Riu Palace Macao: Second time there and will be back again!
This resort is amazing! The grounds are well kept and the facility is constantly being cleaned by staff. The food quality and selection is great. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The beach is amazing, except when we were there it was windy and therefore there was more seaweed being swept on shore, but once you got through it the water was wonderful. These people who work in the resort work very long hours, something I'm sure most people wouldn't do and I'm very disappointed that some [... read more]guests don't leave a tip at the end of their meals. I understand that tips are included, but if you can't afford a dollar or two after you dinner you shouldn't be going there. We will definitely be coming back to this beautiful resort. It was awesome!!
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Dawn1961 -
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Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: Beautiful Resort
This is a beautiful resort with beautiful people. We had an amazing time. Tge rooms were wonderful & always clean. The service we received in tge buffet restaurants was beyond amazing. A special thank you to David, Anderson, Anna, Erick, Deniisa & Wanda. We were treated so well & looked forward to seeing their smiling faces each day. We will definitely visit again.
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Private -
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Be Live Collection Punta Cana Adults Only: Beautiful Resort
Second visit to this resort. Jorge our butler was amazing. He worked so hard to please us and made our stay so memorable. The food was very good. Our room was in a prime location by the pool. Would recommend to visit.
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Rosie -
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Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: Updating needed
After staying at this hotel many times, I can say this was my least favorite stay. Hotel needs major updating specifically in the rooms. Hotel buffet has gone downhill with less options and quality is less. One night i seen a massive roach behind the bread station and makes me believe their kitchen is infested as well.
Only option for lunch was the beach as bavaros buffet was always closed.
Staff is always amazing and extreamly friendly just hope they update the hotel and add some higher stan[... read more]dards on food and clealiness of eating areas.
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Wyndham Alltra Punta Cana: Amazing resort
The grounds, public areas, including dining areas are excellent. Rooms are mediocre. Food is nice too. Not much selection on international drinks. The bartenders are super nice...so is the concierge staff.
I was thoroughly impressed with this resort & would return in the future. The food was excellent, with lots of variety & al a carte restaurants. The grounds are clean and well groomed. The protocols in place for Covid were excellent and the majority of guests did abide by those guidelines. The only thing I was disappointed in was the beach area. There were far too many people crowded together and there was lots of seaweed. I preferred to spend my days at the a pool, of which there are many to ch[... read more]oice from. Overall rate this resort 4 out of 5. Excellent!!!
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Royalton CHIC Punta Cana: Great Resort
Great clean resort. The food was half decent had great entertainment and pool area. The only concern was if you aren’t diamond club you cannot reserve restaurants, so you need to line up at 6 in a crazy line only for them to tell you to come back at 8 and then come back again at 9. The food at these restaurants was also amazing and delicious one night and then mediocre the next. But overall we had a great trip.
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ArielBender -
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Bahia Principe Escape Aquamarine: Disappointed...
Aquamarine should be re-labelled as a 3 Star resort.
The product and services have been gutted.
Aquamarine should be re-labelled as a 3 Star resort.
The product and services have been gutted.
Aquamarine should be re-labelled as a 3 Star resort.
The product and services have been gutted.
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Zaba -
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Iberostar Waves Punta Cana: Iberostar Punta Cana - resort to come back to...
I chose Iberostar Punta Cana based on it's pools configuration, landscaping details and beach proximity. I was right on! We loved lounging in it's pools, particularly on the steps, partially submerged in the water, sipping on our cocktails. It doesn't have a swim up bar, but that was no problem at all - more the reason to get up from our spot and move to another comfortable location.
We were at a great time - Nov/Dec, not too many people yet. The price point was also very good at that time. Sm[... read more]ooth sailing thru Toronto airport, slight delay on departure - wings have to be de-iced. Great transfer to our resort - we were the only ones in our van, and we didn't pay extra for private transfer - maybe it had to do with not too many people going our way yet?
