While planning a recent vacation to Jamaica, I was searching for a tour company/person who would do some day trips that were tailored to our liking, and not the usual touristy things many people enjoy. After reading comments about Carolyn Barrett (Barrett Adventures) and her staff, I knew I'd found the right mix. We were lucky to have Carolyn, who is absolutely delightful and extremely knowledgeable about Jamaican history (and much more) and Cory, who I believe is fairly new to the crew. He took his time to answer our many, many questions, explained various customs of his culture, made us laugh on a rather long excursion of my choice with his funny stories and was just as charming as one could be. He was so accommodating and friendly that I hated to see the day end. We have nothing but kudos for Barrett Adventures and would highly recommend them to anyone looking to get away from their resort for some Jamaican adventure ... they know the country well and we felt completely comfortable in their capable hands.

Marilyn Rogers

Jamaica itself is a fun vacation especially if your going for a social, no time restraint type stay. Our hotel was the Starfish Trelawny which is not as nice as pictures portray, yet there are tons of activities for the family to do. Beach, Basketball, pool w/slide, and min. golf!
My main reason for leaving a comment is that w/Barrett Adventures I felt a bit misguided on our itinerary/plans. We were supposed to go tubing (but the water levels were too low, something i felt we should have been informed about before planning that activity. Then another activity that went bad was the coordinators planning of going to swim with manta rays, (we arrived at the facility to realize plans that should have been pre arranged were incorrect.)
Lastly, i didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling from either guides, carol was actually pretty over bearing/on the pushy side. When driving she kept going on about how resorts going up on the island was so disappointing? (wouldn't this mean possible more business for her, i just felt a bit bombarded w/the opinion?) She just seems very opinionated, and vocal, where others may keep things to themselves or feel out a person before cutting loose on subjects people may not agree with.
The funnest thing of the trip was probably the simplest. We went on a hike to a bat cave and a local very pleasant older man was our guide. He was very friendly and seemed super sweet. He showed us things on the walk but kept definitely kept it simple. I would highly recommend this activity to anyone!
Jamaica is very much "Nothing is a big deal, no rush for anything" type of place. I didn't find locals particularly friendly, I felt they had more of an attitude to tourists? So if you are type A personality and follow things to a T on planning and your expectations are high. You may want to stay away from this planner and possibly jamaica. But if you fly by the seat of your pants, enjoy talk w/most everybody, and don't expect things to go exactly as planned... you will be perfectly fine.
Now we did go on this trip in 2008 so hopefully things have only gotten better in time. Or we happened to just get the bad end of the deal which sometimes unavoidably happens. From our experiences in Jamaica it is definitely Not one of my places to visit over and over. It felt like a place, once you've been there, you've experienced what it has to offer.

Carolyn was fabulous - absolutely fabulous. My boyfriend and I booked the Old Tavern Coffee Estate tour with her and up we went to the Blue Mountains to visit the best coffee maker ever. On the way there, she told us so much about the history of Jamaica and would point out every site imaginable. At the coffee estate, we drank seriously the world's best coffee with the Mistress of Coffee herself - Dorothy, and enjoyed a fantastic view. We then hiked around the estate, enjoying the mist and rain of the Blue Mountains. After the mountains, we watched a fantastic sunset at Strawberry Hill for dinner - totally worth the stop. Food was delicious!

Now, I can go on forever about the tour and how fab Carolyn is, but what I must say is this - if you are thinking about cancelling your tour because of what's going on in an isolated part of Kingston - please don't. I'm pretty risk adverse myself and was considering not going on this tour b/c the Blue Mountains are relatively close to Kingston - I'm sure glad I didn't. We were in no danger at all, and Carolyn is a superb navigator and quite a lady to be reckoned with. In the .00001% chance that you encounter danger in the Kingston area (which you won't unless you decide to stroll into one slum neighborhood in all of Kingston) I promise you, no gangster would dare mess with her.

If you have tours anywhere else in the country, and are worried about what's going on in Kingstong, don't be. I was worried so I rerouted our flight through to Montego Bay both on our departure and return flight (Air Jamaica, AA), and airlines are happy to reroute you through to Mobay free of charge. We then went to Ochos Rios and Negril before heading on our journey with Carolyn, and it was 100% A'OK! If we would've known how great Carolyn was...we would have booked tours in Ochos Rios with her too!

My husband and I visited Jamaica at the end of April. This was our first visit to Jamaica, and we wanted to make the most of our visit. Carolyn was very helpful and patient in my planning process; we emailed back and forth several times. We stayed in Negril, and Carolyn and Corey picked us up from our hotel one time each time. We ended up doing the tour of the Blue Mountains (Ms. Twyman's coffee plantation and hike) -- allowed us to see so much of the country, and Carolyn knew just where to hike and find an amazing waterfall. She also made arrangements for ziplining. The one she arranged for us has the best equipment; no chance of hurting your hands or having to wear gloves.

Carolyn has a wonderful knowledge of the country. If you're interested in a genuine tour, contact Carolyn!