Casa Marina Reef Resort: Amazing week at Casa Marina Resort

This was our sixth vacation to this wonderful resort and as always, we had a great time! The weather, the atmosphere, and of course the staff was perfect. Even with renovations going on, it did not interfere with our group having a great time. There were nine in our group and we always got together at dinner time. Youanny Duvan took excellent care of us. He seemed to know what time we would arrive every night and everything was set up to accommodate all nine of us! We have brought new guests wit [... read more]h us on different occasions and all of them have enjoyed the resort. We will continue to go back again and again, we love it!

Casa Marina Reef Resort: Amazing Resort

Great service as always. That's our 6th time there. Highly recommended. The renovated rooms are awesome. The food was plentiful and fresh. Very clean and safe resort. A big thanks to Kevin Dupuis at tripcentral for the great service. We'll be returning in March.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Disappointed

Came second time and felt the difference in service, room with only one broken chair, many small and not small problems with bathtub, light, noise air conditioning, bad smell and insects . But the most disappointing thing that when we arrived at 10 PM we could not find any opened restaurant or snack bar and went to sleep hungry and nobody cared about us.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Amazing Resort

The resort is well kept, rooms very clean, grounds are spectacular. Lived the beach, able to walk a fair distance and no one was harrassing you to purchase anything. Enjoyed seven days of relaxation. Food and drink was very good. Booked three alacart options, we were disappointed with the Mediterranean restaurant, but each to their own. Staff friendly and helpful. Close to town Will be returning.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Good Resort

All in all we had a great time first I will start with the good and then with the bad. The hotel rooms were lovely. It took 35 minutes to get hot water but no big deal. The bed was super comfy and they stocked our fridge with alcohol and water the first night The food was quite tasty but before coming I thought we would have multiple access to restaurants which wasn't the case. There was usually only 1 open each night Pools and beach was beautiful And the staff. Wow did they ever mak [... read more]e our trip. HUGE shout out to the boys of the animation team - skinny boy, superman, Julio nice, chufly, cocote. Also Johnson from the seapro divers. These boys were constantly there for us and were extremely kind. Lastly, thank you to the doctor on site. Unfortunately I got very sick our last day and was rushed to the hospital. The care I received at the resort and hospital was amazing The resort is absolutely beautiful The only complaint I have is the timeshares. We were constantly harassed by staff members on golf. DO NOT GET IN THEM. It is a total scam. They tell you they are taking you on a "tour" and bring you all around to the villas and mansions etc, then they sit you down and constantly pressure you to rent one or buy a timeshare. They are super persistent and you have to be very firm. On the second day they came and knocked on our door and told us they had a gift for us..then took us off resort wayyyy far away and did the same thing. Then we had to wait in the hot sun for an hour before they took us back. We were furious. The constant harassment needs to stop because sooner or later you are going to loose service. Anyways all in all we had a good time and would reccomend the resort to our friends. Get rid of the harassment and you will see alot more people come to your resort

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Awesome

This resort was amazing grounds are well kept food is excellent staff are friendly rooms are nice and very well clean the pool is a little deep front lobby is huge and beautiful the beach is well kept and plenty of lounges

