Your rating of this hotel:
10.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
10.0
Service:
10.0
Cleanliness:
10.0
Food:
10.0
Amenities:
10.0
Ola (hello) to all readers! Well, here we are in Latin America! The first impression is very far. . . But everything is relative. I will try, as always, to dwell more on facts than on emotions, and on what was missing on the Internet before the trip.
Flight
AirFrance Kyiv-Paris - Punta Cana. In Paris, when moving from terminal to terminal, you only need to travel by internal bus. There is no walkway from terminal 2B to terminal 2C! At the entrance to the departure terminal, you again need to go through air security - so Kiev duty-free alcohol will not be allowed through. The flight was delayed. Seats in French Boeings are very uncomfortable - the Arabs are much better, so it seemed difficult for us to fly. Travel time is about 7 hours. The rest of the service is good. On the way back, the plane lands for refueling in Santo Domingo - for some reason, many do not know this. Everyone gets off the plane and after 2 hours they go back to their seats according to the Boardingpass. The flight was delayed by 2 hours. Upon arrival in Paris, the delay was 50 minutes. Paris-Kyiv boarding passes are issued in Punta Cana and, given the delay, we were given them for the next day's flight (the interval between flights in Paris is 55 minutes). Upon arrival in Paris, the Kyiv flight had not yet departed, but AirFrance refused to put all Puntocan residents there due to the completion of the landing - as a result, as compensation for the 20 hour wait, we received a hotel near the airport with dinner (24 euros per person) and breakfast at the expense of the airline and registration of transit Schengen visas and flight in business class to Kyiv. Attention! According to the international rules of air carriers, if the flight is delayed for more than 4 hours, the airline is obliged to provide you with a hotel for rest, food and other little things like tf calls...
Hotel
The hotel corresponds to everything stated about it. This hotel is the BEST on the coast for your money! Do not regret overpaying $ 300-400 more - you will get much more advantages for yourself. Percent 60-80 tourists from the States or Canada. For us, this is just a plus. We lived in building 1. It turned out that the rooms had to be changed 3 times (due to the location) - all without problems. If you want to live closer to the sea, ask for rooms from about 30 to 50 in any building - there are 1-3 minutes to the sea and 3-5 minutes to the main restaurant. If you want to live with a view of the garden and a neighboring hotel - this is the first building, with a view of the pool - the second. Rooms from 1 to 10 in the second building are noisy - on the street in the bar until 23 music. Food is beyond praise - for every taste and smell. In the morning, those who want champagne - brut and vodka. Regarding the slowness of the Dominicans, well, the French will have more brakes. They run, try, smile and everything from the heart. Of the a la carte were in all but the Mexican-Dominican. You need to pre-register only in French and for the show in Japanese. A Russian-speaking representative of the hotel, sitting next to the reception, will help with this and much more. We were in French 2 times, we liked it so much, at the show in Japanese one, we thought it would be more interesting, and we didn’t like sushi for our taste. In the fish and grill - excellent, they work every other day. The main restaurant hosts themed dinners: there were several times Spanish and Dominican. They make beach parties according to the weather. From cocktails, they mainly took mojito, cuba libra and santa libra, and of course, mama juana. The rest are very sweet for our taste. There is Internet in the rooms, but we connected via Wi-Fi - there is a weak network near the reception: 1 hour = $ 3. The beach is beautiful: the evil Haitian gardeners clean it every day. Sun loungers in abundance for every taste. The sea is beautiful, everything is according to the advertisement about the Bounty. You can (and should) feed the hungry local fish with rolls, I even saw a small stingray at the bottom. After the excitement, it brings Sargasso seaweed ashore - very beautiful. Once it took out 2 long-swimming coconuts overgrown with shells-flowers. After a 10-day stay, a treat from the hotel is brought to the room: a bottle of wine or champagne and some snacks. 3-4 times the key card from the room was buggy, but for us these are trifles. Every evening the hotel offers some kind of animation, but we went to bed early and got up early, maybe because of the time difference. We went once to the show named after M. Jackson - very beautiful. I really liked how they wish happy birthday (of course, by pre-order) The whole staff of the main restaurant with a happy birthday for the whole hall comes up to the birthday man and gives a cake, and then takes a picture with him - very fun and contagious.
