Tropical Deluxe Princess: would go back in a heartbeat

We have fallen in love with this resort! everything was perfect! This was our first time at this resort, we always stay at Grand Palladium so when we came to this resort we were blown away staff were amazing its a smaller resort than what we are use too, but we were so sad to leave we are coming back next year! Jenn Black our agent is amazing you worked your magic to give us what we were looking for! You rock!!! Tripcentral is the best!

Sunscape Coco Punta Cana: Resort was OKAY

The hotel overall was just okay. We were fortunate enough to have been upgraded to VIP which is the main reason that I would rate this as OK. The main/central pool is FILTHY, luckily we had the VIP pool to use aswell but our group is very social and enjoy the main pool to meet people. The VIP pool and beach areas are very quiet. Also, because we were VIP we thankfully were able to go to 6 a la carte restaurants and to the buffet once. The a la cartes were descent but the main buffet was your ty [... read more]pical rat race. The staff that look after the VIP personnel were FANTASTIC, we were whisked away as soon as we stepped foot on the resort. The resort was clean, staff were friendly. All in all the only way I would recommend this resort to anyone else would be if they upgraded to VIP. Main complaint was the dirty dirty pool and main buffet and the a la cartes were ok.

Sensatori Resort Punta Cana: Great, clean resort!

It was very clean and well maintained, only complaint was we had booked a room with two beds and only had one. Since I was going with a friend this was inconvenient but we managed with king bed. I would have booked elsewhere if this had been known before trip.

Riu Republica: Solid 4.5 star resort

The RIU is very large, I understand more than 1300 rooms. Pros -New resort - everything is fresh and new and works, Rooms are clean and bright -Food was very good -Gardens are well kept -Staff were friendly -Hotel manager was very helpful when we ran into problems - Resort and beach were kept clean and bright Cons -Hard to get away from the noise between 9 and 11 pm - we were originally at the back of the hotel (new section) by the sound stage. If you are not a late nighter you will not [... read more] be sleeping if anywhere near either of the resorts stages. Management changed our room and moved us nearer the front of the resort - much better. - The Beach is seriously crowded. I expect when they added the new section the overcrowding began. wall to wall chairs. If you walk down the beach the resort stands out because of the open expanses of beach at all the other resorts except at the RIU which is noticeably congested. - There does not seem to be a reef protecting the beach at the resort. It as very rough all week. We like wave hopping but this was extreme. First few days waves were at times in excess of 10 feet in waist deep water. We were tumbled repeatedly and quite violently. Also there is an undertow. We witnessed one rescue of a swimmer that was swept out to the buoy line. It was a close call. The rescue team and life guards did a good job bringing them back from the brink. The swimmer was on his back for about a half hour. - Very few bathrooms near the beach and pools. We did not go into the very, large, busy, and crowded swim up bar pools (3). Given the lack of bathrooms we ended up calling them the Pee Pools. They shock them at night and they turn a milky colour. Not nice. - Very slow service in the steak house - the only restaurant we tried. 2 hours for the meal with an hour between appetizers and main course. It is overcrowded and understaffed. - I like the architecture of many of the resorts we have visited over the years. Did not find it here. Everything is block concrete construction and identical throughout and all painted white. Very bright but drab. Has a bit of a soviet block mass housing look. - We would not go back because of the over crowding and noise. If those things don't bother you will like the resort - expect 4.5 star service. - -

Sunscape Bavaro Beach: Nice grounds and beautiful updated buildings.

Positive: Beautiful grounds and nice updated rooms. Lots of beach lounges, no wrist bands which is nice, entertainment was good, check in was fast and easy, Negative: High pressure sales tactics for this Endless Vacation crap which they claim is not a timeshare, but it is basically a timeshare. Food is not great, keeps you alive but it's not great, I expected better. Both my wife and myself got sick with a travelers diarrhea and ended up at the clinic, we spoke with lots of other gues [... read more]ts who had also gotten sick. One guest was so sick he went home 2 days early. You really have to watch what you eat at this resort.

Excellence El Carmen: Another Excellent Resort

The resort is newer and has fewer plantings and decorative features than other Excellnce properties, but the staff and food are at the same high quality. The seaweed on the beach can be a problem although the beach itself is long and wide,great for walking.

Bahia Principe Explore Legend: Amazing week

I think that Grand Bahia Principe Fantasia is a prefect hotel for a family food is excellent, water park is perfect for kid under 8 years old, close from the beach,really clean, the only small problem was that the cleaning room lady was only speaking in Spanish so we had a hard time communicate with her.

Wyndham Alltra Punta Cana: Dreaming ....again !

