UGH!!! DO NOT GO HERE! Worst Cruise Excursion EVER!! (Carnival Mardi Gras)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ต.ค. 2021
- We are not complainers and we look for the good in everything... but we just could not find ANY positives in this excursion!!! We were all so excited to visit the Dominican Republic and planned a great day at the beach with our kids and our friends. Lori and I went to the excursions desk and booked the PlayaBachata All-Inclusive Beach Day as it had good reviews as an excursion and we wanted an AI resort.
Carnival Mardi Gras pulls into the beautiful port of Amber Cove and we explore the port a little before it is time to board the bus to our resort for the day. Immediately upon arrival, I didn't get good vibes when they told us to wait in the lobby and gave no other instructions. Finally, a small lady with an even smaller voice who was very difficult to understand comes to give about 60 people instructions for the day. None of us could hear or understand her except that we had yellow bracelets so we were to stay on 'this' side of the resort....
Well, 'this' side of the resort had no available loungers at the beach... well that were in working order anyway. We found LOTS of broken chairs! The boys used their Lego building skills to take apart the broken chairs and piece them together enough to sit on.
Ok, we have chairs... food and drinks? Service? Nope! No one came to check on us to see if we needed anything... geez us constructing furniture on the beach SHOULD have attracted someone! We found a long line in which we could get drinks... they were ok. But the food... sorry, I don't eat food with bugs on it!
Needless to say, it was the worst cruise excursion experience we have ever had!!! We were on the first shuttle back to the ship where we enjoyed the rest of the day... and went to the shore excursions desk to request a refund!
#WorstCruiseExperience #TerribleCruiseExcursion #CarnivalMardiGras
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I apologize from the bottom of my heart that you had this experience in my country!!! Just know that not all places are like that and that is a disgrace for us Dominicans that any resort is in this conditions. Please give it another shot and go back and enjoy my beautiful Dominican Republic.
Oh this is absolutely nothing against DR!! My daughter-in-law is from DR and we are planning a big trip there, hopefully next year. This was just a terrible resort!
Awwww Sweetie! I’m sure no one holds this against your people or country! You’re so sweet to apologise! If I had the cash I’d visit in a heartbeat…just not to that particular locale.
Claudia, you have no reason to apologize. The business does and that's fine. They can improve and I hope they have done so.
I don’t think you should have to apologize for not have enough beach chairs. The beach looked fine.
Unbelievable carnival is not inspecting these excursions any better than this. I mean that didn’t just happen over nite. Thanks for the vlog I’ll be extra precautions going forward. Love how you guys always keep it real no matter what. 🙌🏼
Yeah no kidding! They said they would go inspect it now.
@@EECCTravels did you and your family get a full refund? The quality of that ship excursion was abysmal such a shame you wasted your day there - and that you couldn't return to the ship sooner huh?? 😉 at the end of the day carnavil need to know about it and what poor quality it is as they need to put a stop sell on it and refund anyone pre booked for future cruises as if they don't it's their reputation at stake. - does your travel insurence allow you to claim for a days lost enjoyment?- Seriously; you should look into it your video is all the evidence you should need- put in the claim and see how you go?
David Young 37 Brisbane Australia
Based on your video review I will not be going there and I have a trip coming up next year
WOW….you know it’s bad when you guys don’t like it because you generally find and focus on the “good” in everything😬😬
Yeah, there was just no good here.
Thank you for your honest review and keeping it 100% real. I sure hope you all not only got your full refunds back on the excursions, but something extra for the trouble.
I'm so glad I watched this video because I was going to book this excursion when I cruise on the Mardi Gras next month. Now I know not to waste my money, Thanks!
Same here. I’ll be there in feb
I’ll be there in March
Alisa and Jason i posted this in the 2 fb groups im in as we are going to Amber Cove the last week of October on our cruise on the Freedom. One lady said she was actually thinking of booking this and is glad she saw this..
This video showcases one of my favorite things about cruising. That it is really really hard to have a bad day. Even when things go negative, you're on vacation and there is an awful lot of positives. and sometimes you just have to make your best day with a plan B, like you guys did in summer landing after getting back on the ship.
I'm just so impressed with your boys' ingenuity in fixing the chairs!
Hope it was still quality family time - some of my family’s funniest shared experiences were terrible - yet they crack us up for years to come! My son and I went to a Starbucks in Niagara Falls that had bugs - lots and lots of them - crawling all over the food in the display case! We took video and laugh hysterically every time it comes up in memories!! That’s one part of the trip none of us will ever forget!
