$30 - All Inclusive in Puerto Plata, DR

[Dan]

No he didn't:

The Kosher plan is available for an additional cost.

[alpicone]

The OP reported that cheaocaribbean.com said it was included. Also, it is listed as one of the restaurants on premises and I read a review on Tripadvisor that a non jewish guest decided to have breakfast at the kosher restaurant.

I would love to hear from people if this is actually the case or not?

I would confirm with the hotel itself. Here is from the Cheap Caribean website:

This hotel is All-Inclusive.
Features include:

Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks
Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks
Privileged use of all restaurants, bars and facilities at Lifestyle Crown Residence Suites and Cofresi Palm
Shuttle service around the resort
24-hour on site Medical Services

The Kosher Restaurant, Blues, is located at the Presidential Suites, the property adjacent to Lifestyle Tropical and Cofresi Palm Beach.

https://www.cheapcaribbean.com/resorts/Dominican-Republic-Puerto-Plata/Lifestyle-Tropical-Beach-Resort-Spa/2985.html

[alpicone]

I was surprised there was less interest. Unfortunately, the $30 price tag was only available on Cyber Monday. YMMV on prices throughout the rest of the year, although from some threads I have read about this place, they do offer this deal 2 or 3 times a year...

They have deals for this place all the time although this was the cheapest I have seen by $10 a night.

[BrooklynCPA]

going Mid-december, ill let you all know how it is.

@ Joesol: We are counting on you for a full report on what it and isn't included and whether this place is worth it!!

[joesol]

You got it. Pictures and all

[BrooklynCPA]

If anyone wants to go for 4 nights at $100 for 2 people ($12.50 PP per night) here is your opportunity!!!!!!!!!   Must be between now and December 19th!!!!

http://couprecoup.com/buy/livingsocial-all-inclusive-resort-stay-dominican-replublic-for-2/55306

[Dan]

Anyone find out what the actual upcharge is for kosher?

[mochada]

Anyone find out what the actual upcharge is for kosher?

I emailed and never heard back!

[joesol]

I think its $100/day standard and $125/day kosher

[BrooklynCPA]

So if you get a deal like the one I posted or the $30 cyber Monday deal I wonder if you can just add the kosher option for an additional $25 per day?

[myb821]

why doesnt someone just call the resort

[BrooklynCPA]

why doesnt someone just call the resort

Good Question. Their number is 809-970-7777 x40841 if anyone wants to volunteer.   

[alpicone]

Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort & Spa
Dominican Republic - Puerto Plata
Trip Report

This trip was almost three years ago so I will do my best to remember as many details as possible.
I booked the trip through Cheap Caribbean when they were having a sale in December 2010. The sale was for $20.10 per person per night for their all-inclusive package. I booked the trip for February 2011 for 7 nights for two adults. I also paid for the shared airport transportation to and from the airport. The total cost for the trip was $453.18. This price seemed too good to be true and I was expecting to get to the hotel and see a shack.

The transportation from the airport was great. It is a shared van that stopped at another few hotels on the way. The trip was about an hour from the airport to the hotel.

At the hotel we checked in without any surprises and got a standard room in the main section of the hotel. The room was decent and was roomy enough for two people. It wasn’t a very nice room but was functional for what you would expect for $40 a night even without any food. The room had a little balcony with a table and chairs.

As part of the Cheap Caribbean program they give you bracelets to wear which gives you access to certain areas of the resort that is reserved for only VIP access. Most of the VIP access areas are reserved for timeshare owners only. The only part that you get access to that is worth anything is a VIP beach area that has cabanas and waiter service.

The VIP beach that you have access to is nice but is really small. The beach opens at 8am and there is a line to get in with people running to claim a cabana or bed. Once someone claims one they usually stay there the whole day so if you snooze you lose. The VIP beach offers free Wi-Fi and since I woke up early everyday (too used to it from home) I went to the beach at 7:30 with a coffee and my Kindle to download the paper and just chilled until the beach opened at 8. I claimed my territory and then went back to my room for breakfast.

This aspect of it had to be the most inconvenient part of the whole trip but was worth it for me for the convenience of having waiter service, bed at the beach, Wi-Fi and unlimited free drinks throughout the day. And the drinks were amazing! I just cycled through the menu a couple of times a day 

If you don’t want to have to deal with the waking up early and waiting at the beach you can always go to the pool or the regular beach but then you need to get up and walk to get your drinks. When you are paying so much money you want to get good service!

 When you get to the hotel they have someone assigned to you to give you a personal VIP tour. They are very into this VIP business. Everything is all about VIP… and you will get stalked until you go on the VIP tour. I didn’t realize until it was too late that it was really a timeshare sales pitch. They show you the villas and houses in the resort and all the VIP treatment that you get if you are a member. They have limo and helicopter shuttles to the airport and… Since there is no obligation you should just tell the person to leave you alone that you don’t want to go on the VIP tour and they should leave you alone.

There are many restaurants at the resort that are included and the food looked awesome but was not kosher. There was also no kosher option available when I went nor do I think I would pay for it anyway. When I saw the info on the kosher options a while ago when it became available I recall seeing a cost of $70pp/day but I can’t find that anywhere now. We brought along a suitcase of food and ate a lot of fruits and vegetables that were available from the restaurants.

