Grand Palladium Palace: Amazing, beautiful resort!

The grounds are beautiful. Our room was spacious and clean. The food was very good especially room service! Wifi everywhere is a huge bonus. We had our grandson with us so this was super helpful. We will be sure to come back next year as we have our eye on a new section of the hotel for our next visit!

Riu Republica: RIU Republica hotel DR

The hotel and the rooms looked OK. I would say about four stars. The food was three stars. The customer service was two stars. I never got coffee cups or glasses in my room. The coffee maker was broken. They never attended our needs and a room whenever we call, nobody picked up the phone people working there expected tips all the time there was no smile on their faces. Customer service and friendliness of the staff was at one star.

Viva V Samana by Wyndham: Everything we’d hoped

Firstly, we’re an easily pleased couple, within reason; and the price all in for this trip was so right it set the bar low — we were hopeful but not expecting greatness. Our aims were to disconnect, and to relax and be active in equal measures, and that’s exactly what we did. The place was pretty quiet, which we loved; and no kids of course….!!! Our room was so close / closest to the beach relative to others, with a partial ocean view from the balcony. Location was well worth the m [... read more]inor maintenance issues. -comfortable king-sized bed - coffee maker with coffee, and mini fridge with pop, beer and water (both not always stocked in spite of tipping, maybe would need to ask) -big bathroom and shower (water temp not great, limited opportunity in the evening for a hot shower with pressure; bathroom door didn’t latch; one light flickered until dead on the second day). -housekeeping very friendly and pleasant, just not consistent with small things (missing coffee cups, face towels, teaspoons and creamer for coffee etc) Food was delicious and highly varied at the main buffet on most days, we either really loved a given dish or didn’t like. -no need for restaurant reservations, but be sure to get in early on busier days (weds to sat) -Fusion restaurant was super delicious, went twice (the salmon..!!) -desserts were mostly a miss, but surprisingly great ice cream and delicious fresh fruit - ate and drank everything (except tap water) without hesitation, no significant issues - room service not recommended… - drinks from the ‘hip’ bar were worlds better than beach bar drinks, but pretty inconsistent at both. branded liquors available at both - some drinks like daiquiri, pina colada (so good), mamajuana not on the menu but could order Staff throughout the resort were very pleasant, everyone in general seemed relaxed and happy. -late-night check-in was easy and friendly, allowed guests to eat first and check-in after -bar and restaurant staff were mostly lovely and otherwise seemed neutral -virtually no salespeople except for one pushy attempt at timeshare selling -animation team were awesome Beach and pool were serene. - not a white-sand beach and didn’t expect that, but the water was clear and beautiful. some seaweed on some days but nothing unexpected there for us…it’s a beach. -good waves on most days for body-boarding or kayaking in and out - shoreline made for a beautiful and lengthy walk in either direction with some nice surprises along the way -no pool bar, again a plus for us. meant the pool was usually quiet in the day with guests lounging around or swimming. clean, spacious, relaxing. Gym was OK, great they have it and very useable but could do with updated or better maintained equipment. Activities were fun!! -again, animation team were above and beyond — daytime engagement was varied and fun, and nightly entertainment was exceptional almost every night. -Archery got competitive in a great way -Snorkelling a no-go, nothing to see, though there were excursions available. -We would not again take an excursion involving ‘bacardi’ or cayo island. No wifi except in the room as far as we cared to check. Limited access worked in our favour. Friendly and adorable stray cats and a couple of dogs visited frequently…and we could not have been happier for it. We’d go back for certain, especially if booking through TripCentral.

Ocean Blue and Sand: Awesome Fun

I went with my 17 yr. old daughter and my God Daughter also almost 18 and her Mom !! They had us roomed right beside each other . Garden view ground floor not great, but who spends alot of time inside, plus we didnt have to use stairs! The entertainment staff was excellent from CardiB to Pokémon! Always trying to get us up dancing they really make the hotel fun! When eating at the buffet there is always good food for all. We booked at Sensai for the first night using the Q10 app. Mexican th [... read more]e next, stood out and waited 15 min max. Shortly before 6pm! Room service 2 other evenings as we did 2 excursions and were tired after. Took a bit but worth the wait. Swimming pools, lobby bars made amazing drinks. Beach was very refreshing we went a little later and had no trouble finding chairs. At Reception Jose was very kind to us . Sunwings,,Renaldo helped us with tour booking and a free ride into town to shop. I just had to message him on Whatz app ! He set it up. The shops were very nice on the resort. Should of spent our $ there because it was expensive in town. So many good memories made here . The lobby was pristine, so pretty! A friend recommended us here to Ocean Blue 💙 I do as well. Oh and Daves coffee open early and its real good ! I do recommend buying the coffee in the burlap bags that are at the gift shop, it's so good . Wish I bought more! Thank you Ocean Blue and all your staff for making our stay Awesome !! 💙🏝

