Comments about: Samana, Las Galeras, Las Terrenas and Sanchez
My trip to Las Galeras. Playa Colibri. Taxi Precaution. Hotel Bahia Las Ballenas. Please remember, we created "Samana Net" to help you, so if this site is useful to you, please spend a moment to add your story so others could benefit from your experience. Send
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"Norwegian Dawn" stop over
Had the pleasure of visiting Samana last week, while cruising on NCL's
"Norwegian Dawn". I say pleasure only in that the contryside is beautiful.
Otherwise, everyone who went ashore or purchased an excursion was very
displeased---even our snorkel excursion operators tried to hoodwink us. Just
about everyone, from taxi driver to "open market" vendor, outright lied or
attempted to cheat. NOT a very good way to build a decent reputation. Many
complaints were registered w/NCL last week; I don't doubt they'll remove Samana
from their itinerary.
I strongly suggest the 'locals' be trained to deal honestly, that honey attracts
the bee to the flower, not vinegar.
Correction to Previous comment:
The town the NCL ship "Norwegian Dawn" stopped at last week (and for just the
2nd time ever) was Los Cacaos, not Samana. For all I know, the inhabitants of
the town of Samana are honest. But the Cacaoan's have a great deal to learn
about how to treat the tourist if they want to rise above their current poverty
level.
Ron McD NY USA
May 8, 2006
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El Marinique, Las Galeras Trip Report
I’ve had a problem writing this report due to the fact that it wasn’t as anticipated and I do not wish to offend anyone. However, these reports are for the purpose of information, good or bad.
This is a bit long, but let me start by saying that the beach at Las Galeras is beautiful and surprisingly clean. The little town, and I do mean little, is tidy with a couple of nice restaurants. There is one, located in a two story square mini mall like space, that is owned and operated by an Italian lady. The pasta was freshly made and very good. Five of us had dinner, drinks and coffee for less than RD 2,000, including the tip. Can’t remember the name, but it’s the only one in town. The Casa Marina Resort is also located within walking distance. A nice long stroll along the beach will get you there. The luncheon buffet isn’t bad and the prices are on the low side.
Danny, myself, Chris and Isabel left for Samana from Sousa on December 26th. Took us a little longer than expected to get there as we made a wrong turn in Nagua and ended up in San Francisco de Marcus (sp?). At least, the fellow who pointed us in the right direction had a good laugh. Typical bunch of dumb gringos roaming around the countryside!
Earlier in the month, I had looked at accommodations in Las Galeras and asked a couple of folks about the El Marinique. Seemed to be a pretty good deal, so after talking to Chris, we made our reservations and paid the deposit. We arrived at the hotel, after our detour, around 5:30. Andy B and Nicole had errands and were in Samana. No problem, so we ordered drinks.
Danny had a scotch and water, silly me asked for lemonade with a side of rum and almost choked to death when I took a swallow of what seemed to be pure concentrated lemon juice. The waitress worked on it to no avail, so I gave that one up and ordered a pina colada. That was another mistake. Finally I settled for a bottle of water. We ordered a “picadera” and settled in to enjoy the view while waiting on our hosts and dinner.
Andy and Nichole arrived about 45 minutes later, introduced themselves, and then Andy asked us to register and “get settled up”. We thought that was a bit odd since, at this point, we haven’t even seem the rooms. There was a minor hassle over dollars versus pesos, and Chris was getting somewhat perturbed. It’s a very small hotel, only one actual room, but we opted for cottages because we were told they had hot water showers. So now our two day stay is all prepaid and we get to look at the rooms. At a glance, not too bad looking, clean, neat with two double beds. Also looked at one of the two apartments. Nicely laid out, but incomplete and sparse looking. By then, we’re hungry, so we just threw our bags on the bed in the cottages and went back to the dining area.
We asked a couple of questions and found out that the advertised pizza is no longer available, so we skipped the appetizer and went straight to dinner. All of us had salad with vinaigrette, only dressing available. Danny and Chris had a Fisherman’s Platter and Isabel and I had Mahi Mahi. The food was served with a good home-made bread, but aside from the baby lobster that the guys had on their platters, all the other items were mediocre at best. A dessert of Apple Surprise was served, but it wasn’t as tasty as described, we barely touched it. We’re all tired and ready for bed, so we asked for the bill and were shocked to learn that our combined tab was well over $100. We asked for a bottle of water to take to the room, and learned that one 16 ounce bottle cost $1.00.
We say goodnight to Chris and Isabel, retire to our cottage, #5 and start to get ready for bed. Since the beds are doubles, Danny chose the one with the light (not very good illumination, but a light) as he wanted to read for awhile. Can’t take a shower because the hot water won’t be turned on until the morning. The bathrooms are tiny with a curtain for a door. That didn’t bother us as much as it did Chris in #3, as we found out the next day. I finish in the bathroom and lay down on my bed ready for a good nights’ sleep. I’m a little weird, so I always bring my own pillow, but even that couldn’t do anything about the springs coming through the mattress. Danny’s wasn’t so bad, but I figured it was only for two nights, so I said where I was.
The next morning, after a fitful night dodging springs, I’m ready for a good hot shower. Wrong! I’m not a large person, well, not very large, but that shower stall was extremely small and dark. No hot water or even luke warm. The shower head was pretty bad and the salty water was squirting all over the place. Suck it up, it’s only one more day. We had coffee and toast while we waited for Isabel and Chris, then decided to try another place for breakfast. We ended up in a little Dominican restaurant across from the Italian place. Not bad. Then we did the tourist number around town, which took all of 15 minutes and walked to the Casa Marina Resort and stayed there for lunch before heading back to the hotel.
