December 3, 2025 – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – Warm 87F
Our first time
here – hard to believe.
Port Information. Santo Domingo is an historically significant port. Discovered by Bartolomeo Colon in 1496. The city has the oldest Catholic Church in the New World (Basilica Cathedral Santa Maria La Menor)– the oldest paved street in the New World (Calle las Dames) . The Colonial Zone is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The population of Santo Dominco is approximately 1,029,000 while the greater metro area has over 4,275,000 people. The Faro Colon located in Santo Domingo Este, allegedly contains some of Critobal Colon's remains. The authorities have refused to allow the bones to be tested so the consensus is that the explorer's bones are officially located in the Catedral de Sevilla in Spain.
It's a warm but beautiful day in the capitol city of the Dominican Republic. I could see the city from the ship during breakfast. Crystal Serenity is docked today at Puerto Sansouci and we are the only ship here.
We are planning to go into the Colonial Zone today. The ship is providing a shuttle from the Cruise Port to the Atarazana Gate (entrance to the Zone).
We scanned out of the ship - the ship is using very fast RF scanners that work even when your Key Pass Card in its holder - and made our way to the Terminal. Got a reasonable picture of Crystal Serenity docked.
It looks like we are the only cruise ship here today. We entered the Terminal,
which was home to vendors selling all sorts of stuff. We did find someone who took a picture of both of us with the welcome to the Puerto Sansouci sign. The bus, a reasonably comfortable transport (with AC) was waiting right outside the terminal building. After a short wait to pick up more guests, we were on our way. We encountered a lot of traffic (and apparently traffic rules don't apply) - we crossed the Ozama River and turned right to the Colonial Zone. The ride, even with traffic, took less than 10 minutes. At the gate, there was a guy who told everyone he was a guide and would show them the sites on a walking tour. I wasn't sure that was a free tour - a lot of the guests went with him. We went our own way and through the gate. For some reason, I didn't get a picture of the gate.
The path through the gate and beyond consisted of uneven, unfinished cement. You really had to look down to make sure you were stepping in a hole. The walk was uphill and along the old city wall.
The road wound around to the left and opened up into the Plaza Espana. The Plaza was already decorated for the upcoming Holidays. The Alcazar Colon (the oldest fortified palace in the Americas is located on one side of the square but I didn't see it (maybe behind the trees)).
Along the right side of the plaza, was an entire block of restaurants and bars. I checked out some menus and the prices were reasonble but the selection limited. If it were later in the day, I probably would have gotten a beer and done some people watching.
While were sitting in the plaza, a bicyle tour went by.
We walked up the hill beyond the restaurant area and turned right. It was just an ordinary street in the Colonical Zone. Looking up one of the streets perpendicular to ours, we saw the Fortaleza Ozama, part of the original walls of the city (ca 1500s) and the Calle las Dames, the oldest paved street in the Americas.
We turned around (nothing new ahead of us) and headed back to the gate. On the way down the hill, we bought some magnets from a street vendor (he gave us a Dominican Coin as a momento of our visit - we tossed it later as it was worth nothing and in bad shape). We stopped into a crafts store and Ellen bought some bracelets for the kids. They were made out of leather (if they were wooden, we'd have to freeze them to kill bugs - uggh). Things were very inexpensive here (1 Dominican Peso was worth 1.6 US cents). Another bonus - the store had a bathroom - very rustic - that they let me use.
We carefully made our way back to the bus pickup location and the bus was there. In a short while we were back at the Terminal and the ship.
We had lunch in the Trident Grill - today, it was a tuna sandwich, onion rings (which are fabulous on this ship) and an iced tea (also very good). We have a very special but big dinner tonight.
While we were up in the Palm Court, a tropical downpour cooled everything off and drenched any guests on an excursion. It only rained for a few minutes. I would have been happy to be drenched by warm tropical rain.
We went to the Waterside Restaurant to enjoy our inaugural Kosher Meals. We are still at Table 141 and still have our two waiters, Edson and Vincent. They confirmed that we had our meals.
Ellen's lamb chops didn't have a lot of meat but she liked the two chops. My hots dogs were super tasty Polish Sausages that barely fit on the bun. I also got Yellow Mustard and Hot Dog Relish. The dogs came out without the buns - you had to specify buns on the order. The Head Waiter found me two buns so all was good, They were excellent.
We were on our way to the show and ran into Cory Kahaney, the comedian. Ellen asked her about Emerson College because her online bio said she went there. She told us she didn't actually go there. The internet - always confusing.
We stayed for a few songs in the Production Show, "Icons in Concert" - the show is loud but the singers and dancers do a great job.
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