Mel

Hi, wife and I are trying to decide on a winter vacation. Can anyone out there suggest a good all inclusive resort. Looking for nice room, good food, great pool and beach and also local tours or day trips. Thanks, Mel

Kim

Im not sure if you have chosen an island yet but I have some excursion sheet for a few different resorts on different islands which tells you of the tour that are available. I have one for St.Lucia and the Bahamas (Nassau) and Jamaica if this will help you, email me. Sandals Resorts are wonderful all-inclusives, and NO im not a travel agent just 100% Sandals people.

Parrot Mom

We stayed in Puna Cana at the Catalonia Bavaro and it is a lovely resort, humungus pool, nice beach, large rooms and decent food. This year we are returning to La Romana, Casa del Mar, not as spread out and the most magnificent beach I've seen in the D.R. For more info go to../www.debbiesdominicantravel.com. If you write will be glad to give more information.

steve

Hi parrot mom
Is La Romana the same place as Bayhibe?I'm amazed you've found a beach nicer than Punta Cana!sounds great,hows the food at Casa del Mar? thanks and Happy Holidays

Parrot Mom

Actually, I was quite disappointed with the beach at Punta Cana..it may be 20 miles, but the white sand, the blue tuquoise water of La Romana at Casa del Mar absolutely delighted us. IMHO what is happening is all the mega resorts is that they in the Yucatan where they are sprawling..although the CDM has the same number it doesn't sprawl. There is by reservations a Chinese, Italian and Steak House and frankly we thoroughly enjoyed them. We have just come back from an Iberostar where I was greatly disappointed, not only in the entertainment, but the food, especially the buffets. At lunch time at the CDM you could walk up to the buffet and have hamburgers, chickens and pasta made to order..or you could go to the beach grille and have chicken, piazza or hamburgers made to order..It may seem like a little thing to you, but I had never run into a resort where getting something made for you instead of taking something from under a heat lamp was such a problem as it was at the Iberostar. We thorougly enjoyed the food at the CDM.. You could walk along the beach to the flea market and plop down anywhere in a chaise.. Compared to the newer resorts like the Catalonia the pool was nothing to rave about, but do-able with a separate jacuzzi.. I must admit we really enjoyed the Catalonia that had a glorious French Restaurant, decent buffets (with homemade doughnuts every mornng), a Brazilian restaurant we all could have done without and an Italian restaurant that we enjoyed and maybe one more. Their pool area was huge, with the usual greenery and jacuzzis in the middle and quite enjoyable. The beach was usually the destination of the europeans where there was discrete toplessness.Getting up at 7:30 in the a.m. was the way to get a palapa near the pool and even then most were taken. The only drawback we found to the Catalonia was the huge sprawl...if your in a desirable area near the pool and beach you have quite a walk to the dining rooms. There isn't any tram service and because of a very bad ankle we had an agreement with the front that they would send a bellman after my husband and myself. At CDM around the pool there are huge white canopies under which there are many lounges so there is no problem there.. When we looked into where we wanted to go back we asked ourselves which resort did we like the best..and CDM won hands down.

jen

Parrot mom, is it safe to go into town in La Romana and is the Casa del mar adults only. Thanks for your help

Parrot Mom

The CDM is not adults only..there is/was a program for little kids, a camp. On the whole I must say the kids were well behaved, except for a few in the evening. It was fun to see the kids ordering piazza or hamburgers at lunch time by themselves. As for walking to La Romana/Bayahibe we didnt go, but walked to the flea market at one end of the beach. There was a shuttle to take you to Altas de Chavon, part of Casa de Campo where there are some artisans shops, the huge famous ampitheatre and the luxury homes owned by the rich and famous, including at one time (not now) Oscar de LaRenta.. One of the problems is that the taxi drivers have a very strong union, i.e. expensive.. There is a little shopping mall not far from the resort and they wanted $10.00 each way which I thought was highway robbery. the other place we wanted to go was Santo Domingo which we adore for lunch and shopping. I think this time I'll ask a member of the staff (I hate taking organized trips, because we had seen the sites several years ago) if they have a "friend".. From the brochure I still have they talk about guests going into La Romana.. When we were there last time we had to fly into Santo Domingo and now we fly directly into La Romana.. Wish I could show you pictures of the resort, but Photopoint went under and fortunately we've saved our pictures, but I don't know if they are available to me yet to have other people share. I do know we had since we put them up over 9000 "hits".. If you are interested in more information please feel free to contact me off the board.

Ross

We stayed at the Iberostar Bavaro resort in November. It was great. But, I would advise it is the atlantic ocean and not the caribean that it faces. There is a new Iberostar near LaRomoma that I might try next. [I'm an Iberostar person.] The staff at all are friendly and rooms are nice and predictable. The four to six unit buildings at the Bavaro contrast to the big hotel complex buildings next door and at other hotels in the area.

Ron

My wife and I just spent a week at Casa del Mar--excellent. There were kids there but they were no problem. Rarely saw any at the beach or the pool so they must have kept them busy somewhere else. The beach is great and food was very good. The village of Bayahibe is close enough to walk to but La Romana is about a 30 minute drive. We hired a cab to go into the city (cost $45 round trip) but there's really not much to do once you get there.