Opinions on the port of Samana- from Noordam

[cruiseapril]

Hi- We are considering the Noordam cruise to the ABC islands which includes Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and the port of Samana, D.R.

 

Would someone who has been on this Noordam cruise tell us a bit about the port and why it has been dropped from the itineraries of other cruise lines?

 

We have heard about the whale watching and plan to be cruising in March (of 2015) and hope this is a good port for that purpose in March.

 

Thanks for any info.

[CruiserBruce]

We will be there next year. Reviews of the whale watching on the HAL website and on the Jamaica board aren't very good. DW is very sad whale watching probably won't happen.

[Fouremco]

Hi- We are considering the Noordam cruise to the ABC islands which includes Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and the port of Samana, D.R.

 

Would someone who has been on this Noordam cruise tell us a bit about the port and why it has been dropped from the itineraries of other cruise lines?

 

We have heard about the whale watching and plan to be cruising in March (of 2015) and hope this is a good port for that purpose in March.

 

Thanks for any info.

We visited on the Noordam in early March of this year and it was our most disappointing stop. Our original plan was to stroll along the boardwalk and make our way to the beach below the Hotel Cayacoa as there were reports of good snorkelling there.

 

After tendering ashore and exiting the jetty area, we were besieged, first by drivers offering to take us to numerous local sites, and once through that mob, a succession of people begging for money. The poverty of the town is horrendous, the worst by far of any Caribbean island we've visited.

 

The boardwalk that looks so lovely in some of the photos has aged quickly and poorly. There is litter and dog excrement everywhere, the beautiful fountain is now just a huge garbage pail, the small observation platform is falling apart and almost the entire length of the boardwalk is filled with vendors, some quite aggressive.

 

By time we reached the end of the boardwalk we were disillusioned and ready to call it a day. We clearly weren't the only ones, based the number of people heading back to the ship mid-morning.

 

So that was our experience. I'm sure that others will have enjoyed themselves far more with various excursions outside the town, but it became readily apparent why other lines might not visit Samana.

 

Having said that, I would definitely repeat the cruise as we love the ABC islands and I don't believe that anyone else does all three on a single cruise. Samana would simply become a day to rest and relax onboard for us.

 

[mountainmare]

This was one of our favorite stops. We took a private tour and it was an amazing experience. We do like to travel and to learn about local culture--the fake cruise ship islands and fake cruise beaches are our least favorite experiences (think Disney Caribbean style). Actually we did do the ABCs on that trip.

[mamaofami]

After reading the above post, I would stay on board. I think that's a stop on my Noordam cruise this January. If so, I cruise in the winter for the warmth and I can get that on the ship. Checking on my itinerary, it is a stop on the February part of my cruise.

Edited November 14, 2013 by mamaofami

[innlady1]

After reading the above post, I would stay on board. I think that's a stop on my Noordam cruise this January. If so, I cruise in the winter for the warmth and I can get that on the ship. Checking on my itinerary, it is a stop on the February part of my cruise.

 

We stopped in Samana on the Noordam back in '09 and again in '10. We didn't get off the ship either time. It's a tender port and both days it was rough...and word was from other pax that it wasn't worth the trouble. One stop...can't remember which...was right after the earthquake in Haiti (connected to the Dominican Republic).

[Lvteks]

I expect this to be a highlight on our cruise next month. I found very enthusiastic reviews on the Ports of Call here on CC. Five of us are booked for a relaxing beach private excursion.......with a dive shop nearby. Take a look then see what appeals to you.

Blessings,

Gail

[mamaofami]

We stopped in Samana on the Noordam back in '09 and again in '10. We didn't get off the ship either time. It's a tender port and both days it was rough...and word was from other pax that it wasn't worth the trouble. One stop...can't remember which...was right after the earthquake in Haiti (connected to the Dominican Republic).

o

That was Sam ana.

[sail7seas]

We stayed on the ship that port.

We LOVE the A,B, C islands. That is enough to make any cruise great IMO :)

 

[bloofer]

I agree with everything Fouremco has said about Samana. (Hi there, Fouremco; I believe we were on the same cruise.) I found the vendors very annoying. The ABC islands are a "must". If you like snorkeling, Bonaire is great.

[CowPrincess]

We visited on the Noordam in early March of this year and it was our most disappointing stop. Our original plan was to stroll along the boardwalk and make our way to the beach below the Hotel Cayacoa as there were reports of good snorkelling there.

 

After tendering ashore and exiting the jetty area, we were besieged, first by drivers offering to take us to numerous local sites, and once through that mob, a succession of people begging for money. The poverty of the town is horrendous, the worst by far of any Caribbean island we've visited.

