Eastern Caribbean itinerary question

[cruisy]

What does the Catalina Island 8:00 to 5:00 and Casa de Campo/ Santo Domingo 6:00 to midnight mean? I notice a note on the brochure that there are daytime excursions to Casa de Campo and Santo Domingo possible. Do we stay in one spot, and the tenders go one place in the am/early afternoon, and then the other location later? Or is the Casa/Domingo visit only possible with an excursion? I see they advertise St. John as a port with a little note that it is an optional shore excursion. Please advise if you have done this itinerary and know what it means.

[chip brady]

Hi,

In St Thomas it is only a 20 minute ferry ride to St Johns. Much cheaper than an excursion. Have fun

 

Chip Brady

[cruisy]

Thanks, I do know about St. Thomas, but the Catalina/Casa De Campo/ etc. has me truly confused. I asked a Costa Rep on the phone today, and I honestly did not understand the plan for that day, but after asking three different ways I decided to just pretend I got it.

 

What I think I understand is: We will tender to the private island, just like HAL's Half Moon Caye, and stay untill around four when they want us to vacate and shut down the island. During this am/early pm it is possible to do the excursions to Casa de Campo and Santo Domingo. I was told these are pretty long excursions, and I am not interested, as I would need to pay for four of us, and my three kids would be SUFFERING. The question is: what does Casa de Campo/Santo Domingo 6pm to midnight mean? Is this only something you can be doing if you pay the extra $$?

[Ta421sBtrHalf]

Catalina Island is the private island. You are docked there during the day. There are plenty of tenders during the day so you can go to the ship and back all day. At 5pm the ship will leave Catalina Island and will dock in Santo Domingo for the evening. There are excursions that will take you directly to Santo Domingo, but the island is fun and the kids club has a beach off to the side and will watch your kids for 3-4 hours. Relax and enjoy the beach!

[Tamara]

I asked this question and the resopnse I got was the same concerning Catalina, however I was told that some of the SD excursions go on until late in the evening, The Dinner show for example, which I heard on these boards was dissappointing and a big yawn.

[Italian Nancy]

Catalina Island is the beach day, you then sail around the coast of the DR and land for the evening at Casa de Campo.. a total waste of time in my opinion. it seemed to only serve the purpose of selling tickets to a night show. if you don't take that excursion, there is nothing to do .. I would have preferred to sail to Nassau and have a full day there rather than arriving at 1:00 PM. and only having a half day there.

[cruisy]

Thanks for the info. It looks like a lot of these ports are set up with the necessity of adding excursions. Is it even worth getting off the ship at Casa de Campo? or should we just do the beach day at Catalina and then stay on the ship afterwards?

[Italian Nancy]

I loved the beach day. my husband does not.. but goes with me anyway.(what a sweetie). we got off the ship at Casa de Campo. I thought I read it was a private resort but when we got off the ship. there was only taxi's to take you places.. no shopping, restaurants. nothing.. we walked around for about 10 minutes and went back onto the ship.. Not trying to knock Costa.. I should have done my research better.. like the port of call at San. Juan. we landed at 4-4:30 p.m. and I thought we had that evening and the full next day and left in the evening the second day.. but it was 1:00 a.m. that we left.. very little time to enjoy San Juan. It was getting dark when we arrived and the shops were closing as most of the cruise ships were gone. From now on I check the times very very carefully..