I stayed in Punta Cana at the Punta Cana Beach Resort. The weather was great (30 + Celcius, 90 Farenheit). I was there for one week by myself and will tell you that this was not a resort to go to alone. The guests were primarily from Germany, Holland, Argentina, Portugal, Belgium, a few from the US and Canada. I did not meet many guests all week since the majority of them did not speak English. The employees who worked there spoke minimal English if none at all and I do not speak Spanish. It was pretty lonely all week with no one to speak to. I did manage to meet two guys who worked there who spoke English very well, so I spent some time with them. I'll give you a bit of the run down on the whole week.

Beach:

I was disappointed with the beach. I had heard that beaches in Dominican Republic were beautiful. I had expectations of a beach that would go on forever (I love to take long walks). This beach was only around our resort and a lot of it was rocky or had seaweed close to shore. There was a lagoon area about 10 minutes away which is where I spent most of my time. There were palm trees all around so when you had enough sun, you could find shade. There was a lot of stuff floating in the water (plant life, leaves, seaweed) which would accumulate on the beach. The lagoon area was nicer. The sand was o.k., but had quite a lot of little pebbles in it. Overall, the beach was average.

Room:

I stayed in what was called "Tennis Villa". It was less expensive that the Beach Villas. There were 3 room in a small little house. The room was comfortable but small. It had a TV, telephone, spacious bathroom and 3/4 size bed. It was kept quite clean except the first night that I was there, I had to request that the bathroom be sprayed because of the ants. The rest of the week was no problem.

Food:

I had the all inclusive package for meals - 3 meal per day. You had the choice of 5 restaurants. The main restaurant, La Tortuga, was buffet style for each meal and was quite good with a lot of variety. La Choza was a cute little restaurant opening at 12pm until 4 pm and served fish, seafood, grilled meats, sandwiches. La Pizzeria served pizzas, sandwiches, salads, hamburgers, hot dogs from 12pm until 6 pm. There were 2 fancier restaurants requiring reservations, Mama Vezzia and La Cana. I tried each of these once. The food was excellent as well as the service. I was limited as to what I could order on the food plan that I had. I ate well all week. At the beginning of the week, I was given $50 US ($700 DR pesos) for drink credit. Luckily I am not much of a drinker because these coupons included the purchase of soft drinks and bottled water. By Thursday, I had $5 pesos left. I had a few alcoholic drinks during the week but really, I drank mostly water. A bottle water cost $20 pesos, soda $25 pesos, beer $40 pesos, tropical drink $60 pesos, just to give you an idea of how much things cost.

Excursions:

I did one excursion called "Bavaro Runners" which cost me $79 US. This was quite fun. There were 4 open air trucks which brought us to a sugar cane plantation, a rural village which produced coffee beans and cocoa, a coconut processing village, horseback riding in the mountains, a visit to a gorgeous beach out in the middle of nowhere. It was a whole day trip. I was pretty tired when I got back to the resort. This was the only trip I took during my week. I was supposed to go to a town called "Higuey" for sightseeing and shopping but it was cancelled since I was the only one going. I was quite disappointed. I didn't have any other chance to do any other shopping that week. I wasn't going to go out on my own since I didn't speak Spanish and the locals did not speak English. There is an excursion desk at the hotel who can book trips for you, but they were quite expensive. Just for your own info, I did a lot of research on the Internet about DR and found out many different things. You might want to use it as a tool. There are some sights which gives the readers an overview of where the travellers have gone. I would definately use it again to plan my next trip.

Nightlife:

There was a disco on site which I went to once with two guys I met who worked there. It was quite small. The music was typical salsa and some North American. Off site, there was not really anything to do.
This resort was more catered to families and couples, definately not for singles. I would strongly suggest that you learn some Spanish before you go (if you don't already know how to speak it). The language barrier really put a damper on meeting people. I did manage to meet 2 guys who worked at the activity center who both spoke English quite well. They took me under their wings for the second half of the week, luckily. I was getting a little stir crazy not having anyone to talk to. Make sure that you bring "Immodium" with you. This could mean the difference between living in your room or enjoying your trip. A couple from Quebec, Canada (as I was) did not bring it with them and his wife spent a lot of time with cramps and in the washroom, if you get my jist. /p>

I would go back to DR but certainly not to Punta Cana. I have heard that Puerto Plata and Bavaro are nice. I met a friend while I was on vacation who was staying in Bavar at the Fiesta Palace. She said that the resort was beautiful, the beach was gorgeous, 5 Star accommodations, very luxurious.

Anyway, I hope that this information will be useful for you.
Unfortunately, I haven't developped my pictures yet.

I guess here's two important points to learn: you should speak at least a little bit of spanish and you should rent a car and tour around the island. I have heard that especially 'all inclusive' tourists have been told not to go on excursions on their own. I don't know whether that's because the resorts want them to pay for their organized tours or because of a real thread or danger. I have never felt really unsafe somewhere in the country. To the contrary, the more we pulled out of the tourist areas, the less trouble we had. In the cities, there's constantly somebody washing your windshield at the redlights, selling stuff, generally trying to get your money (legally). At the tourist spots, there might also be some criminals that will try to get your money illegally, but I havn't been threatened and nothing has been stolen.
I would generally advise everybody to try not to look like a tourist. Check out how the locals dress, they're usually not wearing colorful shorts and t-shirt. You'll rather find they dress in jeans and shirt or so. Dress the same way. Don't carry expensive looking gear (camera, videocam etc.). I usually have a small APS camara that will fit into my trowser pocket. Also, don't carry all your money with you, just in case...
You shouldn't leave anything visible in your car. If you brought your videocam, put it in the trunk, if you don't use it.

When describing Dom Rep, don't fail to mention all the devil worshipping and homosexuality going on in Dom Rep, the men practice this addiction, pass it in their families and the women don't know. It's a secret male cultural practice for brothers to have sex together and to molest their young sons to teach them the family line. Research it. I found out the hard way, I married a dominican and he had my baby son surrounded by homosexual devil worshippers. And they are reruiting others who share this practice to do it in the U.S. I think it is practiced more among families from the woods and ranches in Santo Domingo and other cities, not the city dwellers. A lot of voo-doo practiced there, too. Check it out. Dominicans will tell you what a taboo homosexuality it, but that's to keep it secret from their wives.