Punta Cana excursion honeymoon help

Jconsilio23

Hello, My fiancé and I are going to Punta Cana for our honeymoon in about a month and we didn't book any excursions or anything yet. We thought we would do that once we got there. Can anyone recommend good ones? I heard the Outback safari was pretty cool. Also, can anyone tell me about how to or best way to exchange money. Thanks!

silver0319

My H and I are going to Punta Cana for our HM next month, too.  We haven't booked any excursions, since we plan on doing that once we get to our resort. 

Some of the excursions I've seen listed include ATVs, Catamarans, Segway Tours, Ziplining, and Horseback Riding.

CamiSelene

We're going there for our HM next month too! We haven't booked any excursions yet either. Like PP, we figured we would do it once we get there. Our resort already has a lot of things that we can do so we want to wait and see what else we would like to do.

For us, horseback riding is a must. We both grew up with horses around, I competed professionally both english and western style up till high school and FI competed in rodeo's as a kid. Thankfully, horseback riding is included at our resort!

AprilH81

What resort?  Our resort had horseback riding as part of the honeymoon package (free).

We did two off resort excursions one was whale watching in Samana (only available January-March) and we went swimming with nurse sharks and sting rays. Both excursions were "okay" nothing great but nothing horrible.

The resorts will have at least one, but most likely several, excursion desks with staff there to answer questions and make reservations.  I did research ahead of time but there wasn't a large price different between booking online ahead of time or booking on the resort.

We didn't change any money.  We brought some cash but put our excursions and large purchases on a credit card that does not charge a foreign transaction fee.  The local vendors that have huts all took US dollars without question.

Jconsilio23

Thank you so much! I heard the outback safari and ATV rides were awesome. We are staying at the Now Larimar. Anyone else?

CamiSelene

We are staying at Excellence.... ATV would be fun! Then again, we live out in the country so we can ATV here quite a bit, nothing super new. lol

AprilH81

CamiSelene said:

We are staying at Excellence.... ATV would be fun! Then again, we live out in the country so we can ATV here quite a bit, nothing super new. lol

Cami, we went to Excellence for our honeymoon.  The resort is beautiful but the beds are hard as rocks.  They do have some mattress pads available but they were more "mattress protectors" than foam pads.

Be sure to request the honeymoon package.  It doesn't cost anything and there are a few nice perks.

CamiSelene

AprilH81 said:

CamiSelene said:

We are staying at Excellence.... ATV would be fun! Then again, we live out in the country so we can ATV here quite a bit, nothing super new. lol

Cami, we went to Excellence for our honeymoon.  The resort is beautiful but the beds are hard as rocks.  They do have some mattress pads available but they were more "mattress protectors" than foam pads.

Be sure to request the honeymoon package.  It doesn't cost anything and there are a few nice perks.

Great tip, thanks April! We did request the honeymoon package when we booked it.... now let's just hope FI gets his passport in time! He sent the application in late despite my constant reminders but the passport office said he SHOULD have it in time. I told him if he doesn't, I'm taking my MoH. Hahaha

ebrady2327

We stayed at Secrets Royal Beach (which is attached to the Now Larimar) last October.  We booked our trip through Apple Vacations, so they had us meet with an Apple rep at the resort to discuss excursions.  We really wanted to relax, so the only excursion we did was the ziplining.  We loved it!  I can't remember the name of the zipline company off the top of my head, but if the Now Larimar can recommend anything to you, they're probably pretty good.  

tcnoble

@CamiSelene‌ we did horseback riding in Punta Cana on a family trip many years ago... And as someone who also has been riding and competing since I was a kid, it's a sorry disappointment lol I think it's easier for people to enjoy it when they don't know how to ride. In my prior experiences with vacation horseback riding, the horses are in auto pilot and don't care if you've competed in the Olympics or have never sat on a horse. I found it to be more frustrating than enjoyable, but that was just my experience. Hopefully yours is a little better!!

AprilH81

tcnoble said:

@CamiSelene‌ we did horseback riding in Punta Cana on a family trip many years ago... And as someone who also has been riding and competing since I was a kid, it's a sorry disappointment lol I think it's easier for people to enjoy it when they don't know how to ride. In my prior experiences with vacation horseback riding, the horses are in auto pilot and don't care if you've competed in the Olympics or have never sat on a horse. I found it to be more frustrating than enjoyable, but that was just my experience. Hopefully yours is a little better!!

That was my experience too.  We did a ride on the beach at the resort (Excellence PC) and the horses didn't react to my commands no matter what and I've only been on a horse about 10 times in my whole life.

We also rode horses to some waterfalls in Samana and we just had to hold on, the horses just followed the path...

mariahlr10

We're going to the DR, too! We're staying a week at Melia Caribe Tropical and a week at Majestic Colonial. We also haven't booked anything like that. I'd love to do something like that though!