O.K., here it is ....I have been traveling to the DR since 1993, and I must say that each visit was a memorable experience..HOWEVER, I had never traveled during Xmas, nor will I ever!!! (Let it be known that the only reason I traveled this past Xmas was to accompany my Dominican boyfriend who desired to see his family.) First of all, my brand new luggage got handled so roughly it was all battered and dusty when I picked it up from the belt. Second, my boyfriend rented an SUV from a local rental agency (of which I greatly opposed of) that charged the ridiculous amount of $3, 700 RD per day. On our way to La Romana, a motoconche flied out of a side road head on to the SUV. And of course the motoconche had no money to pay for the dented bumper!!! That night the SUV's battery goes dead, and we had to borrow a family member's vehicle to reach our hotel. When we called the owner of the rental car agency to tell him about the accident (he did sell us insurance coverage) we were informed that the deductible was $200,000 RD, oh, and that the battery was indeed a faulty battery!!! Well, to sum it all up we rented a SUV of which we had to buy a new battery, buy power steering oil, and fill the radiator with coolant. But wait, that's not all, any business that we frequented, whether it be a local restuarant, shop, or cervezeria, vendors where overcharging us once they saw our "viajeros" appearance. I must state that the prices did not match the service. Most of the service was lousy, rude, and unprofessional. But I am not discouraged of going to visit DR again, since this was the only bad experience out of 6. Next visit, however, I will stay on a resort, and not leave it unless with a tour guide.