We're trying to go to the Domincan for Christmas/New Years.

We want to fly to an all-inclusive in Punta Cana (or if you know somehwere better... please spill!) and don't want to have our pants pulled down over the price.

If you've been, or are also planning on going, please share your experiences.

And what's the deal with the visa requirements for USC and RFC(w/greencard)??? I know there's the Delta site, but I don't have experience (and am too tired to look right now) so if you could post a link for my lazy @$$, that would be awesome.

Thanks in advance for replies. (And if anyone would like to donate..... PM for PayPal info.)

Pop on over to our website and my members can give you all the info you need. We have a travel section and many of our people are very familiar with PUJ and can help you not to get ripped off. I have to warn you though, Christmas is going to be expensive, but you probably know that already. You should probably buy your tickets now if you can as they will only go up in price.

I was there for a short while quite a while back and it was sorta ok. My daughter and her husband went in the last year and were a little disappointed. I don't think they will be going back.

You both can go there with no visa requirements. The other options with no visa requirements are Jamaica, Grendada (where i am now) Barbados, (where I will be for 3 weeks starting Sunday) Costa Rica, of course some of the us places like St Thomas, St John or P.R.

Another option you might consider is I know of a small group of men with Russian wives doing a cruise to several islands starting Dec 28th. We would be on it if we had not gotten so tied up with the A/R but now I know the paperwork will not be far enough along.

I think if it were me I would also consider Barbados and Costa Rica as you decide. Visa's would not be a problem with each and you may find them more enjoyable.

Check out apple vacations
Anna and I were married there.
Whoever U book with - make sure you tell them it's a honeymoon!

I lived in the US Virgin Islands( St. Croix) half of my life. A great place to vacation. St. Croix is the largest, and the most laid back. St. Thomas is a tourist zoo but it is right next to the beautiful island of St. John, plus the BVI's (British Virgin Isands) are very close by. Check out Virgin Gorda. If your there for New Years go to Yost Van Dyke. From what my friends have told me DR is not much fun, more or less a dump and it is not wise to leave the resort properties.

He said he was looking for a place where they both could go. I am not sure, but I don't think she can enter the US Virgin islands without a US visa.


Contrary to what some people here are saying I think you will find the DR to be a nice place and VERY easy on your pocketbook. If you stop by the site, we can suggest alternatives to Punta Cana also. There are some great resorts on the North Coast. You may also want to check out Las Terrenas, which has a very large contingent of European tourists.

I believe she has her greencard which would open the US Virgin Islands for her. I have little experience there other than a few days in St Thomas a few years ago. Sitting here in Grenada which is one of the options they would have I would be hard pressed to recommend it as a choice. I think it depends a little on what is important to them. I think if they are looking primarily for a nice beach D.R. is excellent.

USVI is definitely fine with a GC (or without for that matter). The Virgin Islands have been part of the US since 1917, are US Citizens, and have a congressman in DC.

Mexico is another possibility. Plenty of bargains to be had - a friend of mine just got back yesterday.

And Florida has some great (and cheap) spots too. I know everyone thinks of Disney World, but south of Naples, Florida is not much different from the carribean. No people, clear water, same climate. Hiring a boat and going to the 10,000 islands, dry tortugas, and the keys is lots of fun. Very cheap as well (since you aren't paying for hotels or food). Key West and Marathon are really the only civilization down there.

Yep, you're right. Didn't see the reference to the green card. My bad. If he still wants to investigate the DR I'm sure we could help him out.

Cozmel Mexico would be a good choice. Also one of the coolest places I have been, Roatan, Honduras is just wonderful.

-Tim

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Special thanks for the website, twincactus.


Here's the deal:

I want somewhere with a nice room (with A/C and cable.... maybe even a hot tub/jacuzzi) and free all-you-can-eat food and all-you-can-drink alcoholic beverages with little umbrellas in them. I'd also like to be on a beach (don't even care about the quality as I'm a pasty white guy and don't really enjoy sitting in the sun unless I have my SPF 1000 on, and even then I'm in the shade) and to go fishing, snorkelling/scuba, hiking, maybe for an ATV ride through the hills, and the rest of the vacation, just chillin out in the shade sippin some of those free drinks. (Oh, and I almost forgot... maybe a little night-life.)

