The Fun Moves Ashore as the Live Loud Fest Makes Port in the Dominican Republic

by Kevin Wierzbicki

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One of the most anticipated things about a cruise is the ship's arrival at an exotic port. So when the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Jewel brought Sixthman's Live Loud Fest to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, the music-loving cruisers aboard were anxious to explore the popular Caribbean destination. And there were lots of exciting shore excursions available for cruisers to choose from.

The Live Loud Fest cruise took place November 4-8, 2025 sailing out of Miami with an incredible lineup of shows on tap for cruisers including performances from 311, Hirie, Liz Vice, Ripe, Bombargo, Kristy Lee, the Wheeland Brothers, Soja and many others. The way it works on port days is that the music is paused until the late afternoon so that those who go ashore don't miss anything. Cruisers disembarked in Puerto Plata to hit the beach, drive dune buggies, swim with dolphins, visit waterfalls and take sightseeing tours.

We chose the Discover Puerto Plata tour because, well, there was rum involved! And even though it wasn't even noon yet, the tour began with a visit to the Macorix House of Rum. Fear not though; even though more than half a dozen rums were sampled, they were small doses that weren't going to make anyone, as they say on the tour, "drunky drunky!" And cruisers didn't have to wait too long to get to the tasting; we all hit the bar after a relatively brief explanation of how Macorix makes the cherished liquid and after viewing a short video explaining the Macorix history.

After the tasting (yum, the pineapple flavored!) there was ample time to visit the attached gift shop and purchase bottles to take back home. With a smile on everyone's face we moved on to our next stop, the Luperon House Museum. Named after Dominican national hero General Gregorio Luperon, the house is a repository of items relating to Luperon's significant achievements and there are lots of cool things there including garments that were worn back in the day. And for the music-minded, which was every one of us, there's a piano in the museum that visitors can actually play. That's a rarity for musical instruments in museums as they are usually "don't touch" but a few cruisers tickled the ivories. The piano looked a little worse for wear but surprisingly it was completely in tune.

Other stops on the tour included the El Rincon del Cafe, a specialty shop featuring coffees and chocolates, and both items were available to sample. Just about everyone bought something here to take home with the chocolates, of course, being the favorite.

The shop is located in a charming shopping area and just outside the store a young lady danced in traditional dress, kindly posing for photographs. The Dominican Republic is famous for two types of gems: larimar which is only found in the Dominican, and amber, and we saw plenty of both.

At the Rainbow Gift Shop and Factory we were wowed by a huge amount of larimar jewelry that was on display and for sale; the shop also offered chunks of larimar as specimens and for hobbyists to craft into their own jewelry.

Amber galore was on view at the Dominican Amber Museum where we learned how the material is mined and made into jewelry and other items. Amber is essentially fossilized tree sap and the museum has a great many pieces where many types of insect got trapped in the sap millennia ago. We saw amber pieces with spiders and beetles and other creepy-crawlies trapped inside.

We also got to see Puerto Plata's famed Pink Alley where everything on both sides of the alley is painted, you guessed it, pink. For the tour's finale we made a visit Fort San Felipe, an imposing structure that cruisers could also see from the ship as we headed to the pier. The tour was a great "taste" of Puerto Plata, rum and all!

Back on the ship there was plenty of music to be had with performances from Ethan Tucker, Niko Moon, Allen Stone, Hirie, Liz Vice, the Ries Brothers and for those who wanted to party all night, karaoke from 10 pm till 2 am. The following day our cruise would come to a close and we'll tell you all about that in our next report.

Find more information on all of Sixthman's upcoming cruises here.

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