Samana Tours with Terry

Hi everyone! We will be in Samana on April 24th with the Norwegian Gem. We are thinking of taking tour #6 with Terry, which is the horseback tour. Has anyone taken this tour or planning on taking this? Is experience needed to ride the horses? This looks like a great tour and a good way to see the beauty of Samana. Thanks for your responses. :)

We took tour #5 rather than the one you're taking. If you go through a few of the DR threads, you will find lots about Tours with Terry.

Enjoy!

I took tour #3 with Terry (atv) and we had a ball! I'm sorry I can't comment firsthand on the horse part, but based on the horses I saw, I'm pretty confident that even a novice could ride them. They looked pretty bomb proof, and didn't even flick a ear when we roared by on our ATV's.

Terry's tours are very well done, and he understood our limitations with having to get back to the ship on time. He got us back with 45 minutes to spare, so we wouldn't worry about catching the last tender.

I would book his tours again, based on my first experience. One other thing. We were there on a school holiday, but he had told us that their schools are poor and can always use supplies, so my friend and I each took a bag of school supplies with us for him to give to the school. I think he'll stop by the school so you can give the supplies yourself, if school is open. He started out living there as a missionary so it's nice that he keeps paying it forward...

Can someone please give me contact info for him?

thank yoou

toursamanawithterry.com email is toursamanawithterry@hotmail.com

Thank you

Hi everyone! We will be in Samana on April 24th with the Norwegian Gem. We are thinking of taking tour #6 with Terry, which is the horseback tour. Has anyone taken this tour or planning on taking this? Is experience needed to ride the horses? This looks like a great tour and a good way to see the beauty of Samana. Thanks for your responses. :)

We are on the same cruise as you and have booked Tours with Terry excursion # 1 El Limon Waterfalls on Horseback. Looking forward to it!

We just got back from a cruise, and did the #5 Low Impact Culture Tour with Terry. We had a blast, and Samana turned out to be our favorite port of the trip. We talked with other cruisers who did Terry's zip line tour and ATV tour and all said it was fabulous. We passed people doing the horse tour, and they looked like they were having a great time. I would highly recommend Tours with Terry to anyone looking for a reliable, professional tour in Samana. We will definitely tour with him if we ever find ourselves back in Samana.

We (DH, 15 year old daughter, and myself) did the Culture Tour with Terry on our recent EOS cruise. Samana was our favorite port because this tour was so unique compared to the shopping and beaches that seem to dominate the other ports (not that I dislike either, just was nice to do something different).

One thing I wish I had done differently - brought lots more small $$ bills. There were occasions where I wanted to leave more of a tip than I had budgeted, or buy something I hadn't really planned on, and I didn't bring enough cash with me and what I did have were larger bills. You don't get change easily in the DR!

We took the Low Impact Island Tour of Samana, Dominican Republic, with Terry Bandi. That means island and culture tour with no big hikes, climbs, zip lines, or swims, although he offers those tours, too. We really enjoyed seeing the areas outside of town. It sounds kind of pricy - $65 cash when you get there -but it lasts about as long as your ship is in town, and you see a lot. (The town isn't much, so you won't need much time there if any.) Terry is an American who came to DR to volunteer and stayed. We visited a small cigar factory (one-person shop), visited a home where a woman made coconut bread in the separate kitchen in a wood oven, and sampled it, drove over a somewhat bumpy road to the ocean, where we had a dinner of local fish and foods (included), took a walk to a waterfall with local youth to assist walking across stepping stones if you wish (for a small tip). It was fun talking to them, and they were all officially dressed up with shirts labeled "facilitator". Then we stopped at a kind of farm co-op where they had lots of local products we could sample (some to buy if you want...I got some local coffee). We also stopped at a school. You may see on Terry's website that you can bring school supplies, pens, pencils, paper if you want and you will stop at an elementary school to pass them out. This was a very interesting tour! Beer and soft drinks are provided, too. Website: http://www.toursamanawithterry.com. email: toursamanawithterry@hotmail.com. Do book in advance to make sure the minimum is met. We heard a lot of people complaining about the town....I don't think they were used to underdeveloped areas....but this tour was very nice and they were careful to get us back well before the last tender so we wouldn't worry! And it was nice to tour with someone who was respectful of the people and their talents. Oh - we did not actually have Terry as our guide, but our guide was still very good. Terry does do tours, just happened to be away when we were there!

thank you for your review! we are planning to do this tour with terry on our cruise in april. we have a good size group from our roll call. we do plan on bringing some school supplies.

