Ocean Blue and Sand: Not a 4+ star resort. Not even close

I planned to go to this resort back in March 2020. As travel restrictions have reduced for April 2022, I decided to go and stay at this resort. A big mistake as I didn't read the recent reviews since Covid caused some issues at this place. I have been to the Dominican 7 times now. Quite the experience. BEACH- there is no beach. It is a shoreline. There is water and there is sand. I did read that the shoreline was washed away but the resort has done nothing to attempt to improve this ot [... read more]her than the large sand bags to break the waves in various places. Many people give the beach a 5 star rating which is a joke. I don't spend much time on the beach but on this trip, I walked both north and south of the resort and didn't see anything near as disappointing as the Ocean Sands. POOL-large and beautiful as described. Unfortunately no where near what is needed for the umbrellas and pool chairs for both the pool size and number of people. Reserving an umbrella required you to put out towels at 4-5am. I caught on to this on day 3 and did it for the remaining of the week. In speaking with many people and families, they to never experienced anything like this. The pool bars were understaffed based on the number of people in the pool area. I did ask for Canadian Club at all the bars and only one had half a bottle. When i completed the bottle after mid week, there was no more available. When I asked when they would have more, they didn't know or even check. Service was only good if you tip them. Also very poor communication skills. I also went to the lobby bar and it as well did not have Canadian Rye Whisky. When I laughed at the bartender, he became a little annoyed. However, not as much as I was. STAFF-Most were not friendly but I do make a point of saying hello to everyone when I walk by or they come to my table for service. Many of them did respond with a hello. I don't blame them as I think they have not been trained properly and don't speak the language very well. I do think they were understaffed in most areas based on the number of people staying at the resort. WELCOME GIFT-These Time Share people try to get you to commit to the H10 resorts (cash for life program) on your 2nd day on site. This is a waste of time as I would only consider listening to someone at the end of my stay to see what they have to offer. They did mention that I should consider switching to premium to get an upgrade which I did see on a review that it is not worth the offering. I did get a chance to speak to someone from Ontario that had the upgrade and felt it was a waste of money and didn't see the benefit. I did notice that the people involved in this "scheme" speak English very well. Too bad the rest of the staff didn't have the same communication skills as that would help improve this resort. FOOD-spent most of the time eating at the buffet in morning and night. Large variety of food but most of it was never hot, either warm or cold from a previous meal. Always very busy, good but not great. I did manage to get to the Steakhouse one night and waited 90 minutes for a table. A very rushed meal and not a relaxing dinner. This was only open 2 days during the week as some of the others. When I spoke to a few others from Canada at the pool, they suggested to stay away from these specialty ones as they were also only open a few days. Not enough staff to manage all the Customers that were on the resort. RESORT-beautiful grounds, layout and pool as indicated on websites. Looks like very little maintenance and money was spent during Covid over the past 2 years but I did notice that they were working on fixing a few things during my week. MANAGEMENT-I do sum up that the issue with the resort is due to poor management. No consistent communication to the Customers. I do see that this resort wants your money and really doesn't want to deliver the service and attention it needs to in order to be a 4+ star. I have only been to a 4 star resort once in my years of travel and this is definitely below that. In summary, it must be a 3 star. I would suggest staying away until such time some travel agents visit and confirm if improvements are made. I know I wont experiment with any H10 resorts in the future.

Ocean Riviera Paradise: disappointing resort stay

The beach was extremely disappointing, there was so much seaweed, not enough chairs and every time i turned around there was someone trying to sell me a massage or souvenirs, etc.. The lack of service in the buffet was a real shame, they could get a drink order right because of the language barrier from spanish to english and extremely under staffed. The excursion (tulum ruins, cenote, snorkeling) was well done, our tour guide Jesús was amazing, we did find the cenote and snorkeling a bit rus [... read more]hed and wished we could have spent more time there. There were only a few fish species to see unfortunately. The restaurant lines were long so we resorted to the buffet a few times for dinner. When we did eat in the restaurants (steak house, italian and blue moon) there were only a max of 5 main entrees to choose from and there was very little wiggle room to change something on the dish (baked potato to mashed potato for example). One of my biggest upsets was the lack of consideration for those with food allergies. I have a severe tree nut allergy and everything in the buffet was not properly labelled or every chocolate dessert was made with hazelnuts (same with the crepe station). Many of the restaurant dishes also had nuts and were not able to made without them which limited my choices. Unfortunately I will not be going back to this resort, nor do i recommend it and most likely will not return to Mexico.

