Temptation Grand Miches Resort 21 Plus: Great stay

Overall we were very happy with our stay at Temptations. We had a few issues which I have outlined below but certainly nothing that would prevent us from returning! The resort is beautiful. The rooms are a perfect size and very well appointed with an amazing bathroom/shower. The common areas are vast and built to hold a lot of guests. Being new, they are only at 1/2 capacity. The drive from the airport is appx 1.5 hours but is is very scenic. The trip back to the airport was a knuckle bite [... read more]r. We basically flew…. Our first room was on the main floor in building 5. Unfortunately, there was an overwhelming perfume smell. We immediately asked for a room change. Considering the resort was well under capacity that should have been an easy task but it wound up taking appx 4 hours and multiple trips to the check in desk. We were assigned a butler who asked we call him Neil as his name was difficult to pronounce. Basically, Neil gave us a briefing. Signed us up for a welcome tour which was actually a “membership pitch” and told us he had us booked into one of the most popular restaurants for the following night at 6 pm. Too early for our liking but he said it was well worth leaving the pool early! Turns out he didn’t make any reservation so we wound up dressed for dinner at 6! The people at She informed us that they don’t even open until 7:30! We check with management who promised a reservation for the following night as did Neil. After checking with the restaurant to make sure we were booked they informed us that they were closed for that evening. We finally made our own reservation without any help from our butler. We didn’t hear from or even see again during our 7 day stay. Regarding the membership pitch, we were asked for 20.00 that would be returned when we showed up for the pitch which was only to take an hour from our vacation. We did get the 20.00 back but the pitch took over 2 hours and they don’t take no for an answer easily. In hindsight we wouldn’t agree to going. The main pool is very dark and in my opinion has filtration issues! Definitely should be investigated. Now for the positives: The wait and entertainment staff are the best I have encountered at any resort and we have stayed at 50 or more. Positive attitudes and smiling faces every day! We tipped well but because it was deserved not because we felt pressured to do so. The drinks are really good and the food was also very good. The beach is beautiful and you can walk for miles. We were always able to find chairs and shade. That will change when the capacity increases so more huts will be needed. This was our first time at a Temptations so we didn’t know what to expect but we felt perfectly comfortable as bystanders and would certainly go back. The buffet was only open for breakfast while we were there most likely due to low occupancy but there are several restaurant options for dinner well as a great snack bar beside the pool serving burgers, pasta, salads, etc. A bbq was set up a few days as well. The evening entertainment is top notch and we usually don’t bother with shows! The dancers are amazing and the dance party afterwards is upbeat and fun, There is a open food area for the late night partiers. For some people, especially those who like to turn in early the music would be considered too loud. The sound really echos around the resort and goes until 1:30-2:00 am. Overall we had a great week and are considering returning in April.

Majestic Colonial Punta Cana Beach Resort: Gorgeous resort!

The grounds were beautiful and very well kept up, the staff were very friendly and the food was delicious. We were pleasantly surprised that you could get breakfast late at the Beach Restaurant, and a meal, not just fries and burgers, at the late night restaurant. We went to the family resort even though we are childless, and did not regret it. We aren't partiers and the resort was so quiet. The one thing to keep in mind is that the pool on the family resort closes at 6pm, so no late night swims [... read more], but we did not miss it at all. Also, every room has a Jacuzzi tub, so thats a great way to spend the evening too!

Ocean El Faro: Great Resort

Everything was clean and beautiful. Staff were great and grounds were amazing. The gym was small but perfect for what you want to do on vacation. You could always find something you really enjoyed at the buffet and the restaurants were great too. No complaints

Occidental Caribe: Bad service, beautiful beach

First of all, we are not fussy people and usually close our eyes on lots of things, but this place beats it all. It is definitely not a 4 star hotel. Rooms are old and smell like mold, plumbing is rusty and needs major repairs. The stuff seems to be not motivated. Be prepared to deal with issues as simple a as getting a beach chair, towels and finding table to eat. I had to wake up at 6 am in the morning to make reservations to restraints. Pros: beach and hotel grounds are beautiful. Short: choo [... read more]se different place to spend your vacation if you can

