Dominican Republic?

[BeaLola]

Thinking oif this for a holiday. There would be DH, me and DS (11) - we could go for 7 or 10 days or 2 weeks in Feb half term, Easter hols or May half term . Furthest DS has been is Turkey AI - he loves it - spends all day on slides, playing football (despite heat !) , loves the evening shows and making friends to play with/spend time with.

Any thoughts? Have you been - pros & cons ?

TIA

I went to DR pre kids and enjoyed it, there are plenty of AI hotels aimed at kids there. There’s even a Nickelodeon hotel that we’re considering for when the dc’s are a bit older. The beaches are absolutely glorious and the hotels are normally really good, a few have waterparks too.

The thing that put us off going back at the moment are the long transfer time between airport and resorts (main resort area is 2.5 hour transfer). Also, the hotels are very reluctant to let you actually leave the resort. The few times I did (just to pop to local supermarket) I felt very unsafe, lots of cars pulled over shouting stuff at me, one man was getting quite aggressive trying to get me to get in his car so we could have a ‘chat’. At one resort a guard insisted on accompanying me to the cash point that was 50 metres away from hotel entrance to keep me safe.

There are other places in the Caribbean which, I think, are more suitable for kids. The best places we’ve stayed are the Beaches resorts in Jamaica. Absolutely everything is included, even scuba diving, and you end up doing so much great stuff as a family. Or Tobago or pretty much any of the tiny islands feel really safe to just wander around, go to local cafes, bars etc.

I hated it. I ignored everyone that told me I'd hate it and went anyway on a 7 day girls holiday. There's a reason it's called the poor mans Carribean. I couldn't wait to board the plane to get me home. I have never been so revolted on holiday and we were in a 5* hotel that was host to many women from various countries who'd clearly come on holiday for the younger Dominican men. I felt really sorry for a few families there as a lot of the children came down with stomach upsets which ruined their annual 2 week holiday. I thought it may just have been our hotel but the stories were similar on talking to other travellers on the way home.

We loved it.

Not sure what you mean about long transfers, ours was less than half an hour.

Really ilove, I didn’t notice any of that. Although I’m not the most observant person in the world. That’s bloody grim. I remember similar at a hotel we stayed in Thailand but with old men and young Thai girls. It was really disturbing.

I have avoided the Dom Rep as the resorts are so huge.As Heffalump says you are pretty much stuck on resort as there is little outside the resorts that are built pretty much in the middle of nowhere and there are security issues.
Have a look at St James Club Antigua, St James Club St Lucia, Turtle Beach Barbados. Beaches resorts in the Caribbean also have what you are looking for but are very expensive.
The Dom Rep may work for you if you are planning on staying in resort and don’t mind the mega resort feel, but it’s a shame in my opinion to fly to the Caribbean and not be able to walk out and explore and experience the local culture yourselves without fear.

ruby did you enjoy Turtle Beach in Barbados? We’re going in a few weeks and reviews seem rather mixed.

I didnt like DR . The locals were allowed to use the facilities and everyday they shat in the pool. It wasn't safe to tour about on your own. The food wasn't good.

I mean a lot depends on your hotel, ours had loads of proper restaurants and certainly no public admission.

I would agree that it's unsafe to leave your resort though, certainly alone anyway.

Yes, we loved it. It’s part of a group called Elegant Hotels on the island. Our first trip we stayed at Turtle on the South Coast and loved it so much we returned and stayed in the sister hotel Crystal Cove. Elegant let you book in exchange dining and use of the other hotels in the group if they are not fully booked so you get to explore the West Coast too.
Turtle was great with younger kids , but Crystal which is smaller and has a boutique feel worked as they got older because the West Coast sea is so good for snorkelling. South good for boogie boarding, West Coast water is millpond like.
We are West Coast people now, going again this Summer but self catering in a villa having stayed in 6 different hotels. Love Barbados and would stay at Turtle again but we like to mix it up.
Mango Bay on the west in Holetown is very good too.

My travel agent sister says it's the Benidorm of the Caribbean

Hezz that’s what l have heard about the Dom Rep and it has put me off, l looked at booking Dreams one year and then looked at videos on YouTube, people are packed in like sardines, the resorts are enormous.

Thanks so much Ruby - feeling very excited for this trip now, never done Barbados before.

Sorry for detail OP

Heffalump, you will love it. Get out and about and explore, the buses are frequent and $2 anywhere for getting about on the South Coast. So many great places to see. Hire a car for the day if you want to go to the West or East Coast and pop into the other hotels in the group if you can book a lunch. Waves , Crystal Cove are both AI so it will be free if they can accommodate you, ask at the Turtle concierge desk for any bookings and car hire, they will bring the car to the hotel. Colony Club in the same group is an amazing hotel but not AI so if you eat there or just stop for a drink it’s a supplement, Colony Club Beach is my favourite on the island l would urge you to pop in there to use their beach and have a drink and take in the atmosphere. Enjoy and have a rum punch for me !!

Google sanky panky Dominican and that's exactly what goes on in a lot of hotels. Honestly, there was the same few guys around the pool every day with different women . I normally turn a blind eye to things like that but this was so in your face it was difficult to ignore. We spent 2 days of our holiday trying to get flights home then gave up and resigned ourselves to playing board games/reading/starving as the food was so bad. The hotel we stayed in was in the top 5 hotels on TripAdvisor! I'd been on the TripAdvisor forums and read about a school that badly needed books/pencils etc so we all took things out and booked a guy to take us as we felt incredibly sorry for the children. When we got there there was bus loads of tourists arriving with armfuls of stuff. I still can't get my head around that.