Excursions
We bought Santo Domingo ($135 per person) and Catalinita VIP ($165 per person). Prices for all tour operators, including English-speaking ones, are approximately the same. "Santo Domingo" made an ambiguous impression - a very long road - 3 hours one way and the city itself, despite the center, as a UNESCO heritage, did not make a special impression. On the way to the city they are taken to a cave. The cave itself is very beautiful, but we, as Crimeans, were not very interested + loss of time. In the city we visit the palace of Columbus, the residence for the Spanish king, the first church of America and the lighthouse of Columbus (as someone from the crowd said, “it is very similar to an elevator in our city”). If it were not for the knowledgeable guide Irina (thanks again! ) - it would be completely boring, even for this money.
The group was supposed to be up to 20 people, we were 25…VIP? Of course, the excursion is much more exciting after Santo Domingo, here is the city of artists, and starfish, and mangroves, and the border of the Caribbean and the Atlantic, and a speedboat, but... For those who have been to Thailand, all this may seem pale.
Souvenirs, shopping
There is no shopping here! In Higuey (this is the center of the province, not far from Punta Cana) there are both clothes and shoes - according to the locals, sneakers, branded shoes are about $ 50, American T-shirts are about 40, but the guides don’t bring them there and it’s far and expensive to get there. There are souvenirs in the hotel, behind the hotel and in Columbus plaza. Everything is traditional for the country: mama juana, rum (for comparison, a 12 year old in a hotel $35, behind a hotel $28, in Columbus $20), coffee ($2-6), cocoa ($3-4), cigars ($1 -80$), T-shirts ($5-15), paintings ($50-170). It is better to buy alcohol and cigars in Columbus plaza - they are brought there during all excursions 2 times: guides and the meeting party have their own percentage of purchases. But we bought 2 paintings in the center of Santo Domingo for $50. And we want to recommend that before wandering around Columbus plaza in Santo Domingo, take a walk along the pedestrian street: there you can bargain and there is a chain Orange. Unfortunately, we managed to run there only for batteries (4 Duracell = $ 4) in other places 2 pcs = $ 8... We also chose the hotel, a 5-minute walk the market seems to be exclusively about Russian speakers - everything is the same as in hotel, but in a much larger assortment and you can bargain - small souvenirs, it seems, are better to buy there, but things are utter consumer goods. Do not buy cigars and souvenirs on the beach - everything is cheaper in the market. Moreover, Sveta made afro braids for half a head, and so in a hotel spa it costs $ 35, and $ 20 on the market.
Results
Vacation was a success! This is the main thing. On the plus side:
- beautiful sea and beach
- food and service in the hotel
In the cons:
- not very interesting and expensive excursions (especially for those who have visited other countries)
- lack of life outside the hotel
With questions, please, We will answer with pleasure!
Flight
AirFrance Kyiv-Paris - Punta Cana. In Paris, when moving from terminal to terminal, you only need to travel by internal bus. There is no walkway from terminal 2B to terminal 2C! At the entrance to the departure terminal, you again need to go through air security - so Kiev duty-free alcohol will not be allowed through. The flight was delayed. Seats in French Boeings are very uncomfortable - the Arabs are much better, so it seemed difficult for us to fly. Travel time is about 7 hours. The rest of the service is good. On the way back, the plane lands for refueling in Santo Domingo - for some reason, many do not know this. Everyone gets off the plane and after 2 hours they go back to their seats according to the Boardingpass. The flight was delayed by 2 hours. Upon arrival in Paris, the delay was 50 minutes. Paris-Kyiv boarding passes are issued in Punta Cana and, given the delay, we were given them for the next day's flight (the interval between flights in Paris is 55 minutes). Upon arrival in Paris, the Kyiv flight had not yet departed, but AirFrance refused to put all Puntocan residents there due to the completion of the landing - as a result, as compensation for the 20 hour wait, we received a hotel near the airport with dinner (24 euros per person) and breakfast at the expense of the airline and registration of transit Schengen visas and flight in business class to Kyiv. Attention! According to the international rules of air carriers, if the flight is delayed for more than 4 hours, the airline is obliged to provide you with a hotel for rest, food and other little things like tf calls...
