Santo Domingo?

[Tipsy252]

Has anyone done a trip to Santo Domingo? How long did it take to get there? What did you do? Did you have time to explore on your own, as I want to go to the Hard Rock Cafe? Was it worth it?

Any answers to the above or feedback from anyone who has been there is gratefully recieved.

[negc]

We will be flying directly to Santo Domingo next February for a two night stay prior to sailing on Legend of the Seas. From your post it seems that you are staying elsewhere and talking about a land excursion to the city from elsewhere on the island. Sorry, I can't help you but perhaps this will move the post up on the page and someone who has the information will be able to respond. It will be 43 years since I was there and it will be interesting to see the whole area after so long.:)

[ClCB0911]

We will be flying directly to Santo Domingo next February for a two night stay prior to sailing on Legend of the Seas. From your post it seems that you are staying elsewhere and talking about a land excursion to the city from elsewhere on the island. Sorry, I can't help you but perhaps this will move the post up on the page and someone who has the information will be able to respond. It will be 43 years since I was there and it will be interesting to see the whole area after so long.:)

 

 

hi, were are you planing to stay? on the City or Boca Chica ( its a beach area about 45 minutes from the city..few minutes from the airport.and you have there few All inclusive Hotels! or On the City? there you have a very nice hotels at the malecon area (George Washington Ave) Like..Melia Santo Domingo..Intercontinental V centenario...Hilton santo domingo or jaragua...there a lot more..and a lot to see on this City..Like

Columbus Lighthouse (Faro a Colon), Santo Domingo

This multi-million-dollar lighthouse was built in 1992 to celebrate the 400 year anniversary of Columbus's landing in the Americas and is the site of the explorer's bones.

 

Rcommended attractions (1-20 of 58)

Alcazar de Colon, Santo Domingo

Built by Christopher Columbus's son between 1510 and 1514, this restored building was one of the first structures built in the oldest remaining European city in the Americas.

 

 

there a lot to do in this city..day and night.

 

carmen

[negc]

Thanks, we are staying at the Renaissance Jaragua hotel on George Washington Avenue. In its earlier iteration I was billeted there in 1965 and am familiar with the location but I know quite a bit has changed over the years. Will be sailing from there exactly 8 months from today. I understand that the cruise terminal is undergoing a major renovation that is scheduled for completion by this November.:)

[jarr0618]

We will be sailing on the LOS December 16, 2007 to Santo Domingo. We will arrive on the 15th. How long is the flight? We are also looking for a nice hotel to stay in pre-cruise - not too expensive if that is possible :). Does anyone have any helpful suggestions? There are no shore excursions posted yet. Is it safe to venture out on your own? Anyone done this ititneray before?

[negc]

We will be sailing on the LOS December 16, 2007 to Santo Domingo. We will arrive on the 15th. How long is the flight? We are also looking for a nice hotel to stay in pre-cruise - not too expensive if that is possible :). Does anyone have any helpful suggestions? There are no shore excursions posted yet. Is it safe to venture out on your own? Anyone done this ititneray before?

 

I don't know where you are flying from so I can't help you with times for your flight. I suggest that you check to see which airlines fly to Santo Domingo from your nearest airports and then check out their schedules. We live in Boston and, depending on the flights we choose, our travel time could be as short as 8 hours, connecting in Miami, or almost twice as long, if we take flights that connect in San Juan. On our return there were some flights that would have had us overnight in San Juan, but we again chose a flight connecting in Miami that has us leaving Santo Domingo at 11:50 am and getting into Boston at 6:05pm.

Hotels in Santo Domingo should not be terribly expensive. We booked the Renaissance Jaragua Hotel in Casino for $80 a night in February, 2008. That is the same hotel that RCI is using but they are charging considerably more. (Their price does include transfers from airport to hotel, hotel to pier and ship to airport - but even adding in the probable cost of the transfers, I think we come out ahead by booking on our own). Again you can check hotel websites for their prices for the dates you are interested in. There are Marriott and Hilton hotels among others located in the downtown area.

