Grand Bavaro Princess: Beautifully rejuvenated resort

This was our second trip to Grand Bavaro Princess resort. Our first was in January 2006, with many happy memories of a special place. We added to them on our second trip in January 2023. We understand that the Princess was fully renovated in 2019 and converted from two-story to three-story "multiplexes" room complexes at that time, and with other additional improvements. Both times we stayed in the Platinum section. It now has its own pool and beach section, two restaurants (PBG and SoHo), and a [... read more] coffee and dessert café. We found the Princess section and the whole resort to be well-organized and well-run. All the staff we interacted with were friendly and helpful. A special shout out to Claudio and Tony, bartenders at the Platinum beach bar who could not have been more friendly, positive, welcoming, and attentive. The beach across the whole wide beachfront of the resort was well-kept (seaweed removed every morning) and secure (always had security personnel at all times during the day). We did not have any problem finding beach chairs/beds, as there sometimes is at other resorts in the area. The rooms were quite luxurious, with spacious sitting areas and balconies. There is even a mangrove swamp through which one can walk and get a glimpse of what the natural area was like before all the resorts were built. We have stayed at many different properties in Punta Cana in the last 15 years or so and there are in our opinion few better than the Princess.

Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Quiet Resort with Great Service

The service was consistently friendly and attentive. The beach is beautiful with plenty of loungers available for all guests! The food is good and caters to a variety of tastes and diets. Espresso and speciality coffees are available at each bar. Fresh juice bars provide an alternative to the wide variety of alcoholic beverages. The rooms are spacious and clean but are quite dated and dark. The water pressure in our room was poor and the A/C unit was very loud.

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: wonderful resort

The grounds were very well kept.. Everything about the whole resort was well organized. The food in the dining room was varied every day and there was plenty of it. The people working at the resort were very friendly, clean, and knew what they were doing. they helped whenever help was needed. the doctor came to our room when we needed help and then sent a nurse to check on the patient every day. I have told all my friends about the great service we had and would like to go back another tim [... read more]e.

Grand Bavaro Princess: Beautiful resort

The resort was immaculate with beautiful grounds wildlife and the rooms were amazing. The beach was the best part and we stayed in the platinum side which was for the extra cost. The service in the platinum restaurants really stood out and the food was wonderful. I would definitely come back to this resort we were given a beachfront bungalow which made it accessible for walking.

El Beso Adults Only at Ocean El Faro: Going down hill

We have stayed at Ocean El Faro twice now. Feb 2022 and Jan 2023. We like the resort. The design is great. We love the lobby and the rooms. The restaurants are okay. I think the food is good for what you can expect in DR, but the service at restaurants and bars is pretty poor. It took 2 hours for some dinners. H10 hotels has also introduced an online dinner reservation booking system that is AWFUL! They tell you at check in that you can make reservations from 7am-5pm but by 7:01 am they are full [... read more]y booked with no availability. we were having to set alarms at 6:50 am on vacation to be able to make a dinner reso. Furthermore the pool chairs have towels on all of them by 7:30 so if you're not an early bird this probably isn't the resort for you. My biggest disappointment is the beach. It's very rocky with plenty of GARBAGE! They do very little to maintain the beach front so it's usually covered in trash and seaweed.

Ocean El Faro: Great booking service and the resort is amazing too

The booking service was great along the way until the end of the trip. Tripcentral sent us emails with information about airport parking, entering and leaving the destination country, etc. We feel we were taken good care of. Strongly recommend it. The resort is amazing too. It's big and beautiful. The food is great and the service is excellent. The only small drawback is that the beach has some rocks. People should go to the small cove beside the resort for swimming in the sea, which was what [... read more] we enjoyed during the stay. Overall, our trip was a very good relaxing experience.

Royalton Bavaro Resort and Spa: Awesome resort and amazing staff

We stayed at a swim up room which was a fair size room and clean, I would suggest to stay facing main area for sun. Serive and staff where very friendly and helpful , can't say enough for our buttler Kelvin he was amazing.. already planing a trip back here very soon.

