Whenever it gets cold, I start day dreaming about warm places. (Um....it's a forecasted high temperature of 2 degrees here in Nebraska people!!! NO THANKS!) Couple that with wanting to do a little travel section on the blog and you have this post! I'm doing a little review of our honeymoon destination, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic! Sorry this post is a little long, but I want to make sure all my memories are here!
Background
If you know me, you know I HAVE to be organized and prepared. I started looking for honeymoon destinations about a year before our wedding. I knew I didn't want to go to Mexico (nothing against Mexico...I just felt like that's a Spring Break destination and I wanted a little something different), so eventually I narrowed it down to Jamaica or the Dominican Republic. In the end, we chose the DR based on price and variety of resorts. Fast forward another eight months and endless hours spent on tripadvisor.com and oyster.com and we officially decided on...Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe All-Inclusive Resort.
Getting There
We were set to fly out of Lincoln the Sunday after our wedding at 6 PM, but mother nature had other ideas. It stormed sooo bad that evening that the plane coming from Chicago was behind schedule so we were delayed. Then once the plane did arrive, there was a malfunction of some electronic portion of the plane so the flight was cancelled. That was NOT what a newlywed on her way to her honeymoon wants to hear! We ended up booking a flight out of Omaha the next morning at 10:00am that would still get us there on Monday, just 9 hours behind what we would have been.
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| On our way part II |
After what seemed like forever, we finally made it to Punta Cana. Maybe all tropical airports are like this, but Punta Cana's airport was sketchhhhhhy. First, you deplane on the tarmac and are shuttled-bused to the arrival terminal. Although, I don't even know if you can call it a terminal because it's all open air. There are no glass windows anywhere in sight it's so strange! So you get there and there and you walk to the customs line where they charge you $10 to get into the county. (Luckily almost everywhere in this country accepts US currency.) Then, you head to the baggage claim area where there are a host of locals trying to take your bags for you...like seriously they swarm you! After that, they rush you down to the transportation area so you can figure out what bus to get on to take you to the resort. Our guy was really fast so we ended up being the first ones on the bus and having to wait another 30 minutes for everyone else to get there.
Finally, we got going and two things happened. 1) Our resort was closest to the airport so we got to get off the van first. YAY! 2) We were the first ones on the van so our luggage was at the bottom. So they had to dig it out. When we got it we discovered a wheel had broken. BOO!
That whole experience was just a whirlwind even though I knew what to expect based on TripAdvisor reviews. I guess I just wasn't expecting it to be THAT fast and crazy.
Resort
First impressions are a big part of any vacation in my opinion. That being said, Barcelo Bavaro NAILED it! The resort is set back away from the main road quite a way in order to be beachfront. From the main road to the resort entrance is a pristine, palm tree lined road. This road leads up to a two story entrance. Check in is on the top-level of the open air lobby that you can see right through from the front to the ocean on the backside. It was breathtaking and a welcome site after traveling for 12 hours!
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| This is from the ground floor looking up to the check-in lobby (sorry it's blurry!) |
Hospitality
I cannot say enough good things about the hospitality. Not just at the resort, but everywhere we went we were greeted with smiles, "good morning", "hola", "como esta" and the like. It seemed that people were generally enjoying their jobs and seeing guests everyday. As I stated above, the locals were eager to grab your bags and help you with them (for a tip of course), but it was so nice to be treated so warmly that a tip was earned for sure!
Rooms
We had a fantastic room. Because we were on our honeymoon, we were upgraded from the standard room to an ocean view suite!
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| The view from our porch...how amazing! |
The outside of our room had an amazing patio and hot tub! Since the pool was closed when we got there, we decided to hop into the hot tub to relax after a long day of traveling, but because it was dark we couldn't figure out how to drain it sooooo it had to stay filled up until housekeeping came the next day. Whoops!
The inside of our room was pretty great as well. It included a king-sized bed, a daybed, rain-type shower head, robes, slippers, mini-fridge, and stocked mini-bar and snack bar!
