Samana Experience Day Trip

La excursión empezó parándose luego de unos minutos de marcha, para esperar a unas personas que luego NO CONTINUARON con el grupo.. Luego una caminata con caballos en el fango de más de 40 minutos ( pobres animales ) hicimos la ida porque no podíamos bajar pero la vuelta la hicimos a pie , el único objetivo que tiene esto era la propina que esperaban los acompañantes .. La comida malísima para una excursión de 175 dólares .. Las bebidas en la playa dentro del precio eran desde una heladería de camping , pero todo el tiempo trataban de que compramos extras como piña colada o coco .. NO PIETDAN UN DIA DE

My family & I booked this tour through our TUI hotel rep there were 5 of us & we paid £138 each. I can honestly say that it was the worst day ever - please do not waste your money. We were collected at our hotel at 6.40 am, we loaded onto a filthy smelly, battered old coach & was taken to an office where we were checked in for our tour, given our wristbands & 'breakfast' which consisted of a sandwich - filling unknow, a packet of stale biscuits & black coffee. We boarded our coach - Francisco was our tour guide. He went through the itinerary for the day & from then on barley communicated with the group. After a couple of hours on the coach we arrived at a port, we were instructed by Francisco to follow him down the road to board a boat. After a shortish boat ride to Bacardi beach, we were instructed to meet Francisco for lunch in just over an hour. Drinks that were available on the beach - water, Pepsi or rum and coke. The beach was beautiful - ruined by the fact that we were constantly harassed by traders, & photographers. We met Francisco who had chosen to just whistle at us to get our attention (we were now his group of dogs!). I am being generous by describing lunch as edible....there was pasta salad, rice, potatoes of some description, sliced white stale bread & unidentifiable meat. We were give a token for water, Pepsi or coffee (one per person). Francisco loaded his plate of food and sat on his own without making any attempt of conversation with the group. A member of our group was stung by a jelly fish & approached Francisco for advise and medical assistance - he pointed her towards a table which had a first aid kit on it. We then went back to the port & onto a boat where we are offloaded to 3 trucks which took us to the waterfalls. My god that was a terrifying journey - driver flying round blind bends overtaking lorry's with his hand on the hooter - 45 min later we arrived at the horse trail. As soon as we arrived 3 of the 5 of us decided that we did not want to ride the horses, they did not look well kept & we preferred to walk. Francisco said anyone can walk if they choose to do so - he did not come on the trail with us & instead chose to stay at the bar area. We set off on foot - 50 min walk through thick mud & horse excrement over rocky mostly unusable paths. Thankfully mid way we saw a guide who advised us to use a stick as support. During the walk was where we witnessed the sheer cruelty toward the poor over worked, battered horses. The guides were constantly hitting the horses with little sticks, we saw one guide hit a horses legs with force with a thick bamboo cane. The horses were very thin, some of the hoofs were bent over, and not groomed at all. The terrain was so difficult for them & if they fell they were shouted at and hit by the guides - it was heartbreaking to witness! We finally made it to the point there the horses were tethered and everyone had to travel the rest of the way by foot to the waterfall. The area smelt so strongly of horse urine - the horses were left without any shade or water. We started the decent to the waterfall - approx. 250 steep steps to get there. The waterfall was very pretty but we overheard a guide telling others not to swim as the water was contaminated (surely that should have been information passed to us by Francisco who was happily propping up the bar at this point!). Jumping now to the 2 members of our party who chose to go on the horses (my 25 year old son & his girlfriend) - on the return from the waterfall, the 2 young guides were having a conversation between themselves & suddenly without warning the guide who was with my son galloped ahead leaving his girlfriend alone with her guided who started to harass her for money. She said she did not have money & which point the guide was telling her to ask 'papa', she said that none of us had any money to give. The guide stopped asking for money & instead chose to hit her leg 'accidently on purpose' each time he struck the horse thereafter We finally got back to the coach to take us back to our hotel 6pm. Francisco did not count anyone on to make sure he was not leaving anyone behind. He did not say on word the whole journey back - in fact his behavior was becoming increasingly strange and worrisome. He chose at on point to wear a beanie hat, with a cap on top & a carrier bag on top of that! Mid way through the coach ride home, he came to the middle of the coach & sat next to a passenger & fell asleep, the driver had to wake him when we got to the 1st hotel drop off! That was also a complete mess which took us round in circles past the same hotel 3 times. We eventually returned back at our hotel at 9pm - thankful to be alive!!!

Muy mala experiencia. Llegaron tarde a recogernos y en vez de dar una explicación, el guía contestó de muy malas maneras. Nos llevaron en barco a una playa de Samaná donde nos dejaron una hora libre, hora en la que no dejaba de acercarse gente a vender cosas. La playa llena de medusas, que tampoco nos avisaron, las hamacas rotas, el "bar" era un tablón con una nevera portátil. De ahí, a un chiringuito que había cerca a comer en bufet, comida poco variada y una única bebida por persona. Tras comer, empezó la aventura en camión hasta donde nos esperaban con los caballos, el chófer mirando el móvil en vez de la carretera, los camiones sin fuerza para subir las cuestas, una odisea. Llegamos donde los caballos, nos reparten las botas y los cascos y en caballo, tirado por una persona, media hora hacia arriba por un camino de barro y piedras (pobres caballos) hasta llegar a cascada Limón. Una vez allí, un baño rápido y de nuevo para abajo en caballo. Vuelta al camión, odisea hasta el puerto para coger el barco que nos llevara de nuevo a la isla y de ahí en bus a los hoteles. Comentar que en cada parada que hacíamos y en los diferentes transportes utilizados, todo el mundo pedía la propina, y eso que ya habíamos pagado por la excursión. Daba la impresión que solo querían sacar más dinero. De más de 14h que duró la excursión, solo fueron útiles 3h, el resto, nos las pasamos en transporte. No merece la pena gastar el dinero en esta excursión y menos gon esta gente, que solo se preocupan de sacar propinas y no de las personas que llevan.