Vacation from HELL

[NickTheGrip]

While in the COD2 server tonight I was asked about my recent vacation and when I mentioned how awful it was some people wanted to know why. Rather than bog the talk channel in the game up, I said I would write up what went wrong and post it on the site as a warning for anyone else who might consider going to the same place we did - This is a little long winded so I apologize, but if you skim, you will still get the general drift.

 

Please don't get me wrong, I am not doing this to whine, but if I can prevent someone else from making the same mistake we did, it will have been worth it.

 

Just this past week my family and I went on a well deserved vacation to the Carribean. Having "done" Cancun and the Mayan Riviera countless times and with the wife being from Mexico we decided to try something different.So we decided on Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic. I had jeard a lot of good things about it and word of mouth has always been my favorite reference so off we went - on the vacation from "HEll"

It all started at the airport. In the arrivals side there is absolutely no air conditioning at all, it is basically outside, and you have to walk from the plane all the way to the terminal in 90 degree, humid heat. Then you pass into the entry area, where everyone is herded like cattle through various checkpoints, including one where you line up to pay the $10 "entry fee". They give you a card, then you line up again so they can take the card off you.Then there is the usual immigration and customs. At the entrance to the cattle hall there is a logjam where you have to have your picture taken with some "local" people who look so bored they are almost asleep (they get you on the way back for the $9. for the picture. I took one look at it and told them to go f^^k themselves as one bitch was picking at her nose in the picture). We finally got on the road with the local ground transportation after running the gauntlet of people trying to get you to go in their cab (God knows where you would end up) and waiting outside for almost 45 minutes for the guy to come back with his little minivan, and drove till we got to the resort area entrance. It looked just like a fricken concentration camp with security and barbed wire and such. Now I am all for security but I heard it is more to keep you in the resort than to keep people out.

 

Finally we got to reception, and started the the check-in process, which only took 2 hours because there was only one check in desk and 5-6 families in front of us, with a thousand questions and complaints already. (By the way, we stayed at the Barcelo Bavaro Beach Family Resort - I hope that it is only this resort complex and not all the area which is like this) We got the keys to our room and went there. We had to carry all of our luggage up four flights of stairs (outside in 90 degree heat still) as no one was "available" to help us, even though there were 4 porters sitting in reception sleeping.

Well let me start with the good points.

 

The A/C in the room was very good.

 

OK, I am done with the good points. This is the ONLY area in the entire resort with any relief from the heat whatsoever. None of the bars, restaurants, public areas or lobbies have any A/C at all. I know it is July in the Tropics, but just a little relief would have been nice, especially in the restaurants. We heard numerous tales of things being stolen from the rooms and the reaction from the reception people seemed to indicate this was not only known, it was accepted as part of the stay. My wife had her "logo" clothing stolen. Thankfully most of my clothes are crap so they left them alone!!!!!

 

The minibar in the room kept the local beer (Presidente - which I think is Dominican for Bats piss) at an ice cool 85 degrees F, and good luck getting the damn thing refilled. Ours was refilled once in 3 days.There is construction going on right behind the resort, which blocks the way to the beach and they work from 7 in the morning (think jackhammers and sirens) till around 10pm at night and every room in the resort is exposed to it. There is construction dust everywhere so you cannot open the sliding door for fear of letting a bunch of the dust get in your room.To get to the beach (which is the only other good point - its beatiful) you have to board a tram tham takes you along all four of the resorts in the complex, till you get to one where you can now walk to the beach. The tram is packed and you had better be ready to push your way on and off as, at this time of the year, it seems the majority of people there are from Central and South America and no one seems to have gone to the school of common sense or decency or manners.

I was walking with a 5yr old sick kid in my arms and they push you out of the way to get on the tram first, then simply sit there staring ahead so as not to catch your incriminating eye - assholes.
The food in the place is absolutely horrendous, everything is left out far too long, in the heat, so everything ends up at the same temperature. There is zero insect control so there are flies walking all over the food. Most of it is undercooked and they recycled most things from day to day. You get a little suspicious when you see the same main dishes 4 days in a row. Like I said, we have travelled all over the area before, I even lived in Mexico for almost 1 1/2 years and only got sick one time. This place got me sick within a day. I spent the whole vacation with severe stomach cramps (to the point of tears of pain) and rocket propeled diarrohea, which Pepto and Immodium didnt even touch.

The next day my 5 year old son got it and one day later my Mexican wife (who has a far greater immunity to these things) got it even worse than me. We talked with the only other North Americans there and every single one of them was sick to some extent.

The all inclusive resort included what they call "national" drinks which means stuff made locally. If you wanted something like, say, Absolut Vodka, you had to pay extra for that and one of the bar staff was actually caught pouring the cheap crap into one of the expensive bottles to sell to a customer, and got mad when she was caught, like it was our fault.

Talking about the bar staff, they, like every single other employee in the place, had the most miserable sour, "fuck-off" attitude I have ever come across. You would walk up to the bar, they would make eye contact, then leave, and you stand there waiting like an ass for them to come back and give you the "stop bothering me" pissy attitude when you finally get to place your order.
The whole complex was full of pissy attitudes.

