Cap Cana Ziva Trip Recap
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Intro
It’s been over a month since I’ve returned from my magical trip in the Dominican Republic.
As always, I didn’t spend a penny out of pocket on Uber, airport food/drinks, hotel, meals, plane tickets, and more.
And in this post, I’m going to show you how you can do the same.
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Going to the Caribbean in December has turned out to be a BowTiedBum family tradition. “Christmas in the Caribbean.” My wife certainly isn’t complaining…
We chose Punta Cana for a few reasons:
They have several Hyatt all-inclusive properties, and we were dead set on going to an all-inclusive.
They have numerous properties 30 minutes or less from the airport.
We took our 3yo daughter, so we were looking for a nice resort where we could stay on property and we were not planning on doing any excursions.
It’s generally one of the cheaper Caribbean islands and there are a lot of options with Hyatt and the Chase Portal
Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana
We settled on Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana, a 5-star Caribbean all-inclusive hotel owned by Hyatt and one of the nicest Caribbean resorts I have ever stayed at.
I have nothing but good things to say about this property!
First, let’s cover the booking process.
The Booking Process
We’ve developed a rule when it comes to family vacations.
If we need to pay out of pocket we don’t go.
***Spoiler Alert*** We go on a s***ton of vacations and max out our PTO on mostly international trips
Hyatt
Once we secured the dates, we started the booking process.
This resort was on my bucket list forever and I was flush with Chase points, so thought this would be a perfect time!
First, I checked out the rate on the Hyatt website. It was something outrageous for a standard room (not even a club room). I had enough points, but wanted to see if I could do better.
I went to the Chase Sapphire travel portal to see how the rates compared. It was much cheaper at 65,000 points a night. Which is still a ton! But it was me, my wife, and my daughter all in the same room, and my daughter is 3 now so gets counted as an adult essentially.
The total came out to 459K Chase UR points as opposed to almost $8,000 in cash!
The nice thing about my booking was that it was a “club level” room, so I had access to special pools, restaurants, and top shelf drinks that regular level access didn’t give you.
If you’re going here, I highly suggest getting a “club level” room! (More on that later).
Flights
We flew United. I had a good amount of money in my travel bank (as did P2) from the Amex credits, so it was nice not to have to use any points for travel.
Quick flight so we just booked economy seats as I felt no need to splurge for premium seats for a relatively short flight.
Note: This will likely change in 2025 after we max out our Schwab and Amex Biz Checking cashouts, and are flush with Amex points. I’ll likely be traveling exclusively first/biz, even for short flights.
Airport Shuttle
We used the same company as last year DAT (Domincan Airport Transfers). It cost $35 each way (it was a 15 minute trip). No problem finding them at the airport, and they were friendly. No issues with the return trip back to the airport either.
Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana Review
First Impressions
We arrived at the resort, and they tagged our luggage and escorted us to a club level lounge where there were small bites and a full bar. They brought us a special tropical cocktail and we relaxed on the couch when they confirmed our traveler details.
(Hyatt.com)
Our first impressions of the property were very positive. It felt classy, swanky, and we immediately felt the 5-star vibe. The other clientele looked well-off, in shape, and good looking (for the most part).
Everyone had a huge smile on their face and looked happy. We were on the Ziva side (which allows kids) so there were kids everywhere as opposed to the Zilara side, which is 18+.
Room
The room was pretty standard, two queen beds, mini-fridge stocked with water, soda, beer each day, rainfall shower, and a big TV.
The highlight was being on the top floor and having a large balcony and waking up to this view every morning.
As you can imagine, we did not spend a lot of time in the room at all.
Service
The service was impeccable, although a bit slower than we were used to back home (being from the north east). Every time I travel, I need to remind myself that this is the norm.
There were staff EVERYWHERE. When you walked past them, they would immediately stop and put their hand over there chest and do a slight bow. It was almost too much!
By the pool there were servers constantly walking by, so no shortage.
I found that tipping went a long way as many people didn’t tip at all. I usually tipped before I got a drink or at the beginning of the meal for better service.
Property
Grounds
“This is the nicest hotel I’ve ever been to in my life.” - My father-in-law
The white umbrellas reminded me of Nice and St Tropez and gave off swanky club vibes.
Everything was clean, polished, and 5 stars.
Pool
The pool was great and a few nights they had movies for kids, which my 3 year old daughter absolutely loved.
There were a few different pool areas on the Ziva side (remember of you’re over 18 you can go to all the restaurants/pools, etc on the Zilara side).
The main pool which you see above has a shallow area right by where the movie screen is (they obviously take it down after the movie).
It was mostly families with young kids in this section. This was a great way to meet other families and for my daughter to meet other kids her age.
There was an adjacent pool that was just for club members. This pool also had a swim up bar with top shelf liquor. This was a nice escape from the “kids pool.”
Finally there was a pool right by the beach. This one had music playing, a larger swim up bar, and more of a party vibe. We did not spend as much time at this one, but it looked great.
Water Park
On the other side of the property there was an AWESOME water park, which included a kids water park (ages 3-7ish) and a larger water park for adults and bigger kids.
The larger water slides were actually awesome and there was never a line, so you could go on as many times as you want.
This was a nice break from the beach/pool and my daughter had an absolute blast.
This was also the only place where they didn’t serve alcohol so if that’s important to you, I recommend bringing drinks over to this side.
Beach/Security
The beach had fine white sand and was picturesque. Our daughter preferred the pool so we actually spent more of our time at the pool and at the water park. The entire property felt very safe, and the beach was no exception with securities guards patrolling the area.
There was quite a bit of seaweed in the water towards the shore, but once you got past that it cleared up.
Overall this was your standard white sand Caribbean beach. We didn’t try to claim a chair in the morning but many people did, so can’t say how early you need to get to the beach to claim a spot.
Drinks/Bars
Drinks were solid and there was a bar nearby at all times as well as staff serving you by the pool/beach.
Regular guests had access to mid-shelf liquor and Presidente beer (“Dominican Water”).
Since our room was club level we had access to the club level bars that had top shelf liquor like Don Julio tequila, Grey Goose vodka, and local Dominican rums that were exceptional.
The house wine disappointed, but apparently you could pay for decent wine (which we did not do).
If you plan on drinking liquor it makes more sense to get a club level room. If you don’t care, then there’s no need.
Restaurants/Food
The food here was really solid. It was the best food I’ve ever had at an all-inclusive resort.
The buffet was delicious and it was nice to have the flexibility to eat there at any hour for dinner and not worry about logistics or reservations.
The coffee shop “Coffee Republic” was a great way to start the morning off with espresso and we really like “Chinola” which was right by the beach with a great ocean view.
The food was really solid. No complaints here.
If you’re traveling without kids, I definitely recommend spending some time on the Zilara side as well, as there were a lot of restaurants there that looked good, that you also had access to.
General Thoughts and Closing Remarks
This trip wasn’t a bargain and it wasn’t the most efficient use of points.
It was expensive and a ton of points!
But with the Chase Ink Cash money printer, I was able to do it with lots of points to spare.
This resort was on my bucket list for a long time, and I have absolutely no regrets.
Points well spent! And I definitely plan on returning in the future.
If you need any help earning and/or redeeming your points, please reach out in the Slack Group!
Disclaimer: None of this is to be deemed legal or financial advice of any kind.