Cruises - Ground Transportation in Jamaica Between Cruises

I hope someone can help with my question. I have spent days researching this on the internet without decent results. My next course of action would be to start making expensive (on a strict budget) phone calls to Jamaica to get more info.

Does anyone know of some method of ground transportation (not bus - my husband are older and can't lug all our suitcases on a bus) between the cruise port in Ocho Rios in Jamaica and Montego Bay (roundtrip)?

We are taking two cruises in December of 2011. The first one takes us to Ocho Rios and the second one picks us up in Ocho Rios. The hotel we booked is in Montego Bay (no cruises to Montego bay, only to Falmouth). We will be staying at the hotel in Montego Bay for four nights.

Cost is an issue. The best I could come up with is a car rental (could only come up with one in Ocho Rios - seems almost all car rental are in Montego Bay or Kingston. The cost is $359 for 4 nights for their least expensive vehicle that is not manual (neither of us knows how to drive a manual car).

This is pushing our budget to the limits and we don't really need a car for 4 days. We just want to go to Montego Bay and back from Ocho Rios (seems everyone goes the other way - Montego Bay to Ocho Rios and then back to Montego Bay.

My husband and I hate to fly (and are shocked at all the add on costs the airlines have imposed since since we last flew in 2006) so we opted for two cruises instead (admittedly more expensive than flying but at least we get two partial cruises out of it in addition to our hotel stay in Jamaica.

Hopefully someone out there has done something like this before and can offer up some advice.

there are many hired cars available in Jamaica, and OR to MoBay is about an hour IIRC. I'd be surprised if any good hotel in MoBay couldn't put you in touch with one, or even arrange it for you. That being said, I would not rent a car and drive myself on a bet in Jamaica - the roads are quite narrow, if you are not used to RHD and left side of the road, with fast and crazy drivers (and goats, and chickens, and...) - I usually grit my teeth when riding there :)

Glamour Tours and JUTA Tours come to mind as very reliable ground operators..... Google the names for email address contacts.

Why don't you just stay in an Ocho Rios Hotel?

JUTA is the cheapest transportation on the island with cars, vans, and huge busses...you can go from MoBay to Negril for $40 a head on their busses. You can also hire a private driver for a day for about $150....a one way cab ride from Ocho to MoBay is half that. All legal cabs in Jamaica have red tags, you could find one and negotiate at the port...or call and make arrangements beforehand...take a few local phone numbers in case your arranged ride falls through (came in handy for us).
Go to Tripadvisor.com and look in the jamaica forum for info on reliable drivers/guides, even I posted the contact info for a very good driver there, his name is Trevon, local numbers are 876-773-9192 or 876-351-5043, email- toursjam@yahoo.com, website toursmontegobay.com

We have used "JUTA Tours" from the airport in Montego Bay to our hotel in Ocho Rios. I must agree with "ABG", why not stay in Ocho Rios? One of my favorite hotels in the world is there, the Jamaica Inn. Wonderful accomodations, staff and ambiance.

talk to the cruise line[s]....good luck...