Excellent day - The beach at Samana is worth the trip! Long bus ride to the boat but that was made clear to start. We had a wonderful lunch on the beach (after a swim and a drink) then into an open truck to the horses. The ride was rough and mucky,don't wear good shoes. The waterfall is gorgeous and the water refreshing. The home back up to the horses tested my legs but I made it. All in all a great day. Samuel is a great guide, educating us on the DR way of life. And kudos to Wilton for driving a full sized coach bus through the skinny street s of rural DR!

Samuel is a great tour guide. - Be prepared for a 13+ hour trip. Besides the long bus drives, the trip is great. You'll stop and a small store, take a caterman to Barcardi Island swim and have lunch, from there you'll take the caterman to Samoma, take a safari truck to horseback ridding/waterfall. From there it's back to the caterman to head back to the resort making another pit stop at the small store.. Samuel is a great tour guide!

Awesome - Excellent tour. Samuel Martinez was awesome and very knowledgeable. Great trip. The kids and family enjoyed themselves very much. Thank You Samuel.

Put this excursion on your list! - This was an incredible overview of Samana! Our tour guide Samual was incredible, he made us feel welcome and had a bright personality! This trip has it all in one! The city, mountains, islands, and best of all horses!

Beautiful scenery, exciting adventure marred by constant begging for tips. - We went on the whale watching and water fall excursion. We enjoyed it. Many people did work hard to pull it off. The down side was the constant begging for tips. We did manage to see some humpback whales. Whenever there was a sighting, the Captain of the catamaran rushed us to the spot. All of the zipping back and forth on the water, and the rolling waves caused many people to be seasick. I was pleased that there were life jackets for all of us on this section of the tour. We had an hour stop on an island beach with an opportunity to buy souvenirs or sample from the bar. We rode on the catamaran to another spot for lunch where tips were expected. We rode in an open safari vehicle to the waterfall. It took nearly an hour. The views were amazing. It was great to see the villages and lush vegetation. At the waterfall site, we were assigned horses to ride. There were helmets to wear. Ours were in good shape but some were not. It was a very muddy ride in for us. Our group had two excellent volunteers. They took photos for us and were very helpful. We rode the horses for about half an hour to the stairs to the waterfall. There was about 200 stairs to the swim an the falls. It was beautiful and worth the strenuous hike down and back up to the horses. Apparently, the horse volunteers are unpaid and rely on tips for income, which seems a crime. The tour guide told us that $10 US was considered a good tip for the people helping with the horses. When we tipped that amount the “volunteers” were definitely not happy. We had a catamaran ride back to our bus with no life jacket in sight. When we left the catamaran they took a jug around for tips. The bus ride back to our hotel was over an hour. As we left the bus the driver was tapping his basket so you would be sure and put in a good sized tip. The guide also wanted a tip. The tour was expensive enough that tips should have been optional or at least shared among all the people working. The harassment for tips was a big downside to the tour for us! For us, the trip started at 6:30 am and ended at 9:15 pm. It was a strenuous but great day.

