Cayo Levantado - info re: getting there less expensively

[tbmrt]

This info may be old, but I found it today and wanted to run it buy you.

I want to go to Cayo, but really hate to pay $49 or $69pp to visit thru the cruiseline which up until today I thought was the only way to get to Cayo.

 

It’s easiest to obtain a ride to Cayo Levantado by going directly to the Port of Samaná, where boats will take you there for US$10–15 per person, round-trip. Always try to work a better deal if you have more people in your party, and agree on a price before boarding the vessel.

 

Has anyone traveled there via one of these boats? Would love to receive info.

Barbara

[TPEINC1958]

If a cruise ship are in port, private boats will be turned away. If you are staying on the island and there is no cruise ship in port than they welcome you with open arms and gladly take your money for food and beverages.

[dtiger]

Even though it's expensive just for the boat ride to Cayo Levantado it's a beautiful beach and the water is lovely so I find it worth it.

[maxciocc]

We had a beautiful day there in April. I had been dreaming of lying on a beach-float drifting in the Caribbean, and Cayo Levantado was my first taste of it. I would go back there again, what a peaceful setting.

[electro]

Even though it's expensive just for the boat ride to Cayo Levantado it's a beautiful beach and the water is lovely so I find it worth it.

 

I would also like to find a cheaper way.

There are 6 of us so that would be $300 just to get a tender to the island.:eek: that just seems outragious to me.

 

Lois

[Lazirus65]

We had a beautiful day there in April. I had been dreaming of lying on a beach-float drifting in the Caribbean, and Cayo Levantado was my first taste of it. I would go back there again, what a peaceful setting.

 

Hi we a planning to do the NCL tour in December, there are 6 of us with an age range of 20 -77, the eldest not being a very beachy person, is there a shaded seated bar area or resturant on the beach to chill out on?

[cherylroslyn]

Hi we a planning to do the NCL tour in December, there are 6 of us with an age range of 20 -77, the eldest not being a very beachy person, is there a shaded seated bar area or resturant on the beach to chill out on?

Come join the roll call if you would like!!!!!

 

 

Its a little slow right now.....only about 20 of us :):)

[Karysa]

I read that the NCL Dawn has been running free tenders for the last month or so. Is this still the case?

[Kaye from Chicagoland]

I read that the NCL Dawn has been running free tenders for the last month or so. Is this still the case?

 

I curious about this as well.

[cruisegirl]

I am wondering if the NCL tenders come & go on a fairly regular schedule to Cayo Levantado enabling you to stay only as long as you want. Does anyone know? Also is this a private beach or not?

[cruisegirl]

I read that the NCL Dawn has been running free tenders for the last month or so. Is this still the case?

 

I wonder how we could find that out. Has anyone tried calling NCL to ask? We want to go to Cayo Levantado but the only things I find on the excursions are for ones with a cost. We'll be on the Dawn in March.

[Jldevlin]

we are also on the dawn in march and from what I understand is that they are running the tenders to Cayo first for free and then sending people who have an excursion at the port going next . we are going to Cayo anyways and if it is free it is even better !!!

[cruisegirl]

we are also on the dawn in march and from what I understand is that they are running the tenders to Cayo first for free and then sending people who have an excursion at the port going next . we are going to Cayo anyways and if it is free it is even better !!!

 

 

That sounds good. When you say an excursion at the port do you mean an excursion other than Cayo? I think I'll try checking with NCL and see what I can find out. If I learn anything I'll post it here.

[mailbroad]

That sounds good. When you say an excursion at the port do you mean an excursion other than Cayo? I think I'll try checking with NCL and see what I can find out. If I learn anything I'll post it here.

 

Thanks! That would be very helpful!

[ComeSailAwayWitMe]

I was recently on the Norwegian Dawn. Yes they will be announcing the day prior (your sea day) that they will offer free excursion to Cayo Laventado. Apparently there has been a lot of complaints received concerning Samana. So in order to appease their guest, NCL has decided to allow any and all passengers to enjoy this private beach island. Trust me - they will not tell you about this prior to the day before arrival. I suggest to any passenger who has a stop in Samana to plan your day solid well before you embark. Walking around the town is not a good option. Very depressing / sad. Kids begging for $1 - alot of street dogs - not anything "pretty" to see. So either book an excursion that will help encompass the hours you have there or enjoy time on the Cayo.

[Karysa]

I was recently on the Norwegian Dawn. Yes they will be announcing the day prior (your sea day) that they will offer free excursion to Cayo Laventado. Apparently there has been a lot of complaints received concerning Samana. So in order to appease their guest, NCL has decided to allow any and all passengers to enjoy this private beach island. Trust me - they will not tell you about this prior to the day before arrival. I suggest to any passenger who has a stop in Samana to plan your day solid well before you embark. Walking around the town is not a good option. Very depressing / sad. Kids begging for $1 - alot of street dogs - not anything "pretty" to see. So either book an excursion that will help encompass the hours you have there or enjoy time on the Cayo.

 

Thanks for the recent info. Were excursions to Cayo Leventado still being sold on board the ship prior to the announcement that the tenders to there would be free?

[cruisegirl]

I called NCL and asked about the excursions to the beach being free. What I was told was that if they docked at the beach, the excursion would be free and they would refund any money we had paid for the excursion. But if the ship didn't dock there then the excursion would not be free. Does this make sense? I wouldn't have thought they would dock at the beach anyway since it's a separate island.

