We are just back from 8 days at Playa Dorada. Definitely the best vacation of my life. We stayed at Fun Royale/Fun Tropicale/whatever they are calling it this week. The rooms were very nice, although our air conditioner seemed to have a mind of it own. Most all of the staff there wonderfully nice. The place was extremely clean and everyone went out of their way to make sure your needs were attended to. The nightly shows were fairly entertaining in summer camp sort of way, but the performers put a lot of effort into it. The Michael Jackson show is definitely a can't miss. The food wasn't bad and the drinks flowed freely. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting they were usually made with 151 rum which packs quite a kick. We have never stayed in an all-inclusive resort before, and didn't really care for it. It was cheap and certainly convenient, and being in a strange place for the first time was not such a bad thing. There were people there though, that did not leave the AI, period. They sat at the pool from sun up to sun down. I'm not sure why you would spend that much money to go to a foreign country and then lay around a pool all day. You can do that at the local Best Western, but to each his own I suppose. We tried to get out as much as we could, but the AI made that a little more diffucult since it can be hard to muster the motivation to get off your butt when everything you need is right there.
I'll list the trip by activities instead of days since some of them were done more than once.
Casinos - We went to the Jack Tar Casino the first night and quickly lost the money we took to gamble with. Anyone who is used to the payout rates of slots in Vegas or Atlantic city can forget those. I don't think the slots could have paid back more than 50% or 60%. We went back on our last night and had better luck. Of the Casinos in the complex, this is definitely the best one. We also went to the casino at the Paradise Beach Resort. Don't waste your time with this place. We met the "casino manager", an American, who was the stereotypical slimeball you would expect to be running a small casino in a foreign country.
Golf - Started the week with a great round at Playa Dorada, thanks to Grahame, and his caddy, Ramon. The course was pretty nice with some challenging holes. They seemed to be watering a lot of greens during the day which seemed odd, and made play a little diffucult on some holes. Friday, I went to Playa Grande. There are not words to describe how beautiful this golf course is. 12 or 13 holes on cliffs overlooking the water. It is unbelievable! The only thing Pebble Beach has to offer over this course is its name. Anyone staying within a 3 hour drive of this place should play. I went with the Golf Adventures tour company. These people were great. They trip was supposed to be $80, but since they convert it to pesos (with a horrible exchange rate) when they charge you it wound up being around $100, but worth every penny. They gave you transportation to and from (about an 1.5 hours each way), greens fees, and range balls. If you book on the internet, you also get a free towel and a pack of tees, markers, and a divot tool. They were also very accomadating when I couldn't make the Wednesday trip (too many rum drinks) and switched me to the Friday trip with no problem. Finally, I finished the week with an early Saturday round at Playa Dorada before I had to leave. My caddy's name was Felix, who played Playa Grande with me the day before and shot 76!. Both the caddies, Ramon and Felix were excellent. Within a couple of holes they know your game better than you do.
Taxi Trip - We hired the famous Martin Espinal to take us on a day long taxi tour. This is another must do, especially if you are a first time visitor to the DR. Martin is an extremely kind person who cares very much about his customers, and lights up every time he talks about his daughters. He took us into Puerta Plata, to see several sites and then to Sosua and Cabarete, where we walked around and did a little shopping. He also took us to an amazing Italian Restaurant in Sosua where the tables are literally sitting cliffside overlooking the water. He showed us some apartments he is building and also welcomed us into his home. The ideal thing is to take a trip with Martin at the beginning of your trip. He can recommend various tours and who to take them with, and help you avoid some tourist pitfalls, like dealing with merchants. All his recommendations are based on feedback he receives from his customers. He even called us 2 days later to see how we enjoyed the ATV trip he told us about and askd if he should recommend them again.
ATV Tour - I am not sure which company we went on this with, but they are closest to the entrance to Playa Dorada on the Fun Royale side. If you want to do an ATV trip, don't go with them. They charge more than most of the other tour operators and don't have much gear. We had no goggles, which meant that your eyes were filled with dust and at times, literally could not see. In fairness to them, I didn't notice any of the other tours we passed wearing goggles, either. They also did not provide helmets, a cooler for drinks, much less any water or other drinks. Finally, they tried to take us back a half hour early, but when we complained they took us back out. We did tell Martin this when he called so don't expect him to recommend them.
