Karen

Just returned from a week in Punta Cana at the Paradisus resort. Booked the trip through Apple vacations. Would be happy to answer any questions or provide some insight.

Mariarosa

Hi Karen! Thanks for the offer to answer questions. I have 2: <BR> <BR>1) Can you describe all the watersports that are available in the all-inclusive price? Do they have hobie cats or other catamarans? Do they have any "motorized watersports that are included (i.e., resort scuba course, snorkeling trips or banna boat rides)? <BR> <BR>2) Can you describe the food and the way it was prepared? Do they have good beef (filet or tenderloin)? Do they have seafood or fish? <BR> <BR>Thanks!

karen

I'll try my best to answer everything. <BR>1) With regards to the watersports, they seemed to include a lot! Scuba was included, as was snorkling, hobie cats and windsurfers. They even had boogie boards for kids. There were banana boats (which i wanted to do but never got around to) but I'm not positive those were included. They also had 1 and 2 man kayaks inclusive! As for non-water sports, they had activities all day, at the pool, on the beach such as volleyball (I played daily), bocce, darts, horseshoes, salsa and merengue lessons, olympics (silly relay games) and even horseback riding. Oh, by the way, the even had a snorkling excursion where they take you by boat to a different location where you snorkle and then have a great picnic lunch. I didn't do it but heard it was fun. <BR>2) I don't even know where to start with the food. We thought it was great and there was a huge variety. At El Romantico we had a chateaubriand steak which was excellent, and there was also tenderloin filet at the Palapa Grill (which also had lamb chops, pork chops, lobster, shrimp, calamari, mussels, salmon and chilio - you chose exactly what you wanted and they cooked it for you). There are many different restaurants, chinese, japanese, french, italian, spanish, mexican, grill and the buffet, so the variety of foods was incredible. As long as you are open-minded to the different ways food could be prepared you should be fine. The people I spoke to who had problems, were those who expected their food to be prepared exactly as they eat it here in the U.S. I didn't find that realistic and I enjoyed the international flavor of our meals. <BR>Mariarosa, I hope this helps a little and I'd be happy to answer any other questions if I can. Karen

Mariarosa

Karen, thank you so much for such a detailed answer! That's exactly the information that I needed. We hope to go to Punta Cana in the summer or fall and we are seriously considering the Paradisus. <BR> <BR>I know exactly what you mean about people expecting the food to be exactly like home. I have encountered people like that in Mexico. I actually enjoy eating food that is different! Thanks again!

Kris

Karen, did you take any excursions away from Punta Cana? Did you go into Santa Domingo? We're going to Punta Cana at the end of the month.

karen

Kris, we did not do any excursions beyond the resort unless you count the horseback riding which was a 10 minute ride from the resort (and included in the price of the vacation). I do know however that the trip from Punta Cana to Santo Domingo takes about 3 1/2 hours each way and that leaves you with only about an hour to visit the city. <BR>

Kelly Queen

Karen, <BR> My hubby & I just booked a trip to the Paradisus May 5-12 & can't wait to go based on what I've read & also from a client who returned a week ago. I do have a question for you concerning the fitness center. I'm an avid treadmill runner & wanted to make sure they had a treadmill in the gym, as well as what other equipment they had. The client who returned other week said she was pretty sure she saw one but I want to be positive. Is it open air or air conditioned? Any info you have on this would be appreciated. Look forward to your response.

karen

Kelly: I hate to admit it but we never checked out the "spa". I go to a gym at home and wanted a vacation from that too! However I did speak to a bunch of people who used it. I don't know the number of items but there were at least 2 treadmills and one or 2 ellipticals. They did have a problem one day where 2 people were on the treadmills for over an hour, while others were standing there and waiting. So I guess timing is everything there. Also, they had a hard surface area at the beach where they had aerobics and step aerobics each once a day. Looked like a good workout. I did the beach volleyball and bodysurfing thing for my exercise! Hope this info helps and please feel free to ask any questions that you can think of.

Ceciley

Hi Karen! I am considering a trip to Punta Cana or Puerto Plata in late March. Do you know which area is better for water sports (jet skiing), good food, and shopping? <BR> <BR>Thanks much.

karen

Ceciley: I don't know anything about Puerto Plata but in Punta Cana there were a lot of water sports. I didn't see any jet skiing, but there was windsurfing, hobie catamarans, kayaking, para-sailing, scuba, banana boat rides, snorkling and body surfing. As for shopping, about the best stuff in Punta Cana was the shacks along the beach that all sold the same stuff (and you had to bargain for it). Nothing special. We thought the food at the Paradisus was quite good and with good variety. I'm not sure what exactly you're looking for. You should check out www.debbiesdominicantravel.com for a very comprehensive site on the DR. I think it would answer most of your general questions. If there are any other specific questions you have regarding Punta Cana, please write back. karen

Rich F

Hi Karen, <BR> <BR>How did you like the beach at Punta Cana? From the pictures it looks wonderful. <BR> <BR>How does it rate with your favorites? ie. Provo, Negril, Cayman, Aguilla, St. John, Virgin Gorda, etc.

