The usual great time

Back from two weeks at the VIK. Met familiar staff and many friends from our previous 4 visits. Beach is great and our oceanview third floor room in building five was exactly what we wanted. Quick walk to the beach and plenty of plapas open each day down near the Pelicano club. Sails with Andre on the catamaran and available snorkel gear add to the fun at the beach. Tractor cleans the beach each day and so most seaweed gone. Being a maritimer seaweed is expected, and grateful for the no jellyfis [... read more]h. Warm water and quiet beach for us to toss a football on. Rooms are clean and cool with an immediate supply of hot water for showers. Cleaning staff are friendly and efficient. Room is a bit on the older side but so are we. Food is fine with plenty of variety and theme nights. Breakfast is fun when you stop for eggs and enjoy the chef, who quickly gets to know you and your order. A great character and lots of fun. Didn't see much of the entertainment so can't comment and never sit at the pool. The drinks are a a bit thin but again we bring our own Scotch so no concerns. Beer is fine. A la carte restaurants are good as well but mostly stuck to the buffet and the pizza and burger bar. Chicken at the burger bar is excellent and no easy to pack for a beach picnic.I love the Vik but really could do without the Cayene vultures. Most are fine and leave you be once they see the return silver bracelet but there always sems to be one who is just too pushy. I understand the necessity of booking the place but don't ruin a day by making me resort to rudeness to get someone to leave me alone. Still a minor irritation in a very wonderful time. walk the beach in either direction and barter at the markets and play with the beach dogs. Next April will be our sixth trip back I am sure. Dave and Mary

Nothing Special

Overall the hotel had all the basis accommodations The overall staff was great and friendly 1.Unfortunately when my niece got bit by some unknown bug and her foot swelled up while we were out on the town When we returned to the hotel, the night time security and the front desk refused to let our local friend drive her up to the reception area. I understand there was a security issue. No one offered to bring a wheelchair. The hotel grounds are big and she cried the whole way to our room. We f [... read more]inally requested a wheelchair the following day. 2. The food seemed to be catered more towards North Americans - I would have preferred more authentic cuisine. Also the late night snack bar was very sad. Nothing worth eating, very disappointing 3. I am also disappointed that the hot tub never worked. I was looking forward to taking late night dips.. That never happened

Horrible vacation

Front desk extremely slow upon arrival. Went to our room, telephone didn’t work, balcony door didn’t lock, light over t.v. didn’t work, balcony light didn’t work, light outside the entry door (for security) didn’t work. Charged US$14.00 to use the in-room piece of crap safe. NO coffee maker, NO clock, NO towels upon arrival, BAD internet, massive amounts of seaweed on the shore, disgusting. I have been to the D.R. 4 times, thus staff never smiled, laughed, went out if thief way to s [... read more]ay hola. Made us feel like we were interrupting their day. Housekeepers in the hallways at 8:00 a.m. yelling back and forth to each other disturbing us. Staff on their cell phones ALL the time. Severe cracks in the bathroom counter and the bottom of the step to get into the shower, could have collapsed. Food was repetitive and not good. I would rate thus property at a 2. Will not return or recommend.

Good resort

A pretty good resort for the price we paid. Very good food, 4-5 various fresh juices every breakfast, free wi-fi in the lobby, comfortable rooms, a lot of place on the beach under umbrellas. The only lack is that the beach in this particular place is more narrow than in front of the other hotels, but it is long enough to place everybody.

Amazing and wonderful and clean resort

The hotel is clean furnished and equipped with everything to make you comfortable. The ground was well maintained and clean. Dining area, was well organised and clean with very polite servers and cooks. I give this hotel four stars. Best vacation spot ever.

Horrible Hotel/Service Doesn't Exist!!!

The service doesn't exist in this hotel at all. You have to serve yourself everywhere. Food variety is none and everyday the same. A la carte restaurants are nowhere to be a restaurant. Cocktails are garbage.

Beautiful Beach

We arrived early 8n the day, Check in was after 3pm. It was fairly quick as there was only 8 checking in. We did not get the rooms we requested until the next day. Staff was friendly and did what they could do to accommodate us. When we arrived the hotel was having water problems but was fixed asap. Our rooms were nice and clean, 2 bottles of water in the fridge every day. The pools were nice but no swim up bar. The beach was amazing. The food was good, no waiting in line for the a la carte rese [... read more]rvations. Mexican was the best. The wait staff were awesome and the bartenders too! Drinks seemed to be weak. Evening entertainment was lacking. Nothing to do while waiting, no live music to be found. Not worth staying up for. This is a very quite resort. Good for relaxing.

