically everything offered in this port included a trip to climb the Dunn's River Falls. After reading endless articles about how this was the must-see attraction in all of Jamaica, we were sold. The only thing left to do now was weed through the numerous pages of excursions offering this as part of the package. It was basically like choosing a side for your steak - would you like that with a dolphin excursion, a snorkel trip, a shopping trip, a horseback ride, a zipline adventure, a tube ride in the caves, a beach day...and the list goes on and on! We finally narrowed it down to the Pearly Beach & Dunns River Falls Excursion and the Bamboo Beach Club and Dunns River Falls Excursion since we wanted a little beach time. Both of these barely had any reviews listed online anywhere. Pearly Beach didn't even show up in Google when you searched it so we ended up taking a gamble with the bamboo beach club. See what our gamble led us to: After boarding our bus with all of the 10 other people who booked this excursion, we set forth on our 90 minute journey to the Falls. Our tour guide did mention a few highlights along the trip - but otherwise it was a snooze ride. We did make one stop on the way to the Falls to purchase water shoes for everyone who needed some...from the trunk of some van on the side of the road...seriously. As sketchy as that sounds, they were pretty cute (for water-shoes), only $10/pair, and ours to keep. When you arrive to the falls, you are greeted by hundreds of buses in a parking lot and lots of people walking around in their bathing suits and water shoes - very stylish. After waiting in a line you finally get to walk down a good amount of stairs to a beautiful beach where the Falls empties out into. Don't be fooled by the empty, peaceful beach in front of you - take one look to your left and you are greeted with hundreds of people beginning their climb up the falls! Although it seems like a lot of people, we never felt truly cramped as we climbed it which was a welcomed surprise. The entire journey up the Falls was a great experience and we had a really fun time during this part of the excursion! Next up, back in the van for a 15 minute drive to the Bamboo Beach Club. The actual beach was beautiful and offered a really nice long beach that you could walk along. We all were brought to a section of plastic Adirondack chairs and our brief hour at the beach began! We were promised great beach entertainment, unlimited alcohol, and lunch for our stay here. What we actually got was... - Joy of watching two dancers in colorful outfits dance on a wooden stage for one minute straight - Tapas style lunch where we were served five different small plates of unidentified food which didn't look all too appetizing. One plate actually consisted of "flour rolled up and fried". Interesting to say the least. - Two watered down beers in small plastic cups that were brought to you by the same tour guide from the bus. Then it was back on the bus going back to the cruise ship - or so we thought. Next stop was a 20-minute stop at a random strip mall on the side of the road for souvenir shopping! Even if nobody on your bus wants to shop, you will still stop here because it's basically a "break time" for the tour guides. Once that is over, prepare for another 90 minute nap on your way home and just like that it's over! The big downside to this excursion (and the majority of all excursions to the Falls) is that getting to and from them will cost you 90 minutes of your day...each way. There's nothing we hate more on cruise excursions than hopping into a bus to travel through the dirt roads when we could be out lounging in the pool. Falmouth is in such a poor location though that it is basically that far away from anything decent to do during your stay in Jamaica. Do yourself a favor and try to book a cruise that visits one of Jamaica's other cruise ports (like in Ocho Rios which was a nice 10 minute drive to the Falls). Or if you are stuck with Falmouth, book the Snorkel Cruise & Dunn's River Falls Excursion instead so you can enjoy a little boat ride to the falls instead of a small bus. See the rest of our review and photos from the excursion on our travel website, Sisters in the Sand.