All Things Punta Cana

We recently went to TRS Turquesa (see the in-depth review on my previous blog post) in Punta Cana, so I wanted to write about our experience with Punta Cana as a whole.

First off, the resort was beautiful and huge. We heard a lot about the food being bad prior to arriving, but we didn’t have terrible experiences. With that being said, the food is different, and it is not all 5-star dining. There are a lot of different options for food, with 5 buffets, and at least 10+ dinner restaurants. Each buffet was different and they all had a lot of options, so I’m sure everyone can find something they like. Neither Kelsey nor I starved while there, but it was definitely not a foodie tour. The dinner restaurants were much better in terms of quality than the buffets. We heard horror stories before arriving and we were concerned, but we did not get sick from anything we ate. They tell you not to drink the water, so we avoided that, brushing our teeth and washing cups/straws with bottled water (they provided plenty of bottled water). We did, however, have many drinks with ice, and we drank water from the glasses that they fill up at restaurants, with no issues at all.

We went off the resort three times, twice on excursions and once to explore the shops on the beach. One excursion was to Caribbean Lake Park and the other was to zipline in the jungle. I will do another in-depth review of the excursions later. While off the resort, we never felt unsafe. Everyone was very friendly and helpful, although they didn’t speak much English. I was honestly surprised at the city as we drove through, as I expected everything in the DR to be very poor. While it is definitely poorer than the United States, the areas we drove through didn’t look as bad as I expected. Everyone had cell phones and nice clothes, and there were many malls, shops, hotels, restaurants, and apartment complexes. There were areas in the country that were poorer than the city of Punta Cana, but overall, it was better than expected. The greenery was beautiful in the forest and the city seemed fairly well maintained, with paved roads and many businesses and shopping centers. The car washes might be the nicest businesses in Punta Cana. They were all new and clean, and every one of them had a bar attached so you could have a beer while your car was being washed. There were plenty of nice vehicles on the roads, although most people drove motorcycles. The vendors on the beach were pretty pushy, but they never made us feel unsafe or concerned in any way, and we got some pretty good deals on jewelry and other items while there. Kelsey even got her hair braided by a lady at the shops.

Everyone there spoke primarily Spanish, including within the resort. The people in the prominently customer-facing positions (tour guides, butlers, front desk staff) spoke decent English with a heavy accent, but everyone else spoke very little English. This was a surprise for us, as we figured an all-inclusive resort would lend itself towards more English speaking people. It was never a major issue, but it did create some challenges (ordering drinks, getting directions within the resort, etc…). We decided on our way home we would try to learn some Spanish before our next trip.

The beach in Punta Cana was pretty, but a little dirtier than I expected. The water was greenish-blue and fairly transparent. I expected crystal-clear blue water, and I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t as clear or blue as expected, but it was still beautiful. The ocean was VERY calm while we were there. The waves were small and we had to wade out 50+ feet to get up to our armpits in the ocean, so there was plenty of room to play in the ocean without feeling unsafe. The sand was a beautiful light beige (not white) and the resort kept the sargassum under control for the most part. The sargassum that was on the beach was never a huge bother for us. The sand fleas are REAL. We took bug spray, but we neglected to put it on one day, as we didn’t plan to spend much time on the ocean. In the 15 minutes or so we spent walking along the beach, we both had several bites on our ankles, and they were itchy. After that, we made sure to use bug spray every day.

The weather was PERFECT. It was in the upper 80’s the entire time we were there and it didn’t rain a drop. The week before we got there, it rained a lot, so we were concerned, but we didn’t have any rain and very few clouds. It was sunny and HOT. People aren’t joking when they say the DR sun is different. It is very hot, and the island is humid, so we got sweaty quickly. It was okay, though, as there were many pools and the ocean to jump into and cool off. They also made sure to keep everyone well hydrated, or dehydrated, depending on the drinks we chose. 🙂

The experience – this is where we had some slight issues or disgruntled-ness. This was our first all-inclusive and our first time in the DR, so admittedly, we made some assumptions that didn’t turn out to be true. The main assumption we made was that we would be treated like VIP’s everywhere we went. While we were treated that way in some aspects – constant drink/snack refills in our room and the butlers decorated our room for our anniversary (twice) – other areas definitely lacked in customer service. We almost always had to wait at the bars for a while before even being acknowledged. Sometimes they were busy and we understood, but having to wait 5+ minutes at an all-inclusive before even being acknowledged or spoken to was slightly off-putting. We get better service at bars here in the U.S. And yes, we tipped at least $1 per drink every time we went to a bar. I chalked it up to being on “island time,” but it wasn’t the best experience. We also had some issues with getting into restaurants and were made to feel like we were a bother at times. For example, at the buffet on our first day when we tried to enter, they just looked at us and said “you can’t go inside wearing that.” They provided no information on what was wrong with our outfits and honestly came across pretty rude. The second time was when we paid $50 per person to go to Chic Cabaret. Apparently we were supposed to have a ticket, but our butler forgot to give it to us. We had receipts on our phone and our names were on the guest list, but they wouldn’t let us in until the butler brought us the physical ticket. They were dismissive about it and treated us like we were dumb for not knowing we needed physical tickets. There were other issues with customer service, but overall, it just didn’t always feel like we got top-notch customer service, and we felt that it was lacking overall.

The airport was actually very nice. We had a nerve-wracking situation coming home, as we got randomly marked for SSSS (Secondary Security Screening Selection), which meant that we and our bags had to undergo extra security screening. This wasn’t a big deal, except that nobody could speak English, so we didn’t know what was going on, making it slightly unsettling. Outside of that, though, the airport was nice, quick, and easy to navigate. They even had a Wendy’s and a nice bar near our gate, so we were able to get a good American fast food meal and a couple of beers before departing.

Overall, Punta Cana was a good, not great, experience. Some aspects were shocking (in good and bad ways), and it was definitely not our favorite vacation destination, but it is worth a visit. With that being said, we will likely go back at some point to try another resort and experience different aspects of the DR now that we know more of what to expect, because it is a beautiful island.

Have you had any similar or different experiences in Punta Cana? Let me know in the comments below.