It was so relieving to have a super nice room to come back to after a hard day at the beach!
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| Justin getting in on the photo action as well! |
Also, because we were on our honeymoon, the resort left us some honeymooner's T-Shirts and coupons to be used around the resort. I honestly think I could have stayed here for a month!
Food
I wasn't really expecting much for food after reading the reviews on TripAdvisor, but I thought "we aren't going on a honeymoon to eat, right?" so it didn't really bother me much. When we got to the resort, we had no clue what was included and what was an extra fee. Shortly after arriving, we decided to explore a little bit and look for a snack and something to drink. We found the sports bar, sat down asked our waiter what was included for drinks (everything on the menu that didn't have a price by it was included) so we ordered a couple. After looking around, we saw a little buffet in the corner. Our waiter said that was included as well so we helped ourselves! It had your typical bar food: pizza, quesadillas, burgers, fries, hotdogs, and more. It actually was not too bad! We ended up eating here a lot because we would miss the window for lunch and sometimes dinner for the bigger buffet.
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| Tequilla Sunrise at the sports bar |
After meeting with our on-site travel advisor Andy, he explained that everything was included in our all inclusive package except the French Restaurant. Basically, there was the main buffet that was open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There was also a restaurant on the other side of the resort (the golf side) called Hoyo 19. It also had breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but was a served dinner not a buffet that didn't require reservations. Then, there were the restaurants that were included and required reservations: Italian, Mexican, Steakhouse, Seafood, Japanese, and Spanish. After talking with him, we made reservations for the Italian and Mexican restaurants, then after talking with some couples we met later in the week, we made a last minute reservation for the Japanese restaurant as well. Since we didn't make the reservations right at check in, we were stuck with either dinner times at 6 or around 9. But we figured since we were on vacation, we were flexible.
The Italian food was okay, but nothing special. I had the Five Cheese Ravioli and while it was good, I wasn't "wowed" by it. By the time we were done with our meals, we got up to leave. Our waiter ran after us and asked if we were sure we were done. When we said yes, he looked at us like we were crazy. We learned later that at all inclusive resorts everyone typically orders from each course including desert.
The Mexican restaurant was next, and it was delicious! We were sat at the grilling table which was really fun. The waiter there was really friendly as well. Justin had chicken fajitas and I had enchiladas and both were really good! We also learned our lesson this time and ordered both an appetizer (chips and queso) and deserts (tres leches cake and tiramisu) which were also realllly good. I think Justin got hooked on tiramisu just from this experience.
The Japanese restaurant was by far our favorite. It was a teppanyaki-style restaurant and we were seated at one of the grill tables. We had a California roll and some dumplings for appetizers, chicken and shrimp for our main courses fixed on the grill, and fried bananas and some type of cake for dessert. We were SO glad we made reservations for this place and if we ever go back, it will be a place we probably eat at more than once!
We also had breakfast one morning at Hoyo 19 (which I LOVED but Justin thought it was just okay).
Overall, I thought the food was better than the reviews indicated. However, I could see that if you only ate at the buffets for your meals you wouldn't be that impressed.
Beach
Can you say anything bad about a beach ever? We had both been to the beach in Florida, but never anywhere in the Caribbean. It was absolutely breathtaking. Pictures really do not do it justice at all. It was clean, the water was warm, there were plenty of chairs, and there weren't any annoying vendors.
We had a little routine worked out each day where we would wake up, grab breakfast, go to the pool house to grab some towels, then head to the beach. We were always able to find two chairs together where we could lay out. When we'd get too hot, we'd jump in for a swim. The swimming area was nice. It was all roped off so no strange swimming creatures made it too close to shore, but you could also swim all the way to the ropes and still touch in some places. I could not get enough!