On second day there we scheduled our PCR Covid test which was at 2 pm on Dec. 01 /we were coming back on Dec. 03, departure at 4:00 pm/. After congregating at the lobby, @ 15 people were taken by golf carts to a location in one of the Iberostar Bavaro villas. There we paid our fee which was 70 usd per person /cash/. Our results were e-mailed to us next day at 8:00 am. Very fast I would say.
Also, I loved eco features of the resort: dispensers in the bathrooms /soap, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, body wash/; air dryers for hands, no paper towels at the resort restrooms; recycling containers in the room and all over the grounds...
The resort is also big on QR codes - everything - menus at a la cartes, information, maps etc is done by scanning QR codes, so get your phones ready, lol. But some printed menus were also available.
Covid protocols: basically at the buffets and a la cartes only - entering you have to have your mask on, once seated - mask off. But I have to applaud all the employees of Iberostar - masks on all the time!
All in all - a very relaxing and pleasant stay, beautiful grounds, great pools, great food... On day number 2 there - I was already planning extended family /more relatives/ possible stay here next year :)
And special "thank you" to our Tripcentral agent for being on top of everything and sending us helpful informational e-mails every step of the way and answering our questions promptly. Tripcentral website is my favourite site to go to and explore possible vacations!
Great vacation! Makes it easier to go back to work to be able to plan another great stay!
This was our (me and wife’s) third stay but unlike the previous ones it was a disappointment. Most waiters/servers either new or haven’t got proper training. Even the manager we dealt with was very defensive while handling complaints. Our room phone didn’t work for 5 days out of our 7 days stay. So our package which included room service but to no avail for us. None of the TV channel was working. We were told that it’s cable fault. We couldn’t understand that how it was our concern. T[... read more]hey simply said that it can’t be repaired. On the 6th night the roof leaked. We were told that someone would come right away but it didn’t happen. So we went to the concierge. The night duty officer sent us with the porter to two different rooms which were either dirty or ineffective. He should have first ensure beforehand that rooms are ok and ready. We were denied to be moved to other group resort where rooms were available. So we were forced to stay in our original room whose had started dripping. That was a nightmare for us and also a shock that how come hospitality business could be so mindless to their guests. Next morning when we asked manager if she is aware of the problem we had last night, she had no clue. I asked that do have of their own internal system of incidental reporting but it seemed liked they she didn’t pay attention to any of those reports or no report was made. We are the people who understand that issues could arise, but we also expect that it would be addressed in a appropriate manner which didn’t actually occur.
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Hyatt Vivid Punta Cana: Wonderful Vaca
We had a wonderful vacation at Dreams Palm Beach. The staff were so helpful (Noemi, Ambi and Albertito were especially great). We enjoyed all the specialty restaurants. Our room and the resort were always clean. We would return to Dreams Palm beach
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Dreams Onyx Resort and Spa: Awesome trip.
Over all it was a great trip. Dreams Onyx was a actual dream. Air Transat needs a little focused on logistics. Was sitting in a bus at punta Cana airport waiting to go to resort for an hour and a half. But the resort made up for that lack of organization from Air Transat. We had the preferred club package, it’s worth the extra cost. Kevin from trip central made booking and searching so easy. His recommendation was perfect.
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Jodego79 -
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Paradisus Palma Real Golf and Spa Resort: Beautiful resort but lacking management quality service
We spent a week at the Paradisus as I had read reviews of this resort being one of the best in Dominican to have a wedding and I wanted to do in-person research and possibly book the wedding. The resort is architecturally beautiful and all of the main areas, pool and beach are kept as clean as possible. The wait staff and entertainment staff were very friendly especially Imael at the lobby bar who makes the best happy coffee, Ruby at Gabi Bar, Alejandro, Darlin and Jairo from the entertainment [... read more]staff. We had fun dancing with them most nights! But the hotel and management side of the resort doesn't work as well. The hotel rooms are nice but the washrooms are open concept - fine for couples not so great for friends or families visiting. There really isn't too much privacy. The huge bathtubs looked nice but didn't look clean enough to use. There were discolourations and marks on it. There is a definite issue with the phones as some of them don't even work. We had to use the phone in the bathroom to actually talk to someone. The cleaning service for the rooms did do a good job on a daily basis but I found the mini bar wasn't replenished every day.
