Granddaughter worried about Dominican Republic

[purplephenom]

18 minutes ago, young_k92 said:

I completely understand your granddaughter's concerns. My cousin is headed to the DR to a resort this summer, and I really just wish she'd cancel it. I can tell you, that just because the DR is in the news right now doesn't make it the only place this is happening. If you want to scare yourself to never leave the U.S., just Google "Mexico resort deaths." After much research, I believe that it is "tainted" alcohol, if by tainted, one means "drugs added on purpose by criminals in order to: 1) send you to the hospital to extort money out of you; 2) make you easy to take advantage of; or 3) make you easy to rob." So, point is, weigh the pros and cons of taking the risks. Don't eat or drink anything while there. You'll probably be fine. If "probably" isn't good enough for you, don't get off the ship. That's a perfectly respectable option, even though there are people on here who don't agree. With three kids at home, it wouldn't personally be worth it to me. Only you can decide that for yourself. Some of us have too much good at home to lose over a stupid shore excursion to a third world country. Sorry, haters. You may begin the hateful replies now. Oh, and I plan to get off the ship in Cozumel in January when I'm there on my cruise, but I will not be eating or drinking anything. I would visit Amber Cove, not leave the cordoned off area, and not eat or drink anything if I were you. That's my humble opinion. Good luck! And enjoy your cruise!

 

 

Personally, I thought your post was pretty well balanced- you laid out the risks of the DR, say it happens elsewhere, and mentioned you are choosing to stay on the ship.  That's your decision and it's not full of exaggeration or scare tactics.  I'll save my eye rolling for people who act like they might die from just stepping off the ship, or people who say it's so safe they'll go wander thru the neighborhoods everyone tells them to stay away from.  :-) 

 

Everyone should make the best decision for themselves, and frankly, do what they want.  But all this hype and exaggeration makes reading any post about the DR hard, because it all comes around to these very sad deaths- when some people just want information.  

[riffatsea]

I still have not read anything about even one cruise passenger who was affected badly by anything in the DR! I don't see the reason for any worry at all and this constant discussion over things that have nothing to do with cruising is getting boring!

[3redheads]

I don't think we should bash anyone who might not get off the ship or is concerned about stopping in La Romana.  We can only present the facts and statistics.  Yes, it is highly unlikely anyone will perish, but I'm quite sure the people at the resorts who died didn't think it would be them.  The fact is we don't know what is causing the deaths.  There are theories, but that's all they are now.

 

We stop in La Romana in September and I've gone back and forth on whether or not to get off the ship.  We have decided to go on our excursion with Seavis and will have a good time.  

[CarnivalCruiser32]

On 6/29/2019 at 8:22 PM, coevan said:

 

 

Sorry Elaine, but you are way to paranoid. You seriously think a beer or bottled water would affect you? We ate a Cafe with our driver in Puerto Plata, wonderful and delicious. 

uh yeah drinking and eating things there is literally what people are dying of and the government is trying to cover it up saying perfectly healthy folks had diseases they did not have so...

[evandbob]

28 minutes ago, CarnivalCruiser32 said:

uh yeah drinking and eating things there is literally what people are dying of and the government is trying to cover it up saying perfectly healthy folks had diseases they did not have so...

 

 

Really?  Cite your sources for your claim.

 

Here's a  USA State Dept: source: 

Of the 10 Americans who have died in the Dominican Republic over the last year, six have reportedly died of heart-related conditions, including one whose family said they do not view the death as suspicious. (Cardiovascular problems account for nearly half of all American tourist deaths abroad, according to the Centers for Disease Control.)

[thesmiths]

1 hour ago, 3redheads said:

 

We stop in La Romana in September and I've gone back and forth on whether or not to get off the ship.  We have decided to go on our excursion with Seavis and will have a good time.  

 

They are great people and that beach area the office is at is real nice. Bayahibe.

We did the Sanoa Island and had a great time.

 

[evandbob]

6 minutes ago, thesmiths said:

 

They are great people and that beach area the office is at is real nice. Bayahibe.

We did the Sanoa Island and had a great time.

 

We did the same when we stayed at Dreams in LaRomana.  Enjoy!

[FiredogCruiser]

I think I'd feel safer in the DR than in some areas of Chicago, or Washington DC, or Portland, or LA, or NYC, or London.

 

The question is, would it prevent me from traveling to any of those cities?

 

Fear can be debilitating.

[evandbob]

One unmentioned possibility is the mamajuana sold at most DR shops and vendor carts.  Mamajuana is a home made  alcoholic aphrodesiac drink I've seen many vacationers buy.

 

There's no quality control, but it's usually made from red wine, honey and unspecified herbs  DR poor man's blue pill, some may have forgotten they tried it, or be ashamed to admit it.

 

I'm only bringing it up since I've seen it sold at almost every DR hotel I've stayed in and it hasn't been mentioned in any of the news reports.

Edited July 1, 2019 by evandbob

[Organized Chaos]

3 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

I work with a women from the DR.  She goes home 4 to  6 times a year.  She is very familiar with the all inclusives that are at the center of most of the deaths. She blames the cheap liquor they use.   An all inclusive doesn't generally use the good  stuff.  Their mini bottles are refillable.  Contaminated liquor? Who knows.  