Hi everyone! We will be in Samana on April 24th with the Norwegian Gem. We are thinking of taking tour #6 with Terry, which is the horseback tour. Has anyone taken this tour or planning on taking this? Is experience needed to ride the horses? This looks like a great tour and a good way to see the beauty of Samana. Thanks for your responses. :)

I did this in 2011, it was the highlight of the trip.

I rode a lot when I was younger, so it all came back to me, but there was a family with us with teens who had never ridden, and they were fine.

The guides will help. I wore denim capris, you need at least capris, long pants would be better good, no shorts. You are in the jungle. You might get muddy when the horses kick up mud in the river bed, but get to swim under the waterfall when it is over.

When we got to the ocean, those who wanted to could take a nice gallop along the edge of the water.

Great lunch in the beachside restaurant, rustic, but authentic.

Bring singles to tip to kids who help you along the way, and unless you ride a lot, be prepared to feel sore muscles you never knew you had for the next few days. Nothing a hot tub or ocean swim won;t cure.

Highly recommended, and don't forget your camera.

Hi all,

Did tour #1 last Tuesday ( EL LIMON HORSEBACK TO FALLS )

Got to the shore at 8:30, met with someone from TSWT, showed him my reservation, he was excited that we had tour #1 ( told us it us the best tour ).

We were told to wait on the side for the other person to arrive.

We waited until 8:50 and we were still only 2 for the tour...Then I remembered that TSWT reserves the right to cancel the tour if less then 4 people are there for the tour...I was already thinking of what tour we would have to join :(

BUT NO !!! we were directed to a minivan with 2 other person to go to the office and pay ( the other 2 were booked on and other tour # ). We paid our 65$, our guide packed a cooler with beer, water, soda, juice, ice and RUM :).

We hopped in the van ( very clean, a/c, well maintained ), our guide, an assistant guide and only the 2 of us. ( 5 others were booked for this tour but missed the ferry from their hotel ).

Our guide commented things on our way to the starting point ( about 20 minutes away ). VERY nice guide, really enjoyed the ride...we saw sooooo many vans FILLED with tourists... those vans looked like they were on the edge of falling apart or just explode :eek:...not with TSWT :D

Got to the starting point of our horse ride. We got on some nice horse ( they knew what there were doing and there is a horse handler with EACH horse who walks along the horse all the way to and from the falls.

Is it scary ? Yes, at first... I did horseback some 30 years ago and did not remember how strong and stable those things are, and right at the start of the ride there is a steep hill to climb and to go down from :eek:. Once you trust this things you are ok.

Took about 40 minutes to get to the falls. We were almost alone in the trails that lead to the falls. A little market waits for you at the top of the steps that you have to get down to get reach the falls.

Many steps down, hot, humid, but soooo beautiful. Spent about 20 minutes there ( we were the ones to ask our guide to go back up, no pressure from him ). If you have many steps down, obviously you have many steps up :eek: , we did it with only one break of about 15 seconds...wow I was exhausted... take your time going up, take many breaks, it is hot, humid and steep.

We were about 15 on the rocks at the bottom of the falls. When we were leaving on our horses, there was probably, not exaggerating, 60 person arriving on horses...OMG...so glad we were done there.

Arriving back at the start point, we washed our hands, went to the bathroom ( 3 available and CLEAN ). We were greeted by the owner and directed to our table for the included lunch. We had bits of crushed plantain, salad and vinaigrette, chicken, beef, beans, rice and eggplant. Everything was full of flavor, seasoned and delicious.

Everything is all you can eat and the cooler from your van is next to you and we made our own rum and coke ( is was generic brand name in the cooler, the owner went and got "real" coke for us..we didn't ask, she just went and got it for us ). Had a wonderful lunch with our guide, talked about tradition and "real" life in Samana.

We left and we stopped at the " bread lady ", she makes between 80 and 100 bread per day, by hand in her LITTLE ( about 8X8 ) bread shop. It is coco bread, we tasted a hot one just coming out of the homemade oven, it was great. Then we stopped at a private house/factory...really only a house that everyone knows that she makes coco candy .... WOW the best sweet treat we had in the past year...unbelievable, fresh, sweet, HOT ( almost burning in our hands ) it just melted in our mouth.

We didn't pay for all of the extras, our guide payed for everything. ( of course we tipped accordingly at the end of the tour ).

Then since we were ahead of time on our tour, our guide offered to bring us to a local beach for a while or whatever we wanted. We decided to spend some time at the flee market between the office of TSWT and where the tender would pick us up.

We LOVED that tour, TSWT is superb. Book it, do not hesitate one second.

It was the best of our 4 ports.

