It really depends on where you go and if there are places out of the hotel to go to. Many resorts are just collections of hotels with little else outside the hotel gates.

It is a very different experience compared to what your used to in Greece.

Why not go All Inc in Europe and have a couple of nights out during your stay??

July is in hurricane season and you will get rain but it soon clears up,

Hope this helps.

Hi hcafc_laura,
We have been going to the Dom. Rep now for the last 6 years and love the place, we stay on North Coast but at the Iberostar Costa Dorada which is five minutes down the road from the Playa Dorada Complex where your resort is situated.

You will love the Blue Bay Villas it is an adults only resort with many returning guests.There are many trips to do have a look at this link.http://www.isairatours.com/tours.html
As I said you are on a comlex of quite a few resorts with bars,shops,casinos and nightclubs.You can walk with no problem around the complex as its a gated.

Getting dressed up, you will have the pleasure of doing so as dressing for dinner is done by many guests especially the A La Cartes where for men it is mandatory to wear long trousers.

The weather in July I cant say as I always go end of April beginning of May, but here is a link to a site of the History Weather. http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/MDPP/2008/7/25/MonthlyHistory.html#calendar
you can go back as many years as you wish. Rain normally happens late afternoon and evenings if any.

Money I could'nt say how much would be needed as its all depending on how many trips you intend on doing.

If you need any other help please dont hesitate to contact me either on the forum or by PM.

Angie.

Thanks both for replying.

We've never been to Greece, so not used to it, but I know what you mean. Kos was just one of the places on our list of places we would like to go. I don't think I would ever go AI in Europe, I like going out too much, and to be honest, it isn't really worth it when you look at prices.

This year we're on a tighter budget than normal (isn't everyone) and strangely, it's going to work out cheaper for us to go here than it would to go SC in Turkey or Greece.

A little bit of rain isn't a problem, we got that in Turkey last year on a few occasions.

One think that's worried my boyfriend is the idea of him having to wear trousers. He is strictly a cropped trousers, nice tshirt and flipflops kinda bloke. I might be able to force him into a pair of linen trousers but that would be pushing it. Might have to rethink this one.

Hi,

me & my boyfriend stayed in dom rep in October 2007, we are a similar age to you we were nearly 19 at the time. We didnt stay where you are staying but just a little walk away at the Holiday village golden beach but my parents have stayed where you are going and they said the hotel was fantastic with loads to do inside and also time for relaxtion.

Me & my boyfriend had a lovely time and just like you it was our 1st AI holiday so were a little unsure whether it was right for us. It defiantly was as we went AI last year to mexico and would love to return to the dom rep one day. We took walks to the local shopping plaza which didnt take 15mins theres a few shops there and theres a good bar called roadways. We didnt eat out at all as we just took advantage of our AI package but the drinks at roadways werent badly priced. I think we took about £600 each spending money and we went on 2 trips, one was at ocean world & we swam with the dolphins & nurse sharks (both were amazing and you should try and go!) and the other trip was on the outback safari which again was a really good trip and we got to see some of the island aswell. We had enough money to do other trips if we wanted to but at the time the exchange rate was a bit better than what it is now! But the amount we took was fine and we managed. I doubt you would need more than £700.

Hope you have a lovely time & the weather is good, im very jealous!

Danielle

Thanks Danielle, it's nice to hear from someone who's a similar age. My boyfriends mum's been and loved it, and his brothers been too but with a group of lads so he will have gone for different things to us.

I'm so excited now. I've been looking at pictures tonight and it looks gorgeous. If I can just persuade my boyfriend that getting dressed up on a night won't be so bad I would book it straight away but at the moment he is of the opinion that no-one will tell him what to wear on holiday

Hi!

We are off to Blue Bay on 4th July for 2 weeks. This will be our first time AI and in the Caribbean also. Like yourselves it was working out too expensive to go to the Med so looked further afield.

The reviews on BB are excellent, have a look over on the puerto plata Trip Advisor forums also.

tbh H and I are not 'dressy' people, I go on hols to relax not get dressed up, but as long as he wears long trousers, which will be jeans. and a nice T-shirt or shirt then thats ok from reading over on Trip advisor.

From reading about too the weather will be ok, there might be showers but they are over in no time if during the day or more likely at night.

Also we would get 'bored' easily from just lying around, but there seems to be a lot of activites at the hotel and you can walk over to the plaza within the complex. There are many trips available and we intend doing a few to break up 'lying around'. It will be different from going to the Med SC or B&B but I can't wait to go!

Maybe we will see you there

4th July?! That's when we're going! Think I'm going to go book it right now, if the price hasn't gone up!

I cannot wait!!

