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Casa De Campo Excursions for 1st timers


MillbrookMom

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SunnyAZ girl....when are you going on the EOS? We are going 4-11-08. We took were thinking about theCountry Safari tour through RCC. Do you have any information about it?
'Mom' (Ginny) is sailing on the EOS 4/11/2008 with the rest of us... Remember me.. !!??:eek: :D

 

I'm leaning toward the Altos de Chavon and the 'River', but if no one else is leaning that way, we may just "wing it"!

Sometimes that works out best for D and I! :)

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Hi Stirboo: Sorry I forgot who is sailing with us on 4-11th. See you at the M&M.
And the DW and I 'officially' signed up with RCI to do the Altos de Chavon and 'Mississippi Riverboat' tour if you would care to join us..:) 'Mom' is still looking at her options, but the "Boss":rolleyes: decided that this is the tour she would like to do..:D
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Thank you Stirboo for the offer but we aren't great with some many steps and we think we might take the Country safari Adverture tour with RC but are waiting for reviews from this last cruise. Hopefully someone might have gone on it and will have some input on this and other tours.

 

I also didn't realize you could book the tours now before final payment.

 

Take care. Iris

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My husband would prefer to sign up on the ship but I remember the lines at the Excursion desk when we were on the Explorer in October and they were ridiculous so I am leaning toward booking it soon, on line. If we do the tour, I will try to write a review of it, either here or on the All Things Explorer thread.

I think if you cancel 24 hrs prior to the trip there is no penelty.

Did you sign up for the M&M on the roll call? I'm on that sialing too :)

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I think if you cancel 24 hrs prior to the trip there is no penelty.

Did you sign up for the M&M on the roll call? I'm on that sialing too :)

 

Yes, in fact, I signed up twice. When they had their problem and nothing was showing up as far as how many people signed up, I signed up again and got my second e-mail from them welcoming me. I signed up for all my excursions the other day. We are going to try the "300 steps" one.

 

See you on the 15th. I will be wearing my beads. On our last cruise, another CC member saw me wearing beads and followed me into the bathroom at the port to see if I was a CC member and it turned out we were seated at the same table for dinner and spent the whole cruise together.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Yes, in fact, I signed up twice. When they had their problem and nothing was showing up as far as how many people signed up, I signed up again and got my second e-mail from them welcoming me. I signed up for all my excursions the other day. We are going to try the "300 steps" one.
We have signed up twice for the M & M, and will certainly keep checking to see we are still there!:)

 

We've opted for the "300 steps one" as well.... We'd like to see the 'village', the view from where the village lies, as well as the river tour... If the tour had been overly expensive, I would have found something different, but I didn't think the cost was extravagant by any means..:rolleyes:

 

We had a tour on a Ferry Boat thru part of the Panama Canal that cost us around $300.+ for the two of us, and we HATED it..:eek:

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I took this excursion while on the Explorer of the Seas cruise out of New York in January 2008. The cost was US$72 each.

The trip from the ship through the resort to the kayaks took about 20 minutes. We were outfitted with life jackets and given the choice of single or double kayaks. There were 29 of us in total. We paddled upstream against the wind. 12 kayakers found the wind to be too strong and gave up. The remainder of us continued paddling for about 50 minutes and then were told to stop on the shore. The support boat with our day packs arrived with bottles of water, pop and the 12 remaining kayakers. We stayed there about 15 minutes and then had the choice of paddling back or taking the boat. It was a lot easier paddling back and the journey only took about 10 minutes.

 

This was far from being a scenic excursion and Royal Caribbean's description of "being surrounded by natural beauty" is not exactly accurate. Despite the description, safety helmets were not provided although they were not really needed.

 

This excursion was not up to the usual high standards that I have experienced on other Royal Caribbean cruises.

