on arpil 24th my girlfriend and i arrived back home from spending 2 amazing weeks at the Ifa Bavaro Village

i live outside of guelph and my girlfeind is from saskatoon. i parked my vehicle at the econolodge near pearson and went to meet my girl at the airport. we arrived in the DR late that night. the bus trip was very short 15 minutes or so.

when we arrived at the Ifa the check in went pretty fast. the sliding door in our first room wouldn't lock so they moved us to another room right away. we then went to the beach disco for a drink and some food { don't eat the rice and chicken balls on the air transat flight, not good }.

we have stayed at the 5 star gran bahia pricipe in cancun twice so for a few days we compared the two resorts, there area few things better at the bahia but alot of better things at the ifa.

we read many reviews about the ifa and not many of them where good but we knew there was construction going on and it would be pretty much completed before our arrival. we learned from a couple that we met from edmonton that this whole resort has gone through a complete makeover in the past year or so.

the food at the ifa was not bad. the pizza bar was amazing, fresh made pizza along with chicken fingers, fries and fresh made burgers oh and yes the ice cream. the buffets didn't change much over the 2 weeks the bacon is deep fried and usually either undercooked or over cooked. we found that the buffet closer to the beach had a better dinner menu. the drink where very strong. they only use small plastic cups so take a big travel cup or mug with you. the drink selection was kind of limited but still pretty good. the beer was nice and cold and mostly poured from a bottle. there are 3 ala cartes, the oriental and the colonial where very very good. the mexican was ok. booked first thing in the morning to get a good seating. the system they have is not very good for booking but you can eat at the ala cartes everynight if you can get a seating. they are not very big.

the communication at this resort needs alot of improvement. most try hard, unless you speak spanish or french. to be very honest the people that tried the hardest to communicate where in the restaurants. the front desk staff where really not that helpful in some ways. trying to get a translation from english to spanish can be a chore. we booked with i travel2000.com . we got bumped to later departure and an ealier time to go back home. we flew with airtransat. a little cramped going down but not bad. the food was not good but overall a good flight. the service from nolitours was terrible. no information what so ever all of the binders that had any info where in spanish. we could find and english one till the day we left. when we got to the airport in punta cana our nolitours rep didn't even know what line we had to be in was a joke. the airport in punta cana is pretty cool. the customs and imagration was a breeze to get through but the food and rinks in departures are a huge rip off. $12 for 2 pops and a slice of pizza.

to make this a bit shorter i will itimize things and say what we thought about them

communication - needs alot of improvement but remember we are travelling in a foreign country so we do have to be patient

beach - the beach was amazing, the water was like bath water it was so warm. powdery white sand. many times we just walked for and hour or 2 picking up seashells. it is such a relaxing place to be and if the main resort is too hot you will love the beach always a nice breeze.

beach shops - the shop workers will greet you on the beach and bring you into their shops. some can be very persistant but mostly not bad. everyone says they are cheapy cheapy. they love us Canadians. there are not prices on anything. we bought a painting that started at $140 and we got it for $45. never pay what their first price is. offer atleast half if not less. we got an idea of prices from the resort shops and the malls a 15 minute walk away. that will give you a better idea.

resort shops - we found the resort shops to be very reasonable price wise with most things. usually you get ripped off at these places but i guess they have alot of competition with the beach shops close by. make sure you bring lots of sunscereen, asprin anything like that these things are very expensive here.

internet - there is internet access, $3 dollars for 1/2 hour. if you are from Canada contact your cell phone provider before you go. i could not get service down there with our wonderful bell telephone but pretty much everyone else did no matter what country you are from. we get ripped off by bell and home and away.

nightly entertainment - the theatre burned down 2 nights before we got there so all of the night time entertainment was at the beach disco. it was not bad not anything like ths hows at the bahia principe. the beach disco is a pretty cool idea. lost of food drinks music and dancing.

rooms - our room was on the second floor right beside the main pool. they have all been redone and they look great. inorder to expand the washrooms the has put the sliding doors on the outer edge of the balcony so no balcony. that was a bit disappointing but didn't ruin our trip. everyday the rooms where cleaned with fresh towels and bed linens. they do not have face cloths so bring them if you need them. no beer or soft drinks in the fridge just water. we took tim hortons coffe along with liquid coffee mate. the coffee in the buffets is very strong and the milk is not very good kinda like carnation milk. after a few days we bought travel mugs so we took our own coffee to breakfast. the rooms where spotless. we saw no bugs but we did get a rain storms one night and the roof leaked so we used the other bed. bring things for the taff there especially the cleaning staff. we took toiletries, socks, veg and flower seeds, pencils, watches things of that nature and also gave a cash tip each day as well.

pools - there are 3 pools here. they are not very big but the do look after them pretty good. the main pool is pretty much always busy. there is water arobics there every morning and that is where they have the dance lessons and things. they could have a few more things to do but overall not bad. the other 2 pools are some what deeper and usually not as busy. we went during the slower season so during the busy season they can be very crowded.

cafes - there are a few cafes where you can get drinks and very good capicino. make sure you are not wearing a bathing suit in them, you will not get served. shirts are a must here.

buffets - pretty much the same menu each day. the selection is not bad a little bit of everything. buffet closer to the beach is the better one especially for dinner.

inclosing the ifa bavaro village is a wonderful resort. we all have to remember that we are not at home and we have to be a bit patient when things are not up the the high standards that we have in Canada. there have been some people that have put some very unfair reviews on tripadvisor. some of them are from when we where down there and i don't see how any of the bad things that they say are just. this place is great value for your money. my girlfriend and i are already talking about go back next april. if you are flying out of pearson airport the econolodge is a great place to do the stay and park package. we had 2 weeks parking 1 nights stay when we arrived back and shuttle service as much as we needed back and forth to the airport. it is not a big hotel but they will look after you every well. my contact was a person named ziva and she was very helpful. i booked everything by email juast go too www.choicehotels.ca/cn568


please contact me if you have any questions i will be more than happy to help out if i can.

brian..