Lopesan Costa Bavaro Resort: Amazing but needs better maintenance

We stay 7 days and it was mostly amazing, the hotel is beautiful, food is great, general service is okay, beautiful people… but the fridge in our bedroom was not cooling, the drain in the shower was partially clogged, the tv remote was not working. We complained on our first day and they never fixed. We followed up and nothing happened. The replaced the tv remote 2 times but gave us broken remotes again. Also we found roaches in our bedroom. Also, we forgot the bad for my baby stroller in the be [... read more]droom and 30 min after we went back and the was not there anymore and the hotel could not find even knowing that the cleaner was the only person who entered there

Playabachata Hotel: Great resort but needs some changes

Resort was good but them need to get rid of the constant non stop super loud techno Spanish music piunding minute after minute. It was ingrained in my head, couldn't even hear my headphones with my own music..and on top of that all day even at night up to 3 am.. Only thing it would make me not want to go back.

Bahia Principe Escape Bouganville: Best All Inclusive

The resort was beautiful with gorgeous landscaping. Staff were so friendly and always willing to go the extra mile to make guests experience special. The food was delicious. Christmas and NewYear’s Eve dinners were the best we’ve ever had. Entertainment was top notch. We can’t rate this resort highly enough and hope to return.

Iberostar Waves Dominicana: SPANISH ONLY PLEASE

As the name of the resort says: WAVES, it is extremely wavy, windy, and some days rainy. It is not more than a 3-star resort with management that changes things without communicating with guests, with staff that barely speaks English or other languages than Spanish. POSITIVES: well-kept grounds and hardworking maids, bellboys, waiters. There is very good food in the buffets, with a variety of choices.Very flexible with check-in and out. NEGATIVES: no access to A la carte restaurants UNLESS YOU [... read more] MAKE A RESERVATION, even if all over the resort they have huge panels advertising first come first serve protocol. Lines are hours long even if resto operates on a 50 percent basis each day. Resort has an app but no useful info is ever posted for anyone. Room cards need recharged daily because they don't work, so you need daily visits to the reception and wait until someone speaks English. There is no beach service unless you are a club member and most South American guests(far from being biased) smoke weed on the beach beside their newborn kids. Sad situation. If you are a beach person this is not the place to be, because is very busy, and overpopulated and a lot of screaming kids running around and you can smell the weed all the time. Almost impossible to swim due to the rough winds and waves.The rooms are dated and need a redo. Very small wash/bathrooms with a toilet behind the door, no fans. AC Rep connected with us when we arrived to get our departure info and told us that pick up would be on January 6, at 7.30. Although I exchanged phone numbers with Fritz and he called us during the week to ask if we would do any trips, when OUR PICK UP DID NOT HAPPEN on JANUARY 6, I CALLED SEVERAL TIMES AND TEXTED AC REP FRITZ, but MY CALLS, AND TEXTS WERE NOT RESPONDED. He was much more interested in making some cash on the side for trips rather than doing his job ensuring transfers to the airport as we paid for. We used a taxi to get to the airport and used our cash to pay for it. Communicating anywhere in the resort is difficult as an understanding English is not happening and speaking is even more problematic unless you are in the Club section where rudeness has its powers.My husband entered the Club coffee shop there and politely asked if he is allowed to be there.The response was: GET THE F. OUT OF HERE. Welcome to IBEROSTAR, only no stars can be added to their service.We travel a lot and we have seen many resorts but this was our first and last booking with IBEROSTAR.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Good resort for the value

Overall I rated the hotel a 7. The buffet was ok. Japanese and steakhouse were good, but Italian restaurant, Grappa was disappointing. I’m Italian so I’m more critical on Italian food. The rooms were nice and clean. The resort had a lot of Canadians but there was no Canadian sports channel like TSN or Sportsnet. It was all US sports channels; henceforth I missed the hockey games.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Good food, old resort, still nice.

