Adventure Boogies
Posted on June 14, 2014 by Ching under Things to Do, Travel.
Brian and I went on this dune buggy adventure. They spell them as boogies in Punta Cana. I thought that was funny because boogies here are dried snot hanging from your nostrils. LOL. Their boogies are the kind you ride.
The excursion was through Wild Tiger.
This photo was taken before we got really dirty. If you go on a similar excursion we recommend wearing sunglasses (though Brian thought goggles would have been better) and bandanas to keep the debris from getting into your eyes and nose.
My handsome dune buggy driver. Too bad you can’t see his face.
This is how you get dirty and why you need a bandana.
Brian tried some freshly rolled tobacco. He said it was delicious. We should have brought more cash so we could have purchased a box of them to bring home.
We also got to drive to Macao Beach. One of the best beaches in the Caribbean.
This was taken right before we left Macao Beach. This is of Brian with our hilariously funny tour guide, Chico, who speaks seven languages: Haitian Creole (he is from Haiti), French, German, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
La Cueva Taina was a bit of a disappointment. I thought it would be a bigger cave. This one was small and there were way too many people trying to get down there to dive.
Chico expertly maneuvered our group down into the cave past the long lines of people.
This is a video I took of Brian diving into the dark abyss.
Dune buggies parked by the cave entrance.
Street vendors set up shop by the cave to entice tourists.
Here’s a group photo we took at the end of the excursion on our way back to our respective resorts. What a fun group of people!
Some tips for when you go:
- Negotiate the price of the excursion. Don’t pay more than $60. I think the web site had the price double that. When you get to your resort, talk to the tours rep. They’ll usually let you know what kinds of deals are available. Brian and I only paid $50 each. Another group we met who came from the Melia Caribe Tropical paid $45 each for the excursion.
- Don’t wear your best clothes because you will get super dirty. At worst you’ll have to throw the clothes away at the end of the adventure. At best you’ll have to hose yourself off before stepping foot in your hotel room. That’s what we had to do. We’re not just being pansies either. You drive over mangoes and the guts splash all over you. It’s also hard to avoid the cow pies. The wheels kick them up and some may land on you. The mud puddles are the least of your worries.
- Wear sunglasses and a bandana. The sunglasses will protect your eyes from dust and debris. The bandana will help you breathe while keeping dirt out of mouth. If you did not pack a bandana you can buy one at the adventure site for $5. They sell some souvenir trinkets and stuff, but I bet it’s the bandanas that they make them the most money. If you’re resourceful like Brian and me, you’ll buy some from the resort gift shop for half that. We got two bandanas for the price of one.
- Bring lots of singles for tipping. You’ll need cash to tip the driver that gets you to and from your resort. You’ll need cash for the tour guide, the tobacco guy, the guy who sells the coffee grounds, the guy with the docile iguana, etc. Just bring lots of cash because you may want to buy stuff from the local shops too. And, if you want to purchase photos and videos, that costs too. The pricing they gave us was $40 for photos, $42 for video, or $60 for both. We didn’t have enough cash but I took enough photos and videos for us.
- Driving the buggy requires a lot of effort. It’s not a smooth ride and these buggies aren’t in the best shape. There’s only one gear that works — drive. We know park didn’t work because the buggy continued to move forward even when you put it in park. We didn’t get to try reverse but I’m sure that probably didn’t work either.. There’s also a lot of play in the steering. Brian said it took a lot of strength and effort to overcompensate for the play in the steering. Brian said he was sore the next day.
- Bring snacks, specially if you are hypoglycemic. Your tour guide will have water on hand and that’s included. However, food was not included for us since it’s technically a half-day excursion. Lunch is typically only provided on full-day trips. If you want more than just water, bring your own snacks.
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Dinner Photos
Posted on June 14, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Here are some photos from our dinners at the resort.
La Brisa
Out of all the restaurants, La Brisa was our favorite. I think it was the only restaurant that we went to with a full bar. The other restaurants offered only regular drinks and wine. The location was perfect. The restaurant had spectacular views and the breeze felt great against your skin.
La Comedie
La Comedie is one of two French restaurants. This one isn’t included in the regular all inclusive package but it’s free to club premium guests. Naturally, we had to give it a try.
Brian was not too fond of this place because he said it smelled very fishy. I couldn’t smell anything because I caught a cold while we were there and I was at the peak of my illness at this point. The creepy puppets didn’t help matters any either.
This is how they served water out of water bottles.
My shrimp cocktail starter was served out of a pineapple cup.
I got the lobster thermidor entree. I’m sure it was very good but I didn’t have much of an appetite that night.
Brian had chicken cordon bleu.
