Jamaica Exclusive & Fun Beach Break (FA75) excursion?

[mighty quack]

Has anyone done the Exclusive & Fun Beach Break (FA75) in Jamica? I can't seem to find much on it online.

 

[lklgoodman]

I just did a quick search for Puerto Seco at Discovery Bay.(name of beach area for the excursion). Several articles/videos popped up. This is a new resort area that just opened up this past May, so that's probably why there's not much info yet. From my quick search it looks great. We're doing a West Carribean in Jan 2020 and I'm already looking at booking this.

 

[kaysmommie]

Bumping this up! Looking for reviews on this one.

 

[CountyMounty]

We are interested in this excursion as well. As PP said from all I've read its a "new" beach resort area some company basically bought the property and refurbed it, sounds like previously it was a neglected area. You can find a bit of info on it at MoonJamaica. We have still not decided yet because there is very little info/reviews available. One things to consider is that unlike some of the beach breaks you only get 3.5 to 4hrs here and it's a half hour transfer from the port, some of your time is also taken up by the included lunch so we are thinking it might be a bit rushed. We did email Disney to confirm that the huge floating water park (the main reason we are considering this) is included in the price as that is not made clear in the details of the excursion and also asked what the age restrictions were for it. Disney responded that the floating park is definitely included in the price and it sounds like the age restrictions are a bit flexible depending upon child ability. For us with the youngest at 6 we were assured our 6yo could definitely do it but may need an adult supervisor with him or atleast nearby. Still undecided on this but if we do go, in two weeks, I will report back.

 

[kaysmommie]

We are interested in this excursion as well. As PP said from all I've read its a "new" beach resort area some company basically bought the property and refurbed it, sounds like previously it was a neglected area. You can find a bit of info on it at MoonJamaica. We have still not decided yet because there is very little info/reviews available. One things to consider is that unlike some of the beach breaks you only get 3.5 to 4hrs here and it's a half hour transfer from the port, some of your time is also taken up by the included lunch so we are thinking it might be a bit rushed. We did email Disney to confirm that the huge floating water park (the main reason we are considering this) is included in the price as that is not made clear in the details of the excursion and also asked what the age restrictions were for it. Disney responded that the floating park is definitely included in the price and it sounds like the age restrictions are a bit flexible depending upon child ability. For us with the youngest at 6 we were assured our 6yo could definitely do it but may need an adult supervisor with him or atleast nearby. Still undecided on this but if we do go, in two weeks, I will report back.

Yes, if you go, please post a review or send me a PM. Our cruise isn’t for 6 weeks. Trying to decide if I should book this. Slim choices in Jamaica.

 

[charlenebu]

We booked on our own and did this resort day pass https://jamaicacruiseexcursions.com/excursions/falmouth-resort-beach-break/ We really enjoyed it

 

[CountyMounty]

Well we did ATTEMPT this excursion but it did not work out so well. In fact it was probably the low point of our cruise. Unfortunately I cant really report fully on what the actual experience could have been because we never actually got onto the beach. The group, about 150 of us, meet up in the Walt Disney Theater on the ship by 10AM, where they got us all hyped up for a beach day. We all then proceeded on foot off the ship to the transportation hub within the secured port area. The group boarded several different small buses and rode the 25-30 minutes to Puerto Seco. NOTE: The excursion itself is put on by Dolphin Cove which is also located at Puerto Seco (Moon Palace). After we arrived a Dolphin Cove employee stepped onto our bus and announced that "unfortunately due to wind the Wipit is closed". Wipit is the big obstacle course. Several people of course were upset about this and immediately asked if they could return to the ship and get a refund. We were all told that we could/should just enjoy the property, the beach and included lunch and drinks. We were asked to exit the bus and join the others of the group who were arriving on other buses at the entrance to the property. It was confusion and chaotic at that point (well as chaotic as Jamaica gets everyone there is generally pretty laid back lol). It became apparent that not all busloads of people were given the same announcement and some had already entered and were still entering the property and then returning to the entrance and were arguing with employees/manager about the situation. Employees were trying to convince people that we should still just enjoy the pool and beach area, some were OK with this but many like us were not. I walked to a point where I could get a view of the beach area to check it out and could see that there were huge dirty brown waves crashing ashore and it was clear that swimming was not going to be possible, and when I pointed this out an employee said, "yeah you can hang out on the beach but swimming is not allowed today".
So no swimming and no inflatables, that was the whole reason for the excursion for us. We joined a small group of fellow Disney Cruisers that were standing off to the side that said they had been told to wait there and they would be taken back to the ship. We ended up waiting approximately an hour for a bus ride back, speaking off and on to employees and managers, that were trying to convince us to stay, and at one point the manager even offered a 50% discount if we would just stay. Most refused the offered, after all we could swim in a pool anywhere this was supposed to be a beach day and at least for us the main reason for the excursion was for the boys to play on the huge inflatable water park. We were told by the manager that if we returned to the ship we were not guaranteed a refund and/or if there was one it would only be a partial refund, because we had been provided transport there. We decided to take our chances, expecting that Disney would make it right. We were all asked to fill out forms explaining why we were leaving. The forms appeared to be forms they normally use if you are somehow injured on property as it talked about injuries or sickness and someone in the group pointed out where they wanted us to sign it said that you release them from liability. We decided to partially fill out the form just writing a narrative of why we were unsatisfied and not to sign it. Eventually we were loaded back onto a bus, where we sat around for several more minutes waiting for more people who had entered the property only to find things closed who were wishing to return. We saw at least 3 buses of our Disney group that were returning to the ship. Once we arrived back at the ship, we proceeded to Guest Services who told us they were already fully aware of the situation and we would all be given a full refund (which I noticed the refund in my onboard account within a couple hours). We heard others in the group arguing for some addition compensation, on board credit or whatever since we had essentially missed out on 3hrs of our day, but by this point we were disappointed and just wanted to get on with our day and let the kids hit the pools and Aquaduck so we didn't hang around and I dont know if any of them were further compensated or not.

