Playa Dorada (Dominican Republic)

Now I am back in the writing mood I thought I would put my experiences over 2008 to good use and write a couple of reviews. I have a few ideas in mind but thought I'd start by a writing review of the hotel we stayed in on our honeymoon. Now this is probably going to be quite long as I have so much to tell you so be prepared!

We had originally wanted to go to The Maldives for our honeymoon but upon closer inspection found that this ...
...a local high street Travel Agents and got a quote for a 2 week holiday to the Maldives for 2 people. We were quoted £3700 for a fortnight staying in 3* accommodation on a Full Board basis. I could tell my (then) fiancé wanted to book but I was apprehensive and suggested we slept on it overnight. Once we got home I said that I thought for what we were getting the quote was on the high side and I suggested we shopped around to see what else was out ... more

Now I am back in the writing mood I thought I would put my experiences over 2008 to good use and write a couple of reviews. I have a few ideas in mind but thought I'd start by a writing review of the hotel we stayed in on our honeymoon. Now this is probably going to be quite long as I have so much to tell you so be prepared!

We had originally wanted to go to The Maldives for our honeymoon but upon closer inspection found that this was going to work out rather expensive. We popped into a local high street Travel Agents and got a quote for a 2 week holiday to the Maldives for 2 people. We were quoted £3700 for a fortnight staying in 3* accommodation on a Full Board basis. I could tell my (then) fiancé wanted to book but I was apprehensive and suggested we slept on it overnight. Once we got home I said that I thought for what we were getting the quote was on the high side and I suggested we shopped around to see what else was out there. We had bought back of a copy of a 'Tropical Escapes' brochure to look through and decided that we would individually look through it marking anything that took our fancy and then compare afterwards to see if we had both liked any of the same places.

My husband to be looked through the brochure first and found the place that we eventually decided upon the Melia Caribe Tropical in Bavaro, Punta Cana which is in the Dominican Republic. He showed me the brochure and it looked very impressive 7 pools, 13 restaurants, 2 spas, a championship golf course, eight lit tennis courts, casino, games arcade and even a themed Flintstones area for kids - not that we have any children but I have to say I love the Flintstones so I was actually quite excited about that and I even got to meet Fred Flintstone while we were there - which I was really happy about (what can I say I'm a big kid at heart).

The brochure was from the company First Choice, a large and well respected company within the travel sector. We decided to have a look on their website to get some more information and were impressed with what we saw so decided to do an online quote to see how much we would be looking at. I won't say how much the quote was at this stage but we were very pleasantly surprised.

So now some information about the hotel………

The Melia Caribe Tropical is situated on the east of the Dominican Republic an area which has only started growing in popularity over the past 10 years or so. Most tourists tend to go to the North of the island which is more geared towards the usual holidaymaker. The hotel is actually two previous hotels combined into one large complex - the Caribe hotel and the Tropical hotel which is how it gets its name. This is an all inclusive hotel so means you get all your drinks and food free during your stay (certain exclusions apply).

The hotel offers two different levels of accommodation. The most basic accommodation is classed as a Junior Suite - these are tastefully decorated and air conditioned and are 450 sq. ft. in size. They have a double bed, bathroom and small seating area and there is Wi-Fi available in the room (for an additional charge). They also offer Family Deluxe Junior Suites which are the same size but have one sofa bed, one duplex or bunk bed plus themed amenities on any children's beds, curtain separation for privacy, bathroom kid amenities including a mini-step for the sink and for those with babies you will receive a Meliá Baby kit complete with soap, floating toy, shampoo and bubble bath. Wi-Fi is available in the room (for an additional charge).

Now I cannot comment on the above kinds of accommodation as we didn't stay in either of them. As it was our honeymoon we decided to see how much it would cost to stay in the deluxe accommodation which the Melia Caribe calls their Royal Service Option. To receive this option you pay a premium but for this you get a number of extra things that you don't receive in a basic accommodation - luxury bathroom amenities, luxury Bedroom with duvet and special mattress, free Internet available in rooms and a coffee maker. Now you may think to yourself that isn't much in the way of extras………but that is just the start!

If you opt to stay in the Royal Service area you are also entitled to:

Avoid the lines at the lobby, with Royal Service you have a private check-in and check-out in our exclusive Royal Service Lounge

Choose your comfort level! Your personal butler will provide you with a pillow menu that will make each night with us a dream come true.

