Dominican Republic Kosher Restaurant & Hotel in Puerto Plata – Part II

The below article is from 2015.  See the 2019 update here.

In this article, more details about a trip to the Lifestyle resort with kosher restaurant and synagogue will be explored. If you haven’t read the first article, you probably should go over there now and read it.

Map

A map of the resort is available here with the landmarks spoken about below.  Here’s a small embedded version.  Zoom in to the cluster of pointers in the upper left to find the resort itself:

Beaches of Peurto Plata

NV Beach - one of the VIP beaches in Peurta Plata

NV Beach – one of the VIP beaches in Peurto Plata

NV Beach - one of the VIP beaches in Peurta Plata

NV Beach – one of the VIP beaches in Peurto Plata

[Click any image to enlarge.] The resort breaks up its beaches into fairly deep and narrow strips.  Depending on the beach, there are various beds with mattresses, canopies, hammocks, swings, and so forth on the beaches along with a bar and non-kosher food at almost every beach.  (More on the bars in the below section.)  There’s no way of getting around this issue: tznious [modesty] is an issue at the entire resort including even in the kosher restaurant.  Even the synagogue itself has windows along both sides, though it’s away from most foot traffic.  Back to the beaches – we never found them empty but the VIP beaches were usually less crowded and in the morning there were few people on the beaches, and by about 4pm they began to clear out again.

Serenity Beach, Lifestyle Resort, Peurto Plata

Serenity Beach, Lifestyle Resort, Peurto Plata

Serenity Beach, Lifestyle Resort, Peurto Plata

Serenity Beach, Lifestyle Resort, Peurto Plata

The pictures on the right were taken about 10:30 in the morning … if you look closely, you’ll see the one person I covered up, but as you can see, it was mostly empty.  No one at all was in the water in this section (NV Beach) so we had some nice swimming.  Serenity beach was the same way, except much, much wider so there was room to be alone there as well.  Most of the people who were at the beach tended to hang out by the bar.  If you want a drink, you can also go to the bar … or staff comes to you.

Pools and Bars

Pools also ubiquitous at the resort.  If you want a private pool, rent a house.  If you want your own time in a public pool for reasons of modesty … again, morning hours or late afternoon is best.  If there are people in one pool, you can simply find one of many other pools by walking around.  Many also have cabanas where you can have privacy.

Pool @ Presidential Suites, Lifestyle Resort, Peurta Plata

Pool @ Presidential Suites, Lifestyle Resort, Peurto Plata

Bar @ Serenity Beach, Lifestyle Resort, Peurto Plata

Bar @ Serenity Beach, Lifestyle Resort, Peurto Plata

Bars are situated near a lot of the pools and most of the beaches.  The staff is very friendly but Spanish is their first language.  My suggestion is to bring with you a list of approved kosher alcohol, such as the Star-K kosher alcohol list so you can figure out what you can drink.  You don’t pay anything extra to drink as much as you want (or your wife lets).  The beer on tap was quite good, the rum is local (so long as it’s unflavored, it doesn’t need certification), Jack Daniel’s is good anywhere, but their mixed whiskey drinks … eh.  (Cold sodas and water are also available . . . but we all know the soda is better when you add rum.)

Ocean World

Sea lion show @ Ocean World

Sea lion show @ Ocean World

Macaws @ Ocean World (for a 'tipo' you can get your pictures with them on your head)

Macaws @ Ocean World (for a ‘tipo’ you can get your pictures with them on your head)

Parakeets @ Ocean World ("tipo" suggested, but they'll put food all over you anyway)

Parakeets @ Ocean World (“tipo” suggested, but they’ll put food all over you anyway)

Ocean World Dolphin Show

Ocean World Dolphin Show

Slides @ Ocean World, Peurta Plata

Slides @ Ocean World, PeurtoPlata

About a ten minute walk away is “Ocean World” which is owned by the same group.  It’s included with your “VIP bracelet” ($25/person) and it’s sort of like a minature SeaWorld without the killer whales which hasn’t been attacked by lawyers and government over regulation.  You can go snorkeling in their artificial reef (equipment cleaned with Listerine between each use), go in the parakeet cage and have the birds swarm all over you, watch animals shows, and for $10 extra, go down their water slides.  The place isn’t so large, but again, very friendly and you can have a great time.  It’s maybe about a 3 to 6 hour activity.

