Emotions by Hodelpa Resort All Inclusive Shore Excursion Review

[ALTravelGal]

My husband and I booked this shore excursion through Royal Caribbean. I believe NCL also offers this excursion.

 

The resort is owned by Choice Hotels. Paro Dee Jay has a video of their experience on YouTube.

 

We will book this excursion again.

 

The Dominican Republic is a beautiful place. Lush green mountains. Nice 25 minute drive in comfortable modern motor coach from Puerto Plata to resort. The resort is medium sized. There is access to a lovely stretch of clean public beach. There are also two pools, three bars, a beach eatery-mostly snacks (hot dogs, burgers, ect), a buffet restaurant heavily featuring Dominican cuisine, and a sweet shop with coffee/deserts/ice cream-all included. Towels are also provided beach and poolside. The resort was immaculate, venues clean. Beautiful landscaping.

The beach portion has lounge chairs, restroom, and the prior mentioned bar/eatery. All reserved for resort guests. There was a security guard keeping an eye on things. BUT, you will be visited by vendors. (Simply say "No gracias" or "No thank you") The guard appeared to have some sway over the number of vendor visits to each beach goer. AND, we did not leave anything at our chair, that might walk off; while we were swimming in the warm crystal blue water.

There is spotty drink service provided to the loungers on the beach. But, you can also walk up to the beach bar-same for poolside. Dominican Beer, and rum is included. If you order at the bar, and ask for one of the many tempting frozen concoctions (merrily whirling away), don't forget to ask them to add rum. (Unless you want a virgin passionfruit mojito, or whatever) Drinks are served in small glasses-beer included.

 

There are ample loungers around the large main pool. The buffet is very nice. The seating is open air, but the food stations are inside, behind automated doors. My husband and I choose the more unusual selections. The food was good. Flavors we were not familiar with. We also tried coffee and pastries from the sweet shop. Also good.

 

There was a spa, cigar shop, and souvenir shop...extra of course. The employees were very pleasant and provided great service.

The service returning to port was uneventful. Same travel time and motor coach. I wish the "guide" was a tad less animated. We think this excursion was an excellent value for the $90.00 USD we paid per person.