The Good
We spent six days and five nights in a fabulous hotel room. We had a king-size room that was very spacious, and it had sitting area in it that led to a large balcony. We didn't have an ocean view, but we didn't pay for that going in. Our bathroom had a tile shower and only one sink, but with lots of counter space for all of my stuff ;) Our location in the resort was really great too - only about two minutes from the lobby, hotel bar, and main restaurant. The beach, pool, and other restaurants were a little further (maybe 5-10 minute walk) but beautiful landscaping along the way. The housekeeping did a great job, and to me, staying in a clean room is one of the most important parts of a great vacation.
Every single day the weather was absolutely gorgeous. One of the main reasons we chose this location was the temperatures in January are typically highs in the mid-80's and lows in the high-70's. It did not disappoint. It actually only rained one time - and we were in the spa getting massages at the time, and didn't even notice until we saw a few puddles on the walk back to our room. The lobby, bars, and most of the restaurants of the resort are all open air. It is such a relaxing atmosphere that I wasn't expecting. They are all covered (in case of rain) but it's so nice to spend most of your vacation outside, even when dining.
We were able to have dinner at the various restaurants for dinner 4 out of 5 nights. Each restaurant has a different type of food, so we had dinner at Mexican Restaurant (for two nights), the French restaurant one night, and and the Steakhouse which is basically on the beach. Dressing up each night and going to the fancy dinners was fun to do every night. The food at the restaurants was definitely better than the buffets. We had some authentic Mexican tacos, steak, and wine at dinner.
Travis actually introduced me to some people he knew that were staying at the resort at the same time as us, and it was nice to spend time a few nights with some other people from the Akron area.
We mostly stayed poolside during the days. I read a few books and enjoyed laying out in the perfect weather. Despite being such a large resort, there were two very large pools and they didn't seem overly crowded while we were there.
We of course spent some time walking on the beach and enjoying the water, but we didn't lay out on the beach as much because it was very crowded and noisy.
The best part of our trip was definitely our full body couple massages on Saturday morning. We've had massages before, but these girls did a fabulous job, and we both thoroughly enjoyed them! They just opened a new spa at this resort in December, and it was beautiful. Had we scheduled the massages for earlier in the week, we probably would have gone back for a second time...they were that good!
The Bad
We experienced a little more "culture shock" than we were expecting, and more sympathy for the staff, in terms of how they live. The poverty level in the DR is high, and it's very noticeable, especially on the bus ride to and from the airport, where you can see how the people live. We learned on the second day that many of the staff live at the resort for 10 or more days at a time, and then only see their family for a day or two before coming back to stay at the resort again. The average salary in the DR is supposedly only $200-300 per month. We also talked to a few staff members who said they had young kids at home, close to my girls' ages. It made us almost feel guilty for being on vacation there, even though I know it helps their economy. It's hard not to feel for them...even though they all put on a good show that they enjoy working there. I get the feeling that the jobs at the resort are actually some of the best on the island.
Also, although the restaurants had decent food, the food at the buffet was lacking, and sometimes it seemed like it had been sitting out awhile. For breakfast we mostly had eggs, pineapple, and bacon. There was coffee with milk, which had a strange taste, and I later found out they used condensed milk...not my favorite. For lunch we had roast chicken a few times which was ok, and I tried pizza which was also ok. We also had more fruit (mostly pineapple.) We only had dinner at the buffet one night, and it wasn't memorable. I think I had pizza, chicken, cheese, and some fried things that were relatively unidentifiable. A few days into our trip, Travis started to get a little sick from the food. He started getting sick Thursday, and is unfortunately still recovering as of today (almost a week later.) We tried to figure out what was making him sick, and we still don't really know. They said the water was safe to drink, but we tried to stick with bottled water after that. For the last day or so, Travis didn't eat very much at all.
After this trip, Travis and I realized we aren't really keen on drinking all day. Sure, we like to have a beer or two to unwind after a long day, but not every day, and certainly not all day, every day. They had a good selection of mixed drinks, but the beer there was awful, and you could only get one or two selections of red or white wine (unless you paid extra.) I guess we're not as young as we used to be. It felt like a waste of money to go to an all-inclusive and only have a drink or two during the day, but that's pretty much what we did most days.
The Ugly
The one thing that we were both really looking forward to on this trip was a private fishing charter. Travis loooves fishing, and we've done several charters off the coast of Florida and South Carolina. We also go up to Lake Erie frequently on our boat. We'd read that the fishing charters can be a little dicey in the DR, but we decided to try anyway. We did our research before the trip, and booked a charter with a seemingly reputable charter - Mike's Marina. It was scheduled for four hours on Friday afternoon from 1-5.
I was able to take a few beautiful pictures before disaster struck. It really looks like we were going out for a beautiful boat ride doesn't it?? The aqua color of the water was gorgeous.
We headed out into the Caribbean Sea/Atlantic Ocean. Our "crew" was not the owner of the fishing charter company...it was just two guys who were hired to take us out, who didn't speak English. We crossed the "line" that separated the Caribbean Sea from the ocean, which is visible due to the coloring and temperature of the water I suppose.
You can tell in this photo that Travis already wasn't feeling his best. The waves became rough very early on, and about 25 to 30 minutes in, I started to get a little nervous about becoming really sea sick. We were literally in 8-12 foot waves pretty consistently. They were definitely the biggest waves I've ever been in, in such a small boat (29'). Luckily I brought some Dramamine with me, and Travis and I both took some for the first time in our lives. I think that kept us from literally throwing up, but we both felt awful for most of the trip. I stayed at the top where I felt better, and Travis moved down to the back of the boat, and neither of us could move. On top of that, while we were both extremely sea sick, they played some terrible Spanish Techno music, which I swear just made things much worse.
The highlights of our trip included seeing a lot of humpback whales, which were actually really awesome, and kept my mind off of being sick, and also seeing some flying fish. However, we didn't catch any fish, and our fishing trip was essentially just an "out and back" boat ride. On other fishing charters we've been on, we've been able to try a few different methods of catching different types of fish, but it was clear that our "captains" were on a route that was not going to change. It was an expensive mistake on our part, and we're looking at it as an experience we won't soon forget.
Overall
In Punta Cana we were able to relax and enjoy celebrating our anniversary, and enjoy one of the most beautiful places we've been. The scenery was gorgeous and the weather was perfect. It had its good and bad moments, but that is what made it an anniversary that we'll always remember!
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