Cayo Levantado, Dominican Republic with NCL

[Tatka]

I am reading here and there, that on some ships tenders to Cayo Levantado were offered for free. At the same time I still see it is being offered as an excursion on NCL site. Can somebody clarify this?

 

Thank you,

 

Tatka

[phillynick]

I have read the same thing, and am curious as well. Thank you for asking!

[terrymtex01]

Every time we have been there on NCL you had to pay to go to Cavo, but the ship does tender for free to the main island. What may get confusing is that some times the tenders that are going to pick up pax at the main island will also stop at Cavo to pick up people.

[SuiteRose]

From what I read this past year at the last minute (after time to cancel the paid excursions) they were announcing free tenders. We'll be there in January and we were just talking about that this morning... We'll be on the Gem and they'll be starting the 9 day cruise at the end of the month.. I am waiting to hear from some of those passengers if NCL is still doing that.

[Kaye from Chicagoland]

We were on the Dawn this past Feb. and they were doing free tenders to Cayo before and after us. On our date the Pearl was chartered out and they booked the whole island so no one went to Cayo. We were disappointed.

[scar4711]

We were on the Dawn this past Feb. and they were doing free tenders to Cayo before and after us. On our date the Pearl was chartered out and they booked the whole island so no one went to Cayo. We were disappointed.

 

Yeah.. Cayo was a port for Cayamo... sorry about that..

 

Even though I hate tender ports, I still went ashore.. I liked the beach bar. :)

[Karysa]

Last March on the Dawn we were given a piece of paper stating that there were free tenders to CL island. The catch to me was that this happened less than 24 hrs prior to going which meant that folks that booked other NCL excursions were out of the free cancellation window. They did offer the people that booked CL their money back but not those that booked other NCL excursions.

 

I worry how this practice will hurt the private tour operators in Samana. I am sure that some people just go to CL island for free instead of following through with their previous commitments to the tour operators in Samana.

[Tatka]

This will work out really nice for us, as we will be 5th time in Samana and don't have anything planned except for a ride to a local beach (not very nice beach though).

[familyof4cruising]

Does anyone know when will be the 1st ship to go to Samana so we have confirmation? I booked the tour already ( before we had to prepay excursions;)), but it would be great if it was free.

[Karysa]

If I am not mistaken, not every Dawn cruise last season offered free tenders to Samana. If NCL was doing this every cruise because they thought that it was the fair thing to do then they wouldn't have CL island as a listed shore excursion. I think that they are keeping it listed so that cruisers see it as an option and either book it or say its not worth $50 so I will book another NCL excursion. Others not wanting to pay $50 will prebook excursions with local tour guides. Then NCL announces that CL is free. Since there is less than 24 hours before reaching Samana when the announcement is made, cruisers can't cancel other Samana NCL excursions already booked. NCL knows that many cruisers who planned private excursions will instead use the free tenders and visit CL. One has to wonder what kickbacks the cruiseline is getting for doing this but it must be worth their while. Also, if it was free every cruise then word would get out and folks would be waiting for it. If people then were to book CL, thinking that it was going to be free, NCL could decide not to make it free that cruise and folks would have to pay $50 to go to CL. Something is definitely going on here but just what who knows!

[lovetrauma]

My Family and I Pre-Booked CL For our Cruise on Nov. 7th. Hopefully it will be free and they return the money as on board credit. Which will be just extra found money for drinks. I will let you know if it is when we get back.

[Karysa]

My Family and I Pre-Booked CL For our Cruise on Nov. 7th. Hopefully it will be free and they return the money as on board credit. Which will be just extra found money for drinks. I will let you know if it is when we get back.

 

If it is not free and the week before was will you be ok with that? Do you think that it will sellout if it wasn't free?

 

Our plan B if CL was not free was to tender to town and then take a taxi to a beach on the mainland.

 

The first time that we went to Samana in 2009 we went to the Caves and Mangroves and then were dropped at CL island. I recall that the price was $79 for just the Caves and Mangroves and $10 extra for the beach. We really loved the excursion and the beach was worth the $10 charge. BTW when CL was free last year they offered rebates for the beach part of NCL excursions.

 

There are 5 of us so $250 just to reach a beach 10 or so minutes away would not be worth it for us as with food and drinks the cost would be about $350.

 

It is a really nice beach so I do hope that you get to enjoy it for free.:)

[familyof4cruising]

My Family and I Pre-Booked CL For our Cruise on Nov. 7th. Hopefully it will be free and they return the money as on board credit. Which will be just extra found money for drinks. I will let you know if it is when we get back.

 

 

Looking forward to your reply!

[ibcnusoon]

We are planning to go to Cayo on our March 2013 9 night Gem cruise. Keep us posted!!

[Cootie12]

We are booked on that excursion for the October 20th Gem cruise. We actually paid $69 for use of the kayaks, snorkeling, rafts, etc. all day. Will let you know if we get onboard credit or our tour was actually a regular excursion as booked.:)

[boopsahoy]

From what I read this past year at the last minute (after time to cancel the paid excursions) they were announcing free tenders. We'll be there in January and we were just talking about that this morning... We'll be on the Gem and they'll be starting the 9 day cruise at the end of the month.. I am waiting to hear from some of those passengers if NCL is still doing that.

 

Hi, my DH and I are on the same cruise January 18th 101 days left to go. We booked the Cayo Levantado excursion already. I had read somewhere on CC that they will credit your onboard account if they have the free tenders going there. Lets see what happens!

[LousZoo]

From what I read this past year at the last minute (after time to cancel the paid excursions) they were announcing free tenders. We'll be there in January and we were just talking about that this morning... We'll be on the Gem and they'll be starting the 9 day cruise at the end of the month.. I am waiting to hear from some of those passengers if NCL is still doing that.