Love to watch you spend time with your boys. Good kids giving their perspective is so valuable. Thank you!
You book a cheap azz cruise to a poverty stricken island not sure what you were expecting.
I love watching you guys you guys sure know how to have a great time and I appreciate the videos that you put out for us
I talked to you about this resort while we were sailing away. Nice to see you on board. And glad you did this video. The resort looked so good from the ship
When we went to Dominican we hired a private driver (not thru carnival). He drove us all over the island, do anything we wanted. Went to see sloths / monkeys, did an all inclusive beach for 3 hrs (could have stayed longer or shorter- our choice) eat at a small restaurant the locals eat at. We did a lot of other stuff. Best part it was cheap compared to all the other thru carnival and we essentially combined two and half of the excursions they offered.
There were several places we would say… pull over here and just take a couple pictures (our driver would take pictures of our family for us also).
Correction: I was thinking of Roatan Honduras.
Name of driver or outfitter please?
@@Wire-Free sorry… I got my ports mixed up, in Dominican I think we just stayed near the port. It was in Roatan Honduras (I corrected my post). At Roatan is was Victor Bodden Tours that we enjoyed so much.
Carnival doesn’t just owe you a refund, they also owe you obc for the time you lost. The cruise lines are expected to make sure their excursions are top notch. I’ve been on several excursions on other lines that included a cruise staff member to make sure the experience was great. Not good Carnival. Thanks for the great content Jason and Alisa! Sorry you had a yucky day.
It might have been hard for them to check out new excursions because of covid.
Yeah I agree! We only got a 50% refund… I think it should have been fully refunded.
@@EECCTravels i would have showed them the video..
@@EECCTravels really? only half a refund?? That is terrible!! Where is the customer service?!!!
@EECC Travels it makes me wonder if they still have it listed as an excursions? I'm sure you weren't the only ones to complain.
we just were in amber cove on 10/15/21. I was given a deep sea fishing trip excursion by my wife as it has been a bucket list item for a long time. we had a great time , everyone caught something, with a total of 6 mahi mahi, 2 wahoo and one bonito tuna for the 4 hour trip. my beautiful wife just hung out at the amazing free pool area in port and relaxed. I'm sorry you had a bad time, we have enjoyed watching y'alls adventures, hope y'all have many more happy travels.
That sounds amazing!
DR is one of the most safest ports we have been to , we rented a local cab for the day and he brought us all over to see the culture. And we had our kids . Love love DR . We even flew there to an all inclusive resort for a week in 2019 . Can’t wait to go back.
Thanks for the honest review. And now I’ll remember to check both the reviews from Carnival and directly from the resort.
We just cruised on Mardi Gras to Amber Cove and went to Casa En Playa and it was really good. It's small but cozy and the service is top-notch. They really make you feel welcome. This was our second time there. I hate that you all had a bad time at Playa Bachata
Thank you so much for letting us know! 🥰
Good to know. Thank you for the great info. Happy bday boys!!! 🎈🎈🎈
Thank you so much for the public service announcement. We’re booked on the Mardi Gras and will be going to the DR, and we appreciate the info. Forewarned is forearmed. Excellent video.
The good, the bad, and the ugly. We know you truly have good hearts, but these types of reviews are very helpful. Thanks for your honesty, along with a video to back it up.
Thank you so much for warning all of us. So glad you didn't eat any of the food. It's not worth getting sick on your vacation.
Wow thanks for warning us! I believe in second chances on most things so hopefully they’ll fix all issues soon. I’m glad y’all didn’t get food poisoning or cripple from beach chairs but dang I’m sorry y’all had such a bad experience!!
Hey really enjoy yall cruise vlogs thanks for sharing your experience with that excursion so no one else will have that experience
THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS, we were between this excursion just to chill or the cliff jumping excursion for some adventure. I think we will stick to adventure.
Thanks so much for this real time review. For the money they ask I would think that carnival would better inspect the places they recommend . I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this as this was a maybe on our upcoming trip. So thanks for not letting us waste our time ! You guys rock!
We are leaving for a cruise this week. We have watched several of your videos this morning. Subscribed! Thanks for the honest reviews
Thank you for your honesty I often wonder about the cruise ship
Reviews I am now going to check the reviews online for theses resorts !!!!
