Carnival Magic- Amber Cove, Dominican Republic
Wednesday, June 20th- Amber Cove, Dominican Republic
We started our day off with breakfast in the Lido Marketplace and some entertainment while we waited in line. There was a group of 6 staff members dancing in a conga line around the dining area with a boombox. It was certainly a fun way to start the day! After eating, we debarked the ship and walked the VERY long pier to find our shore excursion group at zone one, as listed on our tickets. Real talk, this pier was long. You'll want to give yourself at least 5 minutes just to get from the ship to the shore excursion group area.
On the long pier walk
It was SO hard to get a good picture of the sign without people in front of it
A waterfall in port
Today's excursion was booked through Carnival and called "Amazing Ultimate Adventure with Lunch" and ran from 9:30am to 2:45pm. It was $115 a person and included a safari truck ride (old military truck) to and from the adventure park, zip-lining on 6 or 7 routes, horseback riding, and a traditional lunch. So we found our group and were waiting about a minute or two when another tour guide came up to our group looking for two or three people to come with him to leave now instead of waiting. I volunteered and we were whisked away to a truck that was fully loaded and ready to go. Woohoo! Our tour guide's name was "Papa Alex" and he said our ride would be about 30 minutes. It was an incredibly bumpy ride to the park, and honestly I didn't feel super safe since there were a lot of road on the edge of cliffs with no guard rails. We did get there safely, thanks to our driver Orlando, around 10:15 and were off for the next stage of our adventure!
I loved how these red plants framed the famous whale tail!
The safari trucks
Our group zip-lined first, which was definitely to our advantage as we ended up eating lunch first after the ziplining and horseback riding, whereas the other group arrived after us and did the two activities in reverse from us and ate second. We got our harnesses put on and the team went over all the safety features of the entire system. They stated a lot of numbers and facts and I can't say for sure that it's the truth but I had no reason to think they were lying about the safety of their equipment. After the safety briefing, we were off! I will say that zip-lining was the part that I was dreading the most, but my husband has this magical way of opening my mind to new experiences and feeling at least semi-comfortable while jumping in.
Obviously these helmets are the hottest new trend:
The stairs up to the first platform
Look at that handsome man ready to go!
Bye bye!
That's the look of a successful zip-line:
That being said, after the first zip-line, I was hooked! Wow, what a thrilling experience. The second route was over a river and was really long, so that was super awesome. The last route was the longest and was so crazy fun. The routes offered a lot of great views of the Dominican Republic mountainside. There was a fair amount of hiking up steps and hills, so we definitely see why it's rated "intermediate" on the activity level. We would almost say it's expert level, especially when it's warm and sunny and depending on how fit that you feel you are. My husband loved the hiking part of the zip-lining and actually wanted to do more haha. It was very warm outside and we were all sweating, so I was going to pass on wanting more hiking.
Wheeee!
"Hiking" to get to the last zip-line route
The views were remarkable
The longest, best, and last zip-line of the day. If you follow the cord up with your mouse you can see the platform I started at!
He had SO much fun!
I've never zip-lined before so I didn't know I was going to get turned around on the line while flying at high speeds, so I started to panic and used my hand incorrectly and ended up with a burn through my glove. Lesson learned. The guides along the routes were really great and helpful, but also fun and would joke around with people. Aside from jumping off platforms high in the trees and hanging by a wire, I did feel safe throughout the whole process. We zip-lined for just under an hour which did feel like a good amount of time, but of course I would've loved more now that I knew how much fun it was! The guides did bring water and cups for us, so we were able to stay at least somewhat hydrated.
Once we were done zip-lining, we dropped off our equipment, had a bathroom break, and headed over to the stables to see the horses. It took a little bit of time for us to be assigned our horses, but once we were all saddled up and ready to go, we had a great ride. We only spent about 30 minutes on the actual trails and riding, and it would've been fun to do a little bit longer, but I was also ready for lunch so I don't have too many complaints. My horse's name was Colombia and he was a horse who loved being in the front and had a mind of his own at times. My husband was stuck in the very back of the pack because his horse was an old stallion and would get ornery with other horses if he wasn't in the back with a trail guide. He did have good conversations with another cruise passenger that was stuck in the back as well. It was unfortunate that we couldn't ride together though. Colombia did some galloping and riding off the path which was fun, but also slightly terrifying haha.
