What to do in La Romana???

[atobols]

We are a family of 4.  We're in our 40s and the boys are 12 and 14.  I'm reading through the excursions offered by Carnival and nothing is jumping out at me and the reviews aren't great. We are an active family.  We have no interest in shopping tours or lounging on a beach.  I was leaning against going scuba diving because we plan to do that the day before in Grand Turk, but snorkeling would be fine.  We would be up for just about anything as long as it gets us out of crowds and tourist shopping areas.  I'm open to something outside the carnival excursions.  Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.  We'll be there in late December.

 

[KD Travel Adventures]

Everyone's preferences and ideas of fun are a little different, but I have been to La Romana twice on cruises and wish all of the cruise itineraries stopped in La Romana so that I could go to Hilton La Romana on every cruise. We were last there in October 2019 and it was under new management from the fist time we were there in 2013, but we loved it just as much as the first time.  It is normally an all-inclusive family resort, which I think it is now, although when we were there it was under renovations and considered adults-only at the time. You mentioned you are an active family and I think you will find activities to do there, but I enjoy it for the relaxation.

 

Couple of notes about Hilton La Romana:

• it's about a 25 minute taxi drive and you can get a taxi just outside of the cruise terminal. There are plenty of people to direct you to the taxi's and they will try to fill the taxi before leaving. I don't remember what we paid per person for the taxi, but Hilton La Romana had said it was $35 one way, although I think we may have paid $10-15 round trip per person because there were eight of us in the taxi.  
• The cost last October was $65 per adult and the message I had also had ages 2-12 were 50% discount, but these prices could have changed by now.
• Both times I booked the reservation on Facebook. You may be able to contact them via their website, but the person directing us into a specific taxi told another couple that was asking us about Hilton La Romana that they didn't need a reservation and to get in the taxi. They did and there wasn't any issues, but I would prefer to have those reservations and did show mine once we got there.
• The snorkeling from the beach is not very good in terms of the fish you see, however, there are a lot of starfish.  I have never seen starfish while snorkeling except for this place and there are a lot of starfish
• The beach is nice and so is the pool.  But, I'm guessing the pool in the below video is not for kids since it has a swim up bar.
• The grounds are beautiful.
• Their is a huge selection of food.
• I don't know the time of year you are going but when we went in September 2013 and October 2019 there are hardly any people there, but co-workers went there on a cruise in March 2014 said it was packed

 

Below is a 4.5+ minute video of the resort. I recommend watching all of it because it shows the beach area, the swimming area we were allowed to go in and the restaurant where we could eat. Please keep in mind that the video is from when it was adults-only because of the renovations to the family area. But, I would recommend contacting Hilton La Romana for details about additional swimming areas and other family activities.  When I was there the first time in 2013, under the different management company, there was a huge pool that had basketball hoops in one area, among other activities, but I don't know if that's what they have now.

 

 

[KD Travel Adventures]

Follow up to my above post...

 

I saw something this past week on Hilton La Romana's Twitter account that looked like the old pool I mentioned they had in 2013 with a bunch of activities, had several huge water slides and looked like a lot of fun.  I would guess this would be open to cruise day pass guests, but double check with them when booking in case that's for extended stay guests only.

 

Below is a video of walking directions from the cruise ship to just outside the cruise terminal where the taxis are located to take you to Hilton La Romana.

 

 

[KD Travel Adventures]

The YouTube link in the above post (post #3) of the walking directions in the La Romana cruise terminal from the ship to the taxis does not always work, so if interested, please use the below video. Sorry for any confusion.