My Christmas present to the girls was a week of sun in Punta Cana, our first international trip since Covid. We originally planned to go to Aruba and I booked a nice room at the Hilton there more than six months in advance. By the time it came to buy airline tickets, we discovered that Southwest no longer flew non-stop to Aruba during mid-week and the Hilton was completely booked on any reasonable alternative date, so we switched gears and sought out Punta Cana — where Southwest still flew non-stop daily. I considered returning to the Grand Bavaro but ultimately decided to book again at Excellence El Carmen (website), even though Barb couldn’t remember much about staying there (we did, in March 2017 — my first trip to Punta Cana…I have not yet written up that trip).
Neither Barb nor I could remember many details of our first stay at Excellence El Carmen other than that the beach was nice, the grounds were pretty and the food was decent but not great. I remembered that the breakfast buffet was the best meal. We upgraded to the Excellence Club that first time which gave us access to a special part of the beach with friendly and frequent service (including cleaning of sunglasses which Barb greatly appreciated), top shelf liquor in the room, and access to a special restaurant and bar that didn’t turn out to be too special. We tried upgrading this time but the Excellence Club suites were fully booked so we were forced to risk it as common tourists.
Based on our experience having trouble getting in the restaurants we wanted at the Grand Bavaro, we were worried about availability or the need to make dining reservations in advance. I tried writing the concierge but never got a reply (meanwhile, Allie quickly got a response to her inquiry about the spa). I found the Excellence El Carmen app provided a lot of convenient information about the resort and it seemed like each of the eight main restaurants (Lobster House, Grill, Indian, Mexican, Asian, Spanish, French and Italian) were open each night; there didn’t seem to be a need for reservations. Allie and I downloaded the app in advance but it was a mistake not to do so for Barb — when tried to do it at the resort we couldn’t remember her Apple ID login. Fortunately (for her), she had printed out all the menus.
Monday, February 27
We got up early for our 9:40am flight to Punta Cana. The day before we got A-level boarding for Southwest by purchasing their Early Bird option for the first time. I wasn’t sure how it worked but it turns out it gives you an assignment 36 hours ahead of the flight, even though you can’t access the assignment until 24 hours ahead. Basically it saves you the hassle of jockeying for a slot exactly 24 hours ahead. Pretty much worth it if you want to be reasonably sure to sit together.
We were all up and ready to go early enough for a stop at McDonald’s along the way. We encountered a small hurdle of having to fill out Dominican Republic inbound and departure forms at the airport but there was still plenty of time for us to get checked in. I don’t understand how both Allie and I missed the fact that we needed to do these forms ahead of time but somehow it happened. It wasn’t that big a deal. The biggest hassle was remembering how to save a screen shot of the form so we could show it to immigration later in Punta Cana…but fortunately Allie was there to help me.
The flight itself was quiet and smooth, except for the kids in the seats behind us who kept kicking our seats. But we still got naps and extra drinks and snacks when we wanted them. Arrival at Punta Cana was also reasonably smooth, though fairly crowded with several not-very-well-explained lines to move through. As we exited the airport having been warned not to engage with the various touts, we were nevertheless fooled into spending a few minutes with an affable fellow who said he was from the Dominican government (I doubt it). He promoted the idea of taking some excursions outside the all-inclusive resort in order to pump some money into the local economy. It’s a persuasive argument but not backed up with any particularly enticing things to do other than go shopping in various tourist areas.
We found our driver for the Excellence Resort who led us to a big, comfortable suburban assault vehicle for the 40-minute ride. About halfway, the smooth four-lane highway became a two-lane road (with shoulder space for slow traffic and motorbikes) through the still fairly scrubby Dominican countryside. We passed a number of resorts along the way where we’ve stayed in one configuration or another. This was my third time in Punta Cana, the third for Allie and the sixth for Barb (we think). The driver was impressed that Barb knew so much about the various resorts but it was mainly because she was holding a map and reading the names she recognized along the way.
We arrived at the Excellence El Carmen around 3pm and went through a leisurely but extended process of getting checked in and escorted to our rooms. The whole place still had the look and feel of an upscale airport lounge, very modern and clean. Our rooms were both nice, with Allie’s one floor below ours and on the other side of the building so she had a slightly different view…which turned out to be nicer in the afternoons for me. We got settled and oriented by wandering around the resort, getting a drink and finding a hot dog for Barb.
Allie and I headed down to the beach for sunset while Barb waited for us poolside.
It turned out that February 27 was the Dominican Republic Independence Day and there was a big buffet and show that evening in the pool courtyard just below our room. The buffet was quite good and even Barb found a few things to eat. I enjoyed several fish dishes and especially the carved roast pork with a chimichurri sauce. We met some nice folks at our table all the way from Clinton, Maryland. Fellow government employees (GSA), proving once again it’s a small world. At least it wasn’t someone Barb already knew.