I don't recommend going out on your own after dark in any city that you are not familiar with, but during the day, if you keep aware of your surroundings and take sensible precautions you should be fine. In the evening I would only travel by cab and would check with people at the hotel for their recommendations as to places to go and areas to avoid.

Which of the two itineraries are you doing? Ours takes us to St.Kitts, Guadaloupe, Martinique, Barbados, and St. Lucia. St. Kitts and Guadaloupe are new to us and it has been a while since we have been to the others. The last time we were in Barbados, we hired a cab to take a group of us around and our tour included a visit to Harrison's Caves, which was quite interesting. We ended our tour in downtown Bridgetown for a bit of shopping and a bite to eat before catching another cab back to the ship. Some folks did the Jolly Roger tour while others took the Atlantis submarine, and gave good reports on both. If you are going to St. Kitts the Sugar Train excursion looks interesting but I don't know if its schedule will fit in with your time in Basseterre.

Hope this has been of some help to you. As your cruise gets closer, check back with any other questions you might have. It has been more than 40 years since I was in SD so I am not up to date on places to go or things to see, but will do more research on the location in the coming months.:)

[newcruiser25]

Hi all,

 

I was just curious and went in this post since I am Dominican. A good source of information is debbiesdominicantravel.com - she offers many good tips and hotel reviews.

 

The Jaragua is one of the best hotels in the Island and $80 a night is a steal! It is my favorite hotel while I visit Santo Domingo overnight. I am originally from the Cibao Valley (the center of the island).

 

I live in the NYC area and from here the flight is about 3 to 3.5 hours non-stop. The is a ton of places to visit and to go eat at while in Santo Domingo, however traffic is a horror during the day :-) La Zona Colonial (Colonial Zone) is one of the most interesting places. There you have the first Cathedral of the 'New World', and many other historical sites. There is the Tres Ojos - a cave system with underground lagoons, and others. There are also many places to eat along the Malecon where the Jaragua is located. There is a cool little restaurant right behind the Jaragua called El Conuco that will serve traditional Dominican food and decor is really cute.

 

Right in the Jaragua you have a piano bar, a restaurant a casino and I think a Disco so you do not need to go far. But again, the suggestion to ask the people that work there for tips is a good one.

 

Not far from Santo Domingo and from the airport is Boca Chica. Here you have many all-inclusive hotels that are quite good. I have stayed at the Hotel Hamaca. A bit further is Juan Dolio and there I stayed at Barcelo Capella.

 

And yes, lots has changed since 1965! The city is bigger, noisier and more cosmopolitan than ever. Many luxury condos are being built everywhere you turn.

 

I have never been to the Rock Cafe, so I can not comment on that.

 

Feel free to ask me questions. If I can answer them I will or maybe I can find another source of information.

 

 

And again, sorry to just jump in..... :)

[negc]

Don't apologize and thank you for all of the valuable information. As I said, it will have been almost 43 years since I was in your beautiful country. While there I did get to spend a day at Boca Chica,my introduction to the beautiful waters of the Caribbean, and perhaps we will try to do a brief excursion while we are in Santo Domingo.

As the date of our cruise gets closer, we may have more questions, so please check this thread from time to time and if you have any more information or suggestions, don't hesitate to jump in.

[DR_GUY]

Guys, Tons of cool stuff to do! Suggest you visit the ministry of tourism site at godominicanrepublic.com Santo Domingo itself offers both the mix of the colonial sites (first european site in the new world and an UNESCO site since 1990) and modern urban amenities (2.9 Million inhabitants), interesting cultural, culinary and musical scene.

Flight times: Miami -> 2 hours; NYC: 3.5 hours; Atlanta (Delta): 2.25 hours. There are also some AA direct flights from Boston (3.75 hours) and from several other cities (used to be a US Airways flight from Philadelphia, and several charters from Chicago and Charlotte). :)

[newcruiser25]

Don't apologize and thank you for all of the valuable information. As I said, it will have been almost 43 years since I was in your beautiful country. While there I did get to spend a day at Boca Chica,my introduction to the beautiful waters of the Caribbean, and perhaps we will try to do a brief excursion while we are in Santo Domingo.