It's an older resort, and it shows. Very nicely landscaped grounds, otherwise a dated resort. My 7th Iberostar, and definitively not the best. - Grounds: The lobby and courtyard area are the best for relaxing or enjoying the nightlife - Rooms: Plain, and functional. Our first room was terrible, nothing worked, and the washroom pumbling was bubling, very dangerous! - Layout: A lot of walking for such a small resort. Narrow paths and switchbacks a very annoying - Pool: Nice layout, a bi [... read more]t dated, and needed much more cleaning of debris, dead bugs and feathers - Beach: a typical wavy Dominican beach, with sometimes rough seas, and often closed by the lifeguard. However it's the only quiet spot if you are looking for this. - Bars: long waits at every bar, even if you just want to get a glass of water - 10 minutes; you have to bring your own water bottles, which is not a good thing on vacation / resort. - Food: The buffet was very good. The restaurants can be skipped. You have to line up to get a spot, you cannot reseve 2 of the 3 restaurants, and the Japanese isn't worth reserving. - Staff: The staff is friendly, but don't offer much service. - Other: The New years party was well done, the resort really tries to entertain it's guests with special events! Overall a pleasant experience, marred by lots of small annyances that should not happen at a '5-star', or iberostar resort, especially at these extremely high prices. Still much better than all the other resorts in the area.

Dreams Macao Beach Punta Cana: Excellent Resort

Took our family of 6 (including grandsons 16 and 12) on a family vacation. Resort is very clean, friendly staff, great food and lots to do. Did not take "Preferred Guest" package and had a great time. Tipped staff a little and received great service even without tipping. The only negative was New Year's Eve. Resort was decorated beautifully but Entertainment was not good. Also, not impressed with entertainment on other nights and would only rate a 3 out if 5.

JOIA Bavaro by Iberostar: Better than last year

We stayed last year at the same time and loved this resort. Unfortunatly we could only book 2 weeks last year because of availability. We moved to TRS Turquesia for our last week and were dissapointed. This year we stayed for weeks (Dec. 14 to Jan 4) and enjoyed it very much. We stayed in room 7379 Oceanview Butler suite which, in my opinion is the best room in the resort. We toured the oceanfront rooms and the price difference was not worth it. We loved the beach as well as the pool areas. The [... read more] food was great in all the resteraunts as well as the buffets. My favourite place for lunch was the grill by the pool, best burgers ever. Our butlers Cofe, Renaldo and Juniour were very attentive and made things very easy to handle. I am mobility challenged so the elevators and the size of the resort were perfect. The bars are well stocked with high end choices as well as freindly bar tenders. We did not do any excurtions but heard Samona was nice. The staff were very accomodating like yelly who was very good. We will be going again next year at the same time.

VIK Hotel Arena Blanca: Solid middle of the Road

This a tired, lack luster resort. Food is plentiful but not a great variety or flavours. Airconditioning is hit or miss, beds and pillows are hard, old. Staff are also hit and miss..so nice some dismissive..beach narrow and not enough lounge chairs for pool or beach. People were reserving chairs for hours without using them...

JOIA Bavaro by Iberostar: Fabulous Resort

Well manicured grounds and stately architecture. Love the lagoon and boat replica. Suites comfortable and nice decor with balcony & jacuzzi tubs in bathroom. Small property so everything quite accessible and within walking distance to lobby, beach, restaurants. Great accommodating staff, esprvially fun Animation team. Lovely beach- white sand, not rocky with palapas for shade. Pool nice and weekly foam party. Bingo, archery, darts, dance lessons, disco, yoga and more with nightly entertainment. [... read more] Light music, DJ, singers, tribute shows, lots of dancing shows. Gourmet style food in restaurants, lots of sushi. Theme night buffets. Wonderful buffets for Xmas & New Years celebrations.

Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: entertaining resort

This hotel was really nice. Our first room had a strong smell of humidity, we ask for a new room the next day and we received one but with smaller beds. Lots of activities happening and the a la carte restaurant were really good. The buffet was o.k, lots of choices but mostly the same every day. I would recommend this hotel for family, because my kids had an awesome time!

