airlinebiz

Hey airlinbiz family from Arizona....we're ready for another cruise, too! I've found myself looking for bargains for October cruises...ha! Since we're moving to a "balanced calendar" now (we start school in about a month), we'll have two weeks off in October, two weeks off in December, and two weeks off in March. We'll get out in June, then return in July.

 

Anyway, yeah...we're ready again :)

will send pics, but will send a test email first.

 

robin

Hi Robin - haven't been on this forum in awhile. We never received your "test" email for the kid's pictures and cruise critic doesn't have the ability to private message. However tripadvisor does allow it. I'm airlinebiz over there if you want to PM me there.

Hope you and family are doing well!

Hi all...

sorry, I haven't been back on the board since we got back home.

 

1) Crunchy, as airlinebiz said, it was NOT bumpy at all. It was wonderful. It was nothing like I expected. And the staff made sure everyone was good with the speed.

 

2) To the poster right above me (sorry, I forgot your name already....), I believe the tour was "Cruise Special" because I didn't know it was going to be a Speed Catamaran. I thought it was going to be a regular speed boat as I had seen on the "other" tour group's website.

 

3) Finally, to the family with the 7 y.o. who replied right after I did.....greetings to all of you. Hope your son, "A" is doing well. Was so sorry we never saw you guys anymore the rest of the cruise. We have some really cute pictures of all three kids on the net part of front, and them some of him and me on the net. My daughter also took a picture of you and him sitting on the beach together. If you want me to send to you, send me a private message.

 

To everyone else, you will NOT be disappointed in ProExcursions.

(oh, anything thing they did post-cruise......just to show you how WONDERFUL they are.....we had taken a picture of two sisters in our group holding starfish. We told them we'd send it to them. Later when we were it Curacao, we saw them and got their email address. Well, when we got home, I couldn't find that email addy for anything!! So, I emailed ProEx and asked if they could forward the picture for me....and they did!!! How's that for service ??)

Hi Robin! Hope you all are doing well. We are good but already want to go on another cruise :) Thank you so much for offering to email the pictures. Very kind of you and lovely daughter. Our generic email is wood ya 35 at yahoo dot com. Take good care :)

Airlinebiz and robinlb....

 

Were the tours you took on the catamaran the "sea excursions foe cruise ships" or the "VIP sail catamaran to Saona"?

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

ej22mdrow---we took the sea excursion for cruise ships. This tour is specially designed around the ship's arrival/departure schedule.

We had an absolutely great time! :)

My husband, 7 year-old son, and myself took the Pro Excursion sea tour during our cruise stop at La Romana last week. It was fantastic and so much more than we expected. We were with about 11 other people on a catamaran with a highly personable and professional crew – 4 total including our guide, Julie. The ride was smooth and relaxing – not bumpy and no problem for my bad back (I was very worried). The drinks offered on the boat were cold water, sodas, and rum.

The first “stop” was a slow cruise through the mangroves in a protected natural preserve. The water was only @ 2 feet deep and clear as glass. We saw several starfish and a stingray. Next we anchored near an old pier with plenty of fish to entertain the snorkelers. The water was very calm and my initially timid 7 year-old quickly became quite the swimmer/snorkeler and absolutely loved it – our guide Julie really made him feel comfortable and secure in the water. We proceeded on to Saona Island where there was a private beach area just for us with padded lounge chairs and restroom facilities (rough but certainly adequate). The lunch they served was freshly prepared and very good (crisp vegetables/salads/fruit, beans, rice, pasta, grilled chicken, soda/water/rum/beer). The beach was very pretty the sand was soft – no coral or rocks – fine for bare feet.

After lunch and some beach time we re-boarded the catamaran and cruised to the “swimming pool” – which is a very calm and shallow water (waist deep) sandbar out in the bay of the island. The water was clear, calm, and absolutely beautiful. The floor of the “pool” was soft sand with no seaweed. We then proceeded back to Bayahibe for our taxi back to the ship (it was waiting for us).

The crew was very conscientious about time management to get us back in plenty of time for the ship. This was my husband’s main concern about booking a tour outside the cruise line taking us off the island. Julie and I discussed that they do not mix the cruise passengers with resort tourists because of the unreliability of the ship’s arrival time. This was especially important to us when our ship arrived late to La Romana – we didn’t have to worry that the tour was going to depart without us to accommodate resort folks already on the island and waiting.

We arrived via taxi back to port with plenty of time to grab drinks/snacks before boarding the ship. We talked with two groups who booked other excursions, paid more than double what we did, and didn’t have half as much fun. La Romana, D.R. was our favorite stop on the cruise and we attribute this to Pro Excursion team!

A shout-out to fellow excursion mate robinIbe – so good to meet you :)

Before we left I tried to find information on Pro Excursions and didn't have much luck. It seemed like the things I did find were people complaining about them speaking in French.... We went ahead and booked with them, they spoke perfect English and the tour was phenomenal!

 

I was a little worried when we went thru the parking lot and EVERYONE was going with Seavis....I was afraid I had made a mistake. Then our little group went with ProExcursion it was a much more intimate setting....basically the same exact excursion as Seavis except we went to a different beach. Lunch was wonderful....the day we went...seafood pasta, beans and rice, bbq chicken, sausage, pasta salad, fresh fruit, bread, beer, water, rum punch

 

We can't say enough about the wonderful time we had! :)

Thank you for the information. I emailed Pro Excursions through the website with few questions and concerns (back problems, child life jacket) and Michael quickly and professionally responded to my request. I was impressed and booked with them for June 4th. I will follow-up with a review when we return. Looking forward to a great time! Also, thank you for posting the picture of the beautiful beach (other thread). I like the fact of the tour not being over crowded.