Water at Amber Cove

[NauticalNeophyte]

Is the water at Amber Cove as murky and brown as it looks? I’ve seen pictures with clear and brown water and wondered if anyone could weigh in. Yes, I know there are reviews, but I just want some specifics on what it looks like. Coming from south Louisiana, aka the land of brackish water, I’d hate to see more on my vacation.

 

Thanks.

[evandbob]

Is the water at Amber Cove as murky and brown as it looks? I’ve seen pictures with clear and brown water and wondered if anyone could weigh in. Yes, I know there are reviews, but I just want some specifics on what it looks like. Coming from south Louisiana, aka the land of brackish water, I’d hate to see more on my vacation.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Yes the photos don't lie. The Atlantic Ocean inlet water is ugly on the pier side. There is also no beach on the pier side. There is a small beach with some white sand on the very tip of the opposite arm of the inlet. We saw several ATV excursions stop there briefly from our Horizon balcony since we chose to stay on board and not even disembark in the Carnival manufactured shopping center/pool. Didn't see anyone on an ATV excursion enter the water there though, they didn't have any time to do so. The view away from AC was way better than looking at phony fortress turrets.

 

If you go down to Puerto Plata, the nearest village, the water there is also gray and uninviting. Reminded me of Coney Island in Brooklyn NY. I spent a week in Puerto Plata and regretted it. If you want aqua blue green water and white sand, you need to visit Punta Cana on a land vacation.

[Sunseeker810]

We took a cab to a beach that was about 30 minutes away. The water was murky there too. We were supposed to being going to Punta Cana but got re-routed. It was disappointing, but we made the best of it! We got a drink at the pool when we got back.

[NauticalNeophyte]

Thanks for the info! Well that stinks, but at least it has been confirmed. I guess we’ll use the day to buy souvenirs and relax.

 

I know this is a cruise manufactured terminal, but it makes me wonder why Carnival would build here other than cheap prices. There doesn’t seem to be much of anything near by, the excursions seem lackluster and the water looks like a flash flood. Surely there are better places to have built a port.

 

Since this is a first time in the DR and a first cruise for most of our group, we’ll make the best of it. Thanks again.

[NauticalNeophyte]

Yes the photos don't lie. The Atlantic Ocean inlet water is ugly on the pier side. There is also no beach on the pier side. There is a small beach with some white sand on the very tip of the opposite arm of the inlet. We saw several ATV excursions stop there briefly from our Horizon balcony since we chose to stay on board and not even disembark in the Carnival manufactured shopping center/pool. Didn't see anyone on an ATV excursion enter the water there though, they didn't have any time to do so. The view away from AC was way better than looking at phony fortress turrets.

 

If you go down to Puerto Plata, the nearest village, the water there is also gray and uninviting. Reminded me of Coney Island in Brooklyn NY. I spent a week in Puerto Plata and regretted it. If you want aqua blue green water and white sand, you need to visit Punta Cana on a land vacation.

 

If I may ask, is there anything else besodes the water that made you regret Puerto Plata?

[mybichon]

We rented an oceanfront cabana and were disappointed with the brown water. There were also tons of flies. There were so many in the area that when the ship sailed a lot of them came along for the ride and were pestering us in the buffet area and out on the open decks for awhile.

[Organized Chaos]

Thanks for the info! Well that stinks, but at least it has been confirmed. I guess we’ll use the day to buy souvenirs and relax.

 

I know this is a cruise manufactured terminal, but it makes me wonder why Carnival would build here other than cheap prices. There doesn’t seem to be much of anything near by, the excursions seem lackluster and the water looks like a flash flood. Surely there are better places to have built a port.

 

Since this is a first time in the DR and a first cruise for most of our group, we’ll make the best of it. Thanks again.

The D.R. turned out to be my favorite port a few weeks ago after what I expected would be our least favorite. We loved the scenery pulling into Amber Cove. Reminded us a lot of the Smoky Mountains, and we love vacationing there. I'm not the type of guy who's into sitting around a pool, especially when we're vacationing on a tropical island (we can sit around a pool anywhere). But I will say that the pool area is pretty impressive and looks nice. We didn't spend time there, but went and checked it out after we got back from our "adventure." If we went back, and we do want to go back, I can see us hanging out there, at least for a little while.