Off Site Excursions in the Peurto Plata area

Fortress of Peurta Plata, Dominican Republic

Fortress of Peurto Plata, Dominican Republic

Brugal Rum Factory

Brugal Rum Factory

After our next trip, I fully intend to expand this section.  However, as we found out most excursions run midweek and you need to reserve the day before.  If you’re going to spend a whole week, go Sunday to Sunday.  If you’re going to spend part of a week, go Sunday to Thursday.  For obvious reasons, Shabbos isn’t an option and on Sunday a whole lot less is available to do outside the resort.  In fact, many of the excursions are Tuesday, Wednesday, and/or Thursday only.

    Jewellery making with Larimar on Peurto Plata

Jewellery making with Larimar on Peurto Plata

Cable car up the tallest mountain in the Caribbean

Cable car up the tallest mountain in the Caribbean

First, find yourself a reliable taxi driver.  Sometimes you can find one just outside the entrance to the resort or you can use the tourist directory in a drawer under the Gideon’s bible next to your bed.  For about $60/day, they’ll take you wherever you want to go.  This might include the fortress (if you’ve seen one fortress, you’ve seen them all), the rum factory ($4 for a 750 ml bottle), and of course, the cable car to the top of the mountain.  [Again, click on pictures for a larger view.]  You can get a ‘city tour’ for not much more, but most of the time is spent taking you to gift shops while you wait for an American tourist to ask how much every little idol costs, all of them being within 10% of each other while having no idea how to bargain.  On that note, Larimar is a rock found only on the island and is used to make jewellery if you want to find something nice from the island.

Driving an ATV in the jungle

Driving an ATV in the jungle

Prepping the ATVs

Prepping the ATVs

Child in front of his house in a rural area of Peurta Plata

Child in front of his house in a rural area of Peurta Plata

Art store in rural Peurta Plata - my wife plays catch with a local boy

Art store in rural Peurta Plata – my wife plays catch with a local boy

Other more adventurous excursions include horse back riding, swimming and hiking at the 27 waterfalls (Las Cascadas de Damajagua), and ATV riding.  The ATV is best for one reason – you leave the tourist area and go riding in rural areas where you see how actual people live.  While there are plenty of “middle class” houses, out in the rural areas we passed many shacks like the ones to the right.  Incomes in unskilled workers are about $6/day!

VIP Wrist Band

It is highly recommended to get the VIP wrist band.  The lifestyle resorts have many different classes of visitors.  At the lowest end were the locals who rented rooms in the not so nice section of the resort for $30/night to fill up space during the down season when we were there.  At the highest level are those who own property at the resort.  Somewhere in between are the “members” and guests of those members.  Different classes of people get different wrist bands.  My wife managed to collect four on one wrist.  Make sure you have a VIP wrist band.  This gets you: a) pick-up / drop-off from the airport at no extra charge, b) shuttles around the resort, c) access to the nicer, more private, and more secluded beaches which are a must to mitigate the tznious problems in such a place, d) more respect from the staff.

My wife won the band collection - pink: Ocean World; purple: kosher food; gold: VIP guest @ Lifestyle Resorts; blue/green: slides @ Ocean World.

My wife won the band collection – pink: Ocean World; purple: kosher food; gold: VIP guest @ Lifestyle Resorts; blue/green: slides @ Ocean World.

One of the houses @ LIfestyle Resort, Peurta Plata.  Many are available for rent very inexpensively.

One of the houses @ LIfestyle Resort, Peurto Plata. Many are available for rent very inexpensively.

VIP Transportation around the resort (including for $25/person for your entire stay)

VIP Transportation around the resort (including for $25/person for your entire stay)

One warning / the worst part of our trip – the have guys who work on commission who try to sell you “membership.”  If you want it and you’re into that sort of thing (pay fees for cheaper room rates in the future), go for it.  Otherwise, they act just like timeshare salesmen with free “gifts” and gimmicks to get you to pay.  When you check in, they ask you to choose free bottles of alcohol.  Then they tell you “okay, go pick it up at the ‘VIP’ building.”  Then there are the overly friendly staff with khaki button down shirts and Indiana Jones hats . . . one offered us a “free tour” to welcome us.  The tour took us directly to the building in question where he sat us down in front of a screen and said, “fill out this form so I can get my commission.”  We walked out as soon as we realized what the “free tour” really was.  Side note – this same guy gave me us a ride later in his golf cart.  I didn’t realize it was him.  I tipped him a dollar for the ride … it seemed like the right thing to do.

“Tipo” (tipping)

Workers manually lift each gate.  They get paid about $6/day and appreciate tips.

Workers manually lift each gate. They get paid about $6/day and appreciate tips.

