The experience was mix of good and bad. Good: nice views, probably second best coral reef in Dominican republic area (if you are lucky to get clear water), 3h for snorkeling and swimming. Bad: overloaded boat (80-100 people, many without shade in full sun for whole day), slow transfers with multiple changes (From our hotel it took 2.5h to get to the boat, faster return), transfer from boat to Catalaina took 5 rounds of smaller boat runs, total disregard of health and safety on smaller boat transfer. How no one was badly harmed was an act of God. Catalina is worth visiting, but i would not recommend this specific tour to friends.

We met Alan at our resort, RIU Republica! We appreciated your friendliness and knowledge! Thank you for chatting about diving and suggestions for future dives with you. We really appreciated you touching base with us the following day to see how we did and if we enjoyed it😁 Shadia was our excellent dive master! We really appreciated you sharing your knowledge with us! We had an absolutely fantastic day! The dives to the Wall and to the Aquarium were beautiful! Seeing the seahorses was absolutely awesome! Thank you for being so easy to chat with and so friendly! We enjoyed and appreciated every moment! Judy and Gord Vaughan

The snorkeling and island were great but the transport to the excursion was not. We were all crammed in a tiny van with no air.

Was very excited for this excursion, but unfortunately the transportation was horrible. Our bus was late, AC was broken. We were picked up at 7, dropped off at a random location and sat there until 9, then didn’t arrive to the “catamaran” until 11.. and we were also told it was only going to be 30 people.. our boat had about 70. We were all jammed in together.. We were gone for 12 hours, only 3 hours spent on the beach. We also were told it would be an enjoyable relaxing boat ride, not a party boat.. turns out the music was blasting and it was a party the whole time. I would not recommend this to anyone.

Long time spent in the bus before arriving to the boat (2h30). The snorkeling spot was not that good, we saw a lot of fish but only common fish. But at least the tour leaders were cool and there was a good mood in the boat and in the island

We booked this tour through the official representative at our resort: diving for my wife and I, and the snorkelling for our two kids. The Island itself is beautiful, but unfortunately the excursion was very poorly organized and we didn’t get what was promised. We were told that we would only need to take a bathing suit, sunscreen, and some money for souvenirs. Fortunately we packed extra food, towels, etc because nothing else was provided and after an early pickup at our resort, it was over 6 hours before we got fed anything. We did purchase some snacks from vendors on the way, but nothing was provided. The scuba gear was not adequate. When we got there, I was told they didn’t have a wetsuit in my size. I am a tall guy, but have never had this problem on any dive trip in any other country before. My wife did the dives and said the dive services were good, but the equipment was not. The snorkelling location was not good: strong waves, and they did not provide proper instruction or supervision. Because they didn’t have dive gear in my size and because I was concerned about the safety, I snorkelled with the kids, but it was not particularly enjoyable. It was a good dive location, but they should have taken the snorkelers somewhere else. The beach portion was nice: it is the reason this is a two star rating and not one star. The Island is very beautiful, and the food was decent. Bar selection could have been better, but the sangria and the pina coladas were nice. The ground transportation wasted too much time and made the day too long for young kids or seniors. What should have been a maximum 2 hour trip to the marina took well over 3 hours each way. They didn’t have people properly grouped by tour and resort, and so a lot of time was wasted on side trips or moving people from one bus to another. They could easily cut two hours off the day and make it more enjoyable by organizing the ground transport by resort the way other tour companies do. All in all, I would recommend a visit to Isla Catalina, but would recommend you use a different tour provider if you go.

We booked from our hotel, Scuba Caribe water sports. Free test dive in the pool then we went to Catalina island. This was the best time we ever had on a tour. Great staff ,food and they had English staff. My husband went scuba diving and I did the snorkeling. From the pick up to the bus drive to the boat and the food to the island where amazing!!!!!!! Do not book though Sunwing as you will pay more! Go to the booth buy the pool at the resort and get an amazing price!

