Great time at the Senator!

First time in Dominican and had a great week at Senator Resort in Puerto Plata. The staff were all friendly and the wait staff in all areas were always quick to serve. I was amazed at how clean everything is kept considering how many people are being served every hour! Also impressed that many bartenders remember your face and your regular order...and Alexander at the sports bar even talked some hockey with us! I will definitely be returning to this resort.

Amazing resort

Hotel is very good, long beach, around amazing view, restaurants are beautiful with variety of food.Food are delicious staff very friendly and polite. Hotel is clean, room spacious. Japanese and Steak restaurants serving very good meal. Available as well coffee and pizza shops.

Fabulous, Fun and Fulfilling

We had a group of 10 people for some it was our second visit to the resort. We had a fabulous time! We love the fresh, crisp, clean look of the place. This resort has everything you need for a great holiday. Good food is key and the staff is so friendly and helpful. We had a little trouble with booking the alacarts but it worked out in the end, we had two birthdays during the week and the staff produced a cake for each and sang happy birthday to each of us, candle and all. One small issue, a co [... read more]uple of days they ran out of certain alcohols, but tried to get it stocked up asap, even offered to find me once they had it. The beds are amazing n the entire place is spotless, someone cleaning the bathrooms seems like 24 7. We really enjoyed the entertainment staff, Skinny, Dora and Picachu. They had us up and enjoying all of the activities at the pool and beach party. I would definitely return. Oh yes and with this you also have full access to the Bachata property as well, no complaints here...

Great resort with phenomenal staff.

This is one of the best resorts I have ever visited. The grounds are immaculate. Staff are super great. Food is good too. This was our third visit. Came home Mondsy and would go back today if I could. Cruise ships come in very close and they are great to watch

Mixed feelings...

