NCL Discover Samana tour

[Sandyrella]

We just got off the Dawn and did the Discover Samana tour. We found it very interesting. Our guide, Kelly, was out-standing! Our first stop was a Whale museum very close to the port. You could walk there if you don't take the tour. Quite interesting about how the whales come to the Caribbean to give birth to their babies before heading back up to the North Atlantic.

 

Next stop was a little souvenir shop (think straw market). This country is so poor that I really encouraged my kids to spend money here. It was not hard for them to do as DD found some nice bracelets and DS's,DH and I found some vacationy style necklaces, prices ranging from $5-10. Nobody here was pushy in the slightest.

 

After that we were brought to the town of Las Terranas. The beach was right there as were a few restaurants and bars where we had a drink and dipped our feet into some of the most beautiful water imaginable. There were a few shops further down the main road but we didn't have too much time and chose to stick closer to the where the bus let us off.

 

Kelly, our guide, narrated almost continually throughout the tour. Every time we passed at school or church he explained the history, etc. We saw a lot of poverty along the way but DH was videotaping through an open window on the bus and the kids walking along the road were very happy and excited when they saw him, most waving for the camera as we went by. It was a great lesson to my own children to see how others live and how happy they are with so little.

 

On the way back to the ship, the bus stopped in this small town where Kelly knew a family. He got off the bus for a few minutes and came back with the most delicious, fresh bread, made by his friends. It was pre-cut so he went around the bus and offered everyone a piece. It was melt in your mouth heaven.

 

We were let off back at the tender dock where NCL had containers of fresh water and OJ for the passengers. Nice touch....

 

We did not do any shopping except for the little stand that we stopped in during our tour but we did pass a quaint new shopping area, painted in pastel colors, that I'm sure attracted alot of passengers. It was very visually pleasing and quite a far cry from the standard straw market type. We did pass the straw market as well but we were too tired to go back to it after the tour.

 

Overall, a beautiful country with beautiful people!

[wolfcel]

Thank you so much for that excurstion tour. I was thinking about doing that tour as well and didn't know if I should or not.

 

I've been reading so many negative posts about Samana I didn't know if we should get off the ship or not.

 

I think I know what I want to do now!

[Sandyrella]

Don't stay on the ship...we ended up missing Great Stirrup Cay due to bad weather so we ended up with 3 sea days. If you stay on the ship, you could very well end up with 4 (although I do hope you make it to the private island).

 

I highly recommend this tour. Even if you did want to sample a beach, it is literally right when you get off the bus. We walked a little further down the road to a restaurant/bar where we had a drink and walk in the surf. Like I said, the water was gorgeous!

 

Even if you don't do this tour, I strongly encourage you to do one of the others. They are more costly than doing it on your own but you will learn something about this beautiful country. There are "warnings" on the excursion tickets that you will witness poverty. This is true but it is a fact of life for them and most seemed completely unfazed by us. While we did spend some money on trinkets and drinks I now wish we had spent more. At one point the bus stopped for us to take pictures of the scenery and there were a group of young boys trying to sell us a sea shell (medium size) through the window of the bus. We gave them a few dollars and told them to sell the shell to the next customers. They were so cute and very happy with getting a couple of dollars. For us, it really wasn't much to give but was worth twice the amount just to see the smiles on their faces!

 

Whatever you decide, have a great cruise.