Royalton CHIC Punta Cana: Very nice place

Visited this resort in mid April and it worked very well for us. It is on the smaller side with about 330 rooms, adults only and sits on a beautiful beach with not a lot of other properties around. No buildings are over 3 floors and as a result, no elevators needed, This resort is easily walkable without the need for golf carts or other modes of transportation to get around. Before discussing the individual elements of the resort, I think that I should acknowledge that the single most importan [... read more]t advantage to staying at this property is the staff. From our experience and meeting the staff members that we did (not all, but many), every single encounter was exceptional. That included a passing greeting, seeking direction or asking some other question. The staff work long hours if necessary, work many consecutive days without time off and they never stop smiling, being friendly and totally professional. Well done. The resort grounds are impeccably maintained and even though it claimed to be at capacity, it never seemed overly busy or overcrowded with people. No need to stake you chair claim at 6 a.m. from our experience. We would place towels on our desired space when going for the breakfast buffet around 9. There always seemed to be spare lounges at the pools and the beech. We were is a standard luxury room which was well appointed and a nice size. Included a balcony with chairs and a table. Our room was fine, but it had been well used and was in need of some upgrades and repairs. Everything worked fine, but the room needed work. The food was very nice as far as we were concerned which included the buffet and the a la carte restaurants. A la cartes run from 6-10 each night and we would show up 6-6:30 with no reservations and be seated immediately. Not everything appealed to us but there is enough choice to make anyone happy in my opinion. A hidden gem is the Insomnia coffee shop where the barista makes virtually any custom coffee, as well as Italian pastries and tiny sandwiches available along with soft ice cream. Hard not to go there every day. The entertainment team works hard every day to keep people involved as they see fit and there is entertainment each night. It's not great but it is a very small resort and the team works hard and also brings in local entertainers, some of which were excellent. There is a Diamond Club which offers superior accommodations and extra privileges. I felt that the same staff that looked after us looked after them and provided the same services. In some respects, I thought the Diamond Club pool etc. was a little isolated and away from the activities. If that is what you wish for, great, but I couldn't justify the cost. An aggravating drawback to the resort comes in the form of tour agents on the property constantly trying to sell excursions and selected vendors allowed on the property every other day to sell their wares. The off site vendors must remain in their dedicated area and have a proper display set up but boy do they come on hard and fast, and unless you tell them straight up, they are relentless. They have to earn a living too, but they are hard sell people and negotiation is very much alive. There are some employees of the resort that also try to upsell service but their approach is more gentle and is provided as a source of information if you want it. Case in point was a sommelier named Florentino who tries to sell premium wines to the guests to improve their experience. He asked me every day and I never purchased, but he was great with us. I know it's all part of the game but he went out of his way every day to make us feel special in some way. Every day he would tell me "I love my job". How many people in the real world can say that? At the end of our week, this location and resort was everything that we had wanted it to be for a reasonable price.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Great Resort

This resort was really nice. Small but that allowed things to be easy to access. The beach, pool and diner was less than a minute walk from the rooms. There were no elevators, so anything higher than the main floor poses a struggle when taking luggages up and down the stairs. When you first arrive they usually have someone willing to help you take them up the stairs but when checking out they do not have that service that we were told. They had a pool table, ping pong table, foosball table, vo [... read more]lley ball net placed in the pool available, aside from other daily events as entertainment. The pool was nice, although, there were many bird droppings floating in the pool. They tried keeping it clean which was appreciated. The beach was beautiful and kept clean for the most part. Unfortunately, the week we traveled it was a long weekend for the locals, so friday night all the way through Sunday the hotel got full with locals and it became harder to keep things clean and less noisy and crowded as they were not respectful. The hotel had to remove the volleyball nets because the locals would ruin it. Food was delicious. The a la carts were good as well. We were able to eat the lettus, veggies and cut up fruit without getting sick. Rooms were kept clean, the only thing is they do not tell you, but they will not wash your towels unless you leave them on the floor, if they are hanging up or on the bed they will just re-fold them and place them back. I would definitly consider going back but I would make sure its not a holiday for the locals as they were very demanding, proud and some very arrogant, not respectful of others. We were told normally regular weekends are not that bad, but they even had to close down the restaurant by the beach because the locals would take the food to the beach and leave all their garbage laying around, even the bones of the chicken wings were scattered everywhere making its way into the osean. Service because poor as soon as the hotel became full with locals. The 5 days prior to the weekend, the service was great. The servers were respectful and polite and helpful. Up until the locals arrived, we truly loved our vacation at VH Grand Ventana Beach Resort! Perfect for a family vacation.