Hotel
The hotel corresponds to everything stated about it. This hotel is the BEST on the coast for your money! Do not regret overpaying $ 300-400 more - you will get much more advantages for yourself. Percent 60-80 tourists from the States or Canada. For us, this is just a plus. We lived in building 1. It turned out that the rooms had to be changed 3 times (due to the location) - all without problems. If you want to live closer to the sea, ask for rooms from about 30 to 50 in any building - there are 1-3 minutes to the sea and 3-5 minutes to the main restaurant. If you want to live with a view of the garden and a neighboring hotel - this is the first building, with a view of the pool - the second. Rooms from 1 to 10 in the second building are noisy - on the street in the bar until 23 music. Food is beyond praise - for every taste and smell. In the morning, those who want champagne - brut and vodka. Regarding the slowness of the Dominicans, well, the French will have more brakes. They run, try, smile and everything from the heart. Of the a la carte were in all but the Mexican-Dominican. You need to pre-register only in French and for the show in Japanese. A Russian-speaking representative of the hotel, sitting next to the reception, will help with this and much more. We were in French 2 times, we liked it so much, at the show in Japanese one, we thought it would be more interesting, and we didn’t like sushi for our taste. In the fish and grill - excellent, they work every other day. The main restaurant hosts themed dinners: there were several times Spanish and Dominican. They make beach parties according to the weather. From cocktails, they mainly took mojito, cuba libra and santa libra, and of course, mama juana. The rest are very sweet for our taste. There is Internet in the rooms, but we connected via Wi-Fi - there is a weak network near the reception: 1 hour = $ 3. The beach is beautiful: the evil Haitian gardeners clean it every day. Sun loungers in abundance for every taste. The sea is beautiful, everything is according to the advertisement about the Bounty. You can (and should) feed the hungry local fish with rolls, I even saw a small stingray at the bottom. After the excitement, it brings Sargasso seaweed ashore - very beautiful. Once it took out 2 long-swimming coconuts overgrown with shells-flowers. After a 10-day stay, a treat from the hotel is brought to the room: a bottle of wine or champagne and some snacks. 3-4 times the key card from the room was buggy, but for us these are trifles. Every evening the hotel offers some kind of animation, but we went to bed early and got up early, maybe because of the time difference. We went once to the show named after M. Jackson - very beautiful. I really liked how they wish happy birthday (of course, by pre-order) The whole staff of the main restaurant with a happy birthday for the whole hall comes up to the birthday man and gives a cake, and then takes a picture with him - very fun and contagious.
Excursions
We bought Santo Domingo ($135 per person) and Catalinita VIP ($165 per person). Prices for all tour operators, including English-speaking ones, are approximately the same. "Santo Domingo" made an ambiguous impression - a very long road - 3 hours one way and the city itself, despite the center, as a UNESCO heritage, did not make a special impression. On the way to the city they are taken to a cave. The cave itself is very beautiful, but we, as Crimeans, were not very interested + loss of time. In the city we visit the palace of Columbus, the residence for the Spanish king, the first church of America and the lighthouse of Columbus (as someone from the crowd said, “it is very similar to an elevator in our city”). If it were not for the knowledgeable guide Irina (thanks again! ) - it would be completely boring, even for this money.
The group was supposed to be up to 20 people, we were 25…VIP? Of course, the excursion is much more exciting after Santo Domingo, here is the city of artists, and starfish, and mangroves, and the border of the Caribbean and the Atlantic, and a speedboat, but... For those who have been to Thailand, all this may seem pale.
Souvenirs, shopping
There is no shopping here! In Higuey (this is the center of the province, not far from Punta Cana) there are both clothes and shoes - according to the locals, sneakers, branded shoes are about $ 50, American T-shirts are about 40, but the guides don’t bring them there and it’s far and expensive to get there. There are souvenirs in the hotel, behind the hotel and in Columbus plaza. Everything is traditional for the country: mama juana, rum (for comparison, a 12 year old in a hotel $35, behind a hotel $28, in Columbus $20), coffee ($2-6), cocoa ($3-4), cigars ($1 -80$), T-shirts ($5-15), paintings ($50-170). It is better to buy alcohol and cigars in Columbus plaza - they are brought there during all excursions 2 times: guides and the meeting party have their own percentage of purchases. But we bought 2 paintings in the center of Santo Domingo for $50. And we want to recommend that before wandering around Columbus plaza in Santo Domingo, take a walk along the pedestrian street: there you can bargain and there is a chain Orange. Unfortunately, we managed to run there only for batteries (4 Duracell = $ 4) in other places 2 pcs = $ 8... We also chose the hotel, a 5-minute walk the market seems to be exclusively about Russian speakers - everything is the same as in hotel, but in a much larger assortment and you can bargain - small souvenirs, it seems, are better to buy there, but things are utter consumer goods. Do not buy cigars and souvenirs on the beach - everything is cheaper in the market. Moreover, Sveta made afro braids for half a head, and so in a hotel spa it costs $ 35, and $ 20 on the market.
Results
Vacation was a success! This is the main thing. On the plus side:
- beautiful sea and beach
- food and service in the hotel
In the cons:
- not very interesting and expensive excursions (especially for those who have visited other countries)
- lack of life outside the hotel
With questions, please, We will answer with pleasure!
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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