 

I guess one of the possibilities that was being tossed around was methanol-tainted alcohol. Methanol is a natural byproduct of the distillation process and can cause death. Any alcohol containing methanol is supposed to be dumped, but I could see where there might be some small-time, irresponsible distilleries down there that might be acting carelessly. It'll be interesting to see what the FBI investigations reveal.

[Cafedumonde]

11 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

We were in Amber Cove last year. Drove through part of Puerto Plata. Sure as heck didn't see any soldiers, or "guys" in pickup trucks with sub-machine guns. I've read about that cave tubing excursions. Looks fun. We might have to check that out some day.

Well, we saw them in both la romana and outside of the amber cove compound.  We did not have to go through checkpoints in the DR but there were plenty of random “soldiers” standing around.  None of that in other ports we have been too, just DR and Belize.  Obviously you will probably be fine if you go to these places for a cruise excursion, but they are dangerous and we are done risking it.  Just not worth it for us.  Everything is disgusting there too.  On our last dr excursion through carnival (amber cove) the excursion was just as crappy as the country.  It was on a catamaran and the motor barely worked so they only took us 40 feet off shore to snorkel.  And there was nothing down there.  Ridiculous.  We could have just gone off the beach.  There were too many people working the excursion, like 10 local people.  And they definitely had an antagonism towards cruisers.  Not pleasant.  All they did the entire time was “party” together and try to pump tips.  Night and day from similar excursions in places like Nassau, Grand Cayman and Aruba.  And ironically the better excursions were much less expensive too.  

[Cafedumonde]

40 minutes ago, FiredogCruiser said:

I think I'd feel safer in the DR than in some areas of Chicago, or Washington DC, or Portland, or LA, or NYC, or London.

 

The question is, would it prevent me from traveling to any of those cities?

 

Fear can be debilitating.

 

Never been to Portland, but those other cities, with the exception of London (although I haven’t been there in about 15 years), are pretty disgusting too if you ask me.  Too many homeless people.  But there are still nice areas in most of those places to visit.  And in the US at least you have functioning government (generally) and law enforcement that is for the most part legitimate.  Love the NYPD myself.  Plus, you can pack heat in some of those cities if you are really worried.  Lol.  We definitely did not feel safe in DC the last time we were there, the homeless population was aggressive and OUT OF CONTROL.  Trash everywhere on the mall, trash cans overflowing.  Like an apocalyptic movie.  But that was before the current administration.  I am not sure if they have cleaned it up at all.  The general trend in major metropolitan areas seems to be downward everywhere.

[sandi1967]

Good evening,

 

We were just in Amber Cove last Thursday on the Elation.  I am not a fan of cruise line owned ports, but this one was fine.  I was able to buy some local items which is always top priority.  There is one restaurant there at the top of the resort and then one smaller one where all the shops are.  It is completely controlled by Carnival and it is a secure area.....meaning people just can't come into the port.  The area looked beautiful.  We were there from 9-2, had we been there until 4:00 we would have taken a taxi to a local beach, sorry can't recall the name, and would have rented chairs and umbrellas.  I would not be nervous to eat the food.  I do think the cases are very isolated and on the other side of the island. 

 

There is nothing wrong with being cautious, but you will be fine in this port.  There is also a very tall fence around the perimeter of Amber Cove.  I paid $20 to zip line for the day.....to rent an umbrella was like $20 which we did not pay.  We enjoyed the slide, and the lazy river.  We were only in the pool area for about two hours or so and then went to shop.  Oh, we did eat up at the top and had a couple drinks.  We had a fun day, but I would have preferred to have left the port area.  It ended up getting very crowded when the second ship came into port.

 

Good luck, you will have fun no matter what you decide.............you are on a cruise after all. 🙂

 

Take care,

Sandi

[sandi1967]

7 hours ago, Cafedumonde said:

 

Never been to Portland, but those other cities, with the exception of London (although I haven’t been there in about 15 years), are pretty disgusting too if you ask me.  Too many homeless people.  But there are still nice areas in most of those places to visit.  And in the US at least you have functioning government (generally) and law enforcement that is for the most part legitimate.  Love the NYPD myself.  Plus, you can pack heat in some of those cities if you are really worried.  Lol.  We definitely did not feel safe in DC the last time we were there, the homeless population was aggressive and OUT OF CONTROL.  Trash everywhere on the mall, trash cans overflowing.  Like an apocalyptic movie.  But that was before the current administration.  I am not sure if they have cleaned it up at all.  The general trend in major metropolitan areas seems to be downward everywhere.

Maybe you were there at a busy time.  We live not far from DC and go there fairly often and my husband works there.  Yes, it does have a homeless population, but I have never been approached by them.  They do frequent a park near 14th.......Sorry you experienced this, but DC is a great town.  Hope you visit again soon. 🙂

 

[Nic6318]

Hi

 

I was at different DR resorts twice this past year and had a great time (last time in May).

 

I thought I would take a look at pricing for resorts this fall and I am not seeing any real price discounting. Perhaps a couple of given weeks in late Aug. or early Sep. I saw random hotels with specific better buys, but certainly no winter bargains. To be sure, all-inclusive resort pricing in the D.R. is almost as cheap as Cuba, with much better quality. Just a few years ago you could find similar pricing for Mexican resorts, but that's no longer the case. (at least from Canadian departure cities) That would be a good reason for people wanting to get away to still opt for D.R., and pricing is not indicating any slowdown for land based trips.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Nic6318