Lopesan Costa Bavaro Resort: My First Experience with this level of resort

The resort is beautiful. Room was immaculate. Staff made up for what other reviewers have described as growing pains. Wilkin from the Italian resto, Julio from the Mediterranean and Denwill, one of the sommeliers went above and beyond.

Majestic Colonial Punta Cana Beach Resort: Nice resort, disappointing accomodations

We enjoyed the resort, but unfortunately our room could not dry without a de-humidifier and even with the de-humidifier in place, our clothes were wet, never dried and were brought home with a moldy smell. Restaurants in the Colonial are in need of an upgrade as are the grounds.

Royalton CHIC Punta Cana: Poor service and definitely not a 5* resort !!!

Service is extremely slow at all the restaurants. Facilities are mediocre at best and entertainment is just average. All in all, this resort is probably at 3.5/4 star. I would not recommend this place during the holiday season and I would suggest you find a place that will get you more bang for the $$ you spend.

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: Great family stay

Good flight down with Westjet Westjet represenatives on the ground was nice Nice Resort Clean, good staff, lots to do' VIP guys selling the VIP club could be less present Food was adequete, lots to choose from. The a la carte restaurants were good. Booze was ok, 4 Coor light in the mini bar , could be more

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Beautiful Resort

i would like to start off by saying that Jill and her Colleagues at trip central are completely amazing. the Barceló Bavaro is a superp resort and the entire staff are friendly and courteous. the resort is super clean, the food is delicious recommend upgrading to premium level. the only complaint I have is that my son got sick there due to an ear infection which I'm pretty sure he got for the kids water park, must be something in the water. only complaint. would definitely go back.

Grand Sirenis Tropical Suites: Beautiful and friendly resort

Our second time at the Grand Sirenis this time at the tropical suits side... rooms where bigger than the Cocotal better when you have couple kids. We love this resort and spent Christmas there, our kids love the water park and we love the kids club service and baby sitting service. No complaints will be going again soon thanks for a another great experience.

Royalton Hideaway Punta Cana: Great vacation at The Hideaway!