Private lounge offering a light continental breakfast everyday plus complementary Internet access on the existing computer, coffee, beverages and hors d'oeuvres served throughout the day

Room service is provided from 7am to 11pm for those mornings or evenings when you want to stay in and relax in your private haven

Butler and concierge services take care of your reservations for our spa, water sports, golf, tennis courts and various excursions

Our signature Gabi Club with its own private restaurant, snack bar and a free form pool is only for the exclusive enjoyment of our Royal Service guests

We offer convenient access and transportation to the Royal Service private beach area with beach concierge and runners that will be ready to grant your every wish while lying on the cool sands of our coastline

Now that sounded more like it! That sounded like sheer bliss so we costed it up and found out that the total price for our honeymoon for 2 weeks, including the Royal Service option was going to be far less than our quote to the Maldives. Combined with the fact that First Choice would allow us to book via the internet with only a 5% deposit we were sold. Within a few easy clicks that was it our honeymoon was booked. Now we just needed to wait six months till we could go!
So the months went past and we had our lovely wedding day so the next thing to come was our honeymoon. We packed up our cases and headed off to the airport full of happiness and excitement - we'd been waiting for this holiday all year and now it was finally here.

I was slightly apprehensive about the prospect of an 8 - 9 hour flight having never flown further than the Med before but I went armed with a book to read, puzzle book and MP3 player to listen to on the way. I was happy to find out that on the plane we got an in-flight entertainment programme including films, games, radio and TV programmes to watch so the flight seemed to go past really quickly. The flight seemed to be over in a flash, I watched Sex and the City the Movie, played a few games, did some word searches had my airline dinner which was actually quite nice and then we were there! The first thing we noticed stepping of the plane was the heat - it hit you in the face like a brick wall.

After landing we made our way to the arrivals lounge (or hut should I say) the airport is relatively small and there were a lot of people all trying to get in so it was quite manic. When you enter the arrivals you have your picture taken with local ladies dressed in traditional dress, you can then buy your photo when you go home from the airport on your return journey. The most important thing to mention is that when you enter the Dominican Republic you have to pay $10 for a tourist visa so make sure you have a small amount of local currency or US dollars on you to pay this, you have to fill in a short form saying who you are, where your from, where you are staying etc and your passport number - they gave these to us whilst on the plane to complete so they were ready when we arrived.

A lot of people were complaining about the fact they had to pay to get into the country but later on in our visit we found out that the reason for this is to create extra 'tips' for the staff in the different hotels on the island. The Dominican Republic is classed as a third world country and the local people do not get paid much so what they do is add up all the tourist visas paid for each individual hotel and then divide these by every member of staff who works there. This way even people like the gardeners and refuse collectors receive extra tips on top of their pay packet that would probably not be given actual tips by guests staying at the hotel like bar stewards and waiters. I personally think this is a good idea and if it helps the local people get more income then it can only help the country improve its economic state.

So after waiting a short while and picking up our bags (which came pretty quickly) we headed out to find our transfer to the hotel. When you have gone through the airport and come out the other side you will find that there are lots of Dominican people ready to help you with your cases for a small tip. The currency in the Dominican Republic is either US Dollars or Dominican Pesos - we took mostly US Dollars as the exchange rate was pretty good but you can take a mixture of both. I would advise you to accept the offer of help as we were walked straight past the massive queue of people trying to find out which bus they had to get on at the First Choice desk to a separate desk by our 'helper' he then walked us to our transfer bus and it was all sorted in a matter of minutes.

Once on the coach we had to wait for a little while for all the people that we were transporting to get to the bus (if only they'd all done what we did!) but within about 15 minutes were on our way to the hotel. We were very excited (and hot) we had to drop a few people off at other hotels on the way but within about 25 minutes we had arrived at our hotel.

When we got off the coach immediately our cases were taken by the concierge to be taken to our room. We went to find out where we checked in and were directed to the Royal Service private check in area. To get there we had to walk through the hotel lobby - a massive room with lots of seating, a huge bar and massive four poster beds that are actually used as chairs. The furniture was all dark wood and right in the middle of the room was a small pond with tropical plants growing around it, these were also dotted round the outside of the room. It is difficult to describe as it wasn't really a room because it was all open plan and led to the outside but was covered by a canopy the only way I can describe it is beautiful.

When we arrived at the check in desk we were asked if we would like a glass of champagne, would we? Oh go on then, the honeymoon had begun - yay! After about 10 minutes going through everything at the check in we were told to go with our concierge who would take us to our apartment. So off we toddled with our champagne out to our private golf buggy which whisked us away to our apartment which was literally a 3 minute walk round the corner. It was all very surreal whizzing around at 4pm in the afternoon on a golf buggy with a glass of champagne in our hands! Once there the concierge carried our suitcases up the stairs and we were shown our home for the next 2 weeks for the first time.

