I'd like to thank everyone for posting information on this forum as it greatly helped in planning my very last minute getaway.
I traveled to Punta Cana via Spirit from FLL with my husband and 2 small toddlers (4 & 1) on June 28th for a 3 night vacation. My husband and I live in FL but we both speak Spanish fluently. This was our first trip to DR, but we have been to many islands in the Caribbean and stayed at many AIs.
The flight was full and since I did not pay for assigned seats at time of booking, all 3 of us were in different rows. Luckily we found some nice people that switched with my husband so my 4 year old didn't sit without us.
The airport is very nice. Rustic with large fans so it there was lots of air running through it even though there was no a/c. They greeted us by taking a photo with some nice dressed ladies and music. We purchased the tourist cards for $10 each and a few feet later turned them in to someone else. There was a band playing music just past customs and tips were appreciated. Our luggage arrived so off we went in search of Bronyl's driver.
I got his information from the forum and booked it ahead of time based on the recommendation and b/c I just wanted to take care of it ahead of time. $40 each way, vouchers were emailed to me and I paid via paypal. Email response was not quick, but I was warned..so I'm just setting your expectations
There were lots of drivers waiting, but ours was not one of them. I didn't panic since we were on official island time and vacation...but I was able to get a very nice gentleman from Budget to assist me (Chichi?) and he called Bronyl using his own cell phone. They confirmed that the driver was in route and had been delayed. The van arrived, a/c worked perfectly, van was comfortable and all seat belts worked. The drive was about 20+ minutes (I didn't have a watch) to Ocean Blue Sand Resort.
We arrived at the hotel around 2:30pm with official check in time being 3pm. Everyone at the registration desk was very friendly and polite. Our room was not ready, but we were able to get keys for towels and since I packed our swimsuits in our carry on we could start to enjoy the resort ammenities. We chose to take the time and walk around the resort. The resort area is pretty big (as I had seen/heard on the forum/reviews) and I thought well kept. The main buffet is huge with two dining rooms and buffet in the middle - MANY different selections, something for EVERYONE. fresh fruit that varied daily and many different dishes. The service there was great, I thought everyone was very polite.
The pools were large, with at least 2 swim up bars but there were also areas for toddlers to play which was great for us. We checked out the kids camp, but never used it...guess we never felt the need to get rid of our kids during this short vacation! We spent a lot of time in the pool and on the beach or eating. Soon after 3pm I went back to the registration desk and our room was now ready. We were in Villa 3 Room 3009. The location of the villa was nice...not too close to the action in the pool, but close to the buffet...the only thing we were not too happy about was that it was on the 3rd floor and there are no elevators in any of the units. I'm SURE I could have gone back to the front desk and asked for a 1st level unit and waited a bit more, but we wanted to get started with our short vacation and it wasn't going to be the end of the world if we had to drag 2 toddlers and a stroller up and down each time we left/went to our room...BUT had we been scheduled to be there for a week, I would have requested the change and I made a suggestion that families with toddlers should be given then lower floors...my only complaint fo the whole trip!
The room was nice and clean. There weren't any towels, but housekeeping was still finishing the rooms (our door was actually open). By the time we went back before dinner we had towels. The power to the room shuts off when the key is removed from the switch - we didn't have any issues with this system or the A/C or the keys to the room. The guy at the reception desk warned us to keep it away from iphones, cell phones and video cameras (I think)...so we did and they worked during our entire stay.
We were able to get new towels by the beach each day without a problem and at the end of our trip turned them into the front desk. I'm not picky about my drinks so I had no problems with the beer they had on tap and the girls enjoyed getting fruity drinks from the bars and eating from the buffets (dessert first of course). We never had an issue finding chairs by the pool/beach and we were not part of the Privilege upgrade package.
The beach was great - nice and calm, except of course when the boats drove by close to the line. Not the end of the world, but if you are looking for a vacation where YOU are the only one on the beach - this is NOT the place for you. There's a market on the beach next to the hotel which when you walk by all the merchants try to make a sale. This is common of all the Caribbean destinations...we are tourists and their livelyhood depends on the $s we spend with them. An intersting tactic I saw here was that if you saw something you liked and you told them you didn't have the $ with you they bagged it anyway and let you leave with it so you would come back to purchase it...I'm sure they lose some $ on that, but it worked on me!
I'll have to post more later...feel free to ask any questions.
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Trip Report PUJ Ocean Blue in Punta Cana
