A hurricane foiled our initial plans to go last summer, and the trip was kind of dropped. But Ashley and Greg picked it back up and really got the ball rolling in the spring of last year. After lots of emailing and discussing and planning and booking, we finally went on a trip. 29 of us. And no kids!
We traveled to the Dominican Republic and stayed at the adults-only, all-inclusive Excellence Resort in Punta Cana. The majority of the group took the same flight out of New Orleans on the morning of June 5. We could hardly believe it was finally happening!
We flew through Fort Lauderdale; both flights were easy and uneventful. We even spotted the Turks and Caicos Islands below us at one point. Beautiful. And Kenny happened to have drink coupons, so we got started on margaritas a little early.
We landed in Punta Cana a little after 3pm local time. The airport was mostly open air, and the weather was very similar to how it was back home: hot and humid. But we got through customs quickly, and our transfer to the resort was blessedly air-conditioned.
We arrived at the Excellence a couple of hours after our plane touched down. We were greeted with cool, damp towels and chilled glasses of champagne. Everyone checked in and then headed to their respective rooms to unpack and settle in. Kenny and I had booked the most basic room, a junior suite overlooking the gardens. It was very spacious, and the view was so pretty. (We ended up switching rooms halfway through, though. Our a/c unit wasn't functioning properly; it was always so humid in our room. But we moved a couple of doors down, and it was much better. Wish we had switched sooner!)
Some of us went to dinner at Oregano that first night (Kelli and I even had on the same dress!). It was outside seating right by the main pool. It was good, but it was hot. I much preferred eating inside. But we did see a pretty sunset.
The resort puts on "professional" shows every night, each with a different theme. We wandered around after dinner until the show and found seats in the open-air theater to check it out. It was a disco theme, and it was just okay. There was also a post-show activity of Silent DJ, but I was spent from the travel day so we didn't stay for that. The ones that did said it was fun though!
The next morning, our first full day there, Kenny and I got up and went to the breakfast buffet at the Kitchen Table restaurant. Margaret told me before I went that I had to try mangu (mashed plantains), and I ended up having it every morning. It was so good. The whole buffet was: omelets, bacon, tons of fresh fruit and juices, pastries, pancakes, etc. So much food.
We were out on the beach before 11am. A good chunk of our group snagged chairs in the same area, and we stayed put for most of the day. The sand wasn't as white as it is in Florida, but it was very fine and soft. And the water was gorgeous. A few of us walked down to Las Olas, the beachfront restaurant, for lunch, and then a big group ended up in the pool in the late afternoon. Great first day!
We couldn't really linger in the pool for too long that afternoon because we had a special event to attend that night. Because our group reservation was so large, the resort arranged a private cocktail party for us on the beachfront terrace. It was a great way to get everyone in one place; we often weren't all together for meals since there were so many options. (The only bummer was that Tim and Meghana missed their flight over and didn't arrive until the next day, so they missed the party.)
After about an hour, we were escorted to a group dinner at Agave, the resort's Mexican restaurant. Kenny was feeling no pain this evening; he started early and just kept going. Everyone thought he was hilarious.
Once we stuffed ourselves sufficiently, we made a stop into the ice cream shop and then grabbed seats out on the terrace behind the theater to see the show (Vegas Fantasy). Again, just okay. But the post-show activity was a fire performance, which was pretty cool.
The next day Kenny and I ventured off by ourselves on an excursion that let us see a completely different part of the country. Part Two coming up soon!
