Отель Be Live Grand Punta Cana 5* Hotel Be Live Grand Punta Cana 5*

My wife and I rested in the Dominican Republic at the Be Live Grand Punta Cana 5 * hotel from the end of November to the beginning of December 2011. The choice of the hotel was determined solely by the budget - up to 110 tr. for a period of at least 12-14 days. A familiar travel agent could not tell anything intelligible about this hotel, advising to read reviews on the Internet, which we did at our leisure. Initially, the reviews found were more or less positive, we fit into the budget, and we booked a tour, especially since the travel agent also gave a discount. When everything was determined with the date of departure, length of stay, hotel, we decided to study the topic in more detail and understand what awaits us in this unknown and distant country. As luck would have it, we began to come across not entirely happy reviews from tourists or reviews that were clearly written by either tour operators or people who write custom articles for websites for money.
Knowing that “there are no comrades for the taste and color”, we decided not to completely trust the information from the Internet, but to go to rest in this hotel with a positive mood and be sure to write our review upon arrival, which may help someone when choosing this hotel .


So, let's begin.

FLIGHT. Departure from Domodedovo via Transaero on a Boeing 777-200 - the plane is quite fresh. Flying to Punta Cana is more than 12 hours and it's tiring. Airplane food sucks. The monitors in the chairs do not work, even the flight card could not be properly connected, not to mention music and video. After some time, it became clear why the clever people from Transaero did not want to borrow their passengers for free. The stewardesses began to give out a set-top box with films, games and music for 1 ton. By the way, on the way back it cost already 40 bucks.
The plane is filled exclusively with Russian tourists, so drinks from the dutik begin to be consumed when the plane has not yet begun its movement along the runway. In flight, especially smart citizens, despite repeated warnings, tried three times to smoke in the toilet, after which the alarm instantly went off. And only after the pilot threatened that he would now land the plane on an emergency, they stopped the tobacco addicts. But in general, the flight took place in a friendly and cheerful atmosphere, there were no very drunk people.

THE AIRPORT. We arrived in Punta Cana at 4 pm, the Dominican Republic met us with sun, warmth and stuffiness. The air terminal-hut seems so only to arriving passengers. When you fly away, you will find comfortable waiting rooms with air conditioning, cafes of world brands, duty-free shops. By the way, Dominican rum, cigars and local souvenirs in the duty-free zone are twice as expensive as you can buy them on the streets.

All other goods, as in a regular duty-free shop, are very cheap. But back to the flight. Customs formalities take 15 minutes, fill out an immigration card (it is also in Russian), for 10 bucks you get another card for customs control. Hand luggage is checked manually by 10-12 people, and the inspection is mainly for women, you can go between two long tables with checking employees and not show anything to anyone at all. You get your luggage, and immediately a huge crowd of airport employees in uniform and with badges rushes towards you, asking you for the name of your tour operator. If you answer, as we do, for example, they will snatch your luggage from your hands, immediately turn around the corner and, after walking 10 steps, put your suitcases in front of the counter you need an operator. After that, you will be urged to pay for the service (1 bucks).
In the Dominican Republic, tourists are seen as a source of income, if you are not local, the price will always be 2-3 times more, so the boy who touchingly pinned a flower plucked right there to your companion’s hair, the girl who handed you a napkin to wipe her mud-stained face after the race off-road on a buggy - all of them will immediately want to get a well-deserved reward from you. If you have used their services, pay, and do not forget that people live here mostly in poverty.
But it was a lyrical digression. The girls with Natalie quickly put us on the bus, and almost took us by the hand to him. A container with a cold free bottle of water was waiting for us at the bus.

The advantage of the Be Live Grand Punta Cana hotel is that it is close to the airport and you will be at the reception in 40 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised that the accompanying guide did not leave the trail. the hotel has not yet settled all the tourists.
Although this may not be very pleasant for those who are heading to the farthest hotel and waiting on the bus. While the room was being decorated, everyone was brought a welcome cocktail Cosmopolitan, but in the rush of resettlement, it was not possible to fully feel its charm. Well, okay, we'll make up our own. You can immediately pay for the safe in the room, it costs 3 bucks per day, you will be given a key and a lock cylinder, which you will insert into the safe. But about the safe later.

MEETING WITH THE GUIDE. The next day after arrival began with a tropical downpour that did not stop for several hours, although it poured periodically at night. Therefore, the first meeting with the hotel guide took place under the sound of a downpour. We were pleased that at the meeting they did not immediately sell us excursions, but told us in detail what and where is in the hotel and how to use it, and a brief excursion into the peculiarities of staying in the country.