Viva Dominicus Palace by Wyndham: Second time back - great place

We liked this resort so much that we decided to visit again for New Year's week of Dec 26 to Jan 2. The plane landed in La Romana airport which is a small seasonal airport that operates few months in the winter season. It was very speedy passport control as Air Transat was the only plane there at the time. From airport to hotel it only took 20 min. The hotel caters to Europeans and some Argentinians, I didn't not see any American tourists and very few Canadians. It is located in beautifu [... read more]lly maintained lush gardens and some wildlife (Peacocks, iguana, geese) that people feed every day. Food was very good - lots of vegetarian choices, fish and amazing desserts. We tried 4 a la carte restaurants and enjoyed the atmosphere Also, beach is amazing with calm waters. Unlike Punta Canada, La Romana ocean is very calm and not too windy. The only negative aspect are front desk staff they are a bit rude but they get everything done. Overall, this is a good chain and we plan to visit their Freeport Bahamas location soon.

Sunscape Coco Punta Cana: Ok

It's ok lots problems it was a lot of money we were in sun club adults only part it was beautiful but kids running around all day every where you went kids were in are special restaurant. They need wrist band .you couldn't get a chair on beach or pool unless you got up at 6am all full with people who never paid.it sucked. not much choice for alcohol and new year eve ran out of all alcohol never herd of that at all inclusive ?...our first 4 day our pool was closed so green.the food was a pretty  [... read more]good spread but i have a egg allergies so food was very limited i was lucky to eat most days .the entertainment was ok nonthing outstanding the staff were amazing very beautiful people they cant do enoughfor you .overall 7out of 10

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Small Resort

Overall it was a good small resort with some deficiencies. Sitting area in lobby for families was very small. !3 people could rarely find a place to sit and play cards after supper. Room were very clean and room service was excellent. Beach was very nice. Although there were not many swiming pools, but existing ones were clean. There was not enough variety of drinks and the provided one were not strong at all. Pina colada drink were almost water. The coconut slushy was almost water. Mojitos were [... read more] limited due to lack of fresh mint. The major issue was in buffet. Food selections were good. Almost every time we were there, nobody was there to find us a table for 13 guests. If we found one ourselves, it was not cleaned up from previous guests at that table. Shortage of server was obvious. For breakfast, after finding a table and sitting, we asked for Coffee, Most of the time it was served when our breakfast was done. Servers were not trained to serve coffee, water, wine. Most of the time it was overflowing and pouring on the table cloth.

Serenade All Suites Adults Only Resort: Not great!

I visited Serenade Punta Cana with my boyfriend and my sister and her boyfriend - a couples trip. I've been to the Dominican 3 times prior and never had a bad experience however this trip was the worst. Because of our airline cancelling our original flight we arrived around 4am, politely asked if there were any food options open as we had been travelling all day and reception laughed and said we had to wait until 7am everything was closed. The other resorts I've been to have had 24 hr room servi [... read more]ce or some options so I was surprised. The entertainment was lacking, nothing really to do and there was hardly anything going on. The resort was dead by 10pm most nights. One night they had karaoke and half way through just stopped for no reason, it was very strange. The rooms are very nice as well as the resort itself, the asthetics were the best part. However, upon entering the room we noticed our pillowcases were dirty and the towels (I found hair on the face towels). Accessibility to food was terrible. Room service was limited, everything was closed at lunch there was 1 caribbean restaurant and 1 buffet serving lunch. The caribbean restaurant was basic, not great and portions extremely small. Dinner you have to book through an app we tried to go to guest services they did not want to help just referred us to the app and when we tried most of the time it would tell us unavailable. Beach was very nice, pools were very clean. We booked a swim up facing the garden and could not enjoy 1. No privacy, there was constant traffic of people walking and 2. Too much noise, these birds were constantly squwaking day and night so needless to say we did not make use of the swim up. Snacks in the room were stale. Now the people.... Like I said I've visited before and never had any issues I've worked in the travel industry for over 10 yrs and have been everywhere - I have to say I was extremely disappointed in the attitude of a lot of the staff. There were a select few that were very friendly (the younger guys working at the buffets). Otherwise, we had eyes rolling at us, we were laughed at for ordering mocktails that were on their menu, we were ignored at times waiting long periods of time to be acknowledged for even just a drink I did not feel welcomed like I have in other countries they made us feel like we were a bother, very rude and not how you expect to be treated when spending a lot of money and being away from your family during the holidays. Christmas eve was the worst. They had only 1 option for dinner it was $450 USD per person and if you did not purchase this dinner there were no options to eat because all of the other restaurants were closed. So we went to the family side. They wouldn't let us in anywhere! And most of the time these restaurants had many empty tables so I'm not sure why they were so difficult with the seating. At the family buffet we asked some of the staff where we could eat without a reservation and they said no where. So as I was speaking to this man another man walks up, the manager his name was Lionel. He goes to seat us and asked how many we said 4 because my sister and her boyfriend were joining us and when we told him he rolled his eyes and got frustrated and proceeded to swear at my boyfriend in spanish (we speak some spanish so we understood). Then the staff ignored us I can say it ruined our Christmas for sure! We also spoke to several other people during our stay who were also not very impressed. Overall we did not enjoy our time here and will not be returning, we could've spent our money anywhere else in the caribbean. Very disappointing! If you do decided to stay in Punta Cana there are much better resorts especially for adults. This was not it.

