Ocho Rios cruise port guide
Jamaica · from JamaicaThings, the offline iPhone guide
Where ships dock
Ocho Rios Cruise Ship Pier
The main Ocho Rios berth is right in town: Island Village, Turtle Beach and the craft market are a few minutes' walk. Dunn's River is 10–15 minutes by licensed taxi. Some ships use Reynolds Pier just west instead — check your ship's port sheet.
Typically 8 AM – 5 PM · Jamaica keeps Eastern Standard Time all year — check whether your ship keeps a different time
Reynolds Pier, Ocho Rios
Reynolds Pier is a long industrial pier a few hundred metres west of the main Ocho Rios berth; allow 10 minutes to walk its length. Dunn's River and Mystic Mountain are 10 minutes west by licensed taxi.
Typically 8 AM – 5 PM · Jamaica keeps Eastern Standard Time all year — check whether your ship keeps a different time
All-aboard is in ship time. Check the daily programme and be back at the gangway 30 minutes early.
Top places near the pier
Walking times come from the app: straight-line distance plus 30% for streets, at an easy 4.5 km/h. Places further than an hour on foot show the distance instead.
Island Village
The shopping and entertainment centre beside the Ocho Rios cruise pier: shops, a Margaritaville, cafés and a small beach, right at the pier gate.
Turtle Beach
The long public beach along Ocho Rios Bay (officially Ocho Rios Bay Beach), minutes from the cruise pier, with a view of the ships.
Ocho Rios Craft Market
The town craft market with stalls of carvings, straw bags, jewellery and T-shirts, a short walk from the pier.
Turtle River Park
A small, landscaped town park with fountains, ponds and a river walk in the middle of Ocho Rios, free and shady.
Miss T's Kitchen
A colourful, much-loved Jamaican restaurant on Main Street in Ocho Rios serving oxtail, curry goat, ackee and saltfish and jerk in a garden setting.
Adolphe Duperly & Sons · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Fern Gully
A road through a former riverbed south of Ocho Rios, roofed by tree ferns and forest for about three miles — a cool, green drive on the way to the hills.
Konoko Falls & Park
Gardens, a cascading waterfall, a small zoo and a museum of Taíno history on the old Shaw Park estate above Ocho Rios, with views over the bay.
Mystic Mountain
A rainforest adventure park on the hill above Dunn's River: a chairlift (the Sky Explorer) up through the canopy, a Jamaican-bobsled roller coaster, ziplines and an infinity pool with views of the bay.
Dolphin Cove Ocho Rios
A marine park next to Dunn's River with dolphin and stingray encounters in a cove, plus a jungle trail.
Banja-Frans Mulder · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Dunn's River Falls & Park
Jamaica's most famous waterfall: about 180 metres (600 ft) of travertine terraces that you climb from the beach to the top, holding hands in a human chain behind a guide.
Prospect Plantation
A working estate east of Ocho Rios with jitney tours through the plantation and camel and horse rides — the adventure company Chukka runs it today.
Scotchies Drax Hall
The Ocho Rios branch of the Scotchies jerk centre, on the main road west of town at Drax Hall: jerk pork, chicken and sausage from the pimento pit.
Island Gully Falls (Blue Hole)
A chain of limestone pools and cascades in the hills above Ocho Rios, better known as the Blue Hole or Secret Falls: jump, swing on the rope and swim in cold blue water.
James Bond Beach
A beach on a small peninsula at Oracabessa, near Ian Fleming's GoldenEye estate where the Bond novels were written.
david_e_waldron · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Bob Marley Mausoleum
Bob Marley's birthplace and resting place in the village of Nine Mile, high in the St. Ann hills: the house he grew up in, the 'rock pillow' of his song, and the mausoleum where he lies.
Ready-made port days in JamaicaThings
Each is a timed plan in the app, starting and ending at the ship (11 in all for this port).
- Dunn's River & Mystic Mountain
Climb the falls before the crowds, then ride the chairlift into the rainforest - Blue Hole & Konoko Falls
Cold blue pools in the hills, gardens above the bay, and lunch in town - Nine Mile: Bob Marley's Birthplace
A long day into the St. Ann hills — only with a licensed driver and a late all-aboard - Ocho Rios on Foot
A free town park, the craft market and a Main Street lunch — no taxi - Rainy Day in Ocho Rios
Covered shops at the pier gate and a long Jamaican lunch while it passes - Dunn's River, First Thing
Climb the falls before the tour buses, swim at the foot, back by noon
Getting around: what the app tells you
- Agree the fare, then get in
- Say where you're going and ask: 'How much, per person or for the car, US or Jamaican?' Agree before the door shuts, and pay at the end. For a round trip, agree the pickup time and pay when you're back at the port.
- Set an alarm on ship time
- Jamaica doesn't change its clocks. Ships often keep a different time. Check the time on the ship's app or a clock on board and set your phone alarm by that — and give yourself an hour's margin for traffic on the coast road.
- Beat the tour buses
- Dunn's River, Mystic Mountain and the Blue Hole fill up between 10 AM and 1 PM on ship days. Be first off the ship and first at the gate, or go after 1 PM when the tours head back.
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