How are excursions booked at the RIU?

[Spazz]

I am putting together my travel booklet for my guests. I want to give them an overview of all of the excursions offered in Ocho Rios. Are reps from different companies in the hotel lobby to help them book their excursions when they get to the RIU? For example, when I look up Dunn's River Falls online, a lot of different sites with tours come up. I just don't know the logistics of booking tours....TIA!

[Heidi]

I DO know that any Chukka Cove tours (zip line, horseback riding, ATC, etc - Chukka Caribbean Adventures) MUST be booked at the resort, for anywhere in Jamaica actually. (I've been emailing them about some of their tours)

 

Dunns River Falls I think you can go with pretty much any tour operator/etc.

[starchild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lizz Are reps from different companies in the hotel lobby to help them book their excursions when they get to the RIU? For example, when I look up Dunn's River Falls online, a lot of different sites with tours come up. I just don't know the logistics of booking tours....TIA!

Yes, there are tables and reps from different tour companies set up to the side of the lobby all day. From what we could tell they all offer the same tours, but we went to the table that had the name of the company we booked our honeymoon with.

[Birdie07]

Yes. The day after you get there you will have a meeting with a rep from the company you booked with. You can then go see them any day while you are there to book an excursion. We waited till my mother arrived and picked an excursion she would like to do we went to dunns river. Then after all our guests left we did horseback riding in the ocean. We actually booked dunns river on the day we went.

[Spazz]

Thanks Heidi, Calia & Jamy!!!

[Copita]

The reps are always in the hotel lobby. I would just call your WC and see what she/he can put together for you.

[albianstar]

chukka cove DOES NOT have to be booked thur the hotel

We hired our own driver to take us on the river rafting tour which was a chukka excursion. Becouse we had 24 people going it was cheaper ,a dn better for us becouse we could do our own thing with the driver etc and not have others there with us.

any tour you want to go on you can book with the hotel, or hire a driver to take you to the place.

When i was in j 4 years ago we stayed in a private house, not a resort so we had to get a driver to take us to say dunns river falls and we just payed the entry fee when we got there

there are pros and cons to both ways of doing it.

I would suggest just istingthe types of activities offered and figuring the rest out on site

[Heidi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by albianstar chukka cove DOES NOT have to be booked thur the hotel We hired our own driver to take us on the river rafting tour which was a chukka excursion. Becouse we had 24 people going it was cheaper ,a dn better for us becouse we could do our own thing with the driver etc and not have others there with us. any tour you want to go on you can book with the hotel, or hire a driver to take you to the place. When i was in j 4 years ago we stayed in a private house, not a resort so we had to get a driver to take us to say dunns river falls and we just payed the entry fee when we got there there are pros and cons to both ways of doing it. I would suggest just istingthe types of activities offered and figuring the rest out on site

I was told 2 weeks ago by Chukka in Ocho Rios, Jamaica that I need to book my trip with them at the Riu Ocho Rios when I arrive. They can make special notes (like groups) and pass along the cheaper gorup rates to the hotel. Maybe they changed their processes??

[albianstar]

as with many things with a foreign country, what you are told is not always the case LOL

The hotel prefers you to book thru them bc they make money on it, and chukka may well make more money if you book thru the hotel, but its not nessesary. It is convinent though

However when i was there 4 years ago, and 3 weeks ago we did not book thru the hotel and still did the chukka's river rafting and thier appleton river tour.

[chicago88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoWife There are several tables set up with all types of tours and reps from all different companies at the Riu. However, I just used Lee's Tours for everything. They gave us a cell phone free of charge and if I decided the 2 of us wanted to go somewhere I called and a driver came and got us. When 7 of us wanted to go shopping I called and they came with a a van. And when 21 of us wanted to go to Dunn's River Falls, I called and 2 vans came. It was no problem! So there are several ways to do things there, but nothing beats service like Lee's! Oh and their vans and buses are brand new, clean, and air conditioned.

Mo - Can you give me Lee's #? I know it may be on another thread but I can't find it? Thanks!