Saona Island, memorable all-inclusive experience, from Santo Domingo.

Company Itself was Good but Scam Warning on Island

The tour company itself was good. Lunch included and open bar on the boat and on the beach (except for pina coladas). Friendly tour guide. Entertaining boat staff. Beautiful beaches. Rest stop for a quick breakfast and rest stop for a quick dinner (not included). Scam Warning: Do not get involved with the independent photographers and massage therapists on the island. They will significantly try to scam you, especially if you are non-Latin, after you have had a few drinks (open bar) and charge you $100 USD for photo packages and 30 minute massages each. Highly dishonest. I highly recommend saying “No, thank you (No, gracias)” and walking quickly away. I just want to protect my fellow travelers because the feeling of being cheated takes away from experience.

very good attention

The beaches were magnificent, the attention was super good. My family and I enjoyed it, we took a lot of photos. We would return without thinking about it

Great trip and wonderful tour guide!Highly recommended

Was a great and fun trip! Went together with one of my best friend. We had the VIP experience. Our guide, Alex, picked us up from hotel on time at 6.30 am. We had a quick breakfast and bio stop approx half way before reaching our stop at bayahibe for to catch the boat to Saona Island. The cruise was fun! We left on time and there was free flow of rum and sodas and everyone was in a cheerful happy mood. First stop was natural pool which was quite a large area where there is an accumulated sand which made the ocean floor quite shallow around chest high. The water was so clear and blue, it was wonderful! Many people was getting off the boat and swim. We were given 40 mins time before continuing our trip to Saona island. The island itself was also lovely, aquamarine blue water, nice surroundings. Lunch was amazing, as we had the VIP experience we had a separate area and dishes. All of them were delicious! Alex was there with us all the way. Very attentive to our needs and was very knowledgeable about the locations and attractions as well. The whole trip was around 12 hours and was great! Highly recommended! Kudos to Alex who has been a great tour guide! Thank you!

Wow Amazing experience

What an amazing experience. My gf and I did the VIP transport & were picked up from our hotel in Santo Domingo. Alex was our driver, and guide and WOW was he great! The experience is roughly 12 hours and Alex was supporting us from start to finish. He was so friendly, attentive, has great knowledge of the country , and overall he’s just a great human being. I would definitely recommend and will be doing another tour in Santo Domingo tomorrow with them.

Amazing time and amazing place

Had a an amazing time. Pick up and drop off were very convenient . Staff were amazing and communication with the company was great. Would definitely recommend as a great day trip.

Place to visit

Amazing place to visit excellent food, people, weather, super safe and friendly the boat ride was an experience super easy and fun

Amazing

Soana island is a must do when visiting dominica, from the pick up at our hotel t the catamaran everything was perfect. Would definitely recommend

Excellent Day with Alex ⛵️🏝️

My friend and I chose the VIP package. Alex picked us up from our hotel in Santo Domingo in the morning and let us know that he would be our “driver, tour guide and bodyguard” 😆 He was great at all three! We had an air conditioned ride in a new van all to ourselves. When we arrived at Bayahibe we took a small boat to a catamaran that turned into a big party! Alex was with us the entire time and was extremely attentive to our every need. When we arrived at Sanoa Island, an extensive lobster lunch and bottle of wine was waiting for us. We stayed for a few hours and hopped the cat back to Bayahibe. On the way back to Santo Domingo, Alex took us for snacks at a food truck park which was new, very clean and had great little photo opportunities. Honestly, it was an excellent day trip, made even better by Alex’s attention to detail, sense of humor and overall excellent customer service. Thank you, Alex!

You get what you payed for but be careful.

