As most of you know us my now, I am Kent and married to Princess Sharon. We travel somewhere warm the last week of January every year for our anniversary. We got married on the beach in St. Lucia 2003, I promised her we would go somewhere warm every year. This was our 12th trip. The rest of the trips can be found over on my vacation page.
We traveled to the Breathless Resort and Spa in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 1/25/15 – 2/1/15.
We had been to Punta Cana twice before and has always kind of been our backup safety destination. I usually start looking for our Anniversary trip shortly after Labor Day about the time I am closing the pool. Last fall prices were up and wasn’t sure I was even going to be able to find a deal. Then Apple Vacations ran an adults only six apple special. Some quick web research and I had it narrowed down to it had to be one of 3 6 apple resorts on Punta Cana. The Hard Rock, the Iberostar Grand, or the new Breathless. I was about 95% sure we would get Breathless since both Breathless and Apple Vacations are both owned by the same parent company AM Resorts. I booked it non stop from St. Louis for $3,400. People on our same flight that stayed at Breathless said they paid $8,300. Of course we didn’t know where we were staying until check-in at the airport the morning of departure. I was so confident that I only did web research on Breathless!
Transfer from airport to resort:
The new Breathless was the last resort north of the airport and was only 32 minutes from the time we left the airport to the resort. Only 7 couples from our plane were going to Breathless and we had a small bus with good AC and plenty of room.
Check In:
Greeted by an attendant with a silver tray of cold facial cloths and fruity cocktails. We arrived around 12:30PM. Since this wasn’t my first rodeo, I identified our bags for the bell boys while Sharon got in line to check in. We were the second couple to check in. Our room was ready, and the bell boys had our luggage in our room in 10 minutes. We freshened up, headed downstairs to get a drink and bite to eat, people were still checking in.
The room:
I was able to sweet talk us in a partial ocean view room, even though I only paid for the garden view. Once again the silver tongued devil, talked us into a free upgrade. The room had 2 full sized beds instead of the King. Sharon stated the view off our balcony was more than worth the 2 beds so I didn’t try to get us moved.
The Hotel opened in October of 2013. The resort has 750 rooms, but the resort never felt crowded.
GREAT water pressure in the shower, and a separate toilette room for the toilette and bidet.
Excellent room safe … digital combo and included no extra charge like some hotels.
Full sized bottles of shower gel (great scent … not exactly sure what it was) and shampoo were provided and the maid automatically provided “additional” when we ran low by mid-week. Our maids were excellent the day maid was quick and always made sure we had an abundance of towels (never had to ask for more). The night maid turned down the bed and left a schedule and chocolates for the following days planned activities. She left us daily towel animals after the second day she left us a swan, and then I left her a monkey and a tip.
Beach:
Was really nice and very walkable. Our favorite beach of all trips. It is over 30 miles long, flat and great soft walkable sand. No sunsets on this beach this is sunrises only.
Food:
There are eleven gourmet dining venues, where reservations are never required except for the Hibachi grill. Long pants were only required in the French restaurant. I think we ate in most of them except for the Lebanese. We ate fish almost every meal. I would rate the food some of the best yet from any of the all inclusive we have been too.
Travel Tip:
I always travel with at least 100 USD ones, This time I took extra. 100 in ones and 75 in fives. Wasn’t sure we were going to stay so I took extra tipping money. One of our favorite poolside waitresses YoLenny told me she made $180 a month USD. They work 11 straight 11 hour days to get a three day weekend. I was tipping on every drink and our glasses were never empty. After-all I was already at least 5 thousand ahead on this trip.
Drinks:
We took our Tervis Tumblers but never used them. YoLenny wouldn’t let our drinks get low enough to break out the larger insulated cups. 🙂
I drank 15 year old scotch all week, and Herradura Tequila shots. All liquor was top shelf.
Pool:
Chairs and palapa were never a problem. I set our towels out by 9, but no need to get up at 6 AM to get chairs. There were plenty of big blue rafts and you could always get one as needed.
Internet:
Internet was included and free as well as free international calls. Not as fast at home but good enough. Pretty much had connectivity the entire time, the entire resort had coverage.
The Spa:
This was the first time EVER Sharon didn’t use the Spa. The Spa and Gym both looked nice.
Shopping:
We walked next door to the little set of shops that are located between Breathless and the Dreams Punta Cana located half mile away.
The USD dollars were preferred and usually could get things about 60% of their first price. Only a couple times did I get them down to half price. The best deal I got was a Michael Kors purse. I am pretty sure it was fake, they started at $350. I got them down to $70 and walked away. The next day, he chased me down and told me he would take $40 and 2 cheeseburgers and pops from the resort. I loaded up 2 cheeseburgers, fries and 2 bottles of soda from our room fridge and smuggled them out of the resort in our beach bag. I don’t think they made any money on the purse, but then again they got to eat. and Sharon was happy with her Anniversary present.
Overall:
This was the nicest property we have stayed at. It is large with 750 rooms, but with all the restaurants and pools it never felt crowded. I feel this was the best value I have had yet. Not sure how I would rate this hotel if I paid full price.
Great value and our favorite beaches and even found some hummingbirds to photograph!
Hope this helps!
Kent
Gallery Of Photos:
no images were found