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I've been comparing Punta Cana resorts and I think I'm losing my mind, please help me Jesus The story is: I'm looking for a honeymoon trip. We have NYC-PUJ flights booked June 23rd-30th, paid with points. Hooray. The initial buy was a great deal on Barcelo Bavaro Beach through Costco Travel--7 nights, all-inclusive, Premium Level Oceanfront Rooms for a shade under $1500 total for two people. Included free airport transit, $50 per person spa credit, a Costco card that will go to my father in law, etc. etc. The Beach side is the adults-only side of the complex (a *huge* plus for us), and it's been closed, but it re-opened yesterday. Fine. The problem is, the reviews of the sister resort over the past month have been ***terrible***. Nearly uniform complaints about the quality of food, surliness of the staff (lots of reviews mentioned this), lots of stuff being closed (which, fine, it's COVID), drinks being unusually weak and low quality even by all inclusive standards, and smoking everywhere. Plus apparently the COVID test protocols at the resort are a nightmare. On top of everything, the reason we picked Barcelo (aside from the price) is it's right on Bavaro Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world (apparently), but the seaweed/sargassum situation is supposed to be really bad this year and the beach may or may not be super usable now, depending on the winds of fate. So I'm panicking a little bit because I want a good honeymoon. I looked into some other options; we can't really go very much above $2,000 which knocks out most of the higher end places. I did find some possible options where the recent reviews are much better: Bahia Principe Luxury Ambar - $1,892 for a "Junior Suite Deluxe Swim Up Corner" The Level at Melia Punta Cana - $1,594 for a Level Suite (the upgraded suites kind of don't seem worth it; there's one suite with a "wellness package" which seems strange) Serenade Punta Cana (apparently this place is more or less brand new?) - Between $1436 for the basic room all the way to $1915 for "Premium Suite Outdoor Jacuzzi" The other option is to switch gears entirely and head to Bayahibe/La Romana on the southern coast. It's apparently much quieter with almost nothing to do outside the resorts and it's a significantly longer trip from the airport, but I understand the tradeoffs to be that the beaches are less populated and more chill, there are a lot fewer vendors, there tends to be much less seaweed, and you get to enjoy the sunsets over the water (as opposed to the sunrises in Punta Cana). Two options here that could work: Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus - From $1610 for a Double to $2043 for a "Junior Suite Deluxe" (there's more but the next step up is $2800 which is too high) Hilton La Romana (formerly Dreams La Romana) - From $1708 for a "Deluxe Garden View" to $2204 for a "Premium Pool View" ---- Anyway: 1) Has anyone stayed at any of these resorts and can offer opinions? Especially interested in good food/actually decent liquor and romantic, relatively-smoke-and-kid-free places. 2) Anyone been to both Punta Cana/Bavaro and Bayahibe/La Romana and have any thoughts about which side of the island they prefer?
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Jun 2, 2021 23:46
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I guess the larger issue here is going during the off-season, when the weather is not so terrific. Having been to Punta Cana a lot of times, to all different resorts, it's always been good. Generally speaking, the more expensive the resort ~= quality of food, quality of drinks, classiness of other vacationers. Kids vs. no kids never made a huge difference because there is so much space you can do what you want.
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Jun 3, 2021 12:41
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Oyak posted:I guess the larger issue here is going during the off-season, when the weather is not so terrific. the weather/water should be nice if there's no tropical storm or hurricane. Will be hot of course, but that's part of the tropical experience for me. The seaweed is currently a big issue in certain areas in the Caribbean. I don't have any advice on that account, but if you want to hang out on the beach and swim vs primarily enjoy the pools and facilities, then I'd make this issue a priority. It can be difficult to predict though. Assume that the covid protocols everywhere are just for show and rely on your being vaccinated (?). Do you have plans to travel any outside of the resort? it's a cool island, depending on your comfort levels and time you want to spend traveling, although covid is going to put a damper on everything (they just announced a new lockdown, which i think resorts are exempted from)
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Jun 4, 2021 19:58
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I scoped out some of those beaches on Google maps, sorting by recent pictures/reviews. Some in bávaro area definitely look trashed right now from sargassum. Others might be ok at the moment? In contrast, i didn't see any obvious issues in the playa Bayahibe area. Recent reviews/images is all you can really go by. There are sargassum monitoring websites, but I find them too generalized to be of use for trip planning If you're not beach crazed, the seaweed might allow you to snag better deals at affected areas. I took advantage of that in Cancun in 2018.
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Jun 4, 2021 20:42
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