Punta Cana AI resort on a budget?

Re: Punta Cana AI resort on a budget?

• LondonLisa member

  

  April 2018 edited April 2018

  Knottiefdcfd7d81b3a2725 said:

  My travel agent keeps insisting that my FH and I forget about our budget and splurge on a luxury resort to ensure we get the "honeymoon effect" from it. Of course that would be nice, but she won't even give us much info on the cheaper resorts because she's convinced we're just being stingy and will "come around eventually." I know the names of a few cheaper resorts and some general information about them, but online photos can be very deceiving and I'm worried some of these may be too good to be true.
  
  Some of the resorts in our unfortunate price range include:
  Melia Caribe
  Grand Bahia (various locations)
  RIU (" ")
  Occidental
  Ocean Blue & Sand
  Dreams
  Now
  
  I would greatly appreciate any comments/suggestions/experiences that anyone has had with any of these resorts, both good AND bad. I've seen several posts about nicer and more well-known resorts such as Excellence, Breathless, Iberostar, etc., but I'd love to hear about any others I may have missed!

  My best suggestion would be get a new travel agent!
  
  Anyone who works for you and doesn't respect your budget or tries to upset you is terrible at their job! She wants you to spend more because she makes more money that way.
  
   This goes with ANY wedding vendor.

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• SoonToBeSmith0512 member

  

  April 2018

  Agreed with getting a different agent. A good one will work with you to have the best possible HM within your budget.
  
  Or, you could forgo the agent entirely and book for yourselves online. For example, check out Apple Vacations. I actually went to Punta Cana a couple years ago for about a week under $1000. There are also plenty of reasonable options on Groupon. Again, I’ve used in the past and would recommend. Most of the online options have live agents in case you want to talk to an actual person too, but it’s easy enough to DIY too! 
  
  Regardless, I’m sure you’ll get the “honeymoon effect” no matter the amount you spend. It will be a magical time one way or another!

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• ernursej member

  

  April 2018

  I would ditch your agent and plan yourself. Do not go beyond budget. It will never be worth it to come home and deal with the bill. I would figure out what you are most interested in. If having a nice, upgraded room is important, look for resorts that have recently done an upgrade. If food is your number one, look for places that have positive comments on that aspect. You won’t be able to have everything you want, but you should be able to get something nice. It will be a honeymoon no matter where you go. 

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  April 2018

  I agree with the posters above...time to get yourself a new agent.  Or start researching things and book it yourself. 
  
  No way would I spend anymore time with someone who refuses to listen.

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• MRDCle member

  

  April 2018

  When I was looking into our honeymoon resort, someone on TK mentioned looking up facebook groups specific to that resort.  It ended up helping us tremendously before we left.  I would suggest picking your top three in your price range and joining a couple groups? 

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• Ro041 member

  

  April 2018

  ^^ That was me!  It is soooo helpful.  (Btw - I still recommend Excellence.  EPC is cheaper than some of the others and we booked through AAA).  

  
  

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• MRDCle member

  

  April 2018

  Ro041 said:

  ^^ That was me!  It is soooo helpful.  (Btw - I still recommend Excellence.  EPC is cheaper than some of the others and we booked through AAA).  

  UGH I LOVED EXCELLENCE. And obviously I don't know OPs budget but our agent got us a really great deal on 7 days at ERC including the honeymoon package and flights.  

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• banana468 member

  

  April 2018

  I'd sack the agent.   No one should try to convince you to spend more money than you're comfortable with.   

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• ab412 member

  

  May 2018

  I feel like I could've written your post myself!   My TA insisted we spend $12,000 at Sandals in Barbados even though I told her I had a budget of $5000.
  
  I ditched her and spent hours researching myself.
  
  I was down to Now Larimar, Ocean Blue and Majestic Mirage.
  
  I joined the facebook groups for each and found out that Ocean Blue is a huge choice for Spring Breakers (our honeymoon is in March),   so I dropped that from our list.
  
  We have decided on Majestic Mirage!  Airfare & Hotel came in under $4k

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