In November of 2021, I turned 50. As this coincided with the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World (the one in Florida), Mrs. TOK and I got together a big group of friends and planned an epic birthday trip. This had been in planning stages for years. But the trip turned out to be significantly less than magical. Our party ultimately dwindled from 30 to 9, making park and dining reservations became unruly and time consuming, the COVID policies at the parks were onerous, the usual stellar service and attention to detail were no longer there, and already high prices were increased even more.

We Need a Vacation from our Vacation

In December, when my father in law asked if we’d like to join him and my step mom in law on an all-inclusive trip to the Caribbean, which coincided with our wedding anniversary in February, we were all in. Sitting on a beach while other people take care of the details seemed like a great idea. After a few back and forth texts and calls, we found a travel agent and decided on visiting Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, at a resort called Dreams Palm Beach. It was all inclusive (including all food, drinks, and some activities). This was a cheaper resort, costing $2800 for the two of us for a week including airfare on Frontier, an upgrade to “Preferred Club”, and travel insurance including some COVID provisions. There were other fancier adults-only resorts nearby, but those could cost two to three times as much and were way out of our budget.

The Government Does Something Efficiently

This trip would require passports, which Mrs. TOK and I had never owned. So we went to the post office and put in our applications. We opted to pay the fees for expedited processing, knowing that even expedited, we were cutting it close by about two weeks. Our passports arrived in a record-breaking 19 days, still in the month of December.

Prep Work

One reason we chose the DR was because they do not have vaccine requirement for travel, as opposed to Mexico or the US Virgin Islands. With me under vaccinated and Mrs. TOK not at all vaccinated, this was an important factor. One thing they do require is an electronic form that is filled out 2 days before travel. This basically asks the reason for your visit, passport number, and “are you sick or have you been around sick people” questions. To re-enter the US, we would have to take a rapid COVID test 24 hours before our flight.

The Big Day Arrives

Our flight was around 6am, so on Sunday morning at 2am, we got in the truck and headed to pick up the in-laws a few towns over. We arrived at O’Hare Airport before 4am, parked the truck, then waited 30 minutes in single digit temperatures for a shuttle that was supposed to arrive every 10 minutes. The counter for Frontier had a long line and we made it to the gate just in time to board. The flight was a long 4.5 hours, which was fairly uncomfortable on a budget airline that had no Wi-Fi, uncomfortable seats, and no food service. But we stepped off the plane to 81 degree weather and all of that was forgotten. At the airport, they just looked at our passports, typed a few things into a computer, and sent us on our way.

The Resort

While not a five star resort, the room was decent even though it needed some maintenance. It had a bedroom, bathroom with separate toilet area, giant shower, and a patio. This was a Preferred Club room so it was nicer than the standard room. The grounds were beautiful, covered with plants and fountains. There were six restaurants, five pools, and several lounges and bars. You could get room service 24 hours a day, and anywhere on the resort and the beach there were servers who would get you drinks or food. There was a small casino, and nightly entertainment including DJ’s, a magic show, and a great performance by Cirque du Soleil. There was also an overpriced spa. The beach had nice white sand and wasn’t too wide, so it was perfect for me. It had shelters and chairs, and every day a staff member named Luis would set up four chairs for us right at the beach entrance.

The lovely grounds

A Preferred Club pool

A pool near the beach

Our spot on the beach, chairs courtesy of Luis. You can see one of the beach vendors at the far left.

Our room, but I forgot to take an inside photo

The view from our favorite beach-side restaurant

Trouble in Paradise

Upon arrival, we were given a bunch of papers to sign, and one of the staff members offered to give us $100 per couple credit for a “romantic dinner” if we visited one of the other resorts. We asked several times if this was a time share, and how long it would take, and he assured us it was a 15 minute ride there, and the presentation would only take as long as breakfast.

The next day, as we got into the van, we were informed it would be a 90 minute presentation. The van ride took 40 minutes instead of 15. When we arrived at the high end, beautiful Secrets resort we were quite angry. We complained to the staff, and they called Laura, the manager of several resorts. She apologized, gave us breakfast at their restaurant, and put us in a cab back to our resort.

Later in the week, Laura showed up at our table at breakfast and informed us she had given the staff member a talking-to, and she gave us $50 in resort cash per room. We never did go to the “romantic dinner” but I think this was handled pretty well.

INXS(ible)

We attempted to sign up for some off-resort side excursions including zip lining, swimming with dolphins, and snorkeling through Apple Vacations. However, the staff member in charge called each of the parks and informed us that they wouldn’t accept wheelchairs or crutches. There were boat excursions run by the resort, but when I tried to sign up for those I was given the same story, no disabled people because they had a bad experience one time.

