Breathless Punta Cana 2021 - Part IV - The Voyage Home

• VIP Lounge Punta Cana
• Air Canada Business Class Seat 2C

The lounge in Punta Cana is somewhat bare-bones. You pay extra for premium drinks, and are limited to 2 bar-rail.  However, they have a lovely courtyard, ostensibly for smokers, that gives you a last chance to commune with lizards and palm trees. 

I went to the gate ten minutes early, and discovered they were already boarding. I showed my departure forms, my proof of vax, and my boarding pass, and headed to my seat. It was the same one I had before, so I easily stowed my carry on in the cubby in front of me.

Sadly, they still haven't reinstated on the ground beverage service (bottled water is distributed), or hot towels, but the rest is now available, so once in the air we were offered beverages, and meals.

I chose the couscous, which was quite nice. I washed it down with more than one glass of the red wine on offer. 

 

The service was, as always, terrific, and my seat was comfortable and roomy.

PSA time: I was on the train home within 50 minutes of landing, thanks to my Nexus card. If you travel at all, the thing is invaluable.

Coming soon: the Celebrity Edge.

Breathless Punta Cana 2021 - Part III - Resort Life - Evening

Days are easy to fill at a beach resort, but what to do when the pools close, and the sun goes down? The lobby lounge is pretty, comfy, and has a variety of live musical entertainments. It's adjacent to the outdoor auditorium where there is a show every night. There was some confusion about whether the "Queen Show" was about royalty or the rock band. It was indeed about the band. There was also a metal night, and a diva night, and others, so the entertainment was definitely intended to appeal to a broad audience.

Every night, the entrance to the lounge hosted one or two models in masks and costumes. You could take pictures with them. I'm under the impression this is A Thing.

You could dine outdoors at the French restaurant every night, or indoors at any restaurant that was open (French included). If you wanted teppanyaki (called hibachi down there), you needed reservations, but the show was fun. 

The lobster bisque at the French restaurant was good, but never very hot, that I noticed. There wasn't a lot of lobster other than that, though. Other seafood was available in each restaurant, if you happen to dine that way.

I like to walk along the beach at night when available, so I did that here as much as I could. There was rain some nights, since we weren't out of that season (September in the tropics -- what else would you expect?). 

I normally finished off each evening with a glass of wine, and my waterproof Kobo, in my balcony hot tub. It's a wonderfully relaxing way to end up.

Next -- Part IV - The Trip Home

Breathless Punta Cana 2021 - Part II - Resort Life - Day

My room was right behind the pool with the swim up bar. Due to the plague, the swim up part was closed, but the servers would take orders and deliver into the pool, so it was no great tragedy. The service was excellent at all times. No one was going thirsty here.

On the other side of my building was the Xhale Club, where I had checked in, where there was a nice bar, with snacks, where I could get change, and where they had an exclusive pool with cushier loungers. The ones with shade were generally claimed very early, so I didn't spend a lot of time here.

Xhale also has a private area on the beach. There is lots of shade and abundant loungers. The service here is also wonderful. And, if you're really impatient, there is a bar, and a snack bar, within easy staggering distance.  One thing to note: the shoreline is public, so occasionally families from Dreams next door will wander over. I mention this because Breathless is adults only.

There is a bit of a reef just off the beach, so there's lots of stuff to see when the sand hasn't been stirred.  I didn't avail myself of the free non-motorized watersports, but I did use my own snorkel set, and had a good time.

I decide on my last full day to splurge, and booked a Bali Bed for myself. I invited a nice couple I'd met to hang out, so it was a very nice day indeed. Not only was it comfy, but they brought us an amazing number of bottles of sparkling wine in ice buckets. I did find it a little disappointing that they could not provide the fruit skewers and sushi that were supposed to be part of the experience (damn Covid), but they did bring anything we requested from the snack bar. It was nice, and I would recommend it.

Next - Part III - Resort Life - Evening

Breathless Punta Cana 2021 - Part I - Travel and Arrival

Now that we're allowed to travel again, I booked a quick trip to let you all know what it's like. 

The details:

• Air Canada Business Class (Seat 2C A320)
• Breathless Punta Cana Xhale Club

They are telling people to arrive 3 hours before their flight in order to get through the enhanced COVID security and screening. Great, except that means that you can't take the UP Express on the weekend if your flight is before 9:30am. Mine was scheduled for 30 minutes earlier than that, so I Ubered out.

There was no special NEXUS line, but there was one for business class, so I could have taken the train, but better to have and not need, than to need and not have. I was second in line. Not bad. And I didn't get felt up this time, since they had the body scanner available.

Once through security, and reassembled, sadness struck. None of the lounges would be open before my flight. The Maple Leaf Lounge would open at 11:00, the Premium Plaza Lounge at 14:00, and the AC Signature Lounge at 15:00 (I'm assuming no eligible flights were leaving before then).

Boarding was on time, and just a little more complicated, since I had to show not only my boarding pass and passport, but also my QR code for Dominican Republic immigration. However, when I got to my seat, I discovered that it was so well designed, that my bulkhead seat actually had a well in the bulkhead, so I didn't have to stow my carry on overhead. (Note that the bulkhead seat on the other side does not have this amenity.

