Casa De Campo? Why?

[dega2]

From what I hear it's a waste of time getting off the ship here, does anyone have any info on this port?

[glgolfer]

If you play golf, one of the best courses in the world, Teeth of the Dog, is there and you can play it.

[negc]

From what I hear it's a waste of time getting off the ship here, does anyone have any info on this port?

 

Check out the ports of call boards for more information. Our experience in the Dominican Republic is limited to Santo Domingo and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there prior to our Legend of the Seas cruise last February. :)

[cruisingbooboo]

Decent ammount of info on the " Ports" section of this boad. I went to Iberostar resort and LOVED it!!!!!

[maxs mom]

We stopped there as a substitute port several years ago. We had a good group of fun people take a taxi over to their best beach (can't remember the name) and we had a great beach day there. Huge waves, good beer....we had a great time. I do remember the Wyndam Hotel was there and RCI had an excursion that went there, but we just went on our own. Cab driver waited there for us and took us back to the ship several hours later.

[sea-cruise]

Here's the link to my thread regarding Casa de Campo. We were there in December. I've posted a lot of photos there. :)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=681167&highlight=casa+campo

[Coralc]

We had a wonderful time there. We took the shuttle ( $7 roundtrip) over to Altos de Chavon, which is a gorgeous little constructed Italian town. We took a lot of photos, had lunch/beers there, cigar store and a little shopping. It was a nice day, and well worth seeing the fancy homes, golf courses and resorts. There was another shuttle to the Marina for shopping. It's not a big fancy port, but I thought it was fun and interesting. :D

 

PS. Thank you Mary, that was a great suggestion!

 

We couldn't find a driver that would give us enough time at Iberostar resort. It's about an hour each way apparentlly, to the resort. $45 for a day pass. The driver was only willing to give us 2 hours at the resort, so we passed on that plan.:p

[Lynn the Cruiser]

We were the first RCI ship to go there last June. We even had a bit of trouble docking at first. There really wasn't much planned , excursion wise, but RCI suggested things to do. We had to get our own taxi. We went to Altos de Chavon, a Mediterranean village. It was really beautiful, but not much to do but look. Then we went to the marina, not too exciting. The people who went downtown said it was horrible there. The taxi drivers kept wanting to take us downtown. The prime minister of the DR came aboard the ship for a special lunch. I would not have the need to go there again. We did pass Sammy Sosa's house and my DH liked that!

[sea-cruise]

We had a wonderful time there. We took the shuttle ( $7 roundtrip) over to Altos de Chavon, which is a gorgeous little constructed Italian town. We took a lot of photos, had lunch/beers there, cigar store and a little shopping. It was a nice day, and well worth seeing the fancy homes, golf courses and resorts. There was another shuttle to the Marina for shopping. It's not a big fancy port, but I thought it was fun and interesting. :D

 

PS. Thank you Mary, that was a great suggestion!

 

We couldn't find a driver that would give us enough time at Iberostar resort. It's about an hour each way apparentlly, to the resort. $45 for a day pass. The driver was only willing to give us 2 hours at the resort, so we passed on that plan.:p

You're welcome! I'm so glad you liked it! Maybe someday we'll run into each other and enjoy a port together! Have a good night....Mary :D

[JSR]

I loved this port. We grabbed a taxi and headed to the beach. It was beautiful.

[maxs mom]

Yeah.....I remember seeing Sammy Sosa's house, too! Again......the beach is great!

[laprofesora]

Altos de Chavon is exquisite. Casa de Campo is very lovely and upscale and I believe the home of Oscar de La Renta. At Altos de Chavon as I recall is an art academy also under the support of Oscar de La Renta. Depending on your ship schedule at night there is a remarkable presentation under the stars in the ampitheatre at Altos and if possible see it. Very elaborate and amazing production.

[andyjo0930]

We had trouble with a private excursion that was booked. Two days before our cruise, they e-mailed us to let us know that they can't pick us up at the pier. Something about contracts with the local authorities, (can't remember exactly, my sister received the e-mail)... and they didn't want us to take a taxi ride to where they were because they were afraid of getting fined because they were trying to get the contract. At the last minute we booked another private excursion, but they never showed up at the port, (not sure if they didn't know they couldn't pick us up there or not). We were off the ship and had no plans so we took a taxi who stayed with us for the day and took us to a beach for a little while, we saw some of the island, went shopping and then back to the ship. All in all it was a good day. My husband though did play golf at teeth of the dog. It was booked through the ship. They picked him up at the pier and took them to the course. He loved it. Said it was the best course he's ever played.

[sea-cruise]

\ on your ship schedule at night there is a remarkable presentation under the stars in the ampitheatre at Altos and if possible see it. Very elaborate and amazing production.

Yes, They had a dress rehearsal at noon the day we were there and it was spectacular!! :D A huge array of various singers, dancers, and ornate costumes! We really enjoyed that show!

For anyone who hasn't seen the ampitheater, when you get off the bus, shuttle, or taxi, just walk towards the right of the village, then straight ahead, and you will find it. :)

[richbum]

My friend and I did the horseback riding excursion here and had a blast. The guys who took us on the tour were great. Hubby and my dughter went to the marina and said it was horrible. Definetly not worth the money to get there. They only stayed for about 30 mins and saw everything at that point.

[Abberboo]

I loved the day we were at port on our Celebrity Cruise at Casa De Campo that we went back to the Dominican Republic recently for an entire week.

 

Not only can you visit Altos de Chavon which is a beautiful sight to see with nice shops and great restuarants you can take a day excursion to the incredible Catalina or Saona Islands. I have been to all of it and its one of my favorite ports. Just my 2 cents.

[negc]

Looks like a lot of folks don't agree that Casa de Campo isn't worh getting off the ship. I hope no one has decided against a particular cruise because someone else didn't enjoy one of the ports in the itinerary. :rolleyes: Just because some people don't like a particular destination doesn't mean that you won't.:)

[Leslie K]

We were there in January. Took a cab to Bayahibi Beach - cost me $60 for the two of us. Maybe if we had gotten an earlier start we could have shared the cab with others. It was about 45 minute drive to the beach. AT least the chair rental and such at the beach was inexpensive compared to other island beaches. Water was nice, beach seemed full of tourists. They have small shacks selling tourist wares. The cab driver came back for us in two hours. We could have arranged a longer stay for additional money. There is absolutely nothing at the port. Not being interested in a mediterranean village in the Carribean nor being golf players, we didn't think there was much more to do. I don't prefer after getting off a floating resort to pay for a day pass for a land based resort. My daughter wanted to go to the beach. The area is apparently known for resorts and pricey real estate so most of what we passed on our drive was pretty. The port is not very old, maybe in a few more years they'll have more options. In the meantime, next time I'm on a cruise that goes there, I'll probably stay on board. At least I could watch some baseball practice from my balcony.