Chic by Royalton, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

As we stepped off the plane onto Dominican Republic soil in January, 2016, for the second time in our lives, we couldn’t imagine the experience we had awaiting us at Chic Punta Cana. We definitely didn’t foresee that we’d be offered a wheel chair when we revisited the airport for our return flight home.

Most trips have memorable moments or something about the vacation that really stands out: who you go with, an amazing location, or in this case- a traumatic event.

Lessons are also learned through travel. For instance, an Ace bandage has now become an essential item when packing my suitcase.

It was a nice mix of wild/fun entertainment and sophisticated/elegant atmospheres. There were foam parties in the pool and fine dining in the restaurants.

It is an adults-only resort, but we could still act like kids if we wanted.
We played ping pong outside with views of the beach.

Our book features photographs of each of us posing in many unique chairs located throughout the resort.

We visited in January. Not only was it new, but it had a very clean, modern feel. The beach towels were even hot pink!

The beach was beautiful with big ocean waves and clean, soft sand. We played sand volleyball during the day and danced at night.

Chic has many sets of stairs throughout the grounds. I watched an older man, who appeared to suffer from hip problems, maneuver set after set of steps. Ironically the night I pointed out the step situation, Casey severely sprained his ankle (possibly broke- we’ll never know).

Insert: Traumatic Event. While dancing- not even anything crazy- Casey rolled his ankle. I keep dancing as I ignore him saying “pretty sure I just broke my ankle”. We got more to drink and kept dancing. He was a trooper. Dancing, celebrating, walking around the resort, all with a lump bigger than a golf ball on the side of his ankle! Fast forward to morning when we decided to divide and conquer the resort. After some persuasion, Casey headed to the medic while I went to the spa for a massage (no persuasion needed for me!) I’d recommended he get a wrap or some tape to keep the swelling down- not x-rays or anything. As standard on many resorts, medical care is really just first aid and can be very expensive. So when we met back up in the room, his ankle looked the same and I was in a daze from my massage. They’d wanted to charge him $100+ for a brace. Needless to say- no brace for him. We had only one day left of vacation, so he spent it hobbling around or with his leg elevated on a lounge chair. I played volleyball solo and brought him drinks when the pool boy wasn’t around. His slowed speed, limp and permanent grimace resulted in the flight/check-in staff offering him a wheel chair as we went through the airport. He declined and “cowboy-ed” through it.

The Chic By Royalton would make a great location for your next adults only vacation. We plan to revisit some day.

This travel book was “published” in 2016. At the time of our vacation, the resort was only a year old. We had another trip booked to revisit the same area and even resort in April, 2020. Unfortunately this trip was cancelled due to Covid-19. Our repeat travel plans are a testimony to the location. We don’t often revisit a resort more than once unless something or things about it really stand out.

Dominican Republic is a fairly easy country to visit. Yes, you’ll need a passport, but there are direct flights from many US cities (St. Louis included). * Having reduced travel time is a huge benefit for us and many other busy travelers. The four hour non-stop flight means you can leave home early in the morning and still make it to the beach before the sunsets on day 1. *Flight frequency and patterns have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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