The guide immediately asked who took the safes yesterday and advised him to return them, saying that stealing money in hotels in the Dominican Republic is a national tradition, and that they are most often stolen from the safe. It was a little encouraging that they do not usually steal video, photo equipment and telephones, but it is also not worth throwing all this in the room. Since the country is poor, there is no need to tempt the staff. We decided to leave the safe, we must leave our passports, credit cards, camera and phone somewhere. The advice of the guide to always carry money with you seemed ridiculous to us. Any suitcase has so many secluded places that you can easily store all your cash. So, despite the fact that our friends were stolen several times in previous trips in the most expensive hotels in the Dominican Republic, we did not lose anything. Speaking of rain. The downpour ended and we made our way to the beach.
Repeated warnings about the dangerous Dominican sun had not yet settled into our heads so firmly, it was cloudy, the sun practically did not shine through and we spent 3 hours on the beach. As a result, in the evening, with my swarthy skin, I felt an unpleasant burning sensation, and our new friends with whom we flew in turned pink and were grateful for the solid supply of Panthenol. Want to have a bronze tan - at least 3 days of sunscreen and spend time under a canopy from 13 to 16 in the afternoon

THE BEACH OF THE HOTEL. If you want to take a seat under a makeshift palm leaf umbrella, you need to do this before 7.30-8.00 in the morning. You will always find free sunbeds, but you will have to drag them all the time after the thin shadow from tall palm trees. Although after 1 pm the sun will bake so that half of the tourists will go either for lunch or to their room, in order to crawl out onto the sand again by 4 pm.
The coastal strip near the hotel is very dirty with algae, about 1.5 m is solid porridge, and these algae swim everywhere up to the buoys. Obviously, this is due to the structure of the lagoon, the hotel is extreme and is located next to a small portico. Local workers struggle with algae from early morning until evening, raking them with rakes and taking them away in wheelbarrows, but this is Sisyphean work, waves beat more and more portions of algae every minute. On the first day, they even had to drive a huge tractor to somehow clear the strip of beach near the water. But that's not a problem, you can always walk 100m to the left where the water gets clearer and clearer. There are 4 hotels on one beach spit: Be Live Bavaro, Be Live Punta Cana, Dreams Palm Beach Punta Cana, Natura Park Resort and you can walk along the beach promenade past all these hotels without hindrance up to the "wild" beach. "Wild Beach" is a separate issue.

It is here that snow-white sand without algae, turquoise clear water without sandy turbidity, palm trees that have fallen into the ocean and on which tourists like to take pictures so much. Therefore, many make a many-kilometer walk along the coast, meeting sellers of shells ($5), souvenirs and freshly picked coconuts ($1.5-2) on the way.

HOTEL. It was only upon arrival that the guides learned that the Punta Cana tourist area includes the Cabeza de Toro and Bavaro areas. Be Live Hotel is located in the Cabeza de Toro district. Cabeza de Toro is home to the other three hotels mentioned above and not far from Catalonia Bavaro. The main place of concentration of Punta Cana hotels is a place called Bavaro. Please note that the Be Live hotel is located far from the main road to Bavaro, so you can’t get there on foot, you have to take a taxi.
The territory of the hotel is compact, if not small. The buildings are one to another, there are very few rooms with sea views.
On the same territory there are two hotels Be Live Punta Cana building 1-6 (blue bracelet) and Be Live Bavaro building 8-11 (red bracelet). The latter is higher in class and more expensive, and its guests can use the services of both hotels. Although, when there are not enough rooms in Be Live Punta Cana, they can also settle in the more expensive Be Live Bavaro (but you will still have the same blue bracelet). Because of this confusion, you can try to use the services of a more expensive hotel: bars, restaurants, swimming pools. We must pay tribute to the hotel, the territory is clean, well-groomed, the staff is friendly, friendly, you have to say “ola’” to everyone hundreds of times a day - hello! Large pool with bar but the water is too chlorinated.
The population of the hotel is multinational, Russian percent 20-25%, the rest: Americans, Germans, Spaniards, French, Canadians, Argentines, etc.
The staff persistently teaches the Russian language, and perhaps they will do it with your help, but success is often limited to a set of “hello-how are you-thank you-brother” Sometimes they can speak English, which is not far from your school curriculum. But there is practically no serious language barrier, you will always be helped. I advise you to learn a dozen or two of the simplest Spanish words before the trip - it works flawlessly on the natives!

The rooms are certainly not for a 5 star hotel - quite clean but old, cleaned every day, sometimes they forget to bring some of the towels. Volumes have been written about the slowness of the Dominicans, everything is confirmed. You can come at 17 o'clock from the beach, and your room has not been cleaned yet, but the old wet towels have already been taken away. Do not worry, they will remove and bring everything. And do not forget to leave a dollar for the maid, otherwise she can do you harm (from the advice of a Russian guide).
If initially there are no cups, glasses, coffee makers, coffee in the room like we have, feel free to go to the Russian hotel guide Christina, they will bring everything in a day. The minibar has a free bottle of sprite, a bottle of cola, 1.5 liters of water and two cans of local beer, refilled every day. But the beer at the bar is much better. The reception sells Marlboro cigarettes for 5 bucks. There is a luggage scale in the lobby, and you can weigh your luggage before departure (1 bucks), as well as pack it in a film (7 bucks)

A modern shopping center is being built next to the hotel (100 m to the left), but so far only one store is working, and even then the prices in it are absolutely not encouraging. But! Opposite the shopping center under construction, across the road, there is a local souvenir market where you can buy everything that will please yourself and your loved ones. There is also a hairdresser's, a communications salon, and a tourist police post. The whole market is sheds, but this should not scare you.

