Shroggie
Don't Worry...Be Happy
Member since 5/06 6261 total posts
Name:
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I'm back from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic!
I was being lazy and didn't feel like writing a review, but neenie fm'ed me asking how my trip was so I kinda gave her a little review since she's going there as well. Here's the fm I sent...
I'm so bad...I'm just too lazy to write a review, but the trip was awesome! The beach was beautiful, the sand is feels like powder, and the water is just beautuful. The dominican people were very welcoming and so friendly.
We were very happy with our resort, and plan on using them for our next big vacation as well. Not sure where that will be, but I highly recommend Sol Melia resorts.
The weather was like 80 every day and was perfect. Every day, we woke up to a downpour of rain. After about 10-20 minutes it stopped and the skies opened up to clear blue. It would also rain in the middle of every day when we were at the beach or pool, but it only lasted about 2 minutes. It was a little annoying, however it was so quick, and when it stopped, the sun would come out and dry everything up. Ilm not sure if it's always like that, but that's how it was for the whole week we were there. I think it's normal though.
We did 2 excursions. One was the Jeep Safari, and the other was the Carribean Festival snorkeling. Originally we were doing the Jeeps, and the Soana Island day trip, but we got too drunk the night before Soana Island and I couldn't make it that early in the morning...oops! With the Jeep Safari, if you are into off-roading and seeing a little bit of culture and Dominican life, I highly recommend this excursion. It was a long day, but totally worth it. We got to off-road through the mud, see a the dominican villages (so sad how poor they are), go to a tobacco museum (that was alright I guess), go to a dominican home and see how they live, then at the end of the trip we went to a ranch for a late lunch and that was absolutely gorgeous. It was along a beautiful beach. We ate dominican food, which was actually good, and then got to take a horseback ride along the beach. This was all in one excursion. You must know how to drive stick shift. If you do this, just be aware that the children don't go to school, so they are all out during the day begging for money. They will jump on your car, and chase you. Do not give them money. If you give one kid a dollar, a ton of others will come running to your car. As you're driving through the villages all the kids come running from their homes to wave to you. It's kinda cute. They drop everything just to say hello. So that's the first excursion. You can book through your tour guide at the resort.
Carribean Festival snorkeling was fun, but i'm not really into snorkeling, so it wasnt for me. I can't really say much about it. Craig liked the snorkeling, but said that it was just okay. When you're done snorkeling, they feed you alcohol so that's when I started to have a good time. This was only a 4 hour trip.
Soana Island was the one trip I would have liked to do, but I just couldn't make it, so we traded it with the snorkeling. Soana Island is a small private island just south of Dominican Republic. It is supposed to be georgous. It's just a relaxing day on another island that the tour guide highly recommended us doing. I really regret not doing it.
Other than that, we just sat on the beach or by the pool and sucked up the sun. It was a great vacation.
Oh, if you didn't already know, there is a one hour time difference. We didn't know, and were an hour late for everything the forst 2 days...haha
Also, there are ALOT of Europeans there. I think the majority were from Russia or Germany. I was surprised about that. And all the men wear banana hammock speedos. It sure was a sight to see!
I guess that's all! Maybe I should just post this as my review
I don't think I wrote that we stayed at Melia Caribe Tropical Resort.
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juanvi
Get Out!
Member since 10/06 4463 total posts
Name: Christina
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Re: I'm back from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic!
good review! I stayed at the same place when Dh and I went to DR. to be honest, the place was beautiful, but i'll never go back. Dh got so sick he had to go to a clinic (dirty) and we almost got swindled out of almost 400 bucks. Be careful don't get swindled!! Sorry for everyone that likes it...no offense...we just had a bad experience.
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Shroggie
Don't Worry...Be Happy
Member since 5/06 6261 total posts
Name:
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Re: I'm back from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic!
Posted by juanvi
good review! I stayed at the same place when Dh and I went to DR. to be honest, the place was beautiful, but i'll never go back. Dh got so sick he had to go to a clinic (dirty) and we almost got swindled out of almost 400 bucks. Be careful don't get swindled!! Sorry for everyone that likes it...no offense...we just had a bad experience.
I actually got sick too, but it was just diarrhea (sorry TMI), so I was able to deal with it. It lasted the whole trip...ugh. I just blamed it on not being used to the oils that they cool the foods in and brushing my teeth with the water. From what I heard, it's very common there. I did have to go to the clinic too b/c I had a little allergic reaction (my fault) and they were extremly nice and told me I didn't have to pay for services. I was in and out and I didn't notice that it was dirty. I guess it has changed maybe.
That s*cks that you had a bad experience.
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