Now Onboard Grandeur 7/13 9N Eastern

[Radio]

I agree that a tour would be a good choice for a first time in Samana. I wish I had done more homework on this port and booked online in advance. >SNIP< Maybe someone else can guess on the distance to the pier from the ship. I estimate the tender ride to be about 10 minutes once we got everyone settled in, but I didn't really pay that much attention. It was a scenic ride past some smaller islands and the SS Minnow. :)

 

10 minutes is what I thought it would be... From TPKeller's Google maps. . . It looks looks it would be pretty close !

 

Make sure you enjoy the rest of your cruise ! Make sure you let us have the link to your online cruise pics when you return ! :D

 

 

Radio

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Rodoverer]

Well I am almost out of internet time.

I am in the viking crown and can see the lights

of Virginia beach. (about 35 miles away)

We will be in the bay soon.

 

We met the captain today.

He told me that this was his last cruise???

for ten weeks. He said his home was in Seattle.

 

It will be allover soon.

 

Caytlin20 if you get this post come on up for a drink :)

 

RS

[Radio]

Enjoy your final night at sea !

 

Enjoy the Bay. . .

 

It sounds like you had a great cruise :)

 

Radio

;) ;)

[isujim]

Well I am almost out of internet time.

I am in the viking crown and can see the lights

of Virginia beach. (about 35 miles away)

We will be in the bay soon.

 

We met the captain today.

He told me that this was his last cruise???

for ten weeks. He said his home was in Seattle.

 

It will be allover soon.

 

Caytlin20 if you get this post come on up for a drink :)

 

RS

 

Hope you enjoyed your cruise.........thanks for taking the time to post this and we look forward to more when you get home.

 

Thanks again.

[dalynne]

Hi guys

 

I am so glad that you did the posting I'm looking into the same cruise for next year with bout 30 of my closest friends and family. I am thankful for all the info that you guys have posted bout the ports. It's gonna help deciding want everyone wishes to do and not to travel alone once in ports to aviod the "beggers". Any other info that we should know about. Which tours are the best? etc...

 

thanks in advance for any help

 

Dawn Lynn

[MickyBridges]

Just got off the Grandeur myself today ... probably not the best choice for kids but still very enjoyable. Universal opinion seems to involve avoiding Samosa and taking the beach or another excursion instead. St Thomas is worth a stroll around ... extensive shopping and some beautiful alleys in a busy and safe environment. Been to San Juan twice now and have yet to figure it out. Ladabee necessitates spending every available minute there .. also spent last Thursday chillin at the Hideaway beach.

 

I'm curious what my fellow passengers thought of the entertainment especially the ventriloquist who insisted not only on hitting on my wife but hurling abuse at me :o

[msunrullieone]

We just got back too! Loved the cruise with the exception of Samana. We didnt get an excursion either and had a very similar experience to Caitlyn's. The street vendors were so aggressive; we walked for a little ways and then turned right around. They would not take no for an answer; putting leaf hats on our heads, etc. I even have a bruise on my arm because one of them would not let go of my arm when we were trying to walk away. :( Get an excursion early or hire a bodyguard if you plan on exploring the "town."

 

On the plus side: Everything else! Loved Labadee--two days there would have been nice. Dining room service was superb. On a personal note, I was very lucky in the casino. Hit numerous jackpots, and for the first time ever, left with more money than I came with! :p

[shipsick77]

(cross posted from http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=595864)

 

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.

[Rodoverer]

Wow!

 

I can not believe all the bad experiences in Samana.

I am so thankful I booked the Cayo beach excursion.

I had my kids with me as well and would have been scared @$&less

If I decided to wing it in town. Cayo was awesome. It is a tiny island

out in the bay far enough from the mainland. I highly recommend it.

I did not see much if any locals. I did talk to one guy that wondered off

to the market area and he told me not to go. Too pushy salesman there.

So I did not go. I have some great pictures if anyone is interested.

The tender distance is a bit long but the boats travel fast. I booked this

excursion far in advance online before we left. It was real popular. Now I

know why. For people with kids it is real safe.

 

RS

[Radio]

How much was the excursion. . .

 

Radio

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Rodoverer]

If I remember it was $34 per person. $18 for kids 12 and under

It included lunch.

Also drinks (including beer) during lunch only.

The food was so so you could skip the lunch and save a few bucks.

If you decide you want lunch while you are there and did not purchase it

ahead of time you can still get it for $20

 

They have a nice beach bar which is not included.

Many people got mad thinking it was.

As soon as I shrink down my picture sizes small enough to post I will do so.

 

RS

[casper4095]

I am scheduled to be on this same cruise in Nov 07. Most of the excursions I am looking at for St. Thomas do not provide transportation back to the ship, they all drop you off for shopping. How difficult is it to get back to the boat from the downtown shopping area? Any info you can give will be greatly appreciated.

[TPKeller]

I am scheduled to be on this same cruise in Nov 07. Most of the excursions I am looking at for St. Thomas do not provide transportation back to the ship, they all drop you off for shopping. How difficult is it to get back to the boat from the downtown shopping area? Any info you can give will be greatly appreciated.

