Saona Island Sailing Tour - All Inclusive

Top day

It was very fun day, tour guys was very good, a lot of drinks and partying. Island beach is so beautiful. Wouldn't recommend for small children.

Response from the operator: Hi, Thank you for sharing your experience with us! We're thrilled to hear that you had a fantastic day filled with fun, excellent tour guides, and beautiful scenery on the island beach. We strive to create memorable experiences for our guests, and it's wonderful to know that we succeeded with you.

via Tripadvisor

Saona is beautiful- your company 2 thumbs down

Saona island is beautiful and so is the stop to the natural pool. However the tour company running this excursion is really unorganized. The chaos does affect the entire experience. I was well aware this is an all day excursion. First issue pick up instructions were not clear. I thought pick up would be at the front lobby of the hotel. 10 mins prior to pick up I receive a call from the pick up driver saying be at the front gate. My husband and I were confused and Thank God my husband speaks Spanish because we realized we had to walk to the main gate. About a five minute walk. The pick up driver was not the friendliest and really didn’t want to speak to any of us because we all had questions what was going on. We then were dropped off at a gas station where we waited about 30 mins to board a bigger bus. After about 1.5 hours we were finally on the road to the island. However they stopped at this “rest stop”. It was a bathroom Stop and souvenir shop. This place was a mad house. My husband and I decided not to get off. However after about 10 mins we decided to try to get off. Well we couldn’t because we were locked inside the bus. I e tried banging on the windows but the drivers and tour guides were too busy socializing and eating. When we arrived at the pier, more chaos. We finally boarded the speed boat. As I stated the natural pool and the island are beautiful. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend too much time there . I would say we were there a total of 2 hours which was a bit disappointing since it was so beautiful. To leave the island was even worst than boarding. More chaos. When we all finally on the catamaran, it was fine until we had to disembark. What a huge mess!! It took about an hour to get on the right bus to take us to the hotel. Honesty, it appeared that this tour company never did this before which I know isn’t true. It was completely unorganized and brought chaos and upset people. Honesty gained the whole experience. So in conclusion, visit the island just don’t use this tour company.

Response from the operator: Hello, We are sorry to hear that the experience was not to your complete satisfaction. We are taking steps to ensure that similar situations do not occur with future customers.

via Viator

Not worth the money or time

The tour could be improved in many ways. As promised we were picked up and taken back to our hotel, offered food, and beverages. However, this tour lies about many aspects of the trip itself. Before going on this tour, as you can see in the screenshots, I was in contact with the tour operator. They told me we would be in Saona for 3 hours and 30 min. We got to Saona at 12:15 and left at 2:15. That’s exactly 2 hours, not three and 30 min. When going to the island we were a group of 39 people on the speedboat but on the catamaran we were a group of what seemed like 150 people. WE WERE PACKED LIKE SARDINES. You could not find some nice shade or seats. It was absolutely horrible. There was some music in the background which was nice but everyone was completely drunk and like I said NO SPACE. At least let us know that the catamaran will not be a “group of max 45 people” like they say when you book the tour (screenshots attached). Really messed up especially since you’re paying almost $100 per person. Might as well paid a private tour. NOT WORTH THE MONEY. To get off the packed catamarán we had to wait almost 30 min for the speedboat, who is able to dock at the shore, take us back to main island. Absolutely horribly organized. When we finally got to the mainland, the tour guide asked us how we are getting back to our hotel. What?? We literally paid for pickup and drop off. It was a quick fix but I was upset from everything else that happened on the tour. DO NOT PAY FOR THIS. Better to pay for a cheaper one since you’re probably getting the same service.

via Viator

Wish I had stayed at the resort.

The Island was beautiful the water was clear and silky. The tour company was horrible! It was obvious from the get go they have distain for Americans. Our guide was insulting to Americans on more than one occasion saying things like “here in DR we expect tips for good service unlike in America where tips are optional”. Needless to say they didn’t get many tips after that. The drinks were a joke. Maybe a thimble full of rum. The communication (especially in English) was horrendous. The driver let one exceptionally drunk tourist (from her own bottle of alcohol) put it in his coffee while he was driving. Then they pulled over on the side of the highway to make some of us transfer to another bus to get taken back to our hotels. The biggest rip off were the “professional” photographers take over 50 pictures of you in different poses and then tried to pressure you into buying the whole package of pictures at $10 per photo. You could not purchase less than 10. Very disappointing day.

via Tripadvisor

Not a good experience

Hello, I am writing you to let you know how our experience was on the Saona Island tour. We were very disappointed with the lack of organization. we were picked up at the hotel at 7:10. then brought to a gas station to transfer to another bus. this left us waiting there for 45 minutes for the drivers to decide who is taking who. After the 1.5 hr drive there we got to the beach where the boats were. we were left there waiting in the heat for another 90 minutes. This is an all inclusive where we were not even offer a bit of water during the first 4 hours that it took before we even got on the boat! this is unacceptable! Next we stopped in the shallow area to stand in the ocean. this is the first time we were offered any drinks. I the only thing available was cheap rum and coke/sprite. yuck! we hen we finally got to Saona island we were offered more rum and had to wait for 25-30 min in a line up to get a plate of food(the food was ok). The catamaran ride back was good but very crowded which lessened the experience. Everybody on the boat was complaining about the poor organization and all the delays/terrible drinks and long wait for food. Your company needs to do betting this excursion. i think you should refund at least half of what I paid for this trip as it was not worth what you charged. I will also be letting Viatour and expedia know about this experience. Ed

Response from the operator: Hello, Thank you for sharing your experience, this will help us to take measures that can improve the activity. Unfortunately, we cannot offer you a refund as this excursion is a group tour so there will always be more people on the bus and boat. Regarding the travel times, Puntacana is 90 kilometers from Bayahibe. Sometimes we have to pick up clients in different buses and then gather them all in one place so we don't have to make clients go on a pick-up tour of more than 3 hotels. We understand that the times indicated by you may have some error since the boat leaves at 9:30 am which does not say that the time between the pick up in the morning and the departure of the boat does not exceed 3 hours.

via Viator