La Romana, Dominican Republic Port Reviews

We did the deluxe beach resort excursion to the Catalonia Grand Dominicus with our fantastic tour guide Ernesto😃 I didn’t even know I wanted to go to DR but it was so beautiful and I’m so glad we didn’t skip it because of stories we had heard in the news. I probably wouldn’t wander around exploring on my own but a resort excursion made for a superb day.

Visited: Feb 22, 2020

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Was apprehensive about getting off at this port b/c of all the hype going on in the DR now, I've visited this port before 3yrs. ago but decided to get off again & do a tour. Had no problems.

Visited: Jul 13, 2019

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We went to Monkey Land and it was a Great experience. I highly recommend it. Enjoyed a coco bean plantation taught us how its many uses. Tasted things bought some coco bean tea, honey and vanilla. For all the negative we heard, this was a great excursion. The monkeys were alot of fun.

We have almost 230+ sea days cruising so we know our ports & have traveled to about 39 countries. This is the most dangerous port we ever encountered. A couple of years ago we got a cab into town & they were aggressive & kept grabbing my arm to get my attention to buy from them. My husband almost got pickpocketed three times there & he’s a big guy. Never so afraid in all our life. It shouldn’t be a port how dangerous it is. We stay on the ship if it stops in La Romana & make it a spa day. Get off at this port at your own risk.

I’m not really sure why Carnival stops here. Definitely my least favorite place I’ve ever been. Unless you’re doing an excursion, I’d probably just stay on the ship - just my opinion. We decided to go to the beach for the day, which was a nice beach, but I did not feel safe. When we got off the ship we went to the information desk just inside the port area, my boyfriend is Hispanic and speaks Spanish so he was asking one of the local guides where the closest/nicest beaches were and how much it would cost us to get there (in Spanish). She told him that it was normally anywhere from $25-$60 per person to get to the beach for the cruise tourist, but since he spoke Spanish she advised us to take a local taxi for $2 each. We did have to walk about 10 mins down the road, outside the port to get to the local taxi. The police stand along the roadway about every 100 yards or so. I was very nervous the entire time and didn’t feel very safe. The beach was nice once we got there (about 20 min taxi ride), and there were a lot of people from the cruise ship there. The fact my boyfriend speaks Spanish helped a lot. They definitely take advantage of tourist. We took the local bus back to the ship for $1 each. I felt a little more safe on the bus vs the taxi, but the bus dropped us off further away from where the taxi’s were and walking back to the ship was scary to me. I honestly would never visit this port again and if for some reason I did, I wouldn’t get off the ship.

We went swimming at Blue Hole and got to hold parrots, monkeys and snakes. It was a fun day!

Visited: Jun 01, 2019

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Awesome port. Nothing much to do right at the port. We hired a cab driver to take us around the city. We went down town, went to a "locals" beach, and a country club where celebrities have homes among other things. Never once felt unsafe. We did take our own food and water though.

The port area was fine. We did the Monkeyland tour and it was hands down best thing we have ever done!!!! Our tour guide was awesome and gave us so much information about the island. The monkeys were so cute and it was just a whole lot of fun!!!!

Visited: May 18, 2019

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We are not fans of La Romana, we did not get off the ship

Visited: May 19, 2018

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We did the day at a resort excursion. The pool was very nice and not too crowded. Very relaxing day in the sun!

Visited: Jul 29, 2017

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