Samona "caves, mangroves and beach escape"

[karen327]

Has anyone been on this excursion? Was wondering if you tender in to the port or if the excursion boat picks you up and returns you to the ship. Also, what beach do you go to afterwards. I thought it was the popular private beach, but the excursion page doesn't say. Also, is the famous blue jewerly only found on hispanolia available to purchase on the beach or at the port? Thanks for any help

[lynneamycruise]

We have booked this excursion for our Feb cruise...you may want to go on the Ports of Call board..under DR..type in Samana in the search function and there are a number of reviews..all fairly good.
We never, ever book cruise excursions as we like going on our own, but with Samana..I have read over and over that you need to have something planned as the port is not quite "built up" as the other ports in the Caribbean.
I like the fact that we can go right from the ship onto a smaller boat to the excursion and we don't have to wait for tenders on the way out. You go the the Cayo Leviito (sp??sorry) beach after the caves and mangroves which again has good reviews then take a tender back to the ship whenever you want to head back.
Sounds fun to me!

[Reebster]

The famous blue stone used in jewelry is called larimar and you can find it at the shops near the port. I don't know if it's available on the beaches, though.

[jbo57]

Just my opinion...Samana was the one place I would not go back to. Having said that, it is also the one place that I would book the excursion ahead of time. We wasted a lot of time haggling with people who had no intention of living up to their end of the agreement. I would book the excursion through NCL and eat the added cost for the lack of a headache.