Occidental Punta Cana: Notthatgreat

The Food was not good, the rooms smelt bad, told water wasn't clean unless out of bottles, air transat miscommunicated time for pickup, a lot of staff that didn't speak English so hard to communicate.

The Eurostars Grand Cayacoa: Great resort! Wonderful time!

We are a family of 5 and we stayed in the resort during the 1st and 2nd week of January. The hotel was more than we expected. The rooms are large and comfortable, food was excellent - probably the best we've ever had in the Caribian. Staff was very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed all the games and activities organized by the entertainment team. We went to snorkeling and horseback riding. We loved both excursions. We would highly recommend this resort. We are planning to go back for the wake wat [... read more]ching.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: very bad hotel

service and food was OK ,terrible room, no hot water for five days, the management level never give solutions for as and never show up. terrible experience,never recommend this resort .xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [... read more]xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: A great vacation

The Gran Ventana is a lovely resort hotel. This was our 4th time staying there. The staff are professional, friendly, and helpful. The buffet is very good with ample variety available every day. Everyone can find lots to their taste at every meal. We loved the beach: fine sand, lots of seating, daily swimming towels provided. We brought our snorkels and masks to enjoy swimming with the lovely fish and small sea creatures on the coral near the shore. Bring a banana to feed them - they will  [... read more]love you! As is usual in the Dominican Republic, vendors are allowed to sell their wears and services on the beach but we found them pleasant and not pushy. Of course the pool, daily optional activities lead by activation staff, and lots of shallow and deeper water for swimmers of all sizes, offer lots of fun. The swim-up bar is always a hit. Try Jackie’s Special - our favourite! There are pool tables, a ping pong table, and foosball to pass some time. Every night there is entertainment, including mini-disco for the little ones, followed by shows for all ages. My only request would be to lower the volume 😉. Gift store and hair/nail salon are on the premises. I love that the hotel is close to the airport so there is no long transfer once you land. The rooms are clean and comfortable. Covid protocols were adequate, but did not intrude on our enjoyment. Many guests wore masks, but these were not mandatory. Staff wore masks in the food areas, front desk, and others. Cleanliness was excellent in every area. All in all, a great family resort.

Be Live Collection Punta Cana Adults Only: Great Staff

We were at the Adults Only Section of The Be Live Resort in Punta Cana. I was there with my 3 Adult Children. We all had a great time. The rooms were spacious and clean. It was difficult to find a free lounge chair at the beach but easy to find a free one by the pool. The food was good and the Staff were extremely polite and helpful. I would not hesitate to go to this resort again

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: 2 Stars at best

I’ve stayed at 4 stars in the DR before and this by far was the worst hotel I’ve ever been to. I’ll start with positives. Servers and entertainment staff were awesome. Beach was beautiful, food was surprisingly ok. The bad: check in system was a long process. I bet some people may have waited 3 hrs to check in. Power kept going out too. Dining reservations required you line up at 9am, I was about 8th in line, the first few days were already full. We were 4 couples and one couple got  [... read more]a room with 2 singles. Took 3 days to change. Freddie from air transat helped because staff said there were no rooms, even when people checked out each day. AC worked in some of the rooms, not ours. they were loud and one of the rooms leaked so the maid put towels all over the floor so they wouldn’t slip. Hot water only on 2 of 8 days. Fixtures and all were from the 80s, very patchwork style of repairs. You have to request a key for the safe but I would guess that’s an extra fee. They never refilled the fridge with beer and pop, but did bring water. Food tasted great in some cases, we were surprisingly pleased. But one by one all 8 of us got food poisoning and were stuck in our rooms. We avoided salad that sat in water and tried to just eat hot fresh cooked food, but we still got sick so not sure where we got ir. You could hear many people talking about their family’s all being sick. The ice is brought in to site and the water served is from the large water jugs.. Bar was underwhelming. No real juice, sugary orange water like tang was served. Liquor was no name, and they had frozen strawberry or pina colada mix. I craved a mojito or aperol spritz but stuck to gin and tonic and vodka Soda or beer. Staff would not allow food out of the buffet to bring to sick guests. I went to guest services. One lady was incredibly helpful and had a vegan soup made for one room of sick family and chicken soup for another. The next day the staff were incredibly rude saying that we had service yesterday so no service today. I explained that the second person in the room was now sick but they wouldn’t help. We had to smuggle out food in to go cups. The following day I managed to get soup. Luckily by the last day we had 6 people that were well enough to go to town, which was the highlight of the trip. In hind sight, I should’ve rented an Airbnb, likely would’ve had better service.