I recently spent the holidays at the Hideaway with my daughter and for the most part it was wonderful. The Hideaway is an adult boutique hotel within the Royalton (which is not adult). It comprises a couple of buildings surrounding the adult pool with pool bar. In order to get to the beach (Hideaway has its own section with Beach bar) and to the adult only Dorado restaurant, you will be walking through the Royalton where there are kids. All other amenities (a la cartes, main buffet, main lobby b [... read more]ar, theatre, etc.) are at the Royalton so if you want a strictly adult hotel, this might not be for you. That being said, the Hideaway is definitely a beautiful hotel with an upscale experience and in my opinion is highly recommended. Pros: - Adult pool was bigger than pictured and service, particularly by Dolores and those who made sure you had your towels and mats, was excellent. Always some sort of entertainment and fitness classes provided by the vibe team and one day a sax player serenaded us with beautiful music. Christmas Eve featured a spectacular vocalist. The weekend was exceptionally busy (i.e. get your seats very early). - Front desk was superb, particularly Luz and Stephanie who provided excellent personal service to us and ensured our needs were met. - The Dorado restaurant provided such excellent, personal service at dinnertime (both the hostesses and the servers), great atmosphere overlooking the beach, and the food was so good that we ate most of our dinners there. The Christmas Gala menu was noteworthy (no extra charge for Hideaway guests) . Salmon and the steaks (which I preferred to those at Hunters) and my daughter’s sea bass were exceptional. - Beach was eroded (through no fault of the hotel). This being said the Hideaway portion had their guests packed in like sardines. We spent most of our days at the pool and took long beautiful walks on the stunning beach every day. - The Hideaway lounge provided an incredible spread of food, coffee and alcoholic drinks from morning to night. As our first breakfast at the Dorado took a little too long, and we were ok without a full breakfast, we had ours at the Lounge every day (smoked salmon, cream cheese, croissants, etc) – excellent feature. Same coffee machine as the Royalton coffee shop. - Theatre at the Royalton was 2 level, air conditioned and enclosed. Aside from some of the broken seats, several shows were beyond anything I’ve seen at any 5 star in terms of the production – Michael Jackson, Lion King and the Christmas Retro Rock Show (which replaced the Madonna show ) were excellent. More nightly entertainment in centre of complex. - Grounds are stunning and the entire complex is easy and quick to get around. Cons: - Not sure what the role of the concierge is. We did have one reservation made at Hunters (which we appreciated as we did not have a butler|) but aside from that, simple requests and promises were not respected and their objective seemed to be to lure you to a VIP breakfast to learn about other properties. They were hardly around in Building 2, and look bored when they were. Better to deal with the front desk. - Room we had was beautiful with a view to die for (of the swimup pool area, the adult pool and the beach). However, as has others have stated, the 3 drawer storage space is not adequate. We asked for more hangers and hung up what we could. This problem could be solved – there is definitely room to bring in a bank of much needed drawers next to the dresser. Not everyone wants to live out of a suitcase in what’s supposed to be a home away from home. A night light in the bathroom area is also highly recommended. - If noise bothers you stay away from a room near the common stairwell as it’s particularly noisy. Housekeeping was exceptional (though turn down service at night needs more consistency) but should be asked to keep voices down when screaming directions back and forth in the mornings. Doors also slam so bring ear plugs. And guests please be considerate of your neighbours, particularly late at night as walls are paper thin. - Be prepared to wait to get into Royalton a la cartes. I would rather have the abililty to make reservations myself (not all of us are prepared to pay extra for Diamond Club for a butler nor should it be necessary). Ate at Hunters and Jade and although the food wasn’t bad, we felt like a number. There was a 20 minute wait at Grazie one night. As it appeared to be mostly empty we didn’t bother and went back to Dorado. - Service at the buffets was atrocious. Had lunch at Grazie twice – first time offerings weren’t bad, but underwhelmed the next time. Service for drink orders or clearing your plates was practically non-existent. Ate remainder of lunches at main buffet with excellent offerings. However, the service inside was horrible – found it better if you were seated outside which was much brighter during the day anyway ( the inside tends to be very dim considering this is supposed to be a tropical resort). - I would have liked some sort of bar area dedicated to Hideaway guests (aside from the pool bar where the layout was not really conducive to meeting others, especially at night). Not sure if this would be achievable due to space constraints but would have been nice to have area to socialize other than the very small "grab and go" lounge area. All in all a great vacation, beautiful pics and memories and highly recommended! 

Riu Palace Macao: Excellent resort!

Loved our stay at the RIU Palace Macao. Best beach ever with never ending white sand. Excellent service and great succulent food! Never had to wait for specialty restaurants. No need to wake up early to reserve loungers, they have plenty around pools and beach area. Loved it and will return!

Grand Memories Punta Cana: Had a great family vacation!

This a great family resort. The waterpark is wonderful for the kids! The gr ounds are beautiful with an abundance of palm trees,very tropical ! Many pools both for adults and kids. Food was good at both the a la carte restaurants and the buffet . There is a snack bar called " Bites" which offered freshly cooked cheese burgers ,hotdogs and fries which were excellent! A constructive observation is that the bars all close at 11PM even the Lobby Bar which our party found too nearly! Our recommendat [... read more]ion is that Grand Memories Punta Cana keep the Lobby Bar open until 1AM. I also heard this complaint from several other guests! The staff were friendly and very helpful and the service was great! I recommend the this resort as a great family resort!

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Impressive on Every Level

We stayed at the Luxury Ambar from Dec. 28th to Jan. 4th and we can’t say enough about the resort, the service and the food. This was our third stay at the Bahia Principe, having stayed previously at the Punta Cana and Amber Green. The Luxury Ambar is by far the best. The staff are super friendly and work hard to make sure everything is to your satisfaction. Always with a smile. We stayed in a swim up room next to the pool and it was perfect! Our butler took care of our meal reservations but [... read more] with the app it is easily accomplished. Our one and only problem was with the internet. Possibly because of the volume of users. It was difficult to connect and very sketchy when you did finally get connected. Apparently they are working on correcting this issue. We will definitely be returning for New Years if not before!

