Playabachata Hotel: Beautiful on the outside

We had a great time but was disappointed because we were lead to believe it was better then it was when looking at reviews(it is 3☆ not a 4+). Our fridge was broken, bathroom window was broken, found 2 live cockroaches in our room. Food was edible but not the greatest, and very repetitive. In order to get in the a la carts you hade to get to the lobby 50 mins before registering opened at 9. They had 1 buffet and 1 alacart restaurants that rotated between Italian and stake but was out of stake  [... read more]the day we got into the restaurant. Staff were great and beach was amazing. The resort is running at half probably due to covid but was constantly cleaned. Overall if advertised as 3 star I would be saying its amazing.

Grand Bavaro Princess: Beautiful

Immaculate rooms and grounds. Great selection of restaurants. Food was fabulous. Lots of fresh fruits. Staff was amazing. We enjoyed a quiet restful vacation. Pool area and lobby entertainment was too loud, so we avoided these areas.

Majestic Mirage Punta Cana All Suite Resort: Almost Perfect

Just returned from Majestic Mirage. We had a wonderful 2 week vacation. We stayed in a Mirage Club suite. Room and balcony were huge. Only issues, shower leaked out of the stall so had to put a towel on the floor after each shower to mop up. Room was also musty smelling. We opened the patio doors each day which helped this. Room cleaning and re-stocking of drinks was good. The staff were all wonderful. So friendly and tried very hard to help us with our Spanish. Loved the setup of the [... read more] resort. They have the best cocktails of all the resorts I’ve stayed at in the Dominican. The food at the buffet was plentiful and good. Enjoyed the show at the Japanese restaurant and definitely the most tasty food of all the Japanese restaurants we’ve been to so far at various resorts. The Sushi was very good. Also enjoyed the Italian and Steakhouse restaurants, though we weren’t crazy about the Seafood or Gourmet restaurants. We found in general the meat was a little over cooked and dry and the desserts not that great for a five star. The chefs should visit the Hard Rock or the Barcelo Bavaro beach resort. It was nice to be able to drink the house wines though. They were very drinkable unlike at the Barcelo. We really loved this resort and would definitely return again. The only additional suggestion might be to add some hooks in the bathrooms to hang purse.

Occidental Punta Cana: If you are "NOT" concerned about SERVICE, FOOD or ROOM please go to the Occidental Punta Cana.

The rooms and lobby are a scene out of a Cuban resort. Checking in was our first indication that the staff seem malcontent. Nobody smiles here. For a front desk, the level of English is very limited. With a group of 11 of us travelling, checking in was a challenge. With only 2 of the 5 rooms ready at 3, the rest of us had to wait unit after 4:30 for the remaining rooms. All of us were scattered over the vast resort and the request that we all stay in the same building fell on deaf ears. The reso [... read more]rt is obviously dated. Although they state that the rooms had been recently renovated, they left quite a bit left to be desired with patch work repairs and furniture from the 70's. the pillows were old. The bathrooms were awful. Sinks backing up, toilets not flushing, flushers not working, hair dryers being held together with electrical tape and filthy floors. Having the maids wash the floors with bleached mops simply does not do the job. The only shining star was the beach, the hotel landscaping and the weather. Although the seaweed washed up on shore every day. great efforts were made to remove it with large tractors on a near daily basis. You do however need to get to the beach at the crack of dawn it you want lounging chairs. There are none available after 8 it seemed. Walking the long stretch of beach was fabulous. The food was average. The bar service was just awful and no beach or pool bar service was available. You had to fend for yourself and wait in long lines to be served. Obviously a way to cut back in the cost of consumption by the hotel. If you like a diet soda, good luck. If you'd like a smile, good luck. If you believe this to be a good resort, good luck. If you would like photos, please simply ask. @susansnider

Occidental Caribe: Amazing resort

This was our 3rd time at this resort. We were a group of 13 people, the only upsetting thing was our rooms were all over the resort because when we booked it back in May we specifically asked to have our rooms together & on the main level as we had disabled people with us. It was frustrating that groups that booked way after we did had their rooms together. We have found since Covid there are less loungers around the pool so it was almost impossible to get a lounger unless you got up at 5am. We  [... read more]find the staff very friendly & the resort is very clean.

