Any recent Puerto Plata stops

[alwalaska]

51 minutes ago, Swells1 said:

On the Sky now. Left Puerto Plata a few hours ago. We docked in Taino Bay. 

Thanks for posting.  That is good news for us since the Dawn is closer to the Sky in size than she is to the Escape and Getaway.

 

When you have time, would you mind sharing your thoughts on the port area?

[Beaver1975]

11 hours ago, alwalaska said:

Thanks for posting.  That is good news for us since the Dawn is closer to the Sky in size than she is to the Escape and Getaway.

 

When you have time, would you mind sharing your thoughts on the port area?

 

 

We are on the Dawn in December and are being told we will dock at Amber Cove.

[rbxlady]

We just disembarked the Getaway on 10/29 and docked at Amber Cove on 10/27. It did not affect any excursions booked through NCL.

[Turtles06]

46 minutes ago, Beaver1975 said:

 

 

We are on the Dawn in December and are being told we will dock at Amber Cove.

 

Just curious as to who is telling you this?  I'm just trying to figure out the best person/dept within NCL to find out the correct info for our port calls in Jan. and Feb.   Thanks!

[alwalaska]

47 minutes ago, Beaver1975 said:

 

 

We are on the Dawn in December and are being told we will dock at Amber Cove.

That's sad.  I was thinking about not booking anything and walking in Feb.  Who is telling you Amber Cove?  Did they change your itinerary officially?  When I called NCL, they said Amber Cove had a different designation in their system then Taino Bay.  It was actually considered a "different port", but that we wouldn't know until 2 weeks before sailing which location it would be.

[alwalaska]

46 minutes ago, rbxlady said:

We just disembarked the Getaway on 10/29 and docked at Amber Cove on 10/27. It did not affect any excursions booked through NCL.

Thanks for taking time to post your info.  I wouldn't affect any official excursions since they are only 5 miles or something apart, but Taino Bay is walking distance to both a fort and the old town while Amber Cove is neither.  Even with the $50 off one of us, we typically don't do ship excursions.

[Beaver1975]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Just curious as to who is telling you this?  I'm just trying to figure out the best person/dept within NCL to find out the correct info for our port calls in Jan. and Feb.   Thanks!

 

My agent. at Cruise Vacation Outlets, got this from his contacts.

[Bluelight_traveler]

We were on the Getaway and just disembarked 11/8.  Itinerary said we would dock at Puerta Plata - however, we docked at Amber Cove.  It did not affect the excursions.  We did not have an excursion planned, so we decided we would just get a taxi and go into town. 

Here's what you need to know:

*This is a brand new port with overpriced shops etc.  (All the merch was much more expensive than both Aruba and Curacao)

*Amber Cove is located in the countryside.  Puerta Plata is a 30 minute drive.  If you want to go into town (I was told the nearest town is Puerta Plata), you need to get a taxi.  Fares are $30 each way per person.  So for 2 people - it's $60 round trip.  I wanted to go to a grocery (type) store to buy local spices and coffee.  The nearest grocery store is in Puerta Plata.  

* There is a public pool - get off the ship and go to the right (not toward the shops)

 

 

[Turtles06]

58 minutes ago, Bluelight_traveler said:

Fares are $30 each way per person.  So for 2 people - it's $60 round trip.  

I’m struggling with that math. Perhaps you could clarify. Thanks.
 

(And thanks for the other info.)

[alwalaska]

2 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

I’m struggling with that math. Perhaps you could clarify. Thanks.
 

(And thanks for the other info.)

We are booking an all-day taxi tour ahead of time. It is $120 for the two of us, and if we up it to 4 people, it is $140. Either way on the math for just a taxi to Puerto Plata, I'm feeling pretty good about our decision to book a taxi for all day on a cost basis. We are going to the cable car and then a short city tour and hopefully a quick stop at the fort and lighthouse.

[weltek]

Thanks to everyone updating this. As the new Caribbean season starts for some ships this month, I hope to catch a few more reports from people.

