We had an early morning in Falmouth, Jamaica! The Fantasy arrived in port at 7:30 AM, and our River Tubing excursion departed at 8:15 AM.

I booked our excursion through Shore Excursions Group, which is the cruise excursion booking platform for Cruises Only, which is Marriott Bonvoy's cruise booking portal. As I was searching for excursions, I came across a 5-star review that really sold it to me written by none other than Boyd Shingleton (a.k.a. "Stove").

We went on this exact River Tubing excursion when we were in Falmouth in 2017 on the Norwegian Escape and had such a great time that we decided to book it again.

The Historic Falmouth Cruise Port opened in 2011. It's located 18 miles east of Montego Bay, and 59 miles west of Ocho Rios.

We were in port with Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas.

We were a little confused about how to get to our excursion meeting location, but the people at the Information stand in port were very helpful in directing us there.

The "Falmouth Overview and White Water River Tubing" tour is operated by Yardie Tours, and meets under a white tent in the parking lot, past the pedicabs and taxis.

It was about a 25 minute drive to our launching location on the river.

I had my D7100 with me (for all of the shots you see above). Since I had done this tour before, I felt safe bringing it and leaving it in my bag on the van while we went down the river. They advise you to leave anything you don't need with you in the van. They bring the van to the beach where the river tubing is, so you'll have your towels and dry clothes just when you need them.

I brought my GoPro Hero 8 to take with me on the river.

You definitely want to bring water shoes for this excursion. After we were outfitted with lifejackets and helmets, we were given our tubes to carry on a short walk to our launching spot on the river.

I made the mistake of forgetting bug spray (which I had packed), and Aaron and I were both eaten alive by mosquitoes as we waited for our turn to enter the river.

There was a little bit of a holdup. It turns out that some people ahead of us were a little afraid of crossing the suspension bridge that crosses the river.

It is quite a wobbly extension bridge.

I wouldn't recommend going barefoot.

Each group gets their own guide to take you down the river. Our guide was super cool, and also very knowledgeable about the river.

The Rio Bueno River has a variety of Class II rapids, so it's not too crazy, but still a bit of thrill.

There was a good bit of space between us and the next group, so it was really just us and our guide on the river.

We stopped at a platform where we could jump into the water (which we didn't do back in 2017).

It was about a 45 minute trip down the river.

Then we transferred from our tubes to an inflatable raft which we took the rest of the way to the beach. I'm wildly competitive, so I instructed everyone to paddle in time, and they told me to chill out because we weren't in any hurry.

I'd like to think that we made it to the beach in record time.

We then left the raft behind and headed to Bengal Beach.

The tour had scheduled a 30 minute beach break at Bengal Beach, but the family we shared the van with was apparently super sunburned from the day before and wanted nothing to do with the beach. So they sat in the van while we went swimming because we wanted the beach break.

We could've spent more time at the beach, but felt a little rushed. The next stop was the "shopping" portion of the tour. However, we were more interested in eating than shopping. Aaron wanted to try the Jamaican Beef Patties.

It was good, but at $10 for a patty, we felt like they were taking advantage of us being tourists.

We then had to try the jerked chicken. We were the only ones here. I imagine they rely on tour companies to bring them customers... probably not a locals' spot.

Good, but also felt like we were being charged the tourist tax for this. Oh well, we'll pay it.

Back to the van, and time to head back to port.

We stopped in the Duty Free store and each got a 6-pack of Modelo to bring to our Castaway Cay Cabana. Disney allows all passengers to bring on either two bottles of wine or a 6-pack of beer at each port of call. Landon didn't believe me when I told him this, but he tried it the day before in Cozumel and proved that it really is allowed.

We were surprised to see that Margaritaville was closed. Falmouth Margaritaville is now showing as Permanently Closed on Google Maps. What a bummer! This was a fun little spot... wonder what went wrong.

After returning to the ship, we decided to head immediately to the pool deck and attempt to ride the Aqua Duck. We were hoping that it wouldn't have a very long line.

The Aqua Duck unfortunately did have a line, but we decided to commit. I asked if I could bring my GoPro, and I was told only with a wrist strap. Unfortunately, I didn't have my wrist strap on me, so I had to leave it behind. Oh well.

It ended up being around a 40 minute wait, I think. There was a group of teenagers who kept cutting line. It was obnoxious. (Speaking as someone who was once a teenager on a cruise ship, I can confirm that teenagers on cruises are the worst.) Karma came back and got one of the guys, though, because he had his cell phone with him and you aren't allowed to go down the slide with your cell phone, so he had to exit the line.

We only rode the Aqua Duck once this cruise because we had no desire to get back in that line.

Speaking of lines, there was a long one accumulating in port to return to the ship.

Cute little towel animal display on the pool deck.. perhaps leftover from a towel folding seminar?

We headed back to our rooms to watch us sail away, then get ready for dinner.

Nothing like a little pizza and wine on the balcony -

Peep our makeshift wine glasses that were from Festival of Holidays at Epcot.

Also my makeshift mount for a sunset timelapse.

Hey, neighbor!

Dinner this evening was at Animator's Palate, and tonight's show was Animation Magic. When you sit down, you draw your own character who will later appear in a show using the screens in the dining room.

Master animator over here...

I never plan these out enough....

Landon broke the rule of no Numbers which I think means that his character would not get star treatment. (Because they mirror/reverse these images, so numbers and letters throw off the illusion.)

Uhhh.... what's that?

Judy knows how to follow the rules.

Gotta give it to these kids. That's a pretty impressive marker tower.

/a>

To start, I got the Tomato Caprese. It's simple and refreshing.

Aaron ordered the Malaysian Chicken Satay which he said was okay, but would have tasted better if it was hot. In Animator's, our table was located away from William and Made's other tables which we thought made it difficult for them. We asked why, and I guess it was due to so many large parties and needing to configure tables together for them. Makes sense.

Aaron also got the Porcini Sacchetti which he said wasn't very good. It could have had a stronger mushroom flavor, and also would have been better if it was hotter.

Judy, Landon, and I had the Lobster Bisque. It was different than the Lobster Bisque served on the first night - less oily and had a deeper color. It was significantly better than the Lobster Bisque from Night 1 New Year's Eve menu.

Aaron had the White Cheddar and Broccolini Soup which I took no notes on.

I had the Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb. It was actually a little dry, so glad there was a sauce.

This is the Roasted Filet of Beef Wellington which I do not know who ordered, and have no notes on (whoops!).

Rachel missed the Animation Magic show because some little girl stopped up the toilet in the bathroom. The bathrooms outside of Animator's are the worst. I recommend taking the stairs up one deck and using the "Cave of Wonders" restrooms in Europa.

Aaron's figure was the star of the show.

They replayed the show again after dessert, so Rachel was able to see it.

For dessert, I got the Chocolate Decadence. I liked the dark chocolate, but wasn't a fan of the mousse. I think that's just me, though... not a huge mousse fan.