The only word that I can use to describe our thoughts once we had been settled into our apartment is "Wow!" As it was our honeymoon we had been upgraded to the best suite available and waiting for us was a basket of fruit and a bottle of rum. The suite itself was nothing short of massive; I will try my best to describe it even though the layout is quite hard to explain. It had a large kitchen with a massive fridge-freezer which was stocked with local beer, Pepsi/diet Pepsi, 7up/diet 7up and water. Joined on to the kitchen area was a medium sized lounge with a sofa, 2 chairs and 3 large seating pads - plenty of room for a family but more than enough room for just us two. Also in the lounge there was a flat screen TV with satellite channels and a stereo system which played both CD's and cassettes - unfortunately as we didn't know this would be available we hadn't bought anything with us so it didn't get used. There was a door which opened out onto the balcony.

Following on from the lounge was the bedroom which had a very large bed, so big in fact that when we laid in it even if you rolled over you were still miles away from the other person. The room was beautifully decorated and had double patio doors which opened out onto the balcony. There was also a flat screen TV in the bedroom with satellite channels. There was a bedside cabinet on either side of the bed with three drawers in each one and a dressing table so there was enough room to store items but without the furniture over powering the room. Leading through from the bedroom was one of the bathroom areas. On the left there was a huge double wardrobe with hanging space and 3 large shelves, this wardrobe had mirrored doors so you could easily check what your outfit looked like before leaving the apartment. Also included in this area was our Jacuzzi which was one of the biggest Jacuzzis I have ever seen, you could easily fit four people in it (not that we wanted to have another two people in there with us!) alongside the Jacuzzi were double his and hers sinks and a massive illuminated mirror.

Next door in a separate room were the toilet and the shower cubicle. The shower was amazing - it was one of those showers which had the different jets which you can switch on and off to vary where the water streams from. You could opt for the usual overhead shower jet, chest height, waist/hip height, mid leg height or a flow from a foot height tap. There was also another wash basin in this room and an illuminated mirror just in case you didn't fancy using the other two! This room then joined back up to the main entrance by the kitchen.

The whole suite was nothing short of breathtaking and I have to admit I did have to pinch myself as I honestly thought at any second they were going to come along and tell us that there had been a mistake and they'd put us in the wrong room. After freshening up and doing a spot of unpacking we decided to have a wander around the hotel to try and get ourselves acquainted with the layout. We headed up to the main lobby area and started from there walking around the different bars and finding out where all the different restaurants were. The hotel was really well laid out and when we checked in we were provided with a little map which proved to be very useful, each area was clearly signposted with arrows telling you which way the nearest bar and restaurant was.

For our first evening we decided to eat at the Gabi Club which was the private restaurant for the Royal Service guests and I have to say it was delicious. The menu was varied and you chose a starter, main course and desert - you could have anything you wanted and they had a long list of cocktails which were to die for! We ate here a few times and each time was just as good as the next. In the mornings they had a buffet style breakfast where you could choose from a variety of cereals, pastries, cooked items such as eggs and bacon, fruit and yoghurts and at lunchtime they had a buffet where you could choose from cooked meats such as steak, chicken, pork steaks and various vegetables and accompaniments, different salad items and cold cooked meats and then a variety of desserts. There were about four or five different places that offered a similar buffet style breakfast and lunch although each one had slightly different items available so we quite often went to one place on one day then tried somewhere different the next.

In the same area as the Gabi Club was our private pool area which was gorgeous with 2 Jacuzzis that you could sit in and bask in the glorious sunshine and loungers built into the actual pool so you could sit there with your drink in the pool and just watch the world go by. The pool had a swim up bar which was open between 9am - 6pm which served beers, spirits, a selection of cocktails, even slush puppies which you could request a dash of rum to be added to - I particularly liked the vodka slush puppies! The pool was smaller than the main pool but was still a decent size and had a smaller pool next to it for children.

Over the other side of the complex was the shared pool which was HUGE! Again with Jacuzzis that you could sit in and a swim up bar. We didn't actually go up to this pool very often as we were quite happy at the VIP pool as it was right opposite our apartment. At each pool there was a hut which dispensed your towels - when you check in they gave you a card which you took each morning to collect your towels and at the end of the day when you returned the towels you got the card back. The system worked really well and they had no problem with you taking your towel to the beach etc as long as you took it back. If at the end of your holiday you didn't surrender your towel card then you had to pay a fee but it was easy enough to make sure you managed to keep it safe during your holiday.

