Zx2guy19 Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Wife and I booked an All-Inclusive trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for September 30th-October 5th. Our one year wedding anniversary is in May so this was our gift to ourselves. The trip is: 5 nights Airfare included from Columbus Airport All-Inclusive Food All-Inclusive Alcohol $399 each, $798 total. We added on a direct shuttle to and from the airport (in DR) for $50 more (indirect with stops was $40). Total we spent $848 for 5 nights, all-inclusive, with airfare. The resort is rated 3+/5 on Trip Adviser- most people said it needs more modern updates, but for this price, fuck it. We are going to Panama for 11 days in June to visit her family so this is just a bonus trip for us. We are going with another couple...but curious, has anyone done a Groupon Getaway before? All of this has already been booked through a travel agency and we've gotten confirmation on our flight number, room number, etc. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 That sounds amazing for the price. Subscribing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRTurbo04 Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Never done one but alot of people do the ones off living social (same thing almost) and seem to have had a good experience Wease did this one http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117871 But am i reading this right u got a hotel and flight for 5 days and all food and booze for 400 bucks a person? ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 That's ridic to consider airfare is included at that price. Looking forward to hearing how it goes in the fall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 I saw that last week. The GF and I are going to take this trip. It's actually $499 a person for the date we chose. You cannot beat that price for all that's included. Flights alone are worth that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 Sweet Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Jesus Christ that's a great deal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Went to Punta Cana in October 2013. Many resorts were not built up to what the picture lead us to believe. Make sure you read all the reviews of where you are staying. We were at an adult only all inclusive, and bought our package six months out. It still ran us about $3400 for a week there, plus spending another $700 going out on excursions. We drank and ate our money's worth on the beach, but have decided we don't need to go back there. Btw, free porn on channel 95 was an interesting surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big A Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 The wife and I did one 2 years ago to Punta Cana. It was 7 days with direct flight from Cinci for around $700 a person. The deal was on groupon from Vacation Express. I believe we stayed at the Be Live Grand resort. I always say we got what we paid for and really had no complaints. We looked on tripadviser at the hundreds of reviews so we had an idea what we were getting into. They provided bus shuttle from the airport to the resort. Our flight was delayed and Vacation Express put us up in a hotel at the airport. We left the following morning and got there in the early morning. We filled out some paperwork on the plane and they reimbursed us for the night we missed. We went to a time share pitch for a free gift. Looking back i would not do that again as the salesmen were very rude. With our package we were limited to the house liquors. After we gave the bar tender a nice little tip he would deliver the drinks to us in the pool. The resort was slightly smaller and had "8 different restaurants." Only 4 of them were open each day and you had to make reservations. The food was just alright but i wasn't expecting anything special given what we paid. The beach was nice and had plenty of chairs and umbrellas at our resort for when we were there. There were people walking up and down trying to sell you anything they had. The resort did a good job of keeping them closer to the water so they would not bother you too much if you were in the chair area. The resort would also have a vendor night where they would set up tables throughout the resort with all kinds of souvenirs for sale. Don't pay anything close to their asking price and don't fall for any of their tricks. We had one guy start to fake cry talking to my wife, he quickly stopped and got shitty when i came over and told him we were not interested. When we first got there we had a meeting with a vacation express representative where he pitched us all the different activities we could do. The only thing we opted to do was some snorkeling, which we had a blast doing. We made friends with 4 other couples that all purchased the same groupon deal as we did. Between the 10 of us i think we covered every activity and we all had positive experiences. Let me know if there is anything else I might be able to help with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 We said we would do the time share pitch, they were doing free excursions if you did. The morning of, we brought our passports for the ID they needed. They said we need your drivers license. I stuck with the passport, telling them this is all we will use. I didn't want our address involved. The guy got pissed off and told me I was costing him $100 and he had paid for us to be in the time share brief. We stood up and told him it was a scam if they can't use a passport for ID. To say they were rude is being nice. They cussed about me in Spanish to each other before we walked out. Don't waste you time on the resort tour, go walk around on your own. We were with vacation express also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zx2guy19 Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Thanks everyone! All great feedback...I was equally surprised that it included flight...that's why it sold out so quick. It was listed Friday and sold out in every city for September on