The three of us adjourned back to our room after dinner, Barb to work on emails while Allie and I sat on the porch to see the Independence Day floorshow and dancing. It was a pleasant way to while away an hour or so. Once it was done we gathered around the TV, hunting for something everyone could watch and taking care not to land on the porn channels (one downside of an adults only resort, I suppose). We ended up with Men in Black International, something that Allie and Barb could watch and I could tolerably ignore.
Tuesday, February 28
Barb woke up early, eager to check out the buffet. I might have slept a while longer but a few minutes after she left at 7:15am, the room got confused and shut down the power, leaving me gasping when my CPAP machine stopped working. I flailed around a bit (“Not dead yet!”), a motion sensor kicked in and the power came back on but I decided not to risk it again and got dressed.
The buffet breakfast was greatly impressive, with almost every imaginable morning comestible from nearly every continent. I sampled quite a range of items, but there are still many more treats to try on our coming days. It’s the best breakfast buffet I’ve seen this side of Singapore…or the last time I was in Punta Cana, I guess.
Allie and I scoped out a front row beach palapa for Barb and I held it until the girls came down around 9:30. There really wasn’t a competition. Many palapas were taken already but there were still more available. I got the feeling the resort was maybe ⅔ full, certainly not at capacity. Good for us.
Once the girls came, Barb decided to move to another palapa that had a little table space. Point noted that Barb likes to have something solid to put her stuff and drinks on. Barb and Allie settled in for a morning bake and I headed back to the room, partly to write this and partly to wait until 11am when tickets for Bruce Springsteen at Camden Yards (in September) came on sale. I pre-qualified through Ticketmaster for the sale but was worried because I never received my pre-qualification code. When the time came, however, I was allowed to get in the queue (by virtue of my Ticketmaster account, maybe?) and after a 10-minute wait was given the chance to make a purchase. I still couldn’t access the regular tickets because I didn’t have a code but there were some special category tickets that were available for purchase so I went ahead and got two. They were were priced at $160 each which was high but not exorbitant, though it got a little more silly after Ticketmaster tacked on more than $100 in fees. Still, it feels like a cultural event to see Springsteen at Camden Yards this one (last) time. I’ll have to figure out who is willing to come with me. Larry has said he’s not interested but that was before I actually had a ticket. We’ll see.
I eventually reconnected with the girls and we checked out our lunch options. We tried the little food truck near the pool that looked promising with a menu of fish and chips and a Cuban sandwich. Both turned out to be pretty pale imitations. It was enough for Allie, but Barb and I decided to hit the beachside buffet. Barb’s hamburger was mediocre and my ceviche and chicken with rice were only marginally better…but it was plenty. Clearly the emphasis at this resort is on breakfast and dinner. We needed to plan accordingly.
After lunch I took a nice long walk on the beach. The breeze by the beach was delightful and the waves mesmerizing. I eventually came to a downed palm tree that offered a nice place to sit, so I rested and contemplated life and my downloaded music for a while before heading back.
I got back to the girls around 3pm having put in my 10,000 steps. I went back to the room, showered, and went to Allie’s balcony for a nice afternoon session of writing and drinking rum and Coke Zero.
By the way, my plan of trying out a variety of ginger beer drinks (dark and stormy, various mules, etc.) was thwarted because they don’t seem to have any ginger beer here. I discovered that ginger ale with rum is a pretty nice drink, even if it doesn’t have a name (at least not one that I or the bartenders know). But not every bar even had ginger ale so I also had a Sprite with rum (not very good), a mojito, a frozen strawberry daiquiri, and a few other variations on the theme. I was still searching for my preferred drink, but having fun doing the research.
Allie’s balcony faced the opposite direction of ours, getting afternoon shade and catching the breeze better than ours. The courtyard it overlooks is also quieter than ours, making it altogether a pleasant place to hang out in the afternoon. I haven’t mentioned the weather, but it was perfect this first day: sunny and around 80 degrees with a steady but not too aggressive onshore breeze. It was very comfortable at the beach all day long. In the evening, the temperature drifted into the lower 70s – air conditioner weather. It promised to stay the same for the whole week. Considering that this vacation was all about buying some nice sunny days for the girls to relax and get tanned, we could hardly have done better.
We chose the Lobster House for our evening meal. My ceviche appetizer was tasty, Allie’s seafood soup was decent, but Barb’s shrimp cocktail-ish plate was meager and a little odd. We each had lobster in slightly different variants: grilled for me, steamed for Barb, and Thermidor for Allie. All three were overcooked and the various sauces were adequate but not wonderful. My grilled vegetables felt mildly healthy but I also ate most of Barb’s baked potato. Allie tried a chocolate dessert and an oddly taste-free sorbet. We would see how the other restaurants stacked up, but it confirmed my memory that the food at each was better on paper than in reality. That’s kind of par for the course at an all-inclusive. Like on a cruise, the food is often mass produced mediocrity, but there’s plenty of it. And the endless drinks tend to blur the edges off any disappointments.