Ocean El Faro: Great resort

The resort is clean and well laid out. Everything is central in 1 area. The trolly system is a great addition to get from one end of the property to the other. Washrooms were clean, but could use more frequent attention during busy times. As most days they were short on supplies. The a la carte system could use some tweaking, it's not convenient to be up at 7am to book the day of and either not getting in or having to wait until 9:30 for dinner. The bar and restaurant staff along with th [... read more]e reception staff and housekeeping staff were amazing! Bowling on site and the Lazy River were great features for all to enjoy. The water park was centrally located, although we didn't have kids. The rooms are clean and tended to daily. The security on site was our biggest complaint - they have us an uneasy feeling, since they don't speak when looking to see what your doing early in the morning. We noticed 1 security in the evening hiding things in the bushes - which he was hiding from other staff. And another that we addressed when we spotted him watching guests in their room from behind the bushes. All that said, I would return. Your vacation is what you make of it. Just be aware of your surroundings- as you would anywhere you stay.

Riu Bambu: Like a 3 star cuba resort.

Bad service, rooms smelling from the shower drain, everything old in the room. People bothering you all day at the beach selling drugs. The staff not friendly. No water to buy anywhere and no bottled water in bars or lobby. They put people with kids in strollers on higher floors with no elevators and ask for 80 dollar a day bribe to change to first floor. Most people in group got some sort of stomach problems…

Ocean Blue and Sand: Nice week away

Room: We stayed in block 5, room 5301- our room was amazing, great view of the pool area. The housekeeper kept the room spotless and left us fun towel designs in the bathroom. The fridge was always fully stocked with pop and beers. There was coffee and a coffee maker in the room- which was good. Food: The buffet breatfast was good, lots of choices, sometimes the food was cold but there were egg stations and pancake stations where hot food was always available. The breakfast mimosas were [... read more] an added bonus. Coffee in the buffet was not good. However, a stroll over to Mikes coffee house was excellent. The other restaurants were amazing. We loved the steakhouse and itailian the best. The Staff was excellent.The snack bar at the pool was great for grabbing a quick lunch. The bars all served basically the same thing. The lobby bar had the best selection. The piano bar had martinis-but the room was very cold to sit in. Entertainment: The pools were great. Cool, but refreshing. They were much deeper then expected, both came up to about my shoulders (5'10") The ocean view and walking along the beach was so nice. However not much of a beach to sit on anymore due to the hurraicaines. The pool chairs were in short supply and we had to go out and reserve spots early because come 1000h there were no vacant seats. The shows were not great, but maybe just not my taste. The bowling ally and pool tables were fun. There were no quiet common areas at night to sit and chill- other then outside. The lobby always had a lot of events in the evenings too. overall we had a great time. There was a lot of walking from room to food, but we have no mobility issues and enjoyed our walks. There are golf carts offering rides, but not very often. I would recommend this resort, but I wouldn't go back-mostly because I like to try other places. We found the vendors on the beach very pushy, twice while we were there there were vendors in the resort as well, also VERY pushy, would barely let you walk by.

Majestic Mirage Punta Cana All Suite Resort: Full Review of Majestic Mirage

Airport pick-up: we arrived on January 8 (Sunwing) and our flight was delayed. We waited a long time at the airport to be picked-up and dropped off at our hotel (more than 1 hour and thirty minutes). As some writers wrote on TripAdvisor, we were not welcomed with drinks. The lady at the sign-in desk was cold and we did not feel welcomed. Gave us our bracelets and that was it. Food, if you are a foodie: 6.5 (food needs improvement). I was expecting better fish. Shrimps, alot of vari [... read more]ety and good. Service: 9/10 / great service and pleasant staff. Room / adult only section: was nice but the balcony was facing a road where the delivery trucks go by, busy, loud, smell of diesel and very poor view. If these type of rooms are to be offered, the price should be taken into consideration.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Awesome place to stay!