Friday...crazy. A few things: My wife and I went to Cancun last May for our honeymoon for 7 nights...it was $3417 for literally all the same stuff, just 7 nights and in Mexico instead of DR. We had a blast and snorkeled as well. Also, my wife speaks Spanish so she can tell them to fuck off. We also get "native" pricing on almost everything because she does the entire conversation in Spanish. This vacation is also through Vacation Express- I'm fine with them trying to sell me shit. We visit Panama every other year (my wife is Panamanian) so I am used to that- it's the same way. Putty- yeah, we selected the 30th due to the price, but October was $499. I think we got an incredible deal...I'm pretty excited. Here is the link in case anyone is interested: http://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-vacation-express-vista-sol-punta-cana-1?p=1&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&sid=16614384-8111-42bc-be65-fa08b8fe817a&division=columbus&user=de0aa88bbb5106c9369e513b35b4cc23913f1ec3ae79be8151c0f661c749fb2d&date=20150223&s=getaways_widget&c=image&d=getaways_deal-page&utm_campaign=16614384-8111-42bc-be65-fa08b8fe817a And the Trip Adviser for the resort: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g3176298-d218483-Reviews-Vista_Sol_Punta_Cana-Bavaro_Punta_Cana_La_Altagracia_Province_Dominican_Republic.html#photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wease Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Never done one but alot of people do the ones off living social (same thing almost) and seem to have had a good experience Wease did this one http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117871 Thanks for posting mine, so I didn't have to go look for it. We had a great time in Roatan, I can't wait to go back. Well worth the money for that trip. I hope you have fun and remember to report back on how it went! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zx2guy19 Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Thanks for posting mine, so I didn't have to go look for it. We had a great time in Roatan, I can't wait to go back. Well worth the money for that trip. I hope you have fun and remember to report back on how it went! Damn, look at my post in that thread, ha! I was on my honeymoon when I typed that. Glad to hear it went well- some things are too good to be true but this sounds like it's going to be pretty damn fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berto Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 I did 7 night jamaica trip all inclusive with airfare direct from cincinasty for $699 per person. The deal was through travelzoo/vacation express. Pretty much echo some of the items above. It was a 3 star resort. Be careful with the reviews there are a lot of posters with only 1 post....very suspicious of hotel staff paid to sit there and make glowing reviews. Also some of the bad reviews where it was people with just ridiculous expectations. I guess if i paid 2k a person i'd have been upset. The food was meh. Found a jerk chicken stand that was open all the time and it was pretty darn good. Ate jerk chicken all day err day. All food all drinks included. I was actually glad we paid less for the vacation because we didn't feel guilty about exploring off side and going on excursions. We were able to use money we didn't spend on the hotel to do an excursion every day. Had a great time off side. I heard dominican republic is a bit sketchy off resort but jamaica was just fine. Loved cliff jumping at ricks cafe. Seriously $100 a night per person including air I was really wondering how they keep the doors open on the place. Granted it was a smoking deal and others were paying excess of $1500. I'd do it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zx2guy19 Posted February 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 I did 7 night jamaica trip all inclusive with airfare direct from cincinasty for $699 per person. The deal was through travelzoo/vacation express. Pretty much echo some of the items above. It was a 3 star resort. Be careful with the reviews there are a lot of posters with only 1 post....very suspicious of hotel staff paid to sit there and make glowing reviews. Also some of the bad reviews where it was people with just ridiculous expectations. I guess if i paid 2k a person i'd have been upset. The food was meh. Found a jerk chicken stand that was open all the time and it was pretty darn good. Ate jerk chicken all day err day. All food all drinks included. I was actually glad we paid less for the vacation because we didn't feel guilty about exploring off side and going on excursions. We were able to use money we didn't spend on the hotel to do an excursion every day. Had a great time off side. I heard dominican republic is a bit sketchy off resort but jamaica was just fine. Loved cliff jumping at ricks cafe. Seriously $100 a night per person including air I was really wondering how they keep the doors open on the place. Granted it was a smoking deal and others were paying excess of $1500. I'd do it again. Awesome insight. The good thing is, I did not find one gleaming review...all were either 3 or 4...I personally saw VERY few 5's, so I feel like it's pretty accurate. Glad to hear you had a good time man, I feel totally comfortable with it. I will say, for our $3500 Cancun trip, the food was fucking awesome. Literally Hyde Park/Ocean Club quality for dinner, and bit less for breakfast and lunch. I gained 9 lbs in 7 days (granted I was cutting up until my wedding, so I was carb deprived). If the food is decent, I'll make due. It's in the middle of when I start to bulk, woot! (Oct 1st). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVRINGS Posted February 25, 2015 Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 BTW I just wanted to say I didn't see this, but my wife and I are going with another couple Sept 12-17. Let me know if anyone else is going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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