From Chicago to Punta Cana

Our trip began on July 25th with a 4 hour drive to Chicago.  We had a reservation at the Holiday Inn Select Rosemont.  This hotel was very easy to find, within a couple of miles from O’Hare and has a Harry Carey’s attached to it!  We caught the 4:15am shuttle the next morning for a 6am departure.  The lines were long at USA3000 but took only 25 minutes to get checked in. 

Upon arrival in Punta Cana we had to purchase a $10 per person tourist card.  This is not included in the packages. 

The transportation to the RIU Palace was on a large air conditioned bus with an Apple rep talking and giving some quick Spanish lessons.  The ride was about 40 minutes on some very bumpy and windy roads.  They are working on the roadways and should have the new highway completed in 2008 we were told.

The resort just opened April 28th and is definitely the most luxurious hotel in the area.  The check-in process was very different than I’ve ever experienced and it didn’t look like the other guests were very pleased.  We were told to take a seat in the lobby bar area and not go to the hotel check-in desk.  Being the rule abiders that we are we followed the other guests and had a seat.  Two of the hotel employees proceeded to give information regarding the resort and then finally gave us our room key, safe key and towel cards.

All rooms are junior suites and decorated very nicely.  We were on the 3rd floor in the main building and quite far from the pool and beach.  The restaurants are all in the same general area and easy to find.  The pool was large with a swim up bar and daytime activities.  There were always plenty of lounge chairs available without having to put towels out at 6am!  The beach chairs were very popular and there was a good amount of shade from trees for those who don’t want the sunshine.

The RIU properties are all in a row, which makes it easy to walk between them.  The RIU Bambu and Taino are more of a moderate resort where as the Palace definitely deserves the 6 apple rating.

We ventured down the beach about 30 minutes and found a unique shopping area.  Tent type shops with all of the island souvenirs available to purchase.  This is a good place to barter but we weren’t always so good at that!

We caught a couple of the evening shows at the resort.  Very entertaining.  The food was very good.  There is not a lot of English spoken here.  They really are impressed if you speak Spanish or at least try.  We learned a few necessary words quickly and received extra good service from the bartenders especially!  We didn’t see much tipping going on but we made sure that these people who work so hard got compensated for it.

Punta Cana is extremely poor and needs the tourists to continue to better their economy.  They are very grateful to the travelers and extremely friendly people.  We would recommend travel to the area, but not at one of the less rated resorts.  We talked with people at the airport upon our return that were at the Allegro and were very, very dissatisfied.

Saturday was a long day since our flight didn’t depart until 1030pm.  The airport is expanding and has a nice duty free shop and restaurants.  We arrived back into Chicago at 230am, grabbed the shuttle back to the Holiday Inn, slept a few hours and back on the road to Wausau.

In conclusion, the trip was great and will surely recommend the RIU Palace Punta Cana.