Melia caribe/tropical Anyone have any info?

[guar]

Myself and some friend will be leaving for punta cana july 24 for a week. Will be staying at the melia. After reading/lurking many other posts, I have really learned alot. Thanks . Just wondering if anyone has any input about the area we will be in. Is the snorkeling very good? Any kind of info would be greatly appreciated. The last island I was at was St. Thomas/St. John. Is DR comparable? Thank you all in advance. This is a great site.

[Dolores]

See http://dr1.com/directories/hotels/me...tropical.shtml for more details on the hotel.

If you visit Punta Cana you will be in the far east part of the island. While you can see St. Thomas/St. John easily in a day, note that the Dominican Republic is a big country -- 18,000 sq miles vs. 31 sq miles for St. Thomas and 20 sq. miles for St. John. The largest hill in St. Thomas is 1,556 ft. compared to 10,000 feet for the Dominican Republic's highest mountain.
In other words, unless you do a lot of driving, you will only see a small part of the island. The trip from Punta Cana to Santo Domingo is four hours by car.
Check out http://dr1.com/travel/puntacana/ for information on your area. If you have time, venture out to see cosmopolitan Santo Domingo (the capital), or La Romana with its town, Altos de Chavon and Marina de Casa de Campo, also the beaches at Bayahibe and Dominicus (enter via the public beach between Dominicus and Iberostar hotels).

[angie.k.s]

Originally Posted by guar

Myself and some friend will be leaving for punta cana july 24 for a week. Will be staying at the melia. After reading/lurking many other posts, I have really learned alot. Thanks . Just wondering if anyone has any input about the area we will be in. Is the snorkeling very good? Any kind of info would be greatly appreciated. The last island I was at was St. Thomas/St. John. Is DR comparable? Thank you all in advance. This is a great site.

I stayed with some friends at the Melia for a week in April. Had a blast! The place is very, very spread out. Plan to spend a lot of time walking. They have nice little train things that will bring you around, but we spent quite a bit of time waiting for those, too. Not bad after getting used to the non-hectic way of life. The night life isn't much there, but can be fun if you know how to make your own. The first night we spent in a room on the Caribe side. It was terrible - horrible smell, shoddy furniture, etc. We complained and got a much better room on the Tropical side. Definitely go Tropical if you can. Snorkeling from the beach isn't much, but we did a Booze Cruise trip that took us to a pretty good snorkeling spot. That was a blast!

[monkeydevil]

Originally Posted by guar

Myself and some friend will be leaving for punta cana july 24 for a week. Will be staying at the melia. After reading/lurking many other posts, I have really learned alot. Thanks . Just wondering if anyone has any input about the area we will be in. Is the snorkeling very good? Any kind of info would be greatly appreciated. The last island I was at was St. Thomas/St. John. Is DR comparable? Thank you all in advance. This is a great site.

Hi, I'm going to Melia Caribe Tropical on July 24th too! Never been to DR before but have been to Barbados and Eleuthra. Had a fabulous time at both. Know several people who have been to DR recently but none stayed at the Melia. All say the resorts are generally great and really beautiful but unfortunately there isn't much to do or see once you leave the property. I'm going with my husband and our 18 yo daughter, flying out of Hartford, CT on an Apple Charter. Anybody else on this flight? (3:45pm)

[Dolores]

This hotel is perfect for someone who wants to relax. If you want something else to do/see you will have to take the day trips from the hotel. The closest being to La Romana (La Romana town, Altos de Chavon, Casa de Campo Marina), Bayahibe beach in La Romana, and even Cueva Las Maravillas. Probably you could negotiate with a cab for US$100 to give you an all day tour and bring you back. Would be cheaper than taking the tours. Also check http://dr1.com/travel/puntacana/

To Santo Domingo, the capital city, it is a four hour drive each way, so would suggest that you overnighted in Santo Domingo if you chose that trip, because it is too long to spend eight hours on the road.

[caribbean_bride]

We are going end of next Jan for my wedding. Will you please let me know it was when you get back.

I have been reading a lot about people getting sick in DR and i am a bit concerned for us and my guests.

Thanks