Our entire contact with the management team was really uninviting. When we checked in we were told we had a concierge who would contact us but no one ever did. We had asked for a room with 2 double beds but despite asking twice, we ended up with 1 giant bed and a roll-away bed (we were 3 girls in 1 room and we all wanted our space). On our 2nd night, my friend sleeping on the roll-away bed realized she had bed bug bites all over her legs. She had experienced bed bugs before so knew what to look for on the bed as proof. As it was late at night, we decided to wait till the next morning to inform management. They didn't seem to recognize the signs of bed bugs (rusty blood stains and fecal matter residue) but that could have been a language barrier. We asked for a new room and they were good enough not to argue about that. We met with the supervisor Emelin at registration and she initially did suggest they were mosquito bites but didn't push further when my friend said this was her 3rd time and she knew the difference. We were promised a new room that afternoon and once again I asked for 2 beds and the sofa bed to be opened up - we were not going to get another roll away bed. We had also asked about the concierge that was promised on day 1 and were told we actually weren't eligible for that service but they would give it to us now. We met with Reina who gave me her phone number and said to call or text her if we needed anything! That afternoon after spending the day at the beach, we went back to the lobby, picked up our suitcases and got escorted to the new room only to find we had 1 bed again (the beds are pushed together). We asked the person who escorted us and they said they would get someone to fix it. We then opened the fridge to get some water and it was empty!! We had to call someone from the bathroom phone but it is impossible to get through and talk to someone who understands. We tried a few times and we weren't sure if the person we spoke to understood as there was no clear response from them. I texted our concierge who said she would look into it and I walked back to the desk to tell them that we still don't have 2 beds and no water. It took 2 hours for our fridge to get filled! I understand that they might be short staffed after COVID but they are also only at 40% capacity. My concern is that the service issues is not a temporary issue. We went out for dinner and came back at 10 and we still had just 1 giant bed for the 3 of us. So we started again with calling from the room, texting the concierge (with no response from her at all) and we got the service in under an hour. The concierge never even responded to my message. The next message from her was the activities for the day received the next morning. We did not see her or receive any more messages from her for the rest of the week - not even the activities for the day!
I also asked when I checked in to talk to someone about wedding inquiries. It was friday evening and no one was available till Monday. I had to email them to get an appointment. My email was returned by Monday aftenoon at which time we were waiting for water in the new room after having bed bugs! I emailed them back the next morning and told them the list of issues we were having and that I wasn't sure about having a wedding here anymore. They apologized and asked which resort we were staying at. I was sad that they couldn't even coordinate that information on their own!
My friend posted her review on our 3rd day in and on the 4th day, we got told we were getting upgraded to the Reserve service - access to a separate buffet restaurant for breakfast and lunch, the adult only pool and bar with premium drinks and 1 separate restaurant. While we really enjoyed all of the perks, the hotel did not see fit to give us this as soon as we reported our issues - only when we complained on a public forum.
Lastly, there is a management practice that we really did not appreciate. The entertainment staff who we had so much fun with knew when it was our last day and literally were forcing us to give the hotel a 5 star review. I can't blame them for following the instructions they were provided but management has told them that if they don't get a 5 star review with their names mentioned, their jobs are in jeopardy. You cannot give the hotel a 3 star review but mention their names and give them credit. They went so far as leaning over you and hitting the 5 star button on your phone to make sure it gets done. This really turned me off the hotel management as the final straw. Exploiting their staff's connections to force a review. I can easily say that I will not readily choose Paradisus again because of all of this even though I enjoyed the sun, the beach and the food!
Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: A Resort To Go To
During Covid worries, don't hesitate about going here. Immaculate and safety precautions that I definitely felt good about.
