DOMINICAN REPUBLIC...options from Amber Cove
 

I am taking a cruise that stops in Amber Cove, a purpose-built cruise area with pools, eating places and many shops.

During the day we stop here (in January, on the Princess) I would like to explore someplace outside of Amber Cove. Puerto Plata is a short taxi ride..
But is it an interesting city for a tourist in any way? I thought I could get a taxi outside the cruise port and spend a few hours driving someplace....
I speak fluent Spanish and have no fear of doing this alone.

But: Where to go for a few hours from Amber Cove??? Could not find any restaurants that looked interesting and for sun, I might as well stay in Amber Cove. But to get somewhere with local life.....??? Cabarete? Puerto Plata?? Or is this area not so interesting for a tourist? (I have been to DR many times as a child but not in many decades)
Not too interested in waterfalls or cable cars for views, which are two of the popular side trip destinations from the port area......

Thanks..I did see that and read all the CC posts on Puerto Plata. But still do not have a sense of what the city is like...nice areas to wander around, good food in street carts or a restaurant, things like that. Ha..I think I have to find someone who comes from there.... It just seems like a waste to stay in that enclosed cruiser area.... Not a huge deal either way...maybe I will walk outside and talk to a few taxi drivers... (??)

Doesn't sound terribly interesting. Maybe the weather will help you decide.

I've been to the DR twice but years ago (but as an adult -lol). Spent one trip in Puerta Plata. And renting a house in Sosua with friends for a month the other time (but that is further from Amber Cove).

My guess is either would be more interesting to you than hanging around the cruise port?

Thanks, Suze. I leave this weekend, for 7 nights. I am bringing a lot of books.
From Amber Cove.....just walk to the outer limit of the property and ask some taxi drivers what it would cost to go into Puerto Plata?
I guess there is some leeway with the fare...


I read Cruise Critic and PP does not sound all that interesting.....after reading, I think the best idea is to just take a taxi to the main square, walk around a few streets, and get a taxi back to the dock/port area.
I'm not interested in monkeys sitting on my head, or taking a cable car.
There is an amber museum that might be interesting..will read up on that...
I'd like to buy a baseball cap from a Dominican team but apart from that, I don't' think there is anything I would like to buy....no cigars, no rum, no straw purses.....I probably sound very ignorant, but there it is...

Suze I think my sense of humor is off putting to many people. If you get The Atlantic, read Gary Shteyngart’s article on his week on the ICON OF THE SEAS.

Now at Amber Cove. I think I will go out to the road and see about going into PP city. I spent my winter school vacations as a little kid and pre teen in Ciudad Trujillo and have seen a lot of the island as well as Haiti. Not returned to Santo Domingo since the early 70s. Plaza sitting?? Ok. I ought to check it out. Partner will surely not be interested so I can chat with any locals who do not give a wide berth to a senior gringita garbed in a pretty awful tropical print dress and a Princess “medallion” strung around her neck.

Reference to cable car and scampering monkeys comes courtesy of the much-touted ship excursions from this port. Also cigar making.

So here is the scoop: Docked at Amber Cove next to a giant Carnival ship. We got off the ship about 11am and walked about ten minutes to the Amber Cove area, where only cruisers are permitted--no locals except employees. There was a pool area and a waterfront where you could rent watercraft or an over-water "cabana," which we did not see, and a shopping mall with about two dozen little cutesy stores selling the usual--rum, chocolate, all kinds of junky clothing and straw hats, keychains, mugs, etc etc. Also a large duty-free sprawl with perfumes and spirits. No monkeys in sight.

Exiting that area we reached the parking lot where a large sign posts the prices for various trips--to the city, to beaches near (Puerto Plata) and far (Cabarete). Least expensive taxi RT is $60 to a nearby village. RT to Puerto Plata is US$80. Prices are fixed.

Past that parking lot and along a pedestrian walkway, we came to another taxi area next to the highway, where prices are better, since these taxis are not allowed to enter the Amber Cove lot. It's about a 20-minute walk from the ship. You need a hat if it's hot. Also bring a water bottle from the ship, although you can buy a bottle of water from a machine for $1.50.