Bahia Principe Escape Aquamarine: Huge Resort with immaculate grounds

The grounds are spectacular. Rooms are large and clean. Food was good. Really liked the ocean and the beach, which is a bit narrow and could be a bit crowded in the peak seasons. Very large resort with easy access to everything by carts always driving by...Would recommend...might go back??

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Sorry we are out of it

We have recently returned from a 10 day stay with a group of 20 people at the Senator Puerto Plata Hotel. The location of the hotel is beautiful, beach is ok and the hotel grounds are nice and clean. The pools are nicely renovated. We asked for renovated rooms at the time of check in and were told that all the rooms are renovated which is not true. None of us got the renovated rooms as they are advertised on the hotel web site. We didn’t make a big deal out of it because the rooms were c [... read more]lean and not run down. The hotel is definitely understaffed. Things are constantly missing. 2 of our rooms were cleaned and we didn’t get any towels. Called the reception 3 times and got the towels 1.5hr later (not the ideal way when you’ve made plans to meet up for a certain time with the rest of the group to go to dinner) Most stuff at the hotel are not too friendly. Most of them look pissed off even when you tip them which we did. It didn’t seem to make a difference. Constant lineups at the buffet, missing bowls for soup, missing plates, missing cups for tea or coffee. The service is for the most part non existent. The chefs at the buffet they try to keep up but the lineups keep growing as there are not enough of them. The chef that’s looking after making pasta for each individual person has to look after the pizza station as well. People were waiting for pizza and there were no pizzas in the oven as the chef could not keep up. Food choices were too few, lukewarm and every day it was exactly the same. It only changed a bit for Christmas and New Year. Whenever you asked the staff for anything that was missing we were told “sorry we are out of it” We had the best service at New Years dinner because the a la carte restaurants were closed and the staff from there was serving at the buffet. Our kids enjoyed the entertainment staff. They were the only ones with a smile. Overall we give the hotel a 3* and would not recommend it.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: We a had a great relaxing time :-)

