Amazing staff; excellent resort!!

First and foremost, the staff was wonderful; especially our concierge Allan!! Accommodations were arranged in advance as per our email request which made our arrival easier; a twin bed and crib were installed in our room. Rooms were very cleaned and resort overall was well being lookef after. There was maintenance being done every night on the main pool as well as painting. Food was great. Large variety and always well cooked. We enjoyed all three of the à la carte restaurants! Beach  [... read more]was raked every day and huts repaired immediately if necessary. Overall, an amazing location!

Fantastic Vacation

We returned from Iberostar Costa Dorada on Sunday March 4, 2018. We are a party of 3 comprising of myself and my two kids in their 20's. The resort caters to all ages and activity levels. You can be as busy or as relaxed as you choose. We had a standard room and we asked for another bed to be brought in. When we arrived our room was ready and the third bed was a full sized single bed that was extremely comfortable not a cot or a fold up bed. We were very pleased. When we arrived at the  [... read more]hotel and had checked in we were given a personal tour by one of the staff. He also assisted us in booking the specialty restaurants for the week. We were then taken to our room. When we arrived in the room the staff member checked that everything was working (nice touch) our luggage arrived about 5 minutes later. The entertainment crew is fantastic, they make you feel like family. They are fun, encouraging, silly and knowledgeable. Thank you, WiFi, Blondie, Justin, Micky Barbie and Maria. You are Soupa! The resort itself is beautiful and is consistently being maintained by cleaning, gardening and maintenance staff. I saw nothing that appeared to be neglected. This includes the beach, everyday there was staff raking the beach of seaweed and fallen debris from the trees. The pool water is clean and clear and the pool area always had staff walking around to pick up empty cups and dishes. Public bathrooms were always clean and well supplied and maintained. The main dining room was our favourite place to eat. We met Robert the second day we were there and we continued to return to his section. Robert knew what we liked after the first time he served us and he would bring our drinks before we even asked. It just happened that he was off for the 3 nights we had our specialty restaurant reservations, but he was back at breakfast for our last morning. The food was very tasty and well cooked. Dominican night was our favourite buffet night. As for the specialty restaurants, our favourite was the Japanese and then the Mediterranean. We do not recommend the Mexican. At the snack bar the food was really good tasty. Our issue with the snack bar was that it was hard to find a clean table, either cutlery, napkins or glasses were missing. The serving staff was not attentive and if you asked for water you often didn't get it. The bar staff at all the bars were very friendly and attentive. We will definitely return to the Iberostar Costa Dorada

February 2018

Lots of bees, lots of mosquitos, no drink service on the beach or around the pool. Entertainment crew kept to themselves unless needing the audience for something. Lots of seaweed on the beach and garbage along the shore line. Resort facilities were clean and maintained. Food was great!

Good

The service wasn’t that great here. Also the beach was lacking. The entertainment was pretty bad. Otherwise it was good but won’t go back to this one. Expected more from a four and a half stars. The stores are a massive rip off. Don’t buy from them.

Dependable

We chose this resort based on our experience at Iberostar Daiquiri, and found the resort dependable for service, cleanliness, good food selection and preparation, variety and entertainment. Knowing what to expect makes settling in quick and easy and negates the lost time getting oriented. Thank you Iberostar for, overall, a good experience. Room for improvement: Top of my complaint list is the local "artists" who appeared on (I think) Wednesday evening. EXTREMELY AGGESSIVE. The guy with the pa [... read more]intings shadowed me like a vulture, and the other two practically mugged me. Many guests commented that they did their best to walk the long way around to get to restaurants, but some had no choice but to walk the gauntlet. A couple of the public washrooms are way too small. At one of them, near the pool bar, the door to get in hits against the toilet before it is fully open, and the one near the lobby (not the one behind the lobby bar, that is good), but near the porter station, is also way too small. You can barely get your knees in the stall. As much as we like Iberostar, we will not go back to Puerto Plata. When the rain falls and all of the local pollution washes into the ocean, the beach is a shameful mess. Not shameful to staff, who do their best to clean up, but shameful to local control. When I'm swimming in the ocean and I bump into water bottles and disposable razors, I'll never go back. As a result, we may visit other Iberostar hotels, but not in the Dominican.

Great Resort

This was our third visit to this resort and again we were not disappointed. The grounds were immaculate, the public areas were kept spotless, rooms were very nice and spacious and the food was very good and served hot. The food in the buffet was displayed beautifully and everything was kept very clean. We were here at the end of February and never had any problems finding a shady spot to relax. Plenty of lounge chairs everywhere. The entertainment was quite good.

Great Resort

We found the resort very clean and welcoming. Staff were friendly. We enjoyed the Buffets and the al la cartes. We did not have an issue finding a chair to be around the pool. The beach seemed not to be as popular and was cooler when we were there in February.

Wonderful time

Had a great vacation at Iberostar. The hotel is beautiful and well kept. All the people who work there are very friendly. The buffet was good and all 3 a la cart's were very good. The room was very clean and well supplied.

Great Stay

The Iberostar was great. The food was good, even my fussy kids found something to eat. The Japanese and Mexican was very good. The rooms were well kept and service was great. The pool is large and everyone from 10 to 50 found lots to do.