I will not describe everything that you will see in Santo Domingo, there is information about this in almost every review. The tour operator costs 90 bucks, but it's better to take her VIP for 120 dollars - because you have to visit many historical places, in a group of 25 people it is better to listen to the guide than in a group of 50 people. Yes, and to see the sights, take pictures, you will be more comfortable, there is more time for each stop. At the end of the tour, you will be taken to a lure shop and there you will buy RON BARCELO Imperial rum 0.7 l for 20 bucks and wonderful Dominican coffee SANTO DOMINGO 0.45 kg in grain for 6 bucks and ground for 4 bucks. Prices are real, so there is no bargaining. Cigars in this shop are expensive, but I do not advise you to buy them also in the market, and even more so from sellers on the beach. An average cigar in terms of quality and size with a middle strength costs at least 10-12 bucks, take a box, it will be cheaper. Tried AURORA and ARTURO FUENTE, not bad at all.
Cuban cigars are stronger, you may not like it out of habit, but Dominican cigars are softer. If you are offered to buy a box of cigars (20 pieces) for 30-60 bucks, you should think about it.
On the beach of the hotel from morning to evening, local tour agents walk around, offering excursions at lower prices. They have the same excursion to Santo Domingo costs 75-80 dollars, but you need to carefully clarify whether there will be a Russian-speaking guide. Often, a person who can hardly speak broken Russian will be an expert in Russian for Dominicans. The impression of the tour in Santo Domingo is wonderful!

Next excursion to the island of Saona + Altos de Chavon. Worth a trip for sure. Russian guide. You will immediately feel the difference between the Atlantic and the Caribbean, see what Bounty has done with the island.
Keep in mind that in addition to your group, a large number of other tourists arrive on the island (or rather, on the beach equipped for tourists), you still have to choose a place for a photo session, as if you were alone there. I do not advise you to go far from the sites for tourists in the thickets. The natives living on the island, who clean the island after the daily invasion of tourists, apparently dump all the garbage directly into the thickets.
You will get to Saona with a breeze on speed boats under two YAMAHA 200 hp each. from, back - complete relaxation on a huge catamaran, where you will be given BRUGAL rum with cola all the way and entertained by dancing. When you arrive at your destination, buses are waiting for you. Here you can buy huge shells of extraordinary beauty. These are not tiger shells, they can be taken out of the country. Ask for them 15 bucks, give for 5 bucks. Taking this VIP ride for 185 bucks may not be worth it, for 90 bucks you will get a lot of fun. Fairy tale island!

A trip to the buggy. If you want to literally plunge headlong into the Dominican outback, this is the right choice. But keep in mind that you will return after 3 hours of driving along a country road with huge puddles and slurry, all dirty from head to toe. Be sure to take a few plastic bags with you, where you can pack your things and feel free to ride in the same swimming trunks and slates. Bring a handkerchief from the hotel to tie over your face and glasses. On the spot, they will sell you a scarf for 5 bucks, they will give you a helmet for free. The guide is in English, but they won't explain anything to you there. One of the stops on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, where there is no protective reef. You will see 3-meter waves and daredevils who are trying to ride these waves on a surfer.

ENTERTAINMENT The hotel offers free billiards (pool), table tennis, cycling outside the hotel (1 hour), tennis courts.
Take a free kayak (deposit 30 bucks, returned) or a catamaran with a sail (the first lesson is required for 35 bucks). In the pool, one trial scuba dive (by appointment) is free. They offer a full tour on the Segway, but you can try this wonderful vehicle at the hotel for free. Animation from morning to evening, the guys are trying very hard. They learn to dance merengue and bochatta, there are many competitions. Animators do not know Russian well, but this does not prevent our compatriots from taking an active part in all competitions - “Tagil rules! ". The beach offers water activities for a fee: banana, fishing, snorkeling at the reef, a walk on small speed boats (up to 2 people, you are driving yourself), horseback riding along the coast, parasailing, etc. - get bored you won't.

NUTRITION. The food is plentiful and varied. There are 10 kinds of meat every day, but mostly it is dry, vegetables in any form, pizza.
Seafood is constantly, but not for everyone because of the way they are cooked. Juices freshly squeezed every day for breakfast: banana, pineapple, mango, watermelon, melon. The same fruits 3 times a day. You can always eat at the beach at the bar and at the buffet if you don't want to leave the beach for the main restaurant.
Were in restaurants Mexican, Brazilian, Italian. Better not to go, food on the menu, not tasty. Booking in restaurants in the morning, there is always a queue of those who want to. If you want to get there, sign up immediately upon arrival.

The overall impression of the hotel is good - the optimal combination of price and quality, the country is wonderful, the ocean-palms-beaches are just a fairy tale, it is worth coming back here more than once.