Our experience at this resort was great. There were a few issues but we would return if the price was right. Booking through Tripcentral was a breeze and an amazing experience. We are a family of 4 (kids 10 and 12). The flight: Air Transat was fabolous to deal with. The Option Plus was a bonus as we got it at no cost during a promotion. The transfer: The bus from the airport to the resort was good. 30 - 45 minute bus ride. The driver and porter expects tips but not necessary.  [... read more] The hotel: The check in was efficient. Staff was friendly. Rooms were not ready at 2pm but they were by 3pm. We had a few drinks at the sports bar and walked around the resort for an hour. The room: Our room was in block 4. It was older but still very clean. Our A/C wasn't working properly so I advised Luis the service manager and the Air Transat rep the following day. The day after they changed us to block 15. This block was newly "renovated". It was a bigger room with a king size bed and a double bed. There was a sitting area and a couch. The bathroom was renovated with new tiles and the bathtub was removed to add a walk in glass shower. The shower overflowed everytime. The tiles were not properly sloped towards the drain and the drain did not drain the water efficiently. The A/C in this room was working a little bit more....however not the same coldness as our canadian units. The maids cleaned the room everyday and appreciated the tips and gifts we left. We also tipped the mini bar delivery man and he made sure to stock our fridge with extra water, rum and pop. The pool: Was very nice and well maintained. However, the new parging was letting go in the pool and the bottom was covered in concrete parging pieces. My daughter cut herself on the broken parging. Another downfall are the smoking guests. People smoke all over (in and out of the pool) and they have no respect for non smokers. There should be designated smoking areas. The pool bar staff was friendly and efficient. I was up at 5:45 am evey morning to reserve chairs by the pool. We got caught the first day. I went out at 7:30 and there no more chairs available by the pool. Some guests reserve chairs and you don't see them all day :-( The beach: The beach has lots of shade and palm trees. Many chairs are also available. The beach is long and very coarse. This is not a fine white sandy beach but I thought it was still very beautiful and suited our needs. There were always many big waves and the kids loved it. Snorkelling was ok. Water is often murky from the waves stirring up the sediments. We saw lots of sea creatures (fish, orchins, jelly fish, sand dollars, etc) Got stung by a jelly fish. These things happen. Activities: There was always aquaerobics, beach volleyball, and other small games around the pool and beach area. This is not a resort with alot of activities and definitely not a party atmosphere. Although we enjoyed it very much. Relaxing and at certain times of day the animation staff came out and got the crowd in a party mood. It was the perfect balance for us. Restaurants: Buffet was good. Lots of variety. The À la carte was another issue. They insist on you booking your restaurants the same day. You cant reserve for the whole week. The first morning I was in line at 8 am for bookings at 8:30. There was maybe 40 ppl ahead of me. I did not get a restaurant that day. the following day I was in line at 7 am. There were 3 ppl ahead. I got the Japanese restaurant that evening. It was fabulous. The following morning I was in line at 7am again. We went to the steakhouse and that was also very good. After that I was over the waiting for 1 hous and a half to book a restaurant every day so we opted for the buffet and the sports bar. The sports bar had good food but the service was slow and they need to add more tables. Staff: Staff was friendly however, we were not impressed by every staff member using their cell phones at all times in front of us. They would always be on their cell phones even when you were trying to talk to them. Very unprofessional. We would go back if the price was right. Very nice resort. Rooms need to be renovated. They are trying to sell time shares so don't get caught up in offers. The swimout pools from your room are crazy expensive...so can be deceiving when looking at resort pictures. The rooms you get are very basic and not the new villas. However, they are comfortable and it's not like you spend alot of time in your room anyways.

Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: awesome resort

amazing beach, great food, great staff, restaurants were good esp the garden grill, beef tenderloin, could put more beer in mini fridge, buffet was great lots to choose from pools were nice and entertainment was great, shopoing was good, too many vendors on the beach asking you to buy stuff almost every 10 minutes

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Overall, an average experience

Upon our arrival, we checked in and were promptly greeted by our Concierge, Oscar, who took us on a brief tour of the grounds before arriving at our Oceanview Junior Suite. The room presented well enough at first, but closer inspection revealed many failings. Our balcony door showed obvious signs of previous forced entry, and did not seal properly, allowing noice to penetrate our room that had been selected specifically for its remote location as an anticipated quiet retreat. 30 yards from our b [... read more]alcony, rather than a lovely ocean view, we were disappointed to find the exclusive, members only, open air lounge, complete with bright spot lights that were never turned off through our entire stay, and a large PA system that ruined any chance of peace as the speakers blared music from which there could be no escape. Additionally, the shower failed to drain properly, the climate controls were cracked and faulty, the electrical was a bit of a mystery, and the beds/pillows were substandard. Given the star rating, we certainly expected better. The real highlight of this trip was the food – plentiful, and great quality. It was a seafood lovers dream. Both food and drink are worthy of the star rating. Unfortunately, the troop responsible for our entertainment were average at best. The investment in show planning was obvious, but the talent just wasn't there. In particular, when it came to our New Year's Eve show, we expected something special, yet we found ourselves watching the same group of semi-capable performers attempting to run through a montage of rock music, most of which they were simply not able to accurately perform. As a musician, their lack of skill was obvious to me, but it was equally obvious to others, and the audience response was apathetic. Entertainment through the day was limited, but suited my desire for a more self-directed experience. The service at the resort varied widely. Our Concierge provided excellent service but was spread thin. Others ranged from enthusiastic to apathetic, and service was often delayed due to staff that seemed to be indifferent to the needs of guests. The grounds of the resort were very well kept and beautiful. The efforts to meet with eco-friendly objectives were admirable, particularly the elimination of straws and plastic bottles. Filtered water stations and refillable glass bottles replace plastic – a brilliant idea! Unfortunately, the resort is somewhat limited in size and scope, limiting options for a la carte dining (which was all good), shops, or the variety of hang-out/lounging locations. The beach was adequate, but not one of the better ones I've experienced, leading the vast majority of guests to spend their leisure time at the pool, complete with broken-down jacuzzi that showed no indication of being repaired any time soon. Overall, this resort was average, despite the great quality food, and not deserving of a 4.5 star rating. I would definitely not recommend this resort to others, and would not return.

