Cayo Levantado Beach Escape

[Blueeyes101817]

A friend of mine and I have booked a 9 night cruise as a girls trip away. We just started looking at excursions and this is one that got our attention. Just wanted to see if anyone else has done this excursion and how did you like it? I figure its 39.00 dollars and sounds like it could be nice and relaxing

"

You will leave your ship by boat to the small island of Cayo Levantado and be greeted with complimentary rum or fruit punch. Then you are on your own to explore the gentle hills of soft grass or beautiful white sand beach. Relax in your complimentary beach chair or take a swim in the inviting water. Snorkel equipment and sun floats are available for rent. Take a moment to browse the quaint gift shops featuring locally made art, crafts and a variety of other souvenir items."

I

[Grammar Goddess]

I highly recommend the "beach break" you describe. When we were on Sea Princess two years ago, we did this exact excursion. Cayo Levantado is beautiful. There's a little bar if you want a drink, and you can also get a very inexpensive meal [about $5 apiece] of tasty fish & accompaniments right there near the bar. The beach is lovely, like the picture of a tropical island. I think you and your friend will just love it for your Girls Getaway. It's almost exactly like one of the cruise line's private islands. Enjoy your cruise! :)

 

GG

[Blueeyes101817]

I highly recommend the "beach break" you describe. When we were on Sea Princess two years ago, we did this exact excursion. Cayo Levantado is beautiful. There's a little bar if you want a drink, and you can also get a very inexpensive meal [about $5 apiece] of tasty fish & accompaniments right there near the bar. The beach is lovely, like the picture of a tropical island. I think you and your friend will just love it for your Girls Getaway. It's almost exactly like one of the cruise line's private islands. Enjoy your cruise! :)

 

GG

sounds great! Sounds perfect for girls getaway--thank you so much!

[finoky]

We just came back from the Grandeur last week and one of our stops was Samana. We took the Cayo Levantado Beach Break excursion through the ship for $39 and loved it. What a beautiful little place. They have food there as well as a bar. You can eat for under $10 per person pretty easily. All in all it was one of our favorite stops on the cruise. Here are a few pics I took while at Cayo Levantado.

[unforgiven]

I agree, this is one of the better things to do in the Samana area. The only negitive I saw was an occassional problem of flies.

[BND]

So, how long is the boat ride to the island?

[unforgiven]

It's not long, maybe a 10 minute ride in good seas, or a little longer is the sea is rough. You can see the ship the whole time your on the island, and like wise you can see the island on from the ship.

[finoky]

It's not long, maybe a 10 minute ride in good seas, or a little longer is the sea is rough. You can see the ship the whole time your on the island, and like wise you can see the island on from the ship.

 

If you look at the 3rd pic from my previous post, the one with 4 people talking, you will see the front part of the ship in the left side of the pic. Like Unforgiven says the ship is not far at all from Cayo Levantado.

[Suesan Jean]

We just came back from the Grandeur last week and one of our stops was Samana. We took the Cayo Levantado Beach Break excursion through the ship for $39 and loved it. What a beautiful little place. They have food there as well as a bar. You can eat for under $10 per person pretty easily. All in all it was one of our favorite stops on the cruise. Here are a few pics I took while at Cayo Levantado.

 

This looks and sounds like a GORGEOUS BEACH.......!!!:D

How much time is spent in transportation to and from the beach?

How many hour's do you actually spend out the beach?

Thank you for your reply.....!!!

[finoky]

I would say that the ride over was 10 minutes max. We were there pretty early in the morning and I think the last tender left Cayo Levantado around 3:30. We were there almost 6 hours I would say and absolutely loved every minute of it.

[vavasmom]

CarnivalCruiseJunkie - thanks for the pictures - they are beautiful. IT helped to confirm I made the correct decision when selecting this excursion. We sail Grandeur in July and I have one question - when you book it is for 10:00 - 3:00 (as an example). Is this excursion really a tender ticket (you can come back when you wish) or are you given the fixed time.

 

Thanks.

[finoky]

You can absolutely come back when you wish. Tenders began running back I think right around noon.

[dvan68]

Is there any snorkeling available at this beach? We have our own equipment.

Thanks!

[Miss Dot]

This is truely a GREAT BEACH ESCAPE...we talk about it all the time, and we went last July!

[allentownahoy]

Is it difficult to find a shaded spot on the beach?

[finoky]

Is there any snorkeling available at this beach? We have our own equipment.

Thanks!

 

There is a little bit of snorkeling that we found by some coral sort of near where the beach makes a point.

 

This is truely a GREAT BEACH ESCAPE...we talk about it all the time, and we went last July!

 

Same with us. It was one of our favorite stops on our last cruise.

 

Is it difficult to find a shaded spot on the beach?

 

Scroll back a few responses and you will see a few pics I have posted on this thread. You can see that there are plenty of trees spread throughout the beach area providing plenty of shade for those that seek it.

[jcl410]

I'm taking the Grandeur in 12 days (Yipee!) ...

 

For the Beach Break, does the ship's tender take you directly to the Beach, or do you go to the mainland and switch to another boat to get there?

 

Aloha,

 

John

[finoky]

We were taken directly to Cayo Levantado.

[jdvmd]

Can anyone comment on how crowded, or uncrowded the beach was? Also, I have read reports that vendors are constantly bothering people and the only way to avoid them is to stay in the water. True?

[jcl410]

Can anyone comment on how crowded, or uncrowded the beach was? Also, I have read reports that vendors are constantly bothering people and the only way to avoid them is to stay in the water. True?

 

 

I did not find the beach crowed at all ... But we didnt get there till 2pm or so (the trip over to the caves ran a little long due to a VERY heavy rain storm)

 

Also, I didn't see any vendors outside of the "assigned" area. The walkway from the pier to the beaqch splits into two paths. One leads past all the vendor's stalls, the other doesn't.

 

Aloha,

 

John

[jdvmd]

Thanks for the update John. I think this is what we are going to do even though NCL is charging $49 a person.

[dixieva]

Are you taken on a ships' tender or some other boat? A friend of mind did this excursion a couple of years ago from Grandeur and they had to get on a smaller boat direct from the ship-it was not a tender boat. She said it was a little difficult to get from the ship to the smaller boat. I think the water was rough.

[jdvmd]

I believe it said in the tour description that we would be taken to the island via ship's tenders. Still haven't booked anything.

[jcl410]

Are you taken on a ships' tender or some other boat? A friend of mind did this excursion a couple of years ago from Grandeur and they had to get on a smaller boat direct from the ship-it was not a tender boat. She said it was a little difficult to get from the ship to the smaller boat. I think the water was rough.

 

 

They used local boats to go to and from the beach. They are twin hulled power boats about 30' long or so. They have powerfull outboard engines, and plane quite nicely over the waves. There was a about a 3 foot chop in the bay, but once the ship turned so that she blocked the waves, it was easy to get on and off the speed boat.

 

The ship's tenders were used to go to the town. They are slower, and as they came back from town they were really really ploughing through the waves.

 

Aloha,

 

John

[dixieva]

Thanks for that information.