This is Colombia before the storm...
...And this is Colombia at a solid gallop- the trail guide had to help me slow down.
Poor husband stuck at the back
About to cross the "river," I think it was more like a stream
Make it full screen to get the real experience!
After all of the adventures were done, we were served lunch with water, Sprite, and Coke. My husband loved the baked chicken, and I though the pineapple was delicious. The scenery was beautiful and such a nice place to have lunch at. We were shown the gardens and vegetation in the area, but it seemed a little rushed and we would've liked to have a bit more time to wander around and see the area. We were also shown a demonstration of carving petrified wood and creating liquid chocolate and coffee, which were all a part of a sales pitch to sell local crafts. That was a little annoying but we do understand. I ended up buying a $40 USB of our photos from the day (forgot to mention there were two photographers that followed the group around all day) since I wanted photos of us ziplining and riding the horses instead of just the photos we took of the scenery. Our USB consisted of 140 photos which is awesome, but I feel like $40 is a little steep. They know people are going to buy them and it does give us more memories of the awesome day, so I was okay with it.
What an awesome lunch view!
The story of the traveling flag!
My internet sources tell me this is Heliconia, but please let me know if I'm wrong!
I spotted a hummingbird and it was super cool
Key Limes!
Cocoa pods:
My husband being artsy with his photography
Plumeria, I believe:
We left at 2pm and had a very bumpy and loud ride back, but there was amazing scenery to look at. I have no reservations about recommending the excursion we did, it was so much fun and definitely full of adventure and thrills. Upon returning to the Amber Cove port, we took some time to walk around and at least see the area before getting back on the ship. The pool and cabanas were fun to see and we wanted to stay out there a bit longer but the sun was pretty unbearable and we had to be back onboard for our massage, so we left after buying a few trinkets. We took quick showers then made our way up to the spa for our couples Swedish massage.
A confusing set of directions
Yes, this is indeed paradise
There's our ship!
He sort of looks like he's selling the Carnival water bottle
Our massage therapists greeted us in the relaxation room and escorted us to our large room with a hot tub and beautiful views of the island and water. They got to know us a bit and left us to get ready. This was my 4th massage on a cruise ship (I think) so I was familiar with the whole process, but my husband hadn't ever had a cruise massage, so he was surprised by the dry brushing with the cactus bristles, but he said it was different and liked it. We both loved the warm oil they used, and he also liked the cooling oil at the end. The aromatherapy was also awesome and the rice eye mask was nice. The experience was very relaxing but it was a little weird hearing my husband make noises as the massage therapist worked through the knots in his shoulders, so that made it a little less relaxing. After the massages were done, we were left to relax for a few minutes before they came to ask us to change. They finished with the typical upsell of Elemis products, which was annoying and I had warned my husband in advance to not commit to anything.
We held hands for maybe one minute before my husband let go. So romantic...not.
We ate in the Lido for dinner before heading to the Red Frog Pub at 7 for trivia. It was a totally different set up than we had ever seen before, and we weren't a big fan of it. The quiz master gave 10 questions for everyone playing, then the top three teams who scored the highest went on to the next round. We tied for highest score with 8/10 questions correct, so we moved on to the next part of the quiz- rapid fire questions. One team would approach the quiz master, and we would ask each person to name three things belonging to a a category in give seconds. Either that person got three things named or they didn't. The number of categories answered by your team determined your score for that round. Confused? Yeah, us too. Basically the staff member would ask me to name three types of dogs in five seconds, and then he would ask my husband to name three types of spices, and so on. We tied with a team of five people, so we both went on to another round of rapid fire. I choked on my second category so my husband carried our team to victory!! He was a rockstar and the quiz master was definitely in awe that the two of us beat a team of five. We got a free fishbowl as our prize- wooo!
There was Caribbean music playing in the pub after the quiz game, so we stayed around to drink our fishbowl and play cards and Pass the Pigs. It was a great time just relaxing and enjoying the music. We did comment on the fat that we spent less time in the Red Frog Pub than we did on the Vista, which is where we spent a majority of our ship time. It was an early night because my husband was tired, so we retired to the room to watch some Netflix before going to sleep.
