Carli and I woke up with the sunrise the next morning – on my 40th birthday. I stepped out of bed a little gingerly… and found that I felt pretty okay! Oh – I left something out of yesterday’s update. I wasn’t hung over; I’d slipped by the pool and went tumbling. Somewhere up there is a guardian angel that really deserves a raise – I took a medium-sized fall onto hard rock right next to a stone stair and somehow, mercifully, missed hitting my head on anything and only seem to have damaged my big toe and elbow a little bit – barely even bruised really. Thank goodness for the attempt to tuck and roll, I guess?
Anyway – all is well and with everything seemingly still working as it was supposed to, we looked out the window… and caught the very last sunrise we’d see on this trip in the Dominican Republic. It’s beautiful here – come and see it for yourself one of these days!
After some hurried packing, we headed off for one buffet breakfast in the actual buffet restaurant. I kept telling anyone who asked why we didn’t go to breakfast/lunch to “show me a better view than the one from our room”, and I’d go. Well, breakfast didn’t have one – but they did have passion fruit and that is one of Jen Holder and my favorite fruits. So, I had some of them, okay maybe a lot of them! It was delicious! Add a few eggs, and a few chorizo, and it was time to go check out.
The checkout process was painless, we used a company called Caribbean Airport Transfers to get to and from the airport this trip and they picked us up in a stylish black Suburban to whisk us back to the airport. I will knock a point off for letting the airport staff get to our bags before we could (and thus, expect a tip for ‘helping’ us get into the airport and situated), but other than that I have no complaints and I get it – a hustler’s gotta hustle – so I can’t really be that mad. In short order we were at the terminal, drinking beer from a bar just by the gate, and then we were loaded on the plane and on our way home. A flight and a drive later… the sun had gone down in Colorado as Carli and I laid down to sleep at home – all in all a birthday very well-spent.
And with that… I’d like to provide a bit of a wrap-up for this entire trip.
First, the Dominican Republic is amazing. It’s safe, reasonably affordable, and you don’t have to purchase a villa to get amazing views, beach access, and excellent staff – though it does make the trip an unforgettable one.
For me… I try to compare this trip to the Blue October trip I took in Mexico last year – it has a similar price range, a similar butler service and level of hotel, and both rooms have pools (though this room in the Dominican Republic is larger by far). They are also both “all inclusive” – my first and second times having ever had this perk offered and used at a hotel. And comparatively… I’m afraid that the Sanctuary Cap Cana does have a bit of work to do regarding its experience for its villas – but don’t get me wrong… I had the time of my life even with the frustrations that came along with the room.
None of these are huge complaints – just little ones – but important ones. The night we arrived, as an example, an overhead light didn’t work in the villa’s main room. We were told someone would come “right away” to look at it – they never did. We were also told our butler, “Eric” would contact us that night – he contacted me personally the next morning using Whatsapp (which was fine) and met us at the door to take the girls to their massage. He then added himself to Carli’s Whatsapp using a different number so that she could contact him for butler service also.
Now – I think this can be easily explained: my version of “Eric” is named “Juaneric” and shows a picture of a happy family and children. Carli’s is a stock photo of Sanctuary Cap Cana’s butler service. It’s very likely Eric has a ‘corporate phone number’ that is attached to his WhatsApp and somebody made a mistake and gave me his personal one instead. What followed, however, was confusion.
I would get a dinner update with a time and reservation information, then Carli would get different ones. One of us would reply and make plans, and then he would reply to the other one with different plans. We were even talking to the same person, we wondered. Why all this confusion? It turns out it was the same Eric… but confusion lingered even into our last day at the resort when we asked for a cart to drive us from the villa to dinner at 8:30 (where I had an email-confirmed reservation from the hotel concierge desk), only to be told Eric had thought we were there at 7pm and being asked (very politely) why we hadn’t gone earlier – yet none of us knew about a 7pm reservation.
One of the rooms in the Sanctuary Cap Cana lobby
Add to that our room issues, the lights (lights, plural – there were two or three that didn’t turn on) that never got fixed, the fact that beach towels showed up the second morning (third day) we were there – but had never been there before, and the fact that Sanctuary Cap Cana is dropping some restaurants from their ‘all-inclusive’ label and what I see is a hotel in transition – with things falling through the cracks and guest requests either forgotten or overlapped by very willing, very helpful people who just need another layer of coordination to get everything right. By far – this was one of the best hotel experiences of my life, please don’t get me wrong – but it just wasn’t quite right – and when you’re paying for a villa and the promised luxury it’s supposed to provide… you sort of assume things like the overhead lights are going to work and that promises of maintenance, towels, and help with restaurant reservations (and inclusive or not-inclusive status) will be things that are serviced and completed automatically without your intervention – and that was not the case at Sanctuary Cap Cana.
There are, however, so many good things to say as well. Eric accommodated us very well when he worked with us – we were given outstanding treatment by him, by the staff, the whole crew. We had some outlandish orders too (well, I did) like a plate-full of bacon one morning. In Mexico I made similar requests – and if it wasn’t “on the menu” that request was just ignored. Here? – Eric made it work. We got what we asked for – even when that request was “20 beers” for the day for three of us. The staff were great, friendly, and went over the top every time (except at The Steakhouse). The cleaning crew was amazing as well, beds were made twice a day and everything cleaned top-to-bottom. I hear the spa was great, I hear even the ocean and waves were very friendly!
There are so many good things I’d say the overall experience at Sanctuary Cap Cana is a 9.8/10 – some things to fix, very small things, but almost perfect. I’m looking forward to going back soon.