I booked this guide for the english but all the workers there, it was very limited and by the end, they kind of ignored the 2 English groups. We just kind of looked around to see what everyone else was doing. The boat was great. The atmosphere was fun but the attention definitely changed when we weren't interested in their side hustle. I misunderstood when the title of the trip was "all inclusive". Gave everyone bandanas, which was fun but then charged only my group $5 each. I figured it was complimentary when it was open bar but my mistake. Again, the English was limited and we didn't get a grasp of the hustle culture here till later. Then he started taking pictures of everyone, so didn't think anything of it but again, he didn't explain this was $120 on top of the trip. The island was beautiful and I did get what was offered on the trip but the tour guides took away a little of the fun because it was uncomfortable. The taxi service was impeccable.

Horrible, but Viator made it right.

We did not get what we were sold. We paid for a semi private trip with no more than 15 people, English speaking tour guide, private buffet, open bar on boat and island,VIP experience, etc. what we got was 100 people in loud party boat, only rum on boat, left late (1.5 hour in island), no English guide, buffet ended 15 minutes after arriving, open bar closed at same time…incredibly crowded. We did not enjoy. However, we made our unhappiness known to Viator and they did the right thing and gave us a full refund.

Best tour from Santo Domingo

Excellent tour. We enjoyed the trip out, the beach and the offshore pool. The journey to and from Santo Domingo was done by a very knowledgeable guide that spoke English

Would not recommend

My main issues with this experience is that it said that it would only be 15 people max and there were probably 100 people on the catamaran and 50 on the speed boat. We also booked in English and even though we sought out multiple employees to ask what they were saying and a few of them spoke English, they were not accommodating without us asking.

Extremely a wonderful time!!!!

This was absolutely an amazing experience!!! I was skeptical in the beginning because so many reviews complained about the boat ride over being 2hrs, but they made up for on the boat. Dancing, singing, and just all out fun! The crew was amazing!!! They made sure your cup was never empty!!! When we got to the island the food was amazing and they kept the cups full at all times. I am definitely coming back and this experience will be done again. We were in Santo Domingo for my sisters birthday and this was the highlight of our trip!!! Great job!!!!

Would do it again!!!

It was absolute amazing!! The locations were brand the hosts were so energetic and engaging. It was by far the favorite part of our trip. Ernesto and his crew are awesome and definitely make use of the photographers if you can. Amazing pictures. They were $5000 RD which was $100 USD but you can haggle.

Beautiful views and amazing day trip!

Views, itinerary and vibes were great! Definitely recommend and hope to be back soon! Place for amazing pictures!

Do Los Haitises instead

My friend and I did this tour as well as the same company’s day trip to Los Haitises. If you have to pick one, we recommend Los Haitises! Saona island was beautiful and the catamaran ride was fun but it was a longgg trip for just 3 hours on the beach. Transportation was on a janky bus with a ton of other people, blasting AC that was dripping on people, and a bus driver that drove and honked like a mad man so we could not sleep and I kept getting car sick. The tour guide didn’t really explain anything and the buffet was mediocre, so if you’re already at an all inclusive resort, I don’t think it’s worth it. We were staying in Sto Domingo, which made the day even longer…

Saona island

Excelente transportation including the boat rides. The only think I wasn't impressed was the quality of the drinks.

Time well spent

A day filled with activities and memorable moments. Photos, refreshments along with great company. Definitely worth checking out.

Best day of the whole trip!

This was truly an incredible time, one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to and the hospitality was great from start to finish. Communication was very reliable from the team and we were picked up from our hotel which was a little out of the way. The buffet lunch was tasty and we were feeling ourselves after the bottomless alcohol all day long!

Beautiful experience

Well organized, the staff were great- they took care of us, helped bat some of the street vendors off, gave some great recommendations, brought us drinks+snacks and made sure we were having a great time. Highly recommend for travelers wanting to explore and meet others.

Great, and memorable experience!!

It was the best day for us, and I’m glad we got to do it. I/we went into the experience just hoping for it to be a good day, but it turn out to be better than we could have imagine. Everyone who was involve did an amazing job at making the day amazing. From picking us up and taking us where we needed to be. Breidy Solano our driver from the hotel to the tour van, was incredibly at doing his job, Hands down 10/10. if you’re looking for something fun, energizing, beautiful to do for a day, I would highly recommend this tour.