[helene109]

On 11/2/2022 at 8:19 AM, Beaver1975 said:

 

 

We are on the Dawn in December and are being told we will dock at Amber Cove.

How did you find out? Thanks I am on this itinerary for April on the Escape!

[helene109]

20 hours ago, Bluelight_traveler said:

We were on the Getaway and just disembarked 11/8.  Itinerary said we would dock at Puerta Plata - however, we docked at Amber Cove.  It did not affect the excursions.  We did not have an excursion planned, so we decided we would just get a taxi and go into town. 

Here's what you need to know:

*This is a brand new port with overpriced shops etc.  (All the merch was much more expensive than both Aruba and Curacao)

*Amber Cove is located in the countryside.  Puerta Plata is a 30 minute drive.  If you want to go into town (I was told the nearest town is Puerta Plata), you need to get a taxi.  Fares are $30 each way per person.  So for 2 people - it's $60 round trip.  I wanted to go to a grocery (type) store to buy local spices and coffee.  The nearest grocery store is in Puerta Plata.  

* There is a public pool - get off the ship and go to the right (not toward the shops)

 

 

How did you know that where you dock changed? Thanks 

[rbxlady]

1 hour ago, helene109 said:

How did you find out? Thanks I am on this itinerary for April on the Escape!

For us (Getaway 10/22-10/29), we did not find out until we checked in at Port Canaveral. They handed us a letter that showed the itinerary change but that any NCL excursions would not be affected.

[dbrown84]

1 hour ago, rbxlady said:

For us (Getaway 10/22-10/29), we did not find out until we checked in at Port Canaveral. They handed us a letter that showed the itinerary change but that any NCL excursions would not be affected.

I was on the sailing right before you.  We didn't go to DR at all.  We were switched to Nassau and didn't get a little about it until the 2nd day.

[Frogger22]

Which of the two ports has the new pool and shopping area? Thanks! 

[alwalaska]

17 hours ago, Frogger22 said:

Which of the two ports has the new pool and shopping area? Thanks! 

I believe they both have pools and shopping areas, but I believe Taino Bay is the "new" one and Amber Cove was recently redone.  I'm not positive though.

[rbxlady]

2 hours ago, alwalaska said:

I believe they both have pools and shopping areas, but I believe Taino Bay is the "new" one and Amber Cove was recently redone.  I'm not positive though.

I don't know anything about Taino Bay, but Amber Cove does have a little shopping area and a pool, plus you can rent paddleboats, presumably at a cost. There was a bar there that looked cute, but it appeared to be for pay. Everything was in USD in the stores.

[rbxlady]

On 11/10/2022 at 2:45 PM, dbrown84 said:

I was on the sailing right before you.  We didn't go to DR at all.  We were switched to Nassau and didn't get a little about it until the 2nd day.

I felt so bad for your sailing, seriously. Nassau is not my favorite port. I've been there and just not gotten off the ship before. When they handed me the letter at check-in, I was afraid it was going to say they cancelled DR on us as well. That's crappy that you didn't find out until day 2, though. Did anyone ever explain why?

[Slk1z]

This is truly one of life's great questions....

We docked at Taino Bay back in Feb and I can say they did a fantastic job on the.  Compared to Amber Cove , in my opinion Taino Bay is far nicer.

That being said, with so much money invested in the Port why is no one stopping there?  One would think that if the Channel needs to be widen, they would do this to have the ships return and get some money rolling back in.....

[jpcdds6]

18 hours ago, Slk1z said:

This is truly one of life's great questions....

We docked at Taino Bay back in Feb and I can say they did a fantastic job on the.  Compared to Amber Cove , in my opinion Taino Bay is far nicer.

That being said, with so much money invested in the Port why is no one stopping there?  One would think that if the Channel needs to be widen, they would do this to have the ships return and get some money rolling back in.....

I agree. Taino Bay is nicer, and closer to town.