Amber Cove

[Vitamin Sea Addict]

I am 100% aware of the Ports of Call boards...they just have minimal views and less responses when it comes to DR. Right now we (DH and I, our 6 & 8 year old kiddos) are planning on just doing the AquaCenter for our time at port. However, I'd love real life experiences on what it's actually like there---we're there with 1 more Carnival ship. Can it handle capacity? Should we find a different excursion? We're planning on beach days and other ocean excursions for our other ports. Our next scheduled cruises don't repeat this as a port so I'm hoping to get as much out of it as possible!

Thanks!

[mek]

31 minutes ago, Vitamin Sea Addict said:

I am 100% aware of the Ports of Call boards...they just have minimal views and less responses when it comes to DR. Right now we (DH and I, our 6 & 8 year old kiddos) are planning on just doing the AquaCenter for our time at port. However, I'd love real life experiences on what it's actually like there---we're there with 1 more Carnival ship. Can it handle capacity? Should we find a different excursion? We're planning on beach days and other ocean excursions for our other ports. Our next scheduled cruises don't repeat this as a port so I'm hoping to get as much out of it as possible!

Thanks!

Are you referring to the water park?  The pool is huge with ample seating.  I was there with only one ship in port and the place was not crowded, but not sure what it's like with multiple ships.  There is a water slide that looks like fun - it's a great place to go with kids.   Going back in February with a 5 year old

[dbrucern]

Get a pool cabana if there are any left, private, air conditioned, someone assigned the brings drinks and food and right at the pool. Plus they come with shady hammock and floats.  Have had on our 3 trips to Amber Cove and well worth the money.  

[joepeka]

There were two ships in Amber Cove (including ours) when we were there last year. So yes, it can handle the capacity, if that's what you refer to. As to your desire to see parts of the DR outside of the controlled environment of Amber Cove, there are ship-sponsored excursions that will do that. We went on a rum factory and city tour of Puerto Plata that went into the more authentic and interesting parts of that city. It was a long day (about 10:30AM to 5PM) so you likely wouldn't have time for both Amber Cove activities and this tour.

[summersigh]

If you google "Amber Cove Map" it will come back with lots of pics, maps and layouts of the port area.  We were there in December on the Breeze and although we were the only ship there it seemed there was lots of room in the pools and plenty of loungers.  There's also a restaurant/bar (for pay) there at the edge of the pool if you get hungry

We had a leisurely breakfast on the ship then went ashore to enjoy the pool with it's swim-up bar.  We went back to the ship later for a leisurely late lunch of Guys Burgers on the pool deck which was almost empty.  

[coevan]

3 hours ago, joepeka said:

There were two ships in Amber Cove (including ours) when we were there last year. So yes, it can handle the capacity, if that's what you refer to. As to your desire to see parts of the DR outside of the controlled environment of Amber Cove, there are ship-sponsored excursions that will do that. We went on a rum factory and city tour of Puerto Plata that went into the more authentic and interesting parts of that city. It was a long day (about 10:30AM to 5PM) so you likely wouldn't have time for both Amber Cove activities and this tour.

 

 

We did this same trip privately and had a great time. Rum Factory, Cigar Factory, trips through the rich areas and the local farmers markets. We took our driver out to lunch and had a blast, $50 for over 4 hours for both of us plus a great local lunch

[jhsieh]

In December, we did a ship-sponsored excursion with our kids who were 6, 9 and 12 at the time. It was a zipline/horseback riding combo tour that included lunch. It was an absolute blast! My kids still talk about it regularly. Before the excursion, I had some reservations over safety...especially with the younger two but once we were there I was very much at ease. I would definitely recommend it, if those activities sound like fun to your family. 

[Vitamin Sea Addict]

Thank you for all the great advice!

I wish the cabanas were still an option dbrucern but they're all booked!

We may try to shop and do the Aquacenter this time as our kiddos are a little short for some of the more fun excursions (maybe in the future!) jhsieh. 

[gude2]

Has anyone ever done the Damajagua Jump and Slide Party at Amber Cove?  We're booked for it, but it makes me nervous.

[Organized Chaos]

Last year, we took a taxi to the cable car that takes you to the top of Mt. Isabel. It's about 15 minutes from port. The taxi was $60 round trip for four of us and the cable car is $10/adult. It's an amazing ride up the mountain. Once at the top, there's a smaller version (but not so small) of the "Christ the Redeemer" statue that's in Brazil. And a massive garden and forest area with hiking paths all around it. We ended up with a guide who met us at the cable car building when we got out of our taxi. We didn't ask for one, he was just there. We're glad it worked out like that because we knew about the statue, but had no idea you could hike around the garden/forest area. It's a beautiful place. There are some vendors in the small building that the statue stands on. When we got to the top, one of those vendors came out to greet us and asked if we'd like to visit his shop when we were done with our tour. He wasn't pushy at all. And he offered to take some great pictures of us at the statue. He knew exactly where to pose people and how to pose you to make it look like you're holding the statues hand, things like that. After our tour of the area, we didn't go into his shop. He had some nice souvenirs and he didn't mind me negotiating the prices, so we ended up buying a couple things. There were a few other vendors in there with their own shops, but none of them approached us, so I think they split the tourists. LOL The ride down the mountain was great because, by then, the clouds had engulfed the top of the mountain. It was fun breaking through the clouds to see Puerto Plata below.

 

Our guide offered his services free of charge, but obviously accepted a tip, which we gladly gave him because he was great. Our taxi driver waited for us at the bottom to take us back to port. All in all, I think we were gone around three hours, give or take.

[TheGirlNextDoor]

We will be there in July. We don't have an excursion yet so I'll be keeping up this thread for ideas.

 

[Marauder40]

We will also be doing Amber Cove for the first time.  We see three different Zipline adventures in the excursion listing.  One is called Over the Ocean with Beach & Lunch and lists Wild Play Adventure Park Coconut Cove.  The other is called "Extreme Zipline" but doesn't list where it will be.  The first one the reviews talk about a long windy ride down dirt roads.  The second only has one review.  The third is Wild Ride, Zip Line and Rope Course which also is at Coconut Cove.

 

Due to different interests in the DR my wife and I will probably be splitting up with each of us taking a kid.  She will be taking my daughter and my wife easily gets car sick and just got car sick riding normal roads in the DR in the Punta Cana area so we were wondering if anyone has tried any of the different zipline adventures in Amber Cove area and if any of them had a better ride to, especially the "Extreme Zipline" which looks like it is in a different place from the other two.

 

We know about the zipline at the cruise center but they want to do a little more then that.

 

Any ideas?