[Karysa]

I called NCL and asked about the excursions to the beach being free. What I was told was that if they docked at the beach, the excursion would be free and they would refund any money we had paid for the excursion. But if the ship didn't dock there then the excursion would not be free. Does this make sense? I wouldn't have thought they would dock at the beach anyway since it's a separate island.

 

I'm with you. :confused:

I think they got it wrong.

[Karysa]

Thanks for the recent info. Were excursions to Cayo Leventado still being sold on board the ship prior to the announcement that the tenders to there would be free?

 

We stopped in Samana on March 9th on the NCL Dawn. We were given a sheet with information stating that Cayo Leventado tenders would be free of charge. Samana was our first port and the information was provided just under the 48 hour deadline for canceling NCL excursions free of charge. They were refunding CL excursion fees and the extra $10 or so if CL was a part of an excursion such as a catamaran/beach day. If CL being free would alter your plans don't book anything with NCL for Samana prior to boarding. With that said I hope that the independent tour operators are not being stood up by folks that change their minds while on board as it is really unfair to do that to them.

[kiloindia]

WHat if you want to go to Cayo for free the first part of the day, then to El Limon waterfalls? Will the tender take you from Cayo to the port? Or, do you have to go back to the ship and then take a seperate tender to the port?

[Karysa]

WHat if you want to go to Cayo for free the first part of the day, then to El Limon waterfalls? Will the tender take you from Cayo to the port? Or, do you have to go back to the ship and then take a seperate tender to the port?

 

The tenders to port were the town of Samana tenders and the tenders to Cayo Leventado were the ships own tenders. Both sets of tenders just went to the one spot and back to the ship.

I would suggest going to the waterfall first and CL second because there is the possibility of not making back from the waterfall in time and missing the tender. That wouldn't happen if you went to CL because you are only a few minutes walk to he beach from the tender pier.

[Patt0Butter]

Just back from Dawn. Tenders to Cayo leaving for free first. Yes, we heard that it is a lovely beach and everyone came back looking like lobsters. Once beach is FULL - 1000 people - they then start shuttles to Samana. This is a problem if you have a private tour booked. All NCL tours are given special pass to get on an early tender to shore once Cayo is full. If you are in a suite, you get a priority tender pass. Regardless, we needed to be on shore for a private tour (which was AMAZING and highlight of our cruise) but had to jump through many hoops to ensure we were on shore in time.

[_toursamanawithterry_]

Just to answer the original question about how to get to Cayo Levantado cheaper:

 

If you are on any ship other than NCL you will have to purchase a shore excursion to Cayo Levantado. If you try to go to Cayo on a private tour or using a water taxi and they establish that you are from a cruise ship you will be turned away back to town and will have lost more money than if you had simply booked through them. It's an illegal deal giving them exclusivity to the "private island" which it is not. Anyone from a hotel or living in town can go over to the island any day, even a cruise ship day, and spend time on the Public Beach. This is where the ship's tour takes you also the Public Beach.

 

This past year NCL offered the Cayo Levantado for free although they never tell you about it until you are on-board. Of the 25 port days this year by the Dawn, 23 of them went to Cayo for free. Not sure how next years cruises from the Gem will go about it but they are scheduled to go to the mainland.

[Karysa]

Just to answer the original question about how to get to Cayo Levantado cheaper:

 

If you are on any ship other than NCL you will have to purchase a shore excursion to Cayo Levantado. If you try to go to Cayo on a private tour or using a water taxi and they establish that you are from a cruise ship you will be turned away back to town and will have lost more money than if you had simply booked through them. It's an illegal deal giving them exclusivity to the "private island" which it is not. Anyone from a hotel or living in town can go over to the island any day, even a cruise ship day, and spend time on the Public Beach. This is where the ship's tour takes you also the Public Beach.

 

This past year NCL offered the Cayo Levantado for free although they never tell you about it until you are on-board. Of the 25 port days this year by the Dawn, 23 of them went to Cayo for free. Not sure how next years cruises from the Gem will go about it but they are scheduled to go to the mainland.

 

I agree that the independent operators should be able to take people over to Cayo Leventado. Charging up to $50 like most cruise lines do for simply ferrying them from the anchored ship is a total rip-off. IMO the cruise lines should provide tenders from the ship to either the main land or the island and back to the ship for free. The independents could charge ferrying those people who would rather bypass the ship and just go from one dock to the other. It seems like the cruise lines are dividing and conquering. NCL's way brings more business to the vendors on CL and the way the other lines do it brings more business to independent tour operators on the mainland. My suggestion would spread the people and the money amongst the island venders, private tour operators and those ferrying people from the mainland to the island and back. On the NCL Dawn they used the ship's lifeboats to ferry folks to CL and I like seeing those boats being used in non-emergency settings as it makes me feel a little more comfortable.:) Operating the lifeboats on a weekly or bi-weekly basis such as for short ferries from the ship to CL makes sense to me.

[danfiveoh]

Just back from Dawn. Tenders to Cayo leaving for free first. Yes, we heard that it is a lovely beach and everyone came back looking like lobsters. Once beach is FULL - 1000 people - they then start shuttles to Samana. This is a problem if you have a private tour booked. All NCL tours are given special pass to get on an early tender to shore once Cayo is full. If you are in a suite, you get a priority tender pass. Regardless, we needed to be on shore for a private tour (which was AMAZING and highlight of our cruise) but had to jump through many hoops to ensure we were on shore in time.

 

We are just back from the Dawn and Cayo was really nice. Not sure where you got the 1000 people max from, but on our cruise, they ran the tenders all day. Also, they had tenders for tours or going on your own to the mainland running at the same time as the ship tenders to Cayo, just out of a different door.