Loved that it was a combo Scuba and snorkel. They were both great experiences, as my boyfriend dove, and I snorkeled.

Isla Catalina was so much fun and the food we ate was great. Would definitely recommend the experience. The only downside we had is that we were picked up about an hour after pick up time.

We took the tour through Air Canada vacations at the ocean blue and Sand hotel, it seemed to take forever to actually get on the road because we had to stop at hard Rock Cafe switch buses pick up other people and then head on the road once we got there we got on to the catamaran, the crew were very pleasant on board they helped passengers get around the boat because in some areas it was quite slippery and there's no guardrails to hold on to. The ladder they use when you go snorkeling to actually go into the water and out of the water is not really a well-designed ladder. They also had two photographers on board that were really annoying and kept pushing to take pictures of everyone in couples, we had him take some pictures of us on the deck of the boat after we had been snorkeling so our hair was a mess and it was just to shut him up because he wouldn't stop leaving us alone. When we got to the island where the beach is, the beach is not very nice and your harassed by vendors. There are no showers on the beach so once you're wet you have to get back on the boat this is around 3:00 p.m. and then they take you for lunch in a restaurant that's on the dock full of black flies the food was okay but nothing special but we have to hurry up and eat because of all the flies. The photographer kept bothering us before we got off the boat to buy his pictures he just wouldn't stop so we ended up spending $50 for the pictures which honestly they're horrible. I've always had great success of taking tours from a cruise ship but this will be the last time we do it from a resort.

This was the most chaotic diving experience I have ever had. There were 50 people cramped on this boat with families with little kids as well as drunk adults there for a good time- some staying on the boat, some going snorkeling, some just there for the beach on Catalina island. When putting on my diving gear I was genuinely concerned that I would mistakenly knock a child out with my tank. There was 0 safety in terms of the diving- they didn’t check our padi certifications, there was no safety stop after diving to a depth of 20 meters, the dive leader was so focused on 1 client that he barely turned around to check on the rest of us, the equipment was old and worn out (no way to see time under water). The dive leader was interrupting/disturbing the marine life for us to interact with them, which I was also not comfortable with. I do not recommend this to any diver, especially if you have recently gotten certified or are not super comfortable diving without support.

4 hour travel time as driver not a clue of where boat was. 3 harbours later we finally had to jump a speedboat to join tour.... Supposed to be 40 max passengers yet counted over 60 on boat..... No info on length of snorkel time or time on island.. Food truly appalling, no where to sit to eat, deck chairs all occupied Mini bus full to capacity (this when tours supposed to legally operate at 75% capacity) No aircon in minibus.... And to top it off they push the tip box under your nose to coerce you into giving a tip for this crap.. Truly if stupid enough to book this trip you only have self to blame...

Day 1 didn’t pick us up after multiple phone calls said they would get us the next day at 7 am. Day 2 - 6:50 am arrive for 7 am pickup wait over a hour and half never came. DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!!! Ruined our last day of vacation

This was the best Excussion we have been on. The instructors are very professional, our instructor was Joel, we saw many colorfull fish and Corel. Ocean was clean and Cristal blue.. The staff was amazing we where welcomed and taken to the boat where we where given equipment and had briefings throughout the day so we knew what to do. The food was great and beach was very clean.. Had plenty of time to snorkel and dive. Highly recommed this company.

