what was your first impression? where did you stay? what you think about that? how was your experience like?
2007-01-12 02:16:22 · 6 answers · asked by *live,laugh,love* 2 in Travel ➔ Caribbean ➔ Dominican Republic
yes,
punta cana,
all inclusive,
do the atv day trip
its unreal
2007-01-12 02:20:26 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I go to DR every winter. It is a land of contrast. In Punta Cana the resorts are fancy and americanized. The rest of the country is poor nearly third world. I prefer to stay on the north or south coasts and mingle with the locals. If you stay on a resort you will not see the real DR. The majority do not own cars. many do have motorbikes though. The electrical power is unpredictable and goes off every day. The native food is fantastic. They love to dance and party. I like to stay in BOCA CHICA the best. It is a party town with a fantastic beach and plenty of hotels. If you avoid the tourists areas your money can go a long way. the school kids all wear uniforms and behave in class. Most dominican people are poor by American standards but they are the happiest people anywere. They may not have nice homes but they always dress very sharp with bright colors. I'll be heading down to Santo Domingo next week, I can't wait!
2007-01-12 15:11:26 · answer #2 · answered by morris 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Been twice. Once to punta cana - hotel: Occidental Grand Flamenco and once to La Ramona.. hotel: Venta club gran dominicus.
Loved Punta Cana... great beaches, friendly people, great food... we did a day trip horseback riding (do not recommend.. the horses are more the size of donkeys, and so skinny if will hurt you a$$!). The Occidental was an absolutely beautiful hotel... probably the best out of any I've stayed in (been to the Carribean 6 times!). It also one of the only 'public' discos right on the property. People from all hotels will come to that disco, as well as locals.. but it is very safe, and 1 min from the front door of the hotel... so thats pretty good, if thats your thing!
La Ramona - hated it! The beaches suck.. all rocks and sharp coral... hurts your feet just to walk on it. We got swtiched to the Venta club by our travel agent only 24 hours before we left, due to overbooking at the actual hotel we wanted. When we arrived, we realized it was an Italian resort. I mean 95% of the people were from Italy. All the entertainment was in Italian, all the shows... none of the staff spoke English.. only Spanish and Italian (to the point tha we couldn't even book an a la carte, because they didn't understand us). We made the best of that week... but because I don't speak Italian.. it was really difficult to do stuff (and everyone was also very snobby to us, because of course, we didn't fit in!). I don't recommend that hotel to anyone! Or La Ramona for that matter.
** There is a great website called www.tripadvisor.com. Once you decide where your going... look up the hotels on this site. You'll see personal reviews from people who stayed at the hotel like a week ago. There are always helpful tips about each hotel. Its a good tool when making a decision.. cause when it comes to all inclusive... its all about the hotel! (note: take the comments with a grain of salt.. some people ***** about EVERYTHING at the hotel, and are just ridiculous.. but this site will still give you a good idea. Most of the time the people bitching are very high-maintenance to begin with!).
Good luck... happy traveling!
2007-01-12 11:00:36 · answer #3 · answered by CEP 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I did I stayed at an all inclusive never went into the city but stayed on the beach at the all inclusive. Very beautiful the water is gorgeous. One of the best trips I have taken.
2007-01-12 10:26:37 · answer #4 · answered by #1techfan 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've been to several hotels in Punt Cana and have visited many others.
The Bavaro Princess is a great resort - lots to do all day and night, plus the rooms are ALL Jr. suites and the food is great. They have eight restaurants, eight bars, and nightly entertainment. I send clients there all the time and get really good feedback from them. The resort comes highly recommended - I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
I was at the new RIU Punta Cana Palace in May - WOW. Drop dead gorgeous and what a beach! Actually, all the RIU resorts in Punta Cana line-up one right after the other on this beautiful stretch of beach, covered with palm trees. The RIU right next to us was the RIU Palace Macau, also a beautiful resort. Next to the Macau was the RIU Bambu, then the RIU Tiano, both a little down-scale from the "RIU Palace" resorts, but really nice places. I found the staff to be great at all of them, as I walked down the beach and sampled the food and beverages at them all.
Punta Cana does not have many off-resort activities or places of interest - its kind of a laid-back, chill-out and enjoy your resort vacation. All hotels have tour desks for the 20 or so tours that are available.
Most of the tours happen in or on the water; the array of water sports options offered right on the beach is amazing: catamaran boat rides, double-decker party boats, restaurant dining at sunset on the sea, parasailing, glass bottom boats for marine life observation, sports fishing, diving, snorkeling, flying boats, speed boats. The boat taxis can take you from one hotel to another via the beach. There is also banana boating, kayaking, windsurfing, sailing and beach volleyball.
But here are other activities to consider:
Safari-type excursions on four-wheel bikes, buggy rides, jeep safaris, monster trucks or helicopter rides for a privileged view. A dozen of companies offer these adventure tours that take the tourists to observe tropical wilderness, visit a countryside home where typical Dominican food lunch will be served, examine tropical crops, take a dip at a deserted beach or for a swim in a cool river.
Horseback riding is also popular in Punta Cana with the option of riding on deserted white-sand beaches, making for great photography.
Punta Cana has year round beach weather - with the high season from mid December to mid April. The rainy/hurricane season is mid August to mid October, so take that into account when planning your vacation.
Go on line to Apple Vacations (I've put the link below for you) and check-out everything. They have full details and pictures of all the hotels, and you can design your own package and switch the hotels in and out until you have exactly what you're looking for. Then it allows you to send what you've created over to a local travel agent to take care of everything for you at no additional cost!
I hope this information was helpful. Enjoy your trip.
2007-01-12 10:26:07 · answer #5 · answered by travel guy 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I stayed at the Occedintal Allegro Grand Punta Cana. It had absouloutley HORRIBLE service and HORRIBLE food. The ATV said they will take us through beautiful jungles. THEY TOOK US TO CONSTRUCTION SITES! It was absouloutley horrible in Dominican Republic and thats my opinion. :(
2007-01-12 16:30:05 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