Greetings from the DR

[susanliber]

We arrived yesterday to the Rui Hotel Palace Macao.

When we arrived at the Albany airport at 4:45 am to check in at the Delta desk. There we were told that our flight was late and we would miss our connection so they put us on another flight.....Northwest from Albany to Detroit, then US air from Detroit to DR. We went over to the Northwest desk....when I asked about the connection time in Detroit - we would need a big one to get our luggage and recheck in - the Northwest agent said that our flight did not leave for the DR until Saturday - the next day :o Back we go to the Delta desk and spoke to another agent. She was also confused about that. (the first agent was on the phone the whole time she was helping us - obviously not paying attention.) The new agent put us on US air flight to Philly, then to DR. We arrived here just an hour later than planned. The flights were fine.

We arrived and connected with our tour operator and we arrived in the resort by 4 pm. By the time we got in the room, unpacked and showered, we were tired and cranky. It was raining all day here yesterday. We got a meal from room service, then went to the casino for a little while and had a few adult beverages.

Today was sunny with occasional clouds. Not that hot though. They are going through a cool spell. For the first time in 40 years it was down to 60 degrees here this week....it was much warmer by the end of the day.

The resort is on the Atlantic side of the island. There is a lot of high surf out beyond the reef. The waves at the beach are rough but you can see farther out that the wave action is much more intense. You can see a ship wreck from the beach. There was a small craft warning today.

The air conditioner does not work very well in our room. It is fine for me but Hubby likes it about 65 degrees. (this is always a contention for us.) So we had maintenance in last night.

We beached it today - hubby had a massage, I made an appointment. I took a walk. We are not near any town....and the way they drive they do not recommend tourists to rent a car. The roads are very narrow and they all drive fast.

Food so far was good. My favorite part of Carribbean vacation is the fresh fruit. The casino is very small.... a few table games and some slot machines.

There is an internet room....but if you have a laptop, wifi in the lobby is free.

If any one wants to check something out let me know and I will try to get the information....makes me wish I had more than high school french and latin.....:p

[susanliber]

Thought I would give a quick update...just listened to a spanish version of "Roll out the Barrel"....figured it was time.

This resort is truly a melting pot. There are tourists from all over. Americans are in the minority here. There are alot of tourists from Russia and Germany and France here. I have also met a lot of Canadians. There are some Americans and last night we met a couple from Old Saybrook CT - just 4 hours from us.

The beach is beautiful. The sand is so fine and soft. The surf is active but not as rough as it was when we first arrived. There is a protective reef. There are no shells on the beach....the reef acts a big filter. There is a lot of beach - although there are lots of people on it, it doesn't feel crowded. It is always breezy at the beach - cooler than at the pool.

The resort is very nice. It is part of a complex of hotels and bungalows. We have all inclusive privileges at some of them but not all. This is a family oriented place....lots of kids here and children's activitiies. The staff that does the activities and recreation all are multilingual. The service staff in the restaurants can understand some English. Other staff - like housekeeping and maintenance - only speak Spanish.

The house vodka is Stoli......many of the liquor brands are top shelf. I have become addicted to Scotch sours - and I don't even like scotch...but the only fruit you get in your drinks is limes...no lemons or oranges at all.

We are doing a half day snorkeling trip on Friday....snorkeling at some place first then going to snorkel and swim with stingrays and nurse sharks...then snacks, beverages and entertainment on the boat.

On Sunday we are doing a sunset snorkeling cruise. Hopefully it won't cloud up at the end of the day.....

We are quite far away from any big town....it is 3 1/2 hours to the capital we were told. There is a tour to there....but I don't want to spend 7 hours on bus.

The food has been good. My husband is quite taken with the pickled mussels. The portions are much smaller than at home but that is not a bad thing.

I guess that covers most everything for now.

[jfrenaye]

Sounds like a fab place! Have fun!

[Gesualdo]

The air conditioner does not work very well in our room. It is fine for me but Hubby likes it about 65 degrees. (this is always a contention for us.) So we had maintenance in last night.

We may be married to the same person!:lol: Before we got married, he would avoid turning on the heater in his apartment until the temperature was in the 30s. When I complained about being cold, he would just grab this huge Elvis blanket from his closet, which for some reason always felt like he had been storing it in the freezer. Big help that was. He's the only person I know who ever froze his A/C in the summer without it having a mechanical problem.

[susanliber]

http://susanliber.winkflash.com

The photos are all posted here now. This is the fastest I have even done my pics...but I go back to work on Wednesday and will have no time then.

The resort was beautiful. The staff were very friendly and helpful. One of my few complaints was with housekeeping. They did not come to do the room at a consistant time. Once it was 8:30 am and another time was 4:30 pm. They were not always thorough either. The cable tv was out for 3-4 days. This did not bother me but my husband missed it. Maintenance never did do any thing about the air conditioning. Maybe they have it set not to go any lower. It was about 72 in our room. I liked it but hubby did not.

The food was wonderful. We tried the Caribe Grill, the Kabuki Japanese restaurant and the Steakhouse Grill. We mostly ate in the buffett restaurant. One of the best things for me when I go in the winter is all the fresh fruits and vegetables.

The activity/entertainment staff were wonderful. I parked myself by the pool bar every afternoon to watch the different games they would do. Of course, they were also entertained as they watched me knit 3 pairs of socks. They were truly multi-lingual, switching from Spanish to English to French to German. Many of them could also do a bit of Russian also.

There were shows nearly every night - dancing kind of shows....Carribean, Mexican, Dominican, Caberet. There was music of some sort every night in one of the main bars. The casino was not much though. They had no rules posted for their table games...odds were not very good. Their slot machines did not work very well either.

The two excursions we did were good. We did the Carribean Festival....half day by catamarin to snorkel with nurse sharks and rays, snorkeling in another area ( it was too crowded though) and then a Dominican Folkloric show on the way home. I drank some mamajuana - local alcoholic concoction that is supposed to be an aphrodesiac. The other excursion was billed a sunset cruise but we were back before sunset. It was snorkeling near where went with the other group and watching where the dolphins are, then swimming in a protected area. It was a nice excursion for half the price of the first one.

I really miss the weather...especially since it has been very cold since we got back. My winter induced excema went away for the trip but is back all ready....guess I am really at home then.

Altogether a very nice trip.

[bodega]

Susan, your timing is perfect. I came over here to see the name of the resort you were staying at. I have a cousin from the Albany area who is looking for a warm weather get away and I was thinking of the DR for them. Were there any nonmotorized water sports available at the resort, such as free snorkling, windsurfing, kyaking?

[susanliber]

Non motorized watersports were included. Snorkel, masks and fins were available at no charge. They also had kayaks - one and two person, sailboats, small catamarans, windsurfing boards, and paddle boats - all free of charge.

Scuba Caribe is the vendor....I think they have a website too. We booked the sunset excursion through them. The Carribbean Festival was through Prieto tours.

We have stayed at other all inclusives before. This one was the best. The liquor was all top shelf. They were using Johnny Walker Red in my Scotch Sours. The frig in the room and the liquor dispenser in the room were refilled daily.

I like the Macao but the newest one was the Riu Palace Punta Cana....a couple of steps up in luxury. They were not part of our all inclusive, but we were part of theirs.....