Child in front of his house in a rural area of Peurta Plata

Child in front of his house in a rural area of Peurta Plata

Our recommendation – come with a stack of dollar bills and give one to everyone who provides good service.  They appreciate it and it’s a kiddush Hashem (I think).  A worker at this resort makes about $6/day or less than $200/mo.  Most workers I spoke to (after asking me if I was from Israel  … I was way back, but…) were traditional, meaning they value marriage and have children.  It’s very difficult for them to live on this salary.  Seriously, rather than a key card entry system or some other form of electronic gate and cameras that we see in the United States, there are fifty different gates manned at all times by a guy whose job it is to manually raise and lower it.  The guy in the picture smiled for me as he’s required to do, but that could be his son in the shack eating mango on the street.

In “ocean world” it was like this with the workers … “the resort says $30 if you want your picture with a lion or macaw [glance to see if anyone is looking] … or just come with me and I’ll take your picture.”  Right next to them was a conspicuous tip box with a $5 bill … we saw this same box and same $5 in it multiple times.  The only place where they will actually outright ask you for a tip is at the airport with the baggage handlers.

Housekeeping

the pile mysteriously grows.  Housekeeping leaves a bit to be desired . . .

the pile mysteriously grows. Housekeeping leaves a bit to be desired . . .

Pile of plates on the ledge outside our room  when we got there

Pile of plates on the ledge outside our room when we got there

This is one area which leaves something to be desired.  Outside our room were three plates when we got there … a few days later, it was about 15 plates and a glass.  We just watched the pile grow.  In our room, they have this strict towel policy (towels are great for bartering with in the Caribbean . . . a relative of mine once got a nice wrist watch in exchange for a cruise ship towel).  We had to fight to get our towels returned after the first day and then only got some of them.

The jets in our tub didn’t work and the people at the table next to us told us how theirs shot across about a 6′ expanse, over the night table, and soaked their bed.  Our air conditioner leaked destroying part of the ceiling tiles.  To their credit, they did come and fix the leak right away … but didn’t fix our jets.  We also heard stories about the front desk hanging up on people and ignoring all complaints made.

Our travel agent’s info after we booked said to notify them if there’s a problem and they can help.  They seem to be aware that the local staff isn’t so quick to help.  We didn’t go that far, but …

What’s it all cost?

Here’s a total breakdown – Airfare: $600/person + $25/bag from New York.  Hotel room: $110 – $140/night for rooms that hold between 2-6 people.  Kosher food: $150/day ($75/day child).  Safe: $3/day.  Alcohol at all bars: included.  Transportation: included.  VIP usage: $25/person.  Onside beaches, sports courts (including tennis racket usage), entertainment, and Ocean World: included.  Water slides at Ocean World: $10/person.  Tipping: <$35.

Being a Frum Jew at the Resort & Conclusion

The Rabbi calls this the one kosher night show @ LIfestyle - the magic show

The Rabbi calls this the one kosher night show @ LIfestyle – the magic show

One of the pools @ Lifestyle, Dominican Republic

One of the pools @ Lifestyle, Dominican Republic

This section is obviously subjective to our experience.  First, according to the Rabbi, most who go are Sephardic, and more specifically, Bukharian.  Since they raised the price, the percentage has switched to more Ashkenazi.  Make of that what you will.  Second, tznious is a huge issue.  The frum Jews who go tend to be ‘to the left’ for this reason.  The Rabbi told me of some of his own relatives who won’t visit him there any more, took off their glasses while there, and used side paths.  (The use of side paths is relatively easy in many places, e.g. to avoid the pool area when going from your room to the kosher restaurant and synagogue.)  When on transportation, you can also sit in the front row … the mode of dress there is pretty immodest.  However, at other times, such as in the busy “Tropical Lobby” where excursions leave from, it’s impossible to avoid.  We did our best to mitigate the issue.

The resort has nightly entertainment.  The only “kosher entertainment” according to the Rabbi is the magic show.  Other entertainment includes a “VIP party” – there were literally women standing in high heels and white dresses (some actually fairly tznious) on white pedestals.  As people walked in, they got their pictures with women on either side of them.  No comment.

Serenity Beach, Lifestyle Resort, Peurto Plata

Serenity Beach, Lifestyle Resort, Peurto Plata

On the other hand, everyone was very respectful and very relaxed.  There’s no anti-semitism and most tourists, whether Jewish, hispanic, or you know… plain old white guy, seemed to be from New Jersey.  If anyone thought anything of my wife’s tznious bathing suit and hair covering, no one said a thing and we felt quite comfortable.