At this, second, parking area we were met by a couple of touts who asked, again, $80 RT to Puerto Plata and back. After lots of good natured back-and forth, we settled on $US50 for a RT drive to Puerto Plata (I could have paid $40 but did not want to take it that far) through the historic area, to the Fort, the main Plaza, the "umbrella street," the "pink street," and along the Malecon bordered by a very pretty beach with calm waves. Part of this beach is populated by tourists who come on ship tours. The historic district is lovely with some handsome Colonial buildings--kind of reminded me of the plaza in Ponce, with a bandshell--actually it could have been in almost any Latin American small city or large town. There was also a beautiful historic fire department building, still in use. The cable car was not in operation for a reason having to do with mechanics.

We saw almost no locals but hordes of tourists walking around. We passed through an area that the driver described as "very poor," (lots of locals walking there, of course) but it did not look awful from the outside. He said he had lived there years ago and when asked, said he had no trouble, no one carried guns, just knives for protection and that there was no violence and no reason to be afraid at any time. I got the impression that a tourist could walk around anywhere in the city without anxiety. (It's funny because several people on the ship were afraid to leave Amber Cove and were shocked that we were just going to take a taxi on our own....they told us they had been at resorts in the DR and had been warned never to leave the property. Who knows here they were but that seemed really silly to me, although I obviously had only a passing glance at this one city and its environs and, as I said above, its been decades since I spent time in Santo Domingo.

In general, everyone we passed was super friendly and willing to chat.. I always get a kick when people ask me where I'm from and I say "New York," and then say "Yes, but where are you REALLY from??"

Our driver was lots of fun and I could ask many questions about local life. He was very happy with the life he and his family lived around here and had never been to the US. He drove a clean, large white van with good a/c.
He offered to stop anywhere so I could snap photos, or even go inside the amber museum or the fort, but partner did not want to walk around so we saw most everything from the confines of the van. After the tour he asked us if we wanted to visit his village for no extra charge--he said he was having so much fun with us (I was chatting away and we were joking around a lot). So after less than two hours, he dropped us back at the place he picked us up. He asked for a photo of the three of us together, and during the ride, he phoned his wife so I could have a Face Time chat with her.

After the ride, partner was happy to tip another driver a couple of dollars to take us right to the entrance of Amber Cove, saving him a walk of about 10 minutes in the sun. (From the shopping area, you can ride a pedicab which is free but tips are expected). So you do not have to walk at all to reach Amber Cove if you prefer.

There is another cruise dock right in Puerto Plata and there were two huge cruise ships docked there. So imagine, with four ships in port today, how many tourists descend on the city and surrounds! Even though, the plaza was pretty deserted although the streets in the historic area were clogged with large groups of people that were obviously tourists.

All in all, it was lots of fun and very interesting and I thought the $50 price was well worth. There are also collectives that make the trip but I was told they do not run often and it would be no fun standing on the side of the highway waiting for one to pass by. So if you plan to take a cruise with an Amber Cove stop, I hope this little wrap up will be of some help. I'll say again, everyone we encountered was super friendly and willing to chat and offer advice....makes me want to return and see more of the island someday soon..it's so close to New York and the roads we were on were excellent, so renting a car would probably be a snap if you wanted to explore.

Our driver's name is REGINO SILVERIO at: 829-5211-812. He has a website: merenciatours.com. His son is also a driver and is fluent in English: Reiny Silverio 849-656-6247.

Thanks for the report. Do weigh in on Cruises Forum with your general impressions if you have the time and interest.

Mlgb: Yes, I think this should be moved to cruises forum....I wonder how to do that? I really had a good time. We had two other stops on this cruise; we stayed on the boat for Prince's Cay, but we did get off in Grand Turk, where there is another cruisers-only area but that is adjacent to a public beach. We walked through the cruise-only area, north along the beach. I think I will write a small post on the cruise forum....

Moderators, can you move this thread to the CRUISES forum; no one else is going to visit Amber Cove apart from cruise ship guests.....(???)

I think you can triangle and ask it to be moved.

Glad it wasn't all bad.

Thanks..I used the triangle.

