Anyone Have Any Info On Samana??

[Comet Cruiser]

Hi everyone,

 

Just wondering if anyone has any info regarding Samana, Dominican Republic. We are going there in October and want to know all about it:)

 

Also, I know it's a tender, and was wondering how long you take to get there. I'm not crazy about going on tenders, Labadee is long enough for me!

 

Thanks for any help you can give me

 

Comet Cruiser

Gail

[Redgrove]

Hello,

 

Returned yesterday 7/22 from Grandeur of the Seas Easten Caribbean from Baltimore. Tender ride is longer than Labadee -- don't recall exactly how long but it was tolerable and I didn't get motion sickness (which happens much more easily on small watercraft for me.) Since we'd never been to the Dominican Republic, we chose the Discover Samana tour sponsored by RC -- about 3.5 hrs on airconditioned bus with several stops. We returned to the ship directly after so I can't comment on the waterfront there. I found the tour guide Luis very informative -- the landscape is dramatic. Others on our cruise took the beach tours and enjoyed them as well. Let me know if you have more questions -- enjoy your cruise!

[shipsick77]

Hi Gail,

My family and I just got home from a Caribbean cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas. Samana was our 3rd port. My family actually had bad experiences there...and many others we spoke to agreed. I have never been to a port where there was more foot traffic tryin to get off of the island.

 

My husband and our 2 girls (10 & 8), normally like to explore these ports on our own. We would take a taxi into the nearest town, shop, eat, we like to see life as it is there, the Americanized ports bore us. Costa Maya, St. Thomas, Belize, Grand Caymen are examples of perfect places to explore on our own. So, when we arrived in Samana our plan was to go whichever way the wind blew, preferably sit on a beach for a couple of hours, then eat, the shop.

 

Immediately, like all other ports, there are atleast a dozen taxi drivers willing and ready. We tried our best, in broken Spanish, to be taken to the nearest beach that also had restrooms and somewhere to eat lunch. They told us it would be a 45 min drive and cost $100. Scratch that. We asked if there were any beaches nearbye that the kids would enjoy...we were told that we could take a 10 min drive to a hotel which has a beach. It was a go.

 

The "taxi" driver actually drove a moped and pulled the 4 of us on a rickshaw type cart. He took a left turn off of the main road and we found ourselves on a dirt road, riddled with bumps and puddles, and I eventually realized he drove us into a garbage dump...he stopped the moped at the end and in broken English told us to get off and walk around the corner and we will find the beach there.

 

My heart was pounding in fear. Honestly, we were driven into a garbage dump, and told that if we wanted to go to the beach we had to walk alone around a corner (who knows what was there?). My girls were squeezing my hands harder that they ever have. My husband told the drver "No, you take us to the beach. We will pay you, but we are not walking through here". The driver looked irritated but finally agreed to drive us all the way there, on a main road. It was very frightening for all of us...

 

Eventually we got to the hotel, where we were told there was a beach. The driver dropped us off and left. At the hotel entrance was a security guard who would not let us near the hotel because we weren't guests...great...he then told us that the beach was at the bottom of this steep mountain and we had to walk down to get there (there was a paved road to the bottom).

 

When we finally arrived at the beach, it was not what we expected (suprise). It was a beautiful beach, but very rocky, and certainly not meant to relax near or swim in. There were so many trees there was not a spot of sun. There was noone there except another security guard with a shotgun. My husband went over to talk to him, and make sure it was ok for us to be there. He didn't mind at all. He was very nice, asking about our cruise, he even tried to sell us some Dominican land. haha.

 

Our girls waded in the water for about 5 minutes then were ready to leave. We were all very disappointed, this was not the type of beach we were hoping to spend hrs at. We decided to try to get a ride into "town" and explore there.

 

That mountain that we had to walk down? Now it was time to walk back up...our girls were miserable. It was extremely hot and the mountain was extremely steep. Finally at the top, a man on a moped rode and got a taxi for us, seeing how the kids looked like they were going to pass out.

 

We were dropped off near the port, where there is a straw market type area. We didn't buy much...but the people there were very friendly. By that time, seeing the ship, our kids were cryin to be back on the ship. It had only been about 2 hours since we first got into Samana.

 

As I mentioned before, the dock to get back onto a tender was packed! We have never seen so many people want to get back on the ship so soon after arriving at port, ever. We heard many people sharing their experiences in Samana, all awful. They planned on trying to get Samana off of the itinerary in the future. When we were back on the ship, we were amazed at how crowded it still was. The pool was full of people, the Waverunner was crowded with people at the buffet...

 

My take is this:

This is not the kind of port where you can explore on your own. It is mostly bush, and there is no "town" to really see aside of the tent market. We are not opposed to seeing Samana again, but this is definetly a port where we will book an excursion. Maybe take a guided tour or something.

 

Friends that we met on the ship had a very pleasant experience. They paid approx. $15 to take a tender to and from the dock to a small island you can see from port, where there was a beach, and a 5 Star hotel. We wished we'd have known about this earlier...

 

So, in October, when you arrive at Samana, have a plan!

The Dominican Republic is a gorgeous country, Samana is beautiful. You just have to find the right way to experience it. It also would help immensely, if you knew Spanish. There were very very few people who knew any English, so try to brush up on your Spanish while you have time.

 

Good luck on your trip and remember, this is just one persons experience.

[dolfinmusic]

Wow! Thanks for the info! We are stopping in October too and would only do a ship excursion since there does not seem to be a lot of info on this stop. So far they only have 2 excursions up through the ship and one is for skeet something or other and the other is golf.

 

There was a little market right by the ship? No one was pushy?

[Mark_K]

There's excellent whale watching at the right time of year, I think October may be too early, though.

[isujim]

shipsick..........WOW.......thanks for the information. We go there in October of 08.......very useful review.

[Comet Cruiser]

Thanks for your input everyone!

 

I really think if we do get off the ship in this port it sounds as if we should for sure have an excursion booked.

 

So there is really nothing to do right at the pier when you get off the tender??

 

How long approximately do you think the tender ride was?? Hopefully SHORT!!:)

 

Thanks again

Comet Cruiser

Gail