The hotel has scheduled night activities and all but a couple of the nights were boring. There were two nights were they had a really nice activity. On Thursday night you go to some casino at Ocean World where they have dinner and live music followed but a show called Bravissmo. The show was very entertaining and enjoyable. Here is a link to the information about the show to see if it is something that you would be interested in: http://www.oceanworld.net/bravissimo_show.php

The other trip was on Sunday night were you go to some place where they have dinner, entertainment, music and fireworks. Here is a YouTube video I found of the fireworks:

Here is another video I found for one of the other night activities:

This is all I can think of right now and if I remember any more details I will add them.

Overall I had a positive experience and for the price I don’t think you can do much better and would recommend the resort.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

[BrooklynCPA]

Great TR, tnx for posting.

I would think that there would be many people that would be interested in an all inclusive Caribbean resort with a kosher option and shul even if the accommodations are not 5 star especially over shabbos.

[BrooklynCPA]

@ Joesol: We are counting on you for a full report on what it and isn't included and whether this place is worth it!!

You got it. Pictures and all

Joesol, are you back yet? We'd love to hear about the trip and kosher option!

[joesol]

Sorry for the delay. Here it goes:

- The resort is made up of 5-6 different areas with each having at least 1 pool and access to the beach. There are motel style, hotel style and villas. We stayed in a 3 bedroom villa. The villas are really great. They have nice size rooms, all have separate central air zones, ceiling fans and full bathrooms. There was also an additional bathroom off the living room. There was a full size kitchen with a refrigerator stocked with bottled water, sodas, beer and cut up fruit (not under hashgacha). Each villa has a private pool.
- Transportation throughout the resort: You can call for a pickup/ride anywhere in the resort. The wait if anywhere from 1-10 minutes. Usually they send a golf cart to pick you up and take you wherever you want to go. If its busier, there is a shuttle that is constantly stopping at each restaurant/pool/beach.
- There is WIFI available for free at the sports bar. You can also pay for unlimited wifi access ($60 for 7 days) and there is service everywhere including the beach.
- Food & drinks: There are bars and restaurants everywhere you go. The Kosher restaurant is located near the presidential suites and is located within a traif restaurant. Breakfast was amazing. There are 20 different types of eggs/omelettes to choose from. There is a buffet of pancakes (one of the best I ever had)/french toast, fresh fruit, shakshuka, cereal, muffins (amazing!!) and beverages. Lunch is always dairy or fish and you can choose from a variety of items. The rabbi/mashgiach usually asks you to order lunch and dinner when you come from breakfast in order to prepare the right amounts (there were only 8 people including us when I was there). We had pizza, pasta and salads for most days. Dinner is always meat or fish and you can chose from skirt steak, rib-eye, baby chicken dark meat, grilled chicken, schnitzel and a variety of sides. The meat is delivered every few days from Miami (so we were told) and is not that great as far as taste. It didn't taste like freezer burn or spoiled but there was very little flavor to most dinner dishes. It was still better than packing and preparing out own food. The Rabbi is extremely nice and helpful and looking to make your stay as pleasant as he can.
- Tipping: We found it customary to tip $1/person at each meal to the waiter and a nicer amount ($10-15 total) to the chef at the end of your stay. We tipped the Rabbi as well before we left.
- Shul: There is a shul on site but there were no minyanim during our stay. We did not stay over Shabbos either.
- The kosher all inclusive is $99/day per person which was the same as the regular all inclusive. You can get soda and drinks at any bar, you are not exclusive to the kosher restaurant.
- Weather: It rained for about 5 minutes each day (locals claim that its only for the flowers)
- Airport transfer: The resort sends a shuttle to the airport (included in our price). They hold a sign out with your name as you exit with your luggage. The ride was about 20-30 minutes.
- The resort employees will try and convince you to become a member (similar to timeshare) of the resort and go on a tour of the property a few times throughout your stay. They aren't too pushy so feel free to tell them your not interested.
- We booked through a member (shareholder) and got a great deal. Please pm if you have questions or need contact info.

[amk522]

- The kosher all inclusive is $99/day per person which was the same as the regular all inclusive. You can get soda and drinks at any bar, you are not exclusive to the kosher restaurant.

Thanks for the trip report. That was very helpful. It would seem to me that since the price is the same for kosher and non-kosher, the price would actually be $30 per day as advertised! Pretty great deal and will keep a look out for when this goes on sale again for $30 a day.

[joesol]

The $30 sale was for Tropical resort I believe. I don't think you will receive the bracelet to go to any pool, bar, beach and I would double check on the kosher food. The tropical is the oldest accommodation there and from the looks, didn't seem to be even worth the $30 (unless of course the kosher food is included).

[alpicone]

- The kosher all inclusive is $99/day per person which was the same as the regular all inclusive. You can get soda and drinks at any bar, you are not exclusive to the kosher restaurant.

- We booked through a member (shareholder) and got a great deal. Please pm if you have questions or need contact info.

Just to clarify was the Kosher food option $99/day/pp in additional to what you paid for the villa or did it include the villa's?

If so how much did you pay per night for the villa?

[Ergel]

Just to clarify was the Kosher food option $99/day/pp in additional to what you paid for the villa or did it include the villa's?

If so how much did you pay per night for the villa?

It's an all inclusive hotel. You pay one price for everything