Day 4 of our Royal Caribbean Cruise on Adventure of the Seas brought us to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. We docked at Taino Bay which is only open as a Cruise Port (it is not open to the public). Taino Bay has restaurants, bars, shops, Dahao pool and the Lazy River Pool area.
Dahao Pool
It was hot getting off the ship and walking down the dock so we headed straight for the pool. Pool seating is first come, first serve (at no cost). We were able to snag a cabana with two loungers at the Dahao pool, across from the swim up bar. We could go over to the swim up bar for drinks but they also had servers walking around regularly taking and delivering drink orders. They played music, had some dance parties and kept it very fun and up beat. The kids swam most of the day and the chilly pool water felt great once we got it because it was a pretty hot day.
Lazy River Pool Area
The Lazy River Pool Area was really neat. As we walked back towards it the concrete turned to sand and we saw hammocks and loungers along shallow areas of water. Continuing back, we saw the line to the lazy river (which was really long) and the pool and bar area. We waited in line for a few minutes for the Lazy River but felt like it was barely moving and the kids were sick of waiting.
Headed Back
Noah was the only one hungry earlier during the day so we stopped and grabbed him a hot dog and fries. Looking at food menus while we waited, it was all really overpriced. The kids were ready to be done swimming, getting tired and not into checking out the monkeys or anything else at the port. We stopped to see some parrots on the way out but then headed back to the ship. After grabbing a late lunch at Windjammer, we took a nap before getting ready for dinner.
Future Redo
If we visit Taino Bag again, I would plan our day a little differently. We would actually go past Dahao Pool and get a spot by the Lazy River Pool. That way, we could start with the Lazy River before the line got too long and then hang out in that section of Taino Bay. We would probably take some of the snacks from our room and completely skip getting food at the port and then still head back for a late lunch on the ship. If we weren’t tired, we’d then just head to the pool on the ship for the rest of the day. It almost felt a little silly to be right off the ship at a pool where we needed to pay for lunch and drinks when we could just be at the pool on the ship and grab lunch/drinks there. We didn’t see any excursions that both worked for our kids’ ages and that we were interested in but that might just be us. This was our least favorite out of the 4 Ports we visited but I hate to be negative – we had beautiful weather and it was a fun day at the pool.