Speaking of disappointments, the evening’s Elvis show was pretty awful. Barb went back to the room after dinner but Allie and I waited in the “auditorium” area for a long while for the 9:30 start. There was a house band playing “millennial” hits that Allie mostly had to identify for me. Allie ended up bailing out before 9:30 and went back to the room to watch TV with Barb. I stayed for the first 3 or 4 songs from the ersatz Elvis before giving up the ghost (so to speak) and bailing myself. I consoled myself with a large scotch in the room with a replay of Men in Black on TV. I hoped the coming nights’ entertainment would improve.
Wednesday, March 1
With our second full day, we felt like veterans of the resort. The staff recognized us at breakfast – we’re virtually the only group of three in the whole place so we’re pretty identifiable. Barb and Allie are also pretty much the only Asians, so there’s that too. The staff here is overwhelmingly pleasant and the service is quite good. I should do a better job of catching people’s names, and I have to remind myself to carry some change to hand out tips to various servers. Tipping is not mandatory or even needed, really, but some of the bartenders, waiters and towel attendants seem to expect it, and some of the other guests are leaving tips so I guess I ought to as well.
I had a somewhat heavier and less healthy breakfast this day, including an overloaded omelet and a plate of various fish dishes with several cold bean salads. I also got one of the nice roast pork sandwiches to go for lunch later. I’m guessing that eating less healthily is par for the course on the second day. Tomorrow I will start to scale back, I told myself. I should have read up on my Vacation Lessons Learned. Proof that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
The girls went back to the beach for the morning. I retreated to the balcony to read and fell asleep on the daybed for an hour or so. Barb took part in the martial pool exercises at noon, with a loud drill sergeant of an instructor barking commands at them. I could hear him from our balcony and it forced me to end my writing session and head down for a taco and mojito “lesson”.
The taco and mojito lesson was filling if not illuminating. It did the job for lunch. I took a long walk in the southerly direction in the afternoon, about 5 miles total by my calculation. I passed many other all-inclusive resorts and a few other local establishments, including a place offering seaside massages that looked particularly sketchy. The beach is beautiful for walking, wide open and firm to the foot. Some areas are more crowded than others, but there are stretches where you’re more or less alone. I remember there being more intrusive/aggressive touts offering massages and other local vices in the past but they mostly left me alone this time. This may also be a function of wearing ear buds and listening to music while I walked.
I saw a grand total of one pelican on my walk (later I saw one frigate bid and maybe a couple of seagulls in the air, and one or two boats on the far horizon). Otherwise there is a notable lack of wildlife or even boat traffic on the water. It’s a little peculiar. The only folks on the beach are tourists or local folks selling things to tourists. The rest of the Dominican Republic seems far away from the beaches and resorts of Punta Cana.
Allie had a spa session in the afternoon. She later reported that it was very relaxing, especially the hydrotherapy with various intensities of water jets spilling on various parts of her body.
I spent another pleasant hour or two on Allie’s deck in the afternoon. In the evening, we went to The Grill, the resort’s steak place. They offered a variety of cuts, quite like a Brazilian churrascaria, but it turned out you were still expected to order just one. I wanted to try a picanha cut but also wanted a rib eye as a back up. They brought me two full plates. The picanha was actually pretty good with the chimichurri sauce. I didn’t need the rib eye but ate half of it as well. Allie had a ribeye and Barb had a filet. All were decent – not outstanding steaks but easily adequate and quite filling.
After dinner, the girls headed back to the room. I went to the poolside rooftop bar for a sambuca and contemplated the stars for a while. It was quiet and very pleasant.
I held out some hope for the evening’s Las Vegas show but it ended up being a small troupe of dancers doing routines to canned music. I gave up after a few tunes and joined the girls in the bedroom for an evening of animated features. Sing was on the menu tonight.
Thursday, March 2
Barb once again woke up early and headed down to breakfast about a half hour before I roused myself. Allie followed even later. The buffet already felt like more than I could handle. I tried a croque monsieur because it looked fresh and steaming, but paired it with roast pork, bacon, beans and enough other stuff that I felt bloated even before finishing half the plate. But that didn’t stop me from going back for a plate of fruit and charcuterie a bit later. The buffet has defeated me. There’s way more that I want to try (and even more that I don’t want) than I can reasonably eat.
I waddled back to the room and read a bit while the girls headed to the beach. I confirmed our transportation and check-out details for the next day before deciding to join them at the beach. The onshore breeze was very nice and I was able to stay in the shade under the palapa. I read until it was time to eat again – a demonstration of seafood paella and sangria at 12:30pm.