Lopesan Costa Bavaro Resort: Disappointing stay and stay away

My husband and I went with our baby and 2 other couples with families. To give some context, we've travelled extensively around the world and have been to DR alone atleast 15+ times. We're realistic about what to expect when on vacation in DR and am only comparing this our other times in DR and not 5 star resorts elsewhere. First off, the resort is beautiful and very family friendly. That's where the positives end. Food is mediocre everywhere (again in comparison to other DR resorts). Service [... read more] is atrocious save for a few exceptions (shout outs to the awesome/funny servers in the valley and the French restaurant), but the vast majority of employees there including guest services really seem like they don't enjoy their jobs and don't really care about the guests. Our first night checking in, our room was digusting. There was blood on one of the towels and a dirty q-tip still in the shower and the sink had other blood around the rim too. We took pictures and showed guest services and the first response we got wasn't even an apology but an "ok" and we practically had to beg to see what they could do to make it right. Took the next day where they offered us an "upgraded" room that was identical to our current one but just at a different part of the resort they claimed was nicer. Instead I asked for the upgrade to unique bracelets instead, which they atleast accommodated so I'll give them that. Little did I realize that the unique bracelets really offered us no additional benefits, we got access to a better beach buffet where the food was the same as the other regular buffet. The service was better here for sure, but the bar was still the same grumpy overworked bartenders who acted like they were just punching in and out no matter how well you tipped or tried to joke with them. On the last day my husband ended up getting food poisoning from the unique buffet ironically. Was vomiting all night and didnt end up sleeping at all while trying to not wake our baby. I asked if we could check out slightly later @ 2pm instead of 12pm (which is customary with our unique braclets anyways) and was promptly told no they do not have any rooms available but I could purchase an extra day if I wanted it. What??? Also told them about our food poisoning incident and was just given a cursory "ok". Oh well at this point I didnt expect much anymore. Also, I'm realistic. If the food poisoning incident was an isolated experience he’d chalk it up as just bad luck, but throughout our stay every member of our group had some type of gastro issues at one point or another. The hygiene and food safety in this place is definitely lacking even for DR standards. All told in all the times we've been to the DR this resort is definitely in the top 10% but easily in the bottom 5% of food and services we've had. One of the only places I would probably never recommend to anyone coming to DR.

Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort: Great stay!

Had a great 14 day vacation. Rooms were clean, Food was decent, while mostly repetitive there was always a great selection including porkchops, burgers , salads and pasta. , Service was excellent. Roberto in the buffet greeted us everyday and was incredibly customer service oriented . Had an issue with no hot water but the issue was resolved quickly . Staff were extremely accommodating. The beach was very small and swimming was not great but spent 4 hours on Sosua beach which was excellent [... read more]. .

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Beautiful Resort

Employees went above and beyond for their guests. Fantastic housekeeping staff who would even clean the room twice a day. There were always clean towels and stocked beverages in my room. The grounds of the resort were extremely well kept and always being worked on. The food was excellent throughout the entire resort. My favourite being the Italian restaurant. Overall a great resort and appropriate for adults at any age.

Finest Punta Cana: Enjoyable multi generational family vacation

Everything Excellence … as expected within this group of Hotels. I need say no more Xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx oooooooooo ooooooooo ooooooo ooooo ooooooooo

Casa Marina Reef Resort: Our home away from home - Just love this resort

It's a beautiful resort, well maintained. The staff is wonderful. Rooms are clean and some are renovated with modern glass shower. Even non-renovated rooms are just fine - we don't spend much time in them. Though not as full as it used to be pre-Covid, so more Domenican families are there on the weekends, which is great for them, but can be very loud. The food is always excellent in the buffet and we also enjoyed the Italian a la carte. The Casa beach is a bit rough, but pool(s) are awesom [... read more]e. Great bang for your buck and we can't wait to go back again in March 2023. Oh, and the town of Sosua is right off the resort to the right - great little bars and restaurants and some owned by Canadians... You'll love it.