Our group will be on the Gem January 9th and we too are planning to book Cayo as well. I too am wondering about the free tenders....

[buzz2400]

we also are going 1/9/13. I plan on stopping by the excursion table and booking it then. Either way I would rather go to cl then the mainland.

[familyof4cruising]

We are booked on that excursion for the October 20th Gem cruise. We actually paid $69 for use of the kayaks, snorkeling, rafts, etc. all day. Will let you know if we get onboard credit or our tour was actually a regular excursion as booked.:)

 

 

Looks like you will be the first to go on this excursion for this new itinerary. We will all wait for you to come back with an answer! Have a great cruise!

[Leosmom]

Doesn' t anyone else think this is unfair? From what I've read, when NCL is in Samana, private ferries cannot take passengers from the cruise ship to Cayo Levantado, only hotel guests. NCL charges

$50 or so to go to the island when private ferries will take you there for from what i've read $20 round trip. This alone will prevent me from booking the NCL excursion. It leaves me with a bad feeling for NCL...another way they are nickeling and dimeing us :(

[Karysa]

Doesn' t anyone else think this is unfair? From what I've read, when NCL is in Samana, private ferries cannot take passengers from the cruise ship to Cayo Levantado, only hotel guests. NCL charges

$50 or so to go to the island when private ferries will take you there for from what i've read $20 round trip. This alone will prevent me from booking the NCL excursion. It leaves me with a bad feeling for NCL...another way they are nickeling and dimeing us :(

 

Yes I think that it is unfair. If they charge only $20 instead of $50 then people would go and they would keep the excursion revenue themselves without looking like bullies. Paying the cruiseline what you would pay a taxi on the island to transport you to and from a public beach would be fair.

[hondorner]

Disclaimer -- I have NOT been to Cayo Levantado with NCL, only on other cruise lines (Oceania and Regent).

 

Having said that, the first time I went to Samana was in 1980, aboard the old Carnival Carnivale. We landed on the North side of the Dominican Republic, at an old banana boat pier, and took taxis over the mountain to Samana. There, we boarded local fishing boats and were transported to the island in the bay. At that time, the entire island was a public beach.

 

The next time we were in Samana was 2006. By then, a resort comopany had purchased the island and created the hotel. It was a private island and the only way to get ther ewas by excursion from the mainland, which included the day use fee for the private beaches. We tendered in to the mainland (actually an island itself, of course).

 

We were back in Samana again in 2010, and this time the mainland was off limits to passengers unless they had booked an excursion. There were no tenders to the city for independent guests. Instead, there were two options -- take an excursion to the hotel side of Cayo Levantado to use their private beaches, or take a free tender to the public beach side of the island. We were perfectly happy to do the latter.

 

I don't know what NCL does at Cayo Levantado, but this dual nature of the island -- private resort and public beaches -- may explain why some of the tendering is free and some have an excursion fee.

 

Samana itself, in my opinion, was on a desperate downward spiral in 1980 and has continued downhill. When we went ahsore in 2006, we immediately turned around and went back to the ship. I'm glad we were not offered the opportunity to go to the city in 2010. The public beach side of Cayo Levantado is clean, has restricted access to locals unless they work there, limiting the beggars, and the few craft kiosks present are well regulated.

[Tatka]

Well, we had this port 4 times on our itinerary

 

1) 2006 (NCL) - went ashore and were shocked by what we saw... and smelled

2) 2008 (NCL) - didn't leave the ship after our first experience

3) 2009(RCCL)- had ship's excursion (horse ride to El Salto del Limon) Beautiful

4) 2010(RCCL) - went ashore.. it looked much better than in 2006 :). Hired a driver and went to the local beach... which was a bit scary, but after a while we adjusted and felt much better. For 5 dollars the guy, who owned our loungers (free for us) provided great service. :D

 

Problem is, local beaches are not really nice tropical beaches... grey sand, grey ocean.

[Tatka]

Ok, now I have an answer to my own question. :)

 

Just returned from our trip on Gem.

 

This time around NCL came up with a different plan. It was not $44.9 or free. It was $14.99 per person. You have to buy a ticket for a specific time. We got the earliest at 9 am, and our friends at 10:10. You meet in the theater and then proceed to the tenders. You can return back at 1pm, 2pm or 3 pm the latest.

 

It was not the best beach or private island, but pretty good, especially if you compare it to the other Samana beaches.

 

They have free loungers (white), cheap food and drinks. Pina-colada in the pineapple or coco-loco in coconut were $5, soadas at $2... Don't remember food prices, but they were cheap too.

 

You can rent snorkel equipment (for a fee) or play volleyball. They also have some small souvenirs bazaar. :)

[boopsahoy]

Ok, now I have an answer to my own question. :)

 

Just returned from our trip on Gem.

 

This time around NCL came up with a different plan. It was not $44.9 or free. It was $14.99 per person. You have to buy a ticket for a specific time. We got the earliest at 9 am, and our friends at 10:10. You meet in the theater and then proceed to the tenders. You can return back at 1pm, 2pm or 3 pm the latest.

 

It was not the best beach or private island, but pretty good, especially if you compare it to the other Samana beaches.

 

They have free loungers (white), cheap food and drinks. Pina-colada in the pineapple or coco-loco in coconut were $5, soadas at $2... Don't remember food prices, but they were cheap too.

 

You can rent snorkel equipment (for a fee) or play volleyball. They also have some small souvenirs bazaar. :)

 

What happens if you prepaid for the tour with NCL?