As the date of our cruise gets closer, we may have more questions, so please check this thread from time to time and if you have any more information or suggestions, don't hesitate to jump in.

 

Hi negc - I will certainly try to check this board often and will provide input if I can.

 

DR-GUY - Hola!

 

Further to his post, Jetblue now flies to Santo Domingo. This could be a good option since Jetblue flies to so many cities within the US.

[jarr0618]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. We will be 2 couples traveling from Austin, TX for the LOS 12/16 cruise to St. Kitts,Guadeloupe, Martinique, Barbados and St. Lucia. Air travel from Austin to Santo Domingo is pretty expensive right now , and a lot of the routes get us into SD pretty late or overnight in San Juan, but I will keeping checking the closer we get to our sail date.

[DR_GUY]

Dear Jarr: Keep us posted. Keep checking via Miami (Both Miami and Ft. Lauderdale airports have flights to Santo Domingo) and via Atlanta.

 

Newcruiser25- Saludos

[negc]

Dear Jarr: Keep us posted. Keep checking via Miami (Both Miami and Ft. Lauderdale airports have flights to Santo Domingo) and via Atlanta.

 

Newcruiser25- Saludos

We had similar experiences when we first booked this cruise and began looking for flights from Boston. The best we could find for February '08 was a morning flight to Miami that connects with a noon flight into Santo Domingo. The other options included flights connecting in NY (not what we wanted to do in mid-winter) or involved arrival in Santo Domingo in the late evening or an overnight in San Juan. And this is from Boston which has a pretty good array of flights to many destinations, especially in the Caribbean. Jet Blue flights that we checked all connected in NYC or we might have chosen them. :)

[pamj9407]

I have been told that Santo Domingo is not safe to travel at this time, as armed guards are monitoring the island resorts. Can anyone substantiate this? I would love to visit this incredible place! Thanks.

[MesGirl]

I have been told that Santo Domingo is not safe to travel at this time, as armed guards are monitoring the island resorts. Can anyone substantiate this? I would love to visit this incredible place! Thanks.

 

I live in Santo Domingo. We do have more guards, basically to help with pickpockets, but I don't believe there's necessarily a threat to tourists. What you have to understand before travelling to this island is that we're a poor, underdeveloped country. So you will find people asking for money and trying to sell you anything you can possibly imagine on the streets and on the beaches.

 

If you plan on walking at night or on your own, I would give you the same advice I would give any tourist visiting a foreign country: be careful, don't walk by yourself and don't carry any valuables around.

 

Hope this helps.

[pamj9407]

MesGirl, that's all I needed to know...thanks for sharing!

[pamj9407]

While, targeting tourists and begging can happen anywhere in the states as well, I am planning to stay at the Punta Cana resort next month, which I also understand is quite a distance from the airport. My original concern was the armed guards positioned around the resort and the mosquitos --increased malarial scares.

 

Hopefully, hurricane Dean will spare the island too! Thanks for the tidbits!

[DR_GUY]

HI! :) We did get spared by Dean. Just some storm surges on Saturday and some rain on sunday. Most of the windy conditions were felt mostly in the southwest towards the border with Haiti.

 

I also like in santo Domingo and have to agree with MesGirl's comments regarding safety and care for tourists. What you would see mostly around the tourists areas is a new tourist police division. These guys are not only policemen, but are approachable folks who can help you with directions and some guidance while in the Colonial zone or other visitor areas.

