Punta Cana Forum: Holy Week in Dominican Republic

It does start March 20th but someone else said on one of the other posts that they usually don't really start celebrating Holy Week until that Weds. which would be the 23rd???

Only motorized watersports are affected - by presidential decree. Enough dominicans are killed each Easter without allowing access to that kind of power. Nothing else is affected. The Dominican Easter loooong weekend is from Wed. - Sun.

Gregg

I don't understand the coorilation with easter and dominicans being killed and motor sports? More than any other week?

I read Holy Week was in the beginning of April this year??

reefdivers - check your dates again.

Caribbean_Bride - the correlation is that on this long weekend in particular Dominicans go to the beach. While the wives look after the children the men get drunk. There are more than the normal number of deaths as it is (special first aid stations are set up in strategic locations just for this weekend) and there would be even more if motorized watersports were permitted - have you seen the way they drive cars? Now before anyone says it - of course this is a generalization and doesn't apply to all Dominicans; but it does apply to a lot.

Gregg

Gregg, please correct me if I am wrong, but a good friend told me that they always avoid going during any Dominican Holiday, as the Resorts are busy with locals. The staff tend to be a bit distracted by their friends/relatives. She also said that in addition to the decreased level of service follows a sharp decline in the food quality.

She has been 10+ times and has a Dominican boyfriend, so I would take her advice as pretty reliable.

WHICH long weekend are we talking about??? March 20th or the following which would be our Easter weekend??

Easter falls on March 27th this year. So I would agree that you may not want to travel there during that time... although there will still be activities... they may be limited due to their religious holiday.

Hi all!!!

Just wanted to mention that I had heard that alot of things are shut down during holy week (we are traveling to Santana Beach resort Mar. 18th to 25th) as long as there is lots of sunshine, great food and drinks - we will be happy. We have been to DR 2x already, last year choosing Cuba (not a wise choice unfortunately) and we certainly prefer the DR. We usually stay in Puerto Plata, Gran Vantana the 1st year which we absolutely LOVED and would highly recommend and Coral Marion the following year (great place but staff were not near as friendly as Gran Vantana) I have been reading alot of pros and cons about Santana but plan on enjoying myself no matter what (again as long as the food is great).

Ciao!