Good resort

The resort was nice, clean, friendly. A little small for my liking but enjoyed it cause I had my kids and everything was close. Staff was very nice and great at getting you to participate in games they had everyday. Lots of games for everyone to participate in.

Incredible stay with AMAZING food!

Biggest highlight was the FOOD! some of the best i've had in my life. Very very fresh and lots of variety - not your typical buffet. The resort it's self was nice, shows were pretty standard but their singers were amazing! Nice but more rustic beach then you would find in Cuba etc. No complaints! Even the standard room was nice, smelt good and we were quite happy :)

Great Resort

Over all Great Resort . From staff to food to bars , to rooms was great . I do recommend to bring bug spray as all of us were bitten lots . The beach swim area has coral in it ( which u r not warned about ) so If u are not aware of it you may end up with some nasty scratches . I would go again in a heart beat

Very nice

We had a blast awesome family holiday.the food was excellent ,the ocean view room will definitely bring us back and the beach and pool were great. A very relaxing and enjoyable holiday , looking forward to going back next year!😎

Great Resort

Good hotel-very clean, great staff, good food, nice pool (cool) and oodles of lounge chairs. Have had better beaches but not that bad - loved the natural shade trees. Entertainment disappointing. Would recommend

Average good

This is not a 4 star resort I would rate it a 3 1/2 the staff is what makes it .THe pool is always cold and there is no premium liquor except for vodka. Don't bump up your room or service as it is not worth it we had both types and there was not much difference. If you get it really cheap then go but there are better resorts

Will go back!

Stayed Dec 4 to 11, 2017. Very clean resort. Courteous, friendly and helpful staff. Japanese restaurant was amazing! Loads of shade and never a problem finding a lounger by the pool or at the beach. Have been to many resorts, this is the first one we said we would return to...we like different places but this one was great.

Very Good Resort

Grounds are beautiful Food and drink are plenty. Rooms comfortable with very nice balconies to view pool, garden or beach Animation team excellent Service very good - they aim to please. Market/store on site very reasonable as compared to buying merchandise at airport Location close to airport - short shuttle ride to resort

Loved it

The resort grounds and beaches were immaculately kept. The food was great. The staff were very friendly and extremely attentive. The only downside is that in Dominican, the beaches are public....so the locals are constantly soliciting you....it's not the end of the world but it definitely drops the whole experience by one star.

Good resort

The hotel rooms are a little tired and need refreshing. The pool is good, there were lots of sun loungers available, there didn't seem to be an issue with people reserving loungers. Food was good, staff is wonderful. The grounds are well kept. The evening entertainment was sad😐. The beach is great, lots of space and a great mix of sun and shadey spots. Overall a good hotel, not great.

Good place for vacation

Overall, I liked vacation at Iberostar Costa Dorada. To itemize: - food is great, huge variety, in the buffet every evening there is something new, like sushi, Mexican food, etc. - service is good, especially when you give tips; because of a lot of European vacationers who usually don't give tips, servers usually don't expect them; but if you give $1US or 50DOP the service becomes even better, - room was clean; bedsheets were changed every day; - entertainment was good, there were a lot o [... read more]f daily activities, including shooting and archery; - swimming pool was good, I also liked the whirlpool which is in the middle of it between the columns; - beach was decent; the only thing is it was cleaned of weeds every second day; therefore, some days it's not perfect; at the same time, sand was fine and allowed long walking; - the ocean goes deep quickly and always wavy; it may not be suitable for small kids. There is a golf course near of the hotel. It will cost around $110US to play 9 holes + $15 for taxi. Although it's a Spanish country, almost everybody speaks English well; exception is the taxi drivers who usually don't speak English at all. Overall, it's a good place for vacation. The only bad experience I had this trip was not related to the hotel but to the Air Canada as number of their employees' failures were quite annoying. We came to the airport close to 1hr deadline due to traffic delays on 401; we still could be in time on the flight, but Air Canada employee directed as to the wrong and very long line; then, when there was "Last call to Puerto Plata" we were moved to the separate line, but nobody served as for the next 25 minutes. Then, at check-in, obviously we were late for sending luggage, and the only options was given is whole family should fly without luggage. I wonder why they didn't provide the option that part of the family could still go to the plane without luggage, and part of family take care of suitcases? This would save us cost of 2 tickets (~$800) on the next day flight. I understand that this happened because we came close to deadline. However, I even though we would have come half of an hour earlier, we had directed to the same long line, stayed there for 30 minutes, moved to the separate line with no service, and the result would be the same. Perhaps, coming to the airport for Air Canada flight in 2 hours before the flight is not a recommendation, it's a "must". There is no such problem with other carriers; same check-in procedure next day with WestJet took only 10 minutes without any lines. But it's not the end. On the way back from Puerto Plata it was a shower rain and two flights were expected from/to Toronto, namely Air Canada and Air Transat with less than an hour between them. The Air Canada plane "due to bad weather condition" went to other place and came back later causing 2 hours delay; however, few minutes after the delay announcement the Air Transat plane successfully landed to Puerto Plata and went back to Toronto in time. And that was sort of a last drop for me. It's been my 10th vacation in Caribbean for the last 9 years and the first with Air Canada; perhaps, and it's the last one with Air Canada as well. Anyways, other than that, vacation went well, a lot of food, swimming, great photos and fun. I will definitely recommend this hotel to my friends. :)