Dear Cristy,
Thank you for leaving your review. When picking up from a cruise port (Amber Cove and/or Taino Bay), our goal (as advised during the booking process) is to start the tour 45 minutes after the ships arrival. Many guests arrive earlier at the meeting point. This day 4 guests did not make it on time. The bus waited a couple of extra minutes, because the 4 missing participants called that they were on their way. After a short moment I (Daniel) called the driver and told him to leave without them and start the tour with you. We did send an additional bus to the port to pick up the missing 4 people.
On that day a total of 3 cruise ships had docked in Puerto Plata (2 at Amber Cove & 1 at Taino Bay). As an independent Tour Operator we keep our own groups small. As you saw, it was just your family heading to the waterfalls in the minivan. Imagine booking directly with the cruise line and going with 50-60 people in one bus. The 27 Waterfalls of Damajagua are a National Park, therefore we must use their guides and go by their rules. Unfortunately, on that day there were many more people than usual and it seemed like they were unable to handle it. It was a great disappointment for us as well, to see that the staff at the waterfalls could not manage properly to divide the groups and send them out on time. I can assure you, that this not used to happen on our tours before (please check previous reviews on TripAdvisor and/or Viator). We are totally aware now that the arrival of 3 or 4 cruise ships a day, with 1000 or 2000 people heading to the waterfalls, might have a bad impact on our tours that include a visit of the waterfalls. We will most definitely forward this review to the administration of the waterfalls, so they can implement their strategies and try to prevent this from happening again. I am truly sorry that you could not completely enjoy this part of the adventure.
Once you arrived at our ranch I personally asked if everybody had an enjoyable time. The response of your group was positive. I wish you would have mentioned something to me or Henry that day, to give us a chance to make it up to you. It is always our goal to provide quality service to our customers.
Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience,
wishing you all the best,
Daniel