Puerto Plata Village April 2004

bnjj · #1 04-13-2004, 04:28 PM

I just got back from staying at the Puerto Plata Village March 31 – April 7, 2004 (latter half was Holy Week)

It was a great trip and I’ll try to touch on some details that may be of help to others thinking of staying at the PPV.

The hotel is rated as a 3.5 * and I found this to be right. The rooms were very basic but were always kept clean and they were comfortable. Really, how much time does one spend in one’s room when vacationing on a tropical island anyway? Unless you have some kind of stomach upheaval, I doubt you’d spend much time in your room. My room was in one of the little villas and had a queen bed, dresser, and nightstands – nothing fancy, just what I needed. I had a full bath and always had hot water. The water pressure in the shower left a little to be desired but it wasn’t so bad. I had a gecko in my room one day – cute little thing.

The food in the main buffet restaurant as well as the al a carte restaurants was good – nothing spectacular but always good and plentiful. I certainly did not go hungry. We had awesome, crispy bacon 5 out of the 7 days and it was so tasty. The made to order omelets were very good as were the potatoes, breakfast breads and fruit that was available every day. The pancakes were good too. Lunches and dinners were fine as well.

The hotel has a resident cat that wanders around and is just the cutest thing. I didn’t see her wander into the food areas at all but another lady said she did come in to the main buffet restaurant one day and she was feeding her bacon.

All the staff at the resort spoke at least some English (most spoke very good English) and everyone was very friendly and helpful. The drinks were, of course, non-stop and the pool bar was always a fun time.

I took my bracelet off after about day 2 and it was not a problem. Not once did any of the hotel staff ask me about it.

I was in the DR over a weekend and during the first half of Holy Week and did not see a great influx of locals at the resort or on the beach as I was expecting given all that I had read before departing. There certainly were a few couples and a few families but not a great influx by any means.

I went on the Outback Safari and a catamaran/snorkeling excursion and both were great. I booked these through my rep at the hotel and if and when I get back to the DR, I think I will book my excursions at the Playa Dorada Plaza instead. I paid $69 US for each excursion and could have gotten comparable excursions at the Plaza both for $55 US – I could have got two for less than the price of one. Now, I read all about booking excursions at the Plaza before I left for my vacation and as I was there solo, I wasn’t quite comfortable booking outside of my tour rep but next time think I would and save the money. If I find that the excursions at the Plaza don’t live up to the others, then I will have learned my lesson. All the people I talked to who booked at the Plaza had a great time on their trips.

The beach vendors with the orange tarps just past the Jack Tar are extremely over priced. I hooked up with some other Canadians and we went there first before going to the Plaza or going into Puerto Plata and after going into the city and seeing the prices there we knew how over-priced the beach vendors are. Even after bargaining for quite some time over a pestle and mortar, my friend ended up paying twice what they were priced at in the city. Who knew?

I read quite a lot before departing and many trip reports said that the wandering beach vendors are very bothersome and hound you all that time. I did not find this to be the case at all. They only come around sporadically and if you’re lying there with your eyes closed they don’t even speak to you and if you’re clearly awake they may ask if you’re interested and a simple ‘no thanks’ sends them on their way. I didn’t find them to be a problem at all.

The guaguas! What a trip those are. Anyone going into the city should definitely take one of these instead of the taxis that are at your resort. Theses buses/vans are insane! There are no designated stops and they cram as many people on board as they possibly can. On the way into town there were 21 of us crammed into the guagua, on the way back the highest amount was only 19. It was only 10 pesos each way. Cheap? You better believe it! Fun? You better believe it! We had a guide from on the guagua take us around the city and into the shops he knew – yes we realized he was going to get a commission from the shop owners but that was fine by us as we never would have found our way around that crazy city or where to catch the bus back without him. He carried our bags for us and was extremely friendly, helpful and informative about many of the different sites. His name was Felix and he spoke excellent English. When we got back to our hotel we hugged him good-bye and tipped him quite well. It was a great trip into the city.