 

You can view photos at:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/562263135wzIeSK

 

andrew

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We have signed up twice for the M & M, and will certainly keep checking to see we are still there!:)

 

We've opted for the "300 steps one" as well.... We'd like to see the 'village', the view from where the village lies, as well as the river tour... If the tour had been overly expensive, I would have found something different, but I didn't think the cost was extravagant by any means..:rolleyes:

 

We had a tour on a Ferry Boat thru part of the Panama Canal that cost us around $300.+ for the two of us, and we HATED it..:eek:

 

I'll try to report back on this excursion when we get back. Hopefully, enough people have signed up for it so it won't be canceled for lack of interest.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I'll try to report back on this excursion when we get back. Hopefully, enough people have signed up for it so it won't be canceled for lack of interest.

That would be our luck! :o After all this indecision, having a 'lack of interest', and RCI cancelling it..!:rolleyes: ;)

 

I believe this one should be the most interesting, and less taxing, than the others listed, so I'm hoping for a good turnout..:)

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Just back from Explorer of the Seas. When we were in Casa de Campo, we did the Country Safari Tour. We went on a safari bus to a sugar cane planation. The guide on our bus spent the whole time driving to the planation on his cell phone. Once we stopped at the planation, he did talk about the sugar cane business and everyone was offered a piece of the sugar cane to taste. Then we were offered a sprite and rum drink.

 

After the planation, we made a stop at a nursery. We really did not understand why we stopped there except to use the porta pots. We went into a greenhouse to view some of the plants but that's about it at that stop.

 

We then went to a cigar factory (?). It was a small store with 3 people rolling cigars. The store was extremely hot and the smoke was unbearable. The guide gave everyone the opportunity to purchase cigars. We thought he said everyone would receive a free cigar but we did not. I did purchase a small bag (1/2 pound) of Domincan Republic coffee. When we got back to the bus, the driver and guide were pouring rum and cokes for everyone.

 

We then drove through La Romana. There are alot of motorcycles in the city. Some of the motorcycles had 3 passengers on them without helmets weaving in and out of traffic. The trucks had passengers standing up in the beds of the trucks also weaving in and out of traffic.

 

We were at a stop light and the school in the area was dismissing the students. One of the kids came near our bus and said something in Spanish about dinero. He then said can I have some money see I know how to speak English. He was laughing the whole time.

 

Our last stop was for shopping. In the excurion decription, it stated we would be greeted with a drink and would have time for some shopping. The place we were taken to was horrible. You could not look at anything in the store without being hassle from the workers. They followed you around the entire time. I did try to purchase a small ceramic bank. I was told the price was $9.00 US. They dropped the price to $6.00 but would not accept my $5.00 offer for a 3 inch pig bank. The prices were extremely high in the store.

 

When we left the store we knew we were close to the ship since we were able to see the smoke stacks. The driver had a hard time backing up in the parking lot. The guide on the back of the bus was on his cell phone and we almost hit a car trying to get out of the spot since the guide was not paying attention to alert the driver when he got close to the car.

 

The driver missed the turn to get us back to the ship. The driver did try to back up so he could make the turn but the traffic was so bad he had to go a few blocks out of his way to make a U turn. The guide on the back of the bus was acting like a monkey climbing on the roof of the bus and doing flips.

 

We were so happy to get back to the ship. I don't think I would ever take another cruise that stopped at Casa de Campo.

 

My husband and BIL did the 4 by 4 Wrangler Excursion. They seemed to have a better time but were disappointed they never used the 4 wheel drive and did not drive on the beach. I will post a review under the 4 by 4 Wrangler thread.

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SunnyAZGirl: We are still planning to do the Country Safari Tour....maybe we will be lucky and have a better tour.

 

Haven't booked anything since I can't get my husband to sit down and decided what he likes.

 

Take care. Until 4-11. Iris

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Iris - I still like the description. I hope the previous poster let RCI know about his experience. The cruise lines take the reviews of their tours very seriously!

 

On the other hand, I have really learned that what one person likes &/or dislikes may not reflect my tastes at all. I'm glad that KeiEdy gave the review, though. That way, if we choose to go ahead with the tour, I will have an idea of what to expect!

