Has anyone been to/or know anyone who's been here?
I've had mixed reviews about the place... But want to get a few from here too! hehe

The place is Dominican Republic North, Bahia Maimon... The hotel is called "Riu Bachata"....

I've been on HolidaysUncovered.co.uk and the few reviews on there have gave it excellent ratings... Obviously gripes about towels on sunbeds... The usual lol!

The hotel is TTTT+ from Thomsons... Its one of their Platinum hotels...(for the more discerning traveller) lol! It's part of the Riu chain, which is supposed to be good... Just don't wanna be taken in by the brochure bumf!

Thanks guys

:)

Oooo I'm thinking June 2006 by the way :P

absolutely fantastic place ! i stayed in the north in the 5 star Riu Merengie (prob spelt it wrong). Its a lovely place with lovely people.

The only thing i would say is i have had friends who stayed in the south in a 3 star hotel and didn't like it at all. think its is more than worth splashing out a little extra for the luxury you get in a five star. We had a mini bar with optics in the room and its all inclusive, 5 swimming pools, private beach, specialist restaurants (included in all inclusive - but you had to book), the entertainment wasn't always my thing but its a fabulous relaxing holiday.

Its a very very poor country and can be daunting if you head away from your hotel complex, your rep will tell you where you can and cannot go.

Two tips for you - go on the monster truck safari and take pens, paper and sweets for the kids and get your visa before you go. Its only $10 (or there abouts) , you can get it at the airport but you queue for ages.

Any questions - give me a shout!!

Have a fab time !!

Lea x

This one is in the North and is officially rated as a 5star hotel... Thomson just rate it themselves and have given it 4T's+... There's an unofficial website on it which looks very promising aswell...

I know these seem like daft Q's... But where do I get a visa from/do i need any injections prior to the holiday and am I old enough to drink? (I'll be 19)

Originally posted by caprice
This one is in the North and is officially rated as a 5star hotel... Thomson just rate it themselves and have given it 4T's+... There's an unofficial website on it which looks very promising aswell...

I know these seem like daft Q's... But where do I get a visa from/do i need any injections prior to the holiday and am I old enough to drink? (I'll be 19)

for the visa you need to contact the embassey in london. injections are the usual tropics, e.g. malaria.

dont think drink is a problem!

you should have a great time. i went to the south punta cana, and it was great. trips can be expensive but if you are inclusive, then thats the only cost.

Yeah it is all-in, so we should be fine... Pleanty of time to save up for extras anyway! It looks soooo nice, I just wish £420 would magically appear in my bank account so I could put down the deposit! lol

How long is the flight by the way?

did you catch the holiday programme last night - that had a feature on Dominican Rep. - would never go there....

yuk.

My other half used to work on a cruise ship and he said most of the Caribean (and places like that) are pretty grotty once you leave the hotel compound and see where the locals live.

A lot of the staff earn less than the price of a bic pen per week for 7 days of 12+ hour shifts.

I always wanted to visit places like that but now I'm not that sure, I don't know if I could turn a blind eye and enjoy myself, I'd feel guilty.

We've got no intention of leaving the complex, apart from a few organised excursions... I've heard theres somewhere you can swim with dolphins... etc

I always leave spare change when I'm leaving a foreign country behind... It's no use to me, but I know that the maids would be very grateful :) Think that'd lessen my guilt trip a little.

Hi
I stayed in the Mambo 2 years ago. It is a complex of 3 hotels, Bachata, Merengue and the mambo. The Bachata is the newest and has a fantastic swim up bar. You can use the amenities at all 3, apart from dinner which you have to have in your own hotel.
I had a brilliant time and would not hesitate to go back. The staff are all so friendly. If you want any more info please pm me.

Caprice have a look on holidaytruths.co.uk too they have sections for different destinations throughout the world I'm sure someone on there will be able to answer your questions.

Once again, all positive on Holiday Truths... :)
It's looking good! :D
I've had my eye on this one for a while... Roll on June 2006 lol

Everyone Ive ever known whos been to the Dominican Republic has come back with severe food poisoining and saying that theyd never ever go there again even if someone paid them to. So I personally wouldnt book it.

Hi Caprice

I thought I would wing this back up to the top as I am going there in May.
I am going to Bayhibe on the South side.
Anyone been there.

Originally posted by RobT
for the visa you need to contact the embassey in london. injections are the usual tropics, e.g. malaria.

dont think drink is a problem!

you should have a great time. i went to the south punta cana, and it was great. trips can be expensive but if you are inclusive, then thats the only cost. Do you have a contact number for the embassy, or anyone else have itt available.

Originally posted by Cycleracer
Do you have a contact number for the embassy, or anyone else have itt available.

Sorry pal, that was two years ago. Should be on tinternet somewhere:thumbsup:

btw it took me ages to get through and you can just pay when you land. Think it might be a couple of quid extra and a 5 minute wait. Memory is not 100% though.