My wife and I just returned from 2 weeks at the Senator Puerto Plata Resort and Spa in the Dominican Republic. We had read several great reviews about this resort before we booked – most of them rating the hotel at 5 out of 5 stars; however, this was not our experience. The resort is beautiful and there are a lot of positives about the resort but the negatives really ruined our experience. The Positives: The scenery is beautiful. You have the ocean on one side and mountains all around [... read more] the resort. Also, there is a port for cruise ships beside the resort and you get to see these gigantic cruise ships coming and going regularly. The resort itself has been upgraded and revamped to give it a minimalistic appeal. It is completely redone from the old RIU Bachata and looks brand new. The cleaning staff do a great job of keeping the resort common areas and bathrooms clean. We need to mention Estrella as a top-notch cleaner in the public washrooms and common area---Always a smile and a hug for the guests! You see all of them coming around to clean at all hours and they always have a smile and a hello (Hola) for the guests. The grounds are also beautiful and very well maintained—credit to the gardeners! The rooms themselves are very nice and well equipped (soaps, shampoos, hair dryer, iron, coffee-maker, razors and toothbrush in case you forget and bar-fridge with water and pop). The lady that cleaned our room (Barbara), did a great job and always replenished the water and pop, and created fantastic towel art every day for us. The front desk staff are excellent. They were always very helpful – especially Michel. When we checked-in she saw that my wife’s birthday was in January (on the same day as hers!), so she had somebody decorate our room on the day we arrived. She made my wife feel very special and welcome. Also, when we had asked all over the resort about getting our free bottle of rum that we are supposed to get every 5 days - she was the only one that got it done, as soon as we asked her about it. The Legends Sports Bar was awesome. All the servers were excellent and a lot of fun - especially Luis and Ariel. These guys really know their stuff and can make any drink – we highly recommend that you try a Chocolate Monkey. My wife is a former bartender, and she had nothing but good words to say about their creativity and service. The food here was fantastic - burgers, chicken balls, onion rings and Caesar salad and they made fresh popcorn in the evenings. The food throughout the resort was very good. The buffet and the Snack Bar by the pool both had good selections. The club sandwich at the Snack Bar was especially good. There is also a pizzeria on Tropical Avenue that makes good pizza (using the oils that they have on the pizza really adds to the flavour) and there is an ice cream shop that has really good ice cream and lots of flavours and toppings. We tried the Japanese a la carte and the Steak House. Both were excellent and the service was exceptional. You get a ton of food at the Japanese restaurant and they cook it in front of you. We were a little disappointed that there was not much of a show as part of the cooking. The Steak House was very good. The salad comes with this amazing little edible bowl that tastes like a cheese corn bread. I really enjoyed that there was beach volleyball being played at most times in the day and the entertainment team often joined in. However, the court does not have enough sand on it and there are several pieces of coral that the players were getting hurt on. I really hope the management addresses this issue for the safety of their guests. The entertainment team were good. We didn’t get to interact with them much when the resort was full, as they were more engaged with the younger guests; however, in our 2nd week we got to spend some time with Pollo, Pikachu, Coffee and Dora. My wife especially liked chatting with Dora and her dances with Pollo, especially to Suavamiente! The Negatives The staff selling time shares are extremely annoying. There are several of them and we were pestered by all of them at one time or another. They do not tell you what they are all about but just try to get you to attend a session (a Grand Opening) where the closers will push you to buy. The worst of all was when a very official looking gentleman came and sat at the end of our lounge chair at the pool and said he was the Manager in charge of the accommodations and wanted to know if everything was okay with our room. After getting all our information he then started into his pitch about attending the Grand Opening, etc. – he even said he would send a bottle of rum to our room and would split the money with us that he gets for having us attend the session. We were extremely annoyed to be pestered so much on our vacation by these salespeople but to have the nerve to come and interrupt us at the pool (twice), during the day was completely unacceptable. The New Year’s Eve dinner was a big disappointment. We were at the late sitting and we could only get a half of a lobster to share between the two of us. We were told that people at the early sitting were taking two or three lobster halves each. We complained the next day to the Restaurant Manager about not getting lobster and he said he would look into it and get back to us. We never heard a word back from him. Very poor customer service from a manager, and from the resort as a whole. And, the New Year’s Eve show was nothing special either. We have been to other resorts where the New Year’s Eve show was absolutely spectacular. Slow service – we noticed that during the last week of December when the resort was packed full that there were not enough servers and the service became extremely slow. The worst was an hour and a half wait for our lunch at the lunch restaurant and it probably would have been longer had my wife not complained to the waiter. We heard from some other guests that had been to the resort earlier in the year that the service had been great when the resort was only 60 – 70% full and they were shocked by how poor the service was with the resort being full. The beach is ok but nothing special, compared to other beaches we have visited. Lastly, there was an incident with a very drunk and half-dressed guest outside our room early one morning which my wife felt it necessary for the guest’s safety and well-being, to get a security guard involved in. While this guest’s behaviour was not the hotel’s fault, the concern is that somebody served her well past the point of inebriation and given her state of undress – my wife was asked to help carry her to her room in another building. We will contact management regarding such in a private email. My wife is someone who is highly skilled in interventions such as this...lucky for this client. Conclusion The resort is really beautiful and we did enjoy our stay but the people selling the time-shares and the slow service really annoyed us. A few tweaks by management and the resort could truly be a 5 out of 5 stars. I would consider going back to this resort but not at high season.