In addition the resort itself was beautifully kept, grounds are amazing and rooms are satisfying, comfortable and very clean.
The staff from administrative to cleaners and to buffet and restaurant/bar staff were receptive, accommodating to requests, and overall have a very helpful and kind attitude.
Flying in and out of Punta Cana Airport was a very good, effi[... read more]cient and safe/healthy experience.
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Ocean Blue and Sand: Ocean blue and sands punta cana
The grounds and rooms were beautiful very clean . Food was delicious .All a la carted we’re yummy. They did a amazing job keeping cleanliness and looking after the guest .I definitely felt comfortable and would recommend this resort.
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Catalonia Royal Bavaro: HONEST REVIEW
My boyfriend and I stayed at the Catalonia Royal Bavaro from November 22-29. I’ll go through step by step how our experience was from booking until home.
First off, initially booking with trip central was great! Carol was able to find us the best room for the best price and the majority of the work of booking was done through her. She ensured to include what we needed for travel, including what we need to get into the DR and everything we needed to get back home. The night before we left how[... read more]ever, we weren’t able to check into AirCanada for our flight. Obviously concerned, we called air Canada and were told the information, specifically our names, were incorrect for our flight. This was a 2.5 hour problem literally a few hours before take off. If we had not called, we wouldn’t have been able to get on the plane. This was extremely frustrating on our end and caused a huge inconvenience/ stress all because of one simple mistake from trip central.
Getting to the resort was easy as airport transfer was included. Once we arrived at the resort, it took us almost an hour to check in. Hotel staff was incredible nice though, took care of our luggage and ensured it made it up to the room.
The room itself was definitely not a 5-star. The bathroom was musty, mouldy, and very poorly constructed. We wore our sandals in the shower because water would just pool at the bottom and sit for days. The outlet also would come right out of the wall and expose live wires. The bed mattress was as hard as a rock, made it very uncomfortable for sleeping and was very creaky. The aesthetics of the room were good and house cleaning was fantastic. Always checked in and made sure we had everything we needed. I had a birthday surprise package purchased for my boyfriends birthday which was done very nicely. It included balloons, chocolates, a cake and rose petals.
Our first nights dinner was great. I honestly can’t say enough good things about the service and staff at the hotel. Everyone was very welcoming, little bit of a language barrier but that’s to be expected! Breakfast is also very good. Lots of options available for every kind of food intolerances. The food had labels as to which allergies it contains, such as wheat, dairy or seafood. This was super helpful, but not always accurate so keep an eye! Flash forward to day 3. We had lunch at a restaurant by the beach and roughly two hours later, I was projectile vomiting into a garbage can. I got the worst food poisoning I have ever had in my life!!! I was violently ill for 24 hours straight, didn’t leave the room for 2 days. This put a little bit of a damper on the rest of the trip as I was extremely weak and had bouts of nausea and an upset stomach for the remaining 3 days, made it a little difficult to fully enjoy. My boyfriend didn’t have any issues and thought highly of the food however. Once again, housekeeping was incredibly courteous bringing me lots of water, extra garbage bags and even brought me some tea. Heads up.. there’s no ginger ale and it was pretty difficult to find Gatorade. Our AirCanada rep, Juan was very kind and offered to drive over some as well.
We did an excursion on the Friday to Catalina Island. It was a catamaran full day trip booked with GoExcursions, which was through our AirCanada rep. It was well organized, but the food and snacks they offered were bare minimum. Some store bought croissants, the tiniest single sandwiches I’ve ever seen, and a fruit skewer. The alcohol was also bottom barrel rum in an unlabeled bottle lol. The island itself was really nice, we were able to snorkel off the boat as well as the off the island. There was a snorkel expert there that toured me around and showed me some pretty cool marine life. Lunch afterwards was alright. It was buffet style and the everything tasted good, no food poisoning! This was probably the highlight of the trip.
