I'm writing again after a break. Look out for some serious churning!
I'm writing again after a break. Look out for some serious churning!
Member since:08.09.2000
Reviews:102
Members who trust:56
Well last year we jetted off to the Dominican Republic for our honeymoon. We wanted an all inclusive resort and one of my friends recommended Playa Naco which is part of the Playa Dorada complex, he had been there the year before and is going back in October to get married there. I thought that would be a good recommendation, I mean he liked it enough to want to have his wedding there. The brochures showed that a good range of water sports (and other sports) were included and I was keen to try them out. My friends pictures also showed a lovely pool with a built in bar – that tipped my husband!
~~~~ Arrival ~~~~ Following a horrendous 10 hour flight with Britannia Airways (I'm not going into it – I've already written an op on that) we arrived in the Dominican Republic. It was baking hot and the airport arrivals area was somewhat basic. We then had to fill out an immigration card and pay an arrivals tax, this has to be paid in US Dollars as they don't want you giving them Dominican Peso's. Fortunately we knew this before we went so we had the requisite dollars to hand. As you leave the airport there are men wanting to take your luggage, not wanting to tip for this we waved them away. At the coach there are more men wanting to load your luggage who claim to work for the holiday company, we couldn't stop them grabbing our bags so we had to give them a dollar. We then stood in the baking sun (we could have got into the air-conditioned coach but I wanted a smoke!) and the rep gave us each a very welcome cold bottle of mineral water.
On arrival at our resort there was a light tropical rainfall, which we quite welcomed as we were not yet accustomed to the heat. This turned out to be one of only two brief showers we saw in the fortnight. We were all given a welcome drink whilst we checked in and our wristbands were attached. For anyone who hasn't been all inclusive, you wear a coloured wristband during your stay which has your hotel name on, this means that the staff know you are entitled to all your free food and drink. I checked in and we were given a junior suite as ours was a honeymoon booking. Once we had checked in we had to wait (and queue) for a lift to our room as they are all in villas inside the complex. Another tip is required for the driver of the "buggy", this took care of our last dollar.
~~~~ Accommodation ~~~~ As I said we had a junior suite because we were a honeymoon couple. This comprised of a huge living room with two sofas, a coffee table, a dining table & chairs and a fridge. Upstairs we had a huge bedroom, with a king sized bed a large bathroom and a little dressing room. There were two televisions in our suite, one upstairs and one downstairs these had American cable television
on and we saw some great films whilst we were there. We also had a water jug which was very handy as you can't drink the tap water, we filled this daily for free at the beach bar where drinking water and ice were readily available. Other guests were not as lucky as us, the standard accommodation consisted of one small room which was mostly filled by the king sized bed and no fridge or water jug.
~~~~ Drinks ~~~~ With our all-inclusive package we got free local drinks in our hotel. Local was an interesting term as the beer was Heineken and the cola Pepsi. Spirits were less recognised brands but you mainly drink them in cocktails. The reps do warn you about drinking too many pina coladas as both pineapple juice and coconut milk act as laxatives. We saw many people who had indeed overdone it and felt rather rough the following day. We didn't have these problems although I was regularly to be found swimming across the pool with a pina colada in my hand. There was a choice of bars with a beach bar, the in pool bar, a poolside bar, the "VIP Lounge" and the nightly disco. Drinks in the disco were free until 12pm but after that you had to pay. Yeah right – the bouncer tried to throw a group of us out one night as he didn't seem to think we should have each ordered 5 drinks at ten to twelve – a small tip shut him up! Drinks were also served to your table in each of the restaurants.
~~~~ Food ~~~~ Now my friend had warned me that the food wasn't up to much and he was right. The beach bar had an afternoon "barbeque" and a variety of meats, salads, chips and deserts were available daily. I'd read on the internet that this was a good option for lunch and I couldn't agree more, having chips was definitely the best food! The main restaurant had a selection of different dishes based on a theme each day, on English Day there was "roast beef" which was generally thought to be goats meat. Being a very fussy vegetarian I generally had salad with green tomatoes, for some reason that’s how they eat them. The main restaurant did have a serve yourself ice cream machine which was really good! I can't tell you what breakfast was like, we never got up early enough to have it, although I did nip in and grab a couple of croissants the day I went diving.
There were three specialty restaurants in the complex and you were supposed to be allowed two visits a week which had to be booked the day before you wanted to go. The reality was that they didn't care how often you went and you could often book up in the afternoon for that evening. Each restaurant had two separate sittings so if you booked for the early sitting you didn't get a chance to linger over dessert. We didn't try the Mexican restaurant as I'm not keen on spicy food.