We were on a 10th anniversary trip with 20 others who attended the wedding at Dreams 10 years ago. The grounds are even better than before with plenty of palapas on the beach. Food is excellent still and they have added a pizza oven, washroom and bar at the far end of the beach :) The waves and wind are consistent, but if you have small children, the Bavaro Beach is better. The pool though for kids is awesome, as it winds it's way through the resort with plenty of bays.

Bahia Principe Explore Turquesa: no beach

Good: location is nice, beach is nice, grounds are beautiful. Room service and rooms were good. Bad:: lets break them up as list is extensive. 1) service at bars is very poor if you are not cute girl. many times noticed how bartenders were ignoring people to flirt with girl and serve them ahead of their turn. very poor selection of drinks, no milkshakes, limited number of juices, same boring coctails everywhere. 2) internet. free is only in the loby, and not just in the loby but  [... read more]in 5 meters around the front desk. its very hard to find spot to seat so its nearly ipossible to work. if you planning to work on your vacation, dont go there or pay 80 cad per week for "deluxe" version of internet that works all over the hotel and in your room. 3) food. boring, repetative, reused (same stuff from last day under different sause). probably worst food i ever had at Bahia Principe. 4) no beach. i mean, Bahia Principe has a nice beach, but Bahia Principe Turquesa does not. In fact trip to a beach means you need to go to the loby and wait for a car for 10 minutes then drive for another 10-15 minutes to the beach. For someone its ok, but i feel we were mislead and having 7!!! hotels on 1 beach is NOT OK. Needlessly to say beach is packed, people are next to each other, in multiple layers of chairs, and if you come late, might as well give up and go to the pool. 5) prices at the shops of the hotel. a dollar for a bandaid. i mean for 1 small strip.... and thats a price at their so-called pharmacy.

Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Good place to visit.

This was our second visit. The resort is very nice, and they had renovated Thalassa, added a Japanese restaurant and bar outside of the main building. Our room was in Villa 36, facing the pool, same as the previous trip, which I loved, as we had the morning sun, pool and had a partial ocean view...loved it!! All the staff were amazing! They were very friendly and accommodating. I want to extend a personal thank you to Dominiga (she actually came up to us and said welcome back) and Raylan in the [... read more] Thalassa restaurant, they were fabulous! Edward in the Piano Bar was amazing! Maria in the Beach Bar was wonderful. Overall, ALL the staff were fantastic and very helpful, they made our trip very pleasant. Breakfast selections at the buffet in Thalassa were good but not as extensive as on the family side, definitely worth going over to the other side. ;) We were disappointed this time around because on our last trip, on Thursday, there was a seafood buffet in Thalassa, which included lobster. When we checked in, we asked if that was still part of the menu and were told it was. When we went in for dinner, we were totally disappointed with the selections, no lobster and selections were dismal. Another disappointment was at the pool side bar restaurant, fresh garlic grouper was a choice, I ordered it and was excited as I love fresh grouper, it wasn't grouper, not sure what it was, my husband says bass or tilapia. :S BUT, if you're a lamb and/ or duck lover, OMG, in Thalassa, they have lamb shank and duck breast that is out of this world!!! Having the option of dining at the family side of this resort, we didn't utilize that option as we were very happy dining in Thalassa. These were our experiences and I know there were better and worse ones, everyone is different. Hope they are helpful, but you have to experience it yourself.

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Luxury Bahia Principe Esmeralda

January 13th-20th 2018 Traveled with my now husband, our parents and sisters, 8 of us total. First time for all of us to Punta Cana, let alone an all-inclusive resort. Mini backstory: I won the trip from 103.1 Fresh Radio for myself and a guest, flight and stay as well as a basic wedding package. Arrival in Punta Cana: We departed the plane on the tarmac, boarded a really packed bus to shuttle us a short 2 minute drive to the airport. We stood in a very long line, about two hour wait [... read more]. We were given tourist cards on the flight where later asked to give to an attendant where they kept bringing to a booth to re-sell right behind us which I found bizarre. We finally reached a counter to get our passports checked. It was confusion from then on, putting belongings through security, random staff trying to take your luggage for you in a hurry, and taking you out to the busy, unorganized parking lot to find your shuttle to the resort, about a 30min drive. Arrival at Bahia Principe main lobby Punta Cana: We got off our coach bus at the bigger main lobby where we had to place our luggage on smaller carts that fit 8 people at a time. We rode minutes away to Esmeralda. Because we were a large group (of other trip winners, radio staff, etc) they had us wait in the lobby, gave only a few people tiny welcome drinks, check-in felt unorganized. We were given our room key cards and told our luggage would arrive in our rooms. It felt like awhile. Overall Experience: Everything made up for that rocky start. Amazing friendly, helpful staff, service, clean rooms and grounds. We were so impressed by our room and butler Meldy who was always at our service, bringing us scented pillows every night. The safe was excellent to use. We had surprises in our room on our wedding night and next day. Mini bar always stocked. We mostly ate at buffet's for all meals as it was hard to reserve 8 people at a decent time at a la carts. I was worried my mother with a servere sea food allergy would have a hard time eating but she did not at all. There were lots of fun shows at the pool and lobby areas almost every day as well as dancing on the beach. Ricardo was so patient with serving our large group with drinks on the beach. We could openly explore neighbouring resorts on foot and by cart except Fantasia was private. Next time: I'd save spots by the pool and/or beach early in the morning. Hard to get 8 seats together. Bring large tumblers or insulated cups. Towel clips for lawn chairs. Bring my own inflatable pool floaties. Only things I did not like: On the first day we were suckered into paying to take photos with parrots, monkeys and iguanas for $10ea on the beach. Did not realize you could negotiate that. Also we were drawn into the BP Priviledge Club "tour", which is not a 1 hr tour of the resorts as they claim, but a 2.5 hr boring speech to get you to buy weeks of their club. Manager was very rude. Waste of time but gave us a few freebies for thr trouble. If anyone would like further reviews on our wedding day don't hesitate to ask. We dealt with Lesly with the wedding dept at Bahia Principe and Jul and Pablo from Tropic One Studio Photography.

