Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic Port Reviews

Beautiful port. There is a water park free to the cruisers. And there are tons of shops. So that’s what I did. We decided not to book an excursion and just wing it.

This was my favorite excursion of all time. ATV’ing in hills, bumps, water, and the beach. Great views, great guides (Bernardo, Wow, and Jefe), and great time. The topper was visiting Tia Trina for some coffee, mangos, and quenepas. I would do this every year if my wife let me. Thanks for the wonderful hospitality!

My mom and I booked an excursion through Carnival. La Casa in La Playa is an all inclusive excursion. We meet Jelen (Momma) at the excursion meeting place at approximately 0830. She walked us about 100 yards to a waiting air conditioned bus that took us to La Playa. We were given lots of cultural insights along the way by momma. The driver Jesus was a very good driver and avoided as much of the bumpy road that he could. We arrived to the house and there were changing rooms. Lounging spaces and rooms to relax. The kitchen was to the right and very clean. Then you walked out on a deck that had the most wonderful breeze with lots of sturdy picnic tables. Continuing on down the steps was the sand area and the beach. There were plenty of lounge chairs and umbrellas. Kayaks, paddle boards, life jackets and even sand toys for the kids. Around noon they served a big meal. Salad,lots of fresh fruit, rice and beans, homemade salsa. There was a grill where they had barbecue chicken, chicken skewers with red and green peppers and sea bass. Everything was delicious. There was an open bar but also plenty of water bottles for nondrinkers like us. The music was great and some line dancing even happened. We went back on the same bus and were delivered exactly where we had boarded at approximately 2pm. I highly recommend this excursion!!

The port was amazing, we were welcome with life music, staff were very friendly. Since we are Dominican we went to see our friends and explore puerto plata. It was very nice.

MUST READ! Some TIPS INCLUDED! I’m not only giving this port 5 stars because Dominican Republic is my country but simply because unlike other ports as soon as you get off the cruise ship as your walking into the port you will feel the Dominican culture! The live MUSIC! The friendliness and how beautiful the views are! As soon as you walk into the port if you make a right you will find yourself where the pool area is and your free to use the pool and to get any chairs you like except to the side that has the cabanas because they’re rented as an excursion. If you would like to rent an umbrella there is a $20 rental fee for the whole entire day however the umbrella are very big and will shade about 2 1/2- 3 pool chairs. There is a bar inside the pool and the drink prices varies. There’s also a restaurant at the pool and their workers come to you to service you if you would like to purchase any drink or food. Alcoholic drink price start about $8 and up. We purchased local beer presidente 4 in a bucket for $20 (which is a rip off) and we got coco loco and other drinks for $8 each. There’s also zip lining that cost $20 and you can get on unlimited. If your also looking to braid your hair there’s also someone there to braid your hair starting price around low $20’s If you want to leave the port and do your own thing and do something and experience the real DR local which we did. Since we were visiting our country and we know what was near. We spent half of the day at the pool and then we exit the port on our own and there are a whole bunch of taxis! The taxi will take you anywhere! If you want to get great fresh seafood I highly recommend telling the taxi to take you to the Malmon area which is only 5 minutes away! The taxi only charges $4 per person and the taxi driver will wait for you outside the restaurant until your finish eating to bring you back to port for additional small fee. There are mannnnyyy restaurants to choose from just ask your taxi driver which one he recommends and they’ll take you to the best spot! The prices are in US dollars and if you would like to pay in Pesos you can as well! At these restaurants you can get the Presidente beers for a better price and the food are very inexpensive and fresh! Another tip is if you get to one of a local man selling coconuts don’t be afraid to purchase one or a few! The coconuts from DR are sooo good! After you get back to the port there’s plenty of shopping stores you can purchase things to take back home, restrooms and plenty of places to take nice pictures.

Really enjoyed the VIP Serenity beach excursion! The food was mediocre and the drinks were plentiful!! They take excellent care of you. Would do it again!!

Beautiful place! We did not do any excursions just ventured out on our own. Bought a ton of goodies to bring back home. the history here is wonderful and the food and pina colodas are a must! Made with fresh ingredients

We LOVED Amber Cove. We went on a Carnival Excursion called Waterfalls of Damajagua. It was amazing. The tour guides were very informative and fun. The hike was not so fun but jumping and sliding off of the falls was something we will never forget.

Visited: Jul 15, 2018

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My family and I had so much fun at this port. We went to ocean world, we were able to pet dolphins because we bought the excursion, they wanted to take us on a tour to see all their exhibits but we declined and went to get something to eat, I don't really remember the food, but my fiancé said he had the best hot sauce from there. We ended up checking out their pool which was pretty cool. Then we found their bird exhibit and this was the highlight of our whole trip. We had so much fun there. We were allowed to go in the bird cages and hold the birds, we had parrots put on our shoulders, my 7 year old son and 6 year old nephew held toucans, then we went to a parakeet cage and the workers kept throwing bird seed at us which was awesome because the birds kept flying on to us and just hanging out all over our heads, arms, hands, shoes, 😂 it was so cool!

Favorite spot! We booked ATV excursion through this site. Tour was amazing! We got to see a good amount of places and we couldnt have asked for a better guide, Caliente. The ATVs were easy to use. We were in a group of 3, which for that day, it was just us. Love that about booking outside of the ship, more personal tour. We started on time and we were back at our ship when we were told we would be. The tour included stopping to see how coffee, coco and tobacco is made and even taste all! Beautiful place, great, fun people and a whole lot of a good time!