We visited the Caribbean restaurant just once, the service was utterly appalling in there we were seated in near darkness practically in the doorway of the gents. After 20 mins someone came over to take our order and we asked to move tables as the place was half empty, this done we then waited another 30 mins, whilst everyone else in the place was served, before we got our starters. The food was nothing special.
The Italian restaurant seemed like my sort of place. They served a delicious French onion soup which I loved (didn't seem very Italian though). The first visit I ordered pasta in a tomato sauce for my main course and it tasted distinctly of fish, hubby agreed with me on that. I hate fish so I didn't eat very much. On our second visit I ordered the same (it was the only vegetarian option) and you guessed it tasting of fish was obviously the norm.
~~~~ Activities ~~~~ There were loads of activities available in our all inclusive package. Horse riding, tennis, table tennis, golf, windsurfing, paragliding, banana rides, water-skiing and trial scuba dives in the pool. I love watersports so I was ready to have a go at all of them. Trouble was they were only free until 12 and I never got up before 11. I tried to persuade hubby to have a trial scuba dive (I'm a qualified diver so this held little interest) but he declined. Lots of people we spoke to were enjoying these activities and they all spoke very highly of this part of the package.
~~~~ Trips ~~~~ As with all holidays there were a variety of different trips you could book at extra cost. We only did one and that was the one to choose. We went on the Catamaran trip where you get lots of food, drink, sun and the chance to snorkel on a reef, whilst you are on the catamaran all food and drink is included. Hubby wouldn't let go of the boat steps though so I guess it was as well that he declined the scuba trial. The trip was a lovely day with plenty of opportunities to catch the sun and a party atmosphere with singing and dancing all the way back. Other available trips included visiting the rum factory, the cigar factory, shopping at the market, a visit to Haiti and a night club trip.
~~~~ Scuba Diving ~~~~ I wanted to get some dives in whilst I was there so I booked a four dive package with the same dive school which gave the pool trials. This cost around £100 and the four dives were done over two days, you could pick which days you went according to where the dives were. I was somewhat concerned that people who had done a 30 minute trial dive in the pool were actually allowed to scuba dive in open water. I did find that when we went diving though the novices went separately and were bussed to an area where they were diving in shallow water over a reef. Us qualified divers were whizzed about in a speed boat with plenty of opportunity to get sunburned – and I did. The dives were great with a variety of reefs and caves to explore although on my second day I found I was the only English speaker in the boat with a crowd of Germans. When you are doing a two dive day you get a stopover in a café where food and drink are discounted for the divers, I spent about £2 each time on a drink and a snack.
~~~~ Entertainment ~~~~ There were lots of activities that the kids could go off and do, not having any kids I can't remember what they were though. For adults there was a morning aqua aerobics session in the pool which was terrific fun (probably because there was a gorgeous instruction). Late afternoon by the pool there was a daily session of water polo and a variety of silly games. I'd got into getting up and joining in and played darts, hoopla, diving for the bottle and one day I ended up in the "Miss Playa Naco" contest. They didn't tell you what you were doing till I got up there so there I was in my size 22 swimsuit feeling a total prat!
In the evening there was entertainment by the pool. To get a chair though you had to get there early as it got packed. Again there was a variety of silly games, live music and a couple of karaoke sessions. We found that we preferred to spend our evenings in the "VIP lounge" which was air conditioned. There were a little group of us in there, which included a large family party and all the blokes worked for my company – small world. We made a great little atmosphere and watched a couple of cracking films on the giant screen telly. For two consecutive nights we all sat down to watch "Nuremburg" which is a damned good 4 hour film. Oh for some reason all the Germans exited quite quickly when it started. About 11pm we would head down to the disco to carry on drinking and dancing for another couple of hours.
~~~~ The Casino ~~~~ During our welcome meeting we were given tickets to visit the American Casino at one of the other resorts in the complex. This sounded like just our kind of thing so on Saturday night we got a "free" (the guy wanted a tip!) taxi over there. The casino offered all of the usual slots and games, with tables taking various different minimum bets. If you are new to casinos, you can get a free lesson on the game of your choice. There was only one roulette table open and it was packed so we stuck to blackjack all night. The minimum bet was 1 US dollar and hubby and I both played for 4 hours solid, finishing the night about £20 down on where we started. They changed your travelers cheques at the table so we didn't even need to get up. Whilst you are playing you get free drinks and snacks, we had lots of drinks but never saw any snacks. Another couple were playing the slots and they had to pay for drinks which they told us were really expensive. We had a great time there, so we went back the following Saturday. It was definitely a good night out.