One thing to note was that, at the time of booking, this was a Rouge flight, later changed to Air Canada proper, so the service seemed to be somewhere between the two: no hot towels, no hot nuts, and no drinks on the ground, but an impeccable and attentive flight attendant, serving hot food and endless drinks. Speaking of hot food, the menu for breakfast was a choice of an omelette or pancakes, both of which came with yogurt, croissant, fruit salad, chicken sausage, and the regular fixings. The vegetarian option seemed to be "don't eat the sausage".

Since we are no longer limited to beer, wine and soft drinks, I selected vodka soda as my accompaniment. Nothing like getting the party started prior to arriving at your destination. 😉 The service was, of course, excellent, and I had lots of space to spread out and be comfortable.

The immigration process for the Dominican Republic must be done in advance through their website: Eticket. It combines immigration, customs, and health questionnaire in one simple form. When complete, if you are eligible to be let in, it gives you a QR code which you must show before boarding the flight. They may also offer paper forms on the plane, but they are unnecessary unless your phone dies, since you have already completed them online. If you are vaccinated, the procedure is smooth as glass, and you will soon find yourself looking for your transportation.

The transfer company I selected Whatsapped me the above photo so I would recognise the fixer who took me to my driver. I had booked private transportation, because it's more hygienic, and usually quicker. It didn't take me long to arrive at Breathless in the Uvero Alto area. 

When I arrived, I told the bell captain that I was Xhale Club, so I and my luggage were whisked to the Xhale Club lounge to be checked in. 

They were quite busy with a large group checking in, but I did get my room before I finished my glass, so it was all good. I also met my butler, Elis. She was not a butler in the traditional sense of the word, but rather a concierge who handled all my requests, etc. through Whatsapp. She would make reservations for me, and provide me with all the information I needed.

I was assigned a Junior King Suite that looked at one of the pools.  The door entered into a long hall, with the bathroom and courtesy minibar on one side, and the closet on the other. At the end was the bed/living room.

As is evident from the below picture, there was nightly turndown service, complete with a Hershey's "kiss goodnight". Although, why the turndown housekeeper kept putting the remote on the bed was confusing to me, since there are so many things to do at the resort that don't involve television.

The lovely thing about the ground floor room was that it not only had the normal conversation set on the patio/lanai, it also had a couple of loungers.  And, of course, the hot tub. My neck was extremely grateful.

Next - Part II - Resort Life

Montego Bay 2020 - Secrets Wild Orchid - Part IV - Food and Beverage

 The offerings were more limited than would normally be the case because of the pandemic. The lounge which should offer breakfast and hors d'oeuvres, as well as beverages, was only open in the evening, and only offered beverages. However, the selection was great, and if you wanted champagne, all you had to do was ask. They would give it by the glass, or the bottle to take back to your room.

Only a few restaurants were open on any given night, and the Jamaican restaurant alternated between its own, and the Mexican restaurant's, menu. The other options were Italian and French.

For some reason, I only have pictures of the food from the Italian restaurant. It was quite good, especially the seafood pasta, and their signature lasagna.

The food was delicious, the service was excellent, and the health precautions reassuring.  I really enjoyed the dinners. 

Now, what was I having for breakfast/lunch? Frequently, the wait staff at the pool would do food runs for us, so we had the choice of entrees from the restaurant (sandwiches, etc), or they would go to the travelling jerk cart if it was in a reasonable location. (The jerk cart was wonderful, and it was a bit of an adventure to find since it moved around the resort). 

There was also the option of going to the snack shack. It had patties, pretzels, and hot dogs. Also available was your choice of hamburgers, shrimp burgers, turkey burgers, and veggie burgers.  And unlike some of the "Barefoot Grills" I've seen at other resorts, you actually don't have to put shoes on to get food at this one. 

This concludes the report for Jamaica in 2020. Would I go back to this resort post-pandemic? Absolutely! This is my current favourite Caribbean resort.

Montego Bay 2020 - Secrets Wild Orchid - Part III - The Preferred Club

This resort spoiled me. The service was phenomenal. I loved our bar staff. They attended both the pool and the beach. Also, the lifeguard Bryan really went above and beyond. 

I should lay out the scene a bit.  There are a number of low-rise buildings. Ours was the Preferred Club  building, which was closest to everything except the lobby. The ground floor suites are swim out, and upper rooms have hot tubs on the balconies and views of Montego Bay.  The swim-out suites' pool connects to the Preferred Pool. There's a lovely pool deck with loungers and umbrellas and little tables. The loungers look out to the beach and Montego Bay.  The beach also has comfy loungers and umbrellas, so shade is abundantly available.

The guest density was low, so there was no worry about being able to get a lounger, and the service was fantastic. The bar isn't particularly far away, but there was usually a wonderful person taking drink orders. Also, around noon, she would come by with fruit skewers. Around 5 it would be canapés.  Also at 5 o'clock, there were "Champagne Sunsets" at the hot tub at the end of the Preferred Club building. 

The water in the Bay was crystal clear, and sparkling, and mostly very safe. One day there were reports of jelly fish, so that one day, I stuck to the pool, but it wasn't a particular hardship. The water in the pool was, while not extremely warm, comfortable to hang out in. 

The days were basically filled with hanging out, swimming, drinking, and occasionally snacking (more on that in the next instalment).

Next: Part IV Dining