It’s L’s de-saudi-ization vacation. We spent a week in Punta Cana’s Majestic Elegance. Compared to Windhm in Cozumel, this one has a much better beach and the suite in the Adults only section is also better. We can see the beach from our room (a junior suite) and we can sit out on the patio to read and just vege out. The room service is free and the food is good. It also has a elegance club lounge that provides snacks and drinks at all times plus internet access and a printer. A conciere is always on duty too.
We had a relaxing week doing nothing more than eating, drinking, reading, sleeping, dancing and for me knitting. That was the best part. Food is plentiful and we can pig ourselves out any time. Drink is free and flowing if you want it 24/7. Most of the staff is friendly, some are cheerful. But after a few days, you do want new things other than the 100 items that offer in the 6 restaurants. Can we be greedier? But really, you get steaks, hamburgers, pastas, sea food, etc. All the standard food things you can think of, but they taste the best OK and not great. They don’t have top shelf liquor, they hide absolute and Doers under the counter and only bring them out if you ask for them. But I think that’s normal in any resort.
The one thing that down grade this hotel for me is their business ethics which showed up when they messed up our reservation and gave us a junior suite instead of the ocean front suite. I think they overbooked for the week and they attempted to put us in a junior suite with no view of the ocean after a 30 minute wait for the room. When we inquired about the ocean view, they made us wait for an hour and a half more and moved up directly up 2 floors so we can see the ocean but alas, it’s still not the suite we booked for. At this point, they didn’t say anything and we thought it was what we booked. On the 3rd day, they called us and said we are gettting 2 25-minute massages for each of us but we had to go down and sign a paper with our passport numbers. When we got down and read the letter, we finally realized that they gave us the less expensive suite and wanted to make sure we are not going to pursue any legal actions by offering the massages only. I declined the offer and said we would rather move to the correct suite. That’s how they came back with another offer to refund the difference with the free massages. We did sign the letter and got the free massages. But now we are dealing with the travel agency we signed up for the resort to get the refund. And that’s a hassle.
So this ordeal puts a black mark on this resort for me. If they are truly the 5 star resort, they should have offered the refund and then the free massage would be accepted with gratitude. But they tried to use the free massage as the compensation (the cheapest service on the sheet for their spa) and stressed that we can use any other service in the spa but we had to pay for the difference. That gave me a bad taste in the mouth and put a tint on everything else they offered there. Instead of fixing the mistake, they tried to dodge the expense too.
Punta Cana is obviously poor outside the resorts. So there is not much ‘town’ to go out to. Fortunately, this resort offers nightly entertainment outside with a band and staff to dance with the guests. It jazzes up the night instead of pigging yourselves out and go back to your room to sit some more. L and I got to dance a lot when we were there and L said he was beginning to truly enjoy dancing for the first time. He was true to his words and volunteered to participate in any dancing activities we happened on. It may also have to do with the amount of alcohol he consumed at the time. He went overboard one night but fortunately no hangovers the next day. I ‘worked’ the bar one night letting myself go and talked to the bartenders and the guests around the bar, joking and got some free peanuts for us. I have to thank S for her training in the earlier years we went out together. She is a master at striking up conversations with the bartenders and strangers around us and have a great time at it. I can only do that once in a great while when my mood is right.
The trip back was a nightmare. We spent about 3 hours at the Punta Cana airport getting our boarding pass. They were not efficient at all at the counter and the ride that took us to the airport dropped us at the wrong terminal and we got to the wrong lines couple of times before we finally stood in the airline lines to get our boarding pass. And we just cleared the custom check point before we realized that we were standing at the end of the line that is heading towards our plane already.
So we had a light breakfast, no lunch, had to clear the custom and got picked to have our luggages checked and went through the security check again before we got to our gate and got our boarding pass for the flight home. We were hungry and L went and got some Wendy’s food, but they forgot to give him the drink. That set him off finally and broke his watch band yet again. He had to finish his chili on the plane as they were boarding by the time we got our food.
So the travel was horrendous, the hotel was good but not great, the weather was OK for the most part but overcast and windy for a few days. I can only say it was an OK vacation, not a great one. I was ready for some R&R time, I guess I had better expectations for it than what we got. but I am glad we did it and it broke the winter blues at least.
I am glad we are home now. Life is back to normal, pets are sleeping around me again at night. I have better programs to watch and knit too. Time to plan our next trip. Ha ha.
