Authentic Countryside Experience

[Salt Lifer]

Has anyone done the "Authentic Countryside Experience" excursion in Puerto Plata?  Celebrity offers this, and RCCL may as well.  Is it worth the time and money?  

[LosaFromCanada]

This was the worst excursion ever. I am thoroughly traumatized by this experience and I’m usually pretty easy going.  Cheese Factory stop was absolutely awful. Horrid smells and working conditions for the people there were terrible; was told by the guide that they made $300USD a month and worked 10hrs a day. Practically the entire tour was a guilt trip on how poor the people of DR were and made us feel so bad as we drove through the town and country side looking at shacks and poverty. The rest of the stops were at people’s backyards and at “flea markets” where we were peddled to buy things. We even drove through a funeral procession. Unsanitary conditions of the sugar cane juice (flies touching the sugar canes), extremely bumpy unpaved roads annd through riverbeds where our truck almost got stuck and we were 1 hr over schedule returning back to the ship. This was one of the worst experiences of my trip. I guess I had an idea of a relaxing, peaceful drive out on the countryside. This wasn’t it. I was begging to go back to the ship pretty much after we left the Cheese Factory. Btw, none of these places are “factories” except the cheese factory which was more like a sweatshop. The other locations were people’s backyards.