Saona Island Excursion by Catamaran and Speedboat

Very good, everything was great!!

We were very well served by Kelly upon arrival at the airport

We were picked up at our hotel (7:40am), communicated through WhatsApp (highly recommend you download this app before you travel- they use it a lot to communicate), we did the speedboat to the island an catamaran back. They supplied us with several drinks (a rum liquor & coke and also had sprite or water), lunch on the island (pork, chicken, rice/beans, fresh fruit, pasta salad, spaghetti, bread)- it was all SO good!! Vendors on the beach to buy souvenirs, fresh pineapple drinks (with and w/o alcohol- $10 each), music playing, dancing… just a fun experience all around!! The water was so clear/blue and white sands.. would definitely do it again! **we were dropped back off at our hotel around 6:30pm.. our driver Antonio (excursions director at Sol Cana Tours) was very nice and friendly. Funny, likes to sing and listen to great music while commuting! I cannot remember the bars of our actual excursions leaders, but they were all so nice and made us feel safe.

Excellent service comfortable transportation professional guide, good food and safe boats with a pirate animation pus

Terrible experience was over an hour late being picked up from hotel, the van had no step up into it and no railing to hold onto I hurt my knee and another passenger fell! We stopped along the way and waited for the driver to get food while we just sat in the van waiting, arrived at the location to board the boat with no seating and no shade as we stood there and waited for an hour while buses and vans who were just arriving were loading before us.. we finally board the boat and they start pushing liquor and coke that was the only options that is not how it was advertised there is no bottled water they will pour you a cup of water from a filthy Gatorade jug so who knows when it’s been cleaned if ever? So if you want water or anything else to drink bring your own water! The food on the island was bland with no flavor and not many options I would not consider this all inclusive! While the island be prepared to be eaten alive by bugs it quite filthy and be harassed by people trying to sell you anything and everything.. this was not a relaxing experience.. I have traveled many places all over the world and I’ve never experienced such a terrible tour before. We leave the island after barely 2 hrs there even though it was advertised to be 3 but honestly it was so awful I just wanted to get back to the hotel.. we make the long obnoxiously loud crowded like cattle catamaran ride back to Bayahibe get unloaded and you guessed it we just wait yet again for 25-30 minutes because even though every other boat unloading had their van/bus there ready to load passengers ours was not! Finally it arrives we load up and start to make our way back. We make it about 20 minutes into the drive and we get a flat tire the driver jumps out and basically puts a bandaid on the tire with fix a flat type of a deal.. and continues driving recklessly the duration of the drive as we swerve all over the place I really thought we were going to wreck. We make a stop to drop off two passengers to switch into a different van who were heading to a different location at this point everyone is exhausted and irritated by the way this tour has gone! We then wait at this stop for the two tour guides to go get food at a restaurant yet again!! We begin on our drive for about 15 minutes to make yet another stop the driver stops to get gas by this point all the passengers are angry and frustrated because getting gas food etc all could have and should have been done while we were at the island.. the way this tour was handled was terrible I highly recommend you reconsider unless you want to ruin an entire day of your vacation. Based on reaching out to Viator with the horrible experience everyone in our group had and they blatantly do not care I will never use them or any of their companies ever again. It’s outrageous to me the lack of concern for the actual safety of passengers on a tour they are operating and selling is crazy.. I did reach out to Viator I felt the wreck-less endangerment of everyone in the van we all deserved compensation for this nightmare of a trip! They basically emailed back and said the tour operator sol Cana tour felt we don’t deserve a refund and it’s up to them.. so this makes it clear no matter what danger or harm comes to anyone on a Viator sponsored tour they do not care. So let the be a warning to anyone who is considering suing Viator or sol Cana

Very funny if you don't have someone next to you who gets dizzy or drunk... The duration is the right one more would be exhausting and I would not give you time to enjoy it.

The island was perfect as usual. We seen a lot of star fish before we stopped. But when we did anchor. We searched and only found 2 star fish. We tried to show the young kids around us. But most were too far away. Been on this tour a few times. But seen so many. This was a big let down. I would’ve given a 5 if the boat captain would’ve put us on star fish. There was also an error in pick up. But was fixed for the next day. No problem.

Actually everything was quite fine but the photographers took a lot of photos of us which was also quite good what ... When he wanted 1500 euros for the photos session I already made a real joke of myself he offered another 150 which I also totally over-fanned. And then there were problems with my girlfriend the beautiful day was completely ruined.

Picked us up at Riu Bambu at 7:30 (1/2 hour late). We went to a central meeting place (parking lot) where we sat on the bus for another hour. Finally got to the dock and waited in line for a boat. Got on a speed boat that had an engine problem 1/2 mile out and had to turn around and limp back. Waited for a replacement boat but couldn't get one. 1/2 hour later, limped out to a catamaran for a 2 hour ride to Saoma Island. That was the best part of the trip. We finally arrived at 2:00 pm and by 3:30 we had to leave. All inclusive on the island we were told. The meal was good. The bar was a joke. Rum and coke was the only thing other than water offered. It was in a tiny paper cup about 4 oz and no ice. No beer. Beach was beautiful but ocean was wavy and too agitated for snorkeling and too rocky to walk in. When we got on the oldest speed boat there for our trip back we all expected problems. Few hundred yards out we were turning around again and going back to shore. They forgot 4 people on the island, and we were the last boat leaving. Picked them up and off to Blue Lagoon to snorkel. Beautiful ocean floor about 4 feet deep. We were supposed to see Starfish there but not a living thing to see. 1/2 later back on speed boat for 1/2 or so back to dock. Sat on bus again waiting for an hour and not sure why, but we assumed we were waiting for people. No we were waiting for the guy who wanted to sell us a $20 USD bottle of Mamajuana with our picture on it. Now we knew why they took our pictures before getting on the boats. Most didn't buy it. Finally got back to Riu about 7:30. Mechanical issues happen, but most of our time wasted was because they were so disorganized. Prices were 119 USD to 159 USD per person. Far too expensive for what we got. I would never recommend this tour.

We bought the photos from the photographer on the boat and they were sent but when we got back to the resort they are gone. Nowhere to be found🤷‍♀️