 

The boardwalk that looks so lovely in some of the photos has aged quickly and poorly. There is litter and dog excrement everywhere, the beautiful fountain is now just a huge garbage pail, the small observation platform is falling apart and almost the entire length of the boardwalk is filled with vendors, some quite aggressive.

 

By time we reached the end of the boardwalk we were disillusioned and ready to call it a day. We clearly weren't the only ones, based the number of people heading back to the ship mid-morning.

 

So that was our experience. I'm sure that others will have enjoyed themselves far more with various excursions outside the town, but it became readily apparent why other lines might not visit Samana.

 

Having said that, I would definitely repeat the cruise as we love the ABC islands and I don't believe that anyone else does all three on a single cruise. Samana would simply become a day to rest and relax onboard for us.

 

 

Not once did WE feel "besieged" on our visit to Samana. Nor did we encounter "people begging for money". We found the vendors to be less aggressive than vendors in many Mexican ports, and not once did we feel harassed by any of them.

 

We saw buskers, we met people who wanted to sell us tours, but we did not find it aggressive or obnoxious or any other word with negative connotations.

 

We also didn't see "litter and dog excrement everywhere". We did see street dogs/stray dogs, which upset me a great deal, but that is the reality of life in many places.

 

We stayed ashorein town for a few hours, then went back to the ship, as I was overcome from the heat and humidity. And the dogs.

 

We spoke with many people who did tours/excursions and every one of them enjoyed themselves.

[mamaofami]

We too love the ABC islands and that's why we're on the January Noordam cruise.:)

 

Sheila, I misread your post. You must have stopped there in 09, the year we didn't go with you on the Noordam.

 

Edited November 14, 2013 by mamaofami

[innlady1]

Carol, We were on the Noordam in '09 (the Good Nuts and then we stayed on another 10 days) and again on 2/3/10 for 21 days that I booked with my PCC at HAL. Same itinerary both times. And the same as this time on Noordam.

Edited November 14, 2013 by innlady1

[Windsailer]

We were there on the Noordam a year ago. We did the Cave & Mangrove Exploration with Beach Escape excursion and it was by far the worst HAL excursion we had ever gone on. It was so bad that HAL refunded the cost of the excursion. If I were on a cruise that stopped in Samana I wouldn't get off the ship. But we loved the ABC Islands.

[rkacruiser]

2010, I was aboard the Noordam when she stopped at Samana. I booked a tour that took us into the interior, I do not recall the name of the tour. It was enjoyable, and I remember stopping in a small village where we were able to observe cigar making. Interesting, I thought. People were friendly and we thought the experience to be worthwhile.

 

The ABC islands are, of course, interesting. Don't forget the aloe products in Aruba.

 

Grand Turk, on the other hand, I would stay on the ship. Have been there 2-3 times; for me, it is one of those "been there, done that" ports.

[Fouremco]

We also didn't see "litter and dog excrement everywhere". We did see street dogs/stray dogs, which upset me a great deal, but that is the reality of life in many places.

I guess then that when you visited there must have been a crew with pooper-scoopers picking up after all the stray dogs. :rolleyes:

 

[RetiredMustang]

I was on Noordam in 2010 with innlady1 (Sheila, this was the Voyage of the Pink Flamingos, which you/Donna named because of the stops in the ABCs.)

 

My experience in Samana was different. We never explored the town, but took the whale watching excursion with great success. It was almost four years ago and things change, but here is what I wrote in my live-blog from that cruise:

 

-----------------

 

"Tues., Feb. 16, Samana DR

　

We pulled into the bay of Samana a bit early, and tenders ashore started shortly after 9 a.m. There were fine houses and resorts along the shore as we arrived. The hills were mostly covered with coconut palms and scrub forest, and rocky outcrops and small sandy beaches were along the shoreline. Quite pretty.

　

We met in the Queen's lounge at 10:20 for our whale watching excursion. We took a tender about 20 minutes to the port. We did not see much outside the port area itself, but Mark Pells had told us it was rustic, and the people were mostly poor. It was rustic, but not run-down. One thing was that the pier was narrow and it did not have any guardrails; I kept expecting someone not sure of his/her footing to take a flop into the water, but it never happened.

　

We gathered in a gaggle, and then we split between two boats for the excursion. DW and I boarded the smaller of the two boats -- a fast catamaran-hulled boat that traveled 20 minutes or so back past Noordam and back along our morning's track to the open bay off Samana to look for whales. On the way, we passed a Regent ship anchored near an island; our guide said the island was a five-star resort, and we surmised that Regent had booked it for their passengers that day.

