Amber Cove in lieu of Puerto Plata?

[booklady26]

I'm sailing on the Breakaway on Sunday. Our first port was to be Puerto Plata, DR, on Tuesday. I just noticed on my vacation summary that it's been changed to Amber Cove. Isn't that Carnival Corp's semi-private island in the DR, similar to NCL's Harvest Caye in Belize? Is NCL paying the competition to use their port or have they hatched a reciprocal agreement with Carnival to share Harvest Caye with their ships? 

[shof515]

Amber Cove is Carnival Corp semi private island

 

there is something going on at Taino Bay preventing the ships from docking in that area

[kaprin02]

Amber Cove is NOT a private island.  It is simply a different pier at Puerto Plata (yes, it was built by Carnival Corp, but it is not exclusive to them - they just get priority).  We were told Taino Bay is being dredged to better accommodate the larger ships (after what happened with the Escape).  We were scheduled for Taino Bay on the 4/16 sailing of the Escape, but it was changed to Amber Cove.  Our NCL excursion was switched for us, and most independent tour operators can do either pier, so if you have an independent excursion, just make sure they're aware of the change.  They should be able to switch.

[booklady26]

Thanks. I follow about or six major cruise lines but have never seen any with a stop at Amber Cove other than Carnival owned ships (incl Princess & HAL). But given the Escape accident, the switch makes sense.

[casie333]

I cannot find ANY information about this at all. I wrote to the Taino Bay Facebook page hoping for clarification, but can't find any articles about this. I did see that there will be FOUR ships in at once, which far more than the one or two at a time most other days on the day we'll be there (May 18th). I'm getting concerned!! 

(Carnival, Norwegian, Princess and MSC)

[LisaLisa87]

Our 5/22 Breakaway sailing also switched to Amber Cove. I'm happy about the change as we booked an independent excursion that's closer to Amber Cove than it is to Taino Bay.

[casie333]

I'm on MSC Seashore, and my friend sent photos of Taino Bay from just last week- May the 4th, it looked really awesome! But with the schedule now updated to 4 ships on the 18th, (at 8 am, 9 am, 9 am, 10 am) and Amber Cove can only accomodate 2, I'm thinking that either the schedule will be changing or Taino will be open. I'd really like to know so I can plan my excursion accordingly!!!

Btw, what private excursion are you doing there? I'm having a hard time picking something, especially as I hate crowds! lol

 

[casie333]

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/puerto-plata-amber-cove-port-1936

 

[casie333]

That says Amber Cove but there's no Taino Bay option. TB can take 3 ships at once. TB website schedule is way off. 

[LisaLisa87]

36 minutes ago, casie333 said:

Btw, what private excursion are you doing there? I'm having a hard time picking something, especially as I hate crowds! lol

 

We booked an ATV + horseback riding excursion with Country World. Here's a link to their web site: https://countryworldadventures.com/

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by LisaLisa87

[Homosassa]

3 hours ago, casie333 said:

I'm on MSC Seashore, and my friend sent photos of Taino Bay from just last week- May the 4th, it looked really awesome! But with the schedule now updated to 4 ships on the 18th, (at 8 am, 9 am, 9 am, 10 am) and Amber Cove can only accomodate 2, I'm thinking that either the schedule will be changing or Taino will be open. I'd really like to know so I can plan my excursion accordingly!!!

 

 

There may be ships that will use tenders to disembark passengers.

[LrgPizza]

We will be at Amber Cove next week.  I'm trying to understand if all of these facilities will be available to us, or if we are just docking there, and the water fun is simply a private thing for Carnival passengers. I hope this makes sense. 

[dman07]

I just did breakaway from May 8-15 with a stop in Amber Cove 

 

We loved it! But we didn’t stay at the cruise port. We walked 15min away to the beach next to the port 

 

All the facilities (pool, water slides etc) are available to any ship that docks there. We just choose not to use them. 

from the AC sign you can see the beach, but unfortunately you have to walk allll the way around or you can try and convince a taxi driver to take $2 each to bring you there but they will try their hardest to bring you to another beach for more money.