We went to a "Lifestyles resort all inclusive beach" excursion and it was fine. Food was good, loungers were good, but the beach wasn't really accessible because of the strong current/waves. So, we went back to the port and really enjoyed our time at the Amber cove port pool.
Sorry you had to go through that horrible experience! Hope you got a refund, but thank you for being honest and posting the review!
If you go back to DR, when we went we did ATV tour with Marysol Tours. It was a bit of a walk out of the port to the meeting spot but it was a great experience all around and I would recommend. When we go back on the Mardi Gras next year probably will just experience the port but great memories, photos and video with the ATVs. It was me and my wife's first time riding them.
Yikes!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the heads-up about that resort at Amber Cove. I will be there next year in September and have yet to decide where to go for excursions!
Thanks for sharing your experience- sorry to see the “resort” sucked. I was there in Aug on Mardi Gras and we did the waterfalls & monkeyland excursion thru Carnival and it was absolutely fantastic.
Yes monkey land is awesome
When we went to amber cove in the Dominican we did the outback mega truck excursion and enjoyed it. Itcwas nice to see the countryside away from the tourist area.
Had to click on this immediately.
A terrible review is always more interesting than a good one.
We didn't do any excursions on our one Amber Cove visit. Kinda glad now.
Doesnt mean all of the excursions are bad. The waterfall and atv one is awesome. ❤️
Thank u for an honest review. Many vloggers only give positive reviews.
We try to find the positives but just couldn’t here!!
thanks so much for the honest review! I do a lot of research before booking any excursions. So far I’ve been very lucky and have had only good experiences, and I would have been livid if I’d experienced what you did. So glad you had friends to make the best of it with though.
Thank you so very much for your vlogs. At some point I do want to do a group cruise with you and your family. I found you guys through Life with Favor and ParoDeeJay. You all are awesome. Just dealing with some family things for now, but stay safe and have fun ~ Thank you again for all your vlogs. Camping or cruising. :)
We hope you can join us!
Thanks for the heads up!
We did La Casa en La Playa with Carnival in Amber Cove. It was absolutely amazing. No pool but the drinks flowed and the food was just delish!
I did this one. Mama was fantastic and the food and drinks were too.
I just want to say the time I spent in the DR its the great people there I asked alot of question about there country when I was there and all answered with truthfulness and great pride genuine people im for 1 going back
Oh no! Sorry for the bad experience. My Husbae, and I will be hitting this port later this year. Thanks for the heads up.
Glad to see this because we stop there in November. I think we're just planning on the Carnival pool area right at the port.
That's what my kids and I did when we went there and it was great, plus we didn't waste any time traveling back and forth.
I’m on Carnival in November also, I am so glad I saw this, I might just enjoy Amber Cove from our balcony.
Thanks for letting us know about this excursion. I appreciate your honesty so I won’t be going there on my upcoming cruise 🚢
I appreciate your honesty!
Watching this video reminded me of a bad movie, where you would continue to watch to see if there was a good ending. I even felt better to see you enjoy yourself once you were back on the Ship. Thanks for the heads up. I hope the rest of your cruise was enjoyable.
Food poisoning no one wants when on holiday for sure! So glad you managed to get back onboard & enjoy the fresh food there. Side note: your boys are lovely. Polite well rounded young men - well done to you all ✌️👍🙏💕😎👏
Holy crap that food wasn't even pretending to be on safe food handling practices. WOW
I'm headed to Puerto Plata in January on the Escape. I had to immediately check to see which of the resorts I was booked at. Thanks for being honest you all
It makes me so sad to hear you had such bad experience in my country. I hope you don't stop going because of this. We Dominicans are very hospitable and happy people. So sorry to hear that
We will be back! We know this was not typical.
We went to Amber Cove in 3/2019 and did a snorkel excursion and had a blast! It was called Freestyle Catamaran.
I appreciate the review; one thing, though--you commented that ". . . it was like a hurricane came thru here and they threw the chairs back on the beach." Isn't that EXACTLY what happened?
If that's the case this resort should close for repairs, instead of offering a sub par excursion at full price. Would you purchase a car with 50,000 mile on it and be expected to pay the new car price?
I blame Carnival for this. After all, they're partnering with the resort. It's their responsibility to make sure the resort is as top notch as their ship, or there's a problem. And I felt bad for your friends. So now we know.
good to see ur still cruising with the boys!