Fortunately someone from the staff hooked us up with a few local guys with a boat who would take the two of us out for $100. It sounded sketchy but we both know how to swim… This turned out to be the highlight of the trip. They took us to view the dolphin encounter from the outside. Then we snorkeled on a reef for about 45 minutes and saw big schools of at least 15 varieties of fish. They gave us food so the fish would eat right out of your hand. After that they took us to a party cove, where the water was shallow and there were dozens of boats with people partying and playing loud music. The boat captain was a great guy, and he had two teenagers as helpers. One named Jose took photos of our trip. He was dancing on the boat, and taught us some Spanish and we taught him some English. Then at the party cove, he wanted to take our picture, and couldn’t communicate how he wanted us posed. So he said “I’m not gay”, and got behind me and demonstrated. That kid was a riot.

The Return Trip

This is where there were big differences between the DR and the US. At the airport we had to submit proof of a negative COVID test and fill out a “contact tracing” form. I have talked about the invasive TSA searches I usually get, but in the DR they sent me to a guy who just swabbed my wheelchair for explosives and didn’t even pat me down. The whole thing took about a minute. At the airport you were supposed to wear a mask, but they didn’t enforce that. Back in the US, we had customs forms to fill out, and then two customs checkpoints. Fortunately for some people who might be inclined to bring back Cuban cigars, they didn’t open up anyone’s luggage.

Random Thoughts

  • I was apprehensive traveling to a new country, but after a few days I got more relaxed and learned that the people at the resort were genuinely friendly and helpful.
  • The whole place was extremely humid. It rained a few days, which didn’t help. Our room and the bed sheet always felt damp, as did any clothes or papers that were left out. We ended up drying our clothes in the sun on the beach.
  • Fortunately our room was on the ground floor. There were no elevators, so I had to get out of my wheelchair to climb the stairs to get to two of the restaurants.
  • COVID restrictions at the resort weren’t too extensive. In restaurants they gave you hand sanitizer and a mask, which you could then take off right after you got to your table. The staff all wore masks, even on the beach.
  • There were people on the beach selling things, but they weren’t allowed to come up too far from the water. We bought some beach cover ups and cigars, and Mrs. TOK got her picture taken with some parrots, and iguana, and a monkey. The guys on the beach weren’t too pushy and left you alone if you said no. Inside the resort one night there were vendors with table set up, and those guys were pushy and didn’t take no for an answer.
  • The food was good or excellent at most restaurants. The portions were small but you could order as many things as you’d like, and if you were still hungry you could go to the buffet later. At one restaurant they had Dominican Night, featuring the local cuisine, which was quite tasty.
  • The local drinks in the DR are Colo Loco, which is a frozen drink with coconut and rum, and Mamajuana, which is a strong shot of either rum or wine that was stored in a bottle with a certain type of wood that added a spicy flavor. Coco Locos were amazing and we had a lot of those, but none of us liked Mamajuanas, which we all thought tasted like spicy cough syrup.
  • The water in the DR is not safe to drink, but all the bottled water you needed was included. Brushing your teeth with a bottle of water was only mildly inconvenient.
  • Service was much better than Disney World. Every day our room was cleaned, we got new sheets and towels, and our mini-bar was restocked with beer, water and soft drinks.
  • Preferred Club got you into two adults-only pools, a few exclusive restaurants, and top shelf alcohol. You also got the required COVID test for free instead of paying $35 for it. We paid an extra $80 per person for that, and it was well worth it.
  • You aren’t required to tip at the resort, but we appreciate good service and so we tipped almost everyone. American dollars go a long way so a $1 or $2 tip was customary, and we’d tip $5 at dinner or for something exceptional.
  • US phones don’t work in the DR, but as soon as got off the plane Verizon sent us a text message offering a $10 a day option to make our phones work. Mrs. TOK did that just so we had one working phone, and I kept mine on airplane mode and used the resort’s Wi-Fi.
  • I think Q is designing swim suits these days. They were a lot of high cut swim bottoms so many female butts were visible on the beach which was awesome quite shocking and inappropriate.
  • There were guests from several countries, but I think Canada, the UK , and Russia were most represented. There were also a lot of people from Michigan for some reason.
  • I had taken Spanish in high school, and used Duo Lingo a few times, but I wasn’t at all confident of my Spanish. I surprised myself and I was able to carry on a conversation, which turned out to be useful several times.
  • Despite the accessibility issues, I’d return to this resort. Mostly because we know what to expect, and know how to get around those limitation. However, I would also like to see the other side of the island, on the Caribbean Sea.
  • We kept in touch with our travel agent the whole trip, and she let us know that because of our experience, her tour company has started a program in which they will assess the accessibility of all their resorts.