The beach was good, lots and lots of sea grass this time of year though! Staff did a good job of raking it every morning and there was a wake that caught most of it as well. The sand was beautiful, very white! We had privilege status and had a private sector off the main beach which had beds and more comfortable chairs, as well as full service for drinks. This was a great addition but there really wasn’t any other major differences between privilege and not, a little disappointing.
Checking out was a breeze and transportation was comfortable again. Once at the airport, prepare to wait in a lot of big lines! Once again, because our names were typed in incorrectly at booking, we weren’t able to check in for our flight. This was extremely nerve wracking, considering we’re in a different country. We weren’t able to use a kiosk and had to speak directly with a desk rep. They gave us an extremely difficult time and we spent almost an hour sorting everything out with them. They almost didn’t allow us on the flight plus with how long it took, we were minutes away from missing our flight. At the airport, be prepared to wait in a lot of big lines!
Getting back into Canada wasn’t difficult. Just make sure you have all the appropriate paperwork, vaccination status’, and the ArriveCAN app. All in all, traveling in the pandemic wasn’t as bad as one would think. The hotel did a good job at keeping everyone safe and ensuring cleaning practices were don’t effectively. AirCanada was also great with upholding mandates. Masks had to be worn at all times on the flights, and around the hotel inside buildings. Which was not a problem coming from Canada, being used to it!
The adults only resort is also attached to the main Catalonia resort which was actually nice to have! We walked over there a lot. Just gives different options for entertainment and food!
Overall, not the most relaxing trip and definitely would have changed some things. Trip Central caused us the biggest grief with the mistake in names with the flight information. Food poisoning wasn’t great either. Great hotel staff though and the hotel itself was picturesque. But first trip for both of us in 7+ years and a good learning experience!
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Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Going downhill and only getting worse
Grounds are nice, clean and well maintained. Food ok if you like fish,chicken,pork or beef. Most buffet meals are overcooked. Roomservice was ok but they kept forgeting part of the order everytime. A la catre rest. M.E.A.T was ok, Portofina wasn't like in August, food arrived lukewarm to the table Cooking staff at las olas for breakfast wear the mask underneath their chin !!! Great protection against covid. Managing staff don't care about covid rules, told them on multiple occasions about people[... read more] in the buffet area with no mask or underneath the nose and they don't move to adress the problem. Beach was seaweed free but a bit rough. No service near the end of the beach. You have to be near a bar for beach service. Don't accept 69109 as a corner jr. suite, it's awful with all the truck noise and diesel smell. They moved us to 67317 which was excellent with a small oceanview and full poolview. Spa was very good but they cut back on alot of packages since August. Night entertainment with the singers (3 nights) was poor, one lady singer shouldn't even be there. Shows on the other hand (4 nights) were good to quite good. Some staff were friendly others didn't care. Definetly not a 5 star, more 31/2 at best. Companies whose staff rate this hotel 5 stars should be fired or sent to a real 5 stars hotel. Enough said, hope this review helped.
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Goldie -
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Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Lovely resort. Great value.
The resort is spectacular with good entertainment. Restaurants were really good. Service was good except for room service due to the limited English. Beach,pool etc. we’re really good. The resort is very well maintained and clean.
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Excellence Punta Cana: Resort Parallel to the Beach
Love the fact that the resort is relatively small and parallel to the beach. Ample beach lounge chairs so no need to wake up super early to reserve... There is plenty available all the time. The food is really good and the rooms are spacious and clean.
Note to consider: The beach flag is always RED meaning Danger. Therefore, for those hoping to swim in the ocean at your leisure, beware. You can "stand up" in the waves, close the edge of the sand but you can rarely go out and actually swim[... read more] since the waves are pretty strong and high.
This is our 2nd time at this resort and we love it. BUT, this time, I must admit that help and reassurances concerning getting our negative Covid test back in time were not handled with empathy. It was really late coming in. We had found the phone number of the clinic to enquire but the staff at the clinic only spoke Spanish and none of the Desk clerks were willing to take the call and translate for us. We had to wait. Were extremely worried. It finally got resolved but there seemed to have been a sense of "it's not really our problem.