I fully understand that no one can control the weather. Our biggest complaint is that they should have told us before we departed the ship, and we wouldn't have wasted valuable vacation time, and certainly they shouldn't have got everyone amp'd up for a fun beach day. Other excursions were canceled due to wind that day (and other days of the cruise) but those people were told before hand. I cant help but think Dolphin Cove was still hoping to collect all that money from people to just come and swim in the pool and eat lunch.

So if you've read my review/rant thus far, thank you. The obstacle course and beach did look pretty nice, what little I saw of it but I cant say for sure how it would have been. Also after doing a little more reading of other things to do in Jamacia I think in the future I'd opt for something else, probably Jewel or Royal Sands, the later of which if very close to the port, and then even if it is windy the kids could still use the water park area. Also when thinking about the overall timing of the excursion, even if the beach was open, we would have only gotten maybe 2 1/2hrs there, which would have seemed quite rushed.

 

[kaysmommie]

Well we did ATTEMPT this excursion but it did not work out so well. In fact it was probably the low point of our cruise. Unfortunately I cant really report fully on what the actual experience could have been because we never actually got onto the beach. The group, about 150 of us, meet up in the Walt Disney Theater on the ship by 10AM, where they got us all hyped up for a beach day. We all then proceeded on foot off the ship to the transportation hub within the secured port area. The group boarded several different small buses and rode the 25-30 minutes to Puerto Seco. NOTE: The excursion itself is put on by Dolphin Cove which is also located at Puerto Seco (Moon Palace). After we arrived a Dolphin Cove employee stepped onto our bus and announced that "unfortunately due to wind the Wipit is closed". Wipit is the big obstacle course. Several people of course were upset about this and immediately asked if they could return to the ship and get a refund. We were all told that we could/should just enjoy the property, the beach and included lunch and drinks. We were asked to exit the bus and join the others of the group who were arriving on other buses at the entrance to the property. It was confusion and chaotic at that point (well as chaotic as Jamaica gets everyone there is generally pretty laid back lol). It became apparent that not all busloads of people were given the same announcement and some had already entered and were still entering the property and then returning to the entrance and were arguing with employees/manager about the situation. Employees were trying to convince people that we should still just enjoy the pool and beach area, some were OK with this but many like us were not. I walked to a point where I could get a view of the beach area to check it out and could see that there were huge dirty brown waves crashing ashore and it was clear that swimming was not going to be possible, and when I pointed this out an employee said, "yeah you can hang out on the beach but swimming is not allowed today".
So no swimming and no inflatables, that was the whole reason for the excursion for us. We joined a small group of fellow Disney Cruisers that were standing off to the side that said they had been told to wait there and they would be taken back to the ship. We ended up waiting approximately an hour for a bus ride back, speaking off and on to employees and managers, that were trying to convince us to stay, and at one point the manager even offered a 50% discount if we would just stay. Most refused the offered, after all we could swim in a pool anywhere this was supposed to be a beach day and at least for us the main reason for the excursion was for the boys to play on the huge inflatable water park. We were told by the manager that if we returned to the ship we were not guaranteed a refund and/or if there was one it would only be a partial refund, because we had been provided transport there. We decided to take our chances, expecting that Disney would make it right. We were all asked to fill out forms explaining why we were leaving. The forms appeared to be forms they normally use if you are somehow injured on property as it talked about injuries or sickness and someone in the group pointed out where they wanted us to sign it said that you release them from liability. We decided to partially fill out the form just writing a narrative of why we were unsatisfied and not to sign it. Eventually we were loaded back onto a bus, where we sat around for several more minutes waiting for more people who had entered the property only to find things closed who were wishing to return. We saw at least 3 buses of our Disney group that were returning to the ship. Once we arrived back at the ship, we proceeded to Guest Services who told us they were already fully aware of the situation and we would all be given a full refund (which I noticed the refund in my onboard account within a couple hours). We heard others in the group arguing for some addition compensation, on board credit or whatever since we had essentially missed out on 3hrs of our day, but by this point we were disappointed and just wanted to get on with our day and let the kids hit the pools and Aquaduck so we didn't hang around and I dont know if any of them were further compensated or not.