Royalton Splash Punta Cana: Perfect family resort

The Royalton splash Punta Cana was the perfect family getaway. The waterpark is great for kids of all ages, the food had a great variety and tasted great and they are very accommodating to allergies. The rooms are nice and well maintained, and all the staff is super hospitable.

Serenade Punta Cana Beach and Spa Resort: Great place, some needed tweaks.

Great spot. Very clean, perfect size for a family, comfortable beds and rooms, great cocktails, buffets were great. Food for all dietary requirements. It’s very difficult to get reservations at the a la carte restaurants unless you can eat at 930pm. And they were never ever busy when we went by to see if the could squeeze us in and it was Xmas week. They aren’t properly staffed so they don’t allow many bookings. Funny enough the one you have to pay $15 pp is always available. more activities  [... read more]are needed for kids that are 6 or 7 +. We were with a group of five active kids and they only had a couple things on that appealed to them. Soccer games, kids volleyball, competitions etc would have been easy to offer. beach is nice but very shallow so great for tiny kids but not for bigger kids. we had a fantastic holiday and most of the staff were helpful and nice. Coca Cola and sexy Boy and all the staff of the restaurant by the pool - itzen where we went every morn and lunch for buffet. They were awesome. Also - very very weird that the shower has a window / glass wall so zero privacy from others in your room. I would send kids to balcony

Viva V Samana by Wyndham: Meh..

I have been to 10+ resorts in the caribbean, I would rate this hotel a 2.5. Pros: -clean -Great Christmas buffet -clean rooms daily -night entertainment was provided on some nights -good games during the day at the beach -no sellers at the beach like there are in Punta Cana -AMAZING animation team members!! So fun and sweet! Cons: -found a live cockroach in my sleeping mask -humidity in room TV would not work, nothing to do on rainy days -no vegetarian food available in room ser [... read more]vice (not even any accomodation) -nothing to walk to outside the resort -low level customer service -music was so repetitive -scammed into the VIP tour, do not waste 2 hours of your time. They want $14,900 US for you to invest in a package of 50,000 points. Get away! The spa certificate and the tshirt is not worth it. -Bees all over the beach bar. Gross and they don't do anything about it. -the beach walk-in bar has miserable staff and it's so depressing-looking -the theatre is not used so why not do something with it? -some staff are so friendly -Great cigar guy named JJ! -Was not ready for a half-naked show where they obligate these young girls to dress in tiny underwear-like skirts in front of a mature crowd. -Disco suxks..only a handful people at any one night, including the animation staff -nothing else to do after 1am.

Casa Marina Reef Resort: Bang for your buck

Although this resort is dated, it is well kept. The food was good and plentiful. The location is awesome. The beach is just fine. As for the the downfalls, the staff, smiles aren't coming easy although they should be free. The service at the bar is slow. The cleaning lady had more smiles and did a very good job. The resort needs to purchase more pool chairs. The staff should not bother people for a massage.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Amazing Resort!

This was a beautiful hotel with nice rooms, tons of activities, good food and friendly, fun staff. I was impressed by the gluten-free options available. Not all are visible, so you have to ask. When I asked if they had gluten-free pizza, they made me my own custom-made pizza, which was really good! My only complaint is that the rooms were really cold and when we lowered the air conditioner the bathroom ceiling would drip a lot.