Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
June 2 to 9 of 2003, my wife & I (age 50 &
51) vacationed at the Riu Naiboa hotel about a 35 minute drive (22
miles) south of the Punta Cana airport on the eastern shores of
Dominican Republic. The Riu Naiboa hotel is 4 stories high, has
372 rooms & is rated as 4 star by Sunquest & Riu hotel chain,
but 3 to 3.5 star by some others (myself included). Because of the
time of year (before the schools get out for the summer), we got
a pretty good price of $845. CDN each for this all-inclusive (includes
plane, bus transfers, hotel, meals, drinks, taxes, gratuities, facilities,
etc), plus $10. U.S. departure fee each when leaving the Island.
I enjoyed it very much, but my wife & many others got sick (probably
from the water) & it put a damper on their holidays. We would
not likely go back to this hotel unless we heard reports that things
had gotten better. Below are our experiences in detail.
THE FLIGHT DOWN: We arrived at the Toronto International
Airport 2:10 hours before the Skyservice flight was due to leave.
The line up was not long & the check-in went very quickly. Pickup
of our tickets at the Sunquest booth also went quickly. Airport
security was very reasonable & did hand check my carry on film
& camera equipment when requested, rather than sending it through
the X-ray machine (which can fog high speed film after a few passes,
despite them telling you that it's safe). With the exception of
a honeymoon couple who were running late, Skyservice had everybody
seated on the plane 4 minutes before scheduled departure of 4:15
PM. By the time we pulled away from the gate & taxied, we took
off at 4:46 PM which wasn't too bad. We touched down in Dominican
Republic on time & the total wheels up time in the air was 3:37
hours (scheduled time including taxi time was 4:10 hours, so we
were pretty much bang on estimated time). The seats in this Skyservice
Airbus 320 are not all that comfortable (small & narrow, with
an uncomfortable metal bar part way up the seat back & lumpy
cushion), but that should come as no surprise to anyone who has
traveled on Skyservice charter airlines. The seatback at the bottom
where it joins the cushion has nothing but a piece of cloth (no
padding at all), so an inconsiderate person sitting behind you can
easily cross their legs & keep kicking you in the butt periodically,
which can be quite annoying. Several people complained that their
headphone jacks didn't work (a frequent complaint on Skyservice
flights) & Skyservice had no extension cords for these people
to plug headphones into a nearby jack, so some people couldn't watch
the movie. When we disembarked at Punta Cana airport, there was
a long customs line & after that a bit of a wait for the luggage.
The Skyservice luggage handlers had ripped the pockets out of both
ends of my snorkeling kit & later I noticed that my suitcase
had been roughly handled which broke the plastic ribbing inside.
Directions to the Sunquest bus for the ride to the hotel were easy.
The bus driver's assistant gets on the loudspeaker of the bus &
repeatedly requests tips for the driver which was annoying, especially
since this is supposed to be an "all inclusive" including
gratuities. I would have rather that he not blabber on & try
to entertain us during the 35 minute trip to the hotel.
THE ROOM: The check-in at the Riu Naiboa lobby
was not a big ordeal, but for some crazy reason they make you fill
out all your info all over again, even though you previously gave
this information to your travel agent. The 4 star room we stayed
in was adequate, not luxurious, some people would only rate it a
3 or 3.5 star. The air conditioning for our room was central air
so it was quiet, though it didn't dehumidify very well & struggled
to bring the temperature down (in June), which seldom fell below
77.5 F (about 25.3 C) in the room, but that seemed adequate most
of the time because there was a ceiling fan (the fan was noisy because
it wasn't balanced). Several other guests in our hotel complained
that their air conditioning wasn't working well at all. There was
1 single & 1 double bed, not pushed together (just like the
AlbaTours/Sunquest brochure said). Two double beds like the Riu
Naiboa web site shows, would have been better. The safe in our room
didn't have a lock & we later found that several others who
came on our plane had the same complaint, but getting a lock at
the front desk wasn't a problem. The taps dripped & a lamp was
broken. The TV had about 35 satellite channels available (including
1 porno channel, so don't let the kids have the remote). We were
easily able to get a second room key (without a deposit) so my wife
& I each had a key. The electrical receptacles use the North
American 115 Volt standard, but the receptacles use the European
type plug, so North Americans will need to bring an adapter plug
if you are to plug in any of your North American devices & Europeans
will need to bring a step up transformer if their devices don't
work on 115 VAC. These adapters are sometimes available for borrowing
from the front desk. The balcony door doesn't lock which I suppose
could be a security problem if somebody were to jump over the balcony
barrier from an adjoining room. The hallway floors outside the rooms
use glazed tiles which are very slippery when wet as well as very
noisy & there are no vestibules between the hallway & room
to distance you from the noise of the hallway. The hotel is open
concept (open to the weather in some areas) so rugs wouldn't be
practical, but vinyl flooring would have been safer & quieter
than glazed tiles. We were fortunate to have a room on an upper
floor that faced the pool, so the view was nice (mostly palm
trees as far as you could see).