The plane ride was like sardines in a can, but aren’t all the charters like that?

That’s all I can think to tell you – any questions, please ask.

Edited to add how surprised I was to see how many mid to upper class people there must be on the island. There were Hondas, Toyotas, fancy SUVs and Lexus’ everywhere you looked in the city and at my resort. There is definitely money on that island. Then you go out on the countryside and see just how poverty-stricken the rest of the people are and it was quite the contrast. It was very disheartening to see mansions built just a few steps away from little two-room shacks entire families call home.

tired_boy · #2 04-19-2004, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bnjj

I took my bracelet off after about day 2 and it was not a problem. Not once did any of the hotel staff ask me about it.

Lucky! When we went to Occidental Gran Playa Dorada last year we were being continually checked, it was getting alittle annoying actually.

Glad to hear you had a good time! That transport outside the resort is hilarious isnt it. We had 'twenty odd' people in as well........and a few animals.

vee · #3 04-19-2004, 09:46 PM

Your posting of your DR experiences sounds wonderful! We experienced similar in that we had a fantastic time. Half the fun was learning how to get around the place. One day, we were reading through the books that the hotel has in the rooms and discovered there was a shopping plaza just 5 minutes walk from our hotel. Nobody had told us about it.

Another day, we had hired a cab to go into town so we could just walk around the city. My husband speaks fluent Spanish so I felt totally at ease going into Puerto Plata with him. When we got to the central park near the cathedral, we ran into one of the maintenance fellows from our hotel. He moonlighted on his one day off a week from the resort as an information person in the park and he was amazingly helpful with finding us a place to have a cold drink, where we met a lovely Dominican family who I hope we will be able to see again next time we got back.

Our helper also introduced us to the guaguas and we were sardined into a minivan with 17 other people (your tale of 21 is amazing!) For 20 pesos we had a ride back to the entrance to the resort. The cabs would have cost 450 pesos. I think, though, that the guy riding the guagua "shotgun" so to speak wasn't too thrilled with the two of us gringos taking up so much space!

I could see him talking to the driver in Spanish and looking back at us. We soon found out that they were trying to figure out how to make more room with the two of us large gringos on board. We were asked to move to a two-seat area so he could squeeze five people into the four seat area we had been sitting in!

Here is a picture of our departing mode of transport. This picture doesn't do it any justice! LOL You have to experience it from INSIDE the guagua...the confined, non-air conditioned guagua!

We are definitely going back next year. It was the best vacation we have ever had, and we've had quite a lot of them. We have been to Hawaii, Florida, Georgia and this is the best ever...best place...best beach...best service...best value. We spent two wonderful weeks in Playa Dorada-Puerto Plata.

*sigh* I wanna go back NOW!

Vee

Milly · #4 04-22-2004, 06:44 AM

I'll be staying at PPV in June with my family and you've settled a few concerns I had, thankyou.
I can't wait to get there now and am really looking forward to getting out and about. I shall definately book our excursions at the Plaza and not through our tour operator (any recomendations?)
Only 8 weeks and 2 days to go.......

tired_boy · #5 04-22-2004, 07:09 AM

You might find that the guys on the beach who sell tours are the cheapest, also whatever they quote first can be knocked down (don't be scared to haggle - you need to). Your reps in the hotel will tell you not to book with the people on the beach, ignore them - they want your money instead thats all.

I have been on the Waterfall trip both to Jarabacoa and on the one where you climb up half a dozen small ones, go on the latter, its really good and you get to see a few other places as well along the way.

The Catamaran trip is ok, basically you will get a good tan on this trip. They take you to Sosua then you jump in, snorkel, feed the fish and set off back whilst drinking lots of Rum and Coke.

I haven't been to Ocean World but read the 'sticky' on it, it sounds amazing, i will definately be going on it when i am there in June.

If you are into scuba diving (or even if you have never tried it) the scuba shop in the Plaza is the best place to book, they do several different dive sites in Sosua.

Have a good time!