First time at an all-inclusive resort: Breathless Punta Cana
I just came back from my first vacation to the Caribbeans (surprising) AND my first time at an all-inclusive resort. I couldn’t wait to write about my experience. It was ridiculous. Ridiculously amazing. I would totally do it again.
I almost thought I wasn’t going to make it because of Hurricane Fiona and Hurricane Ian. So note to self and other travelers: be conscious of choosing vacation dates around that area, especially during hurricane season because you don’t want to stress about the flight cancellations, re-routes, flooding resorts, etc. If you DO choose to fly during that time, I suggest purchasing a flight ticket with insurance so you can cancel anytime for a full refund on the app/website instead of calling/chatting with the airline representative and requesting a refund instead of an E-credit. My experience with Delta (for a separate trip around the same time to Tampa for a medical conference) was superb. You don’t need to call — you can just chat/text with a Delta rep via iMessage.
Breathless Punta Cana All-inclusive Resort, Dominican Republic
It took only 3.5 hours to fly to Punta Cana from JFK in NY. We did 5 days and one sum paid for round-trip airfare, pool-facing room with a king-size bed, jacuzzi on the balcony, all- meals, all-drinks, and round-trip transportation between the airport and the resort (opt-in but highly recommend — the Amstar company makes it very seamless and stress-free). I think that’s a pretty good deal.
Note: if you go to the DR, don’t forget to fill out the digital custom declaration form of the DR at home before your flight. This is why I couldn’t check-in online for the flight and had to go to the kiosk to show the American Airlines agent the digital QR code.
So we stayed at Breathless Punta Cana. If you’re traveling without children, I highly recommend staying at a resort that is adult only. Not only is the vibe better, the facilities and restaurants will be much better. My favorite parts of the trip were the dinners. There were about 4–5 restaurants at Breathless and all of them were pretty fancy and the ambiance was so great. There was Culinaria (international), Croquette (French), Spumante (Italian), Silk City (Hibachi), and a Mediterranean place that we didn’t go to. We went to Culinaria and Croquette and those were top notch — they reminded me of the fancy restaurants you visit in New York City. Loved them. They had great apps and entrees (including confit duck, steaks, seafood). When we went to Dreams Onyx (family-friendly) next door, we went to the steak restaurant but it wasn’t as fancy and the food wasn’t as good. But at least you get to try different restaurants at the resort next door if you go to Breathless.
Drinks were good. Have an idea of what tropical drinks to order. I love pina coladas but they were pre-made ones. I was looking forward to freshly blended pina colada and was met with disappointment but I should have expected that if it was bottomless drinks at an all-inclusive resort. Pina coladas, sammy sosa, miami vice, mudslide, frozen daiquiris, margaritas, mojitos. Their known beer in DR was a pilsner called Presidente and they serve that on tap everywhere.
The spas were like $300+ which I think is overkill if you want a massage. We opted for finding a person on the beach offering massages. It’s a bit shadier but they’re right on the beach and just bring you to their tables on the beach. They are negotiable.
We also did two excursions. The way it works is that you meet the Amstar rep in the lobby and talk about excursions with them. They show you a pamphlet of ones you can choose. They had zip-lining, horseback riding, deep sea fishing, dune buggy, historical visits, monkeys, etc. We did the dune buggies and horseback riding. I am really scared of heights and I couldn’t bring myself to do the zip-line. But this was was my first time riding a horse and I loved it! It was so much better than I thought and the horses are very well trained. I would do it again and ride horses even at home. The dune buggies were great too — just very dusty so I would bring a bandana (we bought them). We got to drive them around to a lagoon then a small building where they were showcasing mamajuana (rum/wine/honey and herbs drink), hot cocoa, and coffee. We had lunch part of our package and it as traditional DR chicken, rice, beans — so good! I learned that it’s important to account for the drive to your excursions because you don’t want to waste a few hours traveling to the destination if you’re busy doing stuff. You’ll get back late.
Another thing I wanted to bring up is the “World of Hyatt program” that the reps try to entice you into participating in. When you give your coupon to the rep, they’ll ask you to have breakfast with you and to get through a 90 minute presentation about joining the Hyatt member program. They get you to do it by offering $100 discount on your excursion or $200 off spa or something (ONLY if you can PROVE you are a couple). Otherwise, if you’re not living together it won’t work. Anyways, we got looped into it and the entire thing was like two hours long and it’s a lot of time commitment in the morning that takes away from your vacation. They don’t really tell you the whole truth — I thought it was going to be a breakfast and you talk to reps and what not but it’s a private meeting with the rep and breakfast and walking you through the resort and telling you stuff. And you can’t get out of it because you need to get to the end to get the $ perk. So it’s tough because we got really annoyed at how long the presentation was and lost patience. So if you’re willing to sacrifice 2–2.5 hours of your morning/lunch for $100 to discount your excursion or spa, do it. I think we’ll skip it next time.
That’s all the thoughts I have so far about my resort experience. Overall, LOVED it. Would do it again and would recommend this resort if you have not been to Punta Cana or DR yet. I can’t wait to book my next all-inclusive trip and relax again. This makes me think about my next credit card application and travel perks now…
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