72 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • SEPTEMBER 4, 2014 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com victoria’s secrets VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS vschneps@queenscourier.com tweet me @vschneps A dream vacation at Dreams resort in Punta Cana ,ing Morgan, Jonah, Hudson, Blake and Addison friendly, effi cient, professional staff. It was a welcome To me the beach is everything and we had lounges for our party of 11 every morning with towels on the front row, only steps to the ocean. And the waters were perfect for the children because it was shallow to run into it and I didn’t jump with fear. The kids played for hours building sandcastles and making endless trips to the ocean to fi ll There was an added bonus that the beach is public to the palm tree line, so vendors could pitch their products from sunglasses to miniature sailboats to sailing trips. It was fun to negotiate and buy from each of them daily. That was really the biggest activity of the day because I Dynamic $1000 off Lumineers $500 off Invisalign DENTAL WORK Free Whitening included the inViSiBle WAy to Some excluSionS Apply StrAighten teeth third generation dentist 175-15 Jamaica avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106 For me, life is a triangle: always working at balancing family, friends and work. In that always-challenging mission, I cherish taking time away from the everyday world for a week with my Schneps children and grandchildren, giving the little ones time to bond, giving my “kids” time to relax and restore themselves and giving me a treasured time to have them all to myself with few distractions. When my beloved Stu was here, all travel plans were his. We consulted and he implemented. So now alone, I had to be creative and fi nd someone to do the research necessary for an 11-person party where each age group can be accommodated. Fortunately for me, I found Mike Giarretto with Cruise Planners, who showed inordinate patience and knowledge. Since we needed an appropriate setting for children ranging in age from 2 to 8 and adults who like a pool and beach with a nonstop fl ight of no more than 4 hours including transfers, this was a tough order and yes, of course on a budget! After a month of going back and forth I decided on Punta Cana with one of my favorite airlines, Delta, which offers a direct fl ight to that Dominican Republic city. The Dreams Palm Beach is an all-inclusive resort that seemed to fi t our needs. It beat my expectations! Dreams Palm Beach is part of AMResorts with 36 locations mostly in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. Our 500-room/suite resort is on a beautiful, palm tree-lined, soft, powdery, white sand beach. On arrival, the beginning was bumpy because on landing in Punta Cana, we had to wind through a massive, snaking maze for over an hour to pay a $10 entry fee. There must be a better way! But the hotel was only 20 minutes from the airport and when we arrived, all of our weariness passed because of the warm “Welcome Home” we received. We made our refreshing drinks and snacks were abundantly distributed to all of us as they told us about the resort and its myriad activities. Our rooms weren’t ready but they shepherded us to the poolside dining room for a delicious lunch served by a that was repeated throughout our stay. The Preferred Guest section offers an exclusive beach area, a butler to meet all our needs with a beeper for calling him, a private pool, and a breakfast and lunch area with drink and food waiters to serve us waterside. enough for little 2-year-old Hudson their moat with water. adored doing nothing but swimming and sunning and then swimming and reading and then swimming again. Great straw umbrellas covered our lounges and protected me from the sun. and using the morning delivery as my wake-up call. Breakfast was everything I love and the kids relished their pancakes and French toast. I got into a routine where we all had breakfast in our rooms and then made our way to the pool and beach. We had lunch beachside and in the evening we enjoyed each of the eight restaurants available, with the kids’ favorite being the Pan Asian hibachi restaurant where the chef at our table had all of us laughing and then devouring his creations. There is a kids’ club (camp) so a few nights the kids stayed there for dinner and all the adults went to the Bordeaux restaurant that offered fi ne French food with wines to match the dishes. All the wine and drinks and tips were included so I never had to carry anything but my room key! There is a casino but we never made our way over, making dinner our evening activity. What’s special about our “Dream” suites location is that although there are 500 rooms I felt like it was an intimate, easy-to-navigate resort with much to do or nothing ... The Dreams hotel offered my family sumptuous, luxurious accommodations, multiple gourmet restaurants, a professional spa, a great kids’ club and an unusual Preferred Club. It made me feel like I was in a protected, pampered cocoon created to wash away my stress and bring joy to all the people in my family. It will be a memory to cherish forever. way to the Preferred Guest Greeting Center. Cold, refresh- We took advantage of the services of Dreams’ worldclass spa, but I chose to have my massages beachside, being too lazy to walk to the spa. Then there is the food. Each morning I fulfi lled my passion for breakfast in bed by ordering the night before Elizabeth with Jonah and Addison The Preferred Club pool Josh and Tracey with Hudson
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