Christmas at the Senator

We travelled as a group of 14 for 14 days at the Senator over Christmas break. Let me start by saying we booked back in February and got a great deal - $1739/pp for 2 weeks. We met people at the resort that paid ~$2700 for 1 week. Due to the price we paid, my review is a little more forgiving. This resort thinks they are a five star based on their website, but they have a really long way to go to get there. We have travelled to many resorts 4-5 stars, all over the Caribbean so we know what [... read more] to expect - service being key to getting that five star. This resort is somewhere between a 3-4 star, depending on the type of room you book. FOOD/GASTRO/RESTAURANTS - The buffet isn't bad for a Caribbean resort. There are a tonne of food choices, some better than others. The first week the service was pretty good, the second week it all went down hill. Tables were not reset, condiments scarce (specifically salt & ketchup). One of the waiters actually went and got me a new bottle of ketchup on our last evening and was yelled at for doing so. Our favourite waiter was on the breakfast/lunch team. His name was Ferreria. Such a nice guy and went above and beyond. One of the cleaning ladies, Anotonia, also on the same shift was very sweet. She always made a point to engage with our baby and was always had a smile on her face. The a la Carte system is a joke. You can only book one a la Carte at a time for that specific day. You must get in line an hour before guest services open in the morning to even have a chance of getting a reservation before 9:30pm the same evening (earlier times are reserved for members). The Japanese was definitely the best. We had a reservation for 7:30pm (early rise that morning to get the reservation). Seated us late and didn't start our meal until 8:10pm. The meal itself was very tasty. The Italian was a late night. Reservation was for 9:30pm. Staff was very rude and started closing down before we even finished our meal. Lasagna was served cold-we didn't eat it. The rest of the food was OK. We late talked to some other vacationers who told us one of their group ate the cold lasagna and ended up with a $4000 doctor's bill because they had to be treated with an IV drip daily for the duration of their trip. We dined at the Steakhouse 3 times during our, twice as an a la carte and once for a wedding. All three times they were out of the Beef Tenderloin. For the wedding they offered us a T-Bone as a substitution. Almost everyday, one of using our group had tummy issues. So don't forget to bring the immodium! INTERNET/WIFI - Pretty good throughout the resort. A little spotty at the Pool Snack Bar and at the beach. The last day of our vacation Im pretty sure they turned off the wifi throughout the resort intentionally. When one of our group asked about it, they said that it was gone throughout the Dominican (so island wide), so no one anywhere had access. However, people were able to get on if they turned their data on. We had heard a rumour that it would be black on at 9pm. Just before 9pm a bus load of new vacationers arrived and within a few minutes it miraculously came back on. Just beware..... TOWEL GAME - strong at this resort. If you want a lounger, set your alarm for 6:55am - most people go out at 7:00am. If you need an umbrella, go out and hour earlier. Umbrella's are scarce. ROOMS/SUITES - So there are 2 different types of accommodations at the Senator. We travelled with Air Transat and were booked in the "Amber" section. These rooms are much older and dated, but they are very clean. They are more hotels and not like a suite at all. They are extremely small - suitable for 2 people in my opinion. Bathroom is very small as well. I wish I had taken some specific pictures. They are of the older, brown color scheme. I know it's not for the amount of time you spend in your room, but they're not pretty. There were no robes, but there was one pair of slippers. There was an older style coffeemaker and supplies to make coffee. An iron and ironing board were also in the room. You may or may not have an umbrella. The newer "luxury" category rooms are much more modern and have the amenities you would expect. Both categories have limited English channels. There is TCM - older movies, BBC, and 2 CNN channels. Might want to make sure you have some movies/TV shows downloaded on the iPad. One thing that I didn't like is that there are 3 different staff going into your room on a daily basis. One to clean, another to bring the towels and one to re-stock the minifridge. I don't like so many people in and out of my room, not to mention that they all showed up at different times everyday. A couple of time I did meet the guy re-stocking the fridge and he will bring you what ever you want, within reason of course. I told him I needed extra water to make bottles for our baby and he would bring at least 4 bottles a day. Somedays I would leave him a sticky note with what I need and it was always there. BEACH - darker, coarse sand, gets nicer the further you go to the right (towards Playabachata). Punta Cana's Bavaro beach is 100 times nicer. SERVICE - this is where this resort is lacking. This is how you get that 5* rating. We've been to 4* resorts that have stronger service Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of hard workers at this resort. When we booked this resort we requested a crib in the room for our baby. Upon our arrival there is was no crib. I called the front desk and was told someone would be there in a few minutes. I waited 90 minutes and no one showed. I then went to the front desk. They told me someone would bring the crib and I didn't have to wait in my room. We went for dinner - it was now getting close to bed time for baby. Back to our room, still no crib. I again went to the front desk, asked the same lady for the second time about the crib. She could tell I was unhappy. A crib was finally sent after the 4th attempt! There is zero service around the pool. No one comes to take a drink order, unless you are a 'member.' The service at the beach snack bar is soooo slow. Often waiting for over and hour for Mac N Cheese or a Club House & Fries. They got to the point where they wouldn't even take a drink order. Management had mandated you had to go order your own drinks from the bar, they didn't have time to get you your drinks at a sit-down restaurant. The 24 hour sports bar was more of the same. Waits of well over an hour for food. If you get my drift, you can tell that they are extremely understaffed. One of the busiest travel times of the year and they didn't have the staff to support it. Management needs to hire more employees or they will never get to that 5* that they claim to be. ENTERTAIMENT - OK. They tried and they were friendly. Pollo was awesome! I was surprised based on other review that we were never once approached to attend their VIP/Member meeting. Pardon me for saying this, but I feel it's important. One the weekends they let the locals in. It becomes very crowed and they think they own the place. Pair that with the vacationers from a particular Canadian province that is French speaking, you do not stand a chance getting served. The locals and the French have no problem butting in front of you in any line and it seems like the workers allow it for whatever reason. The English/other vacationers are second class. With all that said, would I return? For the right price, yes. That price being under the $750 mark. I would not pay more than that amount to go back. It's not a place that I would tell people they HAVE to check out unlike some other resorts we have been to that I would recommend.