She would like a nice suite (big bed, hot tub, fireplace, mini-bar (actually, I'd like a mini-bar too!) big bath/shower, etc.) with a balcony that overlooks clear blue water and white sand. There has to be a spa that will do facials, manicures, pedicures, massage, aroma-therapy... the works. A lounge chair (just one.... I won't be out there!) on the beach with a personal servant. Horseback riding, tango/ballroom/salsa dancing, very nice restaurants, maybe some cultural history or local shows, etc.

I'm thinking Motel-6 near the water, she's thinking Waldorf-Astoria of Punta Cana. So, the best compromise is the cheapest all-inclusive we can find. In reality we're going to be hard-pressed (financially) to make Punta Cana happen, so we may end up in Cancun or Cozumel, or maybe even somewhere south of Naples. Christmas time is the only time I could maximize my vacation usage (5 or 6 days used vacation time with about 16 days off from work!) and the end of the year is how long we're going to have to save until in order to be able to afford this trip. Bottom line, I'd like to spend about $2,000 on just the package (airfare, shuttle, accomodations, food/beverages, recreation) and not have to spend much on anything else. I've yet to see that at PUJ except for last-minute trips. It's usually more like $2,555/person for a week. Last minutes can be had from here (CVG) for under $700.

If you guys see some specials or something, let us know. Thanks in advance.

Christmas and New Years are not a time you can get any last minute special deals. You mention it will take you till then to be able to save the money. I think if you went 6 weeks earlier you could do it at half the price that you could going then. Just a thought.

A lot of what you want is available at most resort properties so that part should not be hard. Maybe a few parts might be a little tougher but not impossible.

I wouldn't even look at Naples or south towards the keys for that time of year. Everyone and their brother is there for Christmas, and it ain't cheap. For what you describe, you won't find anything under $500/night+. The Ritz, the Registry, and the Naples Beach Club are really the only places that fit your description anyway. Similar service in the keys is just as pricey. There is no real nightlife in Naples.

South Beach in Miami may be a good choice. There are a million hotels, and you can end up on the water for less than $100/night if you are careful -- even during christmas. I've stayed there for New Years before. There isn't much family appeal, so prices don't seem to go up much. Obviously the nightlife is good. The fishing is not. There are a bunch of airports to choose from, flights should be cheap.

You may find some deals in Venuzuela, but the flight will be more expensive.

I have never stayed at an all-inclusive resort, but I like to eat at different places. I would get sick of the same food every day. Even in DR/Jamiaca, I don't think you will find any in-season for less than 800pp/ per week.

Doing a cruise along with a week in Florida/Mexico may work better with your budget. The cruise part has the all-inclusive food/some level of service, and then add on a week at your motel 6 on the beach. You end up paying through the nose for drinks on a cruise, so be sneaky about smuggling booze on the ship (my friends fill water bottles with vodka). Miami is usually the cheapest place to leave from. You can do about $60/pp per day if you are careful. I would probably do this: $300 each for the cruise (Mexico, Miami, Key West), then 7 days on South Beach ($700 for a hotel better than Motel 6, within a block of the ocean). $200 each for flights. With no car, that is about $1,700 total for 11 days or so. $70/day for food and drinks only puts you about 20% over budget.

Thailand is a bargain, though the flight there will be the major expense.

Will take that into consideration. However, the vacation time/missed work aspect probably puts the savings on the vacation right back to where the total price would be around Christmas time.



I wouldn't mind going to Miami, but we're trying to go "international" this time. (We'll see what the pocketbook allows... may just be a domestic trip, afterall!)



We're going to look all around the Caribbean and Central/South America. I know there are deals out there. I've heard nothing but good things about many places there, it's the airfare that's going to kill us. $20/night beachfront in Honduras is awesome, but a $3,000 airfare kills that.