Needs improvement

Not very friendly or helpful.No hot water and power outages without any backup lighting.No mention from any staff what the problems are everyone is just on your own to figure everything out.Not pleased

Fairly Nice Hotel

This resort is in a nice spot. The grounds are kept clean, tidy, neat, landscaped nicely. The food was good; the restaurants nice. The room we had was very nice, even though not in the building when we had booked; the bathroom and shower large and roomy. The beach was very nice. The buildings are nice and clean. The hotel staff was nice and friendly. Once thing, we did not get the building we had requested when we booked, over a month before the trip. We were in Building 4, 3rd flo [... read more]or, with a bit of a view of the ocean and the pool area. It was not too bad. We had expected to be in Building 5 with an ocean view from the upper floor. Another thing, was the number of reps around trying to sell you excursions, or to join their clubs. This was a bit of a bother at times. The pool had no pool bar, which is usually expected in a resort.... A couple of times there were water issues at the resort due to some mechanical or other issue. One time the power was out for a couple hours, so there was no water as well as no power. An issue when needing to use the washroom. Maybe there should be backup generators ......Nightly entertainment for adults was lacking. Not very good at all. The sports bar was not very good. The TVs were small and up high, hard to watch; only saw one on at a time. One evening there was some get together event going on, so you could not even go use the sports bar.

Not a place i would ever return to

We were there for 2 weeks and everything was only ok we always found enough to eat.The place was clean.The beach and weather were awesome.But----------The food was only ever luke warm or cold,beef and pork tough and tasteless.Alot of europeans in resort and they catered to their taste in food.There was never much variety.The resort was understaffed and everything was self serve.We enjoy the staff at other resorts.There were a few there after a few days when they realized we were canadian and we  [... read more]wanted them to be friendly.There were no coffee machines in rooms .We had to pay for our safes.Neither of which we came across before.Our fridge wasnt cold and there were no beverages in itother than 2 water.We lost power 3 times no water one whole afternoon.Irealize this happens sometimes but we had never had before.We went to the spa .That was great.Every night we all got eaten alive by bugs.We all came home will welts on our legs.Also there were alot of familys there with small kids .We should have been warned about that.We all love kids but we didnt want topay 4thousand dollars to spend 2 weeks with them.I think we should have been told that and we would not have went there.Also our room was very old shower was horrible.Animation team were good but once again only a few of them so the inter action with the guests were not what we were used to.We took in a few shows and they were good.As i said we always found something to eat and we enjoyed our 2 wks but nowhere near worth what we paid.Also no irons in room.Its those little things that make a big difference

We were disappointed.

The pluses: the beach was fantastic and like Camelot it only rained at night. The food was good but not as much variety as other places we have stayed. Everything was a very short walk away and very convenient. The minuses: some things the hotel could improve on are: coffee makers in the rooms for guests,staff were more reserved and less friendly than other hotels, and the hotel itself was tired. We planned on spending most of our time at the beach but some things can’t be ignored. Leaking c [... read more]eilings when the room above guests had a shower, showers don’t function only the hand held would work, televisions not working or receiving all channels. Tours were not as advertised and no communication with reps about changes. The biggest problem was at the airport air transit has to improve gate departures 3 hours waiting to get checked in at 90+degree weather and 100 per cent humidity and 3 air busses full of travellers leaving within two hours demands a better check in line up arrangement. Some passengers were in hung up at the end of lines and other passengers were obliged to break lines to let Montreal and Toronto flights be processed leaving Halifax people not even time for a bathroom or food before boarding for home. Not acceptable. There was a sick child that was in line and should have been given much better attention - that was child abuse.

Very good resort

It was my first time at this resort. The location of the hotel is perfect. Only 25 km from the airport.... Beach front resort. The beach is smaller than showing on the picture but still beautiful and clean compare to other resort on the same beach. The resort itself is clean and the vegetation is beautiful. The resort size was perfect for us. We where in the farthest block from the lobby (#5) and still within 10 min walk. The staff where very nice and I was suprised that they speak multip [... read more]le language. The food was good to all the restaurant, including the buffet. Nothing outstanding... but everything is good. We also enjoyed the fact that we didnt had to reserve in any of the restaurant. Just like every resort I have been.... the wine taste bad... and the drinks at this resort are also made with cheap alcool. You need to specify barcelo rum if you want to have good rum...otherwise it's cheap. The room where ok and clean every day. Overall, It's a really good resort quality/price compare to other resort in Punta Cana. I recommend this hotel to everyone and I wont hesitate to go back.