The balcony has a rack for drying your bathing suit & clothes.
The room included a mini-bar fridge at no extra cost with a jug
of water (had an odd taste), beer & soft drinks which were replenished
daily.
ORIENTATION MEETING: The next morning there was
an orientation meeting put on by the permanent hostess (Sarah) from
Sunquest/Alba Tours if you want to attend. It lasted about 50 minutes
& the hostess could have easily imparted the relevant information
in half that time. The internet comment sights like those listed
below & Riu hotel web site, had pretty much told me most of
the same information anyway. At this meeting they do warn you that
the privately run beach ATV & other chargeable activities are
run by thieves, but the hotel can't do anything about it for now
because these beach services still have a contract with the hotel
to sell from the beach until the contract runs out.
THE POOL: Each of the 5 hotels at this Riu complex
has a nice pool & you are allowed to go to any of them except
the "Palace Macao" which is a 5+ star hotel. Our pool
at the Riu Naiboa
was lovely & very large with no spot deeper than chest height
& very warm comfortable water in June of 86 F (30 C). You are
each given a towel card which you can trade for a large beach towel
at your pool (they run out some times), but for some strange reason
they won't let you exchange it for a towel at any of the other hotel
pools in the Riu complex, even though all facilities are shared
& the towels were identical. I tried using the towel card at
the Taino hotel & they were rude to me. A bar is near by the
Naiboa pool & there are plenty of thatched shade umbrellas.
Most of the time there were not a lot of kids at the Naiboa pool.
Because of the open concept of lobby & sidewalks, they are made
of glazed tiles that are VERY slippery when wet & we saw a number
of people slip & almost hurt themselves on the way to the pool
or the painted ramp into the pool. Likewise the sloped walkway leading
to the pool from the lobby is made of wood & is also slippery
when wet. The Riu Naiboa is not on the beach (just a short 5 minute
walk away via Caribbean
Street),
but they do have a large nice sandy area near the pool if you just
want to relax & play in the sand or tan. This really was an
exceptionally nice pool, the only things I didn't like were the
constant loud music & that they close the pool for the rest
of the day in the early evening to put chemicals in it. We would
have like to have the occasional swim in the pool in the evening.
RESTAURANTS & BARS: There is a large buffet
style restaurant on the main floor of the hotel. No reservations
are required for breakfast or lunch, but for some strange reason
reservations are required for dinner, as well as a dress code. You
must book either the early (7:30 PM) or later (9:30 PM) dinner sitting
& arrive at that same time each night. Frankly I wished they
would lighten up a bit, since myself & many others on vacation
didn't feel like conforming to a schedule, or dressing up for dinner
especially if it was hot. One evening it was 80.6 F (27 C) in the
dinning room at 9:30 PM & humid, which in my opinion is too
hot for long pants. There is a bar & snack bar very near the
pool that is open during the day & late evening, but in the
early evening is for specialty steakhouse dinners (book early).
Between the 4 hotels in the complex that you are allowed to eat/drink
at, there is nearly always a bar, restaurant or snack bar open &
of course it's all included in your vacation so you have no need
to carry money with you if you stay on the complex (other than drinks
at the disco or shops on Caribbean Street). We found the desserts
to be mostly European & very bland. Despite the huge amount
of food, it doesn't change much from day to day, so the food gets
a bit predictably boring by the end of the week (I'm not a fussy
eater). Part way through the week my wife spotted a large rat running
through the main restaurant, but the staff & front desk didn't
seem very concerned, the waiter only laughed when she mentioned
it to him. Nearly everybody we talked to got sick (diarrhea) at
some point during the week except myself & one other man. Once
you're sick, eating more carefully or taking Imodium didn't seem
to help, only antibiotics helped. Our hunch was that it had to be
either a water problem, or unsanitary food preparation at our hotel.
