The Hotel
Arriving at the hotel feels like arriving to paradise. Words cannot describe how beautiful everything was... but hopefully my pictures will bring a little sunshine to our winter ˆ.ˆ
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| The hotel lobby |
The room and bed were huge. We even had a Jaccuzzi in the bathroom which we tried out but decided it's nothing for hot summers. If one upgrades to "Preferred Club Membership", the Jaccuzzi is outside on the balcony - but who would wanna have their neighbours peeking inside?
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| Hotel room |
Anyway, we had a great view into the palm garden and even a little ocean sight - not much though but we walked to the beach every day anyway... There were 5 pools, 2 of them for the Preferred Club members. Water is just so relaxing when nobody else is there... I'm not sure why everyone went to the crowded pool but lucky for us - we almost had our own private pool.
And even at night it's perfect... the bars and hallways outside as well as the pools and beaches.
The Food
There were 4 à-la-carte restaurants, offering Italian, French, Japanese and American cuisine. They were all crowded every single day. Of course that's not really a surprise for an all-inclusive hotel. Where else would you go?
I like the effort, the guests have to pay by dressing up for dinner. Having a dresscode really keeps the luxarious locations together.
But still I must say, I was a bit disappointed in the Japanese and Italian restaurants. The Japanese restaurant was all about the show of the Teriyaki chefs with knives and fire. I had fried icecream flambé which gave me a great picture but it tasted horrible...
On the other hand, the American restaurant just offered the best steaks and burgers. I'm still melting thinking about them...
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| Dinner |
Anyway, I'm a big fan of breakfast in this hotel... They have the biggest variety of dishes during breakfast, starting with all kinds of delicious fruits which are all sweeter than back in Germany (obviously), then all kinds of bread and pastries, bacon, cheese, fresh omelette and waffles but also various original Dominican dishes and drinks like Mangú (mashed plantains) and batida (fruity milkshakes). My boyfriend told me an anecdote of the word Mangú - it derives from the English sentence "Man, this is good" ˆ.ˆ
The Negative Part
I thinks the only sad part is, there was no Dominican restaurant... They should open one as well. I think, the further away the origin of the restaurant, the worse the food. In that sense, it must be easier to find a Domincan chef compared to a French chef.
Anyway, at least the snacks could be Dominican - there are such great hamburgers on the streets of Santo Domingo - but they give away crappy sandwiches and sausages during nighttime.
It's sad because there's no self-confidence - as if their own food was not good enough for the hotel guests. By few employees, we were not treated like real guests because my boyfriend comes from the Dominican Republic and somehow they were offended to serve their own kind - and I don't mean that in a good way... I wanted to complain about a waitress because she kept ignoring us and even admitted she was mad at us for whatever reason but my boyfriend was to concerned about our safety that I promised I wouldn't until we were back here. I'm normally really patient because I know the other side - I grew up in a hotel and I hate that business... but I would have never been that disrespectful. Besides, I think it's some kind of self-racism - it's the worst form of racism. For the same reason, only Dominicans are bothered at costoms at the airport. Of course Europeans also don't really understand corruption. I wouldn't even know how to get out of tricky situations...
The Positive Part
I would like to finish this post positively. Look at the beach: It always looks different depending on the time. Isn't it gorgeous? No wonder, we saw two weddings at the beach (at the white flowy thing). It's so wonderful, right into honeymoon... I could imagine getting married just like that as well ˆ.ˆ without the bunch of people that I don't wanna see and without the big planning for food and location. Well, who knows? I can't help it - I'm changing my mind about the perfect wedding all the time!
I felt really relaxed after spending only 3 nights in that hotel. Besides some minor inconveniences, we were treated like emperors and we felt like in paradise... The sun, beach and the location made it a perfect short trip! Anyway, two weeks all-inclusive would have been too much and too boring for the two of us... but for the short amount of time, it was perfect!
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| Bavaro Beach |