 

By the way, some smart idiot decided polished marble would be a great thing to make the floors out of in the pool area and open reception. It looks really nice, but when it gets wet you had better be a fricken gold medaliist Ice skater to walk across it (did I mention pool area - it sometimes get wet around there).

I was coming back from returning my beach towels (they wouldnt take them at check out and wanted to charge me $25 each for them even though i had the towels in my hand) when my feet went out from under me and I damaged my knee pretty bad. I was laying on the wet floor screaming and they all just looked at me like I was bothering them. Fortunately some other guests helped me up and got me to a chair. I decided against a local doctor visit and would see a doctor when I got back stateside. While I am sitting there in agony, the guy at check-out tells me we cannot leave until they check the room to make sure we didn't steal anything. My wife had to hold me down as I was getting up to punch this rat-faced little bastard in the mouth. Only when the trusty housekeepers had checked the room did they give us permission to leave (I was told security would not let us off the property without it)
Some of the other highlights:

 

One internet access point for the entire 4-resort complex, located, of course, in the one furthest from ours. They stated wireless was available, but when I asked, it was only avaiable next to the access point. The access was $4 for fifteen minutes whether you used their computers or yours and there was no provision to print anything.

 

I measured the temperature in the italian restuarant at 105 degrees (with my kids thermometer), with zero ventilation. I am sure that amounts to negative calories.

 

They close all the pools at 6pm, just when a lot of people want to get in and cool off and they are like nazi guards about people not getting in the pools.

 

We watched one kid urinating in the family pool at our complex, under the guidance of his father, with the pool nazi standing there watching them. I am not talking about peeing in the pool while you are swimming as you know a lot of people do, but actually walking up to the pool, whipping it out and pissing in there from the side (I guessed his age at around 6)

There was, or course, not the slightest smell of chlorine to be detected in any of the pools so I am sure that urine was in there for a long time.

 

The power went out at least 4 times per day, which countered the A/C being good as it would not reset itself and you would get back to the room and have to wait for it to bring the temperature down to a livable level.

The mosquitos (if I can call them that - they were more like small birds) were vicious. They resort obviously did absolutely nothing to try to control them, like spraying as they were everywhere. When you entered your room, you spent the next 15 minutes with a flip-flip, killing the bastards. If you did not, you would pay the price dearly during the night. My wife's legs looked like something out of a horror movie, with welts the size of a quarter all over them. (not sure if that was the mosquitos or bed bugs - either way the suitcases still have not come in the house as they are infested with little bugs)

Well that is all I can write as the more I say the more I get angry again

When you compare this with, say, Cancun at a comparably priced resort, it is like night and day. Yes, the Mexicans have their issues too, but nothing like the litany of grief I have mentioned above. To put it in perspective, My wife is one strong and resilient, bitchy Mexican (and proud of it) and she was in tears when we finally left the ground to come home, she was so glad to leave.

 

If anyone is interested, once I can stomach looking at the pictures I can upload a few to show some of the "highlights" from this.

[1lost1]

Hey Nick

Thanks for the intel. My wife and I were actually thinking of going to the D R looking through Timeshare resorts, Im going back to Cabo. enough said I didnt even read all of it.

I feel sorry that you guys had such a bad trip and I got nothin to with it. LOL

[LtLaszlo]

Well... to coin a phrase you have often used, bud...."sucked to be you"!! Sorry to hear it was so bad. You pay a lot of money to people who don't have much, you think that you would be treated better. Seems they don't have much else besides tourism and would want  "return customers" and more good word of mouth.

I know your international and all, but we do have a lot of nice places in the states! Not like you went to get warm, when it was 90's here in lovely Michigan  !! At least there were no hurricanes. eh?!! Again, sorry to have such a bummer a time. Was a bad vacation better than being at work?!! Hmmmm? See ya at work Monday, Chief!!

[pwrcrzy52]

Sorry about your vacation its hard to save up for one and really look forward to some R&R and then that happens.

[2_MANY_BEERS]

I won't be going there. LOL  Show us the pics. Iread the whole fucking thing and I don't like to read.

[WiZiD]

If I were you I would post it on the internet with the heading Punta Cana and the name of the resort. Alot of people search the internet now a days prior to choosing a vacation and with google your trip should come up. Thanks for taking the time to write that discriptive letter. I feel bad for you and your family.

[BlackOp8]

and thats why I am never going to vacation in a third world country

[ShadowLady]

Wow...what a horrible experience!  Please let me know the name of the resort you stayed at, as I've always been playing with the idea of going to DR for a vacation as it seems to be a popular destination for people who live in my Province.

 

At least you made it home safe and sound....if not itchy....