Very nice place - service a bit of a let down

overall the Senator is good. the grounds are beautiful and very well maintained. the pools, beach and common areas are also top notch. the food is ok. if you go with that expectation you won't be disappointed. there are two levels of rooms. very recently renovated (buildings 1, 2, 3) and rooms that are probably 20 years old. if you care about design its worth the upgrade to the newer rooms. really the only let down with this place is the service. some of the staff are great.  [... read more]most try hard to be fair. the bigger issue seems to be from the top. they have rules in place that are either worthless and the staff won't be willing to budge or worthwhile and the staff sometimes seem willing to budge. can't take food away from the sports bar for example, which is silly. my kids kept wanting chicken fingers by the pool and I felt like I was smuggling contraband to them. you can only book the a la carte restaurants for same day and you have to line up at the front desk. they start taking reservations at 8:30am. most times they are full and will let you book a day in advance. one time when I lined up and finally reached the front I was told there were no reservations available for the next two days. I asked if i could book three days out and I was told that is against their policy. My mom went by the desk a few hours later (after the booking window had closed) and they let her book something 3 days out. this is why it's so hard to get a reservation. they will book depending on their mood. overall the place is very nice. if you go with the attitute that the food is decent (and abundant) and don't expect too much or speedy service, you won't be disappointed. if you can afford the upgrade to the nicer rooms it's worth it. they are 100X nicer. they are actually posh very the other rooms which are semi crummy.

An amazing time!

I would recommend this resort. Cannot thank the friendly staff at the bar, sports bar, buffet, and the pool bar enough! Rooms very clean! Excellent variety of food! The animation team were always entertaining and interactive with the young and old! Always a smile from staff members!