When it came to the restaurants you had plenty of choice with Japanese, French, Mexican, Dominican, American Grill, Chinese, International and Mediterranean to choose from which were the a la carte options and then the Market Place which was a buffet style restaurant which had a bit of everything and then we had the Gabi Club too. We ate in all of the restaurants that were available to us and I thought the food was pretty good, though some of the items did come across as being quite bland though I find this quite often when eating in hotels overseas. After a while you worked out which things you liked and which you weren't so keen on. Personally I thought that the best places were the French and Dominican from the a la carte options and I enjoyed the food in both the Gabi Club and the market place. Then of course if we really didn't want to leave our room there was the option of calling for room service - we literally could ring and order lobster and champagne to be bought to us and the concierge would bring it to us within about 30 minutes - it was like living in the lap of luxury.

We took our honeymoon the second and third week of October which was slightly out of season. The hotel attracts a lot of American guests with the Dominican Republic being so close to the US and pretty cheap to travel to from there. Apparently because they start the run up to thanksgiving about two weeks after we left most people tend to holiday then. Due to this we did find that the hotel was very quiet, most days we were the only people at the VIP pool and you could walk around various bars during the day and find them totally empty. This of course did mean that there were no problems getting a sun lounger by the pool or a nice seat in the bars but if you are the type of person who likes to socialise with other guests you may find it too quiet at this time of year. We did meet a few English people that we would often chat to and we also interacted with some of the other guests from different countries while we there.

Unfortunately the fact that it was slightly quieter this did mean that some of the activities listed in the brochure didn't appear to be running. I personally was really looking forward to the daily Aquafit class but I never actually found it and assumed that it wasn't running because of the lack of guests. We also found that a couple of the restaurants were closed for refurbishment including the Chinese and the International which were two of the ones we were looking forward to but there were still plenty of others to choose from so it didn't make too much of an impact on our stay.

I felt the one area that hotel did let itself down in was the entertainment. There was a show every evening at 10pm which only lasted between 30 - 45 minutes. The shows that we did see were of good quality and varied in style from Michael Jackson impersonators, to talent shows, dance presentations and a Flintstones show for the children. It appeared that the shows usually ran on the same night each week so if you did happen to miss it the first week and you were staying for two weeks you could catch it the next, however it did mean that if you saw all the shows in the first week then the second week of your week could end up being quite boring in the evenings. There was a nightclub on the site but on the couple of occasions we visited it there was about 4 people in it which was disappointing - again I think it would've proved to be much better in high season. Our rep did tell us that there was a shuttle bus that collected people from the local hotels and took them to a nightclub in the nearest town and then returned them later in the evening but we never made use of it.

The hotel offered plenty of excursions during the daytime and also some that went on into the evening. We went on three trips while we were there, I wish we could've gone on more but of course these come at a price and we had only taken a limited amount of money with us due to it being an all inclusive resort, had I have had a credit card it may have been a different story as you could also pay for excursions using a debit/credit card. The excursions were really varied and ranged from swimming with dolphins which I really wanted to do but couldn't afford, to visiting a local bird sanctuary, taking a jeep safari or even going to a local distillery.

The first of our trips was to the capital of the Dominican Republic Santa Domingo which was an interesting, but very long day. The coach picked us up at 6am from our hotel then after collecting people from another couple of local hotels started the drive to the capital which took approximately 3 hours with a 15 minute toilet stop. Whilst travelling though there was a tour guide who gave you an oversight into the country, the history and the way the people live. As I mentioned earlier the Dominican is classed as a third world country and so when you first drive through the small provinces it can be quite shocking as they are more or less shanty towns with some people living in tin huts that look like they would collapse the moment the wind blew. I was prepared for this as I had seen many programmes on the country before we travelled there but it was still pretty eye opening nonetheless. Once we arrived in Santa Domingo we looked round Christopher Columbus' house and a local church and then we had lunch in a restaurant. After lunch we went to the Cathedral which was also the very first church to be built in the Americas, there were casks of many of the leaders of the country including presidents and princes etc. After this we then had some free time to take a look round the shops and buy some souvenirs before heading back to Bavaro to our hotel.

On the way back we encountered a storm and so the journey was quite difficult, the rain was coming down so heavily it made driving conditions really bad and a lot of the roads were flooding. It was amazing to see how the shanty towns could cope with such extreme weather conditions - we later found out it was the tail end of Hurricane Ivan which had been hitting to US.