Okay - The bus picked us up at 6:40am on time and we had to stop at another restaurant to wait for other people. They offered sandwiches and coffee while we waited. We drove the 2 hours on the bus, and the scenery was amazing. You get to see a lot, especially the houses and small towns where people live and work. We arrived at the boat port and got on a boat where we travelled for 40 minutes to Bacardi Island, the island was beautiful!! It also wasn’t very busy. There were many vendors bugging you to buy things every couple minutes, and the same ones would ask you multiple times. It got somewhat frustrating so we stayed in the water to avoid them. We expected the beach to be nicer, it was covered in seaweed and smelled very badly like fish. The meal was average. We had about 2 hours On the island. Then we went by boat to Samana which was a 15 minute ride. We got on the safari truck which was about a 30 minute ride to the horses. The truck ride was not bad at all, we expected way worse. You get used to the craziness of the driving here. The worst part of the excursion was the horse back riding. We were not told that it was “mandatory” to tip the guides $10 for walking us to the waterfall. We didn’t bring extra money. When you are waiting to get on the horses, they pick and choose who they want to take depending on how well off you look. They look for people that appear to tip well. There were a couple tourists that they almost refused to take, until the tour guide made them. They didn’t speak any English, and when we tried to explain that we didn’t have any money due to not being told beforehand, they didn’t understand and got mad at us for not having money. One of the store owners that did speak English told us that if we bought something from him, he would give us cash back for the guides, but we didn’t even have cash in the first place, so he was just trying to scam us. The horses didn’t look malnourished, however we did feel terrible riding them and seeing them being lightly whipped anytime they went slower. My horse fell when I was on it and the guide just started yelling at it to get up and whipped it, meanwhile the pathway is extremely rocky and in poor condition for the horses. Once we got to the waterfall, it was over crowded and there wasn’t anywhere to leave our bags, so we didn’t go in the water, we just relaxed for a bit. The hike back up from the waterfall was intense, if you are out of shape or have a health issue you will really struggle. Since the horse guides knew we didn’t have money, they didn’t talk to us on the ride back and you could tell they were very mad at us. After this, the rest of the day was just transportation back: the safari truck, the boat and then the bus. It was about a 13 hour day in total. Our tour guide was amazing and made the trip worth it. Overall, it was an okay excursion, the sight seeing and the beach were good, but the horse back riding and waterfall was not good. I wouldn’t recommend this excursion due to the animal abuse and the way they make people feel uncomfortable if they don’t tip well. They also gave us a speech about how they do this as volunteer work and rely on the tips, however that is not true.

beautiful places outshined by the animal cruelty - Bacardi Island is truly a paradise. The tour can be a bit rough if you are not the sporty type. The long bus ride was not something that bothered me because I was warned beforehand. What was really horrible, and if I could, I would give a negative rating, was the horseback ride to the waterfall. The level of animal abuse is absurd. All the horses are very skinny, some of them scarred, without eyes, a real horror. I asked about this beforehand and was assured that the animals were well treated. When I saw that this was not the case and refused to get on the horse, the guide told me that it was impossible to reach the waterfall on foot, which is not true. So I got on the horse and the so-called "gringuero" poked my horse every time it walked at a slower pace. All along the way this gringuero told me how poor he was and how much he needed money, making it clear that I would have to tip him for abusing the animal. Upon arriving at the waterfall my friends and I decided not to comply with the cruelty and decided to walk back. I gave 10 dollars to the gringuero and thanked him, saying I would not return on horseback. At this he became angry, complained about the tip and said that the trail (which he does on foot and probably several times a day) is very difficult to do without a horse. Clearly he didn't want to lose his tip. Anyway, I only recommend this tour if the company changes its policy and no longer uses horses for the journey to the waterfall. Maybe some customers with poor physical condition cannot do the tour, but to connive with animal cruelty is not good for the company's reputation.

You end up traveling more than participating in activities - You do more traveling than participate in the activities. Depending on where your hotel is, it's about 3-4 hours each way. Our entire activity including traveling was probably around 16 hours and of that, only about 5-6 hours was from doing activities. The remaining hours were spent traveling from place to place in a small packed safari-type truck. We were told we would be riding through the jungle, but didn't. The beach was pretty nice, but I expected something a bit nicer. Food was pretty good as well. I thought we were going to do horseback riding on the beach, but instead you ride them on the way to the waterfall. Also, I got stuck with a donkey and not a horse (haha). I came during august 2021 and it was super muddy, but they have boots they give you and are optional, but you have to pay for socks ($3). I still got pretty dirty. After the horses take you down pretty far, you have to walk down about 250 steps to access the waterfall. Going down isn't hard, but going up was pretty tiring. Once you're at the waterfall, it's super packed with a lot of people, but the waterfall is beautiful. I made the mistake of wearing makeup and somewhat dressing up. By the end of the day, I was extremely sweaty. Personally, I don't think the money was worth it. It's a bit too far for only doing a few activities. Not the luxury experience I was hoping for.

Complete dishonesty. - This was the worst excursion we've ever had of any kind anywhere. We were so careful to ask all the correct questions. The seller of our excursion actually called Go Excursions and put them on speaker right in front of us to accurately answer our questions. Each and every answer given was the opposite of the reality of our excursion. The answers were out and out lies again and again. They cared about not a single thing except taking your money. My wife and I have traveled extensively, we've gone on many excursions of every sort all over the Caribbean. Never have we dealt with complete and utter dishonesty on this level. I'm so mad at myself for not checking reviews BEFORE you hand over money.