 

-Shadow

[NickTheGrip]

I posted the review on Orbitz (where we booked the trip), Trip Advisor and Expedia. I hope that's enough. I am only afraid that I put people off the whole area when the only experience we had was our resort. I have no real insight into the other resorts except what people were saying in the line at the airport to go home. There it seemed to be about 50/50 with some horror stories and some other people saying it was just fine.

 

And Lazslo, this is one of those rare times when it was not better than a good day of work, although we would probably have been better simply staying at home!!!

 

The way it works with us is I get to pick, then the wife, then we have one for the kid. I always pick beaches (Cancun, PV, "Hell"), she always picks Europe, so guess where we are going next year. At least we know what to expect there, having been over there a few times. She is currently wavering between Paris (she has always wanted to go) and touring GB some more (get to see me mum and brother at least)

Second mortgage, here we come - LOL

[LeoSlye]

fuck all those countries especially mexico, travel in the US plenty to see,  we have history, tropics, desert, giant redwoods, grand canyons, new york, everglades, Hawaii, Alaska those countries send all the assholes here, then when we go there they shit on us.  Keep the buck here.  that's just my opinion i could be wrong.

[WolfTiS]

That sucks to have spent an entire vacation that way. I am like Beers and read the whole story and will never go there. We have been to the Carribean 3 times on vacation and it has always been fabulous but have never stayed in the Dominican and never will now. Thanks for the post Nick.

[PigDog]

Sadesky

fuck all those countries especially mexico, travel in the US plenty to see,  we have history, tropics, desert, giant redwoods, grand canyons, new york, everglades, Hawaii, Alaska those countries send all the assholes here, then when we go there they shit on us.  Keep the buck here.  that's just my opinion i could be wrong.

 

Sadesky, you need to be more open to adventure!  Our "histroy" only goes back a few hundred years.  In Europe and beyond, it goes back thousands of years!   Our "tropical" areas can be nice (Florida, Hawaii), but for some great waters, try the Virgin Islands or The Cayman islands.  We are headed back there later this summer and I cannot wait.  We are also planning ot spend some tiem in New York, which will nice and touristy.

 

Nick, I am sorry that your trip was so horrible!!   That is awful, knowing that you took a week off of work and spent all the hard earner money on a shitty trip.  Hope things are better when you get back to work!  We have been all over Mexico and the Carribean, but never been to the DR.  I think I might stay away.  Thanks for sharing.

[LeoSlye]

dude i was talking about mexico, central america, and south america,  gb western europe great, i go to italy on a regular basies to see my grandfathers people, when you learn US history you are learning about western europe also, like i said just my opinion, sry

[PigDog]

Hey, no problem.  I wasn't trying ot be an ass....I was just saying that as far as history, we don't have a whole lot, unfortunately.  I have never been to Europe, yet.  I want to go several places in England, Italy maybe France and to Greece.  Not too sure about France......it is full of French people.

[TedsofBeverlyHills]

Nick,

Thanks so much for taking the time to share you vacation hell week, I'm sorry too that you and your family had to go though this. I have copy and pasted a copy to my word and printed out a copy so when any of my friends want to go traveling abroad they know not to consider this place. I remember reading somewhere a year or two back that this was a up and coming resort destination and was suppose to becoming a popular place, too bad its not true. I hope you do a blog on the internet and also visit some travel web sites that allow vacationers to leave comments about their experiences. The best thing for businesses   and investors of resorts like this, is for the truth to get out there to the general public, nothing motivates one as much as the all mighty dollar or the lack of it.

[Angel]

So sorry to hear about ur bad experience.  I am so glad I dont travel outside the states,lol.  My only place I am looking forward to seeing soon is hopefully The Grand Canyons with my great tour guide.  

 

P.S.  Thanks for sharing, if I do travel out, I will know not to go there.

[Cpt.TennealXI]

Sorry to hear about your nightmare...we went to Punta Cana 2 yrs ago for a october trip and we had an awesome time,and the help there was great and extremely pleasant and outgoing.I know it must have sucked for you and your family getting treated like that,but i honestly wouldn't hesitate to go back there,but I also would only go back to the resort we went to after reading about your troubles.

(p.s. in oct. when we went,I only saw one male mosquito the whole trip) 

[Sonovabich]

Nick you are originally from the UK, you should come to Europe m8.

[Olive]

Hello Nick,sorry you had such a bad experience but in my opinion that's all you can expect from those big tourist factorys . I know this is the easiest way when you're travelling whith childrens but you miss so much of the country you are visiting whith staying in this type of resort...In Dominican Republic you could have go up north to Las Terrenas area where you can rent nice houses whith swimming pool for cheap prices ...It's close to the Los Haitisses national park and all the area is quiet nice ...

Ps: If you decide to visit Paris next year don't hesitate to ask me if you have questions or if you need some tips

[Hoth]

Sorry to hear about the nightmare Nick. Thanks for the info. One of us should start a post on the places to go and make up some kind of guide depending on where and what country your traveling to.

[NanoCreed]

Step 1: Search for surviving tourists who have the same shit happening to them.

Step 2: Evacuate all the tourists.

Step 3: Burn the place to Hell.