If you are at one of the Punta Cana resorts and are willing to give up a full day for a couple hours of snorkeling, this is a decent option. The snorkeling is better than I expected from other reviews and the water is a beautiful blue color. But it is a lot of “logistics” for a couple hours of snorkeling. Details follow... Vendor/Price: The vendor we used was Passion Paradise. I think the price was about $80 per person booked via Viator’s Website. Booking directly through Passion Paradise’s Website was the same price or higher. Our hotel offered a similar looking excursion for $115. I called Passion Paradise to ask a couple of questions before booking, and they spoke English well and were friendly & helpful. Transfer to Boat: When you book through the Viator site, indicating a departure point in Punta Cana, you’re shown a pick up time of 930am. As soon as you complete the booking, you find out that pick up from your hotel is 710am - a little bit of bait and switch there. The minivan actually arrived late at 745am. You are taken to a gas station where people are shifted from one van to another. The minivans we were in were air conditioned. Halfway to the port in La Romana there is a forced stop at a tacky tourist shop, presumably so the drivers can get a commission. Most folks in our group walked through the shop in 5 minutes and then waited 25 minutes for the driver to eat his meal. You arrive at the dock at 10am. During the drive, one sees some sugar cane fields - not much else of interest. The return trip was direct (no gas station transfer or tourist shop commission stop) and took 1:15 vs. 2:40 outbound. Boat Trip: Passion Paradise’s trip description includes a lot of “euphemisms.” For example, “"Team will greet you with tropical refreshments" - nope. The boat is a catamaran, but it is a basic tourist/dive boat that just happens to have two hulls - not a sailing catamaran. The day we went, it was packed. They cruise from La Romana to Catalina Island, which is a short distance off the mainland, at a very slow speed. The view back to La Romana is more industrial than scenic and the Isla Catalina looks pretty low and featureless as you approach it - very slowly. On the trip out, the music was extremely loud. You are offered a choice of Coke, orange drink, or fruit punch in very small plastic cups. You also get a snack of ham and cheese on white bread. Staff on the boat are nice but none spoke much English. The tour description notes "PADI certified dive team will go through the health and safety procedures during the snorkeling briefing" - nope. Divers on our trip mentioned that they weren’t even asked if they were PADI certified. Snorkeling Stop: "The team will also assist you with finding the right snorkeling equipment that best fits you” - not really. Our first stop was snorkeling just off the coast of the island. We enjoyed this - and found it better than some other reviews suggested. There is not really any corral at this first stop but the terrain is interesting enough with some fun yellow vase sponges. We saw a decent variety and a large number of smaller fish - nothing to write a journal entry about if you are a serious snorkeling or diver - but good enough for us. Everyone got enough snorkeling time at this first stop - 45 minutes to 1 hour - it did not feel rushed. Beach Stop: After snorkeling, you motor slowly to a beach area. You transfer from the boat to the beach via small, crowded, very basic motor boat - that makes three trips to transfer everyone. The beach is a nice setting with very pretty blue water. In some ways, it was nicer than our resort beach, but if all you want is a beach, you might as well stay at your resort. As others mention in their reviews, there are vendors trying to sell you stuff (like $10 pina coladas, massages, upgrade to a fresh fish lunch) but they were not hostile and accepted an answer of “no thanks.” It seems like a good number of the beach lounger chairs were broken. The bay off the beach is pretty and shallow with some rocks forming a reef. You get a basic mask and snorkel - you have to ask at the bar - and the snorkeling here is again good for recreational snorkelers. There is a little brain and fan corral on the right side of the reef as you face the ocean - and a fair number of small fish. “"Our entertainment team will take to the dance floor entertaining you with some traditional salsa and merengue dancing, followed by a range of party games" - didn’t see any of that. We left the island at 2:30 (vs. 3:15 on the itinerary). We got back to the resort hotel in Punta Cana in plenty of time for dinner. Food: The buffet style lunch is functional - nothing to write home about. “"We highly recommend you save space for the local fruits" - the only fruit was pineapple. It was very good, but if you’ve been staying in a Dominican Republic resort, you’ve probably had access to lots of good pineapple. "A range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic refreshments available:" The “range” of included drink options on the island was Coke, Sprite, or bad sangria, served again in tiny plastic cups. There was no rum or beer included - as advertised - just the bad sangria. Bring: Bring sunblock, a towel, and a bottle of water (so you can drink when you want v. when plastic Dixie cups of drink are served).