A great option, and probably our best bet, moneywise. Thanks for the scenarios, Russ.



Thailand would be awesome, and perhaps someday we'll get there. However, I don't think the major expense would be airfare... it would be the "rent" for sitting in the doghouse the whole trip. The "night-life" in Thailand is remarkable, but for some reason, I don't think the wife and I would see eye-to-eye on it. Thus, the doghouse for me.

"Visa not required for a max. stay of 30 days, provided holding
Tourist Card (issued on arrival). No photos required.
Fee: USD 10.-"
http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations...rt_information/

Slim,
As for budget vacations with all the things you want you are probably best off doing an all inclusive resort in Cancun / Rivera Maya in the off peak season between September and November. If you are lucky you might pull it off for about $500-$1000 per person all inclusive with airfare / hotel / food / and drinks. Stay at the resort to save money. All those excursions make the trip cost add up fast. If you do a cruise you'll lose out on the deal by all the money you'll spend off the ship and at the bar on the ship.
As for a good room, the closer you are off peak season the better chance you are off getting a good suite upgrade for little money.

Cancun and the Mexican River are supposed to be very nice. My limit is a few hours on a cruise stop in Cancun. Personally I think you are going to have to make some sacrifices to what you want to do or what you want to spend or when you want to spend it.

As far as locations, the things you talked about in activities would be a little more difficult in some locations. We are in Barbados now. we just arrived yesterday. In Grenada where we were you had a choice of swimming or swiming or swimming. if you wanted to get creative you could tour a rum plantation or a few small things but there was not much to do. In Barbados it is the opposite. You could spend weeks finding new things to do like renting an ATV, or a moped, or a mountain bike or a moke which is a cool 4wd vehicle. You could take a two hour submarine ride to 110 feet or use one of the self propelled underwater things like in the james bond movies, go on a glass bottom boat, or a day trip on a catamarain, ride horses, go to any of 6 golf courses, minauture golf, tennis, para sailing, water skiing, scuba diving etc. I am not even scratching the surface. I think in the Domican Republic you will find it much like Grenada, Nice beaches, a few nice restaurants, a casino, clear water, good swimming, great for suntans but not much like you said you were looking for.

I think you should look at the Mexican Rivera (you may need a visa for her) Barbados, or Miami. the Bahamas might have the activities you look for but again a visa is needed for her.

I think from Christmas to the End of Feb is going to be expensive. Finding a better time might let you get more value for your money.

If there's a casino there.... I better not go! No matter how much the vacation costs, if there's a casino, it's going to cost DOUBLE DOWN!!! (I love gambling!.... but I'm not so lucky (good?) at it. Actually, I'm really good for the first hour or so. It's the other 9 hours that kill me. I know, I know, you're supposed to take the money and run. The longer you spend in the casino, the odds shift back in the house's favor.... I just can't help it. I have too much fun, and I keep telling myself "a 300% return is not enough. YOU NEED MORE!!!!" Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. But, that's why I have a wife now. She's good at telling me "Hey! That's enough. You've more than doubled up... let's go!" There's one thing that's more important than money!!!)

Thanks for the info Turboguy. I will take that into consideration and we'll probably be looking long and hard all over the Caribbean and Central America in the next few months.




The value for me is going to be getting the most time off from work with the least amount of used vacation days, and Christmas is best for that. Even if I would save an extra $1000+ on the package, having another week of vacation days saved up will enable us to take another (albeit, a smaller) vacation (while still getting paid) and will save us money again in the future.

Slim, if you do come to St. Croix let me know as Ksenia and I live here and would love to do lunch or somthing. It's an OK place.... for a week or two

Thanks for the invite!

Hey if you come to West Michigan we can have lunch too. I wouldnt come at Christmas time its pretty cold here. Summer is nice we can visit the lake.

I spent a summer there once... Well, almost all summer - I got so bored and it was so cold there that I ran away to Chicago and was very happy about it ever since. No offense, Thomas, maybe I was in the wrong part of the state...