karen

Rich - Good question. I think the beach at Punta Cana rates right up there with the best. It has nice, soft sand, some waves (I don't like lagoon type still water) and palm trees which provide a constant breeze throughout the day. The beaches at Turks & Caicos provide a softer (like talcum powder) sand but few waves. The breeze in Punta Cana is similar to that of Aruba. There does tend to be some seaweed etc but the resort had employees out first thing in the morning, picking up any seaweed that had washed ashore. The first day there, I recall turning to my husband and saying the water looked like one of those color swatches you get from a paint store that has 5 shades of color from the same family, going from lightest to darkest. Just beautiful. Hope this is helpful. karen

Claire

Karen: <BR>Would you say this is an appropriate resort to take a 9 year old? She enjoys participating in organized activities. Did you notice if there was a kids clubs and if so, what kind of programs were offered? Thanks.

karen

Claire: They did have a kids club but since I was kidless, I didn't pay all that much attention to what they did. I did notice however, that they had planned activities on the beach daily like relay races and other group competition games (like olympics etc). They also had ping-pong tourneys etc. There's a group of employees called the animation group (animacion in spanish) and they keep the activites lively and get the guests to join in. They were very good with the kids. There was also a room with various board games for the kids to borrow. They also had childrens' show nightly prior to the adult show. However it was at 9:45, which for my kids would have been too late. The S. American and European kids tended to eat and stay up later in general so it didn't pose a problem for them. There are other resorts that might actually cater even more to families (like with kids meals at earlier hours etc) but I'm not sure which places have that. Check out www.debbiesdominicantravel.com for that specific question. Also, depending on the time of year you go, you need to remember that the majority of vacationers are not from the U.S. so your child might have fun learning a new language or get frustrated not understanding! At any rate, you should have no problem finding an all-inclusive in Punta Cana that really caters to the family. Best of luck.

Matt

Hi Karen, I hope you're still checking this board. I'm considering going to punta cana with my girlfriend and one other couple. One thing that we're looking for, in addition to the nice beaches and weather, is night life. I'm not looking for a "cancun" type of night life, but we would like to get out to a fun place that has music and at least a pulse of a night life. Is there any in punta cana?? Thanks in advnace for your information!!

karen

Matt: Punta Cana is very different from Cancun as there's not really a city where there's anything going on. In fact, once you leave the resort, it's pretty much a 3rd world country outside. Therefore, most nightlife is found within the individual resorts. As for the Paradisus they offered the following: They have a casino at the resort which is very small but does have tables for poker, black jack, roulette etc and some machines (mostly slot but there were a few poker). There is a show nightly and it changes from night to night (variety, broadway tunes, caribbean theme, audience participation). We only caught one because they don't start until about 10:30. (Not that we're old farts but we hit the beach early every day and were wiped out by the time 10:00 rolled around). Once the show is over, the bar opens it's disco. There's a pool table in there and sometimes they even do kareoke. That's about it as far as nightlife at the Paradisus. From what i've heard, the entertainment at the other resorts tends to be similar. We actually enjoyed spending some time at one of the bars after dinner, talking to other couples. Also the beach is beautiful to walk along at night. This is no Cancun (it's not like your typical spring break here) but it certainly has some diversions at night. I hope this helps.

Lauren

Karen: All your wonderful information couldn't be more timely for me! My husband and are looking for a Carribean destination for the first week of May, and researched the Melia Caribe on the advice of a friend of a friend. Our travel agent has suggested Paradisus instead. We have no children, and prefer a resort that doesn't really cater to families (hope that doesn't offend anyone who reads this!). We tend to go to smaller places, and are a bit nervous at how big these hotels seem - does the Paradisus 'feel' like a huge resort? We mostly enjoy sun, golf, spa, good food and drink. Any thoughts? Your input will be GREATLY appreciated, I assure you! And thank you in advance for any advice you can provide!

karen

Lauren: The Paradisus is beautiful. It is a large, sprawling resort. The front lobby (with information desk, casino, stage, gift shop and Mexican restaurant) are a bit of a walk from the rooms, restaurants and beach. There are trams that run constantly but my husband and I walked it (we needed to walk off some of the large meals!). However, we didn't need to go to the front of the resort very often - sometimes just to make a small deposit at the casino a few nights. The rooms are in small, 2 story buildings (16 rooms per building) so they're spaced throughout the resort - that's part of what makes it so expansive. I prefer that to one large high-rise type hotel building. <BR>The walk from our room to the building that housed the breakfast and lunch buffet (and a nice bar) was 5 minutes and from there to the beach was not even 1 minute! Another nice thing about a larger resort is there were 7 a la carte restaurants and a buffet. I don't know that you'd get that same variety at a smaller resort. Some of the complaints I heard from people staying at other places was they had fewer options and the food starting tasting the same. Not so for us. <BR>There definitely were families there, but because we went in early February when most american kids are in school, the majority of the kids were s. american and european. I think for countries in the lower hemisphere it was nearing the end of their summer vacation. I have no idea what you might find in May. And again, there were activities for the kids, but it was never disruptive and the place certainly wasn't overrun with families. <BR>Lots of retirees when we were there. Did I help at all? Please write again if there's any additional info I can provide.

Kris

Karen, I had one more practical question. We're heading down next week and I'm wondering what to bring for spending money. Do they have ATM machines? Surcharges for using credit cards? Or is it best to bring travelers checks? Were you able to use US$ (assuming, of course, that you're American)? Thanks.

Jiji

Hi Kris <BR> <BR>In the Dominican Republic, you can find lot of ATM machines and especially in cities like Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana,... <BR>It's better to use your Credit Cards. Don't bring travellers. <BR>You can use your USD also. <BR>Have a nice trip <BR>