The bottom line is if you want a “proper” vacation which includes: a) three kosher meals a day of a quality where you wouldn’t be ashamed to invite your non yet kosher relative, b) a synagogue, c) a plethora of fun out door activities, there aren’t many choices.  This is one of those choices and is one which we will probably revisit.

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22 Responses

  1. Elana Bogner says:

    Hi, is the kosher restaurant still open? I requested a contract from life style kosher vacations and it says you book and pay for your kosher meal package upon arrival. This makes me very nervous ….

    • tostien says:

      I’m not sure, but when I went, it was the same way… You paid for the kosher food upon arrival. I found the travel agent to be meticulously honest about everything so if they say it’s open, I would believe them. One bad report about the lack of kashrus and they’d lose all their business.

  2. Hi, this is a long-shot but I’m wondering if you can help me. We booked a few months ago to go here in November. Since then, the kosher program has been closed down – they are now only going to operate it next July and August (presumably not enough demand), HOWEVER the person we booked through has ensured us that the resort are honouring any existing kosher bookings. But he doesn’t have any more details than this – i.e. who is going to make the food (the Rabbi and the whole of the OK Kosher organisation have left), how is it going to work, etc. I am very worried about this as we are coming from the UK and spent a lot of money on this holiday – flights, etc., and no one seems to have any concrete answers. I know it’s a long-shot, but do you happen to know anything about this, or have any contacts at the resort who may know? I have already been speaking to the mashgiach who used to work there, so that doesn’t help, but maybe someone else who may have more details about what they’re going to do with the people who have already booked kosher? Thanks in advance on the off-chance you may be able to help.

    • tostien says:

      Hi – this is the first I’m hearing that it will no longer be kosher. The place I booked through says on their website, “Unfortunately as of September 23rd, 2016 the resort has made a decision to only run the Kosher program during the months of July and August, 2017. Should you have an existing reservation for any other dates for the Kosher program your reservation will be honored. We are currently ONLY booking Kosher reservations for July or August, 2017. We hope someday to be able to offer the Kosher program all year long, but sadly at this point we can ONLY offer the program for two months next year. ”

      I’m sad to hear this, but I don’t have any more information. Maybe other readers will comment?

    • tostien says:

      They are still listed as kosher on the ok.org website… maybe call the OK and make sure it’s still good? Looks like they’re still running it, just only for the summer.

      • Thanks for your speedy reply. Clearly we booked through the same website 🙂 I’ve already spoken to the OK Kosher, they confirmed that there is no more supervision there. But the guy I booked through (same one as you did, apparently) says they are insisting they will honour it, even though he doesn’t really know how – it doesn’t sound to me like the resort are really sure how they’re going to honour it, and I’m worried they’re just going to buy in some ready meals that they will just reheat for us. Can I ask, if it had been like this when you went, and they gave you ready meals, would you still have enjoyed the holiday?

      • tostien says:

        That’s so sad to hear. I’m glad I got my trip in while it was still in it’s prime. When I was there, the food was excellent. There were three fresh meals each day and the Rabbi was there every time. He stayed there for the year. There’s still plenty to enjoy with subpar food but I certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much.

        If you do end up going, please report back how it went and the blog article might need updating. Personally, without hashgocha and a frum Jew there who knows what he’s doing, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to work out.

        It doesn’t make sense to me – there seemed to be plenty of demand and plenty of frum shareholders in the resort with hundreds for Peseach and yeshiva week break booked for two years in advance. I wonder (and this is just speculative) if the Rabbi quit and they couldn’t find a replacement or just haven’t yet.

        There really are few options for being served three proper kosher meals a day at a place where you can just go any time and the food in excellent. I heard there’s a renovated kosher hotel in New Hampshire – I haven’t been yet. You might try Happy Harris in Hunter, NY (certainly it’s no Caribbean) or Miami and eat out at restaurants. I have articles on each. There are also ways to do kosher in the Caymon Islands and Jamaica through Chabad’s there.

        If you’re coming from the UK, I hear that Switzerland and Austria have some nice places which are closer to you. If you’ve been … please contribute articles for the website.

      • Thanks for your suggestions. My wife (as well as myself) really wanted to go to the Caribbean (Switzerland etc is not quite so exotic for us!) and, as you say, there really isn’t much to choose from if you want quality kosher food. We would never usually spend this much on a holiday, but it’s for our (late) honeymoon, a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and we also know someone else who has been and said it was incredible, so we thought let’s just go for it.

