Valerie
2 years ago
The only reason this review is getting 2 stars instead of 1 star is because we were given a 50% refund but we should have had a full refund.
Be aware that Casa Daniel is just a booking agent for excursions to Saona and Catalina island and they do not run them themselves. Once you鈥檝e paid, you鈥檙e passed to a third party and left to suffer. Hardly anything of what is advertised on their website actually takes place. It鈥檚 really just a booze cruise. Their website uses phrases like 鈥渨ith our motor catamaran we visit the beautiful beaches . . . 鈥?but it鈥檚 not their catamaran and they don鈥檛 come on the trip with you.
We were put onto a catamaran which didn鈥檛 have enough seats for all the passengers meaning many of us had to sit on the floor which was very uncomfortable. It was a booze cruise and not a tour as advertised. There was no English speaking guide, and in fact, there was no guiding at all, despite the website saying 鈥渨ith your English speaking guide providing information to the National Park鈥? We had no information about the national park at all. It was simply a case of blast out the music at full volume and dance and drink rum. The music was so loud that it really upset our children. We asked 3 times for it to be turned down a bit, but each time they turned it up again after a couple of minutes.
The 鈥渘atural swimming pool鈥?was anything but natural. There were at least 15-20 boats there all with 25-50 people each. This clearly happens every day and so there were no sign of the expected red starfish and no sign of any marine life whatsoever.
The promised snorkelling did NOT happen. The trip to the fishing village with guided tour did NOT happen. The food at Saona island was disgusting and they ran out of bread. We had pre-booked a vegetarian meal for my wife but the boat crew knew nothing about this. Similarly, I had followed the information on their website which said 鈥渙n request, chicken or fish can be reserved in advance鈥?but this was not done and due to dietary requirements all I could eat were some potatoes. There certainly wasn鈥檛 any lobster or pork as suggested on the website.
The beach that we were taken to on the island was probably the worst one available. We passed some lovely beaches with crystal clear turquoise waters and beautiful sand with no seaweed and ended up on a seaweed ridden beach with murky water. There was a stench that was always present that smelt like a sewer.
We had a speed boat on the way back which was much more fun than the catamaran as we didn鈥檛 have music blaring down our ears. The big problem here though was one of safety in that there were no child or infant sized life jackets and so they wore the same ones as adults 鈥?this made the life jackets not only uncomfortable, but completely pointless as the kids would just fall out of them.
On the way back we were expecting 鈥渃olourful Caribbean fish you see on our last stop when we stop for snorkelling shortly before Bayahibe鈥?鈥?this did NOT happen either.
I would suggest that this place sticks to its scuba diving as that鈥檚 what it appears to get good reviews for and it should ditch the excursions for which it is a booking agent. We had hoped to go with them on a trip to Catalina and for me to do some scuba diving, but needless to say we don鈥檛 trust them to do that properly. I had been asking for over a week which day they would be doing the Catalina trip and Penon dives, but they are so disorganised that they still didn鈥檛 know what days they would be running them on the day we arrived for the Saona trip.
If they鈥檇 have given us a full refund, I may have gone for 3 stars instead of 2, but we have still had a day of our precious holiday ruined by this booking agent who deliberately misrepresented what was on offer.
Be aware that Casa Daniel is just a booking agent for excursions to Saona and Catalina island and they do not run them themselves. Once you鈥檝e paid, you鈥檙e passed to a third party and left to suffer. Hardly anything of what is advertised on their website actually takes place. It鈥檚 really just a booze cruise. Their website uses phrases like 鈥渨ith our motor catamaran we visit the beautiful beaches . . . 鈥?but it鈥檚 not their catamaran and they don鈥檛 come on the trip with you.
We were put onto a catamaran which didn鈥檛 have enough seats for all the passengers meaning many of us had to sit on the floor which was very uncomfortable. It was a booze cruise and not a tour as advertised. There was no English speaking guide, and in fact, there was no guiding at all, despite the website saying 鈥渨ith your English speaking guide providing information to the National Park鈥? We had no information about the national park at all. It was simply a case of blast out the music at full volume and dance and drink rum. The music was so loud that it really upset our children. We asked 3 times for it to be turned down a bit, but each time they turned it up again after a couple of minutes.
The 鈥渘atural swimming pool鈥?was anything but natural. There were at least 15-20 boats there all with 25-50 people each. This clearly happens every day and so there were no sign of the expected red starfish and no sign of any marine life whatsoever.
The promised snorkelling did NOT happen. The trip to the fishing village with guided tour did NOT happen. The food at Saona island was disgusting and they ran out of bread. We had pre-booked a vegetarian meal for my wife but the boat crew knew nothing about this. Similarly, I had followed the information on their website which said 鈥渙n request, chicken or fish can be reserved in advance鈥?but this was not done and due to dietary requirements all I could eat were some potatoes. There certainly wasn鈥檛 any lobster or pork as suggested on the website.
The beach that we were taken to on the island was probably the worst one available. We passed some lovely beaches with crystal clear turquoise waters and beautiful sand with no seaweed and ended up on a seaweed ridden beach with murky water. There was a stench that was always present that smelt like a sewer.
We had a speed boat on the way back which was much more fun than the catamaran as we didn鈥檛 have music blaring down our ears. The big problem here though was one of safety in that there were no child or infant sized life jackets and so they wore the same ones as adults 鈥?this made the life jackets not only uncomfortable, but completely pointless as the kids would just fall out of them.
On the way back we were expecting 鈥渃olourful Caribbean fish you see on our last stop when we stop for snorkelling shortly before Bayahibe鈥?鈥?this did NOT happen either.
I would suggest that this place sticks to its scuba diving as that鈥檚 what it appears to get good reviews for and it should ditch the excursions for which it is a booking agent. We had hoped to go with them on a trip to Catalina and for me to do some scuba diving, but needless to say we don鈥檛 trust them to do that properly. I had been asking for over a week which day they would be doing the Catalina trip and Penon dives, but they are so disorganised that they still didn鈥檛 know what days they would be running them on the day we arrived for the Saona trip.
If they鈥檇 have given us a full refund, I may have gone for 3 stars instead of 2, but we have still had a day of our precious holiday ruined by this booking agent who deliberately misrepresented what was on offer.