Yeah,I know.
But I added Jamaica as an alternate destination for its extensive all-inclusive resorts.
And its weed.
I didn’t smoke then and I hadn’t since I was down there in 2007.
It was…OK.
However, it was rather weak (IMHO) when compared to some high THC indoor dank that a friend used to cultivate back in the 1990s.
But when you are a tourist, the “thrill” of smoking some ganga on what otherwise might be a dull vacation can help to take off some of the edge.
Yes, but it’s a helluva lot more fun when there’s an ocean just outside the door and you’re slightly buzzed on rum drinks.
Once-upon-a-time, we had just arrived at an AI in Jamaica that was famous for its grilled lamb chops at lunch. We were travelling with good friends. We dropped our suitcases and textiles in the room, headed to the pool, ordered lambcops, and stetched out on some lounges with a drink in hand. Just then, it started a light rain. I reasoned that, I would be just as wet in the pool. I looked over at my friend and asked, “Can you think of any reason we need to move?”
“Nope.”
And there we set until our lamb chops were ready.
So the moral of the story is: “If it rains, so what?”
Weather patterns are unpredictable there so take heart. You may have unexpected sunny times.
Eat!
Gamble
Read?
Evening dinner theater. Your hotel may also have evening shows and dancing.
Take transportation to town and see what there is to see.
Remember, it never rains in the bar.
Unless there’s lightning. Rain is fine. If you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to strike. Go the hell inside.
Or, if you’re at a swim-up bar, you’re already wet.
Our current ‘favorite place’ has a large swim-up bar in a large hot tub. So, if a late afternoon shower occurs, it’s the perfect place to be.
My experience in the Caribbean has been that the rain doesn’t last long. It’s easy enough to extend lunch under a gazebo or start dinner a little early. It’s all good.
I’ve never been during a hurricane. Some friends have, though. They told me that the resort staff moved everyone into the stoutest concrete building and played various games all day with plenty of alchohol and occasionally sandwiches.
It seems like half of the resorts I’ve been to I’ve seen a lonely looking ping pong table pushed into an out of the way corner somewhere, often with no balls or paddles in sight. Check the hotel activities list and some of the reviews on Trip Adviser. If ping pong is mentioned, bring your own paddles and balls.
Deck of cards.
Maybe some kind of party game that doesn’t take up a lot of space like Cards Against Humanity. I bet you could make friends pretty fast with a game like that and everyone trapped inside.
Truer words have never been spoken……
Are there caves to explore?
Also, drinking – if you’re stuck for the cost of the trip anyway, drinking want cost any more at an all-inclusive resort. You can’t say that about home.
Be sure to order a cold bottle of Presidente. IME, the people I spoke to in the DR were very proud of their local cerveza.
While I see the logic here, I really was kind of hoping there would be some suggestions other than “drink,” because while booze costs money at home, that cost is rather quite a bit less than the trouble of travelling for twelve hours round trip. I can buy a lot of beer for the equivalent of twelve hours’ worth of effort - probably more than I can drink in a week. The idea behind going there was to do something other than things we could do here. The all inclusive booze thing is nice but, really, it’s a fringe benefit.
Basically, it’s a lifetime dream shot down by a one in a thousand weather fluke, so I’m hoping to salvage something. Maybe there’s a good casino in Punta Cana? The one in our resort (Catalonia Royal Bavaro) appears to be just a little room with a few slot machines and a blackjack table.
Um, maybe there’s some really great liquor in the island that you can’t get at home?
Habla Espanol? Perfect time/place to practice.
You can go gamble at casinos in larger resorts if you like. I think there’s a Hard Rock Casino there.
There are casinos down there, and even if your resort doesn’t have one, they should have a shuttle. Other than that, in no particular order:
- eat
- drink
- exercise
- spa
- sex
- repeat as often as desired
If you have vacation insurance, check the fine print.
If not, well you are there with your fiance and there won’t be work or errands to keep you apart.
This might not be the question for me to answer though. This might be a job for…
[TSA] “…Four Boxes!? You know that your hotel sells these, right…?” [/TSA]
If there’s no sun, you’re probably gonna die. Seriously, I fall into the sex/exercise/sex/drink camp.
Go to town, you can have a heckuva lot more fun there than you ever would at the sunny old all inclusive resort with it’s bad free food and condo ripoff scams. One of the funnest nights of my life was in a bar in the town Playa Del Carmen on a night of amazing torrential rainstorms and 2 for 1 drinks…
I’ve been to both, and personally Punta Cana is no Playa Del Carmen. Not even close. YMMV.