Only 5 days to go...but a few questions!!!

[Vspesh23]

Hi all its nice to be prepared for a beautiful holiday in the Caribbean with ya fella isn't it??? Haha!! I can't wait!!! 5 days!!

Any way can anyone help with the following?

1.  Are you able to exchange pound sterling travellers cheques?
2.  Are the excursions reasonably priced? (Want to do loads you see!!!)
3.  ...and has anybody been on them?  If so what are they like?
4.  Does anybody know what the club onsite is like?
5.  Lastly,  do the bar staff mix a pina colada cocktail? (My absolute favourite!!!!)

Cheers all,

Sally n Andy x 

 

[guapo]

hi sally and andy!

i was there on hols 8 th till 24 th of may this year... was amazing and will be going back in november!

1) dont know if you can exchange pound sterling traveller cheques because i am from holland but i didnt even take euro's with me because you get ripped of with anything else than dollars so took dollar traveller cheques and dollars with me and still then have a sharp look at the exchange rates!
2)the excursions are kinda pricey ( the most costly thing on a vacation) anywhere between 60 dollars and 130 dollars for the ones we did
3) in the 16 days i was there i did 3 excursions and loved em all!
the first one was to the 9 waterfalls dont know the exact name of the excursion anymore but it was a great excursion where you go inlands and climb waterfalls thereafter you go do a 20 min horsebackride and go to some typical dominican houses and families (takes a whole day)
the second one was the funny bike tour... you get to ride on quadbikes as we call em in holland they actually go pretty fast and drive up the mountain thats is nearby where you can watch the view and make some pictures after that you drive back down the mountain cross some rivers go through some sugarcane fields drive through some poor villages where you can give em mente (or something like that called sweets in english lol) also you drive to some beach there where there are vendors who want to sell you almost anything. and then you drive back to the pick up place of the bus from where you go back to the hotel. (excursion takes half a day)
the last excursion we did was the most expensive but in my opinion the best i done there... it was the VIP tour to paradise island. you get picked up by a luxurious small touring bus for bout 16 people from where you drive to a fort  with church where you can make pictures of.fully renovated so looks amazing!
from there you walk to your yacht for a day. very spacious and because you are only on there with about 10 other people you realy feel VIP special brunch with almost anything you could want... champagne bottles popping and rum as much as you want... you then go on a tour along the coast with spectacular views and you can just relax do nothing or dance a bit on the boat because there is always some merengue or bachata on! half way to paradise island you stop in a bay where you can jump in the water with some boogieboards and swim around in water where you can look all the way down to the bottom.. also if you want you can jump in a donut where you get pulled forward of the water by a speedboat! and because you online with a few people can do it multiple times if you want... after that you move on to the lunch village just a half hour by boat.. you get pina colada or anything else you want in the coconuts the chop open right in front of you! from there on you get back in speedboats to go to the small paradise island where you get to snorkel around on th reef surrounding it.. the moment you have your snorkel glasses on and look beneath in the water you be amazed.. all different colours of fish and you get some bread to feed em so they come realy close and with and underwater camera you can make amazing pictures over there! its the best snorkling i have ever done! looks amazing just like on discovery channel or even better! after about an hour and half of snorkling you get back in the speedboats and take a ride through the mangroves that are there and then get back to lunchsite where you get some drinks again (as usal) and get on a bus to get back to hotel very satisfied! (whole day trip)
4) the route 66 club is allright i just turned 24 and there are alot of people young 20's to whatever age you want but dont expect anything like in real clubs home closes at 2 o clock and if you want to party on you can get a cab to disco mangu in the playa dorada complex which i thought was great to go out a few times!
5) and offcourse they do mix a good pina colada with or without alcohol whatever you want but there are so many cocktails you just have to try em all!

well was a bit of long story but thats because it was a great vacation!!!!

peter

[Vspesh23]

Hey Peter!

Thank you for your answers!!  You have been a fantastic help!!!

So what room did you stay in?  Did you have a junior suite?

(Sorry more questions I know!!!)

Sally xxx

[guapo]

nope me and a friend stayed in a standard room. we were only there to get some sleep and shower every now and then 
we stayed in block 8 top floor with pool view cant remember the number anymore must have had to much 151 erased some braincells lol

peter

[pigpad]

Yes you can exchange sterling travellers cheques.  Think it was 47 peso to pound and 25 to dollar, we were their early August

[dev]

Hi Pigpad,

Did you change your Sterling travellers cheques in the hotel or did you have to go outside to do it?

Thanks

Lesley

[pigpad]

we actually took advantage of the exchange rate a while back and got US$ cheques, you can exchange either at the hotel or at the plaza, there wasnt any real difference when we checked.   Really jealous of you heading off, you will have a brilliant time.
Can recommend the Monster Trucks, much better than the jeep safari and I think only about a 10 dollar difference.  We enjoyed Paradise Island though it is quite a long journey to get there, but well worth it and the speedboats are fun

[dev]

Thanks PigPad

You have been really helpful, I was really hoping we could take Sterling travellers cheques because if you have any left over then you don't get charged to change them back to cash. I will proberbly do the Monster trucks and the paradise island as these were two excursions I was looking at. Did you do any snorkelling? How was it?

thanks again

Lesley 

[pigpad]

I cannot snorkel but rest of the family did at Paradise island.  They have snorkelled in Cuba and Mexico before but said this was the best.  Even though I didnt snorkel plenty of fish around where you can just paddle



Monster trucks

[pigpad]

Paradise Island

[dev]

Hi

Pics are great, but can you tell me how long it takes to get to Paradise island and do you go by catamaran and how was the journey?

Many thanks you have been a great help

Lesley

[pigpad]

Ok drive to the beach where you get speed boats from to Paradise Island is about 2 hours, part of it is on very bumpy road through small villages, but not too bad (it is an early start we got picked up at 7.30am).  Then trip by speed boat is about 15 mins or so to the island, trip back by speed boat is much more fun, our group were having races and cutting across each other, then we had a gentle trip down the mangroves and back to where we set off from for lunch.  It is a long day but well worth the trek.