Carnival Corporation ships use Amber Cove, 12 km west of town, while Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Virgin dock at Taino Bay in the city. October 2026 calls ran 6 to 10 hours, and Damajagua waterfall trips start at $65.
Put in your ship's arrival and all-aboard times from your cruise planner. Each tour is checked against the time you have, minus the buffer you choose for getting off the ship and back to the pier.
Example times are filled in. Your cruise line's daily planner has the real ones, and a tender port needs more buffer.
| Operator | What you get | From | Length | Group | Min age | Back-to-ship | Cancellation | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Historic Puerto Plata City TourIncludes Round-trip transport, English-speaking guide, San Felipe Fortress entrance, Bottled water |
$55 per person |
4 to 5 hours (about 4.5 hours in the description) |
up to 15 |
Banner reads 'Guaranteed On-Time Return to Your Ship'; no terms given | Full refund 48+ hours ahead; 24 to 48 hours may get partial refund or rebooking; full refund if the ship fails to dock. | Check dates | ||
Adventure at 27 Waterfalls of DamajaguaIncludes Private round-trip air-conditioned transport with Wi-Fi, Bilingual driver, Damajagua entrance fee, Certified waterfall guide, Helmet and life jacket |
$65 per person |
3-4 hours |
Private, your group only |
8+ for the jumps and slides | Badge reads 'On-Time Return Guaranteed'; return to port planned with time to spare (terms not stated) | Full refund 24+ hours ahead; full refund if the ship never docks (tours page). | Check dates | |
27 Waterfalls of Damajagua and Puerto Plata City TourIncludes Private air-conditioned transport with Wi-Fi, Bilingual driver, Damajagua entrance, Certified local guides, Helmet and life jacket, Puerto Plata city tour |
$75 per adult |
About 5 to 6 hours, fitted to the ship's schedule |
Private vehicle and driver for your group |
8+ for the waterfall route | Says the tour is built around the ship's schedule with guaranteed on-time return to port | Full refund 24+ hours ahead; full refund if the ship never docks (tours page). | Check dates | |
Damajagua Waterfalls 2 WaysIncludes Park admission, Safety equipment, Taxes, Guides, Air-conditioned transport, Dominican lunch buffet, Beverages, Local rum drinks after the activity |
$85 per person |
About a 30-minute hike to the 7th fall, then jumps, slides and swims back down (zip line option: about 60 minutes uphill to the 12th fall); total length not stated |
up to 20 per bus |
8+; under 18 must be with an adult | Not stated | Full refund 24+ hours ahead, 50% after 3 pm the day before, none on the day; full refund if the ship cannot dock. | Check dates | |
Eat Drink & Be Merry Puerto Plata City TourIncludes Air-conditioned bus from the port and back to the ship, Mount Isabel de Torres visit, Ron Macorix House of Rum tour and tasting, Stop at Fortaleza San Felipe, Lunch at an oceanfront restaurant on the Malecon, Walk through the town square, Pink Street and Umbrella Street, Cigar factory visit with rum and mamajuana samples, Dance performance and a basic bachata lesson |
$98 per person |
About 5 hours |
Not stated | Full refund 24+ hours ahead, 50% after 3 pm the day before, none on the day; full refund if the ship cannot dock. | Check dates | |||
Waterfalls & Zipline Adventure in Puerto PlataIncludes Round-trip air-conditioned transport from port or hotel, Zipline circuit with safety equipment, Damajagua Waterfalls entrance fee, Helmet and life jacket, English-speaking guides |
$98 per person |
5 to 6 hours |
Advertises a guaranteed on-time return, with guests back well before departure (terms not stated) | Full refund 24+ hours ahead, none later; full refund if the ship skips Puerto Plata or a late arrival stops the tour. | Check dates | |||
Dune Buggy Off-Road Adventure Puerto PlataIncludes Round-trip air-conditioned transport, Automatic dune buggy, Helmet, Bilingual guides, Bottled water and light refreshments |
$100 per person |
4 hours |
2 per buggy |
Drivers 18+ with a valid license; children ride as passengers with an adult | Banner reads 'Guaranteed On-Time Return to Your Ship'; no terms given | Full refund 48+ hours ahead; 24 to 48 hours may get partial refund or rebooking; full refund if the ship fails to dock. | Check dates | |
Excursión ATV & Waterfall From Amber Cove and Taino Bay en Puerto PlataIncludes Round-trip air-conditioned transport from the cruise port, ATV and helmet, Waterfall entrance and guided excursion, Helmet and life jacket at the falls, Buffet lunch, Bilingual guides |
$135 per person |
5 to 6 hours |
ATV drivers 18+ with a valid driver's license | Promises an on-time return transfer to the cruise port (terms not stated) | Full refund 24+ hours ahead, none later; full refund if the ship skips Puerto Plata or a late arrival stops the tour. | Check dates |
From each operator's own website, checked October 22, 2026. How we compare.
