Samana Tendering Question

[acruisingcouple]

We are sailing on the Dawn in Feb 09, and we do not want to do any organized tours in this particular port.

However my understanding is that there are a few shops to browse in the port area.

Does the tender from the ship do back and forth runs during the day, or must we spend a certain amount of time in the port area if we elect to get off? We want to get off for maybe an hour or so at most.

 

Thanks :)

[bakerintn]

The tenders run back and forth continuously during the day.

[sharonax3]

Samana is really a beautiful country. Not much to do and you will probably be very disappointed if you just go ashore. Not many shops. I rarely do ship tours, but this time we did and it was the hightlight of our cruise.

[familyof4cruising]

Yes the tenders run all day. I would suggest doing an excursion with the ship. We did the Cayo Levantado beach break and it was beautiful and they sold things on the beach. I am not one to do the excursion with the ship , but I suggest it in Samana. Many people that went ashore said they came right back.

[webecruzin2]

I met and married my (American) husband while in the Dominican Republic and fell in love with the country and the people as well. We took our honeymoon in Samana because of the beauty and tranquility there. At the time there were only 2 hotels and a tiny town but that was fine with us. The beaches are beautiful on Cayo Levantano. We had a local go out in the water and get us a couple of lobsters and grill it right there on the beach. They added a little garlic and limon accompanied by a Presidente beer. Fantastic!

Like others said, not much to do but enjoy the beautiful beach. Wish I was there right now!

[melligene]

Just returned from our first cruise on the Dawn Saturday Dec. 6th. As far as Samana is concerned I probably wouldn't leave the ship unless I booked an excursion. You are tendered to a dock a considerable distance from what appears to be civilization. If you are in good health it is walkable. There are taxi looking thingee's you can use and also what I would call a motorized rickshaw that will take you to the nearest bar/shopping area for $10.00 pp round trip. Still....really not much there except for a 22 oz. beer for $4.00 as opposed the the usual $4.00 for a 12 oz. brew.

We are not fussy people, by any stretch, but the actual tendering was the highlight of this stop.

[canada_cruiser]

We were on the Spirit last May which stopped it Samana. We did the Cayo Laventado beach break, which is basically a tender to a small island with 1 resort on it. It was by far the best day we had. If I ever do an all inclusive this is where I would come. The beach is clean and beautiful, there is a small market you can buy things from and a cash bar. There is also hair braiding and they bring viarious animals out for people to see such as sea lions (there is a small zoo on the island). If you choose to go at it on your own they tender you to Samana. I heard nothing but compliants from the poeple who choose to take that route. They said there was not much to see or do.

[theshireshihtzu]

We are sailing on the Dawn in Feb 09, and we do not want to do any organized tours in this particular port.

However my understanding is that there are a few shops to browse in the port area.

Does the tender from the ship do back and forth runs during the day, or must we spend a certain amount of time in the port area if we elect to get off? We want to get off for maybe an hour or so at most.

 

Thanks :)

 

 

I would highly recomend doing a ships excursion in this port.;)

[afsbes]

Has anyone ever heard of Casa Doradoin Samana? They run excursions to Playa Rincon.

[Zukeeper4]

Has anyone ever heard of Casa Doradoin Samana? They run excursions to Playa Rincon.

 

We have a group booked with them for January. I'll be posting a complete review when I return home. It sounds like just what we enjoy, a remote, rustic, quiet,non motorized, no commercialized beach to get a feel for the real Samana.

 

jan

[PangeanSir]

Has anyone ever heard of Casa Doradoin Samana? They run excursions to Playa Rincon.

 

We were in Samana early last month and had difficulty in locating a tour company to get us to Playa Rincon (apparently listed as one of the top ten beaches of the world by Conde Naste). We had read that you can get a taxi to drive you there right from the pier (reviews suggested $85 to $100 for the day), but we were concerned about language issues and preferred to make arrangements ahead of time. Didn't find Casa Doradoin in our web search, but my wife ultimately contacted Sarah Paradisio at InfoGaleras.com . She was very helpful and we made arrangements to have a private tour to Playa Rincon (there were five of us in our group). The driver's name was Marcos and he spoke excellent English and gave a running commentary on the drive to the beach. Since they are ripping up the main "highway' between Samana and Las Galeras, the road was a little rough, but Marcos did a great job. The last mile or so (from the village of Rincon down to the beach) was very bumpy, but even 2 WD vehicles made it easily.