Your welcome laura and haha about your boyfriend, mine was exactly the same. But tbh he wore shorts like the ones that come below the knee (sort of combats i guess?!) most nights with like normal t-shirts and that and he was fine. He hardly ever dressed up which suited him big time!

I hope you get it booked soon, im impatiently waiting to book a holiday for next year grrrr.. still trying to convice him!

x

Hi Laura

Its my first time to the Dom Rep this year as well and i carn't wait!! We are going to the Playa Dorada Complex in August staying at the Barceo Puerta Plata and as far as i was aware re the long trousers that men only needed to wear them when you go the Al a Cartes (somebody may correct me on that). My boyfriend was also a bit put out that he couldnt wear his cropped trousers aswell so i did a bit of research and i also dont think it has to be like smart trousers or anything just as long as they're long.

Have a fab hol whatever you decide.

Stace

Well Laura....did you book it!!??? <nosey>

Not yet

My boyfriends been working nights and sleeping all day so haven't had chance to go and sort it yet. I daren't check to see if the price has gone up.

Moneys a bit of a problem for me too been a student. It's going to have to be paid off by 11th April and I don't get my next loan until the 20th. Trying to work out if I can live for 9 days without a single penny.

I may be a bit older but I can't honestly see the problem with the long trousers.
I did once think on similar lines but provided the trousers go below the knee most places accept them, so cropped are usually fine.

However, I find that having the extra bit of length in the evenings also helps limit the mossie target areas and as I never look at myself in the mirror, it has never been an issue.

I have been turned away from restaurants twice: once in Egypt for wearing shorts, it was my fault as I had just argued with the rep over my delayed baggage and went into the restaurant to calm down, but the hotel ended up gifting me a pair of quality trousers once they realised I didn't have any luggage; The other time was in the DR when I wore my best T shirt complete with zips and flashes, only for the door lady to complain that the sleeves were too short and letting me in would give arguments to the "other nationalities" who like to wear their "wife beaters" all the time, who I think the main rules are directed against.

To be fair to my boyfriend, he lives in shorts/cropped trousers, even in winter. He's always complaining he's too hot, even when we get the occasional warm day here. I can see his point about having people tell him what to wear, he will be absoloutely boiling in trousers. I've managed to persuade him though if he can just wear them when we're eating he can go get changed into something more comfortable. Whatever he wears is always smart anyway.

Thats a shame Laura. We dont have to pay ours until 9th May with direct holidays if that helps you?

Have you asked the TO for an extension for payment, you never know!

jaimec wrote:

Thats a shame Laura. We dont have to pay ours until 9th May with direct holidays if that helps you?

Have you asked the TO for an extension for payment, you never know!

That's interesting actually. I rang Direct Holidays to see if I would be able to pay the holiday off in a THomas Cook store but they said I had to do it on the phone. I'm a bit wary about paying that much money on the phone.

I did ring TC at the weekend and asked if the rule about the holiday having to be paid off 12 weeks before was strict and they said it was, though they've let us have a couple of weeks more time in there before.

Out of interest, how much did you pay? This is £807 which I thought was a good price, but I aren't sure?? If you don't want to share I won't be offended at all

Hi Laura,

I usually book with first choice, check their prices because I always find them to be reasonable.

Also whoever you book with you can ask for an payment extension (i always need one lol!) and its not been a problem
Hope you get booked up soon x

If you haven't booked yet, you could always try the Caribbean Warehouse to see if they are competitive.
They were very helpful to us with advice and also offered a choice of different flights: I started off enquiring about the Dom Rep but then chose Mexico, but they still saved me a couple of hundred per person compared to the cheapest Web main TO price.
You do have to somewhat ignore the web published prices and talk to them to get better ones.

If you know the price you can get from direct holidays and where and when you want to go, it it probably worth the call. You can always fall back to direct holidays.

Thanks for that, I'll give them a ring tomorrow.

First Choice seem to be quite pricey but it was worth a look anyway.

I'm a bit worried about using Direct Holidays, I just can't decide what to do. Hopefully getting it sorted tomorrow, I'm not at uni so I've all day to work out where I can get the best deaL

Thanks for all your help everyone!

I dont mind at all Laura, it was £975 each but we are flying direct from Belfast which always incurs a cost with any TO. We could have got it cheaper flying from Manchester or London then again we would need to get flights to there and overnight hotel, so all adds up for us over here unfortunately!

Do you know Direct holidays are part of Thomas Cook? They are under the same umbrella. This is the 4th time I have used Direct Hols and never had a problem, we have a Direct Hols shop in Belfast but normally I call up and book, both us and our friends have paid over the phone the deposits.

A lot of TO wont match Direct Hols though but try anyway!