 

We took a taxi to the Teleferico (cable car) that takes you to the top of Mt. Isabel de Torres and we had a great time. There's trails through the forest and gardens up there and the scenery is beautiful. If you'd like a little more info. about it, I wrote a detailed description of our experience and posted some pictures in this thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2624461 :)

[jordanaire]

Wow..I thought the water in that huge pool was crystal clear? We thoroughly enjoyed that pool.

 

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[mzloolue]

If I may ask, is there anything else besodes the water that made you regret Puerto Plata?

 

When we went to Puerta Plata it was 1982, so a while ago.

 

It was both beautiful and hideous.

 

I remember a sick looking child with sores all over him among the other children begging.

One needed a guide to keep the beggars off, but you would still be walking down the street and people would be following along. The guy we hired was not so good at keeping people off.

A man offered to sell us a baby. I have always hoped he was kidding.

 

About that time we headed back to the ship really fast.

[KarimaJ]

The waterfall tours look fun, this is probably what we will do. The water there looks ok though not the ocean.

 

 

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[A&Jfamily]

The waterfall tours look fun, this is probably what we will do. The water there looks ok though not the ocean.

 

 

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Make sure you have water shoes and are prepared for a hike. This was a great excursion but not for people out of shape or faint of heart!

 

DR is one of the prettiest islands we have visited. I highly suggest booking some kind of tour and get out and explore.

 

 

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[evandbob]

If I may ask, is there anything else besodes the water that made you regret Puerto Plata?

 

 

You mean aside from the 2 star hotels that line the beach there? Mediocre food, 1950's bed and furniture, and the beach was a coarse yellow brown sand. I did enjoyed day trips to Sosua and Cabarete and even made a visit to Ocean World before it was finished with its construction.

 

I've since stayed in La Romana Dreams and about 8 different hotels in Punta Cana and Bavaro Beach, where I would go back in a heartbeat. But Puerto Plata will never see my face again.

[mz-s]

The ocean water is murky there, not sure why - must be the currents I guess.

 

The pool at the Amber Cove port "resort" is very nice.

 

When we went to AC we stayed in the port area. I was concerned that the town would be another Cozumel - and after hearing from fellow passengers on the ship, it seems I was actually conservative in my assumption. Maybe things have changed in the last 2 years.

[NauticalNeophyte]

The D.R. turned out to be my favorite port a few weeks ago after what I expected would be our least favorite. We loved the scenery pulling into Amber Cove. Reminded us a lot of the Smoky Mountains, and we love vacationing there. I'm not the type of guy who's into sitting around a pool, especially when we're vacationing on a tropical island (we can sit around a pool anywhere). But I will say that the pool area is pretty impressive and looks nice. We didn't spend time there, but went and checked it out after we got back from our "adventure." If we went back, and we do want to go back, I can see us hanging out there, at least for a little while.

 

We took a taxi to the Teleferico (cable car) that takes you to the top of Mt. Isabel de Torres and we had a great time. There's trails through the forest and gardens up there and the scenery is beautiful. If you'd like a little more info. about it, I wrote a detailed description of our experience and posted some pictures in this thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2624461 :)

 

Thanks for that review. We may try the cable car.

[Organized Chaos]

Thanks for that review. We may try the cable car.

No problem. If you go, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. The experience with the vendor was a little off putting. They're kind of out of place there considering the surroundings. But it was nothing like you deal with in other places. And hey, we did get a few nice souvenirs out of it. We didn't let that part of it take away from the rest.

[lizardhowson]

Amber Cove is not a "beach" type port. Use the pool or save your beach day for a better port.

[mek]

My husband is disabled so running around and going to the beach is difficult for us. We had a wonderful day at Amber Cove and we will be taking a 5 year old there in 2020. The pool is great!

[gotscrapz]

We dis the waterfall tour there 2 years ago with Mama Iguana and it was great! Tough hike in the heat and humidity in August but fun and pretty.