Sunscape Puerto Plata: Great Place for the Price

I was very pleased with this resort. The ground were very clean and tidy and the beach was cleaned daily of seaweed. The theater was outside in the atrium of the resort by the pools. I had a room near the pool and every night I could hear very loudly the show from 0830 at night until 1000 and one night it went to midnight. This would not be an issue for adults, but I had a child who goes to bed at 800 and he found the noise very distracting. Just a head up, if you are bringing kids try to g [... read more]et a room farther away from the pool area for this reason. The food at the a la carte restaurants was amazing, the buffet was average; the deserts were tasteless. I was surprised that this resort does not have an ice cream bar, and the only time ice cream was offered was as a small desert at the a la carte restaurant. Also, trying to get a coffee at the breakfast buffet was trying to wrangle a horse. Most time I did not get a coffee until breakfast was finished as the staff who serve the coffee never seemed to be around. When you did see them and call them over you got a roll of the eye, but a coffee in your mug. However, the weather, the ground, the pool the beach were all pristine and my family had an amazing time at the resort. We did an excursion to ocean world and did the shark swim. This was an excellent place, and was definitely worth the money spent. DO NOT do the city tour with the cable car to the mountain excursion. Basically you are forced to stay in gift shops for 3 hours of the tour in which you pay for. They claim you visit a rum factory, an amber museum, and a cigar factory. These three spots are all gift shops which you are forced to stay in for half hour each place, then then take you to an actual gift shop, then another shop at the end to buy food (because it was 2 in the afternoon and food is not provided). The only parts of the city we saw was the cable car ride (rushed in and out), and a fort (we were given 10 minutes to visit). Basically you pay 45 dollars US to be trapped in gift shops.

Paradise Playa Dorada: Loved every minute

The resort was breath taking. I loved every moment there. I didn’t want to leave. The staff was friendly. The food was very delicious. We arrived past dinner time but the hotel had some food waiting for us. The entertainment could have been more entertaining but other than that. Perfect.

Blue Bay Villas Doradas: Blue Bay Villas Doradas

The hotel was fantastic, staff were more than accomadating beautiful grounds and pools were great I loved the beach and the beach bar there was lots to do with great entertainment at night all around great vacation.

Casa Marina Sosua Trademark by Wyndham All Inclusive: Great Resort

The hotel is currently under renovations. The restaurants, bar and entertainment crew was awesome. This is my third stay at Casa Marina and would definitely recommend it to others. Only real issue on this trip was checkin, the receptionist served a person in-front of us and than when our turn she served someone else, I experienced this twice. The other staff I've dealt with on this trip at reception were great. The pools and Jacuzzi were my favourite parts of the trip especially since the beach  [... read more]was closed off due to strong waves.

Casa Marina Sosua Trademark by Wyndham All Inclusive: Telling it like it is.

