Back in November I heard about Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals for a couple of all-inclusives in the Dominican Republic through CheapCaribbean.com.

Although I am not a relax on the beach or all-inclusive kind of traveler, for the low price deals being offered it seemed worth looking into. (Kim enjoys these kinds of trips at times, so I figured I’d try to book one of the deals.)

For me, it was about the deal and getting to visit another country (although I doubt I will see much where we are going).

I passed on the Black Friday option since the dates weren’t good for us and decided to book the Cyber Monday deal to Puerto Plata.

We’re heading to Puerto Plata, DR for four nights. This is the one time I could think of where a hotel was the deciding factor as to where we were going. I’m curious to see how this method of picking a destination works out…

Trip Planning:

Hotel/ Lodging:

We’re spending four nights at the Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort & Spa.

At $15 per night, per person (Lucas is free) we don’t expect much. The reviews on TripAdvisor seem to be mixed. Some people love the place, while others hate it. I read from a few reviews to watch out for the timeshare selling vultures. My parents are coming along too and recently heard good things about the place from another couple. I guess we’ll decide for ourselves how good or bad (probably) the place is.

Four nights at the “resort” is costing us $129.00. For that price, how bad could it be? Hopefully we’ll at least come away with some good stories!

The Flight:

I didn’t find many options for flying to Puerto Plata but luckily we were able to book the flights using points on JetBlue.

We’ll be flying roundtrip (direct) from:

• New York (JFK) to Puerto Plata (POP)
• Puerto Plata (POP) to New York (JFK)

The cost for this itinerary came to 79,200 TrueBlue points + taxes and fees of $291.30 for the three of us. According to the booking screen we saved $1,201.20 by using our points.

While I can’t say that I am overly excited for this trip, it should still be fun (as usual) to get away. I’m hoping that we can get Lucas into the water since he is a bit afraid at the moment.

The total cost for this trip comes to 79,200 TrueBlue points + $420.30. 

I plan to leave the resort at least one of the days to see the sites (not much) which are in close proximity to the area.

Wish us luck that the resort is closer in description to the positive TripAdvisor reviews than the negative!