I'm finally getting around to providing a review of our Punta Cana trip. I'll dump everything into one VERY long post so as not to fill up Dani's thread with a lot of smaller posts.
We flew down on Monday, arriving at the hotel around 5pm, and flew back on Friday, leaving mid afternoon and arriving home at almost midnight. Delta through ATL both ways. We arranged transportation between PUJ and the hotel (both ways) with a company called DAT. They got good reviews in TripAdvisor and delivered as promised. We had Monday dinner and evening events, 3 full days Tuesday thru Thursday, and Friday morning/lunch at the resort. Once we checked in, we didn't leave until we checked out.
As I said earlier, we stayed at Secrets Cap Cana. Cap Cana is a gated area in the southern part of the greater Punta Cana area...about a 15 minute drive from the airport. It's a 5-star resort but I've learned that hotel star ratings are very much relative to where they're located. A 5-star hotel in London is different from a 5-star hotel in Punta Cana. For the most part, it lived up to the 5-star rating but overall, I'd probably give it 4.5 stars. Secrets Cap Cana, like much (all?) of Punta Cana is an all-inclusive hotel. All food, drinks, entertainment, WiFi, water toys, and gratuities were included, although we brought a bunch of ones to tip additionally. Many people gave additional tips but it seemed like most did not. Hard to tell though. There were a few upcharge opportunities with the spa, some off-site excursions, and some beach cabanas, but we didn't take advantage of any of those.
Our room was a Junior Suite Ocean View. Almost all of the rooms were Junior Suites with a similar layout and either a king or two double beds. There were a few larger rooms in the preferred section of the hotel, but nothing smaller. You were essentially paying for the view...tropical, pool, ocean view, ocean front, and swim out. We had a nice view from our 5th floor balcony.
The resort itself and the rooms were 5-star worthy. The rooms were large and well appointed with an area that had a love seat and chair, double vanities in the bath room, two rain shower heads in the shower, and plenty of drawer and hanging storage. The resort grounds were beautiful with lush vegetation. The pool and beach were fantastic, with plenty of comfortable seating and umbrellas/palapas. There was a little bit of sargassum, but they had some sort of net out in the ocean to catch much of it and did a good job every day cleaning up what made it through the net. Never really a problem. They made a big deal at check in that reserving chairs before noon was not allowed and items on chairs would be removed by security. Nope.
We saw many books, hats, and flip flops enjoying the morning son. Still, we never had a problem finding a good place to sit. Either the resort was not at full capacity, or it's well spaced out so that it doesn't feel crowded. Various pictures and videos of the pool and beach:
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Infinity edge pool overlooking the beach and ocean.
The obligatory OB shot.
And the obligatory Miami Vice.
Swin out rooms
The party area, including the swim up bar.
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Service was mostly very good to excellent...I'd give it 5 stars. We were assigned a personal concierge. I think this is true for all rooms. Our concierge, Luis, was friendly and walked us to our room at check in, pointing out several things as we went to help get us oriented. He also helped with a couple of issues that we had and coordinated luggage delivery and pick up. He found us on the resort somewhere every day to see how things were going and if we needed anything. We traded mobile phone numbers so that we could reach him whenever needed. He also greeted us by text every morning and sent us the day's events...sort of their cruise compass. Here's a sample:
Sundial Viernes 23 de febrero INGLES 2024.pdf
Restaurant and bar service was also great. I ordered a Miami Vice from the swim up bar and the bartender said with a straight face that they didn't have a Miami Vice. He was literally standing next to frozen drink machines filled with strawberry daquiri and pina colada. I pointed at the machines and said, "what about those?". He said, "those are for a Dominican Vice" and then flashed a huge smile. Every time that I ordered a Presidente beer, the servers would say, "ah yes...Dominican water". They made some very tasty drinks of the day. Although we had a few issues with food (see below), the restaurant staff handled it perfectly.
There was an entertainment team, like the Cruise Director's staff, that led events like volleyball (pool and beach), water aerobics, dancing, a coconut throwing competition, etc. They'd serve a variety of things throughout the day at the pool...an Aperol Spritz cart, a crepes cart with a lot of fillings to choose from (I had a great banana and chocolate with a sweetened condensed cream topic...yum), and even an old fashioned looking ice cream chest mounted on the front of a bicycle. The chest was filled with popsicles that they'd put in a margherita glass and top with champagne. Also yum.
Beer Kayak. Help yourself.
My only knock on service is probably a cultural thing. Several times, wait staff would yell to each other across the room. For example, we had a waitress at breakfast about 10 feet from us who was talking to another waitress about 30 feet away. They were both talking loudly, and often at the same time, for about 30 seconds. If it was my resort, I would have trained them to walk to each other and have a quiet conversation face to face, away from the customers. I know this is kind of communication is common in Latin and Caribbean cultures so their house, their rules.
Entertainment was just OK. I'd give it 4 stars. They had a lot of live music throughout the day and in the evening. There was a show every night in their theater. The talent level of the musicians sometimes was lacking. It really makes you appreciate the talent of the entertainment on a Royal ship. To be fair, Royal can get talent from all over the world, while the resort seemed to mostly be choosing from the local region. The musicians all gave their best effort though and it was usually entertaining enough to watch, or at least listen to as background music. The first night in the theater was their most popular show, a Queen tribute. The guy playing the role of Freddie Mercury did a good job of imitating his mannerisms but his voice sometimes left something to be desired. Again, it was entertaining enough to watch for an hour while enjoying a cocktail or two. Here's a video with several clips of the Queen show.
Queen.mp4
Food was the biggest disappointment. I'd give it 4 stars, at most. We've only been to one other AI (20 years ago) but from what I've read, it was typical for an AI. The variety was great. There were restaurants specializing in French, Italian, Mexican, Pan-Asian (including hibachi), seafood, and steaks. There was a pool side grill, and a large buffet area (their Windjammer) that served breakfast and lunch. Execution though was often lacking. We had to return food 3 times because it was either undercooked, cold, or both. We had a few meals that were good but none that I'd consider to be great. I've had better meals in Royal's specialty restaurants. I don't think anything was cooked to order. It was served quickly so I think everything was pre-cooked or partially cooked and then just finished before delivering to the table. For perspective, I think we're becoming food snobs and are probably more critical than the average person.
One interesting thing (to me a least) was that they had a crew trimming the palm trees. One guy would climb to the top of the tree, literally with just ropes and a machete, and chop off the lower layer of palm fronds. This kept me entertained for a few minutes.
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The finished product. Seems like they took off a lot of fronds, but the only thing I know about palm trees is that they can be expensive to buy.
Wrapping up...
Overall, it was a great getaway for a few days. I've said here before that we cruise more for port days since we have a pool and live at the beach. I was worried that I might be bored. That wasn't the case at all. We mostly just relaxed and read books, while taking advantage of a few of the entertainment options. I'm not sure if I could handle more than 3 days without getting itchy to do something, but it was a great way to escape the "cold" Florida weather at home (yes...I've become Florida soft when temps in the 40s/50s are cold). Would I go here again? If we were going back to Punta Cana then yes. I'd try a different island like Aruba or St. Thomas/St. John first though.
Sorry, but we sailed in 9638 on Quantum. Can't help with 13190.
