I'm in Cabarete for the first time, and surprised at how quiet the town seems. I was expecting it to be busy and bustling as I thought this was high season. Walked past all the restaurants on the beach this evening, and almost all were very quiet. It's like you could shoot a cannon through the town!! Is this normal for this time of year, or is Cabarete quieter than usual? If so, anyone have any theories why - global recession etc??
- Thread starter baygirl
- Start date
high season in cabarete?
- Status
last year around the same time Sosua was "the usual" yet last month it was really really slow ( the beach )...all the guys that work on the beach were complaining...I was for a quick Fri-Sun, and on Sat I only seen few gringos, and the Santiagoueros that came on Sun did not spend a dime...and we are talking about Sosua who has it's "usual clients", so I suspect that the pain is higher in other places...never been to Punta Cana/LaRomana/etc so I cannot speculate further
oh, and the plane was 90% filled with Dominicans ...
oh, and the plane was 90% filled with Dominicans ...
I do not understand - do you miss crowd or you are happy to enjoy the beautiful nature of this country without bunches of sunburned drunk gringos everywhere? If you love sharp elbowed noisy irritating crowd why to leave Manhattan at all? DR is a very different and subtle thing
Less tourists/visitors means lower prices, cheaper real estate and much better service. Including but not limited to love of our hot beautiful Dominican women.
Enjoy your once-in-a-life opportunity in el paraiso and pray for the recession to last longer.
What's to understand, AK74? My post was not meant to be either negative or positive about lack of crowds - merely an observation and wondering if any of the locals had insight as to whether it is indeed quieter and/or why.
Oh, and I'm not from Manhattan, but from Canada. And I really don't care about the hot dominican women.
Oh, and I'm not from Manhattan, but from Canada. And I really don't care about the hot dominican women.
OK! OK! Peace!
Cabarete used to be much more crowded and alive. The current stagnation has two explanations (IMHO):
1. Recession obviousely as a result of headless and brainless overindulgence and overspending in everything.
2. Overdevelopment of the Cabarete beach and overbuilding it with high buildings that block wind and kill parasailing (the main attraction for the young European crowd for many years). Most of these former guys now go for parasailing to the Red Sea (Egypt)- Hurgada, Sharm-el-Sheikh.
For sure it is less people in Cabarete, no wonder when they turned so many hotel rooms into condos (mostly empty). Less charters from Europe and the ones that comes goes into AI. I do not agree with AK74, it is not a good thing. Suffering dominicans means more scams, robberies etc. They need to survive...
Nope!
According to educated Herr Pichardo dominicans are in huge (deep) prosperity without those stupid gringos/tourists/visitors/expats:
http://www.dr1.com/forums/dr-debates/70825-recession-2008-impact-dr-59.html
I personally go to Sosua and cabarete for two reasons..
as a treat to get away from normal campo life for my (now ex) girlfriend, and to be around lots of people...
I hate it when no one is in town or on the beach..I love just seeing a ton of people...I hate traffic, but once walking..I love seeing tons and tons of different people
I think it might have been a lot about being with my GF and kinda bragging, by walking with her...
I always got comments... I enjoyed most of them...
but in general I wouldnt want to go to some totally deserted beach all by myself.
this economy has hit a lot of people and the ripple effect is huge...credit card companies are cracking down..many people used to put trips on their card on a whim...
now another story....
I dont know how the economy has hit europe.....but this side of the pond..it is drastic...
people have so many more worries than their next vacation
bad bad bob
as a treat to get away from normal campo life for my (now ex) girlfriend, and to be around lots of people...
I hate it when no one is in town or on the beach..I love just seeing a ton of people...I hate traffic, but once walking..I love seeing tons and tons of different people
I think it might have been a lot about being with my GF and kinda bragging, by walking with her...
I always got comments... I enjoyed most of them...
but in general I wouldnt want to go to some totally deserted beach all by myself.
this economy has hit a lot of people and the ripple effect is huge...credit card companies are cracking down..many people used to put trips on their card on a whim...
now another story....
I dont know how the economy has hit europe.....but this side of the pond..it is drastic...
people have so many more worries than their next vacation
bad bad bob
Reality is, Cabarete's just coming off 3 months of low season. You can check just about any hotel website & their rates vary on almost the same dates - same thing every year.
Just pulling from Cabarete Condos website
Sep 1 - Dec 19... $80 LOW SEASON
Dec 20 - Jan 9... $165 HIGH SEASON
Jan 10 - Jan 31...$110 MEDIUM
Feb 1 - Mar 31... $140 HIGH
Apr 1 - Jun 20... $120 MEDIUM
Jun 21 - Aug 31..$140 HIGH
You can honestly see the crowds change on just about these exact dates. So.... look for more people starting this week.
