Cap Cana Hyatt Ziva 2020

On Dec. 30 we flew to Houston to spend the night and then in the morning meet Mom and Paul. On the 31st, we flew United to Punta Cana. The whole trip was on points! We arrived at the Hyatt Cap Cana Ziva which had only opened that November. The beach and resort were gorgeous! There were some kinks. Staffing was odd (our "butler" was fired while we were there!) and there were things not finished (spa, gift shop, teen club) and things that needed work (door locks, phones), but overall it was incredible! The food was delicious and abundant! The water park was so fun, with great slides and no lines. They even had food and drinks trucks over there. The kids spend almost every afternoon there. We spend our mornings on the beach with white sand, clear, turquoise water and gentle waves. We played bocce, and cornhole, took the paddle board out and took swims and walks. The kids often stopped to get ice cream on their way to and from the water park and drank more virgin daquiries than I ever want to know. But it was all inclusive so it didn't matter! In the evenings we would wander over to the adult (zilara) side while the kids watched movies and ordered room service or took themselves to the buffet. We loved Shutters and Journeys (we ate in a train car!), but were underwhelmed with Brando's service. The wine was good and we often had happy hour at the private club for globalists. Each night had a fabulous show at 9pm including El Divo and a great cirque type show and a magic show. We also did a silent disco and I sang karaoke. We all got along so well! One day we took a trip off property to Higuey where we toured a church and a local shop (I bought coffee and some gorgeous wooden bowls and vanilla) and then had the most memorable lunch at a seaside cafe in Boca De Yuma. We chose it by the man standing outside holding up a lobster!We went inside to an incredible view and an amazing meal of lobster, fish, plantains, potatoes, rice, beans, salad, ceviche and sweet potatoes. It was amazing! It rained outside, but we were under a thatch roof eating fabulous food and drinking presidente beer. It was a meal never to be forgotten. We had so many good times together. Sam practiced his flips off his dad's shoulders, the kids explored the resort and raced each other through the slides and lazy river over and over again. They had their own rooms next door to us after the first night which was great. I loved sitting on my balcony and reading. There was always a great breeze and warm weather. It was pretty perfect and I was SO HAPPY almost every minute.
We left on Jan. 5th and watched Saints game in the funniest little lounge at Punta Cana with a pool on the deck. It was a heartbreaking loss, but I couldn't be too sad because I was in paradise. We flew that evening to Panama City where we finally made it to our Hyatt (after a crazy customs line) and fell asleep. We didn't see too much of Panama City as we had to go back to the airport the next morning to fly home (business class on Copa!), but it's on my bucket list!
It was an amazing trip! I want to go back!