GREAT RESORT

This resort is not large but very clean..good food...great staff Our room was very comfortable but dated..the tap in the bathroom was very rusted The showers run hot and long...perfect It is an easy walk from main lobby to beach and you can walk along the beach for miles..awesome

Amazing resort, great place for relaxing

the VIK hotel arena Blanca - second time going and found improvements in all aspects. Updated bathrooms and more eating establishments . Already planning on going again next year. the staff are very friendly and rooms kept very clean

Decent resort

Overall a decent resort. The buffet was great. We never went hungry. Lots of quality selection. Booze was ok. You could buy the better booze at the bars if you wanted. Beach was beautiful. White sand and turquoise water. The architecture was pretty plain and so was the pool and gardens. Nothing flashy about this resort at all. Lots of French speaking people there. Not as many English. The gym was pretty rough but you could get things done with some creativity. Staff was great. Great resort if yo [... read more]u're on a budget.

Lovely resort

Cudos for the following: - friendly, polite helpful staff at front desk, restaurants, bars and activities, most spoke reasonable English & many are proficient; terrific beach, fine pool & well-tended gardens; carefully prepared & presented wide selection of food options at Mirador buffet; other restaurants inconsistent foods & service; loved the poolside lunch/snack bar; updated public bathrooms clean & well supplied; activity programs well-suited to guests; the few souvenir vendors on site & [... read more] at beach were not pushy. Our ocean-view room in Bldg 3 was adequate with nice closet but missing a bureau/dresser for other clothing; chairs on balcony were old broken rattan & very uncomfortable though others had plastic chairs; housekeeping of room was spotty- new sheets/bed made & fresh towels/supplies daily but table tops, sink & floor done once in 10 days - needs improvement. Bars have only a very poor draft lite beer - needs improvement. Casino & disco are small unappealing rooms but not facilities we look for in a resort. This resort suits families and middle/older ages.

Enjoyed the resort

We booked an oceanfront suite and were so glad we did. View was amazing in building 5. The resort is well laid out. We never felt like we had long walks to get anywhere. All the hurricane damage has been repaired. The beach is cleaned daily for seaweed. Food was good, even at the buffet which had a different variety every night. I loved that we did not have to make reservations for the a la carte restaurants. Also they break up the smoking and non-smoking sections. Rooms were cl [... read more]ean although dated but we appreciated the cleanliness. The only complaint we had in our room was the air conditioning and safe. It never got colder than 24.5c even though maintenance looked at it twice. The bathroom was especially hot. The safe was a charge of $14US and you have to carry a key for the whole week as safe is not digital. Wifi is only free in the lobby and a lot of people swarm to it to use it so it's really slow. You can buy wifi for $70US for the week. This is very antiquated! The staff work hard and most are very friendly even if there is a language barrier, but we are in their country. Overall we would go back again.

Amazing food and great presentation of the food

We had room 5226 and it overlooked part of the beach and ocean. No drawers to put your stuff into but we’re a bit bohemian so we coped. It was clean. That’s a lot of characters! The food was great and we enjoyed the access to it. Loved the hot chocolate and coffee in miridor. Didn’t like the pressure from the condo sales people. Wouldn’t buy or time share at the vik. The staff in the hotel gift shops were not customer service oriented. Reception staff, were pleasant. The focus seems to b [... read more]e on money and from what we saw through our privately arranged trips things are pretty good in the Dominican. We had a great time, and we always do, wherever we travel. The transat individual was not informative and was just putting in his time! The maids were really nice and gave of themselves!

Was disappointed in the service

When we arrived there was kaos in the front lobby, and they weren't friendly at all. The food was good, the beach was great, but we were harassed constantly by the locals trying to sell us hotel deals, activities and jewelery. We liked the fact that it was a smaller hotel, didn't have to make reservations for dinners, although they only had 2 restaurants. Our room was ocean view and the view was stunning. Would we go back, no. I would rate this a 3.

Disappointed vacation

Pros- Small resort, all facilities were close, clean rooms. Cons- Very poor reception desk, we had to fight to get anything that we needed such as facecloth, rooms on ground level and rooms near our friends, no beer in bottles and no service for room fridge. We would have had employee at front desk fired if possible by the name of Gilberto , we had several very bad run in's with him and as a result will not return there and we will be telling other people to stay away, they forget that w [... read more]e are guests and spending hard earned money for a vacation and do not need unnecessary harassment from an asshole like him. Very disappointed with the quality of drinks and the beer was draft on tap everywhere , 3star at best. Poor tv almost all Spanish , only internet in lobby , poor snorkelling in front of resort and too many pushy sales people , !