As an example, I know someone with 11 empty condos... all will be full by Tuesday & remain so at least thru mid-January.
Just pulling from Cabarete Condos website
Sep 1 - Dec 19... $80 LOW SEASON
Dec 20 - Jan 9... $165 HIGH SEASON
Jan 10 - Jan 31...$110 MEDIUM
Feb 1 - Mar 31... $140 HIGH
Apr 1 - Jun 20... $120 MEDIUM
Jun 21 - Aug 31..$140 HIGH
You can honestly see the crowds change on just about these exact dates. So.... look for more people starting this week.
As an example, I know someone with 11 empty condos... all will be full by Tuesday & remain so at least thru mid-January.
Last edited:
Tourism is down all over the world.
I know a lot of people who work in tourism here and the ones who have not been laid off told me there are much less tourists and the tourists who are coming are spending less and giving lower tips.
My friend who lives in Miami Beach said he has never in his life seen so few tourists in Miami Beach. Restaurants and hotels are giving so many deals and specials.
I know a lot of people who work in tourism here and the ones who have not been laid off told me there are much less tourists and the tourists who are coming are spending less and giving lower tips.
My friend who lives in Miami Beach said he has never in his life seen so few tourists in Miami Beach. Restaurants and hotels are giving so many deals and specials.
U have a point, still it is less people than earlier years. Probably because of less charter flights from Europe. And I do not see late nov to dec 19 as LOW season.
Yeap AK74, Herr Richardo is a very compentent guy with a lot of connnection amongst the low income people. I read the article also and was like... yeah right...
Ocean Dream and Ovean 1 are condos and I am sure most of the owners come down for a week at christmas but then??? The thing is and somebody for sure has the exact numbers... but it was 5 times more hotel rooms in Cabarete 5 years ago, that is what make the difference for the local restaurants, and dominicans selling there stuff. Fancy condos that is empty 48 weeks a year is not really helping local business.
Also, the peso needs to devaluate... It is not a good value holiday destination anymore.
Ocean Dream and Ovean 1 are condos and I am sure most of the owners come down for a week at christmas but then??? The thing is and somebody for sure has the exact numbers... but it was 5 times more hotel rooms in Cabarete 5 years ago, that is what make the difference for the local restaurants, and dominicans selling there stuff. Fancy condos that is empty 48 weeks a year is not really helping local business.
Also, the peso needs to devaluate... It is not a good value holiday destination anymore.
I should maybe say depreciate, but DR basically has a fixed exchange rate. If it floating then it has a big corrupt boat preventing it from sinking.
Last edited:
I have been in Cabarete for each of the past 10 Christmas weeks. A few days before Christmas its very quiet. Christmas day is also quiet although there are usually good parties Christmas night. Then its quiet again for a couple of days until things really gear up for New Year's Eve when there will be thousands of people on Cabarete beach. Then there is another quiet spell after New Year's until mid-January when the high season will be in full force. So its a bit up and down, but building ...
Of course the economic downturn will have some impact and there may be fewer people this year.
My condo project is sold out for the holidays and we have lots of reservations through the winter months. Vamos a ver.
Of course the economic downturn will have some impact and there may be fewer people this year.
My condo project is sold out for the holidays and we have lots of reservations through the winter months. Vamos a ver.
Cabarete is much more quite than usual , less AI means also less charter flights to POP , and there for less options to buy cheap tickets for the Wind/Kitesurf/Surf crowd .
Another reason it's so quite , a lot of visitor's which would have loved to spend time during X- Mas in Cabarete couldn't find Hotel rooms as there aren't any Hotels left in Cabarete , only a few.
2500 Hotel rooms less in the last 5 years , 300 new Condos since, won't bring the same qty. of tourists.
Another reason it's so quite , a lot of visitor's which would have loved to spend time during X- Mas in Cabarete couldn't find Hotel rooms as there aren't any Hotels left in Cabarete , only a few.
2500 Hotel rooms less in the last 5 years , 300 new Condos since, won't bring the same qty. of tourists.
Dominican Republic has never been a holiday destination for high income people. So, people who do these reservations - are not high income.
And for low income guys/gals in current economic crash and disaster the only smart thing to do is saving as much as possible for upcoming rainy days. If instead they stubbornly keep going after overpriced expensive Caribbean holidays - it is silly and they open themselves for more and deeper troubles in the future.
It is time for low/moderate income people now to tighten the belt, to save and to live moderately and thriftely.
Oil is $34 down from $160 just recently. So, even Russians soon will stop coming en mass and spending their oil dollars without thinking.
- Status