The hotel was awesome! All the rooms were very close to the beach, lobby, pools and restaurants. It was very easy to get around the resort and did not require too much time to get anywhere. The train that took us between the Palace and Beach resorts was also helpful, but the walk between the two only took about 10 minutes, which was very manageable. The staff was very engaging and accommodating. There was always entertainment on the beach and activities to participate in. The staff were extre [... read more]mely energetic with all the guests at the resort, and we felt very welcomed. Our room was cleaned daily, and the mini bar was always well stocked. Again, the room location was a highlight. The bathroom having a separate area for the sinks/ mirrors vs where the tub and toilet was nice when getting ready. The beach was beautiful and clean. There was very minimal litter on the sand/in the water, and the chairs were well spaced out throughout the beach area. The water was very clean and you could walk out and swim easily. The food at the buffet was fun as there were themed cuisines each day of the week, so the dinners were changing each day. The a la cart restaurants were okay. The adult only restaurants were better than the other a la carte options. Going back, we would not go to all the a la cartes, but was nice to try them on our first go. We would return to this resort without hesitation!

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Nice Clean resort

We stayed at the lberostar Costa Dorada the middle of January most of our family came total of 13 people we booked as a group so we were hoping our rooms would be close we were all spread out between building 6, 7, 8 & 9. But we made the best of it. The hotel grounds were kept Immaculate the beach was kept clean of seaweed compared to the resort next door. Buildings were slightly dated but fully functional. Our room had 2 doubles and a single bed with a balcony.Maids did a fantastic  [... read more]job The fridge was restocked daily, and they had a water filtration system that you refilled your resuable glass bottles(they provided) Workers were friendly, although most struggled to speak english, even waiters and bartenders The food was good, the buffets offered a variety of choices. ltalian and Japanese were good service was fast. Mexican was ok, and service was not great. Payaya made on beach was fantastic Bartenders didn't know many drinks, and they were always different. They nad fountain drinks, but they were very watered-down kids didn't like them. Fruit punch was a light pink orange juice was clear (fountain drinks). The pool was clean, and they had life guards at both the beach and pool. There are lots of lounges and umbrellas at both the beach and pool. During our week stay 4 of those days they had busses of Cruise ship people come to the resort for the day So busier than normal but still fine The ice cream machine at the pool buffet was good. The only issue was people misusing it or leaving it running and making messes with it. I would make a suggestion for more garbage cans throughout the resort Entertainment was mediocre. They had things at the pool during the day, bingo, ring toss, archery, darts volleyball, etc. These were good. Nighttime shows were lacking The last night we were there, they had a silent disco as a pre show. They should have just continued that nstead of stopping it and putting on their show. Most people were having a blast and left after they stopped the disco. All in all, a nice resort, our family enjoyed our vacation, and I would recommend it to others.

Sunscape Puerto Plata: Great Resort

This is a very affordable resort with friendly staff, great food, excellent pools and grounds. Access to the beach is only steps away and there are plenty of chairs on hand. The nightly entertainment was a lot of fun over at a decent hour.

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Resort is beautiful.

Overall our stay was very good. Check in was slow and should be improved. Food was ok. More staff needed in serving areas and tables and cleanliness could improve greatly. People are friendly and helpful. A la carte was rushed and needs to be upgraded to a more relaxed experience. House wine is poor. Grounds are immaculate and beautiful.

Sunscape Puerto Plata: Great Vacation

Just returned from Sunscape in Puerto Plata. We had an amazing vacation, to adults and a 9 and 14-year-old. Swimming on the beach was perfect as most of the big waves don't make it to the beach. Also good snorkeling not very far away on the beach. The food was amazing at this Resort and the staff is top-notch, very friendly and they aim to please! We would definitely recommend this place to anyone and would not hesitate returning!