TRS Turquesa: Great resort

This review is for the people who’ve booked at the TRS turquesa resort, these are some tips from our experience last week Jan 27-feb 3rd. We’ve stayed at TRS yucatan in 2018 and these are some differences from its sister resort. We are not active travellers outside of North America and these sun destination trips every few years are a big luxury for us. When we purchased a $2500CAD ‘5 star’ AI resort we expected it to be top of the line level service in every way. TRS Turquesa resor [... read more]t is overall great but it is generously a maximum 4.5 star resort in comparison to other countries/islands. Many small details are overlooked which is unfortunate as the buildings and grounds have the capacity to be 5 star if managed and staffed a bit better in key areas like the restaurants and security. We stayed in the old buildings 50-52, room 5138. Bring Dominican pesos, get them from your bank about a month before your trip. We brought US dollars but the exchange rate for us Canadians is brutal! The staff prefer US$ but pesos go way farther if you’re leaving the resort. If you book with sunwing there’s an extra hidden fee of $20US/person when leaving the country. Sunwing didn’t have in flight movies (even though there’s screens) or alcohol for sale any longer on board either of our flights from/to Hamilton yhm. Avoid the palladium travel club people in teal shirts at all costs, if then con you by saying ‘go for a tour around the resort and receive 2 free 30 min massages’ it is a lie-do not show up for the appointment! they will waste a whole morning of your trip while they try to sell you on their travel club and not give you an actual tour of the whole resort that you need. The tour is of their club and a lot of it is you sitting by yourselves twiddling your thumbs waiting on them. It’s extremely uncomfortable, learn from our mistake! Ask a cart guy or butler for a tour of the resort instead. Anyone who approaches you on the beach is generally a professional con artist very skilled at lying. There will be people who say they work for the trs hotel and will significantly undercut the hotel’s excursions (in the lobby), these people are 100% liars! Beware and please learn from our mistakes😣 We fell for ‘a 2 hour snorkelling trip in the Caribbean Sea’ they took us about 5 min south of the resort to snorkel and when I said no we are supposed to go to the Caribbean side, they took us only 15 min south still within the Atlantic near the dolphinarium and there was no fish to be found, it was not at all what we agreed to. It cost $180US for 4 of us and only lasted 1 hour. Huge mistake, be sober when buying anything - the hotel has tons of water activities included, have your butler walk you to the people who can set you up who actually work for trs/palladium. Security needs to be improved to protect guests I think from the people on the beach. you’ll be okay knowing this info. Anyone who approaches you on the beach, highly recommend ignoring them. Music plays from 8am to midnight or sometimes 1-2am depending on the party at the IO main pool and secret pool. If you don’t want the party vibe literally every waking hour, upgrade to the buildings with swim ups in the rear section of the TRS resort which does not have constant noise. Some rooms in buildings 50-52 do not have wifi due to the stairwells blocking signal which means the tv also has no content. You may want to bring or download alternate entertainment. The pop activities are amazing! Try to do as many as you can and don’t miss the paint and wine night! The rooms were okay, we didn’t have wifi or tv content but the most notable thing about our room 5138 was the motion sensor facing the bed made a click noise whenever we moved so during the night it was detrimental to our sleep so we covered it for our stay. It didn’t affect anything so I’m not sure why they are there. Of the two robes, one was not useable as it was missing the tie-string. Also the air conditioning is not adjustable, the room is very cold around 19-20 degrees. Bring your own hair shampoo/conditioner, theirs are greasy. We had the same brand name products at trs yucatan and we loved them but at trs turquesa we couldn’t use them for more than 1 wash in a row. Our hair dryer was con-air but didn’t turn on/work. Use the safe. It has instructions that don’t make sense they reference a # symbol but there’s no button for that. Ask your butler for help if you can’t figure it out. The butlers were not actively interested in helping plan our activities/restaurants and they let us decide our own activities and approach them instead at this trs. The whatsapp information is