Thank you for your review
Excellent video guys. I greatly appreciated your honesty and did not think you were being crybabies for complainers. I'm glad you got 50% refund but it should have been 100%.
As a disabled right leg amputee I would've been extremely upset. Not being able to use the pool. It doesn't any better for the beach. I don't ever use my disability as a excuse for anything.
I’m here for the first time. I love your family vibe!
WOW!!!! thanks for the heads UP
OMG! Thanks for the Heads up!
Great Vlog as usual. Sometimes you visit places and they aren't always up to snuff. This place unfortunately wasn't up to snuff.
Thank you so much for sharing this I was going my research on this place…thank god you have saved me the headache..also sorry you had a bad experience
Glad I could help!
Ok, I need to cruise with you all!
Thanks for the 411; my wife & I are headed to Amber Cove in December!
I love the sun behind the clouds too!!
We're going to Amber Cove when we cruise Sky Princess in January. I'm glad to see what not to do!
I loved the Amber Cove pool area run by Carnival . had a great time and everything was clean and like new,
Yesssss! Absolutely beautiful and it was free lol. The food was good and inexpensive, zip lines were inexpensive, waterside was fun too. We caught a cab to a beach and it was horrible! Wild dogs, old chairs, the entire area was suspect. We hopped right back in the cab, wasted $40, and went right back to amber cove lol. It was just beautiful ❤
You guys are a riot!
The “port” at Amber Cove is very nice. Has a nice pool area & water sports (for rent) plus some shopping. Spend a few hours there & jump back on the ship for a great day. 😀 We didn’t gamble on the excursions based on feed back…
Oh man what a disappointment. Thank you for your candor -that really sucks!
So sorry for the bad experience. We go to a AI resort in Freeport Bahamas that gets alot of cruisers on day passes and it is much better than this. It still is not like a Cancun-type mega resort, but it does have a beautiful beach (with serviceable chairs!) and a great snorkeling reef. They do also have a rocky ocean which I think you actually need if you want good snorkeling and sometimes the food (veggies) leave alot to be desired. Hopefully this one has just been bought and they are in the process of updating. Definately Carnival needs to re-evaluate it as an excursion. We had a bad experience in Antigua on a cruise and we did just as you did, took the first shuttle back to the ship! Hope the rest of the cruise was great! Enjoy your vlogs!
Love the ominous music for the food part. LOL. 🤣 The pool situation is horrible, which means the water isn't going through the filter!
Holy crap hole. I would have left too. Usually the cruise companies have rated these. Ps hope it still was a good family day. You all are amazing for always being up front in this world. Ps your boys are creative. Loved the Ikea comment. Lol
WOW!!! I went to Amber Cove back in 2019 when the Carnival Magic was making trips there and we rode horses in DR, then went back to loot the shops before boarding. Then I don't think they had a beach excursion, but they had a resort type area with a swimming pool surrounded by a bar. Now I see why they didn't offer a beach excursion.
Omg I love ur videos
Love from 🇬🇧🇬🇧
Thank you 😊
Sorry you had a bad time. Thank you for this review.
Let's not forget that
1) they've been closed for 18 months and have no money to make repairs or basic upkeep.
2) they were hit with Tropical Storm Fred just two months ago and were without electricity or water for the longest time.
3) The reviews on Carnival's site were mostly 2 years old. The recent reviews are bad. 29 one star reviews, 11 two star reviews, all complaining about food, chairs and lack of service per skeleton crew.
4) I disregard comments about rocky beaches or water conditions or weather as that cannot be helped.
5) it's a poverty stricken country
6) let's hope Playa makes a lot of positive updates and repairs.
I'm glad you did this review as it will help keep others from making the same mistake. I'll share this with my cruise group on Elation that will be there in two weeks.
I think I'm going to use the pool and zip line stuff right there at the port. 😉
All of those bad reviews were since our cruise which was @3 weeks ago. I left one myself. I understand the problems here but Playa Hotels should keep their properties up better. They are a chain, not locally owned.
@@EECCTravels I figured that one was yours. 😉 Some of the other comments people made though were a bit over the top. But yeah you're right, as a chain they should pull from other sources to repair and upkeep what they have.
Sorry you had a bad experience. We are going to be in DR next December so won’t choose that excursion. I hear your in CT now and apple picking. WELCOME and enjoy. We are not a big state so can go thru with an wink of an eye. You definitely have to get some apple cider donuts!!!