Another excursion we went on was to visit Stingray Bay - a local conservation centre which is actually in the ocean and is used to observe the behaviour of Stingrays and sharks. I must admit I am not good with boats and can occasionally suffer with sea sickness so I was quite worried about this trip! We got a catamaran on which there were music drinks, nibbles and dance performances from entertainers in traditional Dominican outfits. It only took a short while to arrive at the conservation centre luckily the trip had been sickness free - this is when I started to get quite scared about what we were going to do. The group was separated into two one was sent to the left and one was sent to the right….I was in the group that was sent to the right - the group that would meet the stingrays. When I say meet I mean actually get to stroke them, feed them and even hold them.

We stood in the water and around our feet swimming about were these massive stingrays, every now and then you'd see one just swim past or you would feel it brush up against you which was extremely scary but after a while you kind of got used to it. One by one a stingray was bought along and we were able to stroke the top and underside of it and then we got to feed it. The whole experience was absolutely amazing and even though I was absolutely petrified when we first met them by the end I loved it. I even managed to hold the stingray and have my picture taken with it which I have added to this review.

After that we then went swapped over with the other group who had been diving in an enclosure with sharks and stingrays and other tropical fish. I must admit I didn't feel quite so comfortable in there mainly because I had never dived before and the mask kept letting in lots of water. Once I got the hang of it though I was swimming around in total amazement - I can't even tell you what it feels like to be swimming along and then suddenly below you, you can see a shark swim past. I think that was one of the highlights of my honeymoon.

Our final trip was to Saona beach, the beach where they filmed the original Malibu adverts. A speedboat took us there, stopping off at a natural pool on the way - this pool was in the middle of the ocean yet it was only just over waist depth and was the clearest bluest water I have ever seen, we even got to hold a starfish and I never realised they had tentacles that suck onto your hand when you hold them so that was a bit of a shock. It seemed to like me as it kept sucking on and not letting go! Once we got to the island we then had a beach BBQ and time to soak up the rays - the heat was so intense though that we decided to take a swim and found out that if you grabbed a piece of bread from the BBQ you could feed the tropical fish from your hands, a couple of people saw us and soon we had everyone doing it to - I think the fish thought Christmas had come early for them! Then we sailed back to the mainland on a catamaran again with entertainment and meringue dancing and the rum, which is the local Dominican drink, was flowing freely. My husband I and even got up and had a dance together even though we looked like a pair of plonkers it was great fun.

I honestly could talk about this holiday for ages but I know I have to wrap this up and no doubt a lot of you have fallen asleep by now. I just wanted to try and give as much detail as possible to help anybody else thinking of going here as I wish we had such thorough information before we went.

Obviously for us this was not a normal holiday it was our honeymoon so we wanted it to be extra special and it definitely was. Not only was our accommodation absolutely amazing but the butler and concierge service was second to none, the staff were all extremely polite and friendly and made us feel really welcome and the choice of excursions were great too. The grounds were beautiful on their own with tropical plants and flowers, ponds with storks and pink flamingos in - there was even a flock of peacocks walking around the grounds which at first did scare me (I have a phobia of birds) but by the end of the holiday I had plucked up the courage to actually feed one by hand which was a major achievement for me.

The only thing that was a disappointment was the lack of activities though I do believe that had we have gone in a higher season there would have been so much more to do and so many more people staying at the hotel. I also felt sometimes a little trapped as I am used to holidaying in places like Majorca where you can leave your hotel and wander around, something that you can't really do in this area of the Dominican unless you are on an arranged excursion.

We paid £1400 each for our trip £900 of that was the basic price and the other £500 was for the upgraded suite with all the additional extras. This is a lot more than any other holiday I have ever been on but I am really glad that we decided to pay that extra to go for the Royal Service Option as it was SO worth it. We really were treated like royalty while we were there and when we spoke to other people who were staying at the hotel they said they wished they had known about it before they went. It really did make our honeymoon a dream come true and it was like being in paradise.

Maybe one day we will be able to afford to go to the Maldives but to be honest I think I would be more than happy to return to the Dominican Republic maybe not to this hotel next time because I do like a bit of variety each time I go away on holiday.

I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone wanting a relaxing holiday in a lovely location with plenty of options for eating and drinking. However I would say that you would be better off going when it is busier and there are more guests as it was very quiet while we were there.

Overall I would give this hotel a score of 4 out of 5. Had it have been busier and all the activities been running I would definitely have scored it a 4.5 but in view of the circumstances I have knocked off half a mark.

Many thanks for reading my review - I know it has been long!

Shazza xx 

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