Samana, Tortola recommendation

[tao1]

Anyone who has been to Samana or Tortola have any recommendation for excursions with a 4 1/2 and a 2 1/2 year old? They are used to hiking etc but any info appreciated!!

[CeleBrat]

We will be stopping at Tortola next week on our cruise, and plan on going to the Baths via a ferry (not a tour). The kids should have a great time exploring the giant rocks. I'll post pics when I return.

 

Last time we were in Tortola, we grabbed a $20 tour at the pier (guy hawking tour on his open-air jalopy). It was fun. We saw several lookout points, drove past the decaying rum distillery, and stopped at a beach.

 

CeleBrat

[MNmomof4]

We will be stopping at Tortola next week on our cruise, and plan on going to the Baths via a ferry (not a tour). The kids should have a great time exploring the giant rocks. I'll post pics when I return.

 

Last time we were in Tortola, we grabbed a $20 tour at the pier (guy hawking tour on his open-air jalopy). It was fun. We saw several lookout points, drove past the decaying rum distillery, and stopped at a beach.

 

CeleBrat

 

Please let me know how that tour would be suited for a 4 and almost 3 yr old. I'm worried about lugging the big car seat since she wont be big enough for a booster.

 

Looking forward to hear how you enjoy it as well as your kids

[CeleBrat]

OHHHH...no car seats on that tour. It was an open air jeep/jalopy, with no sides. So.....

 

Your best bet would be try an book something independently, so you can arrange for a van that would accomodate a car seat.

 

CeleBrat

[tao1]

We will be stopping at Tortola next week on our cruise, and plan on going to the Baths via a ferry (not a tour). The kids should have a great time exploring the giant rocks. I'll post pics when I return.

 

Last time we were in Tortola, we grabbed a $20 tour at the pier (guy hawking tour on his open-air jalopy). It was fun. We saw several lookout points, drove past the decaying rum distillery, and stopped at a beach.

 

CeleBrat

 

I guess you are using Speedy's ferry/taxi combo? Please come back and let me know how that was as that is our top plan right now.....

[CeleBrat]

Yep--going with Speedy's. I'll post a full report when I return. Leaving on SAT.

 

CeleBrat

[tao1]

will look forward to your review!!

[zia100]

Hello,

 

last year, we went to Samana and Tortola. We didn't have a baby at the time. But here is my 2 cents :)

 

SAMANA:

We went with a local company ( i can't remember) but they take you in a van then a small boat to a private beach - by far one of the most BEAUTIFUL beaches I've ever seen. It was actually in one of those travel magazines as a top 10 beach. There are no big waves, so the kids can play on the sand and play in the water with no issues. With the transportation. The vans do travel on rough roads (not too bad). But i don't think they have seat belts to snap in a car seat etc. Just hold the kids on your lap. With the boats, there is one small speed boat and a larger one. We had a family with us and because of the kids, they went on the bigger boat and the kids loved it. Oh and all passengers were given life vests. The excursion is something like $250 - they have a lump sum and we just tagged onto a large group or 15 or so people. it ended up being about $15 per person. REALLY worth it. We found a group to tag to via the Cruise Critic Roll Call. The boat ride was a little bit scary - in terms of 'where are we going?! - but its breathtakingly beautiful and the locals are really very friendly and nice. It was comforting to know we're with fellow CC passengers. so you dont' feel too isolated. There is a Cruise ship excursion also available. They came by a 'open' bus. But the time it took them to get there (all on road) > 1 hour or so, they only got to enjoy teh beach for abotu an hour or so before they were herded (yes, herded) back onto the bus to return to the ship. We easily spent about 4 hours on the beach. It was fantastic.

