We first started our trip by booking a hotel in Ottawa for the night before because we found out last year that "sleeping" at home then driving to the airport at midnight really didn't work out for us because, although we were in the Dominican, our first day was pretty well a right off because we were dog tired.
So, even having a few more hours (minutes) of sleep was very helpful.
Our friends, Brian and Nicole Walters, had decided the week before we were set to leave, that they would also come to the Dominican with us; this made for a few very stressful days as we all tried to book an all inclusive for them at our resort but we were told that the Majestic Elegance was all sold out. Long story short, they were able to book into the Riu Palace Punta Cana, which Krista and I remember from last year, was being built in January 2011. So it was new and they apparently had only 1 room left, which Brian and Nicole got. We checked it out and it was very beautiful. Being such a "young" resort, the scenery wasn't grown yet, meaning there was no grass and the shrubs and palm trees were still growing and in a year or 2 it will look even more beautiful than it was when we were there.
The Majestic Elegance.
WOW!!!
As soon as we arrived at our resort, after dropping others off at theirs, we were immediately met by the bellmen and the hotel concierge who ushered us into the Elegance Club private check-in where we received our "Welcome" drink exclusive to that resort. Surprisingly it was called the "Majestic." Tasted like an orange creamsicle and we would indulge in at least one of those per day.
After the check in, we walked through the extremely large lobby that had the most amazing staircase I have ever seen. It was so nice that I immediately thought that this place was too expensive for us to be there.(The staircase is on the left).
Junior, our butler, took us on a tour of the grounds and because we had arrived 45 mins early, our room wasn't ready. So we had lunch at the See by the Sea beachfront restaurant. Now, you need to remember that we had just left frigid Ottawa about 5 hours before and now we were beachfront eating lunch. Hot by comparison. So the beer went down really well.
Lunch was over and Junior toured us a bit more. Showed us the beach, Elegance club only pools and lounge. After taking us into the air conditioned lounge he led us to our junior suite. Granite floor, dual sinks, walk in shower, fully stocked mini bar, in room jacuzzi, 4 post bed, living room, dual closets, and a flat screen plasma tv.
Heaven!?!
Last year when we visited R.D. we had such a hell of a time getting a room that we didn't get to enjoy our first day there but not this time. It was only 2:15pm and we were heading to the beach. We had said to Brian and Nicole before we left that around 3:30 we would head to the beach and turn right and start walking because their resort was down that way. They in turn would turn left and we'd meet in the middle. The looks on their faces when we met up with them was priceless. From what I understand, they had not been anywhere on a trip together besides their honeymoon. They loved it so much that after being there for only a few hours they had said that they think this could become an annual thing.
By this time I was about 10 beers deep.
Krista and I walked back to have dinner, neither of us was able to eat at the others resort so we always broke for dinner until the next day. I managed to make it back to the room and decided that at this point in time, I would become a scotch drinker as there was a bottle of Johnny Walker red Label in our room. Not such a good idea. As I was "walking" out of the room, Krista was coming back from the Elegance lounge and asked me what I was doing so I told her I was going to get some ice for my glass. Did she ever laugh at me. I sauntered back to the room and poured myself some took a sip then dumped the rest of the glass. I don't know what overcame me to think that I would like it but hey, why not try?!?
Dinner was a blur and so was the walk back. (18 beers and a sip of scotch probably helped that). I maintain it was because of not enough sleep that made me so drunk so I went to "sleep" at 8:30pm.
No hangover?!? They are not allowed in the Dominican!
The rest of the trip would be more of the same, except for the amount of booze consumed each day. We would walk up and down the beach and meet up with Brian and Nicole and we'd break for dinner. Some days we'd drink more than others, never getting as bad as that first day. The scotch experiment did not continue.
Just at our resort we must have seen 8 or 9 different weddings taking place, all of which triggered Kristas "allergies." (We say allergies when things get us choked up with emotion). The first one had the biggest "allergic reaction" to her because she immediately thought of my sister StephaniesHallihan.
The Melia Caribe Tropical will never be the same after we get there!
You would think that in a place like Punta Cana, you would never be ready to leave but since the children weren't with us, we were actually ready to leave.
All in all, a fantastic trip! We had a lot of laughs with each other, we were able to spend it with friends that we love, saw my coach from my Waterloo Twins days, and met new friends while we were there. (Krista called me "Dave", my fathers name, on more than 1 occasion, because I would talk to anybody).
Now we have time to focus on our own wedding in December of this year, then back to our home-away-from-home, Punta Cana, Domincan Republic for Steph and Mikes in 2013. Can hardly wait!
DH
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