We stayed in Punta Cana from Jan 29-Feb 6th, 2004.

The Palladium Fiesta (or vice versa, it is so hard to keep the names
straight) was our "home away from home # 2--due to our son being beaten
up by the staff at our first resort...so we were somewhat "captives of
the resort"..and thank god it turned out great! First of all, after
being shipwrecked, so to speak, at the other place, and shipped, via
taxi, to the Fiesta, we were very happy with the treatment the front
desk staff at the Fiesta displayed towards us. They were supposedly
informed by our travel agent, via fax, that we were coming...but they
really had no clue. However, Senor Juan Nixon and Wilma (sp?) treated
us royally, especially after I mentioned Senorita Jane...the resort rep
for our travel firm. From that point on, two days into our week trip,
things got a whole lot better. The staff is courteous and goes out of
their way to make one feeling at home. The way they jumped to it in
taking our bags or whatever else we asked for was refreshing,
and...most of all...the appreciativeness for any tip we gave them...was
most gratifying. We had been in the Tulum area of the Yucatan Peninsula
of Mexico last year and, while the place their (Bahia Principe Akumal)
was top notch, their staff wasn't as friendly and down to earth as
these people. It is clear that the Dominicans really do appreciate
having our business and the manner with which they were accomodating
was...par excellence. The grounds were beautiful. Their were three
Fiesta resorts in the same environs, actually not that far apart, but a
bit confusing if one got off the main avenue path...which is tempting,
as the buildings are set up so, at first glance, it appears that one
can "cut across" other landscape areas and get...more quickly...to ones
own..but, alas, after any amount of alcohol, even with little to none
actually, it is EASY TO GET LOST. My only real complaint, but..if one
stays on the main thorough faires, then things are found much more
easily. The food was excellent. We ate only at the buffets, as we
really enjoyed the choices available. They had one main option for
buffets, some near the 4 pools which we had access to, and their food
was good as well. The restaurants near the pools were great for
breakfast is always our favorite meal..as it gives more time to get rid
of the pounds during the day...provided one does something. We raved
about the Dominican coffee. Interestingly, when I asked a travel rep
(who, it turned out, was from Germany) how they got such fine
coffee..she looked at me like I was from the moon. Her comment? (Many)
Germans don't like the coffee here. I queried "Where are you from?" her
answer.."Germany". We didn't talk coffee any more. The secret, besides
the fine beans, is apparently to heat up the leche (milk) first and
then pour in the coffee...very nice, to say the least. The pools and
swim up bars were very nicely set up, and the staff..again...was "muy
bueno." The resort is owned by Spanish landlords, I believe, and the
vast majority of tourists were Spanish. Since I spoke some Spanish it
worked out fine. Those who make NO EFFORT to attempt Spanish will have
a more difficult time, obviously, since we were in the Carribean...what
does one expect. The few Americans we saw there were fine, no problems.
Quite a few Canadians, French Canadians and European French, plus a
considerable number of Brits and Germans made up the remainder of the
population, from what I could tell. We had great conversations with the
Brits; they were very well informed about the world political
situation...great fun asking them what was going to happen with Prime
Minister Blair. They enjoyed talking about it. The beach was fabulous,
though a bit crowded with three resorts somewhat together in a smaller
space than we hd last year at the Bahia Principe in the Yucatan.A
beautiful warm swimming area is set up with marked off areas to avoid
the deep water. No seeweed to speak of. One nuiscance, the speed boats
kept scurrying just beyond the roped off area, taking tourists to all
sorts of places for snorkelling, etc...a bit of a pain, noise wise, but
we got used to in.
Check in, as noted, was a bit of a problem...but only temporarily. The front desk staff was more than accomodating. The only real problem, and it was not serious, was in dealing with money...I didn't realize that I could not get US money there. We had US Travelers Cheques which, as it turned out, was perfect, as the Resort would cash them...but one had to be happy with getting the Dominican peso, which is fair enough. I found people there were every bit as happy to receive tips in the DR peso, and not having to get the US dollars...which seemed more the case in Mexico. I didn't see any ATM machines; though I understand some resorts do have them. A good question to ask. We found our Lonely Planet guide, which was excellent in every other way, not good in making it clear about the money situation..and the inability to get US money.
The last day there we were fine with hanging around the pool, imbibing
a bit much, but...it was the last day and we were fine with that. The
staff took our bags and stored them behind the front desk and then,
when our bus came, I went and got the 9 bags ..that's right, 9...and
transported them to the bus. The one bit of a pain was the fact that,
once we were, so to speak "done like dinner"..and on the way to leave,
the staff didn't have much to do with us, in terms of helping with
bags. That was ok, but something to keep in mind. 'm sure if one
flashed some cash they would jump, not that I blame them. We had no
problems with bugs, mosquitoes, bugs in the rooms, etc. that some
people complain about at some of the resorts. The eather was perfect,
even though rain was predicted almost every morning. It only rained
twice..once about 20 minutes at 9 am on day 2 and then when we were
leaving, the airport was under an absolute deluge at 8:15 pm at
night...most of the passengers were drowned rats when they finally came
aboard. All in all, I would rate the Fiesta Palladium a 4 and 1/4 star
place, though the accomodation we had..as others have commented
on...wasn't as luxurious as the other place we had been. I tried to get
an upgrade, and we could have paide 30$ per day more...but we decided
it was ok. There really were very few places, even the deluxe units,
which seemed to have much of a view of the water...so many palm trees
obscuring....so we felt fine about staying. One thing that occurred the
last day, which left a bad taste in my mouth, was that my golf hat from
Casa de Campo (The Teeth of the Dog course..ranked #34 in the world)
was missing. I had gone over in a rented van with my son and wife early
in our stay and played the course in La Romana..2 hours by van... and
purchased the hat. It ended up going missing the last day. I hate to
accuse the staff..so i won't. But, all I know is it was gone. I will
attempt to replace it, but not sure if it is possible. One other point:
I had thought we would rent a car. In Mexico we were advised not to, by
travel agents before we embarked...I later regretted it. The driving
really isn't too bad in Mexico. But, by comparison, the situation in
the DR is CHAOS. However, to be fair to the locals, they all seem to
know what they are doing...and they use their horns better (there is
some system and communicatin to each and every horn beep, none are done
for nothing...but it takes a while to figure it out) than any other
place I have been to. Not sure what they would do without them. But, it
seemed to work. We saw no accidents and, on the day we went over 2
hours to La Romana to play at the Teeth of the Dog golf course, we went
through a town ("little") called Higuey...which was so spread out, it
never seemed to end...we heard there were about 150,000+ people...some
"little" town. Guess how many stop lights? ONE. And not that many stop
signs. But, somehow, they have a system, which works. If I had been
driving I would probably still be there..trying to figure out the
"system." IN other words, I WOULDSTRONGLY ADVISE NOT TO RENT A
CAR....most of the vehicles there are little scooter bikes and the
people sometimes put their whole family of 4 or even 5 on one bike.
Scary. But it seems to work for them. Not a helmet in site.

All in all, one enjoyable holiday. We would definitely go back but next
time up north to the Samona region...and not an all-inclusive. Too much
food and drink is too easily available for this amigo.

The beaches were beautiful but, to be totally honest, I can't say they
had that much more of an impact on me than the beaches at the Mayan
Rivera except for one key item: these beaches didn't have a reef, like
it present in a considerable part of the Tulum-Akumal region of the
Yucatan.

If you hven't gone and you are thinking of it..I wuld say go sooner
rather than later...before the Dominicans are "spoiled" like the
Mexicans with all the "rich gringos'"coming from afar to sprinkle their
riches.