Horseback Riding - We took the all day trip with El Tour. This was a lot of fun. Our guide was a young kid (22) who was in night school learning English, and two of his neighbors (one 12 and the other 18). Apparently the little boy had skipped school to go on this trip. Unfortuneately, this trip was nowhere close to what they describe on their web site: no beach, no beautiful sunsets. It was a nice trip through the mountains though. We were treated to an excellent lunch made by our guide's aunt at a little hut at the top of a mountain and ate pineapple that was cut stright off the plant We also went into two caves, one of which had pool of water for swimming. The whole thing was lit by candle, which reflected off the water. Very cool!
All in all it was an excellent, very relaxing vacation. We would love to go back, although probably stay somewhere else (not all inclusive). Everyone should have a chance to go the the DR!
I'll list the trip by activities instead of days since some of them were done more than once.
Casinos - We went to the Jack Tar Casino the first night and quickly lost the money we took to gamble with. Anyone who is used to the payout rates of slots in Vegas or Atlantic city can forget those. I don't think the slots could have paid back more than 50% or 60%. We went back on our last night and had better luck. Of the Casinos in the complex, this is definitely the best one. We also went to the casino at the Paradise Beach Resort. Don't waste your time with this place. We met the "casino manager", an American, who was the stereotypical slimeball you would expect to be running a small casino in a foreign country.
Golf - Started the week with a great round at Playa Dorada, thanks to Grahame, and his caddy, Ramon. The course was pretty nice with some challenging holes. They seemed to be watering a lot of greens during the day which seemed odd, and made play a little diffucult on some holes. Friday, I went to Playa Grande. There are not words to describe how beautiful this golf course is. 12 or 13 holes on cliffs overlooking the water. It is unbelievable! The only thing Pebble Beach has to offer over this course is its name. Anyone staying within a 3 hour drive of this place should play. I went with the Golf Adventures tour company. These people were great. They trip was supposed to be $80, but since they convert it to pesos (with a horrible exchange rate) when they charge you it wound up being around $100, but worth every penny. They gave you transportation to and from (about an 1.5 hours each way), greens fees, and range balls. If you book on the internet, you also get a free towel and a pack of tees, markers, and a divot tool. They were also very accomadating when I couldn't make the Wednesday trip (too many rum drinks) and switched me to the Friday trip with no problem. Finally, I finished the week with an early Saturday round at Playa Dorada before I had to leave. My caddy's name was Felix, who played Playa Grande with me the day before and shot 76!. Both the caddies, Ramon and Felix were excellent. Within a couple of holes they know your game better than you do.
Taxi Trip - We hired the famous Martin Espinal to take us on a day long taxi tour. This is another must do, especially if you are a first time visitor to the DR. Martin is an extremely kind person who cares very much about his customers, and lights up every time he talks about his daughters. He took us into Puerta Plata, to see several sites and then to Sosua and Cabarete, where we walked around and did a little shopping. He also took us to an amazing Italian Restaurant in Sosua where the tables are literally sitting cliffside overlooking the water. He showed us some apartments he is building and also welcomed us into his home. The ideal thing is to take a trip with Martin at the beginning of your trip. He can recommend various tours and who to take them with, and help you avoid some tourist pitfalls, like dealing with merchants. All his recommendations are based on feedback he receives from his customers. He even called us 2 days later to see how we enjoyed the ATV trip he told us about and askd if he should recommend them again.
ATV Tour - I am not sure which company we went on this with, but they are closest to the entrance to Playa Dorada on the Fun Royale side. If you want to do an ATV trip, don't go with them. They charge more than most of the other tour operators and don't have much gear. We had no goggles, which meant that your eyes were filled with dust and at times, literally could not see. In fairness to them, I didn't notice any of the other tours we passed wearing goggles, either. They also did not provide helmets, a cooler for drinks, much less any water or other drinks. Finally, they tried to take us back a half hour early, but when we complained they took us back out. We did tell Martin this when he called so don't expect him to recommend them.
Horseback Riding - We took the all day trip with El Tour. This was a lot of fun. Our guide was a young kid (22) who was in night school learning English, and two of his neighbors (one 12 and the other 18). Apparently the little boy had skipped school to go on this trip. Unfortuneately, this trip was nowhere close to what they describe on their web site: no beach, no beautiful sunsets. It was a nice trip through the mountains though. We were treated to an excellent lunch made by our guide's aunt at a little hut at the top of a mountain and ate pineapple that was cut stright off the plant We also went into two caves, one of which had pool of water for swimming. The whole thing was lit by candle, which reflected off the water. Very cool!
All in all it was an excellent, very relaxing vacation. We would love to go back, although probably stay somewhere else (not all inclusive). Everyone should have a chance to go the the DR!