great, get the app for the daily activities list. We had a very difficult time getting responses on concerns from our butler like the wifi and also the resort’s activities like the archery and included water activities like snorkeling. We were told different information by different staff many times trying to find answers. Ultimately we ended up not being able to do the archery at this resort due to lack of staff attending the sports centre desk. The mini put course is in disrepair. Have your butler walk you to what you’re looking for if you’re having a hard time getting accurate info. At trs yucatan there were activities staff that walked around everywhere asking when we were ready to go on the catamaran etc it was very different then trs turquesa where they kind of kept a lot of the water activities hidden and instead the resort staff were trying to sell us on the spa/massages and chic show (which were included at yucatan at the time). Food quality and temps (including food handling) is not what you’re used to back home. Where trs yucatan was very close to Michelin star dining, trs turquesa is close to mainland 3 star dining. Bring pepto bismol and Imodium, sticking to foods that don’t need refrigeration at the buffets will help with standing dairy/meat products and avoiding spiced foods will help with the overuse of msg at this resort. Check your meats are fully cooked before eating, we were served uncooked chicken more than once. If you’re going to trs, we don’t recommend booking the non-trs restaurants except sumptuori*, we couldn’t get a reservation at that one due to very limited availability but it looked really cool! La paisana was horrendous for both food quality and service, we received raw chicken and the service was awful we arrived at 6:15 and didn’t get our main courses until 8:30… brutal! Do not order sweetbread. The restaurant menus overall could be improved by having hard copies available (no one wants to carry their phone everywhere) and by detailing descriptions better. Portions could be smaller across the board for lunch and dinners. Like at Capricho I had tenderloin and received two full steaks on my plate plus the sides so it was way too much. Hiring a few quality chefs would really help this resort sort out these minor issues! Ordering food and drinks was often a surprise it wasn’t always what we ordered. If they don’t have the ingredients they don’t tell you or say anything they just surprise you with something else. Beef tacos turned into a hamburger, a Bellini turned into a pineapple mimosa, the ‘surprise chocolate sphere with lime coolis’ came out as a chocolate cake rectangle lol. I recommend use some caution going to this resort with allergies. The magic show is great, go approx 30 min. early to get a seat, there’s a bar there in the theatre so get a drink too for the show. We didn’t go to the chic show since the food wasn’t for us (primarily seafood without alternate options) and we’ve seen it for free in Mexico at trs yucatan where it was a perfect experience. Look up the menu ahead and also there’s coupons in the book provided at check-in! There’s also coupons for the escape room and spa, we used them on the hydrotherapy area to go into the hot tub as all other pools were cold in January/February. do the mud mask for sunburns even if you dont have a sunburn it’s great! Don’t be surprised if there are kids in the adults section at the secret pool. Don’t yell at the staff if you travel here and can’t speak Spanish. the number of English people who were frustrated with the language barrier and thought yelling their English words louder was interesting. 🤨😔 the staff were all very gracious. At the end of your trip there will also be people working at the PUJ airport that will grab your bags before you can, even when you say no/protest they won’t let go until you tip or make it weird. Generally beware of people. Don’t let these tips concern you, it’s still a great resort away from home. Have fun, use your sober brain and hope these notes help you be better prepared and avoid some of the mistakes we made. As soon as you notice something is off about a situation or something is not right in your room, ask your butler for their help. We spent approximately 300$US on tips at this resort for great service for 7 days. Our trip cost $2500CAD each person for 7 days from Hamilton yhm on sunwing via tripcentral. We feel since the services advertised were not provided (especially the room wifi as well as most water activities and the archery) we slightly overpaid for this resort. You’re better prepared than we were for your trip! Enjoy the beautiful bavaro beach and the wonderful staf! 😊🛫☀️🌴🥂🏝️🐠