~~~~ Security ~~~~ Many people will tell you not to move about the island on your own, the natives are either very rich or dirt poor. The resorts are all set within large complexes of similar resorts and security guards are everywhere. There must be a considerable risk as they all carry very big sticks. For us visitors though they are a friendly bunch, every night we would return to our room and one of us would trot across to the beach bar to fill up our water jug. Every night you would see security there and the guard would call out a friendly hello. The security guards keep unlicensed vendors off the beach too, sounds great but you still get bothered by loads of licensed vendors.
We did have a couple of minor dealings with security on our last night. About 20 of us and 3 large bottles of Dominican Rum sat by the pool between midnight and 3am. One person had thought ahead and got some bottles of Pepsi and a bucket of ice before the bar shut. As was inevitable we ran out of Pepsi, one guy went over to a barman who was clearing up and gave him five dollars to give us a few more bottles of Pepsi. Unfortunately the security guard saw the barman bring us the Pepsi and started shouting at him. It cost us another ten dollars to stop the security guard reporting the barman. Damned expensive for 5 bottles of Pepsi. Later still the guys decided to go skinny dipping in the pool. The shouts of hilarity and splashing around earned us another rebuke from a different guard, fortunately this time there was nothing he could really do so we got away with just five dollars. Oddly the next day all the security guards were very smiling and friendly with our group, they obviously heard that we had been throwing dollars around!
~~~~ Shopping ~~~~ Within the large complex of different hotels/resorts there was a big central shopping area. The Dominican Republic is famous for its Amber and there was some beautiful jewellery to be had. Other than that there was cheap drink, cheap cigarettes and cigars and the usual touristy figures and stuff. We bought very little except a few T shirts for hubby who had a birthday whilst we were there. My main interest in the shopping centre was the cyber cafes so I could have a quick surf! Access was about £2 for an hour and I spent a few hours there getting my Internet fix. We never saw many people in the shops and everyone said they were just full of tourist tat. When shopping you have to pay in Dominican Peso's which you can get with your travelers cheques in the shops or the resort.
~~~~ The Island ~~~~ Now I have to admit that we didn't see much of the island. In fact all we saw was sea, the resort & complex and two bus journeys too and from the airport. The Dominican republic is part of a large Island, roughly the size of the UK. One end of the island is the Dominican Republic and the other is Haiti, where they practice voodoo. The trip to Haiti sounded interesting but the 5 hour bus ride didn't. The island is bordered by the Caribbean sea one side and the Atlantic on the other, we were on the Atlantic side where there is more rain and therefore more lush vegetation. The main exports are Rum (so there is loads of Sugar Cane) and cigars which they export to Cuba who label them Havana! Buy them in the Dominican Republic and you get Havanna quality and bargain prices.
~~~~ Departure ~~~~ With all great holidays I still can't wait to get home, so come departure day I was itching to leave. When leaving the resort they cut off your wristband so make sure you have eaten and got a few beers in before you check out. At the airport you are required to pay a departure tax (bloody con artists, tax to get in tax to get out!) which – you guessed it – has to be paid in US Dollars (they will not take Dominican Pesos!!). The wonderful (note the sarcasm) Britannia Airways treated us to a three hour delay in a rather basic airport when we all had little money left. The smoking area of the airport was a small enclosed cupboard – ridiculous when you face a 10 hour flight. Fortunately not one of the security guards said a word about our group (that bunch of guys who work for my firm again) as we sat in the non-smoking area and repeatedly lit up. Another terrible Britannia flight saw us back in Gatwick and heading for home.
~~~~ The Bottom Line ~~~~ We had a terrific honeymoon and I would go back to the Dominican Republic again. The holiday cost us just under £2000 but you can get it much cheaper if you go for a late deal. All Inclusive is definitely the way to holiday as we only took £200 with us and came back with 40 dollars worth of travelers cheques, even after two trips to the casino. I'll never forget my wonderful honeymoon and we still go out with the people we met there.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: Fantastic Surroundings, Lovely Hotel, Great Excursions to Take, Friendly Staff, VIP Treatment Disadvantages: You won't want to come home and going to Spain will seem poor in comparison
Advantages: Beautiful place - Ideal for couples and families - very friendly place Disadvantages: Very quiet nightlife - not much to do in the evenings and evening entertainment not up to much
Jun 11th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