 

Regards, DR GUY

[negc]

Thanks for the information. I, for one, welcome a visible police presence as it makes me feel more secure and assured that the local authorities are serious about providing a safe environment. Even downtown Boston has an increased police presence both as a deterrent to street crime (mostly pickpocketing) and as a community relations effort, and I would give similar advice to anyone visitiing our, or any, city in the US. I haven't read any health advisories about malaria bearing mosquitoes in the DR, just the neighboring country of Haiti, so I would again just advise taking standard precautions. Back home we face problems with EEE from mosquitoes, so bug repellant is required here as well.:)

[spandance]

hello my husband and I are arriving at Santo Domingo on the legend of the seas from Barcelona and are interested in visiting Boca chica beach resort. how far is this from the ship and also how much would it cost by taxi. Also is it safe as a previous cruise critic said it wasn't very safe there? if anyone else is travelling to Santo Domingo on the Legend of the seas please let me know as we are staying on for a week from the 16th Dec.

Bye for now

 

 

l

Hi all,

 

I was just curious and went in this post since I am Dominican. A good source of information is debbiesdominicantravel.com - she offers many good tips and hotel reviews.

 

The Jaragua is one of the best hotels in the Island and $80 a night is a steal! It is my favorite hotel while I visit Santo Domingo overnight. I am originally from the Cibao Valley (the center of the island).

 

I live in the NYC area and from here the flight is about 3 to 3.5 hours non-stop. The is a ton of places to visit and to go eat at while in Santo Domingo, however traffic is a horror during the day :-) La Zona Colonial (Colonial Zone) is one of the most interesting places. There you have the first Cathedral of the 'New World', and many other historical sites. There is the Tres Ojos - a cave system with underground lagoons, and others. There are also many places to eat along the Malecon where the Jaragua is located. There is a cool little restaurant right behind the Jaragua called El Conuco that will serve traditional Dominican food and decor is really cute.

 

Right in the Jaragua you have a piano bar, a restaurant a casino and I think a Disco so you do not need to go far. But again, the suggestion to ask the people that work there for tips is a good one.

 

Not far from Santo Domingo and from the airport is Boca Chica. Here you have many all-inclusive hotels that are quite good. I have stayed at the Hotel Hamaca. A bit further is Juan Dolio and there I stayed at Barcelo Capella.

 

And yes, lots has changed since 1965! The city is bigger, noisier and more cosmopolitan than ever. Many luxury condos are being built everywhere you turn.

 

I have never been to the Rock Cafe, so I can not comment on that.

 

Feel free to ask me questions. If I can answer them I will or maybe I can find another source of information.

 

 

And again, sorry to just jump in..... :)

[helen/steve]

I just go back from DR in last month. My flight was from tampa to miami and then into Punta Cana. we stayed at the Sunscape the Beach for 4 days. then hired a tourist bus to Santo Domingo. we stayed with family members in Santo Domingo. I will say the hotel jaragua is the place to stay. not to far away from the port. there is a lot of sites to visit. i recommend you hire a tourist bus (mini bus to get around) they are all over. not that expense either. the hotels can help you with recomendations on a tour guide.

 

if it was me. I would stay in Punta Cana for a few days, then in Santo domingo a couple of days. then take the cruise. The punta cana resorts are much better than the ones in Boca Chica. alot of tourist go to Punta Cana (the all inclusive resorts) the one we stayed is a little bit far away, but it was great. about a 4star rating.

 

i recommend Dominicanan airport transfer for all your travel needs while you are in the DR. they have a website. check it out. thats the company we hired. the website is in english and spanish. we where very pleased w/ the service and they can transfer you from city to city, hotel to hotel, airport, port, arrange tours ect. ask to speak to rafael Silva. tel: 809-330-1262. you can tell him that I referred you guys to him. we wre a group of 8 people. My name is helen gil. hope this help you. and yes i went to the hard Rock cafe in Santo Domingo. its in a great place. theres like a plaza right in front. i got a couple of T-shrits for the Kids. (Hard Rock Santo Domingo). the Colonial area is very nice. very Historic. Anybody traveling thru American Airlines make sure you at least fly the day before. American Airlines is very well know for delay/cancel flights to DR.. I my self was born in Santo Domingo but have not been there in over 25yrs. it has gone very busy. We had a great time. a lot of cerveza president. people are very friendly, the music is great. dont be afraid to go. and yes you will see some poor people and beggers. not diffrent than when you go to

bahamas, or any other Island, or even Barcelona. . there is also a little hotel call Napolitano that has a great restaurant inside plus they play music (merengue)

[Snorkel Dawg]

Can anyone tell me how far it is from the RCL port in Santo Domingo to the airport? Or better yet how long it might take? Our ship is back in port at 7AM & we have a flight scheduled to leave at 10:10AM. Will this be a problem?

