Samana?

[harveysalva]

At this point, I'm looking for ANY info on Samana. I previously posted that I was looking for someone that had something good to say, now I'm looking for anything... tell me about your Samana experience.

We will be there in April, so whale watching is not an option!

Thanks,

Shelly

[Smileymom]

Shelly read this post. It will be very helpful

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=479986

[harveysalva]

Great thread! I had read the early postings before, but when it disappeared from this board (why?) i forgot about it. So the more recent postings on the thread are very helpful and reassuring. Now, I can't wait to get there!:D

Thanks,

Shelly

[hula dancer]

We get back home late on March 23rd and I will post within a couple of days of our return. Hopefully our thoughts on Samana will be soon enough for your trip in April.

 

Molly

[harveysalva]

Thanks! I'm really curious about the availability of private tours to Cayo levantado. If we can get there on our own instead of through the ship, that sounds like the thing to do. None of us speak any spanish, so I'm also wondering how big of an issue this will be. It could be huge I guess. Maybe I better learn some key phrases before we go:p !

Shelly

[BettyB2]

Just returned from 9 days in the Dominican Republic and there are many things to do in Samana when whale -watching is not an option.

 

Some information I just posted for another OP asking for information on another board:

 

What hours will you be in port? I came home last Saturday after 9 days in the Dominican Republic and can help you out if you let me know when and how many hours you are in port. I met some very reliable boaters/drivers that were recommended on some DR forums and can get you in touch with them. They speak English. Also have German speaking drivers as well.

 

I hope more ships start going there as I would love to book for a day trip during whale season next year.

 

It is a BEAUTIFUL country if you are in the right places.......

 

I can probably hook you up with some great people to help you out..just let me know

Here is some information I gave my friends/family that came with us on thsi trip:

Samana is a small peninsula and town on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. It is one of the newest cruise ports in the Caribbean, and as such, has several remote and undeveloped areas of jungle, beaches and inland waterfalls.

Cayo Levantado is one of the most popular excursions, being a short tender ride away from the cruise ship anchorage. Also the town of Samana itself, which has a new tender pier, that is not visible on the current satellite data.

Other excursions take you to the fishing village of Las Terrenas, on the north shore of the peninsula, and Las Galeras, a beach area, also on the north side.

There are several other various types of excursions available, and this port appears to have much potential for the future. You can read more about the port if you check out cruise samana dot com.

They have many excursions to choose from

[Arepas]

Hi. You are going to one of the most beautiful parts of the island. Rows and rows of coconut palm trees and soft white sand. The water should be calm in April with lots of sunshine.

Here is one website, that has some of my images in the photo gallery section.

http://www.samana.net/nspage.html

 

You can also see my images on my own webpage at http://www.geraceimages.com

I know you will enjoy your trip.

:)

[Butch2099]

Hi, we will be in Samana from 9am-6pm according to our itinerary. With getting off & on the ship it will be much shorter time I'm sure.

We were thinking of the Cayo levantado beach excursion through the ship because it seems that the ships tour gets off 1st and goes directly to the beach. As opposed to waiting for the general tender to the main dock where it may/not be cheaper to get a private tender to Cayo levantado by someone who may/not speak english. Is this a fair assumption?

Also, we were looking at the whale watching excursion. Our ship seems like it will be there the last day of the season (Mar 15th) is it too late by then to see the whales? I hate to spend $100pp for a boatride to nowhere.

Any help will be appreciated.Thx..

[Russ Lomas]

Butch2099:

I assume you will be travelling on the NCL Spirit with us since you said you visit Samana on the 15th of March. From what I read a couple of months back in the Dominican Republic thread, you can get a local boy to give you a ride in his boat to Cayo Laventendo. They said they charged only $10 per person. We booked the ship's excursion because of what I read about NCL not letting passengers off the cruise ship until after noon unless they were on an NCL tour. I also hear they go straight to the island and that should save you over an hour in "boat" time. With two young children traveling with us, the ship's excursion over the private tour was a no brainer this time. Only one week left...See you on the Spirit next weekend!:D

[logjordan]

Went to Cayo Levantado April 2006 while on NCL cruise. We booked thru the cruise line. Was very nice and very beautiful. Also was not very crowded. Some local vendors were there and were polite to deal with. We bought coffee from them and they seemed thrilled that we bought from them and offered us deals on other items...but we passed on them.

[Butch2099]

Butch2099:

I assume you will be travelling on the NCL Spirit with us since you said you visit Samana on the 15th of March. From what I read a couple of months back in the Dominican Republic thread, you can get a local boy to give you a ride in his boat to Cayo Laventendo. They said they charged only $10 per person. We booked the ship's excursion because of what I read about NCL not letting passengers off the cruise ship until after noon unless they were on an NCL tour. I also hear they go straight to the island and that should save you over an hour in "boat" time. With two young children traveling with us, the ship's excursion over the private tour was a no brainer this time. Only one week left...See you on the Spirit next weekend!:D

 

I saw you on the roll call for the Spirit also. We will be there. I think this is going to be the only excursion we book through the ship.I don't want to waste that much time letting the excursions all leave before we can get off and then take a chance on finding someone who speaks english and who can not only get us there but get us back also. I would end up worrying on the beach if we are going to make it back to the ship the whole time and that wouldn't be fun & relaxing at all. Although I am going to wait until we get on the ship to book it in case it looks like it's going to rain. The forecast should be available by the time we leave.