Secrets Royal Beach: Amazing Resort is a perfect description.

Food was very good with a great variety and choice of different menus. I would strongly recommend the upgrade to the Preferred Club especially where the pools, choice of premium liquor and beer. are concerned. Enjoyed the nightly entertainment and the Spa. If you plan to book this holiday "Do Not" travel with Sunwing. Flight there was 1 hour delayed and return flight was 4 hours delayed with no explanation why except when you look at the flight time boards all Sunwing flights were delayed or ca [... read more]ncelled. My travel package included shuttle to the airport , no shuttle showed and we were forced to take a taxi ( $35.00 USD ). There was no Sunwing Rep.at the resort but we managed to locate one at another Resort the day before we left gave him our booking number and he confirmed the time the shuttle would pick us up ( No Shuttle ). Our travel agent must have known about the poor service and inconvenience that we would receive by booking with Sunwing. Terrible way to end a vacation especially after spending that much money.

Majestic Colonial Punta Cana Beach Resort: Good resort

I would say that the service at bars was very slow due to staffing. We did not like pool on club side. My husband is a swimmer and did not work for him. Beach was not great either. Food was great. Phone didn't work in room. Kept ringing all the time. Had to unplug. We would not go back to this resort mainly because of pool.

Occidental Caribe: Run far away

The grounds are nicely kept and beach is beautiful. The food was fine. The facility is not being kept up. Lights in room broken. Patio chairs broken. Hooks missing. Sink stopper missing, closet light wouldn’t turn off. No towels. No soap, shampoo or conditioner. The bathroom by the bar has 4 sinks. All week only one worked. By the last 2 days no sinks worked. Our friend got locked in a bathroom stall. The list of defects goes on and on. Tiles broken. No toilet paper on 3 trips. The worker [... read more]s were nice especially Juany at customer service. This is definitely a 3 star resort. There are much nicer places to go,

Dreams Dominicus La Romana: Great resort

2nd time at this resort it did not disappoint. There are some minor things have changed since COVID as the hotel may be cutting back to save on expenses. The only item that I didn’t like was that the Pool towels are no longer readily available on pool chairs or on stands. You now have to pick them up from a towel hut and you can only get one per person after they verify your room number. Food was good we stayed at the preferred club and really enjoyed the food and service at the beach  [... read more]restaurant. Room was clean however we did not get the preferred club amenities despite having paid for preferred. Beach is great the the pools are beautiful. We really enjoyed our stay and will return.

The Eurostars Grand Cayacoa: Cayacoa

I have nothing negative to report. Everything was first class and the staff were awesome. They made me feel at home. The food was outstanding and the beach and pools were fantastic. I would definitely go back.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Would not recommend