Ignore the negative posts. Everybody knows somebody who gets food poisoning blah blah blah, you know the usual crap. If it aint england i'm not having it:loopy: You know the usual crap you get about places aboard:loopy:

Would love to go back and yes outside the complex it is 3rd world, but thats part of the adventure and visiting somewhere new!!!

You should have a great time:thumbsup:

Never got food poisoning either in Dominican Republic or Antigua. Went self-catering and bought all of my food from the local markets so had to be up at the crack of dawn which was easy enough to do because that comes quite naturally to me.

Fresh fruit and veg puts me off the dross we get in this country. We had the most beautiful mangoes, breadfruit, pineapples and custard apples which puts everything they sell in Tesco et al to shame.

Be prepared for back to very basics. An educational eye-opener. Locals seem happy and it's a shame you're not planning to go anywhere much other than the compound; there are some incredibly beautiful places although as a single woman on your own I'd strongly recommend being a tad careful.

Incredibly beautiful beaches, mountains, sunsets and views. I'm sure you dont need anyone to say that as you're so fair do ensure you're well covered because it's very easy to get sunstroke etc.

I'd definitely go back again and again.

As it is very mountainous terrain, the weather can be quite variable so I'd take a couple of cardigans/jumpers if planning on any tours. Unlike Antigua, most of the beaches are very stoney because the mountains often start directly from the coast.

I also assume you'll be landing at one of their international airports which I hope is not the one we used for an inter-island hop. I cant ever recall being more terrified in my life.

During our flight the pilot put his plane on automatic so he could relax to read the paper while our plane rattled and shook its way across an incredibly beautiful blue ocean.

This fails to compare to the most unforgettable landing while our pilot flew straight in to the mountains rising up from the coast until he took the most extremely sharp right turn which I think was less than 500 - 1000 yards.

Terrified is the ONLY word to sum up how I felt at the time and I think it was classed as an international airport.

Originally posted by RobT
Sorry pal, that was two years ago. Should be on tinternet somewhere:thumbsup:

btw it took me ages to get through and you can just pay when you land. Think it might be a couple of quid extra and a 5 minute wait. Memory is not 100% though.

Ignore the negative posts. Everybody knows somebody who gets food poisoning blah blah blah, you know the usual crap. If it aint england i'm not having it:loopy: You know the usual crap you get about places aboard:loopy:

Would love to go back and yes outside the complex it is 3rd world, but thats part of the adventure and visiting somewhere new!!!

You should have a great time:thumbsup: That is tghe main reason to see different cultures.
Regarding vias i was looking at the embassy website and it now says you don't need a visa but a tourist card.:confused:

Originally posted by nick2
My other half used to work on a cruise ship and he said most of the Caribean (and places like that) are pretty grotty once you leave the hotel compound and see where the locals live.

A lot of the staff earn less than the price of a bic pen per week for 7 days of 12+ hour shifts.

I always wanted to visit places like that but now I'm not that sure, I don't know if I could turn a blind eye and enjoy myself, I'd feel guilty.

You shouldn't feel guilty. They'd be a lot poorer without tourism.

I got married there. If you go to a decent hotel then it will be fine.

Originally posted by caprice
Yeah it is all-in, so we should be fine... Pleanty of time to save up for extras anyway! It looks soooo nice, I just wish £420 would magically appear in my bank account so I could put down the deposit! lol

How long is the flight by the way?

Have you shopped around for this holiday?

We went with Thomson when we got married there. There was over 20 of us in all and, because it was a fairly last minute thing, Thomsons didn't have enough places. However, travel firms do sell on these holidays to other travel companies (they tend to buy up a whole hotel and then "spread" their risk, a bit like bookmakers do with large bets), which meant that, with a bit of hard online shopping, we were able to find the extra places we needed. As a bonus these places were each over £100 cheaper (can't remember actual saving) than Thomsons!

If you're not sure how to go about this then why not list your holiday on haggle4me.com (http://www.haggle4me.com) and get someone to do it for you in return for a share of any saving they find you. Funny enough, there is a Thomson holiday (http://www.haggle4me.com/browse/7-night-holiday-in-Croatia_categoryIdJJallZZlistIdJJ113) already on there and someone has found them £188 saving. If you do list on haggle4me remember to say how many people are going as this effects things like suppliments and you can also get discounts if there a few of you.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll have a great time... we did.

It's a long-haul and I think it was something like 13 hours although it was many years ago and flight speeds may have changed.

Originally posted by wendygs
It's a long-haul and I think it was something like 13 hours although it was many years ago and flight speeds may have changed. 10 hours now, still a ruddy long time stuck on a plane though.
Mind you got my portable dvd and plenty of pop to pass the hours away.