Samana - Cayo Levantado - HAL Cancelled????

[phillycruise]

We are on the Noordam sailing March 25 and are stopping at Samana. The last time we were here we had a great day on Cayo Levantado. Looking on the HAL shore excursions page it says that Cayo L. is CANCELLED??? Does anybody know what's going on with this? I've notice a few posts re. cancellations on the NCL board too. I may be hallucinating but I seem to remember reading how difficult it is to get there from the mainland. I wonder if their's been a falling out between the island's owners (???DR government???) and the cruise the companies. Anyone been to Cayo lately WITH HAL??

[Krazy Kruizers]

Are you aware that Samana, Dominican Republic is to the east of Haiti -- where they just had a major earthquake??

There could be a number of reasons that the tour was cancelled.

[mamaofami]

If it's a ship sponsored tour, they probably don't want to have any libility for anything that might happen there.

[cinann]

I am on the 3/5 Noordam cruise. Last Sept I had reserved the excursion "Cayo Levantado Beach Escape". A couple of days later I received an e-mail from HAL cancelling it due to operational reasons and that it will no longer be offered for the remainder of the season.
Cindy

[EatonDoolittle]

Are you aware that Samana, Dominican Republic is to the east of Haiti -- where they just had a major earthquake??

There could be a number of reasons that the tour was cancelled.


Samana is on the north east coast of the island, the earthquake was on the south west coast. Since Labadee (much closer to PoP) was not affected, it is doubtful that Samana has any damage.

I heard on NPR that DR is getting lots of refugees from the west - they need the tourist dollar now more than ever.

I am not a huge RCL fan, but I applaud their decision to keep sending money and supplies.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes -- I am aware of where Samana is in relation to the earthquake.

That is why I mentioned that OP's tour could have been cancelled for any number of reasons and why I mentioned that the beach they were going to was not near the earthquake site.

[catl331]

On the port board, ccers are saying that it was canceled for all cruise lines by the vendor.

[hewent]

Although I am not An HAL cruiser I checked this site for info on Cayo Levantado. We will be in Samana on our NCL cruise March 27 or 28. This beach looked beautiful. Does anyone have any suggestions as to who would be a good source of transportation from the port?