Incredible time

In the morning we met in the square and left. Oscar was great, introduced himself and got everyone together. The drive was straight forward, we took a needed pit stop and then continued to boat launch. Oscar kept us in the loop, was fun, explained everything amazingly! The boat and beach was a blast - rum, dancing, swimming, relaxing. Breidy helped us and accommodated our party when we got bumped from another service. Overall the customer servuce was incredible, highly personable, and generally just a blast! Good people. The group was great, mix of language ls was no problem. 10000/10 will do another excursion with this crew.

Wonderful Experience!

This was an amazing tour! We started the morning early at 6:15AM for our hotel pickup, then were driven to Bayahibe and embarked for Saona Island. We had AMAZING tour guides (Alex and Oscar) who made sure we were always taken care of. The boat ride was about 2 hours each way and was filled with music and dancing. This is a must-do tour in Santo Domingo!

Multi-generation Fun: Would Go Again!

For context, our group was 3 adults in their sixties and 3 adults in our thirties. We weren’t sure if it would be too much of a “party” atmosphere for us to enjoy, but the catamaran provided enough space for us to sit and relax on the top level away from the loud music while still enjoying the vibe and boat ride out to the island. Our dad absolutely loved the sandbar part of the trip. Breidy and Oscar were fabulous! Breidy was informative ahead of time, provided recommendations on what to bring, and prepared us for the day. Oscar was with us from the moment we got in the van until we got back - he got us successfully on/off the boats and made sure we were taken care of on the island. He even caught our aunt when she slipped on the boat stairs! After the excursion was over, we accidentally left a sweatshirt in the van. Breidy and Oscar worked together to deliver it back to us before we left! The only thing we would say you need to know ahead of time is that the van journey (about 2.5 hours) and the speed boats will be crowded to the max. Don’t expect breathing room - every seat was taken and you’ll get quite close to your neighbors. Not necessarily a negative, just something to know ahead of time.

Perfecto

We enjoyed our experience a lot! The team is professional and caring making the trip a really pleasant experience. Our guide Victor was caring and supportive. Breidy, our coordinator, helped us a lot! We are very thankful for this trip!❤️ Best wishes from Kazakhstan🇰🇿

Beautiful nature but too expensive

Noone can find any fault in the beauty that is Saona Island. Unfortunately the beach was full of litter and it was superloud. I was there at the weekend and the beach was supercrowded. Maybe it is a little less crowded on weekdays or you don't mind the music so much. Even then, the tour is quite expensive. I later found the same tour starting in Punta Cana for around 60 dollars.

Amazing

Book this now!!!! Best money I have ever spent! Crew was very nice and entertaining. Island is beautiful

Excellent experience, I'll do it again and again

Having a vacation in a foreign country could've be very stressful sometimes, many unpredictable things can happen. With this trip I had the good luck of having an excellent travel agent (Breidy Solano) who is a co-owner of Sunser Caribbean, the company that was administering this experience. Mr Breidy did all his efforts to make sure that I was having good time, he picked me up from the hotel and gave me heads up of what things to expect, and most importantly his phone was always available for any further question. About the island and experience itself, I am speechless about how pretty it is, everyone in the boat was having fun. I felt the price was affordable and fair. My package was not a VIP one, I joined to other many tourists (I went SOLO), BUT SUNSET CARIBBEAN MADE ALL THE EFFORT TO MAKE MY EXPERIENCE A VIP ONE. THANK YOU!

Great time

We had a great time. The boats, clear water and the people were great. The food was fresh and good too. I 100 perfect recommend.

The best ever

The natural swimming pool and the vibe of the boat the people and the piece of mind around awesome people

Excellent experience

Jacinto and Breidy went above and beyond; so much so that we booked another excursion with them later in the week. Excellent communication, friendly, easy to work with to plan. HIGHLY recommend!