The ships dock around the other side of the harbor from the downtown shopping area. It isn't far, a short taxi ride. During rush hour, it might be 15 minutes. I don't know the going rate. It can be walked if you are up for it.

 

My cruise map of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas will show you how it's laid out, and there is a scale in the lower left corner so you can estimate the distances involved.

 

Theron

[caitlyn20]

I am scheduled to be on this same cruise in Nov 07. Most of the excursions I am looking at for St. Thomas do not provide transportation back to the ship, they all drop you off for shopping. How difficult is it to get back to the boat from the downtown shopping area? Any info you can give will be greatly appreciated.

 

I walked. It's all flat and took about 30 minutes for me.

 

The taxi ride from town to the ship is $4 each way per person.

 

They also have "Safari" taxis. These are taxis used by locals. I used them several times. They look exactly the same as the $4 taxis, but only cost $1 (watch stops where the locals get on). you can go all the way to Red Hook on these for $2. They are not allowed to take you all the way to the ship, tho. You can get off right at the gates to the shopping plaza before the ship, but it's still a good 10-15 minute walk from there to the ship.

[patrickc]

I don't understand why RCCL doesn't just run tender to Cayo Levantado as a courtesy-- at no charge. While I do not mind paying $15 for this "excursion" it seems they have us over a barrel! I am going in October & have called weekly to RCCL about excursions (none listed this far out for our cruise). But for it to "fill up" is unacceptable especially if there is nothing to do. Also, if they have tenders running to port, why not just run them to the good little beach/Cayo Levantado????????

[Cruzin Ave]

Can You Please Tell Me What Was On The Buffet On Cayo Levantado Excursion???

 

Thanks,

Averil

[Rodoverer]

They had hamburgers and hot dogs, and other items.

They also had beer, ice tea, and other drinks.

I did not think it was worth it. But I did not see any other options.

They did bring out a big tray of freshly steamed crabs though.

That made it worth it for me.

 

My suggestion is to book the excursion without it. Then while you are there

if you look and seem interested just pay the $20 and get it.

 

A lot of people seemed to think that they could drink at the little beach bar

for free because they booked the lunch. Wrong!

 

You can drink all the beer you want at the lunch not the bar.

 

RS

[sbc98grad]

My DH and I were on the 7/13 e. caribbean cruise as well. Overall, we really enjoyed our trip. We missed meeting you all at the M&M...we totally forgot. Here is a brief review from our perspective. (We are a couple in our 30s with 3 previous cruises on RCCL and Celebrity.)

 

Embarkation: Easy and fast! Luggage check in parking lot was especially nice. One suitcase failed to show up and upon checking at Purser's desk, we found it had been kept under suspicion that it contained alcohol. We claimed our bag and opened it to display no alcohol and they released it. Others in the same area were clearly feeling more sheepish. Word to the wise....

 

Food: We found the Windjammer food to be just better than edible most days. Breakfast was better than lunch. We had several lunches in the dining room and the food wasn't much better there, but we found dinner to be well-prepared. We agreed that dinners were better on Grandeur than Explorer last summer. Solarium grill seems to be an odd set-up. No new menus that we noticed.

 

Service: We had a wonderful dining room team with waiter Ronaldo from the Phillipines and assistant waiter Grisell from Peru, led by head waiter Tony. Our stateroom attendant Denis was fine. We found bar staff to be attentive as well. we had a couple issues while on board and all but one was dealt with easily...more on that later.

 

Ports of Call:

San Juan - Since it was not our first time there, we just took the free trolley into OSJ and shopped around. We spent most of the afternoon enjoying Senor Frogs. Not much left to do here for us.

St. Thomas - Took a taxi to Magen's Bay and had a wonderful day! We love Magen's. We rented a couple chairs and enjoyed the sun, clear water and beauty.

Samana - We booked the Cayo Levantado excursion on-line with a 10:20 departure. That morning at 9:05 we looked at the tickets on the way to the Windjammer for breakfast...Time had changed to 9:00. Went to shore excursion desk where they wanted to sell me another package leaving at 1:00 including lunch. We finally talked our way into being allowed to go at 10:00 if there was space when we skipped the shore excursion desk and went straight to the meeting point for the excursion. After listening to the shore excursion people explain that there was basically nothing to do in town and that people could hire a cab to get to the closest beach, which they estimated to be 45 minutes away and paying the cab to wait, we could only hope for this. We were quite glad we made it to Cayo Levantado. but we would say it was our least favorite stop. The water was murky/stirred up by the waves present there. It felt more like we were in the Atlantic than the Caribbean. Would have liked another port instead, but the pinapple drink made it better than it would have been otherwise. Be sure to try one....YUM! We did not do lunch there. Others seemed equally disenchanted with their Samana experiences.

Labadee - Is simply paradise! We also spent the day at hideaway beach and enjoyed ourselves immensely. We spoke to many who agreed we would have much rather spent two days at Labadee than have gone to Samana at all!

