Jump to content

What to do in Samana????


Recommended Posts

I need some suggestions from others that have been to Samana & loved the visit. What to do? :confused: Do we do the El Limon Waterfalls? (leanin toward that, but does it get crowded), & best way to get here ( taxi, rent car, or book a w/ terry?) ,or do we go to the beach & would there be time coming off a NCL cruise to do both? What beach would be in proximity to El Limon waterfalls?

I need some input fellow cruisers??? :)

Thanks...& keep limin!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terry does other trips besides the waterfall ... my suggestion is to email him and find out what he has. We booked with him last week and it was AMAZING, my daughter is still talking about it being the best trip of her life (she's 9). Samana was our favourite port

 

Leigh-Anne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had done a lot of research for our stop at Samana and were leaning to the El Limon Waterfall excursion. We were on the Norwegian Dawn and we knew almost all of our ports would be beach days, so we really didn't want to spend a lot of money to go to a nice beach....since we would be doing that in Tortola and St Thomas and the private island. When we were anchored it was a rainy morning with choppy seas, so we were not even sure if we would get off the ship.

About lunch time the sun came out and we decided to go over to the port and walk around. We thought it would be a nice little boat trip, and the island looked beautiful and lush from a distance. We were not setting our expectations too high as we had read that the port was poor, dirty, overpriced and little children would hound you until you gave them money.

 

We got off the tender at a pretty little dock with coloured buildings, lush vegetation, flowers and nice lawns ...so far so good. There were tour operators there with modern- looking tour buses, so tours would be easy to get. We walked right,w -along the waterfront. We found this town to be very quaint and undeveloped...we really enjoyed talking to the vendors along the waterfront. They had some jewellery (made from conch shell, Larimar, and coconut), coffee, vanilla and oil paintings. The artists were there with the paintings. Some were tropical scenes of Samana Bay, and some were native symbols...very graphic, modern and colourful. These were very well priced and you could dicker on the prices. If you like to pick up original art, there are some treasures if you take some time to look through it. We had fun talking to the artists. Dominican coffee was $4/pound.

 

We kept walking and noticed new brightly coloured buildings across the street. This is the new shopping complex they are building. They only have a few stores and restaurants in there at the moment. It will be nice when it is finished, but we found if we kept going, we could see the true feel of the island . There were more shops a little further down the street -in older buildings with lots of character. I admired a Stering silver and Larimar necklace in one window, and the jeweler actually cornered me. He gave me a price the was very high and I told him no, and many more no's and me walking away, I ended up with a large, beautiful, hand made piece of jewelry for $40. They were selling pieces 1/5th the size in St. Thomas for that price.

 

We had a wonderful, relaxing stroll around the town...we didn't wander too far off the beaten track. It had a wonderful rustic feel and island was so lush and tropical. We got some great pictures of the beautiful views, felt perfectly safe and only saw one child who did not bother us.

 

The negatives: there was a lot of trash and old tires washing up on the little beach of the waterfront and there were fountains that had been let go and had no water in them.

 

Was it worth a visit? -absolutely!

DSCF1448.jpg.81651cb864d5733496ba5edcb54cb331.jpg

DSCF1431.jpg.f6a6b96c357ddbdad1cb34efe1f684da.jpg

DSCF1451.jpg.a4220ac499bd89032ddb8fb260c23f5e.jpg

DSCF1426.jpg.964936b93a42d59fe33cc78e0e793d60.jpg

DSCF1465.jpg.8221580886d58da42ad3558636a958f9.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you posted! Samana was our favourite port as well, we were on the same itinery as you. After hearing all the negatives before and our cruise director refering to it as "that sh** hole Samana" at the liars game after, it's nice to see someone else who agrees with us!

 

Leigh-Anne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you posted! Samana was our favourite port as well, we were on the same itinery as you. After hearing all the negatives before and our cruise director refering to it as "that sh** hole Samana" at the liars game after, it's nice to see someone else who agrees with us!

 

Leigh-Anne

 

Hi Leigh-Anne,

I emailed you last week to ask to see your Samana pics, don't know if you got it or not. Could you send me the pics? I am touring w/ Terry in 3 weeks and would love to see your pics.

Thanks

Mcoleman88@hotmail.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

our cruise director refering to it as "that sh** hole Samana" at the liars game after, it's nice to see someone else who agrees with us!

 

Leigh-Anne

 

We went to the liars club too. We couldn't believe the CD was saying this about one of the ports!! Wow!

 

Mary

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terry does other trips besides the waterfall ... my suggestion is to email him and find out what he has. We booked with him last week and it was AMAZING, my daughter is still talking about it being the best trip of her life (she's 9). Samana was our favourite port

 

Leigh-Anne

Who is Terry? How do I make contact?

Thanks,

Joanne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terry is a guy who moved to Samana, Dominican Republic from the US.

Since he is from the US, he speaks english..unlike it sounds like many of the tour operators in samana.

I contactd Terry for our stop in Samana in April & he is already totally booked for that day ( April 13). So, no luch w/ Terry.

Maybe it will work for you on the day your there.