Great day trip!

The service was great and we enjoyed the trip. The boat rides were smooth and relaxing. We loved the natural pool and being on the island. I definitely encourage you to bring your own water and snacks.

Amazing views

Amazing day with amazing views. Breidy and victor were great. Communication was clear and pickup / drop offs were smooth. Great way to spend the day!

Best day ever!

It was one of the best days ever!!! Loved the services from everyone! The food and drinks were great! 100% coming back!!!

Fun day on and by the sea. Good personal service.

Had a great time on this trip! We were picked up outside our hotel and transported to the boat that took us to Saona Island where we spent the day. Everything was very professionally organized. I would especally highlight how personal the service was. After booking the trip I was contacted by travel coordinator Breidy to confirm the tour, the pickup point and a few tips for the trip. It was very nice to have a phone number to call/message when we had questions. I can gladly recommend it to other travellers wanting to have a relaxive and fun day in the sun.

AWESOME TIME!

It felt like VIP service from beginning to end, probably because we were the only ones traveling from Santo Domingo. The driver messaged me on Whatsapp the night before to confirm and even brought us a light snack. We were able to request our own music for the ride. The boat party was fun, they played a good mix of music from salsa, bachata, reggaeton. The island was spectacular, and food was pretty good. My only complaint is that they dont serve any beer on the boat and the island only serves beer after 1pm until it runs out. In hindsight we could have brought our own little cooler with cans. I also wish they would have taken us to the island on the speedboat and road back in the catamaran so we could party our drunkness off. Apparently that depends on which boats available at the dock. Either way it was 5 of 5 and I appreciate all the staff for making it fun, keeping us safe, and treating us like family.

All day relaxation

This was a blast from start to finish, Breidy was great from picking me up! He had a welcome bag ready for me. From then, I got on a bus with Victor, who explained the whole trip and was there the whole time. The natural swimming pool and island were BEAUTIFUL! Crystal clear water, clearest ocean water I’ve ever seen. My only issue was, people coming up multiple times trying to give you a massage even though I clearly stated that I didn’t want one. Other than that, it was a wonderful experience!

Worth it I highly recommend

Way better than expected I knew it was going to be good but not great yunior was great help the food was delicious the open bar was great I will definitely come back

Great time

We had an excellent time on this trip. Relaxing and fun. All the tour guides were amazing and informative making sure we had a great time!

Overall a great time, but may not be environmentally friendly

Overall this experience was great. They pick you up from your Airbnb/hotel and take you to Zona Colonial to get on a bus to the La Romana area (about 2 hrs). Then, you get on a speedboat from the shore to a catamaran. The catamaran ride to Saona Island is about 1.5 hours. We got to the island around 12:20PM and were immediately served lunch which was very good. They had pasta, rice, chicken or fish, bread rolls, cucumber or tomato salads, and fresh banana and watermelon. We stayed on the island until about 3:20PM. After that we went to the “natural swimming pool” which was crystal clear shallow water with lots of starfish to look at. Then, it was a quick ride back to the mainland on a speedboat (20-30mins?). Then you get back on the bus to Santo Domingo. After that, you have to find your own way back home (they don’t pick you up from the bus stop to take you home). When Breidy picked us up he gave us fruit, snacks, and water which was very appreciated! The bus ride was comfortable and air conditioned. The catamaran ride was fun, although if you’re not a fan of loud music then you will have to move to the front of the boat. Drinks consist of soda, water, rum, and Presidente. I am giving 4 starts because I am concerned about the environmental impact of the excursion—there were countless plastic cups given out for the open bar, and the ride was very windy. I saw multiple pieces of litter, plastic cups, etc. going into the ocean. Same issue on the beach—once everyone cleared out, you could see tons of cups and litter all over the sand, with no one really picking them up. When we arrived at the natural pool, there were MORE drinks being passed out to people who were heading into the water—I’m sure not everyone held onto their cups to throw in the trash on the boat. It was really nice to see the marine life—tons of starfish and I even saw two stingrays! You will have to bring your own snorkel if you want to get a better look. The staff made sure to warn us not to touch the starfish because if you take them out of the water they die. Despite this, there was still a child who grabbed a starfish and held it out of the water, killing it. I am concerned about the long-term impact of excursions like this on the marine life—starfish in particular suffer from overexploitation since people either accidentally kill them or take them as souvenirs. The only other thing I’d say is that while this excursion is fun, you should be prepared for a LONG DAY. We were picked up at about 6:20AM and we arrived back in Santo Domingo around 8:30PM.

