Samana Tours (With Whales) Full Day Excursion!

Loved the boat rides, whale watching, waterfalls, horseback and beautiful beaches. I hope the horses are treated well and humanely. I was not a fan of being harassed for tips and buying souvenirs nonstop. And it was a long long day...13-14 hours. So be prepared for that!

The actual things we did on this excursion were great! We did see whales, the beach was beautiful, the horseback ride was super fun, and the waterfall was absolutely breathtaking! Communication via what's app before the tour was great, and we were set for a fantastic day. But then there were so many problems. It started when the driver who picked us up from our hotel didn't speak English. That was OK; we speak a little Spanish and we realize that we are in a Spanish speaking country! The problem was that he seemed to enjoy the other Spanish speaking passengers much more and catered to their music taste, playing Spanish rap songs very loudly as they all sang along. Granted, we did't say anything about the music, so I guess we can't complain about that. After the super long ride, he gave us to our guide for the day. This guide does speak English but he was not very helpful in explaining what we were waiting for, that we would be in his group or that we could enjoy the fruits and sandwiches while we waited. As we boarded the catamaran for the whale watching portion, we were required to wear the life jackets. Other than that, there was no other information given. It would have been helpful for them to explain that we would be in rough seas, that we would get wet from the water spray of the catamaran. It was a fun, but crazy, ride out to the whales. We did get a glimpse of whales about 5 or 6 times, but there was no explanation about why the whales are there, what kind of species they are, where they go the rest of the year. Nothing. At one point, the catamaran driver took off without warning--to get a better view of the whale--but it was so abrupt that people fell over. As we sat on the water watching and waiting for whales, the swells were strong and several people got seasick. This caution would have been helpful in the tour description. After viewing the whales, we made our way to the small island, and it was absolutely beautiful. The tour description says that you will have a Pina colada there, but our voucher was good only for a small cup of soft drink or rum and coke at most. The island and beach were lovely even though the beach chairs looked as though they may have been salvaged from an old cruise ship. There are also many vendors there trying to sell their crafts, cigars, etc. They weren't especially pushy and politely backed away after a "no, gracias." The guide said to meet back at 1:10, but he was unclear as to where to meet back. Then he didn't show back up until about 1:25. We board the catamaran again to go to lunch. This time (and for the next), the life jackets are nowhere to be seen. Not sure why they were so important for the first leg on the water but not the others?? After a quick trip across the bay, we end up at a sketchy looking restaurant, but the views and open air concept were beautiful. Our guide ordered us to wear masks at the restaurant. No problem; we get it. But then it was a buffet where everyone handles the same utensils and the option for salt is to put your hands in a bowl and draw out a pinch. We've had Dominican buffet lunches twice before, but this one just wasn't very good. The chicken was tiny, dark meat pieces, and I didn't try the fried fish. The bathrooms at this place were disgusting! Our guide doesn't give any warning like "we're leaving in 10 minutes," or anything. He just ordered us to go now. We boarded an open safari truck to drive to the waterfall. It was a nice enough ride and allows you to see the countryside. The only real explanation we got about anything along the way was the mall in Samana that he pointed out as we drove past. When we arrived at the next destination, we were quickly saddled on a horse and paired with a local horse handler who would guide us to the waterfall. This was the absolute best part of the day! Although our handlers didn't speak English, we communicated well, and they pointed out various trees (coffee, cocoa, mango, avocado, etc.), stopped to take photos of and for us and did it all with kindness and humor (called my horse a professional 4x4). The waterfall was one of the prettiest we've ever seen, and we've traveled a lot! The horse guides helped us take photos, held our stuff while we swam, and were just overall excellent. After we rode the horses back, our main guide was no where to be found, and we just stood around for almost an hour wondering what we were supposed to do next. We generously tipped our horse guides for they were awesome! However, not everyone on the tour understood that they were expected to tip (Because our main guide gave no helpful hints or information about what to expect) and we saw some very disappointed horse guides and aggravated tour passengers (because they didn't understand they were supposed to pay more). Then began the long journey back to our resort--safari bus ride back to the restaurant, catamaran ride back to the embarkation point and then van ride back to Punta Cana. Our driver promptly met us again to take us home, and I suppose many would appreciate his super careful driving, but it was just annoying to us that he drove so slowly. I understand there are many speed bumps along the road way that he needed to slow down for, but he drove super slow even on deserted straightaways. We were super tired, but again the driver played the music loudly and seemed more concerned with he music selection than on driving. The tour advertised an explanation about coffee and cocoa but we never experienced that at all. The tour said it was 11 hours long, so we expected a long day, but it was over 13 hours! About COVID precautions....there were almost none. The driver wore a mask and we were made to wear the mask in the restaurant, but most did not wear them elsewhere. We were packed closely on the catamaran and closely on the safari bus. Temperatures were never taken. I personally didn't have a problem with it because we were outside the entire time, but for those who are seeking a company with strict protocols in place, this isn't the one. Again, the sites themselves were pretty spectacular, but I believe there are several different tour companies that do this same tour, and I would choose another one besides this one!

This was an amazing full day trip. Be sure to take cash for souvenirs and tipping your guides. I would do this again

Ein sehr schöner Tag mit den Walen. Und Samana ist für mich das was man sich unter Karibik vorstellt. Ist aber eine lange Reise, die sich allerdings lohnt.

La excursión muy buena, los guias bien, lo único la seguridad de regreso en el bote no habian chalecos salvavidas para todos, 20 pasajeros sin chaleco el cual yo incluido y la navegacion es fuerte