Lopesan Costa Bavaro Resort: Recommended

We read some bad reviews before going but it seems people are just picky. We have been to many nice hotels (all inclusive and not) and we really liked this one. It was at the top of our list. We knew to expect that service in Dominican is not what it is in North America. Also the food is different from home. But the food was good (fresh fish and meat every day at lunch, can’t go wrong. Steak restaurant was good. French restaurant steak was comparable to a high end steak house in canada). The s [... read more]ervice was hit and miss - some staff were grumpy. The grounds and decor were beautiful, modern and extremely clean. Very little wear and tear on this property. Fountains and greenery everywhere, which was beautifully lit at night. No bugs. Restaurants were all really nice, especially the seafood and the steakhouse which are on an upper level and have a beautiful view. Rooms were bright , spacious, modern and very clean which is extremely important to me. I am picky about rooms and this one didnt disappoint. Only bad thing was that the water in the shower was not very hot. We loved the outdoor dance floor beside the bar at night. One night there was a beach party which was very fun. Huge indoor auditorium with entertainment at night though we only went once as we’re not so into that. Live music on Saturday at the lobby bar was also great. Beach was very wide, comfortable chairs. It was not too difficult to find a chair at the beach or pool Clientele was diverse , people speaking many different languages. Not too many kids other than babies (perhaps due to time of year - not a school break time). But there are 2 kids water parks - one closer for younger kids, and one at the entertainment complex which was large and looked super fun, though we left kids at home so we didn’t try it ). Also a kids club, bowling, arcade and teen club with activities , so very family friendly Overall a really great experience. I would return

Casa Marina Reef Resort: Nice Resort, However

Overall, this is a nice resort. Good food, 3 restaurants with good but limited dishes. Same dishes everynight in restaurant. The buffet has more choices and preparation is just as good. The room was nice and clean with a fridge to keep your drinks cold and was stocked everyday with water and pop My disapointment comes with the lack of a 24 hr bar. (No, I don't drink) but if you want a cup of coffee or tea or pop after 1am and before 7am, your out of luck. Also, the lack of 2 keys to  [... read more]your room leaves you with limited options as to your activities. Example, if I wanted to go golfing, or on an excursion and my partner preferred to stay at the resort, I might be stuck outside somewhere till they come back from wherever they decided to go while I was gone.. NO, they will not give you another key, even if you are willing to pay extra for it. (1 person to a room=1 key. 2 people to a room = 2 keys) It seems that would be pretty easy to do;. Overall, good clean resort with good service if your willing to put up with those issues

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Disappointed

Room was not available the day of check in. Had to stay in another room the first night. Very inconvenient. We did receive a 100.00 voucher for the lobby shop which is minimalistic for the inconvenience. And it was time consuming to redeem and to top it off they charged the voucher to the room. Twice!!! Had straighten that out at checkout. Drinks at the bar were sub par. Local stuff is not that good. Paying the extra at the Amber there should be higher quality drinks available.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Amazing resort! Grand Vantana

This resort is very clean and food was great. The pool and the beach were wonderful. More umbrellas needed around the pool area though! Any problems were dealt with immediately! Very family friendly resort! Capacity was 98% full so that tells you a lot. Music was a little too loud at night, senior’s and parents with young children were not impressed! Staff was amazing! We’ve been here twice and would return again for sure!!!❤️

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Above average for the class

The Iberostar Costa Dorada is a nice all-inclusive with a few problems which are mostly self-inflicted. First the good: -nice beach with absolutely no issues getting a lounge chair anytime of the day. you never felt crowded -ocean view room was clean and quiet, but a little dated and for some reason only had one chair. Great location close to the beach and away from the noise -staff are great, friendly and mostly helpful -food is average to maybe a little above average for this type of r [... read more]esort. Japanese restaurant is fun, mexican pretty good and italian maybe a bit below average but fine. Buffet is a bit repetitive but overall pretty good - you wont go hungry -easy to book restaurants (once you know how) and the rules seem to change -Bed was very comfortable -fairly short drive from the airport -Grounds are generally clean and well kept -liked the eco friendly aspect of the resort. No problem filling available water bottles from around the corner which eliminates the plastic ones -Booking the trip was fairly easy - Lisa did a good job of getting us what we wanted although i had to check spam folder the get my tickets - not her fault, just a warning The not so good: -communication is lacking. You learn to do things like booking restaurants (and in one case finding them), using the safe and finding activities on your own. There is no information provided by the hotel and the iberostar app is wrong a lot of the time. We missed a beach party and several daytime activities because the app or hotel signs had the wrong info. Finding the italian restaurant is a challenge because it does not appear on any hotel maps and is not marked - it is actually the open air lunch restaurant at night which is a brazilian restaurant on all of their maps -our room was dated but had a renovated bathroom. Looked nice but several of the fixtures were loose and the toilet seat was the wrong size and not properly attached. Not a big deal but why? -the bartenders, while friendly, aren't too imaginative and on several occasions gave me the wrong drink even though they confirmed what i wanted. Maybe a little casual about their jobs? -typical of this type of resort, the pool plays obnoxious "music" at high volumes throughout the day with the animation staff screaming into to the microphone frequently - stick to the beach -As often noted, there is a real seaweed problems on the beach in the mornings but staff do try to keep up with it. Didn't bother us but something to be aware of -limited evening activities. Like most of these resorts, the evening entertainment can be hit and miss and there arent a lot of options. Brandy in the lobby bar gets a bit old after a few nights -The first couple of nights a fogger came around to control the mosquitos. without warning you could be caught in a toxic fog. while there is a bit of a mosquito issue at dusk, a little notice would be apreicated. Overall you probably won't be wowed by this resort but you probably wont be disappointed either. I would give it a solid 8 out of 10 which could be easlily improved with a bit of communication.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Amazing and well organized resort