Classic

The island is marvelous, i enjoyed The navigation to the island boring, too much peaple in a small boat! The navigation from the island, sailing in a spacious catalaran, nice trip

Was My First time in...

Was My First time in Dominican Republic and I got some much I didn’t expect to I’ve been to the Saona island it was awesome. I was glad to meet Breidy Solano(driver)he is good guy very communicative, polite and kind. I’ll be back soon

Just Beautiful

Beautiful scenery, lot's of drinks (hope you like rum and coke though!) and a really good buffet. The natural pool and the island they take you to are absolutely breath taking, I highly recommend it! The guides were all very nice and helpful as well.

Great experience worth the early morning pick up!

Good communication, easy pickup, friendly staff. Had a great day out in one of the most beautiful places. Beaches are amazing and the guides are great. It was very well organised. You are slightly pushed to tip boat crew, pay extra for photos etc but really this is an amazing experience.

Amazing day trip

From the moment our driver Breidy Solano picked us up until the time he dropped us off at our hotel, our trip was amazing. Breidy was hospitable had fresh fruit and water for us when we got in the car. He stopped for a bathroom break and coffee! We were staying in Santo Domingo, and the tour is in Bayhibe about an hour and a half to two hour drive. I’m not sure exactly how long because Breidy was funny and very knowledgeable about the areas we were driving through. He handed us off to “La Crema” one of the tour guides for the boat ride to Saona. Le Crema was entertaining and the photos that he took were fantastic! Very professional. He knew all of the right poses and lighting to get photos to perfection! And Air dropped them right to my phone. The entire crew was attentive. We always had a drink in our hand and a smile on our faces! Hands down the BEST trip! And the crew spoke three languages fluently. French, English, and Spanish. When we were done Breidy was waiting for us at the shore to take us back to the hotel. I highly recommend this experience to anyone that visits the DR.

Isla Solano

great! The driver was very helpful and the staff were lots of fun. The beach was beautiful as well and the food was okay!

Unforgettable experience

Great experience. After I contacted the staff to make sure that the trip was not cancelled because I had bad experiences with other companies in the past, Sunset Caribbean took it upon themselves to make my experience memorable. Fully personalized pick up from my hotel directly with the very kind Jacinto. Drive to the boat and from there on, open bar going through some of the best views on the Caribbean. Unforgettable experience that I would totally recommend to book with them.

Amazing

It was amazing I had so much fun , I can't wait to come back . My sister and I enjoy the trip ❤❤❤❤❤❤

Amazing trip and staff!

What an amazing day!! The day started with door to door pick up, extremely polite, helpful and on time. Sunset Caribbean couldn’t have been more professional and they made the entire trip an absolute joy! I will be doing this as well as their other tours on my next trip. Highly recommend :)

LGBT friendly entire day activity

Great experience if you want a long day out of Santo Domingo. 6:30am pickup on the dot then a 2 hour car ride with a break halfway through that led us to a beautiful catamaran ride to Saona Island. Beach and fun. Pina coladas and massages available for purchase (massage not worth it). Took the speedboat back. Wonderful time. Great driver. Never felt unsafe. LGBT friendly experience.