Some buffet food stays out exposed for many hours, so avoid those
foods that easily go bad. Some guests reported getting violent food
poisoning when eating at the 5 star Riu Taino hotel. Dominican Republic
is what I would call a third world nation, so it comes as no surprise
to me that the staff might not have the same standards of sanitation
as a developing nation or a developed nation. It's interesting to
note that some people on our plane stayed at a different hotel chain
nearby (the Iberostar I think) & none of them reported getting
sick, whereas almost everybody got sick at the Riu Naiboa. The Riu
Naiboa evening lounge & bar (disco) area had a strong moldy
smell, as well as smelling of cigarettes, but the Riu Taino hotel
lounge & bar (disco) didn't smell bad & was air conditioned.
There is also a Mediterranean restaurant about a block away which
you can book if you want a change of pace for dinner (included in
the package).
THE BEACH: Three of the 5 hotels in this complex
have beach front property which guests from all 5 hotels can use.
The beach has very nice light beige sand (no it's not white as some
people report, it's beige coral colored) & the beach is wide
& long, though there isn't a lot of shady areas. Each hotel
has a large swimming area cordoned off by buoys so the boats can't
come in the swimming area. It gets deep rather quickly & you
can actually snorkel out to a small reef within the swimming area,
although the underwater scene at the Riu Taino beach is not all
that spectacular compared to many other places I've been (good but
not great snorkeling). If you have a mask,
it can be fun to feed bread to the fish (bring a zip lock bag for
the bread). There is some natural coral & rock underwater at
some places in the swimming area near the Riu Taino shore, but there
are also several old boat anchors made from cement
blocks
that are still in the swimming area, so wear water booties in the
water & be careful. Many people hurt themselves (my wife badly
bruised her toe) on these cement blocks that are often only 10 feet
out from shore & the hotel management should have these cement
blocks removed. Guest safety at this hotel does not seem to be a
high priority & there is a general staff attitude that sometimes
is a bit too laid back (read, they just don't care sometimes). You
are given a turquoise card as deposit (showing your room key would
have been a better idea), if you wish to borrow water equipment
such as a body board, mask/fins/snorkel, kayaking or paddle boats,
but they will only let you use them for 1 hour, even if nobody else
wants them. The equipment policy seemed rather inflexible &
we did not find this inflexibility when we vacationed at a Riu
hotel in Mexico. If you are an avid snorkeler, bring your own
equipment. The whole week we were here the water was quite choppy
& rough, which made it not as pleasant for snorkeling &
I couldn't imagine trying to sailboard in this kind of water. Many
other reports I've read seem to indicate that the water is usually
rough at this location. We couldn't find any personal water craft
(jet ski) rentals nearby. The ocean water temperature was really
nice in June, 82.4 F (28.0 C) at shore, though not quite as warm
as the pool. You should wear something comfortable on your feet
while walking to/from your hotel because of the hot asphalt &
some broken glass on Caribbean
Street.
Since a large percentage of vacationers are European, the beach
& pool areas have some topless women.
SUNRISE SUNSET: Dominican Republic is about 19
degrees latitude & one week before our trip (May 24) the Punta
Cana sunrise was 5:57am & sunset was 7:03pm
(total 13:06 hours of daylight). Our latitude, where we are from
in London Ontario Canada, is 43 degrees & the London sunrise
is 5:54am & sunset is 8:50pm (total 14:56 hours of daylight
on May 24). So in June when you are getting close to the longest
amount of daylight hours during the year in the northern hemisphere,
it's interesting to note that daylight hours are actually almost
2 hours longer up north, than in the Caribbean. If you like to take
maximum advantage of the daylight hours, you may want to gear your
schedule while on vacation to getting up early & going to bed
early.
THE LANGUAGE: The staff at our hotel mostly spoke
Spanish though most knew a bit of English (barely passable). Dominican
Republic seems much more oriented towards European vacationers who
speak German, French, Spanish, Dutch etc, so if you are from North
America & only speak English, don't be too surprised to find
much more of a language barrier than if you went to Mexico. It was
difficult to find anybody at the front desk who could speak English
fluently. I've been to quite a number of foreign countries &
I would have to say that I never really had as much of a language
barrier problem in most other countries as I did here. It wouldn't
hurt to take a vacationer's Spanish course before you arrive, or
learn at least a few important words & phrases in Spanish. http://www.studyspanish.com
SMOKING: Note that unlike North America where
smoking is not permitted in most public places, Dominican Republic
allows smoking & many Europeans smoke, so this can be quite
annoying if you're not a smoker. The bulk of the North American
visitors seem to be Canadian, because few American travel agents
push packages for Dominican Republic.