I did eat all of my crepe suzette despite my lack of appetite.
Brian had chocolate ice cream.
Kyoto Teppanyaki
The following night we had dinner at a Japanese hibachi place. Like La Comedie this restaurant is also located on the family side, Barceló Bávaro Palace Deluxe.
This is their version of miso soup. I thought it was good but Brian didn’t like it because it had a lot of crap in it. He’s used to the clear miso soup that they serve at the teppanyaki restaurants here in Wichita.
I didn’t get a picture of my plate but it looks exactly the same as this with shrimp instead of chicken. I ate a lot of shrimp while we were down there.
I had coconut encrusted flan. Brian had some kind of chocolate cake roll/log.
La Dolce Vita
La Dolce Vita is an Italian restaurant at Barceló Bávaro Palace Deluxe. It was Brian’s pick and his least favorite of all the restaurants that we tried.
They gave us bread that reminds me of lavosh.
The minestrone was not very good. It was very watery.
The chicken cacciatore was just okay.
Brian fared worse. His spinach and four cheese ravioli was overcooked.
The only thing good, besides the cheesy flatbread, was the tiramisu.
Chez Gourmet
We ate at Chez Gourmet on our final night at Barceló. This French restaurant is included in the regular all inclusive package and the best part is that it’s located in the adults only side so we didn’t have to take the train over to Palace Deluxe. Even though my lobster wasn’t cooked all the way, I actually liked this place better than La Comedie.
Brian said the place didn’t smell fishy and there were no creepy puppets. I still couldn’t smell so I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or lack of fishy odor, but I was definitely glad there were no creepy puppets watching us eat our meal. Jokes aside, the restaurant was furnished nicely and well-decorated. The ambiance of this restaurant is also more romantic than stuffy.
This is the stuffed squid starter offered to everyone at the restaurant. Brian didn’t touch his. I ate mine. It wasn’t bad.
The seafood soup was watery just like the minestrone from the previous night.
This is the martini shrimp. The fried shrimp outside was yummy. The shrimp ceviche under the martini glass was just okay. Cool presentation, though.
I had the seafood trio of shrimp, crab, and lobster. The shrimp was good but the crab was overcooked and the lobster was not done all the way.
Brian had the chateaubriand. He said it was just okay.
I had the crepe suzette again for dessert.
I don’t get to eat crepes very often so I took advantage of it while we were at Barceló. I ate crepes everyday. If not at dinner, at breakfast. I didn’t know there was a crepe station at Caribe Buffet until our second or third day at the resort but after I found out, I got it every time.
As far as resort dining goes, La Brisa and Caribe are your best bets. They’re on the adults only side so you don’t have to ride the train to Palace Deluxe. Lots of options at Caribe (and guys can wear shorts because there’s no dress code) and they have a full bar at La Brisa so you can enjoy cocktails with your meal.
Seafood was abundant at the resort and you have lot of choices. I took full advantage and ate a lot of seafood, specially shrimp. Brian is not a seafood lover so he ate a lot of pasta. LOL. I hope you enjoyed all the food photos and you found the comments helpful. Until next time.
XOXO,
Ching
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Caribe Buffet
Posted on June 11, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Brian and I ate at the Caribe Buffet on our first night at the resort. The buffet is nice because you can wear pretty much anything you like. Actually, that’s true for women anywhere you go. However, guys are required to wear pants at the restaurants except for the buffet. They don’t care if you wear shorts at the buffet. As long as you’re not in your swimsuit and have shoes on, they pretty much don’t care.
They always have various fresh fruits.
There are several food stations.
This is the create-your-own-pasta section. It’s was Brian’s favorite station.
This is the crepe station.
They always have all sorts of fish dishes. That first night I was surprised to see these two whole fish, complete with the head and everything.
This is one of the dessert stations.
There are always so many choices.
There’s so much food. If you go hungry, it’s your fault.
This is the view from the restaurant. It’s pretty nice, but there’s actually an even better one. I will show you guys next time.
My strategy at the buffet was to try a little bit of everything first and then once I figured out what I liked that’s all I got for the most part. Brian really liked the pasta and the pizza. I leaned more towards rice, beans, shrimp, and pork.
The buffet has some slightly different options at breakfast and lunch than at dinner. During breakfast there is a mimosa station and a smoothie station. The mimosa station is self-explanatory. They have bottles of wine and orange juice. You make your own mimosa. The smoothie station is really cool. They have a wide selection of fruits and you just tell them which ones you want in your smoothie. It’s really cool.
They also have an omelet station where you can create your own omelet. What I like best about their omelet station is that they don’t assume that you want cheese so they don’t put cheese in your omelet unless specifically requested so I never have to say “no cheese” every time. LOL.