Viva Heavens by Wyndham: Alright

The food was pretty good though not all restaurants are open each night. Getting water or towels in the room is a nightmare. I tried getting a bandaid at night and they said come back in the morning… when I was bleeding then. Some of the staff are rude but some are great. Pool and beach are nice. Had ants in the room. It’s very loud at night

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Outstanding Dominican Resort !!

Vacationed for one week with a group of friends at VH Gran Ventana. Absolutely loved the resort. Food was amazing with many choices! Around the pools you could always find a chair at anytime of the day. The beach was beautiful with a couple local people trying to sell items. But they did not bug you if you said you were not interested. The grounds were well taken care of and many different areas to sit and enjoy. It never felt crowded. Loved the ocean. It was clean and the best beachfront arou [... read more]nd the area. You could walk both ways for miles! Small coral area just out from the resort you could snorkel at and see fish. Amazing resort. Close to many things to do ie/ waterfalls and taxi to Puerto Plata! No complaints at all! Many staff we met stated they have worked for many years there and liked their jobs. This you could tell. Thank you to all! Go see it for yourself!!!

Majestic Mirage Punta Cana All Suite Resort: Awesome vacation

The grounds are beautiful. We had a lovely room. Good food. Always something to do. There is a lot to do but…If you do not have a cell phone forget being informed about anything going on at the resort.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Amazing Resort

This was an incredible experience!! We went with 18 family members of various ages and each one of us had a great time! The food was incredible, pool was warm, and the drinks were cold! You will not be disappointed here!

Ocean Blue and Sand: Amazing Resort!

We stayed at this hotel for 2 weeks in February and loved it so much we stayed again in April for another 2 weeks! The grounds are well maintained, the staff is wonderful and the food is really good! A special shout-out to Jesus at the Italian Restaurant, Junior and Melvin at the breakfast buffet and Dairy E, the sweetest girl ever! Also Johan at the outside pool bar made amazing drinks! We were well taken care off and we definitely go back again.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Average resort

We were a group of 17 it was a small resort, so it had easy access to most of everything, including the beach. The workers were very friendly and accommodating our swim up pool bartender, Louis was fantastic and knew what we were drinking Domingo in the sports bar was outstanding and very accommodating With our ability to watch hockey games, animation, team, we really enjoyed skinny boy, cappuccino, and monkey black. I really liked Alexander the omelet maker he would average about five omelets a [... read more]t once. Reservations, for the 17 of us was actually quick and easy housekeeping always kept our room clean every day. We had no issues with towels or water . Now the cons the rooms were very musty and dated the air conditioning was poor. The pool was very noisy (music) in the morning with relatively no escape the beach was not user-friendly the food was average the bottom of the pool we kept picking pieces of it and throwing it outside the pool, the ocean water was very rocky so water shoes is recommended and be very cautious of sea urchins make sure you have insurance the weather was perfect and we had a really good time thanks to the staff mentioned above

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Amazing All-Inclusive and great, prompt service from TripCentral!

Great all-inclusive resort with very friendly hospitality! The resort was a bit dated but well maintained, for the price I am not complaining! Very family friendly, however, keep in mind there are no elevators for higher level rooms so make sure you check with concierge if you have babies w/ strollers! Overall, would go back! Thank you Iberostar and Tripcentral.

