First Trip to LaRomana - Need Advice....

jinlx

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Jul 3, 2007
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Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone can help me with a few questions regarding my upcoming trip to LaRomana. I will be in Santo Domingo and LaRomana beginning July 12, 2007 (less than two more weeks!). My questions are:

1. I plan to rent a car from Avis and drive in Santo Domingo and then from there to LaRomana and back to Santo Domingo. Do you think it's safe to navigate there and is it a good idea to rent my own car? Additionally, how easy will it be to find my hotel in LaRomana from Santo Domingo? I will be staying at Hotel Bayahibe.

2. We plan to stay at the Hotel Bayahibe. I know it's nothing like the resort, but the price is around my budget and I just need a clean comfortable place to sleep. I was wondering if anyone have any comments on this hotel?

3. We are looking at a snorkeling excursion at Saono and Catalinta with SCUBA FUN. Do you know how I can make a reservation in advance? I e-mailed them, but did not hear anything back from them and was wondering how their customer service were. Do people normally plan their activities when they are there?

4. We are also looking at doing CRAZY WHEELS excursion with ATV at LaRomana. But we are also thinking about doing the JEEP SAFARI with Seavis. Are they similar? Which one would you recommend?

Do people make plans for these activities once they are there and can we make reservations in advance? Do they accept credit cards or cash?

Any recommendations and asssitance anyone can provide will be greatly apprecaited. I'll be going in less then a week, so any help from anybody will be most apprecaited. Thank you all for your help!

Jin
 
Feb 7, 2007
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1. I plan to rent a car from Avis and drive in Santo Domingo and then from there to LaRomana and back to Santo Domingo. Do you think it's safe to navigate there and is it a good idea to rent my own car? Additionally, how easy will it be to find my hotel in LaRomana from Santo Domingo? I will be staying at Hotel Bayahibe.


Have you ever driven in the DR? If not, don't do it! You might probably survive the trip from SDQ to Romana, but in SDQ you are way over your head if you have not driven here.

SDQ traffic is bad, huge, and driving is === hmm === along the lines "f*** off my way" , Lots of trash cars and their drivers don't matter another scratch, well, car like this: no windows, just 4 tires, 4 doors, and something to sit on. Big new cars (SUVs) and their drivers are inconsiderate as well. That necessitates very defensive driving, constantly looking to all sides, when turning looking over and over, because you look now and everything's clear and in half a second there is a motorcycle passing you on your right/left/front as you are about to make a turn.

If you have an accident, car rental company will charge you a huge deductible, even with full insurance, no matter what.

And dealing with the police is another story. You will be taken advantage of, and you may be even arrested (not legal, but if you don't know how things work, you will sink in a big bucket of trouble).

So, if you are driving in DR for the first time, do NOT rent. Take a trip to SDQ and take a can so you can get a feeling about the traffic.

The rest of questions - sorry I can't help you, I don't know.
 

jinlx

New member
Jul 3, 2007
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Thanks Rubio, for the warning and heads-up! Maybe I should re-think my car rental. Thanks again!