[Russ Lomas]

Never say the "R" word when talking about a cruise vacation. We expect 25 degree weather (or 85F) and blue skies. Isn't that what we paid for? Hope to see you on the tender to C.L. then.

[SteveLT]

Things have changed for the better online since this post was started back in 2007...

 

Nowadays, you will find a lot of very useful information about Private & Independent Tours and Excursions that you can do on your own when visiting the beautiful region of Samana.

 

The best Website with the Most Informative and Up to Date Information about the town and port of Samana is called GO SAMANA

 

Most local Tour Operators are listed on that website and offers all types of Excursions to See the Humpback Whales, to Los Haitises Caves & Mangroves, ATV Tours to Playa El Valle, Safari Expedition to Playa Rincon, the NEW Samana Zipline Adventure Tour, to Cascada El Limon Waterfalls, Etc

 

Here is the link :

http://gosamana-dominicanrepublic.com

 

Steve

Tour Guide on the Samana Peninsula

[BeachCruizer]

We will be going to Samana in Jan. on the Gem. Does anybody know where we could get our passports stamped.? We like to get them stamped in all ports. Thank you!

[lilybob]

We will be going to Samana in Jan. on the Gem. Does anybody know where we could get our passports stamped.? We like to get them stamped in all ports. Thank you!

 

We were on an independent tour and a few people in our group had the same request. The guide stopped in town and was able to have the passports stamped. I can't recall what the building was...maybe the town hall or tourist office??

[BeachCruizer]

Thank you!I appreciate the info. It's nice to know that it's a possibility.

[alg7334]

We did Tours with Terry for our day in Samana and it was fantastic! Read my detailed review here

 

(Note: I have no idea why CruiseCritic moved it into the Pro-Excursions message board. I've contact them to fix it.)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1847015

 

My posting is posting # 2

[alg7334]

Ok they moved my review to a Samana board - link is now here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1782943

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We had an excellent trip to Samana. We were there in May. I did a review of the whole cruise. Here is the page for Samana--Go to post # 95.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=38264687&highlight=samana#post38264687

 

We took a tour with Terry. My review has lots of pictures. It was an excellent experience.

[tumblew467]

We will be going to Samana in Jan. on the Gem. Does anybody know where we could get our passports stamped.? We like to get them stamped in all ports. Thank you!

 

 

 

HI, I saw your post of getting your passport stamped while in samana. Was wondering if you ever did get it stamped? I will be on the Gem in April there for the day and would also like to get our passports stamped. If you did can you tell me where to go thanks liz

[BeachCruizer]

HI, I saw your post of getting your passport stamped while in samana. Was wondering if you ever did get it stamped? I will be on the Gem in April there for the day and would also like to get our passports stamped. If you did can you tell me where to go thanks liz

We will be sailing on the 29th of this month. We have the Cayo de Lavanto excursion booked. I'm hoping we are also able to get to the mainland to get the stamp. If we do, I'll let you know.

[tumblew467]

We will be sailing on the 29th of this month. We have the Cayo de Lavanto excursion booked. I'm hoping we are also able to get to the mainland to get the stamp. If we do, I'll let you know.

 

Thanks-looking forward to your reply when you get back.Have a great cruise. Can you let me know how the food is on Cayo if you eat there as well. thanks liz

[BeachCruizer]

Thanks-looking forward to your reply when you get back.Have a great cruise. Can you let me know how the food is on Cayo if you eat there as well. thanks liz

Hi, yes I'll let you know. I'm sure we will eat on Cayo.

[BeachCruizer]

Thanks-looking forward to your reply when you get back.Have a great cruise. Can you let me know how the food is on Cayo if you eat there as well. thanks liz

Hi, well we're back from our awesome cruise! Great weather and calm seas. Unfortunately, we did not get our passport stamped in Samana. As far as I could tell there was no place to get it done. I would not venture to far off the main drag and I would definetely go to Cayo as your excursion. The beach was beautiful, nice waves, and good pineapple and coconut drinks for $5.00. All I had were french fries ($2.00) which were good. All the food was very reasonable, so even if you don't like it, theres not much to lose. Some people did the whale watching with Terry. They only saw the backs of 2 whales and everybody was throwing up off the side of the boat within the first 20 minutes and begging to go back. Others decided to head out on their own in Samana, asking a cab driver to take them to a nice beach. $25.00 a person to go to a crummy, dirty, rocky beach. We had a 9am tender to Cayo and left at 1pm, went back to the Gem and caught the tender to the mainland. Trust me, you won't want to spend the whole day in Samana, but its definetly colorful and busy and interesting. Hope this helped! Have fun!!