My husband and I booked our most recent vacation to the Cofresi Palm Beach Resort last June as we wanted a winter getaway in January. I wanted to write this email to explain our experience and how it was not a positive one. Our dates of travel were January 10-17 2023 and we were flying out of Hamilton International Airport on the 10th at 5:35pm. Our flight was almost 2 hours late taking off. It arrived late so we were not able to board when we were suppose to and then when we finally got on b [... read more]oard we sat on the tarmac waiting for the crew to empty the waste and refill water on board. By time we took off it was after 7pm. We landed in Puerto Plata at midnight. Getting through the airport was fine and finding out transfer to the hotel was okay. We arrived to the hotel and got our keys and when we got to our room after 2am our key cards didn’t work. We are tired and hot at this point. So we trekked our long way back, up many flights of stairs to the front desk where they configured our key and we took the shuttle back to our room complex. Our room was pretty basic. The bed was like sleeping on a hard concrete slab - it was not comfortable at all. The mini fridge only had 1 bottle of water in it and we had no pool towels in the room. The next morning we were to go to our transat meeting which we didn’t since we were tired after finally getting to bed at 3am and a long travel day. We had breakfast at the buffet restaurant and then began our journey trying to find seats to sit at the pool or beach. This resort is very limited on seating anywhere you go. The beach was very small and not many seats around. We did enjoy the rest of the day at the pool and had dinner at the buffet. The next day was raining and as we were heading out of room complex the stairs were slightly wet and I did manage to slip down a stair hitting my head and back of my left arm badly. To say this was a bad start of our day would be an understatement. We went to the transat meeting that morning and learned where we can make our a La carte restaurant reservations. We also learned that our mini bar should have been fully stocked and have pools towels in the room which we did not. After the transat meeting I went to front desk and asked if we could have our mini fridge stocked and pool towels in the room and we were informed that they would let housekeeping know to do that. We went on with our day and made the most of it. When we came back to our room to have dinner our mini fridge was not stocked and still no pool towels. I called front desk from our room and they advised they will have someone do it. So we had dinner again at the buffet as we were planning on heading to the guest services office tomorrow to make reservations for the rest of our stay. After dinner we came back to the room where we still had no pool towels and our mini fridge was still not stocked. I called front desk again and tried to explain that I was getting frustrated that I have had to call this many times for these 2 things and they advised they would send someone up. A few minutes later we got a bag that had 4 cans of beer, water and 2 bottles of pop. A few minutes after that housekeeping had 2 white bath towels in her hand which is not what we had requested. She didn’t understand what I was saying so she walked off rudely saying “sorry no English” The Friday during our holiday we ended up both getting food poisoning and not able to leave our room to go anywhere as we were very sick. Another damper to put on our vacation. On Saturday we were feeling better and we headed to guest services to see if we can make restaurant reservations for the rest of our stay as we didn’t want to continue to eat at the buffet and there was a note on the door that said they were fully booked for reservations until next week and to come back Sunday morning. So after that we headed back to front desk and I asked for pool towels to be delivered to me right then and there as I had asked everyday that week and we still had not received them. The front desk reservation person gave us 2 towel cards and we were finally able to get our towels at the main pool that day. Sunday morning we headed to the guest services area in the lobby to make restaurant reservations and the line was from the door to where the main pool was. At least an hour and a half long. My husband and I didn’t want to wait in that line while we had little of our vacation left and we hadn’t had the best time up until that point so we didn’t want to waste it standing in a long line to be told there was nothing available. On our last full day at the resort we tried to see if we could get some sort of restaurant reservation for that night but by time we got to the lobby the line was as long as it had been the day before so we didn’t stand in it. All week we had buffet food which was a bit concerning since we had gotten sick from it. My husband and I don’t tend to eat things we aren’t familiar with when we stay at an all inclusive so we aren’t sure what exactly made us sick from there. The morning when we checked out the front desk man asked for our towel cards and I said we didn’t have them and that our towels were on the balcony for housekeeping to grab. He said we had to present the cards and I told him we were not advised that at all and said they were in the room for housekeeping. He checked us out no problem and we made our way to the airport. Our plane left 20 minutes prior to schedule which was great as we were tired and wanted to get home after this awful week. We had become friends with a few other people who came down the same time as us on the same package and a couple had gotten sick at the a La carte restaurants and other people had complaints about their stay such as showers not working during the stay etc. Overall we would not be coming back to this resort. I found the staff to be rude at times and it was like pulling teeth to get anything done that was so insignificant. My husband and I had stayed at a 5 star luxury resort in Punta Cana back in 2021 and the staff there were so accommodating, friendly and we had no issues there what so ever. We had high hopes coming to Puerto Plata and this vacation put a bad taste in our mouths. I am hoping with this review this gets shared with the staff of the resort so they can change their protocols and behaviours down there for future guests as I am sure we aren’t the only ones complaining about their stay at this property. Sincerely Olivia Howell Abel & Jon Bowles