moving to cabarete

I will try to answer your questions, and the bottle of wine offer is good by me as good wine is hard to find here. A nice napa cab will do

1) Does anyone know a reliable moving and or shipping company?
We need to get our computers, surfboards, golfclubs, boxes and maybe a couch sent. The airline fees are ridiculous.

Shipping unless you are shipping a container is very expensive. You might try:
Matia Arias
La Rosa Del Monte Express
Worldwide Movers
Dominican Republic
Tel: 809-685-6256
Fax: 809-682-0472   

2) How can we get mail once we live there?

There is no mail servic as such, but when you get here set up an account with EPS (office in Sosua and Cabarete).  They are a mail forwarding service and very reliable. However it is expensive ($1 a letter). So keep your "mail" to a minimum.  We actually never get any mail and with the computer and internet don't need to.

3) What is the best cell phone/house phone deal, rates. Does magic jack work there. Can I use skype on a dominican cell phone plan.

The best deal is with a long term contract (one year) with either Claro or Orange. We have a 180 min plan including calls to the US for about $40 a month.
Magic jack works just fine as does Skype.  We have VIOP servce and it works. Vonage may not work depending on your cable company.

4) How can we rent or buy a cheap car? Or ship ours without our residency.(It is 10 years old) Someone suggested shipping to Haiti and driving over or shipping to Puerto Rico and taking the ferry to SD.

You cannot ship a car here that is older then 5 years and the government is cracking down on that, so forget your car. If you are going to be here for 1-5 years you are better off buying one here. Plan on spending 30% more then you would on the same car in the US.

5) Our biggest dilemma right now is our DOG. The airlines won't fly bulldogs in the summer. So now we are looking for a private jet empty leg to take us or maybe coming by boat. Any info on that. (No we are not rich, just desperate!! We have no one to leave the dog with.)

We brought our dog, but he was small enough to fly in the cabin with us.  The airlines will not ship dogs in the summer as you found out.I do not know of any private jet service sorry. You may have to board your dog in the US until September and bring him then.


I know these are a lot of questions but if you have suggestions on any of them your help would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to cyber-meeting you all !


Good luck

Bob K

Thank you Bob for your help. I know good wine is hard to get there so I will bring a nice Napa Cab and hunt you down after we arrive !
Deidra

I look forward to hearing from you.  I sent you my email as well.
Have a safe trip and welcome to the DR

Bob K