        It’s definitely not a case of the rabbi quitting. The resort have made the decision, but I don’t know why. I really don’t know what to expect, and I’m not entirely sure what to do. if the food is just brought in from somewhere else and reheated, this isn’t at all an acceptable alternative – especially not at anywhere near the very high price of $130 per person per day just for kosher food. If they offer it at a HIGHLY discounted price, we may end up having to go for it, as it’s not simple for us to cancel the holiday now that we’ve booked flights, as well as a 2-day layover in New York (not to mention that we’ve been looking forward to the trip for a long time)…

        The person we booked with has said that, although he’s not sure of all the details yet, he has lots of people going to stay there over Sukkot, so he will definitely know more by then. Hopefully at the point he’ll be able to give me proper details. As he pointed out to me, the chef is still at the resort – he doesn’t work specifically for the kosher program – and they still have kosher kitchens, so all they really need is a mashgiach from a recognised supervision to come in for the weeks that there are kosher bookings. It wouldn’t be in the best interests of the resort to ruin their excellent reputation in the kosher market by serving sub-standard meals now in a 5* resort, especially not when they’re still running the program for 2 months next year. However, as much as that may be logical, it’s just guess work – until i know for sure what they’re going to do, I’m going to be worried.

  3. Cary Reichardt says:

    If my friend is a member and we are renting through them, is there any way to convince them to offer a Pesach option this year?

  4. Avi says:

    Excellent, detailed article. great site. please continue the good work!

    Just came back from DR at another place. it was great but eating fruits and some basic sushi all day got kinda boring so started looking into this. price wise this seems very reasonable.

    Can you please comment more on the food, since that is the main point of this whole thing. Specifically, types and variety of dishes.

    Is everyone at the resort able to eat there or just kosher renters? (I’m confused by your wristband section).

    Lastly, they mention a few places for sushi on the property. Have you seen those? Are they making them on the spot or just have trays?

    • tostien says:

      Hi. Thanks for the compliments.

      Only the people who pay for the kosher food are able to eat it (and vice versa).

      I didn’t see sushi, but I wasn’t really looking … I wouldn’t eat it without a hechsher. The same knife used to cut the kosher fish could have just been used to cut the eel and oyster or been used with a sharp food.

      The meals varied … a lot of fish, chicken, and local foods. The fried plantains were amazing.

  5. tostien says:

    Just to be clear since some people who read the article came away with a negative impression – it’s one of the best kosher vacations I’ve ever been on and we’ll probably go back … which is more than I can say for a lot of places!

    I wrote about the good and the bad, but the good far outweighs the bad. Yes, the room cleaning wasn’t so good, but it wasn’t so bad either that it should break your trip. … and if you’re comfortable finding a secluded spot on a mixed beach / going at off hours anywhere else in the world, this is no different.

  6. Cathy Ilani says:

    Does anyone know if they are Kosher for Passover?

    • tostien says:

      Cathy – so far, they have been closed every year for Pesach. The Rabbi told me that if they do open, it would be for “members” only as they have more than enough demand for it already from those who bought membership at the resort.

  7. NANA says:

    wow, thank you so much. you helped me tremendously.

  8. Wendy says:

    Does the restaurant have a menu? DO they make special dietary modifications?

    • tostien says:

      Hi. They don’t have a printed menu and the ‘menu’ is different every meal. From my understanding, when there are not a lot of people there, it’s buffet style. When there are a lot of people, there is more of a menu. I was there when it was ‘buffet’ style. There was a lot to choose from at the buffet meals.

      There were some meals which were just meat or just fish (again, with various choices) but when people asked for fish instead of meat, they were accommodating to that and brought them a plate as long as you tell the moshgiach ahead of time. There’s not so much wheat in the food other than the bread and pastries. Also, lots of salad and fruits at just about every meal.

      For breakfast, they had cooks making omelettes who know to have you turn the electric frying pan on … they also had fried plantains which were amazing, pancakes, lots of very good pastries, cereal, etc.

      • Wendy says:

        Thank you. Can someone call ahead for special diets?

      • tostien says:

        Not really … I did request something through the travel agent, but it didn’t really make a difference. Just tell the mashgiach when you arrive.

  1. July 24, 2015

    […] you to one of the best kosher vacations we’ve even been on.  Read below for more details.  [Part II with more details is here, when you’re finished reading this […]

  2. October 27, 2015

    […] to file same in a smattering of countries.  I added to my letter that I stayed close to Sosua (in what is a very nice resort with the kosher food and synagogue, the only one of it’s kind in the Caribbean) and would be happy to send my money through a […]

  3. July 13, 2016

    […] Dominican Republic Kosher Restaurant & Hotel in Puerto Plata – Part IIIn this article, more details about a trip to the Lifestyle resort with … […]

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