What the cruise lines list for their own excursions in Puerto Plata, from their websites, next to a local operator's trip of the same kind.
| Line | Excursion | From | Length | Same kind of trip locally |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Carnival |
$89.99 per adult |
4 hours |
Iguana Mama, $85$4.99 less | |
Carnival |
$132.99 per adult |
5.5 hours |
POP Dominican Travel, $98$34.99 less |
Read on each cruise line's website on October 22, 2026. Lines change these prices often, so check the page before you book. Trips are matched by what each listing names; inclusions and transport differ, so open both. Every port compared.
Amber Cove sits on the Bay of Maimón, about 12 km (7.5 mi) and a 20-minute drive west of Puerto Plata, on 25 acres opened in 2015 at a cost Wikipedia puts at $85 million. CruiseMapper describes it as a Carnival Corporation port with one pier and two berths and a daily limit of 8,000 passengers plus 2,000 crew. It lists AIDA, Costa, Cunard, Holland America, Princess and P&O as users alongside Carnival Cruise Line, and names a taxi rank, tour bus pickup and car rental inside the terminal. CruiseMapper's October 2026 schedule does not say which terminal each ship used.
Taino Bay was built on a former cargo dock inside Puerto Plata's own port area and inaugurated on December 15, 2021, after ITM Group of Cancún won the tender to build it. CruiseMapper says a US$95 million expansion in 2023 let the pier take two of the largest ships plus a smaller one at once. It lists Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Silversea, Norwegian, Oceania, Regent, Marella and Virgin Voyages as the terminal's lines. Neither terminal uses tenders. Wikipedia notes only that Taino Bay is the closer of the two to the city.
Local operators meet guests in different places. Jey Tours says it is authorized inside both ports and collects passengers inside Amber Cove or Taino Bay in a private vehicle. Iguana Mama meets guests outside the gates. At Amber Cove that is beside the highway, about 12 minutes on foot from the ship, with a guide holding its sign. At Taino Bay it is outside the last exit gate, 10 to 12 minutes from the Welcome Center. Adrenaline Tours says its guides wait at a marked point just outside the Amber Cove gates. POP Dominican Travel offers port pickup at either terminal without naming the spot.
The Dominican Republic stays on Atlantic Standard Time, UTC minus 4, all year with no daylight saving. From early November to mid-March Puerto Plata runs an hour ahead of Florida; in summer the clocks match. Adrenaline Tours says most ships are docked for seven to nine hours. CruiseMapper's October 2026 schedule showed arrivals between 7 and 11 am and departures between 2 and 7 pm. On October 22, Disney Destiny was listed 8 am to 4 pm, Carnival Vista 9 am to 6 pm and Carnival Celebration 11 am to 7 pm. Celebrity Beyond's calls, 8 am to 2 pm, were the shortest listed.
Three of the four operators promise an on-time return. Jey Tours writes that it guarantees guests return to the ship on time, every time, and fits departures to the ship's timetable. POP Dominican Travel says its return transfer is guaranteed on time, and if a ship arrives late it will move the tour or refund in full. Adrenaline Tours' banner reads "Guaranteed On-Time Return to Your Ship", and it says itineraries are built around all-aboard with a safety buffer. Iguana Mama makes no such promise, but tells Taino Bay guests to book its zip line and falls combination only if the ship is in port 8 hours or more.