I wrote a long "report" on our stop in Grand Turk, but due to the intermittent wifi on the Sun Princess, I was disconnected and the post was lost.
We also had a good time in GT, on the beach..met some interesting locals (locally born and from Haiti). And had what was probably the best food of the week, at a little shack set back from the beach....conch fritters! Maybe I will rewrite it and put in in another post on the Cruise forum..

Thanks for reporting.

"had what was probably the best food of the week, at a little shack set back from the beach"
Was the food not good on the ship?

I don't like to say this but the food on the ship was not great.
We had two specialty restaurants included. We had one dinner at Dario's Butcher Block, supposedly overseen by the butcher from Panzano. It was awful. I know how awful its was because my partner, who is far less critical than me, said it was one of the worst places he had ever eaten.

I know all the food has to be frozen but even so, the meat should have been a lot better than it was. On the last night, we did have a very good rack of veal, and twice I enjoyed lobster tails, but apart from that...not good. Breakfast croissants and pastries---lumps of undercooked dough.

But once I realized what the meals would be like, I stopped expecting anything great, and after that, I accepted it all, and ate lots of soft serve vanilla ice cream, a few cups of gelato, lots of meringue cookies, and at the regular meals in The Sanctuary, there was always something that was ok.... I was happy that I lost a few pounds!!!!

The entire experience was very, very interesting: The people on the cruise who I would never meet in "real Life," including the fabulous multi-national crew.
I hated the loud noise but it was easy to escape that.

And we won $250 without doing anything!! We got a notice on the front door screen telling us that we were winners! So combined with that, and the $150 that was included in the package, we had $400 to spend on the ship. So I spent about $250 on Chanel cosmetics that I can have fun with, and partner had fun in the casino, although he wished they had had "poker rooms." He ended up winning a small amount which he then spent on slots. But there was nothing else to buy--lots of high priced watches, alcohol at prices more or less the same as home, jewelry that seemed kind of old-fashioned to me--little rings with tiny diamonds, etc
I know I'm a crank about a lot of things and I went on the cruise with a skeptical eye, but I ended up having fun. And those conch fritters on the beach at Grand Turk were really great. I had a long, long discussion with the woman who cooked them..she is locally born but schooled in the Bahamas and she had all kinds of insights about T&C. She helps out at the little restaurant (not one of those sprawling places with fancy drinks and lounge chairs, just a tiny hut with an outdoor cooking area) but her main job is supervisor of a group home for young girls "in trouble" who have been taken from their parents.....it was fascinating. We talked a lot about the Haitian immigrants on Grand Turk....

And then I met one of these Haitian immigrants who peddle drinks and boat rides on the beach, and talked to her for about a half an hour. From Cap Haitian, she came on a "skiff" and has no papers, same as all of the beach peddlers, I learned. So it was fascinating to talk to both these women: The local who applauds the fact that the police make frequent raids on the beach to nab the illegal persons and supervises the teen home where the vast majority of the girls are Haitian who have been involved in drugs and prostitution, and the illegal person from a failed country who would rather be home but had no choice but to make her way to a "foreign" island..

Oh, my--I went on and on.....totally off topic of Amber Cove!!!

My partner was so happy that he now wants to take another cruise. I would try another but I would want a small ship with more interesting ports, OR ideally, a trans-oceanic voyage like on the Queen Mary.

Thanks for the recap.

ekscrunchy, my sister and I have been on several cruise lines. I have never sailed with Princess, but my sister did and she said the food was nowhere near as good as other cruise lines.
We now prefer smaller ships and really enjoy Oceania Cruise Line.

On Princess, I like the International Cafe almond croissants, early in the morning. They (were) far better than the cold lumps we saw on NCL recently. In the International Cafe they usually ask if I want it heated up.

Possibly the larger ships are more problematic than smaller ones. I was recently on a small, old NCl ship (Sun) and since I know how to "work a buffet" I found it was often better than most of the restaurants.

If the specialty restaurant was awful I would have complained and they should have given you another specialty meal. But in my experience, those restaurants are hit or miss.

I have never stayed in a first class section (they call it Haven on NCL). All I know is when I walked by the Haven dining room one morning someone near the window had an entire parfait glass full of blueberries. I had exactly one blueberry as a dessert garnish.

