Samana, Dominican Republic

[CatNJ]

Can anyone tell me about this port and what excursions they recommend? I'll be travelling this August on the Grandeur!

[runningtide]

I'm also going there in July. Little research indicated that stay with the ship's excrusions, and don't venture out alone.

[martinchem]

I also was interested.

[Joyce From Yardley]

Can anyone tell me about this port and what excursions they recommend? I'll be travelling this August on the Grandeur!

 

Hi,

 

We were there in Oct. & again this past April. I'm not at all impressed with this port of call.

 

We took the Discover Samana tour with Royal. Not all all worth the $32pp. We were very disapointed.

 

There were however VERY GOOD reviews about Royals beach tour to Cayo La.....We aren't beach people so we opted out of this. There were also GOOD reviews about the horse back riding to the falls. The only negative comment was that everyone came back muddy.

 

There is a flea market in the grassey area about a 1/2 mile or so from the cruise dock. Not much there & not much of a town.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Joyce & Of Course Harvey

[CrusinAgain]

We went there on a Sunday, it is a very poor place and no shops were opened. Could not find anything to do except the ships excursions. We basically sat on our balcony. It was a tender port.

[debshomespun]

You can search for information under the Ports of Call section here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=374

Lots of good info about Samana, DR.

[BehrHunter]

My experience with the Dominican Republic was not on a cruise ship but on a 4 day visit. I only passed thru Samana twice so I can't really comment on the specifics.

 

What I will say however is that I personally think the DR is the biggest dump in the Caribbean but I have not been to Haiti yet. They both share a land border however.

 

Stick to organized tours and don't venture out alone. If you do, bring plenty of cash for when you get stopped and "fined" by the local police for no reason other than walking while white.

[geojobes]

Went October 2007. We took the Cave & Mangrove Tour. It was interesting, but be aware that where there are "facilities", they are very primitive. Not so bad for the guys, not too good for the ladies.

[kenevenpar]

We did the Cayo Levantado (sp), and it was a very enjoyable beach day, very nice beach, ok drinks and food. It is actually a small island just off the coast, and is a 5 - 10 minute tender ride away.

 

Hi Joyce (and of course Harvey)!

 

Ken

[familycruzer]

This is from my review here on CC. http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=51652

 

Samana - Many people ask questions about this port because it is very new to Royal Caribbean and there are not threads about what to do here. After a lot of research, we decided to try our luck with a private tour and not book through the ship. We picked an excursion with Casa Dorado http://www.casadoradodr.com/excursions.html and very happy with the beach but what an experience getting there.

 

We were not supposed to be able to leave the ship until about 9:30 but were whisked to deck 1 by 8:45. The tender ride to Samana is very fast, I would guess less than 10 minutes. The tenders are small compared to Labadee. On my first view of Samana I thought "why are we even coming here?" It does not even look like a port but a big fishing village with a dock to bring in the tender. Once you walk past the entrance, you are bombarded with offers of taxis and tours.

 

Luckily Catherine from Casa Dorado was there to help us find out taxis and we were off. After a 45 minute taxi ride through some of the worst road and living conditions I have seen we arrived at Casa Dorado where we boarded a boat to Playa Rincon and 10 minutes later we were there.

 

The beach is breathtaking and the water was as clear as a pool with some fairly decent snorkeling. I would guess the total number of people at the beach would be under 150 but there was plenty of room to stretch out. We stayed for about 2.5 hours and then headed back to the ship. My DH left his sneakers behind on the beach. Catherine's DH sent word back to the beach that if they were found, he would send them back with another ship passenger and we got them back!

 

If you want a peaceful uncrowded beach, head off to Playa Rincon for the day but be ready for an adventure. This excursion is not for the faint at heart. I am glad that I did it but would not leave the ship again. The roads were almost non existent, and there were children holding machetes up to each other along the road. I even saw a family of 4 on a moped with a toddler on the handle bars.

 

Trip cost $260 for 10 people which included round trip taxi service Chairs $3 each Beer $5 Frozen Drinks $5 Food $10 - $15 (we did not opt to eat after seeing the cooking conditions) There were also a few vendors that tried to sell their wares but were easily moved on with a simple no. The bathrooms have no running water and are flushing by pouring water into them

[houlacruiser]

We stopped at Casa de Campo DR on a cruise and I will agree that DR is a poor place and stick with RCI tours only. We made the mistake of getting a private taxi and it was actually scary. Not something I would EVER do again. :eek: I actually said that I would never get off the ship again in DR. I do hear that some of the beaches are beautiful though, so when we stop in Samana we may try that.