From the time you go in and you leave the staff is welcoming and even remember you from previous years. The location is always clean, the 3 pools are kept clean, the entertainment staff ensure that everyone is kept occupied including the children. The 3 restaurants are fantastic including the buffet restaurant. The food is perfect and you are treated like royalty.There are multiple activities you can choose from outside the resort. As for Covid prevention the resort has many stations of hand sa [... read more]nitizers for clients to use. The beach is beautiful and has many lounge chairs. The rooms are adequately equipped. For sure, I will be returning next year.

TRS Turquesa: Amazing Resort

Excellent meals. Rooms very clean. Grounds were impeccable. Transportation to and from airport was reliable. The Sunwing representative, Rafael, at the resort was awesome. The chef, Pablo, and staff at Helio's restaurant were the best! The entertainment in the restaurants was fantastic, especially Carlos the guitarist. Francis Fernandez, the Bell Boy, was the best. He always had a beautiful smile and was so eager to help us out.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Great resort

Resort was amazing. Lots of stuff to do and great food. Staff were great and our belongs were safe in the room. The only downfall was that our room had a awful view of the road and they were doing construction outside in the morning times. Just be sure to ask for a good view as they do have them.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Solid and peaceful vacation experience

this was the second visit to this hotel. We have purchased the prime package, only because we would like to drink espresso coffee. That is a good quality. It was offer only through this package . We have experienced good service, but we don't have much expectations. The first room we were assigned to had broken window and no Internet so we asked for change and then got the room on the second floor but with two separate beds again we don't have much expectations because we don't stay in the room. [... read more] The beach is beautiful waters swimmable every day. Food was outstanding with mix variety of domestic and American food. The place was clean. They had disinfecting stations and mandatory hands disinfecting before entering the diner. We would like to see that the tables are cleaned before every use, and that is the only negative thing that I could say about cleanliness.

VIK Hotel Arena Blanca: A piece of peace

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay The weather, ocean, pool, food and accommodations were fantastic The people were so helpful The place screams peace and quiet The gardens the cleanliness and restaurants/bars were excellent!

Caribe Deluxe Princess: Beautiful and amazing resort

The hotel exceeded our expectations. They did a great job renovating. The rooms were amazing. Restaurants were fantastic and the ice cream and coffee shop were great and fun to visit. Regarding the buffet it was very nice and the food was very good especially the desserts! The grounds were immaculate and always clean and tidy. The wildlife was a treat to see. Weather was perfect to 28C and sunny. We would also like to comment that the grounds people, working staff and management were kind [... read more], sweet and extremely friendly. Great job everyone. This was our 3rd time there. Looking forward to many more years. Great trip. On another note nothing to do with the resort. West jet was very disappointing airline. The West jet agent was not available even after talking to him personally by phone made no attempt to come to the resort. We were informed he would be there between 1-5pm. He actually came at 11am and stayed till 12:00 noon. Another person from West jet called and said he would come to the resort for a fee$. When trying to call the West jet toll free phone number at least a half a dozen times there was no answer or recording available. Very disappointing. The other airline reps at the resort did offer assistance especially Sunwing agent. West jet will not be my preferred airline going forward.

Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Trip was just ok

We arrived from Toronto Jan 18/23. For 2 weeks of well deserved vacation. ************************************************************************************* - Booked in witch took 1/2 hour very unorganized. - Room is very dated, in need of new bed mattress worn out, new chairs seats cushion weak using patio furniture for chairs, bathroom mirror so on. - Constantly asking for towels for our room, always shortage of towels for the bathroom. again wasting our so-called all inclusive relaxat [... read more]ion time. - The bar pool is in need of repairs, tiles falling off, cement patch work decaying, and pollen off leaving lots of cement pieces on the bottom stepping on them was painful lifetimes. - Bathroom toilet plugged a few times due to water issues chain came off the handle. I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THIS RESORT. Being disrespectful, lied too, making me waste my time back and forth, the resort was hopeful that no one would complain about the water issue. All they had to do was send an email and explain instead of having many of us asking why there was no water one couple left after two days of being there, and being lied to very poor management skills. *************************************************************************************** After being there for a day went to take a shower NO HOT WATER or water at all! Went down to talk to them they said in half hour it will be on. So we used bottled water to wash down our bodies. 12 hours later that morning still no water, went down again and they said in a half hour by now I’m frustrated and don’t believe them. Well we still had no water at the end of that day :( So 3rd time l go down and said l want to talk to the manager. The receptionist hesitated so l told her it has nothing to do with you please get the manager, the manger ( Natalea) said the would have the water on by the end of the day, l explained to her that it’s been 3 days now without a proper shower and we are very pissed as we payed for ALL INCLUSIVE $$$ big money to have all the luxury of what the resort offers. Natalea said Sorry of the inconvenience should have hot water today. Finally we have hot water but only that day. The next 2 days no water some cold at times. So l decide to go talk to. Natalea to see about compensation for not having the all inclusive luxury. Show offer us a Spa massage, $50 gift card for their store only, supper supper on the beach, lobster dinner lol. Natalea said we can pick any 2 of these items lol. So l said you’re making us pick as a choice why aren’t you offering us it all. Natalea said l can’t give you all as l would have to explain this to my boss. So l said you should be offering us all and doing what ever it takes to make this up. Natalea said sorry l can’t do that, pick any to items l can make that happen. So we did. Next day our friends who came to meet us from the UK went to see their trip rep TUI. They gave them the Spa massage, $50 gift certificate and a choice of any excursions they offered RIGHT THERE ON THE SPOT. I S WENT TO TALK TO NATALEA again to see why she didn’t offer us an excursion deal. After talking she said l quote this people “ I WILL TAKE BACK WHAT I OFFERED YOU AND YOU CAN TAKE AN EXCURSION YOUR CHOICE “ I THEN LOST IT ON HER SHE SHOWED NO SORROW. My wife said she wanted the excursion so Natalea took back the massage and gift certificate WOW I WAS SO UPSET. I have left a lot of BS out to shorten this long story lol. Keep I’m mind that all the time l went to the reception desk roughly 4 HOURS OF MY TIME due to how slow they are. After hearing this feeling upset that Natalie didn’t offer us an excursion. l went to see out rep WestJet who is Jerson Tejada to see if they would do the same. He looked in to see if west jet could offer us an excursion. He sent an email to WestJet and said that we would hear from them in 24 hours. 24 hours went by and nothing yet. Jerson went to see Natalia. She came over to talk to us about the situation and stood strong that the offer on the table is all she could do so my wife said will take back the massage and gift certificate. Natalea went to go get it, and gave it back to us with a smirk on her face, as if she won the battle. Jerson seen her look, and said to me after she left. I’m going to give you some paper to write everything that happened and then he would send it to WestJet directly. We have did the report he did his part and said in 24 hours we should hear from West jet. Jerson said we will probably be home by the time we get a reply as we were leaving the next day to keep an eye out for an email while it’s been four days and nothing yet. We are very honest people and what is written here is the plain truth. I have been to Dominican in the last 12 years many different resorts. I’ve never seen something like this ever in my life and hope to never again, so people you can take this for whatever it’s worth, but if you feel that you wanna waste your money on a worn down resort this is the place.