HAL (also owned by Carnival) has mostly smaller ships and the food has been better there, although limited experience post-pandemic.

Obviously whether you like the food is personal, but overall I always found Princes tended to bland and very mainstream. I see a lot of complaints about how Princess (and most mainstream lines) have gone downhill for food, even from their loyal members. "Adventurous eater" and "cruiser" not usually in the same sentence.

Oceania is the "luxury" brand of NCL.

The line that I mostly hear good things about for food is Viking.

This is all very interesting..thanks for the insights.
I know all the proteins were frozen but you can freeze meat without any damage, so I think they just use lesser quality. Interesting tidbit: In the hot tub, I spoke to a guy whose Italian family had owner a butcher shop in San Francisco for a few generations. So this guy knew about meat. One of the interesting things he told me was that all beef can be frozen to good result EXCEPT filet mignon.I think this has to do with the lesser marbling in the tenderloin. But they served lots of what they called filet mignon on the Princess..I guess it sounds fancy. I get it that they are cooking for thousands of people but like I said above, The Eatery was pretty dismal. I did find the area called Red Ginger, where you could order grilled shrimp to go with their "lo mein." So I told them I wanted lots of shrimp and only a few noodles, so that was decent enough, or at least edible.

About the blueberries: I also was served about 4 blueberries when I had oatmeal one morning. I asked the next morning. if I could just have blueberries in a big cup and sure enough, they brought me about a cupful of blueberries. But remember, these have also been frozen. (I saw the Sysco truck unloading when we docked at FLL). I had asked who the food suppliers were for the ship and I was told that there were three, including Sysco. I think that they really want to please the diners, so they do try to fulfill special requests. Maybe I mentioned this, but on a night we were supposed to have lobster tails, we had a specialty dinner at the ShabuShabu place, UMAI. So I asked if I could have the lobster tails the following night and sure enough, I got two of them on the last night of the cruise.

So aboutDario's horrible dinner: Someone we knew who was on the same cruise ate there and told us afterwards that it was "the worst meal I've had in my 79 years of life." Surely he is stretching things a bit but he did go down to guest services twice! The first time they did nothing, but the second time he asked for a higher-up and he was then refunded in ship's credit the price of the dinner for two (he did not pay because it was in our premier package, but he got back $100 or so to spend on the ship). And they also gave him another dinner in a specialty restaurant. He ate at Sabatini's Italian restaurant and said ti was "pretty good."

So now that I've done this I began browsing through other cruise offerings. I can't see the point of doing this in Europe because I like to fly to a city and sightsee. But to the Arctic (??). (I found expedition ships like Hurtigruten and Quark Expeditions, but once I read the packing list for those (two layers of waterproof pants, glove and also glove LINERS, etc etc, my enthusiasm kind of cooled (sorry!!). Many people raved about Alaska cruises but the ones I saw were on big ships that all called at the same ports.

I'm on the fence about all this..maybe we should wait until we are really decrepit (instead of mildly so) to go on a big cruise.... I wouldn't even mind spending a lot more than we did on this past one, if I could be almost sure it would be a great experience. I even looked into cruises on lines based in India, for example: You can take a week-long cruise from the mainland to Sri Lanka....and the cruisers might be mostly Indians....who knows....that would need A LOT of research. And the most enticing: Cruise in Indonesia where you could snorkel around those eastern islands like Raja Ampat (I began a thread about that last year but no one had any info, and lo and behold, the NYTimes just mentioned Raja Ampat as one of the Top 50 Places to go in 2025!!!

I'm going all over the place here, as usual, but I really love reading all your comments about Princess and about cruising in general.
Here's a question: What are considered the top "luxury" American companies: I thought it would be Silversea, Seabourn and WindStar....but as you can tell, I know almost nothing about all this..just curious; I think if I went on another one I would want better food, fewer passengers, and a more upscale environment or at least more interesting ports. But then, some of these cruises cost $1,000 a day and way up.....right? For the big bucks, I'd love to go back got Southern Africa, by land/flights.

I'd love to read any and all comments!!