Ocean Riviera Paradise: Loved the resort

My 8 year old daughter had a great time, we loved the hospitality and the service is prompt. Rooms were cleaned everyday. I highly recommend this resort for kids. Many restaurants for option. I would not give it a 5star I would say it’s a 4star property

Ocean Riviera Paradise: Very nice hotel

As for Covid masks were required in all restaurants and in the lobby although lobby was not really enforced. The food was very good. The pools were excellent. The rooms were large clean and comfortable. Staff very friendly. Beach was not great so if that’s what you are going for I’m told go further south towards peurto adventurous. Overall this is a legitimate 4.5 to 5 star resort. Would highly recommend and definitely would go back (I’m not a beach person). The reason I said location [... read more] was so so is because of the beach.

Ocean Coral Riviera Cancun: Great experience!

Excellent resort! Staff is very friendly. Down side: Rooms are a bit outdated, mattress are worn out. Beach was nice but a lot of algues. I still have a great time since the staff was excellent and the food was very good.

Ocean Coral Spring: Nice

When I arrived at the hotel there was no record of my booking , but they made me feel welcomed and arranged for a lovely room which was better than the one I had booked. The grounds were lovely and clean and the rooms were lovely and clean also. The resort is very large, so anyone with walking issues may have a problem. The food was good. The beach is not the best, very small.

Ocean Maya Royale: Refreshing week

Ocean Maya had managed well throughout Covid. It’s our fourth time their, twice since Covid hit. The staff are so friendly, rooms clean, and the food is always great. Always something to satisfy the palate. Mike’s Coffee shop is a daily tradition and so satisfying. Would go back again in a heartbeat.

Ocean Riviera Paradise: Great Resort, Poor Food & Service

The rooms, pools, resort itself were all amazing! That being said, we were very disappointed in the quality of food and the service (reduced staff from Covid) Also the lack of nightly entertainment and how poorly the A La Carte’s were ran (also reduced capacity and staff due to Covid) We would try this resort out again after Covid is completely behind us and they are back to running at full capacity….but it would have to be at 4 star pricing, because that is what this resort was overall, at  [... read more]best.

Ocean Riviera Paradise: Maybe for families on a budget

Cleanliness was less than expected, but we usually do 5 stars. Tiles missing from the pool, ring of mildew around the pool bar, bathroom floor not washed. Check in took 1 1/2 hours 😠 Food was okay. Mexican and Italian really good, Steakhouse was not worth the 1.5 hour wait, food was cold, but our server was lovely. Air conditioning didn’t work in our room for 2 nights. Pool animation crew were awesome, music was awful unless you’re a 20 year old club goer. Accessibility needs some  [... read more]improvement. For a budget vacay, it was good. Looked like the family section would be awesome for kids. If you’re over 50 and wanting a more refined experience, go to a Karisma adults only resort

Ocean Blue and Sand: Big, but a nice relaxing resort.

The grounds, pools, restaurants, rooms, buffets, were all good. The people were fantastic. They bend over to please you. I was told not to, but still did the H-10 sell to buy on to travel the world with their resorts. You are family till you refuse and say no- thanks to the offer. Don't waste your time with that. You would have to spend over 25 years travelling with them and MAYBE work out in your favour. Sorry, back to the resort. We choose the privilege package and was very happy we did. [... read more] You end up in a room by the ocean. Poolside view is better. Pick it when you book! The upgraded drink package was worth every penny if this is important to you! It is a big resort, so you can walk to the restaurants or wait for the rides that circle and pick you up. Sometimes a bit of a wait for them. Finally, a big shout out to Mike our butler. He was great to look after whatever we wanted.