 

TORTOLA:

We did the baths. The speedy ferry is very nice. you have a sheltered seating area and up top, you're out in the open. the boat is pretty large. Felt very safe. No need to wear life vests. The baths themselves however i'm not sure how safe they are for kids. There are very large rocks and most of them are very smooth. Even some adults had some issues walking/ sliding on them. That said I have no regrets going at all. Also, one thing to consider is that there are many ways through the baths. Over the rocks or via thinner paths etc. I saw many kids on the beach (that appears at the end of the 'baths maze') so I could very well have gone the harder way :) but the cove/ beach is very nice and we had a great time. Oh and I forgot. you can take a walking trail back to the top - without going through the baths/ rocks. So who knows, you may want to take the trail, then let the kids just walk around the outer rim of the rocks - not go too deep into them? lastly, go on your own. Take the speedy ferry. you'll see the jetty from the pier. At the jetty, pay for the full transportation. it'll cover the ferry and the van/ bus to baths. Again, the cruise ship provides an excursion to the lcoation and I felt terrible for the passengers. They were literally herded like dumb sheep (i'm nto exaggerating) through the baths. In the baths, we stepped aside to let a group of 30 people troop single file through the rocks. One guy looked appologetic as he stopped to take a quick photo of the rocks.

 

Have a great time. And let me know if you if you have further questions :)

- Ash

[sunquest76]

Hi Ash.

 

The Samana tour sounds exactly like what we're looking for in January. Can you remember anything about who provided this, or who I can contact to get more info?

[caber]

It`s definately a good idea to arrange a tour in Samana before you get there. We walked off the tender in January with the idea of taking a taxi. They were far too expensive. Everyone was asking and walking away.

[zia100]

I believe, I can't be sure, but I think the beach/ excursion was 'Isla Roatan' - But i can't be sure. If you do a search on the boards based on ports, I'm sure you'll come across the info. Many people showed interest in it. We went in March 2008. We didn't know about the excursion until 2 nights before leaving so we didn't contact the company. But we read alot on the Roll call board of people looking for more additions, so we managed to tag along that way.

 

Samana is poor and it is eye opening. But instead of fearing it. I personally think its great to see that people still are happy with what they have and are proud of their jobs etc. Its humbling and inspiring.

Let me know if you can't find the info.

[mamasweetcheeks]

Hi Ash.

 

The Samana tour sounds exactly like what we're looking for in January. Can you remember anything about who provided this, or who I can contact to get more info?

 

Last March my DH and DS (5yrs old) went on a great trip to a beautiful beach, Playa Rincon in DR. The previous poster described this beach. It was really the highlight of our caribbean trip! Catherine (from NY who lives in DR with her husband) arranged for the excursion. A taxi picks you up at the dock, drives through the countryside, then to a small boat to the beach. She charges $260.00 for a group of 10. Since there is only 3 of us we posted on the roll call for anyone to join us. We ended up with 9 people! You can reach Catherine at casadorado@gmail.com. Please look at the posts in the dominic republic site since there have been great reviews of Catherine. I hope this helps.

Playa Rincon, is really the most beautiful beach I have seen.

Erin

[14ersco]

We just did Samana, St. Thomas, and Tortola this past Spring Break with our son who was 5. For the OP the two questions only you can answer are do your kids get car sick during long bouncy rides and are you comfortable wedging your kids between you and your spouse in the open air "taxi's". For Samana we went with to Playa Rincon beach with Catherine at Casa Dorado (expect the same as mentioned by zia100); for St. Thomas to Coki Beach with Papa Bear of Air Force One, and to the Baths with Speedy's ferry/bus package. We would highly recommend all 3 companies. :):)

 

Most of the "taxi's" we found in these ports were usually a truck (Ford 250, Chevy Avalanche, etc) that had their beds removed and replaced with 5 to 6 rows of seats that were open on each end and an awning cover over the seats. So for those rides we would seat in the middle of a row with our son wedged between us. There was usually additional people on each side of us so it would be hard to fall out, but there definitely was no place for a car seat. I think a Kelty type front side child carrier would work better for the 2 1/2 y/o and wedging the 4 1/2 y/o. We had these open air "taxis" in St. Thomas and Tortola. For Samana Casa Dorado arranged for 3 late model 10 passenger vans with seat belts and A/C! :cool: Other groups in Samana were using the "taxis".

