These guys know how to mind the store

Pros: Caribbean on a budget Cons: Poor food quality in most places The Bottom Line: I recommend a trip to the resort, just remember that you're in the Dominican republic.

Lifestyles Hacienda Crown Villas, Dominican Repub...

This was my first trip to an all-inclusive resort. I have never before had the pleasure of having my drinks included in my vacation fund and I have to tell you… I love it! The trip took a bit of time to get to the island. Leaving from NY we were not able to get any direct flights. All of them included a stopover in Atlanta. I think that if I were in charge of setting up the trip I would have been able to find one, but I was just a guest on this one. But we lived through it and we were able to enjoy our stay at the Lifestyles Hacienda Villas. The villa we stayed in was beautiful. Marble tiled floors, columned arches supporting tiki styled gazebo by the pool. Food was an issue. A big issue for me. I like to eat. And the food quality went from horrible to barely edible. But let me start at the beginning: Our arrival at the Puerto Plata Airport was pleasant enough at first. We were all thinking, “this isn’t bad for a third world country.” After signing papers and visas and paying $10 US for each person entering the Dominican Republic and being waved through customs…. We were caught in a whirlwind of activity as soon as we got out of the terminal. We knew we were in a poverty-stricken country. We had arrived. Cab drivers, porters, locals with their hands stretched out all looking for some “American twenties… for my family.” What ever happened to “Spare change?” Thank goodness we had already arranged for a ride to the resort and our two minivans were awaiting our party of nine. As countless people shouted at us to follow them, we had a heck of a time watching our luggage. Especially because it was being shepherded into two minivans with no rhyme or reason. But they all arrived with us at our resort. The ride from the airport to Lifestyles Hacienda was interesting. We drove right through the city of Puerto Plata and it was quite an experience. Poverty loomed everywhere. It was quite overwhelming. I think there was one traffic light between the airport and the resort and we went directly through the city for a half-hour ride. Of course, we got stuck AT that traffic light which enabled some people to come up to the minivans and try to wash windows. The drivers got very upset at that. They kept shouting “touristas, touristas.” And they told us that the beggars should not approach vehicles with a “touristas” sign on them. We were very pleased when we finally took a turn off the main drag into the Resort grounds. Golf courses, lush green vegetation, palm trees and tropical splendor surrounded us. We were greeted at the reception area with ice cold glasses of sangria. Very delicious and thirst-quenching. We were VIPs and we were treated as such. I’m pretty sure we were ripped off on the price of the “all-inclusive” piece, but it was still worth it. It cost us $75 per person per day. My 11 year old was $37.50/day. We met fellow “touristas” who paid $37.50 for the adults. For the next 7 days we were treated as VIPs by the greeters and the staff… well, most of the staff anyway. Our villa came with a maid who cooked breakfast for the household every morning. She prepared the eggs to our liking and was very nice. The Beach - Cofresi Beach is nice enough, but when I think of a tropical beach I tend to think of white sands and turquoise blue waters. The water here was murky and the sand was grey to black. The beach did have some palm trees and was picturesque in ways, but, close up, it left much to be desired. There was a VIP Beach and a “regular’ BEACH. The VIP beach was lined with beds that hung from curtained frames. A little too Romanesque for my tastes. The regular beach was good enough for us, lounge chairs moved to wherever we wanted by a friendly staff person. We chose to have ours right by the bar. Pedro the bartender made sure that we had plenty of drinks and that they were always fresh. “Happy Happy.” Food was a problem here too. There was a restaurant/bar called The Blue Lagoon that had terrible food and awful service. It was the worst part of this vacation. Our villa was the saving grace. We knew that at the end of the day, we would head back to our villa to relax with each other and sit and talk in relaxing surroundings and a fully stocked refrigerator. El Presidente beer, white and red wine, sangria, and rum all flowed endlessly and they were happy to refurbish our supply every day. We had a few problems that were taken care of by the staff. The water pressure was, at times, non-existent. That went for the hot water also. When we all took showers in the morning, it paid to be one of the first ones in. The brochure names one of the amenities as free internet access. That is, whenever it was available. If you vacation here, you need to remember that it is still a third world country. Blackouts are frequent although it seemed that most of them happened overnight. And they didn’t last for long. The longest one while we were there lasted for just under an hour. Getting around. There are lots of activities going on around the resort. Each day you are advised of those activities by a brochure delivered with your morning paper. Very convenient. The only problem was that they didn’t identify where these activities were being held. For example, one activity was a basketball competition that my 15 and 11 year old boys were looking forward to, but we couldn’t find. It was supposed to be at the main pool. They have several pool areas and none of them are identified as “Main Pool.” We ended up missing that one the first day, but we were able to ask around and get to most places without much trouble. Thing is, many of the staff didn’t understand English and it made us feel much like the Ugly American… like they should be catering to us without us thinking about their language… oh, wait a minute, they SHOULD be catering to us… I paid money for that service. Anyway, it could have been better. The management of the resort explained to us that it was a hardship for them to get good help and to train those who were willing to be trained. This lifestyle was very different for the native Dominican. Bottom Line: If you’re looking for a different experience and don’t mind searching for the silver lining, the Dominican Republic and the Lifestyles Hacienda Villas are a good bargain. Recommended: Yes