I was surprised when Royal Caribbean informed me that my 5-night Freedom of the Seas cruise would be re-routed to Carnival's private port.
Amber Cove is Carnival's "exclusive port" in the Dominican Republic, located close to Taino Bay.
I've had itinerary changes in the past, but I've never heard of a Royal Caribbean ship visiting a rival port. Not only was it unusual, but I had never been to any Carnival private area.
While surreal, my visit to Amber Cove was a fun experience where I was surprised five times.
It's not run at all by Carnival
Upon arrival at Amber Cove, it became clear a private port run by Carnival is not like a Royal Caribbean private island.
While Carnival owns the port, it leases out everything and it's all run by third party vendors.
I expected to see far more Carnival branding, but was surprised to not find much.
Since the shops, restaurants, and bars are all operated by independent vendors, it felt less like "Carnival land" and more like a port of call that just happens to be owned by Carnival.
Unlike Perfect Day at CocoCay, there was no army of crew members descending from the cruise ship to staff the island.
Also, anything you paid for required cash or credit card. I was concerned I might be at a disadvantage because I didn't have a cruise card from a Carnival ship. But when I went to the swim-up bar in the pool to get a drink, I was able to use my phone's tap to pay option.
One of the biggest takeaways that while Amber Cove is owned by Carnival, it didn't feel like an extension of the cruise line.
Cabanas were cheap
After the announcement was made we'd go to Amber Cove, I reached out to my friends at Eat Sleep Cruise for a recommendation of what to do there. They recommended I rent a cabana.
Unfortunately, there were no advanced reservations available to be made on the ship. So I had to wait and see what was left to rent once I arrived.
Amber Cove has a few different cabanas you can rent, somewhat similar to Perfect Day at CocoCay or Labadee. Over the water, hill top, and pool cabanas were some of the options.
When I asked about renting a cabana, I was told I could get one of the over the water cabanas for just $500.
I was astounded by how low a price this was, considering cabanas at Royal Caribbean's private destinations can easily cost two to three times that.
The water slide they had for an extra cost was also quite inexpensive, at just $6 per person for unlimited rides.
While I can't comment how close the quality of the cabanas are to Royal Caribbean's (I didn't think I needed a cabana for just myself cruising solo), the pricing difference was rather notable.
There's no beach
I knew Amber Cove had a pool, but I couldn't believe there wasn't a beach.
Amber Cove has plenty of shore excursions you can take to take you to a nearby beach. Unlike CocoCay or Labadee, you're not relegated to just the port.
I think the rationale may simply be there are so many beautiful beaches in and around Puerto Plata, Carnival felt let folks take a quick trip if that's what they desire.
Instead, Amber Cove has a resort-style pool with swim-up bar, waterslides, a lazy river and plenty of lounge chairs.
It's clear Taino Bay copied Amber Cove
After realizing Amber Cove isn't that similar at all to CocoCay, I saw more similarities to Taino Bay.
Our cruise visited Taino Bay the day before, which is the port in Puerto Plata Royal Caribbean cruise ships usually visit.
Amber Cove opened in 2015, but Taino Bay opened in 2021.
- Both have a complimentary pool and lazy river
- Both have lots of independent restaurants and bars
- Both have souvenir shops run by third parties
- Both offer shore excursions to the outside area
In my opinion, the folks that designed and built Taino Bay took a lot of inspiration from Amber Cove. I'm not saying they straight out copied it, but the similarities are there.
While Taino Bay's lazy river feels more like a lazy river than Amber Cove's version, Amber Cove doesn't feel like a giant maze and is far easier to navigate.
It's a lot less like any Royal Caribbean private island than I expected
The biggest surprise to me is how much Amber Cove isn't like CocoCay.
Up until my visit there, I only had the context of Royal Caribbean's private operations. So I anticipated something more akin to a day there.
Instead, Amber Cove felt more like Costa Maya or Taino Bay than Labadee. If you've been to Falmouth in Jamaica, that might also be a better comparison.
I can see the advantages for Carnival to run it this way. They get to make money from the lessees that do all the work and operate everything and don't have to commit manpower to make it happen.
That being said, I didn't get much of a Carnival vibe from the port. When I'm at CocoCay, it feels like an extension of my Royal Caribbean ship. I can't say I felt the same about Amber Cove.
In the end, I had a great time on my visit.
It was a beautiful day and the pool was a lot of fun. Plus, I got to enjoy Nathan's hot dog and french fries for lunch!
I'm not daydreaming of returning, but at least now I know what to expect if I ever did.