I fully understand that no one can control the weather. Our biggest complaint is that they should have told us before we departed the ship, and we wouldn't have wasted valuable vacation time, and certainly they shouldn't have got everyone amp'd up for a fun beach day. Other excursions were canceled due to wind that day (and other days of the cruise) but those people were told before hand. I cant help but think Dolphin Cove was still hoping to collect all that money from people to just come and swim in the pool and eat lunch.

So if you've read my review/rant thus far, thank you. The obstacle course and beach did look pretty nice, what little I saw of it but I cant say for sure how it would have been. Also after doing a little more reading of other things to do in Jamacia I think in the future I'd opt for something else, probably Jewel or Royal Sands, the later of which if very close to the port, and then even if it is windy the kids could still use the water park area. Also when thinking about the overall timing of the excursion, even if the beach was open, we would have only gotten maybe 2 1/2hrs there, which would have seemed quite rushed.

Thank you for your review. Sorry you had bad weather and wasted your time going there. I’m glad DCL refunded the guests. Asking for compensation is not something I would pursue either. Seems out of line considering the excursions are nonrefundable usually. I will probably take your suggestion and go to Jewel instead. Royalton looks nice as well.

 

[carrieshields]

Thank you for your review. Sorry you had bad weather and wasted your time going there. I’m glad DCL refunded the guests. Asking for compensation is not something I would pursue either. Seems out of line considering the excursions are nonrefundable usually. I will probably take your suggestion and go to Jewel instead. Royalton looks nice as well.

What is Jewel? Is it another resort that offers day passes? Thanks!

 

[CountyMounty]

I'm fairly certain those that stuck around to pursue it probably did get some sort of onboard credit added, I'd guess $50 to $100. I have heard of others in the past getting on board credit as a way to compensate for a problem. Excursion are non refundable if you cancel after the window (3 days before departure) but if they cancel it is obviously refunded. We also booked the package at Castaway Cay for bike/snorkel/float, when we first got there the snorkel lagoon was closed and when we asked we were told that if it did not open for the day or if we simply did not have time to do the snorkel because of a late opening we would be refunded part of the excursion package cost. Fortunately the snorkel opened within a couple hours and we had plenty of time to enjoy it.

The Dolphin Cove staff were not very helpful with this situation, although also weren't rude, they were just mellow and didn't really seem to care and just kept trying to convince everyone to stay. Several in the group were concerned that we may not get refunded but I was certain that Guest Services at Disney would take care of it, it was definitely a mistake on both their parts. Whether Dolphin Cove did not communicate the closure to Disney or not I'm not sure but they should certainly have a good handle on their excursions and they knew that other excursions were canceled due to wind. In fact some people booked this one last minutes due to the forecast of winds because they figured their boating type excursions would be canceled. Puerto Seco is in a cove area but apparently the wind direction was such that it was coming right in and creating huge waves. They (Disney and Dolphin Cove) should have never let the groups board the buses without telling them that a big portion of what was included in the excursion was closed.

Jewel is Jewel Runaway Bay Beach Resort, and you can get a daypass to visit. You have access to the beach, food, drinks and also to a small waterpark (which would be great if it was too windy to swim at hte beach). I saw a couple excursion packages available (non Disney) that included transport from the secured port area to Jewel, it is a bit of a distance away though, I think about 40 minutes or so. Royalton is a lot closer than Jewel, you can see it from the ship, but as far as I could see you would need to arrange your own taxi to get there.