Sensatori Resort Punta Cana: beautiful resort

Had a little bit of a disappointment when we first got there only one bed in the room and they had no other rooms available so we had to share a bed thank God it was a king size if had known there was only going to be one bed when we booked two wouldn't have chosen that resort now we're there we had no choice. Other than that it was a nice resort a lot of walking, good food.

Majestic Elegance Punta Cana: Amazing resort - Amazing beach - Amazing room!

The ride from the airport was less than 25 minutes - a bonus! When we arrived all of the staff were friendly and there were no issues with getting into our room. "Elvis" was the staff member who helped us to our room and he was great! He gave us information on where everything was and was pleasant to chat with. Our room - was AWESOME! We have stayed in a number of places in the Caribean (Some extremely expensive - some not) and by far this was the best room we have ever had! Ground floor w [... read more]ith the main pool outside our door and the swim up bar seconds away. Having two teenage boys with us in a room is usually cramped - but they had set up two beds in the living room area and we had our own private room. The grounds were beautiful and well cared for. The beach front was beautiful! Loved being able to walk more than 5 feet and finding garbage or having to turn around because there was no more beach to walk on - this beach stretched for miles and was clean! The food was okay - it wasn't great or amazing. We didn't get sick or anything, but it wasn't the best food we have had on vacation. So, if you're looking for great accommodations, amazing beach, and friendly people - I would recommend this resort. Only word of CAUTION - it has nothing to do with our resort - but walking on the beach be aware of representatives from the new Royalton Resort that is a few doors down. The rep asked if we wanted a tour of the new resort - there is a water slide and we had stayed at a Royalton before and were curious. We said sure sounds good. When we got into the resort we were approached by a woman who said we would be speaking another person who was going to have lunch with us and then show us around the resort. The rep came up and introduced himself and then said he would need 90 minutes of our time to talk about a program 'Travel Smart" We instantly told them we were not interested and wouldn't be signing anything. He said we could still have lunch and talk about it. We had lunch, it was ok, then he brought us back to a business room and proceeded to question us on what we spent to get there, what our interestes were and so on. Again we said we weren't interested. It didn't matter he goes on to say "I don't want to argue with you..." We weren't arguing - he raised his hand and a female came over and started all over again. then the woman said "Well you said you wanted free things" - OKAY - we didn't say any of those things - we thought we were getting a tour of the new Royalton and possibly getting our kids permission to use their water park... LONG and short of this is - They were VERY VERY pushy and when asked if I could take the information with me to make a decision - they said NO...Red flags ALL over this. My point in including this in this review is the following - Majestic - AMAZING!!! Royalton - SHAME on you for misleading people off of the beach and having pushy, irritating, highly aggressive salespeople (Who would not listen to anything we were saying - only wanted to get the sale 30,000 American dollars) trying to push a TIMESHARE idea on people. We had an amainzg time at the Royalton in the Mayan Rivieria - but because of this experience we will not be visiting a Royalton again. Horrible experience!