El Beso Adults Only at Ocean El Faro: Beautiful resort

This resort is spotless. Rooms are huge. The grounds and the pools are immaculate. Unfortunately there was little shade around the pools. The food was a little disappointing. It became rather repetitive after a week and was barely lukewarm.

Ocean Riviera Paradise: Huge resort

I'm not really a fan of giant resorts. Lots of walking...But other than that, staff were very friendly and helpful, food was great. The place was very clean. Rooms and resort were well kept. Not the best beach but still good.

Ocean Blue and Sand: Decent trip

Hotel was beautiful and clean. The pools were great and not over crowded. The staff for the most part was very good and friendly. The beach isn't huge but has good seating and the water while we were there was fairly calm and warm. Now our only real issue is the restaurants.... The food is ok but nothing to rave about. Tge biggest issue is the reservation system and the face that you can't plan because you have no idea what is going to be open or not. It really frustrated me There is a webpage  [... read more]that you can see but reservations don't work and you have to search out each day to see what is open instead of a full schedule. It bugged me enough to really only taste this a 3 outta 5

Ocean El Faro: Nice resort

The resort itself is nice. The service was not that great nor was the buffet food. The A La Carte's were great except for Route 66. I don't know if it was from Covid or lack of guests over the past few years but the servers were not very friendly. We had Privilege and only saw and heard from our Butler, Carlos, twice. He was to book all our dinners but we ended up doing it. Pool side bar service only came around once in the morning. Beach is nice but very short. Our privilege room with t [... read more]he swim up was stunning.

Ocean El Faro: Beautiful resort.

The people are always willing to help, they’re friendly. The resort is kept so clean and the landscaping is beautiful. Didn’t like how the reservations were handled for the a-la-Cart. Unless you were booking at 6:00 am, you could not get in.

Ocean Eden Bay: A very nice resort!

The rooms were spacious, clean and quiet. The grounds were immaculate. Beautiful extremely large pool, lazy river was fun. Every restaurant we went to was great. The food A1 service top notch. All the staff were friendly and helpful. Being new they had a few things to still iron out but on the whole it was a great holiday and would recommend it to anyone. There is a LOT of walking and would suggest a small trolly that goes around the whole resort continuously so guests could hop on and off at th [... read more]eir destination.

Ocean Eden Bay: Beautiful Resort

Ocean Eden Bay Resort is gorgeous the views are to die for the rooms are lovely and the pool is outstanding and the resort is spotless and all the staff are so so friendly and welcoming the restaurants were great some had a little wait time to get in depending on what time you went. So many great restaurants so lots to chose from. The food was great. The weather was fabulous. It hasn't been open very long so some tweaking on customer service could be better they don't answer their phones  [... read more]every time and stocking the coffee and water etc could be better but like I said it's new and likely new staff. They are still adding on in areas of the beach but we loved the pool so we were poolside most of our stay enjoying the delivery of drinks. There is a fair bit of walking so I think there should be a trolley that goes around so people can get on and off as they please esp. people with disabilities that can't walk very far. A lady that was with us was on oxygen and often times we couldn't get the trolley to come for us so she had to walk and it was difficult for her and some days she just stayed behind. With Covid still in the air every precaution was taken to ensure our safety. We didn't want to come home that's for sure and would put it on our list to return.

El Beso Adults Only at Ocean El Faro: Nice clean resort

Food variety and quality was excellent Grounds and pools all clean Nice having a kids side and a adult side that was much quieter. There was really no evening entertainment. Beach was rocky but there’s a nice area on one side of the resort that has a nice ocean swimming area. Bar in the front lobby made the best drinks. 30c every day and full sun.

Ocean Blue and Sand: Wonderful Resort

All features of the hotel where more than expected except for the Junior suite we had. It was not what the picture showed it would be and we where very disappointed. Examples - The toilet roll kept falling off of the broken post on the wall. The door on the cupboard that the fridge was in scrapped across the floor evetime we opened it. The room in general was not clean, especially the bathroom.

Ocean Maya Royale: Highly recommend resort

Everything was maintained we called to get air conditioning to get fixed and was done quickly . Food was typical resort nothing special or nothing bad. Overall we had a great vacation staff all very helpful and good service.