PHOTOGRAPHS: If you prefer to develop & print
your exposed film so that it doesn't get exposed in the security
X-ray machine going home, the price is $11. U.S. for a roll of 24
in the photo shop on Caribbean Street. Hotel photographers come
to the pool & beach throughout the week & will take your
picture with a parrot,
iguana or dancing girls, etc. These pictures are usually on display
& for sale in the photo shop by the next day, if you want them
(no obligation).
LOCAL VENDERS: If you walk south down the beach
during the day about 15 minutes, there are local venders selling
all manner of souvenirs from semi permanent tents. We found them
not very pushy (not aggressive) & it was worth a visit. They
would accept American dollars (best to have) or Dominican Republic
pesos (not required), but not credit cards or travelers cheques.
Initial price quotes are ridiculous as they expect you to barter.
The hotel allows local venders to come into the hotel lobby once
a week & we found them to be extremely pushy & con artists.
My wife was interested in a necklace which the vender wanted $130.
U.S. for (I guess she looked gullible) & she ended up buying
it for $10. U.S. which was probably still more than it was worth.
The shops on Caribbean Street on the Riu complex usually don't barter.
There aren't many other places nearby to shop.
TRIP BACK HOME: The Punta Cana airport is open
concept with a thatched roof so it can't be air conditioned. The
temperature the evening we left was 83.1 F (28.4 C) & 100% humidity
so it was like a sauna. Our bus was scheduled to leave the hotel
for the airport at 5:15 PM but left at 5:35 PM for our 9:15 PM airport
departure, which I felt was way too early, but package charters
like Sunquest tend to herd vacationers like cattle with little respect
for their time, especially on the return trip home. After the trip
to the airport, checking our luggage, getting our seat assignment
& going through airport security, we still had about 2:50 hours
to wait around before our flight, which is not a nice way to end
your vacation. It seems completely unacceptable to me at a little
airport like this to have to arrive so early, especially when nearly
everybody was coming from the same hotel complex to get on the same
plane. Check-in by Skyservice was quick & nobody bothered to
ask any security questions, (i.e. was our luggage packed by us or
left unattended). In fact the hotel asked us to check out of our
rooms by noon & our luggage sat semi-unattended in the lobby
for over 5 hours & anybody could have slipped something into
our suitcases. Skyservice did not weigh our luggage or notice that
it was over the allowed limit of 20 kilos (44 pounds) plus 4.5 kilo
(10 pounds) carry on bag each. There were X-ray machines for carry
on luggage, but security was reasonable with me & agreed to
hand check my film & camera after I insisted. Once you pass
security they have pictures for sale ($5. U.S.), which were taken
when you arrived at the airport one week earlier. There are lots
of places to eat while you are waiting for your plane, but our Sunquest
representative didn't know this even though she had been acting
as a hostess at this location for over two years. The Skyservice
Airbus 320 left the gate on time. Humidity was so high (100%) that
the air vent nozzles in the
plane at first seemed like they were spraying smoke. There were
no beverages served with the meal on the plane so you had to choke
it down & wait until they served drinks later on. The temperature
inside the plane was rather hot 81.7 F (27.6 C) but then Airbus
320 planes have never been known for having very good climate control
systems (humidity wasn't too bad once we got going, which made it
acceptable). Wheels up take off to landing took 3:52 hours in the
air because we were fighting some head winds (normal heading north).
The scheduled time for the flight was 4:20 hours including taxi
time. There was no time zone change from Toronto.
Here are some interesting links for the area:
http://www.debbiesdominicantravel.com/riunaiboa.html
lots of reports from other tourists.
TripAdvisor
user reviews. Lots more user reviews.
http://www.riu.com/?hotel=NAI&lng=uk
RIU Naiboa web site.
http://dr1.com/travel/puntacana
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/dr.html
about Dominican Republic.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35639.htm
about Dominican Republic.
http://www.hispaniola.com/DR/maps/index.html
maps
http://weather.cnn.com/weather/forecast.jsp?locCode=MDPC
weather.
By Doug Hembruff.
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