The waterfalls is one of the best excursions i've ever done, second to the bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Sorry you picked the short straw :(
We stayed a week in PR and went to bioluminescent bay. Must have been an off time, we seen nothing, can you suggest a good time to go
I love deck 8 as well, it is the best! Sorry your excursion was so a bad. I am going back on the Mardi Gras in Dec and I can't wait to get to deck 8 😀
I had an amazing time at my excursion in Amber Cove and had the absolute best hospitality
TY TY TY! I've been looking for video reviews on this so I can figure out if we want to do this excursion...I think I've made up my mind lol
Glad I could help!
Thanks for the advice. Wife and I will be there in feb.
I’m so sorry you guys had this experience there. In September 2019, we were on the Pride and got diverted to Amber Cove because of hurricane Dorian. We picked this excursion. 6 in our group (ages 45 to 73). The place was beautiful. The food was amazing and the drinks were plentiful. My uncle was excited to try different beers which they had several to choose from. I will agree that the beach was rocky and the pool needed some additional entrance steps. Our experience is nothing like you had. I wonder if it because of COVID? But thank you for sharing…we won’t select this excursion if we go in the future.
Yeah the excursion had really good reviews, that is why we chose it. When I went back, those were all pre-Covid. Lots have left bad reviews in the last few weeks.
Covid has done a huge number on people but at least you’re able to travel - I can’t go further than 10km from home and have a curfew
We leave this weekend and we will be in Amber Cove. Thanks so much for your honest review! Were you able to get a refund? I also saw another vlog that had a horrible experience there. Thanks for your vlogs. !
We got a 50% refund
@@EECCTravels I am surprised they did not refund the whole thing. I would send the link to this video to the CEO.
@@EECCTravels I bet Royal Caribbean would of refunded 100%.. Thank You Guys for honest reviews
@@EECCTravels 50% that's outrageous. Imagine how many people see this. Terrible advertising. You should get 150% refund.
Thank you for letting us know.
We went to an all inclusive on Roatan that was awesome. Offered on Liberty of the Seas. We had lobster for lunch and non stop cocktails!
My jaw dropped seeing those flies!!!! And I chuckled at the IKEA comment!!
We had the same experience there in 2018. I can't believe it's not gotten any better. I didn't know we could request refunds or else we would have!
Omg that food was disgusting- you picked the perfect music. The IKEA comment was brilliant
We go to punta Cana every year in the Dominican waaaayyyy different from where you guys went lol
The bees on the food!! I'm sorry that made me laugh! I wouldn't have eaten anything, not wanting to get sick!!
I guess bees are better than flies… but yeah, I wouldn’t eat!
See now I’m scared 😳 We will be doing it as a Bubble Tour in the am.
Funny thing… we talked to someone who had done the bubble tour here and they said it was nice. They were on the other side of the resort. I couldn’t believe we were at the same resort from what she told me. I hope you have fun!
I'm so sorry. I was on the inaugural sailing on MG. I had an awful snorkeling excursion. There were enough complaints that Carnival refunded all of us
😮 sorry y’all experienced that. Thanks for sharing. I hope Carnival made it right.
We cruised carnival liberty to Nassau. Our excursion was swimming with dolphins. Super cool! But the resort(Sandles, I believe), was about like yours here lol
I was there last week so I’m going to comment on this resort. We were on the bubble tour side. We did not have any issues with the chairs but I’m sure that’s because the regular side see a lot more traffic and things started breaking down. That really sucks that you all experience that.
When you said you weren’t having a good time but y’all were on your way to get food and you hope it’s good, I started laughing thinking, they have no idea haha. From your video you guys food was waaaaaayyy better than ours. We had hot dogs cut up in ketchup. It looked like we got the leftover from what you all didn’t eat. The food was terrible. The absolute worst. I’m glad we had a good breakfast before getting off the ship.
We had watched and read reviews beforehand and some stated the beach was rocky. We bought water shoes and had no issues with the rocks.
Our drinks were also pretty good. It was an open bar and we had pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris. I’m not sure about the beer because I don’t drink beer.
Because we were on the bubble tour, we didn’t have access to the pool.
Overall we would do it again as a bubble tour. If we weren’t limited to bubble tours we’d probably try something else. But we all had fun on our side of the beach. Except the food haha.
We had a very similar experience at Amber Cove on the zip line and beach day tour. Unfortunate. This was our first DR experience.