 

The beach itself is fabulous. It is several miles long with fine white sand and clear water. Be aware though that there is very limited development and sections of the beach are left in its natural state (palm fronds littering the ground above the high water mark). The snorkeling was only fair at the East End near the point and if we ever went back we would try further to the West.

 

P.

[PangeanSir]

We have a group booked with them for January. I'll be posting a complete review when I return home. It sounds like just what we enjoy, a remote, rustic, quiet,non motorized, no commercialized beach to get a feel for the real Samana.

 

jan

 

As you can see from my last post, I'm a fan of Playa Rincon. It is huge and very rustic. There is some 'development'. Our driver took us to the East End where there are a few grass huts that serve as the restaurants. They don't have electricity, but they will grill fresh lobster, fish, shrimp or chicken over an open-air charcoal grill. The Presidente beer and soda is on ice. I understand that there is another 'restaurant' at the West end of the beach which I gather is pretty basic: a blue plastic tarp on bamboo poles. From the East end where we spent the day, I could just barely make the blue tarps with a strong telephoto lens.

 

Otherwise there is not much development. There are about 40 - 50 beach chairs for rent, someone offering beach massages or hair braiding, and a couple of fellows trying to sell locally made cigars. The rest of the beach is yours to explore.

 

P.

[afsbes]

We were in Samana early last month and had difficulty in locating a tour company to get us to Playa Rincon (apparently listed as one of the top ten beaches of the world by Conde Naste). We had read that you can get a taxi to drive you there right from the pier (reviews suggested $85 to $100 for the day), but we were concerned about language issues and preferred to make arrangements ahead of time. Didn't find Casa Doradoin in our web search, but my wife ultimately contacted Sarah Paradisio at InfoGaleras.com . She was very helpful and we made arrangements to have a private tour to Playa Rincon (there were five of us in our group). The driver's name was Marcos and he spoke excellent English and gave a running commentary on the drive to the beach. Since they are ripping up the main "highway' between Samana and Las Galeras, the road was a little rough, but Marcos did a great job. The last mile or so (from the village of Rincon down to the beach) was very bumpy, but even 2 WD vehicles made it easily.

 

The beach itself is fabulous. It is several miles long with fine white sand and clear water. Be aware though that there is very limited development and sections of the beach are left in its natural state (palm fronds littering the ground above the high water mark). The snorkeling was only fair at the East End near the point and if we ever went back we would try further to the West.

 

P.

How long did it take for yout to get to the beach?

[Urban trekker]

Hey PangeanSir - hope you enjoyed your pasta feast and company party last night - it was good to bump into you - it took us over an hour to get seated but the host did bring us some yam fries for an appy at no charge since they originally say it would only be a 15 minute wait.

 

Almost time to watch the Canucks

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[PangeanSir]

How long did it take for yout to get to the beach?

 

It took a little over an hour and we ended up spending 4+ hours at Playa Rincon. We stopped 3 times en route for photo ops. Marcos offered to take us to a cigar factory or shopping back in Samana, but we opted to spend as much time as possible at the beach.

 

P.

[PangeanSir]

Hey PangeanSir - hope you enjoyed your pasta feast and company party last night - it was good to bump into you - it took us over an hour to get seated but the host did bring us some yam fries for an appy at no charge since they originally say it would only be a 15 minute wait.

 

Almost time to watch the Canucks

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

He Dennis;

 

it was great to see you. I'm downtown in the evening so infrequently that it was surprising to see someone I knew.

 

In canuckland Luongo's return can't come too soon....

 

P.

[kewbrook]

You posted what the reviews said the drive would cost but did I miss what the driver that took you charged? If I did miss it would you mind telling me what they charged? Is there taxi/vehicle large enough for a group of 6-8 people? Any info you can give me would be appreciated.