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I hope I don't discourage anyone for doing the tour. The bus in front of us seemed to enjoy themselves. They were all singing and having a great time. Our tour would have been better if the our guide was a guide.

 

The tour spends alot of time getting to the plantation and alot of time at the plantation. The nursery was not that far from the plantation and we only spent about 15 to 20 minutes there. Then a drive to the store. We were allowed 45 minutes at the store but it was hard to look at anything since the employees followed you around the entire time you were at the store.

 

As soon as I returned to the ship, I did file a complaint form with guest services. The girl at the desk could not believe the tour guide and drivers were drinking during the tour.

 

In Puerto Rico, we took the free trolley to the forts and then shopping in Old San Juan. In St Thomas, we did a tour with Godfrey's Tours.

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As soon as I returned to the ship, I did file a complaint form with guest services. The girl at the desk could not believe the tour guide and drivers were drinking during the tour.

 

Thank you for doing this. I know the cruise lines take the safety of their guests very seriously! Perhaps your complaint will help pave the way for a more pleasant experience in the DR for those who will follow.:)

 

A follow-up e-mail or letter to RCI would be very appreciated, too. That is the only way the cruise lines can really know what is happening on their tours.

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KeiEdy: Which tours did you take in St. Thomas?

 

Did you find you had enough time to sight see at the fort and do shopping since you took the free bus?

 

Which Fort did you go to?

 

How early did you get the ship in NJ?

 

Thanks. Iris

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Irismike

 

In St Thomas, we took a tour with Godfrey's. We first had time to shop, sightsee and a short time at the beach.

 

We went to the San Cristóbal fort. We then boarded the trolley again and went by the El Morro fort but we did not get off the trolley to tour El Morro. The forts close at 6PM. We got off the trolley in Old San Juan for shopping. We did stop for a Pina Colada and appetizers. We then walked to the Hard Rock Cafe for a shot glass. We went back on the ship around 7PM and had dinner at 8:30PM.

 

We arrived at the ship on Friday at 11:30AM. There were still passengers leaving from the ship. We sat in the priority departure lounge until 12:45PM. We were one of the first buses to arrive at the ship.

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  • 2 weeks later...

.

This will be our first time in the Dominican Republic, and we definitely want to see Santo Domingo -- even if it takes us 2 hours each way.

 

I've just posted the following on this forum; if any of you have taken the Santo Domingo Tour, could you please help us with any recommendations? :)

 

icon2.gifHave you taken Santo Domingo Tour (RCCL/Celebrity), from Casa De Campo ?

 

 

Thanks very much! / ¡Muchisimas gracias! icon14.gif

-RSS-

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SunnyAZ: Did you book the Country Safari tour with RCCL? Did you book any other tours...we still haven't done it.

No, I haven't done it yet. I was still holding out for more reviews. Steve still wants to do that one though, so I may just go ahead. Since I have extra OBC I was considering booking onboard. However, DH is afraid they might get sold out in advance. I'm pretty sure that won't happen. They usually just add more vehicles! We have seen tours sold out, much usually not the first day of the cruise. If I book now I just may have to find a different way to spend those $$$!:D

 

.

This will be our first time in the Dominican Republic, and we definitely want to see Santo Domingo -- even if it takes us 2 hours each way.

 

I've just posted the following on this forum; if any of you have taken the Santo Domingo Tour, could you please help us with any recommendations? :)

 

icon2.gifHave you taken Santo Domingo Tour (RCCL/Celebrity), from Casa De Campo ?

 

 

Thanks very much! / ¡Muchisimas gracias! icon14.gif

-RSS-

I didn't think the Santo Domingo Tour was available from Casa de Campo? I'll have to go back and check - I could be wrong!

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I didn't think the Santo Domingo Tour was available from Casa de Campo? I'll have to go back and check - I could be wrong!
Hi Ginny, Thanks for looking! Yes, the Santo Domingo Tour (#CT28) is available both under the RCCL and Celebrity excursion lists for Casa De Campo (under the same excursion#, too).

 

Roger

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