 

Activities - We felt stetched to find things to do on board. Other RCCL cruises have been on Voyager class ships and we really missed the Promenade. Would not sail a ship this small again probably. Most daytime activities are of the trivia, name that tune, bingo sort or involve some kind of fitness class. The plus side is that we never had any problem finding a pool chair. We did about half the evening shows and found them to be about what we had seen before. We really enjoyed the Temptations tribute band. Simeon Baker was cruise director and I found him slightly annoying in his predictability. Anna Banana, activities director, was equally annoying. This was her last week, so hope you all enjoy the new AD Josh who was with Anna all week on our cruise.

 

Disembarkation: Equally easy, though we were sad to find ourselves home again! We were off the ship around 10:15. Loved cruising from a home port, but want to be able to do so in a bigger ship (and that isn't possible in Baltimore!).

 

All in all, we were quite sad to discover that we had returned to Baltimore! While there were a few ups and downs, it was a fab trip anyway, as it is what you make of it. We booked NextCruise while on board, so we'll be back for more adventures. Along with the others posting fro our cruise, I'm happy to answer any questions!

[jlarew]

Hello from WV. We are going on the 9 nite on August 10. In that Cayo place, as you didn't eat lunch, is it easy to just hop a tender back to the ship? I haven't booked the trip on line yet, but do they give you a choice of departure times? I thought we would at least go over and do a "look see." I'm with you on spending 2 days at Labadee. Just love it there.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

J in WV

[dixieva]

What did you think of the new arrangement in the Windjammer? We were on Grandeur last Oct.. In the refurb the buffet was re-done to include "stations". I have heard complaints from some passengers that it is harder to navigate than before.

What do you think?

[atb]

We were on Grandeur last week, with a large family group.

Embarkation was great - debarkation was also quick and painless.

Sea days are always my favorite. Missed the M&M, family scheduling conflict. :(

S Juan OK, St Thomas - great shopping.

Samana - HOT - really HOT.

Some family members did the horse back ride.

Some grabbed cabs and went to the water falls. Tales of long taxi rides through really scary parts of country, then HUGE hikes through the rain forest to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were scenic - but VERY difficult to get to.

Some of the younger ones grabbed a cab to the beach - described garbage on the beach, and being the only non-locals, so grabbed a cab back. The ride out was much less expensive than the return.

Even the ones that found their way to a nice beach felt this was a port they could skip.

Unanamous decision for Labadee. The most frequent comment was "Why didn't we come here for 2 days - I didn't have enough time to (fill in the blank).

All that being said - we booked the same cruise for next May. :D

[sbc98grad]

J in WV - There were several departure times for Cayo Levantado, but our time was assigned. The tender will not run you back and forth (and it is a long tender ride, so that would be pretty painful anyway...lots of comments from captain and crew about length of tender trip in Samana...) We are adults, so no concerns about kids eating schedules for us...would suggest a big breakfast and then snack when you return to the ship. With a big 'ol pineapple in there as a snack I was fine. There is also a little stand near the beach where you can purchase things a la carte, even though it is not recommended by the folks who run the island (who ironically also control the vendors they have...)

 

Dixieva - The windjammer is hard to navigate and always felt both too cramped and too spread out at the same time with the salad bars, soup/bread bars and drink stations along the sides and the hot food, deli and dessert stations all backed up to one another in a circular fashion that makes it difficult to navigate. As another pax said, you also feel more movement there than anywhere else in the ship...it is not a very pleasant place!

[Cruzin Ave]

sbc98Grad,

Could you please tell me how much the taxi was from the ship to Magen's bay??? I think it would be cheaper than taking the shore excursion from the ship. We have been to St Thomas many of times and have done most of the things on our own.

 

Thanks,

Ave

[caitlyn20]

Hello from WV. We are going on the 9 nite on August 10. In that Cayo place, as you didn't eat lunch, is it easy to just hop a tender back to the ship? I haven't booked the trip on line yet, but do they give you a choice of departure times? I thought we would at least go over and do a "look see." I'm with you on spending 2 days at Labadee. Just love it there.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

J in WV

 

Hi J!

 

I'm in Morgantown too. I just returned from this cruise on Sunday.

 

You'll have a new captain for your cruise. I hope you post about your experiences, so we can see if things have changed in Samana by then.

 

Cathy

[caitlyn20]

The windjammer is hard to navigate and always felt both too cramped and too spread out at the same time with the salad bars, soup/bread bars and drink stations along the sides and the hot food, deli and dessert stations all backed up to one another in a circular fashion that makes it difficult to navigate. As another pax said, you also feel more movement there than anywhere else in the ship...it is not a very pleasant place!

 

 

I felt cramped there too. Although there were signs that pointed which way the lines were supposed to go, most people didn't pay attention and started from either end. Then you overlapped in the middle. Some STARTED in the middle, just reaching through the line to get what they wanted.

 

Bagels were at the bread/omelet station, but cream cheese, butter, etc was at a different station.

 

The one feature I absolutely loved about the new Windjammer was that they had those seats facing out to the water. As a single cruiser, I could sit there and not hog up an entire table. Plus, I always sit looking out at the water, so this just made it even better.