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| Every trip we take we are trying to take a picture of our feet...this will be fun to look back on! |
Pool
When we got bored at the beach and/or needed a drink, we would head over to the main pool. We chose the pool with the swim up bar to be our "go-to" spot most of the time (go figure), but they did have another giant pool as well as an "adult's only" pool farther away. I was initially concerned that there would be too many little screaming kids for me to enjoy myself, but because there was a kid-friendly water park on the other side of the resort, there were hardly any kids at the pool with the bar, which was nice.
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| Lounge area with swim-up bar hut in the background |
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| Our pool of choice |
We had fun grabbing unlimited drinks and swimming over to the hot-tub type area and relaxing. It was so amazing.
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| Bubble pool...jets are turned off here |
The bartenders at the swim-up bar were awesome as well. We went to Angel most of the time, who always hooked us up when it came to drinks. We brought our own insulated mugs (great tip from TripAdvisor) so we didn't have to continuously go to the bar for new drinks. Angel would fill up our mugs with whatever we wanted, always with a substantial amount of alcohol. But, even if you're not a big drinker, just the atmosphere at the bar was enough to warrant a trip or two.
Excursions
One of the reasons we met with Andy who I mentioned above was to book our excursions. There were a lot of options, but we are pretty adventurous so we chose two.
The first was a party boat/snorkeling excursion. We were picked up at our resort by a "van" (the quotation marks are because the vehicle was less of a van than it was a large pick up with bench seats in the back) that then went around to all the other resorts picking up people. Once everyone was collected, the van took us to a beautiful beach where many excursions were departing from. After getting our picture taken with this island creature mascot thing, haggling with the local shop for a totebag, and signing our waiver forms, we were able to board the party boat and get on our way.
The boat was two stories, with an open space in the middle. As soon as we were on our way, there was a safety demonstration and then the dancing began! There were five dancers all dressed up in customary Carnival wear and they put on an amazing show! Before we knew it, we got to the stingray "island". This is an area where they are rehabilitating injured stingrays that cannot go back into the open ocean. We were able to get in the water with them and the handlers, pet them, and see how they swim and eat...so cool!
We then practiced our snorkling skills in another enclosed area with our guide. We then got back on the boat and were treated to fruit and sodas at the bar. Justin and I were one of the first people back on and the bartender must have known we were drinkers because he said that even though the bar doesn't typically open until after the snorkeling portion of the trip, he would get us drinks now if we wanted...and boy were they strong!! On the way to the snorkeling location the dancers came out and did another dance.
The snorkeling was the best part in my opinion. They said we could go in the water without life jackets if we signed a waiver. I'm a pretty good swimmer so I signed the waiver and jumped in. Justin kept his life jacket on, but I found it pretty easy to swim without it and it was super fun to be able to dive under the water and look at the fish even closer. Our guide Miguel was amazing at taking our picture! He even swam down with me so I could get a good picture underwater. What a fun experience.
When we got back on the boat after everyone was given a sandwich and a shot of Mama Juana (delicious) for a toast.
Overall, it was a great trip and it was fun to swim with some amazing creatures and in the ocean.
The second was the zipline excursion. This excursion was located in the mountains/rainforest, and the van ride was almost an hour long, but it was interesting to go through the villages and see some of the local culture. Our guide on the ride there was great! His name was Patrice, "PJ", or "Monkey Black" as he told us to call him. (He got this nickname because he can hang from one arm and twist all the way around!) He was very informative, telling us about the history of the Dominican Republic, the village culture (there was a funeral going on in one town we went through), and the rules of zip lining. It was great getting to know him!
Once we got to the zip lining location we got geared up and got a lesson in how to ride the lines. The first couple were easy, to get you used to it. This was not an easy excursion...we were sweating by time we got to line 4 of 11! But it is SOOOOO worth it. It was one of the best parts of our honeymoon! The views were amazing and the staff was so nice. Their company helps to support a local school, which we were showed on our drive in. It made us feel good for choosing this excursion.
Overall
I honestly can't wait to go back. Hopefully we are fortunate enough to be able to return one day. If anyone is thinking about a tropical vacation, I would HIGHLY recommend the Dominican Republic and this resort.
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