Overall very nice resort and I would go back BUT not on Spring Break ! I happened to be there the same week as about 1000 drunk 20 year old's who took over the resort ! It's unfortunate the timing was poor and this made a difference on the enjoyment of the trip. I have to commend however Catherine at the front desk who went above and beyond to help me and she truly changed my vacation for the better ! Beautiful resort, great food and service, lovely rooms in block 16/17 ONLY :)
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Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Great resort!
We have stayed at this resort three times since January 2016, and we like it. The rooms are clean and all around the resort is very clean and beautifull. Food buffet has a wide selection of food with different themes every night, and the a la carte restaurants are so good if you can manage to get in. If you like rum well this is the place. The only disappointment I have is that they do not have any slushy drinks, as their machines cant keep up with the heat in the bars by the pools, which is all[... read more] I like but hey the beer was good and now they stock the room fridge with coors light, and juice boxes for kids along with a va riety of pop and water bottles and bags of lays chips.Drive from airport is less than 30 minutes all on the main highway.Oh and you can also buy California wines at the buffet and bring the bottle to your room if you want.
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DarPal -
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Riu Palace Bavaro: Riu Palace Bavaro
We had a 1 week stay at the Riu Palace Bavaro, Punta Cana Dominican Republic. We found the resort very well appointed. Rooms were updated, clean, spacious and modern. The food was very good, with lots of selection on the daily buffet. The restaurants were okay, but we found we had a few picky eaters and they prefered the options the buffet provided. The resort pools and beach front were very nice and clean, and ample beach front with plenty of shade from the numerous palm trees. The bar co[... read more]uld of had more premium liquor options, but otherwise there was plenty of selection of beverages. The evening shows were entertaining and the day activities were just right if you wanted to participate.
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Fritz -
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Grand Palladium Palace: Very nice
In many ways the Grand Palladium Place Resort and Spa was excellent. The hotel itself is very nice ,the customer service representatives were friendly and accommodating. The grounds were beautiful and kept clean and well maintained..
My wife and I found that meals were well prepared and gave each of us a nice choice to choose from.
Waiters for the most part were friendly however, at times seemed to forget others and concentrate on people they knew better .
We had a junior renovated s[... read more]uite and it was spacious with only a few problems that were fixed in a reasonable amount of time once they were identified. The major problem with the room was the tub. When having showers the water would leak onto the floor in the area of the bed. The glass tub enclosure (s) and I say enclosures because many of my siblings experienced the same problem.
Checking in and out was very well organized.
The hotel computer for printing out boarding passes was not working the best and after paying all that money why do we need to pay 5 US dollars to print out a boarding pass(30 min pc time). Myself and others experienced pc problems and, if they were not sorted out, the cost would have been much much more to print it out. To me this payment is a form of gouging an individual.
A strong point is the fact that come 11 pm you could hear a pin drop, the bands had stopped playing in the vicinity of the hotel. Allowing all to have quiet a noise free environment to just sit back and relax or sleep.
We would definitely book the hotel again.
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Occidental Punta Cana: Bad resort
I was very disappointed with this resort .the maids did a bad job cleaning .the coffee pot was never cleaned . Had to fight to get water coffee beer and facecloths . I tip every day with money gifts and candy and still that didn't work . A la carte restaurants were not good . But the food at the buffet was good .I found a huge cock roach in my room .I will never go back .
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Odie -
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Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Punta cana ba princepal
Lenny was fantastic the resort was perfect this was our second time their and we loved it food was great room was clean beaches where clean people was fantastic when we had problems the host was their to help
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Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: Good resort for families
The hotel was quite nice. The rooms need updating but the beach and pool area are really great. The food is OK but the house wine is well ... not good at all unless you like grape juice. The staff were wonderful and we really appreciated the service in the main buffet area. The a la carte weren't really worth it but the chicken on the beach was scrumptious. We did a tour to Monkeyland and loved it. Overall, we were happy with our experience. The water park was a hit with our kids and the shows w[... read more]ere impressive.
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Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: Good value for money
The hotel was quite nice. The rooms need updating but the beach and pool area are really great. The food is OK but the house wine is well ... not good at all unless you like grape juice. The staff were wonderful and we really appreciated the service in the main buffet area. The a la carte weren't really worth it but the chicken on the beach was scrumptious. We did a tour to Monkeyland and loved it. Overall, we were happy with our experience.
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Farmerscotty -
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Bahia Principe Explore Legend: Super clean awesome for kids
Perfect place to take your kids there are lots of options for them. There was a great selection of food for every taste and the staff worked really hard to ensure our stay was perfect. I would definetly recommend this to families
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Brigor -
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Riu Bambu: Bambu-zled
Rooms:
We chose the standard room as they are close to the lobby. Upon arrival (March 2/17) we were told that the room had been upgraded to deluxe room only to find out that the room was the last building at the back of the resort. The patio backed onto a construction site for the RIU next door. We had a black construction screened fence about 3 feet from the patio with a muddy clay against it to keep it standing. We insisted on having the room we paid for and were placed in 2306 right besi[... read more]de the lobby by 2:00 the next day. What can go wrong right? This room had no hot water which took three days to fix, a toilet that barely flushed and we did not get bottled water until the next evening. We resorted to taking cold showers, using the public washrooms for shaving and toilets and getting glasses of drinking water from the bar until we had some. We were also told that the sports bar (no coffee or ice buckets in rooms) would provide ice and coffee for the room if needed and when we asked for ice, they tied off a green garbage bag, filled it half way, tied it off again and sent us on our way. The one time we asked for coffee, we were told the machine was broken. We arrived Thursday evening and were finally settled into our room with everything working by Monday evening. We had a wonderful maid and she made sure we had everything we needed from Monday onward. Our room was spotless everyday. Her service level was impeccable and we looked forward to coming back to our room every day.