　

We arrived at a spot where the guide obviously thought we would see whales, and kind of puttered about for a while. The guide said the Bay of Samana was the winter breeding and calving area for humpback whales, from January to March. We had started to think we might be out of luck after we hadn't seen anything for about 15 minutes, and suddenly we were in the middle of a half-dozen pods of humpbacks surfacing all around us!

　

We latched on to a pair, a male and a female (Taking into account what the guide had said, apparently this was the humpback singles bar area), and followed them for about an hour and they put on a show for us -- they didn't leap out of the water like in the insurance ads, but they were active, surfacing, rolling, blowing, flipping their flukes, etc. They finally dived and we wandered around a bit and then found a pod of three (a female and two males) and followed them for about a half an hour. The guide says they sing to each other -- no doubt, variations on "What's your sign, babe? Do you come here often?"

　

It was a blast, and very cool to see them up so close -- at one time, one of them went under our boat, and we could see the whole thing as it glided by, only a foot or two under the hull. I know that Cruisinetta had posted that in her whale watching tour earlier this year only the people at the front could see anything, but we had a long time and the boat captain maneuvered the boat so that everyone got plenty of opportunity to see the whales. We may have had unusually good fortune in seeing so many whales for such a long time, but we were delighted that we had decided to take the tour.

　　

We returned to port, stopping a couple of times. Once, our guide pointed out a sport where a scene from one of the sequels to "Pirates of the Caribbean" had been filmed, including Johnny Depp. At the other spot, we viewed the beach where our guide said Columbus landed and asked the Taino indians for gold, but all they had to trade was fruit.

　

Our guide offered to take any of us who wanted to get a cup of the second-best coffee in the world (second only to Columbian, he said), a cup of brew that was about 7 times as strong as American coffee. Being lovers of Italian strong espresso, we were tempted, but decided to return to the ship to get to some a/c and shower/clean up."

 

-----------------

 

This was in mid-February; by March the whales may have left.

 

Dave

[Jhawktraveler]

I booked a 6 in 1 Zip Line tour with Terry in Samana for our December cruise aboard the Noordam. Looks like a fun excursion and I love zip lining (DH isn't thrilled with zip lining but he's a good sport). I've heard wonderful things about Terry's tours so I'm really looking forward to it, should be fun day of zip lines, waterfalls and the beach.

[cruiseapril]

Interesting to read your posts. I've been to the ABC's several times, but my sister has not been to Bonaire- so we're going on the Noordam for the ABC's and the ship- which is our favorite ship of all- so far. (We did the other Noordam itinerary in 2011.)

 

I've been to Santo Domingo, D.R. and to Haiti-so have some idea of the condition of Hispaniola- but was somewhat concerned about some of the cruise lines pulling out of Samana. I read that some were going to Tortola instead. Anyone else read that?

[CowPrincess]

I guess then that when you visited there must have been a crew with pooper-scoopers picking up after all the stray dogs. :rolleyes:

 

 

Thank you for your feedback.

[cruiseapril]

Dave- Hope Columbus accepted the fruit graciously!

[Fouremco]

Thank you for your feedback.

And you for yours...

[scubadawg]

We enjoyed our day in Samana a few years ago on the noordam. We did a tour with Terry in open air trucks, went inland a bit, walked in to the waterfall, had a grilled fish/chicken lunch on the beach etc. Most everyone on the tour enjoyed it, except for one Canadian couple who hated everything, and demanded repeatedly to be taken back to the ship,tried to get everyone else riled up to go back to the ship, refused to eat anything at the lunch, thought they were going to be robbed anytime they saw a local in the vicinity of the truck etc. Their friends were having a great time but could not convince those two to chill out a bit. They had NO interest in learning or seeing a different culture and probably should have stayed on the ship! Our friends went scuba diving, and while not great diving, they still enjoyed it....... Had we only walked along the port area we might not have enjoyed our day as much.................Have a great cruise!

[Seavoyage]

By reading the posts it appears that Samana was in better shape a few years ago - oh well - I'm glad OP asked this question...

[RetiredMustang]

Dave- Hope Columbus accepted the fruit graciously!

 

He might have -- I don't recall the history of that particular encounter, and the guide on the tour did not elaborate. The Taino were more peaceful than the Arawak, and probably did not present a threat to Columbus, so he may have been disappointed but not aggressive ... this time. Also, he may have had fruit up to here by then and not wanted to hear about it. :D

 

Dave