Our Punta Cana Vacation

I’m a traveler and explorer. I love seeing new places, meeting new people, and getting lost regularly. 

As with the rest of the world, I haven’t been doing any of that due to the global pandemic, and before that, an evolution in my career cut down on the number of new passport stamps I received. The reality that my carry-on was collecting dust has been an itch that I couldn’t safely scratch. 

So, one night as we lay in bed, my wife and I began trying to remember the last time only the two of us had gone anywhere that wasn’t to visit family and was longer than a weekend. We realized that it had been almost eight years, which wasn’t acceptable to either of us. 

I told her to find a week that she could escape, and I’d take care of the rest. Being a college professor allows me free time in the summer and thus a much easier schedule than hers.

She has always wanted to try an all-inclusive resort, and while this sounded like a circle of hell with drinks and bikinis, I decided that this would be a perfect safe week away from everything.

I began looking at the Caribbean as a close destination with many options. Plus, as I looked at the COVID statuses of various locations, it became clear that some were better than others. Eventually, I decided on Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. 

All Inclusive Outlet handled our travel arrangements and bookings for our vacation to Iberostar Selection Bávaro Suites. The best part was discovering that JetBlue offers direct flights from Boston, which would be under four hours on the plane. 

Overall, we had a great time on our vacation and the time away together was exactly what we needed. But, the minute we arrived at the hotel, we began to run into an endless stream of things that were not quite right, less than the quality promised, and overall not a great experience. 

The resort looks like the advertised “five-star resort” as soon as you enter the lobby. The decor is opulent and vibrant. The helpful staff all jumped to escort us from the car to the front desk. The refreshing drink offered to each guest was a welcomed bit of refreshment. 

Sadly, this was the first hotel I’ve ever stayed at in my life where there was no overview or welcome given to us once we were checked in. They put our all-access bracelets on and said someone would take us to our room immediately. We assumed a map and a list of times and activities must be waiting for us in our room, but that would not be the case. We spent the first two days very confused about where everything was and all the promised amenities were located. 

This resort even gave us a personal concierge with whom we exchanged WhatsApp contacts so that they could help us with everything we needed. In reality, this was mostly me asking questions or making requests, either being ignored or only half completed. On the first morning, when we were to meet so they could secure our dinner reservations for the week, we showed up to find out they had already booked them without asking us for preferred times or cuisines. While he was a nice guy who always greeted us with a smile, he needs to learn how to do his job better.

While every hotel in the world ensures its lobby is one big piece of welcoming marketing to the establishment's style and vibe, a room's first impression is when things truly come into focus and reality. 

Because I wanted to pamper my wife on this trip, I booked a junior suite with a jacuzzi. Opening the door to our room, there was no jacuzzi and two double beds instead of the king-sized bed that was paid for. We raised this concern immediately, and after more than a day, we were told the only option was to push the beds together, and there were no rooms to move us to. 

One aspect of the resort we loved is that all the drinking water on-site is filtered. Each room is supplied with two large glass bottles that can be filled at numerous stations around the resort. That way, guests always have safe drinking water.

While we appreciate them cutting down on plastic, one improvement would be to make at least one bottle in each room a reusable plastic bottle since we saw people (us included) shatter their glass bottles poolside every day. 

Of course, one of the bottles in our room was dirty and sticky upon arrival. It took us three days and multiple requests to different people (including our “personal concierge”) before we finally received a clean one. We thought about drinking one of the sodas in the complimentary mini-bar and using that, but they don’t provide you with a bottle opener in the room to open them. Five-star treatment, huh?

The resort is beautiful, and the food/bar staff is friendly and helpful. Two standouts were Sonya, the hostess at the resort’s Mexican restaurant, who found us a table when on our first night, we were confused about where and how to find food. 

Also, a special shoutout to bartender Santo, who made us more than a few caipirinhas over the week. I’ll never forget a junior staffer making our drinks incorrectly and him instantly jumping in to fix the situation with a laugh. Just look at his smile! 

On the topic of food, there is a buffet available for all meals and offers a great variety of options daily. A snack bar also has constantly grilled items (and french fries) that are perfect when poolside during a long afternoon. You have to make reservations to eat dinner at any of the individual restaurants on the resort, even though none of them were ever more than a third full whenever we ate at one of them. 

The food was good, but nothing was outstanding. The lack of seafood options disappointed me, but I had a delicious steamed red snapper one night. There are plenty of options for kids, and if you have a sweet tooth, there is no shortage of sugary delights. 

Discova Tours, who handled our airport transportation and booked our one excursion, is one part of the trip I do want to give a shout-out to. Everything they did was top-notch, customer first, and worth the money. 

That excursion was the only time we left the resort to spend a morning with Adventure Boogies. This included swimming in a freshwater cave, tasting local chocolate and coffee, and ending with a nice long dune buggy ride. We were told we would head out to a point and then back, but it was one big loop, so only my wife got to drive, but it was a bunch of dusty fun! 

It is strange to realize I visited a beautiful new country and only saw it from a passenger seat. I want to return someday, visit the country, and experience all it has to offer. 

Sadly, we couldn’t spend time in the ocean, and going for walks along the beach was out of the question due to the daily piles of seaweed that washed ashore and filled the first 20-30 feet of the ocean. Locals told us that it is getting worse and if you want to go into the ocean, don’t visit from May - August when this is common. 

The resort was beautiful, but their lack of ability to deliver even the most basic quality of customer service turned me off from ever visiting another Iberostar property in the future.

We also didn’t appreciate their hard sell to join their “not a timeshare” club but did get a constant giggle for the rest of the week after they pitched us the price. It will always baffle me what some people will pay for.

I had a better time than I expected. Quiet days under the shade of a big umbrella with a good book is not a bad way to spend a few days. Plus, we were lucky that at least a few days saw a drop in humidity, so it wasn’t as bad as I expected.

Our family has always had a “roll with it” approach to life, and as we’ve told friends since getting home, we had a great time even with all the problems we ran into. 

I’m excited about our next adventure together, wherever that may take us.