Whaaaaat? Chicago isn't exactly the warmest place on earth.

Thanks for the invite, Thomas. Next time HotWire or Orbitz offerst the faresaver deals to West Michigan, I'll check it out. They run the specials about as often as the "Cruise the Ohio river in scenic Cincinnati" deals. So, who knows, maybe in about 4 years we'll be up there.

For some reason that summer was muuuuch hotter in Chicago. I really don't know why.

Maybe because that's when you met your hubby?


(Or it could be because Chicago is actually one of the hottest metropolitan places in the U.S. during the summer. Not many people realize it, but Chicago usually has one of the first heat-related deaths nationwide, then one of the highest averages of heat-related deaths per-capita. There are a lot of poor and/or old people in the Windy City that don't realize just how hot it gets until it's too late.)

Chicago is pretty hot in the summer. Boston gets pretty warm too (where I'm from). Everything here in FL is air conditioned - not true up north. OH, IL, MO, etc all get pretty warm in the summer.

Funny thing is my wife loves the heat, being from Siberia with a 1 week summer she likes it very much to the point of not letting me turn on the air when it gets bad outside. I have been to Chicago, cant seem to find the sun cuz of all the buildings and I have yet to get blown away walking around downtown GR.

The Midwest is probably one of the worst places for heat because it's "sneaky heat." The temperature can be only about 80F but with the humidity and lack of wind, it's more like 110F. In drier air, sweat is able to evaporate and cool the body better. Somewhere like Las Vegas, with it's daily temps above 110F isn't actually as "hot" because of the dryness.

You guys from Florida to East Texas probably have it the worst because you have humidity and very high heat.... DAILY!!!

Slim,

I might be able to help you get a Caribbean vacation on the cheap, send me a PM if you haven't already made arrangements.

Groov, Now I find out you have connections down this way. Story of my life. Day late and a dollar short. Then time starts flying and inflation sets in.

TG, even with a 50% discount it probably wouldn't make financial sense to stay at a Superclubs resort for more than a few weeks

My wife and I are hoping to hit Grand Lido Negril in October. If you guys plan to head back or would like to visit a resort hit me up.

Thanks, groovlstk!

The superclubs might be great for Slim, and I agree, with us spending months here rather than days it is not right for us. We are quite happy anyway with our cardboard box and newpapers on the park bench. Well within our budget and we don't have to worry about freezing here.

Actually the summer seems like it has flown. Three more weeks and it is back home to the old grind.

Actually it is a lot easier to find a place down here for $ 1000 a night than it is for the $ 55.00 in Barbados and $ 70.00 in Grenada we are paying.

$1000/night is a little out (WAAAAAAY, WAY, OUT!) of our budget. We're looking more like $100/night.

There's no way I could afford a summer at $55/night either, that's amazing!

(I like the new avatar, TG!)

Well, I am sure I know which direction my savings are going in my account for this summer. Actually $ 55.00 in Barbados and $ 70 in Grenada. Food down here is expensive too and the money differnce gives you shell shock. In Grenada I said we should pick up some paper towels or napkins. She said "What we need those for". When I saw the price tag of $ 17.95 for a pack of napkins I was glad she did not want them. That was about $ 7.00 in real money.

Had a neat day today though. Took a submarine ride to 127 feet down and past an old wreck. Neat experenice.

Thanks for the comment about the avatar. That is one of our photos from here.

It doesn't seem like real money until you convert it, does it? When you're spending all those "funny colored papers" it seems like Monopoly money or something. Doesn't really hurt until the Greenbacks are calculated.



Awesome!

Well the sticker shock gets to you a bit. We have eaten most of our meals at home. Whey you pick up a small whole chicken in the supermarket and look at the price and it says $ 25.00 even though that is only $ 12.50 in real money it does make you pause for a second. A little lean cuisine personal pizza is $ 10.00 The last meal we ate out a 6 oz burger and fries were $ 20.00. in a very ordinary restaurant.

When you go to the grocery store and have two little plastic bags of groceries and the tab went over $ 100.00 it does make you think.