UP NEXT: Thursday, Grand Turk [LINK]
We started our day off with breakfast in the Lido Marketplace and some entertainment while we waited in line. There was a group of 6 staff members dancing in a conga line around the dining area with a boombox. It was certainly a fun way to start the day! After eating, we debarked the ship and walked the VERY long pier to find our shore excursion group at zone one, as listed on our tickets. Real talk, this pier was long. You'll want to give yourself at least 5 minutes just to get from the ship to the shore excursion group area.
On the long pier walk
It was SO hard to get a good picture of the sign without people in front of it
A waterfall in port
Today's excursion was booked through Carnival and called "Amazing Ultimate Adventure with Lunch" and ran from 9:30am to 2:45pm. It was $115 a person and included a safari truck ride (old military truck) to and from the adventure park, zip-lining on 6 or 7 routes, horseback riding, and a traditional lunch. So we found our group and were waiting about a minute or two when another tour guide came up to our group looking for two or three people to come with him to leave now instead of waiting. I volunteered and we were whisked away to a truck that was fully loaded and ready to go. Woohoo! Our tour guide's name was "Papa Alex" and he said our ride would be about 30 minutes. It was an incredibly bumpy ride to the park, and honestly I didn't feel super safe since there were a lot of road on the edge of cliffs with no guard rails. We did get there safely, thanks to our driver Orlando, around 10:15 and were off for the next stage of our adventure!
I loved how these red plants framed the famous whale tail!
The safari trucks
Our group zip-lined first, which was definitely to our advantage as we ended up eating lunch first after the ziplining and horseback riding, whereas the other group arrived after us and did the two activities in reverse from us and ate second. We got our harnesses put on and the team went over all the safety features of the entire system. They stated a lot of numbers and facts and I can't say for sure that it's the truth but I had no reason to think they were lying about the safety of their equipment. After the safety briefing, we were off! I will say that zip-lining was the part that I was dreading the most, but my husband has this magical way of opening my mind to new experiences and feeling at least semi-comfortable while jumping in.
Obviously these helmets are the hottest new trend:
The stairs up to the first platform
Look at that handsome man ready to go!
Bye bye!
That's the look of a successful zip-line:
That being said, after the first zip-line, I was hooked! Wow, what a thrilling experience. The second route was over a river and was really long, so that was super awesome. The last route was the longest and was so crazy fun. The routes offered a lot of great views of the Dominican Republic mountainside. There was a fair amount of hiking up steps and hills, so we definitely see why it's rated "intermediate" on the activity level. We would almost say it's expert level, especially when it's warm and sunny and depending on how fit that you feel you are. My husband loved the hiking part of the zip-lining and actually wanted to do more haha. It was very warm outside and we were all sweating, so I was going to pass on wanting more hiking.
Wheeee!
"Hiking" to get to the last zip-line route
The views were remarkable
The longest, best, and last zip-line of the day. If you follow the cord up with your mouse you can see the platform I started at!
He had SO much fun!
I've never zip-lined before so I didn't know I was going to get turned around on the line while flying at high speeds, so I started to panic and used my hand incorrectly and ended up with a burn through my glove. Lesson learned. The guides along the routes were really great and helpful, but also fun and would joke around with people. Aside from jumping off platforms high in the trees and hanging by a wire, I did feel safe throughout the whole process. We zip-lined for just under an hour which did feel like a good amount of time, but of course I would've loved more now that I knew how much fun it was! The guides did bring water and cups for us, so we were able to stay at least somewhat hydrated.
Once we were done zip-lining, we dropped off our equipment, had a bathroom break, and headed over to the stables to see the horses. It took a little bit of time for us to be assigned our horses, but once we were all saddled up and ready to go, we had a great ride. We only spent about 30 minutes on the actual trails and riding, and it would've been fun to do a little bit longer, but I was also ready for lunch so I don't have too many complaints. My horse's name was Colombia and he was a horse who loved being in the front and had a mind of his own at times. My husband was stuck in the very back of the pack because his horse was an old stallion and would get ornery with other horses if he wasn't in the back with a trail guide. He did have good conversations with another cruise passenger that was stuck in the back as well. It was unfortunate that we couldn't ride together though. Colombia did some galloping and riding off the path which was fun, but also slightly terrifying haha.