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: Honest reviee

The hotel needs some updating and repairs. The food was delicious. The beach was nice and seaweed cleaned daily. The pool is huge and never seemed too busy. They definitely need more shade by the pool as the tiny amount of palapas didn’t suffice the need. The staff were so very friendly and accommodating. Overall we enjoyed our stay.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Iberostar Costa Dorado

The hotel grounds were very well kept. The room was average but a little dated. There were no English channels on the tv which would have been nice for bedtime. The entertainment at night was horrible. The singers especially the female one was terrible and singing English songs. The entertainment was geared more for kids or teenagers. Would have liked to see more Dominican culture. I didn’t like that you couldn’t make multiple selections for a la carte restaurants. Instead you had to go ev [... read more]ery day to reserve a single restaurant. There was no servers coming to offer drinks around the pool. The reception staff were amazing and spoke perfect English and were very friendly and accommodating. It felt like a 3 star resort. Not sure if I’d go back.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Beautiful beach and great food

The beach was fantastic and so was the food, however the room was dirty and not what I had expected when booking. There was a thick layer of dust on everything other than the desk and table tops. The beds were rock hard and 2 of the 4 pillows in the first room felt like sacks of rolled up socks. All of the pillows in the first room smelt like wet musty basement. We had to put towels on top to mute the smell. We switched rooms and that one had a large patch of black mold on the shower curtain the [... read more] size of my palm…way too large to be missed which means no one looks at it and hasn’t in awhile. The cleaning solution the housekeepers used smelt so terrible. Foul. We smelt it the day before when walking past a room being cleaned and thought it was just a really dirty room, but then our room was cleaned and it was the same horrible smell. Our room had to be aired out for 20 mins with the door open and the patio door open and to t remove the foul smell. It was like the smell of a dirty diaper with a touch of maybe mint. There were two days with water issues that included having no hot water and then not having any water at all. The staff was great for the most part, especially the food staff, but like anywhere there’s a few that really didn’t care about the job. You cannot get a sun chair by the pool unless you claim it at sunrise. More than half remain empty at all times, but they are all claimed with towels just in case they may want to sit there at some point. The pool was very nice looking, but ice cold. It is closed to swimmers at 7pm daily. The beach towel situation was a bit annoying. They only have them available twice a day at like 8am and 4pm, so if you miss it you miss it. We spent our down time at the resort on the beach. There are tons of sun chairs, so though you may need to make a move of a chair or two, you can almost guarantee you’ll have a spot to soak up the sun or even have shade if that’s what you prefer. There are a lot of vendors that approach you steady, but it wasn’t much of a hardship to say no if not interested. I ended up getting some jewelry and took some pictures with parrot. It was fun. I found them all respectful and didn’t push too hard for the sale after a firm no. The water was warm and clear. No garbage. Topical fish are right there to be viewed in shallow waters. Lots of beach to walk and explore. Beautiful coastline views. You can see the mountains. Entertainment at night was alright. Karaoke night was my fave. We had great a la carte dinners at each of the three restaurants. We didn’t have issues booking them on our first morning, but definitely don’t wait to do that. Do it right away early in the morning and book all three. Our fave was the Italian restaurant. We had great food the whole time. The beef was not what we were used to, but that could just be personal taste, everything else was great and there were so many different options at the buffets and it was always new line up. They had the best vanilla ice cream I have ever had. There are a lot of hungry cats in the eating areas. They are friendly and sweet. You can’t help but feed them and enjoy their presence. Alcohol options for fine for me, bring your own travel mug. Wifi was free and available in the lobby and randomly in areas close to the lobby and in each room. It wasn’t great, but it did the trick. Safes are available for your room, but there is a daily charge. Overall, we had a great time at this resort and felt very safe on the grounds and were well fed. We would return and try a different building in hopes for a cleaner room.