The World Famous Dunn's River Falls & Park — Attraction in Ocho Rios

The say started with high energy at the cruise port and I was excited to board the van for this excursion. Music was playing, people were dancing, weather was nice. The wait was a bit long but within an hour we were on the road. The tour guide was a young local girl and she would get easily distracted, telling us informative facts one minute then suddenly stopping to casually chat with the driver. In the middle of the ride we heard a loud hiss and boom. The tire had blown out!! We stopped and stood at the side of the road for at least an hour while they changed the tire. There were many other tour vans driving by and honking so I don't understand why they didn't have one of them just pick us up. Having to wait for this hour put us on a serious time crunch and we ended up being half an hour late back to the ship. Thank god it was a ship booked tour or they probably would have left without us. The excursion itself was fun though there was a lot of stopping for the videographer to capture photos for the 40$+ photo package (I told mine outright that I wouldn't be purchasing that) it might have been more fun had we not felt so rushed to make up for lost time. Still, the guide stalled at times when we should have been hurrying. I think she could benefit from being slightly more professional. I was starving when it came time to eat but was disappointed to find that there was no vegetarian option. I had rice and a piece of bread to eat 😩 They really need to include a meatless option. BEWARE: At the end of the tour the locals from the market will bombard you, placing items in your hands and carving your children's names in them so you are forced to buy the needless junk. They physically attack you, grab you and just ply you with as much stuff as they can fit onto your body and while doing so will ask you for your kids names which they then carve into said items, essentially guilt tripping you into buying the stuff. I encountered this later in labadee, Haiti to an even worse extent but they need to learn that this kind of "tactic" is actually going to lose them money that would have been otherwise spent had they allowed us to roam the market without being harassed. It's hard to believe in this day and age that such aggressive, assaultive tactics are allowed to be used. I know the locals are poor and rely on tourism for their income but it's only a matter of time before something horrible happens, especially since they are grabbing children and pulling them away from their parents to do their scheme. Numerous other cruise passengers have said the vendors grabbed their children and wouldn't let go when asked. This is a scary situation and really a ticking timebomb.. If the tourism industry doesn't tell the vendors to change tactic, I foresee something terrible happening.. Overall, I would recommend this excursion (Dunn's river Falls with inner tubing) though please bear in mind the things I have mentioned. Enjoy! Jamaica is a beautiful, culturally rich place I wish I had more time...

Ya Mon-this was a cool experience. The falls are beautiful and it was nice to have a tour guide show us exactly where it was safe to climb so we could enjoy the fun spots without worrying about safety. I also love that they had a guy do photography and you have the option to buy a package at the end of professional photos. I paid $40 and did this since we were a family of five. It's very difficult to do the climbs and slides and keep your camera safe so I appreciated this option personally.

Both our tour guide and Photographer did a good job. It was a little bit busy the day we went and our tour guy disappeared because he had to add four people to the tour so we had a 15 minute wait on the front end but once we got that situated, it moved along very nicely. he was a very patient and worked with everyone at their own pace. He would help you climb or give a hand as needed.

Jamaica definitely operates on island time! The schedule was pretty loose, but it all worked out OK. I thought the overall waterfall climb was just the right amount of time. We were there around an hour just enough to experience some climbing and slides, and then our excursion moved onto the blue hole and reggae Hill. Being part of a cruise ship excursion, we were more limited on time.

The only negative about this tour is upon exiting. There are craft and gift shops and they're very aggressive and pushy trying to sell you things. They don't put a price on anything as well. It's a significant enough issue that our Tour bus operator warned us ahead of time not to even engage or speak to them unless we knew there was something we wanted to purchase. I ignored them but my husband said hi and the guy said thanks for saying hello...I guess people are leery of how pushy the vendors can be but they were glad my husband said hi.

Dunn River Falls is a very cool way to experience nature not far from the Ocho Rios cruise Port. We really enjoyed seeing this area. I think relatively healthy and fit people of all ages could comfortably do this activity. I have a mild neuropathy and my son and husband help me navigate some of the steps, but I'm in my early 50s with a tiny bit of mobility problems and was able to do this and had a great time. The rocks were not as slick as I expected, and the guides let you know the best places to step and navigate the waterfalls. Regarding shoes, please note that the water is rushing over the rocks so I would recommend water shoes, Teva's, or keen style sandals. Crocs will likely slip off and float away. they sell shoes there for about $10. They also have lockers for rent, but I was able to leave my belongings on the tour bus since I was part of a group tour.

I've also read there's access to a beach, but this is not something that was part of the excursion I booked so I did not...

We visited Dunn’s River on Sunday, August 31, 2025 at approximately 3:45pm. Our group consisted of 18 people (8 adults and 10 children). We requested the Jamaican rate since the majority of us are Jamaicans with the exception of 6 children. A representative told us that although most of us are Jamaicans we couldn’t get the rate because only 3 of the adults had their Jamaican IDs. We kindly asked to speak with a manager, who reiterated what the representative told us. There was no leniency, we said ok it’s their policy. I mentioned to the adults with Jamaican IDs to pay the Jamaican rate and for their Jamaican children as well; and the rest of us will pay the Jamaican equivalent of the US rate since we did not have our Jamaican ID with us, and the manager agreed. The process began with one of my cousins that presented her Jamaican ID and called her 2 Jamaican born and raised daughters (ages 11 and 12) to the front of the line to pay for them, the manager looked through the peep hole and said they are not Jamaicans. This is discrimination, @Dunns River Senior Management team, what is a Jamaican child supposed to look like? How can you look at Jamaican nationals and discriminate against them? We were upset and disappointed with the way the manager looked at the children and decided that they’re not Jamaicans. The children felt so ashamed of being called out of their nationality and said they didn’t want to go anymore, our group decided not to enter the falls. Dunns River Senior Management, I am very disappointed with your manager and the team. The manager that spoke with us refused to provide us with his name, he said, “everything is online”. He was wearing an off white/cream colored shirt and is of dark complexion. In addition, all the employees said they didn’t know his name. Employees in the office where they collect payment and at the entry gate. They all lied about not knowing his identity and contact information. The manager was very unprofessional, ill-mannered, had no managerial skills, wasn’t exemplary for his staff, and most of all discriminated against the Jamaican born and raised children. STOP DISCRIMINATING...