This is Colombia before the storm...
...And this is Colombia at a solid gallop- the trail guide had to help me slow down.
Poor husband stuck at the back
About to cross the "river," I think it was more like a stream
Make it full screen to get the real experience!
After all of the adventures were done, we were served lunch with water, Sprite, and Coke. My husband loved the baked chicken, and I though the pineapple was delicious. The scenery was beautiful and such a nice place to have lunch at. We were shown the gardens and vegetation in the area, but it seemed a little rushed and we would've liked to have a bit more time to wander around and see the area. We were also shown a demonstration of carving petrified wood and creating liquid chocolate and coffee, which were all a part of a sales pitch to sell local crafts. That was a little annoying but we do understand. I ended up buying a $40 USB of our photos from the day (forgot to mention there were two photographers that followed the group around all day) since I wanted photos of us ziplining and riding the horses instead of just the photos we took of the scenery. Our USB consisted of 140 photos which is awesome, but I feel like $40 is a little steep. They know people are going to buy them and it does give us more memories of the awesome day, so I was okay with it.
What an awesome lunch view!
The story of the traveling flag!
My internet sources tell me this is Heliconia, but please let me know if I'm wrong!
I spotted a hummingbird and it was super cool
Key Limes!
Cocoa pods:
My husband being artsy with his photography
Plumeria, I believe:
We left at 2pm and had a very bumpy and loud ride back, but there was amazing scenery to look at. I have no reservations about recommending the excursion we did, it was so much fun and definitely full of adventure and thrills. Upon returning to the Amber Cove port, we took some time to walk around and at least see the area before getting back on the ship. The pool and cabanas were fun to see and we wanted to stay out there a bit longer but the sun was pretty unbearable and we had to be back onboard for our massage, so we left after buying a few trinkets. We took quick showers then made our way up to the spa for our couples Swedish massage.
A confusing set of directions
Yes, this is indeed paradise
There's our ship!
He sort of looks like he's selling the Carnival water bottle
Our massage therapists greeted us in the relaxation room and escorted us to our large room with a hot tub and beautiful views of the island and water. They got to know us a bit and left us to get ready. This was my 4th massage on a cruise ship (I think) so I was familiar with the whole process, but my husband hadn't ever had a cruise massage, so he was surprised by the dry brushing with the cactus bristles, but he said it was different and liked it. We both loved the warm oil they used, and he also liked the cooling oil at the end. The aromatherapy was also awesome and the rice eye mask was nice. The experience was very relaxing but it was a little weird hearing my husband make noises as the massage therapist worked through the knots in his shoulders, so that made it a little less relaxing. After the massages were done, we were left to relax for a few minutes before they came to ask us to change. They finished with the typical upsell of Elemis products, which was annoying and I had warned my husband in advance to not commit to anything.
We held hands for maybe one minute before my husband let go. So romantic...not.
We ate in the Lido for dinner before heading to the Red Frog Pub at 7 for trivia. It was a totally different set up than we had ever seen before, and we weren't a big fan of it. The quiz master gave 10 questions for everyone playing, then the top three teams who scored the highest went on to the next round. We tied for highest score with 8/10 questions correct, so we moved on to the next part of the quiz- rapid fire questions. One team would approach the quiz master, and we would ask each person to name three things belonging to a a category in give seconds. Either that person got three things named or they didn't. The number of categories answered by your team determined your score for that round. Confused? Yeah, us too. Basically the staff member would ask me to name three types of dogs in five seconds, and then he would ask my husband to name three types of spices, and so on. We tied with a team of five people, so we both went on to another round of rapid fire. I choked on my second category so my husband carried our team to victory!! He was a rockstar and the quiz master was definitely in awe that the two of us beat a team of five. We got a free fishbowl as our prize- wooo!
There was Caribbean music playing in the pub after the quiz game, so we stayed around to drink our fishbowl and play cards and Pass the Pigs. It was a great time just relaxing and enjoying the music. We did comment on the fat that we spent less time in the Red Frog Pub than we did on the Vista, which is where we spent a majority of our ship time. It was an early night because my husband was tired, so we retired to the room to watch some Netflix before going to sleep.
UP NEXT: Thursday, Grand Turk [LINK]
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