Greetings from Punta Cana

Sunshine, beach, and resort

Highlights:

My family and I spent a week enjoying Punta Cana’s endless summer. The weather was absolutely perfect, especially considering we managed to escape the polar vortex just in time. I spent mornings catching the sunrise, walking along the white sand beach, and meditating to the quietness of an early morning. I spent a lot of time by the beach reading, napping, and swimming. A favorite pastime was to swim near the shoreline watching various types of fish glide by underneath. It was wonderful spending family time together relaxing in and exploring this island paradise.

Travel Tips:

We stayed at Barceló Bávaro Palace, which is an all-inclusive resort by Bávaro Beach.  It is part of the Barceló Bávaro Grand Resort, which also includes an adults only resort. We managed to find an extremely good deal for the eight days and seven nights we were there via BookIt for under $1,500 per person including flights.

I had not used BookIt before, and eagerly booked mistaking the site for Booking, which is one of my favorite places to reserve accommodations online. When I realized the oversight, I immediately started looking up reviews. A lot of the feedback was, to my dismay, negative. However, when I called the agency to confirm details regarding our trip, I was reassured by their responsiveness and execution. Many of the reviews mentioned flight delays, and changes to itinerary which BookIt was unable to accommodate for. Fortunately, our flights and connections were all on time, and checkin was seamless. In general, if you book an all-inclusive trip, be sure to read the instructions regarding shuttle vouchers to the resort. In our case, we made sure to print them out to present to the driver. We also had to meet with a travel agent, who was affiliated with BD Travel, prior to our checkout date to confirm the shuttle back to the airport. In regards to the airport, I found it to be quite pleasant and unique. It is open-air in certain sections with  fragrant palm fronds covering the roof.

Barceló Bávaro Palace is an immense and stately resort. It has just about anything and everything you could want on a vacation. There is the beach, a golf course, tennis courts, a church, a casino, a theater, water park, shops, nine restaurants, bowling alley, and even an escape room! An all-inclusive, of course, means food and drinks are included with a few exceptions. The buffet is unlimited in terms of use, whereas the restaurants required dinner vouchers which are limited in number. We had four for the time we were there. It is important to reserve dinners as soon as possible, as dinner spots tend to fill up fast. There was a huge selection of food at the buffet for each meal. My favorites included fresh passionfruit and tamales. WiFi is not included, and can be purchased at the gift shop. It was expensive, and the connection tended to be slow. Also, only one person could use it at a time. However, the casino offers free WiFi and is open 24/7. I found the lack of unlimited WiFi to be refreshing and to an extent liberating. Staying at this resort was a welcome change of pace, if gave me time to rest, relax, and reflect.

Outfits

Faithfull the Brand pink pants | Faithfull the Brand pink top (similar) | Cult Gaia straw bag | Venessa Arizaga bracelet | Free People necklace | RAEN sunglasses

J.Crew bikini | Rebecca de Ravenel clip earrings | Hat Attack artisan sunhat (sold out)

Urban Outfitters dress | Ancient Greek Sandals shoes

Free People swimsuit (old) | Sachin & Babi clip earrings

Cotton Citizen tee | YFB skirt | Fantasy Sandals shoes | Bembien straw bag

J.Crew skirt (sold out) | J.Crew top (sold out) | LOQ sandals | Sachin & Babi clip earrings

Free People dress | Sofia Zakia pendants

J.Crew pajamas | Lack of Color hat