The breakfast buffet is actually much better than getting room service. Even though room service was included for us and, despite the convenience, the wide array of food options makes it worth going to the buffet for breakfast. The room service menu is quite limited. Plus, I don’t think you can get smoothies via room service (but I don’t know for sure since I didn’t try).
The Caribe is a really good option for casual dining. If you don’t really care about trying the restaurants, just plan on eating at Caribe buffet every time and you don’t even have to pack any pants.
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Club Premium Perks at Barcelo
Posted on June 11, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Since Brian and I figured we would probably pay for internet anyway, we went ahead and paid extra for the club premium perks. Club premium guests get the best rooms at the resort. I think we got the best room at the resort without upgrading to a suite because it’s ocean front and it’s on the most quiet, peaceful side of the property. And, we have easy access to outdoor showers.
The one thing that I didn’t care too much for is having to wear wristbands. I guess that’s the thing here in DR. We didn’t have to wear wristbands when we stayed at Couples. Here, I’ve yet to see anyone without some sort of wristband. Even the folks we met who were staying at other resorts had wristbands on. I guess that’s how they identify you and what perks you get. You wear it everyday, every where you go.
Anyway, if you’re going to have to wear a wristband, you might as well wear a cool, wooden one that says “CLUB premium” on it instead of a cheesy plastic one. LOL.
You also get robes and house shoes. I kept trying to wear mine outside the room because I’d forget to switch my shoes out.
Room service isn’t included in the regular all-inclusive package. You can get room service, but it costs. For club premium guests, it’s free. Brian and I took advantage of this perk on our first couple of days. They give you so much food that they’re practically bringing the breakfast buffet to you.
This is just regular breakfast and they gave us a ton of food. The food could barely fit on our patio table. Seriously.
The next day we asked for the Desayuno Romantico (Romantic Breakfast) with champagne so we could make some mimosas. It was an enormous breakfast. It required two tables. No wonder you have to schedule it a day in advance.
Some of the perks on the list were stretching it (they’re not really that much of a perk), but room service was a real perk. We really enjoyed being able to have breakfast on our private patio.
Other perks we found valuable were access to the hydrotherapy section of spa, access to the club premium lounge, priority dinner reservations, the free bottle of Rob Barcelo imperial rum, etc. One perk that we didn’t really take advantage of and weren’t really interested in is the access to the VIP section of the disco. Their disco club doesn’t open until 11 pm and we’re usually in bed by then.
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Our Home Away From Home
Posted on June 10, 2014 by Ching under Travel.
This is where are resting our heads this week.
Not much privacy but you can’t beat the location. We are on the far West end of the resort, where it’s quieter and there’s not as much traffic.
We have our very own lounge chairs and we’re just a few steps from the beach.
La Piña is right by our room. This is a bar but it’s not like the other bars. They only serve fresh pineapple and fresh coconut drinks and only on specific days. It closes at 5 pm so the noise factor isn’t an issue. And they actually shut down early when they’re out of stuff. The thing to remember is that the pineapple and coconut drinks aren’t included in the all-inclusive package. The pineapple and coconut drinks are actually $1 for the non-alcoholic version or $2 with booze so, if you venture out this way looking for one of the fancy drinks, don’t forget to bring cash.
There are a couple of outdoor showers right outside our room. It’s actually come in handy several times. We’ve made good use of them.
The sidewalk spans the length of both Barcelo properties: Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe (the main complex and family area) and Barcelo Bavaro Beach (the adults only side).
Here are a few more pictures of the resort.
This is the beach that is directly in front of the Barcelo Bavaro Beach pool area.
Orange towels represent the adults only side. The Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe guests get yellow beach towels. We’re allowed to play on their side but they’re not allowed on our side. Thank heavens for that!
There are a lot of people staying here but the beach never feels crowded.
The beach on our side never feels crowded anyway. It’s a different story on Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe side. There are people everywhere. You can’t escape them.
You don’t have a choice but to go over there though, because that’s where you get equipment like kayaks, pedal boats, etc. for water sports.
The pool was really crowded on Sunday, but nothing compared to the family side. They have a much bigger pool and it’s always crowded. At least on our side we’ve only seen it super packed one day. On the Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe side it’s packed everyday.
There are several lobby areas so be specific when meeting someone.
No worries if you are not so fond of taking long walks or if you get lost because there are trains that make several stops throughout the Barcelo complex. There’s one every 15 minutes (sometimes sooner, and sometimes more than one). The trains run until 4 am, we’re told. We’ve not tested it though.
Anyway, it’s getting late and almost time for bed. I will write more about our vacation next time. Check back soon.
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