Dreams Flora Resort and Spa: Great time at Dreams Flora

We just returned from a great stay at Dreams Flora. We travelled with three families with children aging from 3 to 14 years old. We had a ton of fun, resort was great, staff were super friendly and helpful and none of us experienced any thefts in our rooms. Summary of our trip is listed below. Food – food was good, buffet service was inconsistent but frankly I find this at all-inclusive resorts. Sometimes you get great service and other times it’s not the best. On average though [... read more] service was good, being Canadian we would have loved our coffee to be refreshed more often. 😊 Breakfast by far is the best meal of the day at the buffet. The kids section in the buffet is super cute and at the right height for little ones to pick their own items. The marshmallows were a big hit. The waffle and crepe station with the Nutella pump was so good. The restaurants all had great service, and we never had to wait long for a table. I would recommend trying all of them. Beach was fun – the kids did the activities everyday at 11 along with beach volleyball. The seaweed amounts change daily, and the staff do their best to clean it up. We did find we had to put towels down on a few days to get a spot with shade but there were a few mornings where we slept in and still managed to find some spots. It just depends on the day. There was always shade by the pool as an alternative. The pool closest to the lobby is ideal if you are looking for more shade and quiet. The bartenders there are super nice and make amazing drinks. It was a great place to end our day with one last drink and swim. The slides were amazing, the kids and adults had a blast there each day! The smaller kids’ section is right beside the slides which made it easy for me to keep an eye on the older kids while I hung out with my three year old. The nightly entertainment was pretty good. The Rock show was great, the beach and pool party nights were a lot of fun although Entertainment staff you need to expand your music playlists. The rooms were so amazing. In a family room we had so much space and having the two bathrooms made getting ready such a breeze. They really have put a lot of thought into providing spaces that work for larger families. Café Coco is a little slice of heaven in the afternoon when you need a pick me up. Our crew visited daily for various lattes and expresso options. They have alternative milks which was a blessing for all of us! Gym is fantastic if you enjoy working out. Very clean and tons of equipment with a great view of the water for anyone doing cardio. They need more free weights but that is likely on the way. 😊 Housekeeping was a bit random, some days they came some days they didn’t. We occasionally got snacks, but it wasn’t daily. This really wasn’t an issue for us because you simply could call down to get whatever you needed if your room was missed. The staff were always accommodating and very helpful. There are also snacks in the teen club. They broadcast sports in the sports bar above the stage if you are watching any play offs this month. One night they put the Leaf’s game on the main stage in the theatre which was a super cool experience for all the Toronto fans. We all had such a fun time. The resort is the perfect size, easy to walk around and get from one place to the next quite easily. Everything is well laid out and the grounds are beautiful. All and all given they have only been open for a couple of months things are operating well and by far the friendliest staff I have experienced in DR. I will recommend this resort to friends and family. Recommendations for the kids – smaller plastic cups for their drinks. All the drinks come adult size, and many were wasted because they couldn’t finish.

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Luxury at its best

The resort was amazing. We liked our room it was large, clean and had everything that we needed. The resort supplied robes, slippers, shampoo, conditioner body wash, body lotion, iron and hair blower. The service, food and entertainment was great. We were very pleased with everything this resort offered. I would love to go back and visit this resort again!

Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: Great vacation

The hotel staff are nice. The facility is maintained well. However the rooms are dated with mould and broken receptacles. It was not a five star hotel as stated. I will recommend this hotel to others. However, be aware of the scam of the Privilege Club. People have lost tens of thousands of US$s under this scam. Please read the reviews. I am a victim of this scam too.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Cool Resort

All staff was Friendly and fun!!! Also cleanliness was amazing,,,small resort but amazing beach spots!!! Food was good and entertainment each night was good( pretty awesome the danse party with headphones)

Impressive Premium Punta Cana: Nice Resort, Beautiful Beach

We travelled in late April to this lovely resort. The rooms were bright and clean. The resort was quiet on the Premium side with lots of space on the beach and by the pools, exactly what we were looking for. If you’re looking for more of a party atmosphere you can go to the other side of the resort. The beach is fantastic and there is a barrier around the swimming area that helps keep the seaweed out. Drinks and food in the Diamond Lounge were lovely and the staff was very attentive. My bigges [... read more]t complaint about this resort was the a La carte restaurants. As premium guests we were supposed to have unlimited a La cartes and priority booking. When we arrived the booking desk was closed so we returned the next day only to be told there was no availability for the rest of the week. This was Thursday. They told us to return Sunday. My husband went to the desk when it opened at eight AM and waited in line for two hours only to be told once more that everything was booked up. We did manage to eat at the Japanese and the Mediterranean because we asked the hostess at the door if they could fit us in. Butler service is also supposed to be included but apparently you have to request it because we didn’t see a butler until we asked the concierge. No robes and slippers were in the room either. Just a word of warning, there are three people sitting at a desk beside the check in desk. One of them will tell you he is your concierge for the week and he has arranged a special breakfast for you the next day. Turns out it’s a sales pitch for a vacation club. The lady was quite rude when we were not interested in buying so don’t waste your precious vacation time talking to them.

Occidental Punta Cana: Very nice resort!

We went to Occidental Punta Cana in mid-April 2023 through Air Transat, it was a breeze! They arranged transportation to and from the airport and were very accommodating getting you settled into your room. The room, building and grounds were very clean. All the staff were incredibly hard working. Please see the video to see for yourself how the resort looks! https://youtu.be/NTYovcysVQ8

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Good time

Our trip was good. It was very relaxing. The hotel was very clean and food was good. The shows were lacking and entertainment team was disappointing. There was only one night of fun which was the silent Disco. We were disappointed there was no passion fruit and not sure why? We had a food allergy and this resort was good at accommodating. Bottom line .. if you want to relax and have a quiet vacation .. this resort is for you !