Grand Palladium Punta Cana: Beautiful resort, badly managed

We have been to Punta Cana for more than 10 times in various resorts and in Dominican Republic more that 15 times. Therefore, I think we can provide a good comparison between different resorts. SUMMARY The Grand Palladium Resort is a beautiful complex resort made of three resorts: Palace, Punta Cana and Bavaro. The grounds are beautiful, well-maintained and includes four swimming pools. You might think that we had a wonderful time there, which unfortunately is not the case. The resort is p [... read more]oorly managed and the water and sanitation infrastructure (plumbing) is crumbling. Our main complain is not that we stayed there for 10 days with NO HOT WATER (between 4 – 10 pm), our main disappointment is that in spite our daily complains, the management did nothing to fix the problem. More than that, one day when we informed the reception again that we don’t have hot water, a reception supervisor told us to stop complaining as everybody else is the same. So, definitely we will not go back to this resort again. There are many better resorts in Punta Cana – same price. You judge for yourself and make your own decision. Here are some details: FOOD: The resort has two main buffet restaurants and many a-la-carte restaurants. The food in the buffet restaurants is diverse, plenty and tasty. Definitely above average for Punta Cana resorts. Congratulations to the Chef. The “A-la-carte restaurants” is a different story. First of all they don’t have a menu (a-la-carte) – a printed menu – to give you. They expect the guests to download Grand Palladium app and use it to order (they expect you to work for them); how about if you want to relax and didn’t bring you phone with you, or if your phone is not working… Most of the food in the a-la-carte restaurants are from the buffet restaurant (appetizers, soup,…different presentation) which is ok as it is tasty; however the food they have to cook on the spot is disappointing ( a beef stake is few mm thick, yes MM, and hard and chewy; an Italian calzone we ordered was pre-cooked hours before we ordered (the cheese inside was no longer melted and the crust was mushy and soft), not to mention the Asian restaurant… I would say the a-la-carte restaurants in Grand Palladium are below average for Punta Cana. Disappointing. ROOMS: Our room was decent, clean (the cleaning lady did a very good job every day), too bad we didn’t have hot water. However, some people we met on the resort told us they had to change three rooms until they found a decent one. GROUNDS: Grounds are beautiful and well-maintained. Congrats to the people that do all the work… Too bad we couldn’t get a map of the resort (they don’t have it at the reception – actually they have but they are too cheap to give a map to their guests) so we got lost few times and until we learned the resort (through experience) it was time to go home. BEACH & POOLS: This is Punta Cana and the beach is beautiful. Grand Palladium has a long ocean beach however only 1/3 of it is a nice wide sandy beach. 2/3 of the resort beach was damaged by storms, hurricanes… This is the reason the sandy beach is crowded; people have to get up early in the morning to reserve a hut and some chairs…I would say this is common to many resorts in Punta Cana. There are four swimming pools and they look beautiful. We are not pool people so we cannot comment more. ENTERTAINMENT and BEACH ACTIVITIES: Everywhere we have been in Punta Cana, the Entertainment (Night) Shows and Beach Activities were a main component of the life on the resort. They were advertised everywhere. NOT IN THIS RESORT. We saw no signs related to the night shows and beach activities and the receptionist was not able to give us an answer. For three days we thought there is no theater on the resort. On the fourth day we bumped into some artists who told us where the theater is (there are printed maps of the resort on some places in the resort however they are outdated and no mention of the theater there, the names of the a-la carte restaurants on the maps are different than the current names of the restaurants – you figure out… a total disinformation). Later, we have seen some night shows and they were beautiful, professional, the artists put a lot of passion and work in order to create shows that people enjoy. Congratulations to the artists. CONCLUSION: This is a beautiful resort, badly managed, with disrespectful attitude towards their patrons and guests.

Viva Dominicus Palace by Wyndham: Beautiful!

This is a great resort! People are friendly, food is good, lots of a la carte restaurant to choose from. The beach is spectacular with good snorkeling. Personally a better wine list would have been a bonus.