chose this hotel because of the proximity to the town of Sosua and the beach. I also loved how it was all oceanfront, rooms, restaurants, bars, sitting areas and some jacuzzi pools. We love vacationing for ocean and beach and to be away from work and hustle bustle of life of course. Arrival and check in were swift. We were walking towards our room and we were going the wrong way, I thought. Never been here before but read reviews and forums on trip advisor and felt I knew what we had booked.  [... read more]We booked the beach side oceanfront and upgraded. The basic rooms were $150 more than reef side without the oceanfront and upgrade, so I was not impressed we were heading to the reef side. We got to the room and it was oceanfront and appeared renovated. Good enough. Later as we walked through the resort we realized the beach side was much more quite and nicer on the outside it did look empty the whole resort was fairly empty (during the week, wait until the weekend!) we were also place beside the pool which was extremely loud, if you like this kind of entertainment, you’ll be good, there was lots. We like quiet and relaxing. The beach was good for that. You do have to pay for an umbrella 150 pesos. No big deal but found it odd. We did go back to front desk to ask if we could be moved to the beach side and were told no, we paid for oceanfront and upgrade and that was what we got. This was true but I asked if we could even look and was told no. Next day we were asked if we did want to look at a room on beach side but it was still on the reef side and one extra floor up and exactly the same as the room we had. Oh ya no elevators if this is a problem for you. 3 and 4 story buildings. We kept our room, all good. Service here was non existent. We did realize how much we actually enjoyed the service we received at all other resorts we’ve been to. It’s quite nice to be waited on and cared about while on vacation. After a few days we came to the conclusion that there was possibly no service as we did not see anyone tipping, maybe staff figured why bother? We would tip and it made no difference so we stopped, we tip for service in Canada so if there is none? Anyway there was nothing to want, everything was self serve. Service was definitely there in the alacarte but not the friendliness and socializing we have received in other countries we’ve been. Staff stood and talked amongst themselves. Food at the buffet was good and lots of variety. The ala carte was horrible, there were 4 of us and we just walked right through to the buffet after. I ordered the salmon and yes I am aware salmon is a hit or miss if it’s not cooked to your liking but wanted to take a chance. Everyone had something different and no one could even eat their meal. My salmon was hard as a rock and I could pick it up as a solid piece. I could not cut all the way through it with a knife. There is not a lot to do if you are looking for things to do on the resort. Daytime activities in the pool for kids, teens and adults if that’s your thing, but not much in the eve. Friday night there was a band for an hour. At 10, too late for us, would have loved something like that after dinner. We are early risers and early to bed. Sun, ocean and alcohol makes for a tiring, early day. Speaking of alcohol, alcohol is alcohol if you are just wanting to get drunk, but if you want to enjoy a few drinks the alcohol is not very good. It actually gave me severe heartburn which I did not have before I got there and don’t have now. It would start as soon as I had a drink. Not very pleasant at all. On our last day we heard there was a premium alcohol bracelet, we saw no premium shelf alcohol nor knew anything about a premium bracelet. Normally this is not an issue for me but I would have paid due to the pain I was in. Also my husband is a tequila drinker and he did not think it was even tequila he was being served. The weekend! Oh my! Weekend is insane!!! A ton of locals come, the resort is pack, the buffet is a zoo! Never seen anything like it. The chaos, disorder. Not sure if the Dominican culture was to bud and have no courtesy or consideration for others or if they feel entitled but it was something else. No one was outright rude but, standing at the bar, waiting your turn, a local would just come up and shout out their order. Problem here too was that the staff would stop what there were doing and serve them. Cultural thing? Maybe we were all supposed to do that? Either way I was in no rush I was on vacation. The line up for the buffet on Friday night was at least 50 people waiting. The pools and jacuzzis were littered with straws and plastic cups it was kind of disheartening to see the garbage and amount of disregard for others and others property . All this said and done, we believe your vacation is what you make it and right reviews based on my likes, dislike, observations and thoughts to try to help others decide if this resort is for them. We had a fun vacation, did 2 off-site tours and went into town a few times. None of the negatives mentioned ruined our vacation. Will we return? I don’t think so, we normally don’t go to the same place twice but I hate to say no, we won’t. You never know.

Casa Marina Reef Resort: Great resort-worth money

Renovations has done wonders for this place, the food and the staff were very helpful, the food itself was excellent all three meals per day enjoyed, with no after effects The rooms though we stayed in old building half renovated was clean & well looked after, the bar was open till 1am,every day featured new drink-had fun trying vodka,rum etc.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Good

Hotel was clean food was good. Service was excellent. The pool was also very big. The beach was covered in sea weed all the time and the ocean had tons of sea weed as well. I recommend this hotel to families they had lots of kids activities going on.

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: I wouldn’t call this 4.5 stars

Please Most of the staff was really friendly and they were really quick and getting you what you wanted the food wasn’t wonderful that’s for sure very repetitive and weird foods there were sand fleas and mosquitoes so lots of bites the beach isn’t the cleanest lots of seaweed but the maids are wonderful the room was clean my cable didn’t work but everyone else I knew there’s did work On the weekend the resort was full of locals which is fine but a lot of them are very rude it was like [... read more] scavenging for food and they just bought you so that made three days like not nice it is definitely worth the $600 I paid I wouldn’t pay more than that and I wouldn’t go back there but There were good things the entertainment was awesome the pool was awesome free Wi-Fi they wanted everyone to do activities I didn’t personally but a lot of people look like they had fun

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Some good. Some bad.

Resort was very clean however my room was leaking water from the bathroom ceiling. Some people were friendly and some were not. We were harassed a lot by the employees to join their “VIP Members group” which was annoying but all in all we had a good time.

