Will try asking this hear, Please help with Samana!

[Hippygirl23]

Hi everyone, on the ports page for Dominican Republic there is not much info on docking in Samana at all! So maybe someone can help me here. What is there when you dock, and does anyone know how diffecult it would be to get to Play Rincon without doing an excursion? How far is las Galeras from where you dock? I hear you can catch a boat there to get to Playa Rincon. If anyone has been here and reads this please help! Thanks so much!

[1kycat]

I've planned a trip to Rincon, but haven't taken it yet. But I can answer a few of your questions. Las Galeras is 18 miles from Samana Harbor. Some have caught taxis straight to Rincon and others have taken the boat from Galeras. The road to Rincon is supposed to be pretty rough and I would think would be hard to travel if there was much rain. There is still a thread on the DR board about Rincon that has pretty good info in it.

[floorman]

You are not docked at a pier, you are tendered in. We were on the Pearl back in November 2007 and there was not alot to do in Samana because we were there on a Sunday and most things are closed. So we did the Beach instead.

 

Doug

[floorman]

You might want to check out the "Port of Call" and there it might have what you are looking for.

 

Doug

[whitewhale2]

Hello! I don't know how much help I will be but here is some info. We were one of the first ships that went there last April 2007. We were on the NCL Dawn. As it was a port that I was no familiar with, I did not want to venture out on my own. I had heard not to positive about the mainland. Our boat tendered. We took the our first and only excursion through the cruise ship, it was one where we went to the rain forest, the mangrove forest, and the petroglyphs cave, after that they dropped us off in the Caya Leventado. It was a small island with a luxury hotel on it, we got to go down to the beach and swim and play. They had a small market place. A barbeque. We had a fantastic time and even though it rained alot, we enjoyed ourselves each step of the way. The caves were amazing. Most caves with early man paintings such as in Spain and France have been closed to humans for many years. The kids were able to see up close everything. I predict that these too will be closed soon. We chose to take an excursion because I had heard going into Samana wasn't that nice nor safe. When we got back on the ship, the people who went into Samana said that there was some shopping, but lots of poverty and begging, and that it wasn't that nice. The one thing that shocked me was that there was so much trash and filfth in the water. On the beach area there were armed guards, so that may say something. Hope my ramblings help you.

[Baitman19]

Hi everyone, on the ports page for Dominican Republic there is not much info on docking in Samana at all! So maybe someone can help me here. What is there when you dock, and does anyone know how diffecult it would be to get to Play Rincon without doing an excursion? How far is las Galeras from where you dock? I hear you can catch a boat there to get to Playa Rincon. If anyone has been here and reads this please help! Thanks so much!

 

We sailed the Dawn to Samana and went to the Casa Marina Bay Resort in Las Galeras. It was a good 40 minute bus ride (they provided the bus) A rough ride on narrow roads. We arranged the tour ourselves. The area is VERY poor and there were armed guards at the resort.

 

The Port Consultant on the ship would be able to tell you the SAFEST way to get to Playa Rincon

 

Happy Cruising

[ddakrt]

Hello! I don't know how much help I will be but here is some info. We were one of the first ships that went there last April 2007. We were on the NCL Dawn. As it was a port that I was no familiar with, I did not want to venture out on my own. I had heard not to positive about the mainland. Our boat tendered. We took the our first and only excursion through the cruise ship, it was one where we went to the rain forest, the mangrove forest, and the petroglyphs cave, after that they dropped us off in the Caya Leventado. It was a small island with a luxury hotel on it, we got to go down to the beach and swim and play. They had a small market place. A barbeque. We had a fantastic time and even though it rained alot, we enjoyed ourselves each step of the way. The caves were amazing. Most caves with early man paintings such as in Spain and France have been closed to humans for many years. The kids were able to see up close everything. I predict that these too will be closed soon. We chose to take an excursion because I had heard going into Samana wasn't that nice nor safe. When we got back on the ship, the people who went into Samana said that there was some shopping, but lots of poverty and begging, and that it wasn't that nice. The one thing that shocked me was that there was so much trash and filfth in the water. On the beach area there were armed guards, so that may say something. Hope my ramblings help you.

 

I was on the Jewel the first time it went to Samana in April of this year, we didn't do much but walked around the market and the waterfront. There wasn't much to do and like you said there was a lot of begging; I wasn't too big on the port at the time.

Just went back to Samana a few weeks back and noticed all the begging had disappeared, we hired a taxi to take us to Salto del Limon and while we saw the poorer side of town, at no time did we felt threatened and I had a very good time.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to recommand Samana to others, but just know what you'll be doing before you get there, otherwise the town itself doesn't really offer much to tourists.

[Hippygirl23]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, i am still confused as of what to do. I have some time and will continue to research and hopefully will decided what to do. When you look at everything at onces its very overwhelming!