Caribe Deluxe Princess: A nightmare vacation

I travel south every winter so know what to expect. Arrived at Caribe Club Princess and when I got to my "superior" room the view was a cement wall,a fence to the adjoining property and a water pump house. Also a toilet not fastened to the floor. Rm 1139 I went to reception and arranged for a room change but they could only accommodate me the next day at three. Tipped the lady at reception and I did get a room that overlooked the main pool. The grounds for the resort are tropical gardens and [... read more] clean. So my room had the air conditioner running and ceiling fan. I turned it all off but still felt cold when I came in from the sun. The king size bed had a thin white sheet and a decorative foot fabric and matching pillow. No blankets. No bed spread so I used the bath towels for warmth. NO hot water not even luke warm in the room I left or the new room for the entire week. Checked with others and they had the same. Some had hot water for a day or two during there stay. The joke was we would all come to their room to shower. Day two started signs of diarrhea so started the Imodium I brought. Next day, not good, so borrowed Imodium from friends. Still not good so bought some at the pharmacy. Started a sparse diet of bread and rice. No food Wednesday at all. Just bottled water. That evening I called for medical help. The resort doctor, a petite young girl, was the best. Spoke English and was MOST helpful. She arranged for me to go the the Bavaro hospital. Stool sample verified acute gastro infection, severe dehydration. I was to stay for a minimum three days but signed a waiver to discharge myself so I could get my plane back home. More horror to tell but I learned a lesson No Dominican Republic for me even if I win a trip.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Great Beach! Great Resort!

The Barcelo Bavaro Beach resort is very clean and well maintained. The staff are plentiful, courteous and very helpful. It is an ideal adult resort and great for those want to stroll the beautiful grounds and expansive beach. There is a wide variety of food items to choose from and sure to appeal to all. The service staff in the restaurants and around the pool area were just great. And certainly earned their tips. The beer was good, the liquor was average but the wine was ghastly. Not work th [... read more]e calories. We had access to the sister hotel, the Bavaro Princess. It's a large property. also well maintained and offers plenty of amenities if you wanted a bit of a change up from the Barcelo Bavaro Beach. We went through Air Transat and very really pleased with their service to and from the DR. Their on site representative, Jameison St. Hilaire, was very knowledgeable and provided us with all the information we needed for a restful add pampered stay.

Royalton CHIC Punta Cana: good resort

The resort was very nice. Staff was awesome. But for a resort that is not that old it is some what dated and could use some tlc. Not much of a beach and could not swim in the ocean very rough everyday. As usual when you pay elite plus it only applies at the Pearson Airport. For people like myself that pay extra for a service you expect it to be met. The sunwing reps did not call Elite plus boarding it was a free for all getting on the plane. I am preplexed as to why this is an on going issue wit [... read more]h Sunwing.The Airport is the worse i have ever been to and will proppbaly never travel to the Dominican again. It took us an hour and a half to clear customs, we were all crammed in a bus after deboarding to travel 100 yards, what a joke.

Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: Very disappointed this time!

This was our 5th time returning to the Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana. The first 4 times were amazing that is why we decided to go back this time to celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary! Very sad to say that this Resort has gone completely downhill :( The first day when we arrived was all screwed up and by the time we got it all sorted out the day was pretty much over. We missed lunch as well so had to wait until dinner. We had been up since 2:30am so it didn't go over well, needless to  [... read more]say. The grounds are still beautiful as ever! The beach is still looked after and raked daily but, they have a real problem now with sand fleas which we never experienced before. The staff were less than helpful this time which was quite a shock to us as in the past they have always been amazing. I have to say that there are still a few that are genuine and very helpful but, that amount has gone from 100% easily to 25%. The dishes in the buffet are not clean anymore. You have to sort through them to find one that is clean enough to eat off......disgusting to say the least! Some of the food is still really good but, there are now many dishes that are just thrown together and are not enjoyable. You would never starve though! The Royal Golden Suites are now badly in need of a total overhaul. Services have gone downhill. You can report issues as many times as you like but, they fall on deaf ears now. The best thing about our trip this time was the "time to come home"! It's the most we have ever paid for this resort and the worst time we have ever had. We obviously tried to enjoy ourselves but, if it wasn't one thing it was another. Never again! :(

Paradisus Punta Cana: Truly Paradise!

The Paradisus resort was absolutely fantastic. The grounds were gorgeous; the beach and pool areas were beautiful; food was great and the staff and service were top notch!! There is an excellent variety of restaurants and the buffet was very good. The staff is always smiling (Jensy the waiter by the pool and Tony in guest services were outstanding)!! We stayed in a deluxe junior suite and the rooms and balconies were spacious and very clean. I would highly recommend this amazing resort!! Can't w [... read more]ait to go back!!!

Secrets Cap Cana: a must go

great service, food, beach, rooms......just go if you want to be spoiled.....music is wonderful too.....Lionel, the GM, hires and trains wonderful people......best overall Secrets we have been to.....

Excellence Punta Cana: reasonably good

Good grounds, rough water so the beach area not good for swimming, though clean beach area. Food needs to improve. not much choice and need an evening buffet. Hard to get into the restuarents and hard to reserve too.