BRAVO to TSWT for honoring our reservation even if we were only 2.

ok...long enough... sorry...hope you enjoyed !!!

We are doing this tour in 2 weeks. Do you think it would be ok with the guides if we snuck a few carrots off the ship for the horses? :)

I guess so :confused:

The horses are not "underfeed" or skinny. They are looking in good shape and it is recommended to tip the handlers...the tip goes for them AND food for the horses.( that's what I was told )

We tipped 10$ each and to be honest they looked not satisfied of the $$ we gave them...If I remembered correctly it was a suggestion of 10$, so...that's what we gave to each handlers. I gave my $ to my handler and my fiancee gave her $ to her handler, they were both a great distance from each other and when we sat down to eat, my fiancee told me in french " my handler looked unhappy about the tip, was yours too ? "....

Maybe I missed something...I really didn't want to be rude in anyway....maybe Terry can answer you in an e-mail if you send him one.

Have fun, it is a GREAT tour !

How about Tour #4, the whale watching excursion?

Has anyone gone out in the boats to see the whales?

I've heard it can be rough.

Would love some feedback from anyone who has done this.

We recently did Tours with Terry excursion # 1 El Limon Waterfalls by horseback on the last port stop on our NCL Gem Eastern Caribbean cruise. What a great experience! I absolutely love what Terry is trying to do for the country and you will too after spending the day with them! It was a group of 5 of us who traveled, all between ages 25-29. It was me and my husband and our three friends.

Reservation Process & Website

After doing lots of research on TripAdvisor and CruiseCritic, we decide to book Tours with Terry. I made my reservation on the website, which was easy and quick. Within the same day I received an email confirmation from Terry. You don’t have to pay any money upfront at the time of booking – you can pay cash the day you arrive.

The website had tons of great information and lots of answers to any questions you may have. It helped ease any nerves I felt about booking outside of a ship-sponsored tour in a country that hasn’t always received the best reviews. The major differentiator on Terry’s website compared to other private excursion operations for me was the YouTube video posted of what to expect when you arrive. This really made me feel like he took the time to research and understand what it’s like for a passenger arriving in a foreign country trying to find their tour operator. It may sound silly and like a simple thing but I’ve never seen anyone do this before and I appreciated it.

Arrival

After tendering to the port, true to the youtube video on the website, Terry himself was waiting in the exact same spot as show with his tshirt and sign.  He greeted us warmly and introduced us to our guide for the day, Eliseo. We had to stand around for about 20 minutes (as warned on the website and in the confirmation email) but it was not a big deal at all because there were some really cute well behaved dogs that were wandering around playing with each other and all the other people working at the dock were friendly. It did not feel unsafe in any way. You may encounter a few people asking you for money, but you politely say no or ignore and they go away.

After waiting for the rest of our group (total of 7 people in our tour) we all got into the van with Eliseo to drive about 3 minutes down the street to the Tours with Terry office to pay for our trip. We paid cash and received a receipt. There is a bathroom inside the office that you can use before you head out (and I recommend you do as there are not a lot of bathroom stops during this tour). There are two stores next door to the office – one is an art store that had some gorgeous paintings in it. I did not see any prices on the paintings and I did not see any employees. The other store was your standard gift shop. I will warn you that the employee in there was VERY aggressive. He basically shoved a cigar in my husband’s mouth and then tried to push him into buying a pack for $30. A simple “no thank you” was not acceptable to him so use caution.

The Tour

After everyone paid and used the bathroom, we got back into the van with Eliseo to start our day. The van is very clean and Eliseo keeps a big cooler in the back that has beer, bottled water, bottles of coke and a bottle of rum if you want to mix yourself a rum & coke. He locked the van at every stop throughout the day so if you wanted to leave your backpack locked in his van, you were welcome to.

The drive to the waterfall is about 20-30 minutes. You pass by a lot of interesting things on the way and Eliseo does a great job of answering questions. Samana is definitely a very poor country so be prepared to see things very different from home. We saw pigs & chickens tied to trees so they won’t get away before dinner, people burning their own trash on the side of the street (no garbage pick up) and lots of houses that are only partially finished because families don’t have the money to complete them. The island itself is absolutely breathtaking. The plants and trees are beautiful, the ocean is breathtaking and the views even when driving on big hills is surreal.

The first stop on the tour was to El Limon Waterfalls. When we arrived there were several horses and guides waiting for us (note the guides do not work for Terry – they are owners of the horses or work for the company that owns the horse so they are not paid as part of this tour and depend on your tip for payment for the day). We each got onto our horses (Eliseo included) and started the approximately 30 minute ride to the waterfall. The guides did not speak a lot of English so it was difficult to communicate at times. However they were all very nice and definitely showed a lot of care to both the horses and us as the guests. The guides would point out trees & fruits along the way and also pick leaves for us to smell such as mint and orange.