Damajagua is the main event. Iguana Mama's 7 Falls trip costs $85: about a 30-minute hike up to the seventh fall, then jumps, slides and swims back down, with a Dominican buffet lunch and rum drinks afterwards. Its $139 version adds a 60-minute uphill hike to the twelfth fall, 5 zip lines and 2 suspension bridges. Jey Tours runs the falls as a private trip from $65 per person with a two-person minimum, 3 to 4 hours door to door and no lunch. Carnival's own version is $89.99 per adult and $79.99 per child for 4 hours, with a 40-minute hike, a bottle of water and a 300 lb limit.
Iguana Mama warns that the park is public and can see more than 1,000 visitors on a busy day, with group sizes set by the park's Guide Association rather than the tour company. Iguana Mama, Jey Tours and Carnival all set a minimum age of 8 for the jumps, and the slides are optional: POP Dominican Travel notes walk-around paths and wooden stairs beside the main jumps. POP's combinations run 5 to 6 hours, pairing the falls with an ATV ride for $135 or a zip line circuit for $98, lunch included on the ATV day. Carnival's Zip & Dip is $132.99 for 5.5 hours.
City tours cover Fortaleza San Felipe, ordered in 1560 and finished in 1577, and the Victorian streets built from the 1870s. Iguana Mama's $98 Eat Drink & Be Merry tour spends about 5 hours on Mount Isabel de Torres (summit 2,555 ft or 855 m, by its count), the Ron Macorix rum house and the fort. Lunch is on the Malecón, followed by Umbrella Street and a cigar factory with a bachata lesson. Adrenaline Tours' city tour is $55 for 4 to 5 hours in groups of up to 15, with the fort entrance and bottled water included. Its dune buggy trip is listed from $100 for 4 hours.
Jey Tours is the only one of the four that collects guests inside the terminals, and every Jey tour is private, so a solo traveler pays for two. Its falls trip includes a bilingual driver, Wi-Fi in the vehicle, the park entrance, a certified guide, helmet and life jacket; towels, water shoes, food, lockers and tips are extra. Cancellations at least 24 hours ahead are refunded in full, and its tours page says the same applies if the ship never docks. The on-time badge comes without written terms.
Iguana Mama, trading as Iguana Mama S.R.L. in Puerto Plata, caps its buses at 20 and includes lunch, rum drinks and taxes in its $85 price, less 10% with code DIRECT10. It refunds 100% for cancellations 24 hours ahead, 50% after 3 pm the day before and nothing on the day. A ship that cannot dock, for any reason, brings a full refund, as does a cancellation for severe river or weather conditions. The company says it does not control guide assignments or capacity inside the park.
POP Dominican Travel refunds in full 24 hours ahead and nothing inside that. A skipped port overrides the rule with a full refund, and a late ship gets a new tour time or a refund. Light rain is not grounds for a guest refund, and no-shows pay in full. Its ATV drivers must be 18 with a valid license. Adrenaline Tours needs 48 hours' notice for a full refund, with partial refunds or rebooking between 24 and 48 hours, and refunds in full if the ship fails to dock. It takes cash on the day and caps the city tour at 15.
from $55 per person
The Historic Puerto Plata City Tour and 1 more option
Back to ship: Banner reads 'Guaranteed On-Time Return to Your Ship'; no terms given
Describes itself as licensed and locally owned, with an office at Playa Dorada Plaza
from $65 per person
Adventure at 27 Waterfalls of Damajagua and 1 more option
Back to ship: Badge reads 'On-Time Return Guaranteed'; return to port planned with time to spare (terms not stated)
Says it holds the permits to operate inside Amber Cove and Taino Bay
from $85 per person
Damajagua Waterfalls 2 Ways and 1 more option
No back-to-ship policy stated
Trades as Iguana Mama S.R.L., with an office in Puerto Plata (terms page)
from $98 per person
Waterfalls & Zipline Adventure in Puerto Plata and 1 more option
Back to ship: Promises an on-time return transfer to the cruise port (terms not stated)
Office on Avenida Hermana Mirabal in Puerto Plata
Prices and policies come from each operator's own pages, read on October 22, 2026. Seasons, rules and local details come from the pages below.