Sorry we are out of it

We have recently returned from a 10 day stay with a group of 20 people at the Senator Puerto Plata Hotel. The location of the hotel is beautiful, beach is ok and the hotel grounds are nice and clean. The pools are nicely renovated. We asked for renovated rooms at the time of check in and were told that all the rooms are renovated which is not true. None of us got the renovated rooms as they are advertised on the hotel web site. We didn’t make a big deal out of it because the rooms were c [... read more]lean and not run down. The hotel is definitely understaffed. Things are constantly missing. 2 of our rooms were cleaned and we didn’t get any towels. Called the reception 3 times and got the towels 1.5hr later (not the ideal way when you’ve made plans to meet up for a certain time with the rest of the group to go to dinner) Most stuff at the hotel are not too friendly. Most of them look pissed off even when you tip them which we did. It didn’t seem to make a difference. Constant lineups at the buffet, missing bowls for soup, missing plates, missing cups for tea or coffee. The service is for the most part non existent. The chefs at the buffet they try to keep up but the lineups keep growing as there are not enough of them. The chef that’s looking after making pasta for each individual person has to look after the pizza station as well. People were waiting for pizza and there were no pizzas in the oven as the chef could not keep up. Food choices were too few, lukewarm and every day it was exactly the same. It only changed a bit for Christmas and New Year. Whenever you asked the staff for anything that was missing we were told “sorry we are out of it” We had the best service at New Years dinner because the a la carte restaurants were closed and the staff from there was serving at the buffet. Our kids enjoyed the entertainment staff. They were the only ones with a smile. Overall we give the hotel a 3* and would not recommend it.

We a had a great relaxing time :-)

Our experience at this resort was great. There were a few issues but we would return if the price was right. Booking through Tripcentral was a breeze and an amazing experience. We are a family of 4 (kids 10 and 12). The flight: Air Transat was fabolous to deal with. The Option Plus was a bonus as we got it at no cost during a promotion. The transfer: The bus from the airport to the resort was good. 30 - 45 minute bus ride. The driver and porter expects tips but not necessary.  [... read more] The hotel: The check in was efficient. Staff was friendly. Rooms were not ready at 2pm but they were by 3pm. We had a few drinks at the sports bar and walked around the resort for an hour. The room: Our room was in block 4. It was older but still very clean. Our A/C wasn't working properly so I advised Luis the service manager and the Air Transat rep the following day. The day after they changed us to block 15. This block was newly "renovated". It was a bigger room with a king size bed and a double bed. There was a sitting area and a couch. The bathroom was renovated with new tiles and the bathtub was removed to add a walk in glass shower. The shower overflowed everytime. The tiles were not properly sloped towards the drain and the drain did not drain the water efficiently. The A/C in this room was working a little bit more....however not the same coldness as our canadian units. The maids cleaned the room everyday and appreciated the tips and gifts we left. We also tipped the mini bar delivery man and he made sure to stock our fridge with extra water, rum and pop. The pool: Was very nice and well maintained. However, the new parging was letting go in the pool and the bottom was covered in concrete parging pieces. My daughter cut herself on the broken parging. Another downfall are the smoking guests. People smoke all over (in and out of the pool) and they have no respect for non smokers. There should be designated smoking areas. The pool bar staff was friendly and efficient. I was up at 5:45 am evey morning to reserve chairs by the pool. We got caught the first day. I went out at 7:30 and there no more chairs available by the pool. Some guests reserve chairs and you don't see them all day :-( The beach: The beach has lots of shade and palm trees. Many chairs are also available. The beach is long and very coarse. This is not a fine white sandy beach but I thought it was still very beautiful and suited our needs. There were always many big waves and the kids loved it. Snorkelling was ok. Water is often murky from the waves stirring up the sediments. We saw lots of sea creatures (fish, orchins, jelly fish, sand dollars, etc) Got stung by a jelly fish. These things happen. Activities: There was always aquaerobics, beach volleyball, and other small games around the pool and beach area. This is not a resort with alot of activities and definitely not a party atmosphere. Although we enjoyed it very much. Relaxing and at certain times of day the animation staff came out and got the crowd in a party mood. It was the perfect balance for us. Restaurants: Buffet was good. Lots of variety. The À la carte was another issue. They insist on you booking your restaurants the same day. You cant reserve for the whole week. The first morning I was in line at 8 am for bookings at 8:30. There was maybe 40 ppl ahead of me. I did not get a restaurant that day. the following day I was in line at 7 am. There were 3 ppl ahead. I got the Japanese restaurant that evening. It was fabulous. The following morning I was in line at 7am again. We went to the steakhouse and that was also very good. After that I was over the waiting for 1 hous and a half to book a restaurant every day so we opted for the buffet and the sports bar. The sports bar had good food but the service was slow and they need to add more tables. Staff: Staff was friendly however, we were not impressed by every staff member using their cell phones at all times in front of us. They would always be on their cell phones even when you were trying to talk to them. Very unprofessional. We would go back if the price was right. Very nice resort. Rooms need to be renovated. They are trying to sell time shares so don't get caught up in offers. The swimout pools from your room are crazy expensive...so can be deceiving when looking at resort pictures. The rooms you get are very basic and not the new villas. However, they are comfortable and it's not like you spend alot of time in your room anyways.

