Dominican Republic, St. Lucia or Barbados

bruzz

Where would you choose to go ?:) If anyone has been to all three what was your fav? Thanks

freddiek

money's tight eh?? I know, its terrible

Pythia

freddiek wrote: »

money's tight eh?? I know, its terrible

Irrelevant. Don't post if you don't have anything to add.

I went to the Dominican Republic last year, to Dreams Punta Cana for 2 weeks. Absolutely loved it. It was all inclusive and it really did mean all inclusive. I'd recommend it to everyone. It was very affordable when you take into account you spend nothing once you're there.

Can't help with the other two but I imagine they'll be more expensive.

bruzz

Thanks for your related advice to the topic posted Pythia

Ive been to St Lucia 8 times. Bloody love it. So laid back. Small Island, relaxing vibe. But there is a good nightlife. Friday night is the big night, go to Gros Islet.Party goes on all night. Great place to mingle with the locals. Lots of good excursions also. You can go to the Volcano, the rain forest, plantations etc. best thing though, is to hire a local driver for the day, take a trip all around the Island for about 100euro. You will love it.

ive also been to Barbados, nice, but expensive.

Paparazzo

St. Lucia would have better scenery than Barbados. It's a really nice place. I was only in Bridgetown in Barbados and it's a dump, but I heard the resorts are nice. But if you're staying in a resort, Dom. Rep is going to be cheaper.

Michal S

that depend on what are your plans.
basically flight tickets will be the same price!
Dominican Rep. is very cheap now, I was there twice and LOVE IT and propably will be back this year again.
most resorts in Punta Cana are All Inclusive so no extra money spend!
very good night life and good disco pubs in surrounding area and there are also buses going across all resorts!
Imagine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWR2HhrKYt0
Mangu - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvwNSgd9d2o&feature=related
Imagine is mostly for tourists and Mangu is also for locals.
almost every extra tour like buggies and tours are arround 90 dollars and thats good price for good fun time!
BTW - Punta Cana beach is 11 nicest beach in the world!!

if you wonna know more just ask.
you need to be more specific.

P.S. I was on small island "under UNESCO" and that part of the holidays was the best!! payed extra I think arround 12o dollars for one day but it was BRUTAL!!!!!
I can show you some pics if u like or more info.

bruzz

Thanks for all the advice guys. Have decided on St. Lucia and will get to the others some day:rolleyes:. Thanks again.

bruzz

bruzz wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice guys. Have decided on St. Lucia and will get to the others some day:rolleyes:. Thanks again.

Great choice Have a great time. Im so jealous.
Windjammer is a good hotel by the way,

Michal S

Dominican Republic

Oafley Jones

Pythia wrote: »

Irrelevant. Don't post if you don't have anything to add.

I went to the Dominican Republic last year, to Dreams Punta Cana for 2 weeks. Absolutely loved it. It was all inclusive and it really did mean all inclusive. I'd recommend it to everyone. It was very affordable when you take into account you spend nothing once you're there.

Can't help with the other two but I imagine they'll be more expensive.

Hi Pythia,
Just looking at booking a holiday at Dreams Punta Cana. I've been going over the hotels in the area and as usual can't get over some of the reviews on tripadvisor for nearly all of them.. you'll have one star followed by five stars!!! Anyway, could you give me more info on this hotel, is it the sort of place that you'd have to get up at 6 to get a sun lounger, what are the activities like etc? I hope to be going in July.

Thanks

Pythia

Hey,

We went in Sept last year when I think it was low season.

Overall we really loved the hotel. We are picky eaters and eat out a lot and we really enjoyed all the restaurants. The buffet was surprisingly good. We particularly loved anything baked, they all tasted extremely fresh and there was an amazing selection, especially at breakfast. Our favourite restaurant was probably the Seaside Grill where we generally had to wait for a table.

I think when we went the hotel was quite empty. There were always sunloungers available in great spots at any time of the day and often you had huge areas of pool to yourself. For all but a few days of the trip there seemed to be only 1 family with children old enough to be in the pool. This was really great!

The grounds are really beautiful and they have a huge team keeping it like that. People on tripadvisor kept complaining about the smells in the rooms but we didn't notice any smell. There were no mosquitos when we were there, I always get bitten, so this was great. There were however a lot of tarantulas who mainly came out at night. They were harmless though. The flamingoes were extremely tame and we hand fed them a lot. We also loved the parrots.

We were pleasantly surprised with the evening entertainment. We would be skeptical of going to these things but found we really enjoyed ourselves. We went on two excursions - Marine Explorer and Ziplining - which I would highly recommend.

We loved the fact that nothing was off-limits here in terms of all-inclusiveness. They had every drink we wanted, we always found delicious things on the menu, there were snacks available like ice cream and popcorn and we ordered room service a lot. One time it look about an hour and a half to come and they kept apologising and then sent a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries up to keep us happy.

We did venture over to the local shops one time and got pounced on by a load of shopkeepers trying to get us into their stores. Wouldn't like that experience again! We didn't like the vendors who came into the hotel either but we just totally ignored them and walked past so it was ok.

Overall we would definitely come back. We were really happy with our choice of hotel and this was one of the best holidays we've been on.

Let me know if you have any other q's!

Oafley Jones

Thanks Pythia. What are the standard rooms like? Is the preferred club worth the money?

Pythia

You should be able to have a look at the rooms on Tripadvisor. Personally I thought they were nice. We had a four poster bed and a separate couch/table area. We also had a lovely balcony which looked right onto the ocean. Of course there are 9 or so blocks of rooms so everyone's view is different.

Also, because the resort is so big, you will either be a good few mins walk from the beach or else from the restaurants. You're in no rush though. The pool is so large too, you should look at it on google maps http://maps.google.ie/maps/place?cid=11651945067305521128&q=Hotel+Dreams+Punta+Cana&dtab=0&sll=18.762659,-68.516932&sspn=0.094646,0.139535&ie=UTF8&ll=18.805888,-68.5757&spn=0,0&t=h&z=

I think the preferred club had their own special bar and perhaps jacuzzis also but I don't think there was a huge difference. I didn't look into it too much.

NewDirection

Jake1 wrote: »

Ive been to St Lucia 8 times. Bloody love it. So laid back. Small Island, relaxing vibe. But there is a good nightlife. Friday night is the big night, go to Gros Islet.Party goes on all night. Great place to mingle with the locals. Lots of good excursions also. You can go to the Volcano, the rain forest, plantations etc. best thing though, is to hire a local driver for the day, take a trip all around the Island for about 100euro. You will love it.

ive also been to Barbados, nice, but expensive.

Can you recommend any of the resorts? Sandals look lovely but they are quite pricey?