 

This was the only flight to get us on our way back home unless we took the 5PM flight & that was going to take us 2 days to get back into Chicago

[MesGirl]

Can anyone tell me how far it is from the RCL port in Santo Domingo to the airport? Or better yet how long it might take? Our ship is back in port at 7AM & we have a flight scheduled to leave at 10:10AM. Will this be a problem?

 

This was the only flight to get us on our way back home unless we took the 5PM flight & that was going to take us 2 days to get back into Chicago

 

From the port to the Airport it should be about 20 minutes. I think that a 10am flight is cutting it way too short. You should check out this site on Royal Caribbean where they estimate the earliest flight you should take.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do;jsessionid=00005HrK304avT-T1JnKtj3p1GO:12hdhu87a?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqSubjectName=Air+Travel&faqId=2724&faqSubjectId=324&faqType=faq

[HOTgla55artist]

we're going on the Legend 12/16/07 and booked flight from SD to Ft. Lauderdale at 11:10 because I didn't want to wait till 5:00 either. Since we are diamond level, we get off ship 1st, and I plan to pack light and carry my luggage off then grab a taxi to airport.

[negc]

I just go back from DR in last month. My flight was from tampa to miami and then into Punta Cana. we stayed at the Sunscape the Beach for 4 days. then hired a tourist bus to Santo Domingo. we stayed with family members in Santo Domingo. I will say the hotel jaragua is the place to stay. not to far away from the port. there is a lot of sites to visit. i recommend you hire a tourist bus (mini bus to get around) they are all over. not that expense either. the hotels can help you with recomendations on a tour guide.

 

if it was me. I would stay in Punta Cana for a few days, then in Santo domingo a couple of days. then take the cruise. The punta cana resorts are much better than the ones in Boca Chica. alot of tourist go to Punta Cana (the all inclusive resorts) the one we stayed is a little bit far away, but it was great. about a 4star rating.

 

i recommend Dominicanan airport transfer for all your travel needs while you are in the DR. they have a website. check it out. thats the company we hired. the website is in english and spanish. we where very pleased w/ the service and they can transfer you from city to city, hotel to hotel, airport, port, arrange tours ect. ask to speak to rafael Silva. tel: 809-330-1262. you can tell him that I referred you guys to him. we wre a group of 8 people. My name is helen gil. hope this help you. and yes i went to the hard Rock cafe in Santo Domingo. its in a great place. theres like a plaza right in front. i got a couple of T-shrits for the Kids. (Hard Rock Santo Domingo). the Colonial area is very nice. very Historic. Anybody traveling thru American Airlines make sure you at least fly the day before. American Airlines is very well know for delay/cancel flights to DR.. I my self was born in Santo Domingo but have not been there in over 25yrs. it has gone very busy. We had a great time. a lot of cerveza president. people are very friendly, the music is great. dont be afraid to go. and yes you will see some poor people and beggers. not diffrent than when you go to

bahamas, or any other Island, or even Barcelona. . there is also a little hotel call Napolitano that has a great restaurant inside plus they play music (merengue)

Thanks for the information and suggestions, Helen. We are staying at the Jaragua in February before our cruise on Legend of the Seas. I understand the new ship terminal will be opening this month. I am looking forward to returning to Santo Domingo after last being there in 1965. We are flying American Airlines but if they cancel or delay our flight home, there are a lot of worse places to be than the Dominican in February. LOL