It was a little surprising that the resort guests were overwhelmingly American. I expected more Europeans or possibly Latin/South Americans. But no, it was almost all Americans with maybe a few stealth Canadians. There was a steady crew of loud, obnoxious people hanging out near the pool bar but the folks at the beach were mostly quiet and non-obtrusive. As I typed this, sitting on our balcony, I could overhear someone else’s phone call to friends at home, but otherwise we’ve mostly been able to coexist reasonably peacefully and at a distance from other guests. That’s for the better.
I spent a fair part of the morning and afternoon at the beach, enjoying the breeze, watching the waves, reading a bit and listening to music. It was hard to beat. I retired to Allie’s balcony in the afternoon and then to our own for more of the same. Tonight’s plan was to accompany Barb to the French restaurant for her meal, then Allie and I would try the Spanish restaurant for tapas and such. I held out one more night of hope for the evening’s entertainment, a Beatles band in the early evening followed by a Michael Jackson show later. I would normally avoid both but I remember the MJ show being pretty good the last time we were here, and it had good reviews since.
One way or another, we’re out of here tomorrow. Three days is certainly enough. The first day is full of anticipation and exploration, the second day is pretty much over indulgence, the third day is a bit of retrenchment and picking and choosing the indulgences you want. Barb and Allie are well and truly toasty after three full days in the sun. I can’t imagine staying much longer. We’re getting bloated and bored. Time to go home. Once again, all of this was in my Lessons Learned…I just had to learn it over again.
Allie and I went to the rooftop bar by the pool for the sunset and a cocktail. We had a nice time chatting and had a bonus light show as Venus and Jupiter appeared in the evening sky. They evidently were even closer the night before but we missed them.
The dinner plan didn’t work out quite right in that there was a wait at the French restaurant and the Spanish restaurant was closed for the evening (bad planning on my part) so we bailed over to the Asian restaurant. We actually had a better than expected meal with a little summer shrimp roll, shumai of sorts, miso soup for Barb, a sort of Thai soup for me, sushi roll for Allie and a light seafood curry.for me. Plus hot sake and a very friendly waiter, Stevenson. It wasn’t the most authentic Asian meal but it actually wasn’t bad and we didn’t leave fully bloated.
Barb and Allie got dessert and headed back to the room. I stayed down to listen to the (pretty awful but trying hard) Beatles cover band and then the Michael Jackson show. The MJ show was actually pretty good, with a credible doppleganger leading a small troupe of athletic dancers in lipsynced recreations of music videos, many of which have become cultural touchstones, for better or worse. It doesn’t seem like it should work but the dancers brought energy and skill to the surprisingly iconic choreography.
Friday, March 3
We lingered over one final brunch and said goodbye to our favorite food stations and servers. Barb and Allie went down to the beach for a couple of hours before a shower and packing. We had to be out of the room at noon to catch our car to the airport at 1pm. Our flight was at 4:10pm which put us into BWI at 7:30pm. Allie was due to catch a later connection to Boston but just before noon she got news it was cancelled. We welcomed her to stay in Maryland with us for the night — two nights as it turned out because there were no good flights home for her on Saturday. That was fine with us.
The Punta Cana airport seemed larger and somewhat more modern than we were last there in 2019. Nevertheless, after we got through several layers of customs and security, the waiting areas were jammed with fat, sunburned Americans. We spent an uncomfortable couple of hours there waiting to board our plane, the worst couple of hours of the vacation. The flight itself was tolerable even though the final 30 minutes coming into a very rainy and windy Baltimore was a little turbulent.
We were pleased to breeze through Global Entry though it was a little spooky that all it took was one grainy photograph to approve us. Facial recognition and Big Brother are here to stay. We had to wait quite a while for luggage (a jam somewhere along the way, they explained) and then quite a while longer for a bus to the parking garage (a different kind of traffic jam, they said). Eventually we made it to our car and then home to Manny who was very glad to see us.
Barb and Allie continue to agree that three days is just about right for these trips. It seems like a long way to go for just a few days but we’d each go stir crazy if we stayed longer. There’s no way this can or should be a normal lifestyle. There’s too much food, drink, expense and indolence. It’s an indulgent, hedonistic respite that I can only imagine doing in well spaced out doses – like once a year, maybe. Or less if it were my own choice. But it’s nice to know there are such places available and Excellence El Carmen is one I could see coming back to when enough time has passed. And did I mention the weather was absolutely perfect each day?
This vacation cost a bit less than I had been planning to spend for three of us in Aruba. The flight to Punta Cana is about an hour shorter than Aruba and there are non-stops every day of the week. It worked out just fine being regular tourists as opposed to being in the upgraded Excellence Club room.
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