Viva Heavens by Wyndham: Fabulous resort

We went on vacation to this resort our first time in Puerto Plata the hotel staff are very friendly and treat you like family, the Annimation team was by far the best entertainment we have seen they are very good at getting people to engage in the games and the night shows were phenomenal , the food was great , the grounds were kept nice the bathroom and rooms were very clean. It was the best vacation we have been on , We would highly recommend this resort if you want to have a great time on v [... read more]acation there is always something to do or even want to relax . Everyone always had a smile on their face and made you feel special when they interacted with people.thank you for reading .We can't wait to go back. Debbie and Bill if we could rate this resort a 10 or more we would.

Viva Heavens by Wyndham: A tropical paradise

My boyfriend and I booked this trip at the end of summer to relax and enjoy after a crazy summer of working, and I am so glad I choose this resort to do so. For someone who travels to a lot of all inclusive resorts I did enjoy how welcomed we truly felt here. From the moment we stepped foot we were already greeted with friendly faces.We came as visitors and left as friends, all the staff started and ended our day with smiles. The animation team was incredible huge shutout to black panther, c [... read more]andy, Lilo, Tarzan,black level, joker, kitty, pinky, Minnie Mouse, Africa, Peter Pan, Jack Sparrow and Capuccino! You can tell this group loves their job and has passion. Without the animation team our experience wouldn’t have been as memorable. The performances they put on every night showed their talent and dedication to making people entertained and happy! They deserve lots of credit For all they do at the resort. As for the beach I was a bit concerned based off of other reviews stating how far the walk is and how there is a lot of seaweed. But I didn’t believe both to be true at all. The beach is taken care of and had excellent shaded areas due to the palm trees. Although at times there are a lot of vendors, as long as you are nice to them they will treat you with respect. For someone who loves beaches I can say It was picture perfect scenery with the famous mountain within the distance it makes you never want to leave. The water wasn’t as clear as a usual tropical spot but did enjoy the waves and long walks. The food we thought was great! Highly recommend the tuna at blend. We got to try all the restaurants and enjoyed it all, our only complaint was portion sizes could be a bit bigger. The buffet offered a good amount of selection, if you aren’t a picky eater you won’t have problems. We were big fans of the snack bar at the beach. We had nachos, fresh fruit and wood oven pizza on the beach while enjoying the beautiful view almost everyday! Our lovely friend Agusto was another great experience we had at the beach, he was always pleasant and happy to serve drinks at the beach bar! Loved his personality! As for the rooms the amnesia suite is a must! Originally booked the bliss room to only find out there was no balcony and the room was very small in comparison to what was shown in pictures. But overall upgrade made a huge difference as seemed to be more maintained and fresher looking and actually had a balcony! The whole property was kept clean from early sunrise to sunset. The workers were constantly cleaning the facilities and it definitely showed. Very pleased with the standards they had. Overall Viva Heavens did live up To our expectations. Already missing it and hoping to go back soon! A great place that gives you that “home away from home” feel! Such a beautiful country with amazing people, Puerto plata is by far one of my favourite spots now as well as Viva heavens!

Viva Heavens by Wyndham: Fun Resort

Beautiful area, staff is really interactive and friendly. Food is amazing 5 different restaurants that have different cultures food. Excursions are fun and exciting. Would recommend this resort to anyone looking for a fun time!

Blue Bay Villas Doradas: Fantastic Beach!

The beach was extremely clean and the water was beautiful! There wasn't any seaweed on the shore or in the water. Since the beach is public there were many people offering you products- which can be irritating after a while. Other than that we loved it!

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Very clean and family oriented resort

I was amazed by the cleanliness of this hotel, specially in the main restaurant, where you often see food spills on the counter tops and floors, there was always a hotel employee cleaning any mess made by the clients. The hotel is not very luxurious and not very big, which made it very easy to get around and convenient for family’s with kids. Food was very good and diversified during our week stay. The only thing I think would recommend would be add some entertainment on the beach, as they wou [... read more]ld only do it by the pool. Would definitely recommend this hotel if you’re looking for a relax vacation. If you’re looking for a party crowd this is not the hotel for you.