Good resort

The hotel was in the beautiful place but the staff and the food was worse than bad. On the other hand it was so clean we love it. If you don’t care about the food , good place to stay whit the kids everything is very close , but nothing to do for them.

Senator Puerto Plata Spa Resort

Hotel and ground were quite nice and clean, I found that there were not enough covered space to hide from the occasional evening rain. The entertainment area is not covered which is lovely during a warm evening but when it rains everyone has to move I to the lobby. Makes it very crowded. I think the hotel is understaff, could use better trained staff in restaurant. They seem to be going somewhere at all times except our tables. And yes we did tip. Little more training and it will be fine. Fo [... read more]od was ok, nothing crazy. Room cleaning staff was amazing! Very friendly and helpful.

Amazing

The resort was very clean. Food was very good. Service was a little slow. No beach bar.Awesome beds and bedding.lots of activities to do. Maid service excellent. We stayed in the BIP building for a small upgrade fee

Look great

Good place to enjoy the holidays and people are good in side the hotel best service very good sports bar .but entertainment at night should have little more like dance music and party .rooms were very good and quite

Beautiful Resort

The Resort was kept in immaculate condition. We had a great time. A few small improvements would make this resort top notch. Service for coffee/ drinks in the buffet was not good. Music playing all day at the pool rather than just when the entertainment staff were on. More nightly entertainment, The entertainment staff were great and really friendly. All the bartenders were fantastic!

Wonderful Trip

The Senator is a beautiful hotel, the staff is wonderful and the beach is absolutely great. We were really happy with the food, tasty and a great selection. The Japanese Ala Cart was well worth it and the staff putting it on was wonderful. The only downfall I could see was that sometimes it was difficult to get refills on coffee. All in all, we had a blast!

Nice resort

The hotel was nice. In my opinion, I would rank as a 4*. Room was clean, beach was amazing and pools are large. The a la carte is a 7/10. Buffet service 6/10. Maid service 10/10 and overall bar service 9/10. We had a good stay.

Amazing Resort

Hotel very clean,the food was amazing,the room was very clean thanks to Nancy.I would ad like a little more of entertainment at Night.The beach was very nice.The Buffet ad many choice.I love the dessert.

Great resort. Great location. Amazing Staff

The location is amazing. A nice protected beach area. A point reaches out and the cruise ship port is on the other side. To see the ships come in and is amazing. Staff are very friendly and like to interact. Reservations were fast and easy. The Legends Sports Bar and Staff made our trip.

Senator Puerto Plata Spa Resort - we give it 5 stars

We started in room 511 and got an upgrade to the Luxury Ocean View and stayed in room 228. The room was brand new and definitely worth the extra paid. Plush robes and turn down service nightly and fresh towels twice daily if needed. The food at the buffet, Italian and Steak house was exceptional. Everything we ate was delicious! We visited the café and gelato shop on Tropical Avenue almost daily and had coffee, cookies and gelato which was included in the all inclusive price. Really nice  [... read more]touch! The gym is well equipped with all new equipment and the personal trainer, Wendy, is at your service. There are 2 beach areas; one small one with no wind, loungers and quiet and the other is a long stretch of beach which connects to Playa Buchata Resort which we had access to and also part of the all inclusive. The beaches were cleaned daily by the hardworking staff. The grounds were well looked after and the workers didn't stop cleaning. We had a fantastic week and will be going back really soon. Highly recommend this resort!