Why the Dominican Republic?

by Jaron Johnson
(Layton Utah, USA)

Why the Dominican Republic? This was the response we got whenever we told someone we were taking a vacation to the DR. My answer was, why not? Four couples wanted to go on an exciting tropical vacation. Most of the group had already been on a cruise or to Mexico, so we went online, searched “all inclusive” and found the DR. What a great choice.

The DR is still unknown to most Americans. In fact the Europeans first started vacationing there and now it is one of the hot spots for Europeans. Some natives of the DR who work in tourism speak four languages, English, Spanish, French, and German. I find this amazing.

We went over Memorial Day weekend and spent six days in Punta Cana. This was a great time to go. It is before hurricane season and three weeks before the European vacation time starts. It was in the 80’s every day and no rain. The resort was not crowded at all and very relaxing.

Punta Cana is on the Eastern side of the island. It is not a city but more like a location. The majority of the “all inclusive” resorts are on this side of the island. They all looked pretty nice and reasonably priced.

We chose to stay in the Iberostar Resorts. All three resorts are connected and you can use the amenities of all three. We picked the best resort for accommodations, small bungalow type buildings, eight rooms per building. It gets away from the hotel style rooms and makes it feel more tropical. We had our choice of nine different restaurants, from Japanese to French. We tried them all and also ate at the buffet everyday. The food was wonderful and the water was drinkable. Everything was clean and neat and lots of entertainment.

We took two excursions, 4-wheeling through the country and beach and a boat excursion to Saona Island. Both excursions were worth the money, but next time I would stay at the resort.

We arranged travel through Funjet vacations. They took care of everything, including transfers, excursions and guides. This made it nice at the airport when you are trying to get on the right bus. They had our names on a list and were waiting for us when we arrived.

You can use American dollars in the DR and get by with very little Spanish. I would go back to the DR in a heartbeat. I felt like and was treated like a millionaire. The DR survives on tourism and they go out of their way to make you feel welcome. I don’t think you can get that kind of service in Hawaii for such a cheap price. We did this trip for under $4,000 that is EVERYTHING. If you needed cheaper you could easily do it for less.

I highly recommend “all inclusive resorts.“ Although I have not been on a cruise, so I can’t compare.