Ocean Blue and Sand: Great Family Vacation!

We arrived late due to airline delays. The check-in process went well, however, one of the two rooms was not properly prepared for us. The air conditioner was broken necessitating the need for a dehumidifier that was full and not active. Once emptied the dehumidifier began to work, however, given the science involved it throws considerable heat!! We called to complain and were attended to immediately. Happy with the responsiveness given it was after midnight. Air conditioner was fixed the n [... read more]ext day and dehumidifier removed. Very satisfied. Staff was very friendly, grounds well looked after. Beach was great and housekeeping superb.

Sunscape Dominicus La Romana: Amazing all inclusive resort

We been to this resort 5 times and we really enjoy it the staff is very friendly the food is great we like the beach we’re not really pool people we go here mainly for the great weather everything else is a bonus it’s a great resort well laid out not to much walking to get around we like all the different species of birds on the resort we stayed here from December 13 2019 to January 03 2020 weather was great,They have a big celebration for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve including an awe [... read more]some display of fireworks,Overall it’s a great resort food is great with lots of selection.and 5 a la carte restaurant, a gym,and a very relaxing spa.you can’t go wrong with this place for price and value.we had an awesome vacation.PS you can also take a bus to a small town near the resort called Dominicus to do some shopping or try local restaurants or bars it’s only 1$ us to take the bus one way,We flew air Transat which we love there is never any issues and we get transportation with a small shuttle to the resort not having to deal of getting on a big crowded bus.We had an amazing vacation we are definitely going back

Bahia Principe Escape Aquamarine: Many things to like

I had a great room overlooking the pool. This wasn’t the case for some there, as they said the could hear the staff at 6:00 am and their room faced a wall. All the staff (and there are alot) were fantastic.!, Clean, clean, clean. I was happy to see the buffet at the beach, floors and tables were clean(as well as all the other locations) The same goes for the restrooms (all the different areas)

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Enjoyable Stay

We liked the VH Gran Ventana. The food was excellent. The grounds were well taken care of and cleanliness was a priority. The beach was amazing and prime snorkelling only steps away. We were ANNOYED by the vendors on the beach. Perhaps a Market or them coming to the resort at a scheduled time to sell their goods would more appreciated by vacationers. More bar tenders are definitely required at all locations to speed up the service. Chilled pop and blenders would make better drinks! We purchas [... read more]ed the Premium package upgrade. We did not like that you had to remain in that room to consume premium drinks. Your bracelet should allow you to get premium liquor at all bars. The furniture in the premium area needs to be upgraded. The couches were disgusting. People should not be permitted to save beach and pool loungers when they are not present to use them. Often by 8 AM all the loungers were occupied by towels not people. New Year’s Eve Bash was FABULOUS. Overall we had a very enjoyable stay and are even talking about returning in March. The drawing card is the beach, food and snorkelling.

Playabachata Hotel: Plata bachatta

The layout is nice , the beach , a lot of place to walk on the resort , to swim or play volleyball. The service at the lobby is not efficient. We ask for extra pillows at the beginning, at the end of our stay still no pillows.Ask to change money not enough currencies. The food at the buffet was ok . Only 2 restaurants sharing the same space, Italien and steak house. We’re there during new year , animation was good . The room I give 4/10 Old , the water in the shower was a joke Overal [... read more]l 5/10