I emailed him. Got his info off these boards on Cruise Critics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were on Norwegian ... immediatly after he was "I'm joking I love Samana" but then went on to make more jokes like "I've never seen so many people get off the boat, then right back on the same tender"

 

Oh well ... we'll spread the word its great :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you posted! Samana was our favourite port as well, we were on the same itinery as you. After hearing all the negatives before and our cruise director refering to it as "that sh** hole Samana" at the liars game after, it's nice to see someone else who agrees with us!

 

Leigh-Anne

 

My husband and I actually spoke to John the CD on the private island and after telling him what a wonderful cruise it was we mentioned that it was really not nice to say what he had been saying about Samana. I told him that if I hadn't known that it had a lot to offer from cc I would have felt as if the joke was on me if I had gone there to shop or eat out as others had. He seemed to take this to heart and I would be interested to hear if he changed the way he spoke about Samana on the next cruise or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Karysa,

Were were those caves/mangroves? Did you go to a National park? Ive been trying to figure out were these were in Samana. Also if they are near the El Limon waterfalls?

I would love to boat thru the caves...

 

This excursion was through NCL and the motorboat took us right from the tendered ship in Samana Bay to Los Haites National Park which was roughly 45 minutes away. There are over 50 islands and it is quite beautiful to see. The islands are lush and you actually see the odd small beach. We first stopped in one cave and explored it on foot and then after about 10 or 15 minutes boating slowly through the mangroves beside these islands we came to the second cave. It was on to the beach after that and we took the ships tender from there to get us back on the ship. There were 5 of us including three teens and everyone truly enjoyed themselves.

Karysa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were in samana last week with NCL Dawn. We booked an excursion to cayo levantado beach. Unfortunately, it was not a nice day - weather was cloudy and rainy. I had a feeling to cancel it before, but didn't. There went $90 for the 2 of us, down the drain. We were the only ship there that day, so there weren't many people. There were stalls selling things, but the vendors were hounding us - it was hard to even look at anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well written Terry, can't wait too let you show us around on 4-22 :)

I think this week another CCer is with you, screen name NickyDW ( ?)

Can't wait to hear how his/ her trip was, it will help me fine tune my day in Samana!

 

 

 

I have lived in Samana for 7 years. I can understand why some people would say bad things about our little town. They would often times be right if they were speaking only about town. It is dirty, there is garbage in the streets, the shopping is not what you would expect (shopping is cheaper than any other port I've been told by reliable sources), sometimes the vendors are pushy (what successful salesman isn't), the kids ask for dollars, they drive crazy and there is no beach in town. But you would do yourself a great disservice to not find a way to get outside of town and experience the beauty of the lush mountains (even if it rains, Am I right Leigh-Anne?

 

There is so much to do in Samana if you would only get 5 minutes out of town. I can keep people busy for a whole day and only put 10 miles on my vehicle.

 

We have some of the best food you will ever eat. Dominican food is wonderful and at the same time not much different than what the average American would eat each day, save for rice and beans accompaniment.

 

Please don't listen to the bad mouthing of Samana. It sounds like people who haven't really tried to learn more about our beautiful peninsula.

 

I propose that people not think of it as a port. If you do you will be disappointed.

 

Please think of it as the Samana Peninsula. A beautiful destination, all it takes is a little digging to enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just got back from NCL Dawn's stop in Samana. We (DH and DD-15) decided to do our own thing with another family of 3. I saw a website for riding horses to El Limon waterfall from Parada Santi http://www.samana.net/santi-berca.html

We took a taxi from Samana port ($90 for 6 of us for the day), rode about 30 minutes up to El Limon where Santi has his restaurant. He arranged guides and horses for us to travel up to El Limon AND his wife prepared a wonderful lunch for us when we returned - all for $35 per person. This was well worth every penny. The horse ride was a bit scary as the paths are rocky and the horses seemed so small but they were very strong and took us through streams and up steep inclines easily. The guides were young boys who ran right along with the horses. They didn't speak English but were really nice and I learned some Spanish from them and they learned some English from me. We tipped the guides an extra $2 per person because they were so wonderful.

 

I really recommend going to Santi's. He will treat you like a long time friend and his English is fantastic (he is originally from Spain). We love Samana and never felt in danger - everyone we met was helpful and happy to see us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just got back from NCL Dawn's stop in Samana. We (DH and DD-15) decided to do our own thing with another family of 3. I saw a website for riding horses to El Limon waterfall from Parada Santi http://www.samana.net/santi-berca.html

We took a taxi from Samana port ($90 for 6 of us for the day), rode about 30 minutes up to El Limon where Santi has his restaurant. He arranged guides and horses for us to travel up to El Limon AND his wife prepared a wonderful lunch for us when we returned - all for $35 per person. This was well worth every penny. The horse ride was a bit scary as the paths are rocky and the horses seemed so small but they were very strong and took us through streams and up steep inclines easily. The guides were young boys who ran right along with the horses. They didn't speak English but were really nice and I learned some Spanish from them and they learned some English from me. We tipped the guides an extra $2 per person because they were so wonderful.

 

I really recommend going to Santi's. He will treat you like a long time friend and his English is fantastic (he is originally from Spain). We love Samana and never felt in danger - everyone we met was helpful and happy to see us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...