The only other guest was a young woman at a table by herself, so we asked her to join us. Angela is delightful. Speaks Spanish like a native, well traveled and an all around interesting person. Turns out, she was less that enthralled by our accommodations as well. A little later, the five of us decided on the Italian restaurant for dinner. That turned out to be a good decision.
The next morning, we didn’t see Andy or Nicole. We all had toast and coffee, and said our good byes to Angela. Chris and Isabel invited her to stay with them in Sosua, in case she was bored, which she later did.
Even with the hotel situation, we had a great time and enjoyed the company of friends. On the way back, we found a terrific little restaurant, on the right hand side of the road, 3 km from Nagua (headed in from Samana). Looks new, all yellow and white, right on the beach with very good and inexpensive food.
If you do plan to go to Las Galeras, you may want to check some of the other bed and breakfasts in the area. It is a beautiful drive and the beach is well worth seeing..
Danny & Dianne,
Santiago R.D.
January, 2004
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Villa Serena, Las Galeras
Stayed at Villa Serena the week of Feb. 16, 2002. Very nice little
hotel with friendly service. However, forget the restaurant. The meals were
mediocre at best and very expensive. Their "gourmet chef" must have been on
vacation. We can't imagine a hotel on the beach with only 1 seafood entree per
night. "Full American Breakfast" was also a joke. Three silver dollar sized
pancakes were, in fact, the size of half dollars. Lamb chops one night were
basically way overcooked, about 3 mm thick and inedible. Complaints were met
with a shoulder shrug. Head to town for meals (5 minute walk). The french
patisserie was quite nice.
Otherwise had a nice time in Las Galeras. GREAT place to watch whales. Will
stay at Casa Marina Beach Resort next year.
Cliff and Rose,
March 25, 2002
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Club Bonito, Las Galeras.
My family and I stayed in Las Galeras last week and had a wonderful
time. First of all the reason we came to Las Galeras was because of the
unbelievably information full web site on Samana.net. I had lived in the DR for
four years and feel that I know the country pretty well, but our choice of Las
Galeras was due not so much to my previous experience in the DR, but the
information we found about the various hotel options in Las Galeras.
We stayed for four nights at Club Bonito and found it delightful. Although all
of Las Galeras has been quiet since 9/11 it made our stay even more delightful.
The staff at Club Bonito treated us very very attentively and made us feel very
much at home. They arranged our whale watching visit in Samana (absolutely
worth it, and especially so, if you have children)and were very helpful. The
hotel serves a nice breakfast and is just a very relaxing place to stay.
As for meals I would only recommend two places other than the hotel. Pizza at Plaza Lusitania,
which is on the main road is no
doubt the best place to eat. Unfortunately we found this on
our last night in Las Galeras so for those of you who are headed to Las Galeras
go there early and often as it is heads above the other places to eat in Las
Galeras.
The one other option and it is a good one, is to eat at one of the fish shacks
right on the beach. I frequented Nona's stall, and she too, is a delightful
woman, who gets assistance from an assortment of her children who help out. The
other women cooking are equally friendly, and if you want a good fried fish or
stewed chicken meal this is the place to go.
Las Galeras is a laid back and wonderful place to unwind and if you are
comfortable just hanging out this is the place to do it. For those who want or
need more to do, stay in Sosua or Cabarete or Las Terrenas which all have more
night life. The trade off is that they are not as quiet.
Gary Shaye and Betsy Campbell
Saturday, March 2, 2002
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Samana.....
Samana Peninsula, simply the most beautiful place I have ever travelled to in the Caribbean and the world.. do not publicise it. it will be ruined...;...
William Jackson
February 15, 2002
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My trip to Las Galeras, Samana was the third trip for me to the
Dominican Republic. it was also the best trip...
I had covered substantial territory in my previous two trips, and by far the Samana area is the most beautiful and most welcoming!
It's true what it says somewhere on this site..."You may leave Samana, but Samana will never leave you". this is one of those places that truly has my heart. I will be back.
I have put together a online photo tour with written commentary and 60 photos of my visit and adventures in this beautiful place at the following web address...
here
s.wells (nova scotia, canada)
P.S. there is also a photo tour of the El Portillo area of the Samana Penisula on this website as well, under "virtual vacation airport" in the "ocean travel" section.
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We stay at a few hotels in Las Terrenas over the last couple of years, Residencia Playa Colibri is one of them.....Yes on morning we saw two Hummingbirds(Colibri) hovering over a big red hibiscus, getting the early morning nectar. Sorry, by the time we got the camera, they where gone, so NO PICTURES!
Sometime the name in Dominican Republic is not just a name, is reality.
A.O.
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Next time you take a taxi in Dominican Republic, pay attention if any gasoline canister share the space in the trunk with your lugage, one time I did not pay to much attention and for the next two weeks I was wearring my cloths with a sligth sent of "Regular Uleaded". Speed bumps and potholes, are to be blame, or is the driver.... Did you ever try to get ready of a gasoline smell?? Is almost impossible.
T.R.
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I had requested a room close to the beach and was given Hamaca 1,which was literally 20 meters from the sand.
We retreated to our room, which was in the Mexican motif. They are situated in clusters of four for a total of 32 rooms scattered about the property. Some surrounded the lovely free-form swimming pool, others faced the ocean, and others had garden view. The bathroom was open-air and was quite refreshing after a shower. The room had a ceiling fan and with the windows open at night was cool enough for sleeping. One thing I will never forget was the lullaby of the ocean crashing against the beach each night. Never needed to count sheep!.
Ronald McIntosh. July 10/2001
Full review, click here.
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them in the Come to Samana forum, instead)
Samana, Dominican Republic.
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