THOSE POOR HORSES DO NOT GIVE THIS COMPANY YOUR MONEY!! - My family & I booked this tour through our TUI hotel rep there were 5 of us & we paid £138 each. I can honestly say that it was the worst day ever - please do not waste your money. We were collected at our hotel at 6.40 am, we loaded onto a filthy smelly, battered old coach & was taken to an office where we were checked in for our tour, given our wristbands & 'breakfast' which consisted of a sandwich - filling unknow, a packet of stale biscuits & black coffee. We boarded our coach - Francisco was our tour guide. He went through the itinerary for the day & from then on barley communicated with the group. After a couple of hours on the coach we arrived at a port, we were instructed by Francisco to follow him down the road to board a boat. After a shortish boat ride to Bacardi beach, we were instructed to meet Francisco for lunch in just over an hour. Drinks that were available on the beach - water, Pepsi or rum and coke. The beach was beautiful - ruined by the fact that we were constantly harassed by traders, & photographers. We met Francisco who had chosen to just whistle at us to get our attention (we were now his group of dogs!). I am being generous by describing lunch as edible....there was pasta salad, rice, potatoes of some description, sliced white stale bread & unidentifiable meat. We were give a token for water, Pepsi or coffee (one per person). Francisco loaded his plate of food and sat on his own without making any attempt of conversation with the group. A member of our group was stung by a jelly fish & approached Francisco for advise and medical assistance - he pointed her towards a table which had a first aid kit on it. We then went back to the port & onto a boat where we are offloaded to 3 trucks which took us to the waterfalls. My god that was a terrifying journey - driver flying round blind bends overtaking lorry's with his hand on the hooter - 45 min later we arrived at the horse trail. As soon as we arrived 3 of the 5 of us decided that we did not want to ride the horses, they did not look well kept & we preferred to walk. Francisco said anyone can walk if they choose to do so - he did not come on the trail with us & instead chose to stay at the bar area. We set off on foot - 50 min walk through thick mud & horse excrement over rocky mostly unusable paths. Thankfully mid way we saw a guide who advised us to use a stick as support. During the walk was where we witnessed the sheer cruelty toward the poor over worked, battered horses. The guides were constantly hitting the horses with little sticks, we saw one guide hit a horses legs with force with a thick bamboo cane. The horses were very thin, some of the hoofs were bent over, and not groomed at all. The terrain was so difficult for them & if they fell they were shouted at and hit by the guides - it was heartbreaking to witness! We finally made it to the point there the horses were tethered and everyone had to travel the rest of the way by foot to the waterfall. The area smelt so strongly of horse urine - the horses were left without any shade or water. We started the decent to the waterfall - approx. 250 steep steps to get there. The waterfall was very pretty but we overheard a guide telling others not to swim as the water was contaminated (surely that should have been information passed to us by Francisco who was happily propping up the bar at this point!). Jumping now to the 2 members of our party who chose to go on the horses (my 25 year old son & his girlfriend) - on the return from the waterfall, the 2 young guides were having a conversation between themselves & suddenly without warning the guide who was with my son galloped ahead leaving his girlfriend alone with her guided who started to harass her for money. She said she did not have money & which point the guide was telling her to ask 'papa', she said that none of us had any money to give. The guide stopped asking for money & instead chose to hit her leg 'accidently on purpose' each time he struck the horse thereafter We finally got back to the coach to take us back to our hotel 6pm. Francisco did not count anyone on to make sure he was not leaving anyone behind. He did not say on word the whole journey back - in fact his behavior was becoming increasingly strange and worrisome. He chose at on point to wear a beanie hat, with a cap on top & a carrier bag on top of that! Mid way through the coach ride home, he came to the middle of the coach & sat next to a passenger & fell asleep, the driver had to wake him when we got to the 1st hotel drop off! That was also a complete mess which took us round in circles past the same hotel 3 times. We eventually returned back at our hotel at 9pm - thankful to be alive!!!