 

Traveling in Samana involves walking to the end of the pier and finding your Casa Dorado driver, driving/bouncing about 50 minutes to a beach, and taking a "john" type boat across a bay to Playa Rincon where you are dropped off in shallow water. The boat operator carried our son ashore. The road was paved at one time, but when the water line was laid the trenches were only slightly filled in with dirt and gravel. For Tortola you need to walk about 20 minutes from the cruise pier to the ferry dock and Speedy's in Road Town. Once you arrive in Virgin Gorda you walk off the pier to a Speedy's "taxi". The drive to the Baths parking lot is about 20 minutes and then it is about a half mile walk down a dirt and stone path to the beach.

 

Casa Dorado web site: http://www.casadoradodr.com/

 

For more information I did a CC review of our cruise at:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=965189

[14ersco]

Last March my DH and DS (5yrs old) went on a great trip to a beautiful beach, Playa Rincon in DR. The previous poster described this beach. It was really the highlight of our caribbean trip! Catherine (from NY who lives in DR with her husband) arranged for the excursion. A taxi picks you up at the dock, drives through the countryside, then to a small boat to the beach. She charges $260.00 for a group of 10. Since there is only 3 of us we posted on the roll call for anyone to join us. We ended up with 9 people! You can reach Catherine at casadorado@gmail.com. Please look at the posts in the dominic republic site since there have been great reviews of Catherine. I hope this helps.

Playa Rincon, is really the most beautiful beach I have seen.

Erin

 

 

Hey; Are you not working today ???? :D:D:D:D:D

 

We are only 7 1/2 months away from going back to Samana. :cool:

[zia100]

Playa Rincon! Thats it and the fellow posters are correct. Casa Dorado was the company we went with.

 

Thanks everyone for the reminder :) Good times.

[sunquest76]

Did you get a group of 10 thru your CC Role Call? I'm not sure how I'll find enough people to do the tour. Any suggestions?

[zia100]

yes, we went to the Meet and greet and specifically asked around asking about who shall be going to playa rincon. At the end though, we still weren't sure if we had enough people...

 

.. after we tendered, we found one of the guys from casa Dolarado. He asked if we were interested in coming. "Yes" and then we waited off to the side while he and a couple of other drivers started to divy up the passengers to meet the total. And we ended up meeting it. I think alot of people just wing it. So don't be disheartended if you don't find exactrly 10. Let the drivers figure it out. I know I was more concerned about meeting numbers than they were.

 

Make sure you go to the meet and Greet though. With a few familiar faces, you'll be more comfortable going to playa rincon than with strangers.

 

Have a great time!

[princabessa]

My family and I were on RCCL Grandeur of the Seas, May 1, 2008. We booked an excursion through cruise line to Cayo Levantado. We had our 4 year old daughter and 7 year old son. They loved the floats, mini splash park, barbq and very calm beach. great day. our table mates tried to meet us there but were unable to get there. I think a resort owns the little island and rents space to the cruise lines. Very beautiful beach for your family!:)

[tao1]

Bumping in the hopes that Celebrat is back with photos :D:)

[CeleBrat]

Yes--CeleBrat is back, and is working on the review/photos. I've got one started already over on the Carnival board, but haven't written about Tortola yet. Hope to be done with the review by the weekend, maybe...

 

I can share though, that the BATHS were a fun-fun-fun day! DS said, "This is my #2 favorite place, below Rome." WOW!

 

We did take the ferry (Speedy's) and had no trouble getting there and back. 9:00am ferry over, 2:45pm ferry back. We did get extended time in Tortola due to our hurricane re-route, otherwise we really would've had to rush.

 

The kids most enjoyed climbing through the rocks at the BATHS. But, there is also a nice beach there. Your littlest one could probably climb into the Baths near the entrance and explore, but probably wouldn't be able to go the whole way through as it is very "climby" in places (tall, steep, etc).

 

Anyway--I'll have a full review and pics soon--and will pop back in this thread as soon as I do. In the meanwhile, I posted a link to the review-in-progress further down on this FAMILY board as well.

 

Stop by and take a look at our adventures.

 

CeleBrat

[CeleBrat]

Tortola/BATHS info here, starting on page 9 (hopefully the link gets you to page 9)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1047076&page=9

 

Enjoy!--CeleBrat