I must warn you that the trail is VERY steep at times so the ride can be a little intimidating. You have to lean way back and way forward (guide will tell you when) to help balance the weight on the horse so that the horse doesn’t fall. The whole trail has lots of large rocks on it so you often hear the horses losing their footing behind you which can make you think that people are falling. It is also very narrow and since the trail is extremely busy, you have to watch your legs & knees. Twice another horse & guest came by a bit too close and their leg would hit my knee and start to pull it open, nearly ripping it off. Very scary! My guide was great about watching for this and pushing my leg in or pushing the other horse away when needed.

Once you get to the end of the trail, you leave your horse and walk the rest of the way down a steep staircase. I can’t remember exactly how many steps but I want to say around 200. The way down was no problem – the way back up however left you gasping for air! The guides do this every day so they were running up it not phased at all where as we were clutching the railing for dear life and spent at least 5 minutes up top trying to catch our breath! 

The waterfall is gorgeous! The guides come down to the waterfall with you and sit together in the shade and wait until you are ready to leave. It’s nice because they never rush you to leave and it’s comforting to know that they are there making sure you’re having a good time and are safe. There are two wooden stalls where you could change into your bathing suit if you did not put it on in advance. The water was much chillier than the ocean but worth the dip. The water is about 100 feet deep I think a local said so you have to be a good swimmer as there are no rafts or noodles to rest on! You can swim behind the waterfall into a small cave but again you must be a good swimmer because your only choices for rest are to hold the ceiling with one hand or try to find some rocks jutting out enough to rest on. We spent about 20 or 30 minutes at the waterfall and then headed back. The horse ride back was a little less intimidating than the ride there because you’ve already done it once but still remember to lean!

Upon returning two women that live on the property prepared a huge feast of traditional Dominican food for us! There is a sink nearby that you can wash your hands (which you’ll want to after being on the horses). The meal included yucca fries, fried plantain, chicken, beef, white rice and beans. They set it out on a buffet table and had the table set up very nice for us. It was under a big covered pavilion like you’d see at your local park. Eliseo joined us for lunch as well and we had a nice meal. For dessert they served pineapple slices which were delicious (not acidy like pineapples in the US) and a coconut candy that they make themselves. It’s hard to explain but it’s similar to a toffee but not as hard. Very good! A local will try to sell you a photograph of you on your horse from the trip so bring $20 cash if you might be interested in buying the photo.

Our second stop was to a local cigar factory to see how cigars are made. I wasn’t sure if I would find this stop particularly interesting but it turned out to be well worth the time. It was really interesting to see how cigars are made. The employee even gave the guys in our group a cigar each to smoke while they watched him make more. We ended up giving him $5 when we said thank you and goodbye because he did not charge us for the cigar but we felt he should receive something for it.

Our third stop was to a women’s house who makes coconut bread for people in town. She has a cart in her front yard and if she has fresh bread ready she’ll stick one loaf in the window so people will know they can come buy some. While we were there watching her make it some locals stopped by to purchase some. She was so nice and it was so great of her to let us into her home to see how she makes the bread. She wrapped up 3 loaves for us to take with us of hot fresh made coconut bread – very tasty!

Our fourth stop was at a women’s house to get a hot bag of freshly made coconut candy, different than the one we had at lunch. Again hard to explain but these were more like oatmeal clusters but not crunchy, more gooey. Also very good!

The final stop on the trip that was offered was to go to the beach, however we collectively decided as a group that we were all tired and felt that we had a great day seeing everything and didn’t need to stop at the beach. We also didn’t stop at Terry’s home to see the views, as described on the website, but we did drive by his house and saw where he lived. Eliseo offered to let us stop at the straw market (which is pretty far away from the dock oddly enough) but we were all so tired we passed.

Departure/Closing

Eliseo brought us right back to the dock where he picked us up. Everyone tipped him for his time and providing us a safe, fun and educational day. We really had a great day with Eliseo and Tours with Terry. I love what Terry is trying to do for Samana and how many people he brought business to that day. We saw Eliseo give cash to each person that we made a stop at along the way so it felt good knowing that everyone made some money that day. They need it way more than we do… I highly recommend Tours with Terry to anyone looking to learn about the culture, experience their life, try some traditional can’t-get-on-the-ship food and have a little adventure. We did so much for such a reasonable price - a full day of different experiences for only $65. Thank you Terry, Eliseo and everyone else who created such a memorable day for us.