 

Sorry sir, I just read on another post your answers to these ?'s. One last ?though. Was the infolasgaleras site on the internet for a hotel? Did you contact the hotel to set this up? Thanks, inquiring minds want to know.

[PangeanSir]

You posted what the reviews said the drive would cost but did I miss what the driver that took you charged? If I did miss it would you mind telling me what they charged? Is there taxi/vehicle large enough for a group of 6-8 people? Any info you can give me would be appreciated.

 

I thought I had, but I think it was in the "Just off the Dawn" thread. Anyways, the cost was $120 USD for the day. We prepaid 24 Euros (it seems that a lot of the resorts in Las Galeras are frequented by Europeans so everything seemed to priced in Euros) by Paypal to confirm the booking and paid the remainder at the end of the day. We also tipped the driver since he was so helpful and friendly (he helped us source some better coffee in one of the local grocery stores).

 

The van was in excellent condition with good air conditioning. We were a group of 5 and it easily could have handled 3 more people. i'd be pleased to answer any other questions you might have.

 

P.

[terrymtex01]

I thought I had, but I think it was in the "Just off the Dawn" thread. Anyways, the cost was $120 USD for the day. We prepaid 24 Euros (it seems that a lot of the resorts in Las Galeras are frequented by Europeans so everything seemed to priced in Euros) by Paypal to confirm the booking and paid the remainder at the end of the day. We also tipped the driver since he was so helpful and friendly (he helped us source some better coffee in one of the local grocery stores).

 

The van was in excellent condition with good air conditioning. We were a group of 5 and it easily could have handled 3 more people. i'd be pleased to answer any other questions you might have.

 

P.

 

P, this sounds like a great time, especially the fresh grilled lobster and shrimp. Do you know is there a way for just two people to do this? You may have said so already but I couldn't find it. I just don't know, based on what you have posted, if it would be worth it to the taxi driver to do it for just two people.

[Marlissa]

Has anyone ever heard of Casa Doradoin Samana? They run excursions to Playa Rincon.

 

They're actually Casa Dorado and their website is http://www.casadoradodr.com/excursions.html. I believe they offer two different excursions

• Playa Rincon Beach - $260 for up to 10
  
• Playa Rincon Beach and Boat Snorkel - $350 for up to 10
  

[PangeanSir]

P, this sounds like a great time, especially the fresh grilled lobster and shrimp. Do you know is there a way for just two people to do this? You may have said so already but I couldn't find it. I just don't know, based on what you have posted, if it would be worth it to the taxi driver to do it for just two people.

 

When we asked about pricing we were quoted the $120 USD. Although I'm not sure, I think this would have been the cost whether we had 2 people or up to 10. Obviously, with only 2 your cost per person would be much higher though still probably less than the cost of some of the ship's excursions.

 

The cost of the food ranged from $10 for a half-chicken to $20 for the lobster (both came with rice, salad, and some sort of fried banana pucks).

 

P.

[kewbrook]

Pangean sir could you please tell me how to contact Marcos. I can't get infogaleras.com to get anything. Infolasgaleras.com gets me a hotel as far as I can tell. Thanks for your help.

[PangeanSir]

Pangean sir could you please tell me how to contact Marcos. I can't get infogaleras.com to get anything. Infolasgaleras.com gets me a hotel as far as I can tell. Thanks for your help.

 

Sorry Kew;

 

I think I gave the wrong website name. It's "infolasgaleras.com". The site seems more focused on hotels/houses for rent in the Las Galeras area, but it also has some information about and pictures of the Samana area (including Playa Rincon). My wife used the "Contacts" link from their English language Home page and emailed a question regarding getting a taxi to Playa Rincon. Sarah Paradiso replied and said that she had an English speaking driver who turned out be Marcos.

 

P.

[kewbrook]

Thanks for the info Pangean Sir. I will e mail them and then let the group from our roll call decide if they want to go by boat or taxi to Playa Rincon.

[Cookiesbykk]

We'll be on the Dawn the week of Feb 7th and we were told that mid-Jan thru mid-March was whale-watching season at Samana. Does anyone know anything of the excursions (either NCL run or independent) to do this?

Karen