I would think about going somewhere else!

How can the locals afford to eat? (If you don't see where I'm going with this.... where/what do they eat? Maybe you could eat the same things or at the same places.)

Our grocery shopping has been in the supermarkets the locals visit. We have even looked for the cheapest markets to shop in but they are mostly about the same. We avoid the "convenience store" type places.

During our first 6 weeks here we only ate in a restaurant one time and that was in a food court at the mall. In the last few days we did hit one restaurant for a Lobster dinner for her surf and turf for me and the burger joint I talked about so we are now up to 3 restaurant meals. I don't really care and am not complaining just trying to give some insight into life here.

We also have not done much high speed tourist stuff but we are going out today and riding jet skis

Sounds like you guys are having fun. That's really cool! You're lucky to be somewhere that you can enjoy each other's company... that's priceless. (Although I'm sure when you convert it to "real money" it's going to be quite pricey! - maybe better to not convert it!)

It's amazing to me the food is so expensive. I would probably drop under two bills if I moved there. (Elena might make me move now!)

We got curious how much people made who live both here in Barbados and in Granada since the food and housing is so high. We did a little internet search and found the per capita income in Barbados is $ 7,000 and in Grenada $ 2700.00 We then found a forum for the students who came from America to study here with three pages of discussion where they are trying to figure out how the natives afford the grocery prices here.

Sure, eat what they eat. I am not sure which grossed me out the worst in the supermarket. The package with about 50 chicken feet (tallons might be the right word) all lined up in a row in the package or the package of beef toungues.

They buy a lot of their stuff at the outdoor market on Saturday morning and it is a wonder they are not all in the hospital by sunday night.

LOL

Reminds me of the open air meat market in Khabarovsk...



Check out the butcher with the broad axe.

They buy a lot of their stuff at the outdoor market on Saturday morning and it is a wonder they are not all in the hospital by sunday night.

I've seen such markets in every Russian city I've been to. They are open every day.

If you spend any time on a farm or at a butcher shop in the states, you would see worse

Just imagine how all that tasty salami in Russia is made...

Sounds a lot like Korea..... and Russia, and just about every other country in the world. The only reason stuff in the U.S. looks cleaner is because it "looks" cleaner. It's still a cut-up dead animal, it's just packaged. (and refrigerated!)

I don't know about eating chicken talons or beef tongues daily, but you could probably find something at the markets that is edible and significantly cheaper than what you're eating now.


Edited: Where's the seafood???? (All that rice and you can't throw a piece of fish in there without breaking the bank?)

Seafood is regional - transportation is not really Russia's best service (as you know, we don't have roads there - just destinations) so fresh SEAfood stays by the SEA shores, like Vladivostok or the Caucasus. Fish and other fresh water creatures can be bought at such open markets the same way as meat, but it will be the catch of the day of some guy who wants to make a couple of rubles. There are alternatives though:
- the catch of the day of the fish farm (alive, of course, the gutting is part of the fun)
- or the catch of the day of the super pricey supermarkets and you can get anything you want, alive or gutted, shelled or soft, you name it, but the price...
This is the situation with my home-town at least.

Well, this post would be more relevant in the food thread, wouldn't it?

I don't know. All I know is I'm hungry!

For what it's worth ...

We went to the Domincan Republic and stayed at an all-inclusive resort. We stayed at the Coral by Hiton and we had a wonderful time. The meals were included in the price, rooms were air conditioned, right on the beach, included bar drinks, jacuzzi, balcony looking over the ocean. It was just great. We only needed our passports (mine US, hers Russian) and do the money conversion in the airport. It was the only place that was regulated.

The official name (if you want to do a search for it) is Hamaca Coral by Hilton, Boca Chica ... it is about 45 minutes from Santo Domingo. The average nightly rate is about $110 if you book direct. If you want my travel agent's name, you can PM me and I'll give it to you. She is Russian and she claimed to know what Russians expect when on a vacation ... she was right.

Take care,
Dwayne and Natalia