Grounds:
The grounds were well-maintained and there was a boardwalk on the beach that connected you to all of the surrounding RIUs. Great place for walking and running as the breeze from the ocean kept you cool.
Pools:
Pools were adequate UNTIL...the springbreakers arrival on Sunday (two bus loads) and trust me they were rested. We realized by supper that evening that our little heaven would never be the same until our departure March 16/17. BTW RIU policy website states that they do not accept SPRINGBREAKERS. Here are what all of us endured:
1. lineups in the washrooms due to toilets no longer flushing or girls locked in the stall because they were sick.
2. inaccessible poolbar from 10:00 to closing everyday. The springbreakers used this area as their public washroom and spent the day drinking shots, spilling drinks in the pool and vomiting poolside.
3. we witnessed five of them go out in wheelchairs the first day. They would come out of the pool and just fall over into their lounger and vomiting off to the side of their chair. Not once did we see any staff come and clean up afterwards. We actually watched some of them walking into it and they jumping back into the pool.
4. our nights were filled with screaming, slamming doors, stumbling people on the walkways, parties in the rooms and balconies and staff talking loudly to try and settle them down for the other guest. We slept with two hour intervals at best.
5. the final straw for us (our last full day) was the poolside fight. We watched two young men arguing in and out of the pool with girls and guys trying to keep them apart. The foul language back and forth was not acceptable. I went to the poolside entertainment staff and asked if security was called and they told me "it is not our problem". I then went to the front desk and told them security was needed poolside and again nothing. Finally the springbreakers managed to get the fight under control and diffuse the situation and things returned to normal chaos.
All this to say, this is a family resort and there were plenty of children witnessing the events. I also felt terrible for those families as I heard them pleading with the spring breakers that they had children trying to sleep in the adjacent rooms.
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GilNat -
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Sunscape Bavaro Beach: Did not live up to expectations
I would like to preface this review of the Sunscape Bavaro Beach Resort in Punta Cana by saying that we had an OK stay at the resort; however, it did not live up to our expectations. I believe that the next time we travel, we will be holding the travel agent's feet to the fire a little more than we did this time before selecting a final resort destination. This was a very easy sale for our agent - in hindsite, we believe that we were definitely not asked enough questions by the agent to define [... read more]what we were looking for on our vacation. As they say, the devil is in the details.
This is how our stay started.
At the check-in, we were well greeted with the promise of some type of tropical drink, which came much later, but while we were doing the check-in, the phone rang and the check-in attendant picked up the phone and tried to service us and the person on the phone at the same time, which lead to confusion for all three parties involved. Once the check-in was sorted out, we were greeted by our special "Concierge" who was assigned to us for the week.
Little did we know at the time that this was not the "real Concierge", but a salesperson for some type of "time share" that Sunscape is trying to sell to all families that visit this resort. He tried to have us sign a contract on the first night (after we had been travelling for over 16 hours) in exchange for $200 dollars worth of "resort" coupons to be mainly used for the on-site spa.
After we refused, since it was now dark and there was not enough light to view the small print on the contract, he asked us to stop by again the following morning to read and sign the contract. We did not stop by the next morning to sign the contract, but to tell him that we were not interested. Meanwhile, every day afterwards (even on our last morning at the resort), we had these "special" Concierges soliciting us to go to a VIP breakfast for the "time share" sales pitch. For us, this was very very very unpleasant, as we were on vacation, not a sales convention.
On day two of our stay, our toilet started leaking from the base and we would end up with a puddle of water where both of your feet are situated when going to the lew. Making a long story short, we complained and they sent different people to look at the problem, but it was not until we went to see the "real" Concierge (Maria) later at night who solved the issue for us by having us switch rooms (two rooms, as there was four of us travelling and we needed the two to be close to each other). She even came with us to help with the room switch. This somewhat reconcilliated us with the place. We are forever fans of Maria the Concierge.
Airport
- two hours wait to get into the country
- two and a half hours wait to get out of the country
- completely disorganized at all levels, including Air Transat, and very frustrating
Rooms
- needed to call to have the fridge restocked with water and pop, regardless of tip
- needed to call to have beer in the fridge
- hot water was nowhere to be found - if we had hot water three times in one week, we were lucky
Buffet
- always having to pursue the server to have a glass of water with your meal
- even if leaving a tip
- same issue with coffee at breakfast
Specialty Restaurants
- needed to also pursue server to have a glass of water with your meal
- excellent service after ordering your first drink, as when they saw that it was getting empty, they would bring you another one. If, in the meantime, you felt like trying something else, too bad.
Pool
- incident in pool on our first full day at the resort
- guest threw-up in the pool - at the corner of the stairs heading inside the pool
- guest was attended to discreetly by "lifeguard" but swimmers remained unaware of incident
- pool was never evacuated or cleaned for the rest of the week
- guests in the pool were never aware of what took place and this was the swim-up bar pool
- we never went back
Beach
- nice sandy beach
- a lot of litter coming in from the ocean - very unpleasant
- plenty of interesting and fun activities that are lead by the staff - that was a highlight
- waitresses are very busy, they did a fairly decent job bringing drinks - they work hard
- constantly solicited by tour operators close to the beach in the Resort section
Food - general
- the food was good, although a bit lacking in flavour, there was plenty of it and a great variety
- there was a good choice of specialty restaurants
- the fact that we did not have to reserve restaurants à la carte was a good thing
- the pizza bar was much appreciated by all
- the bartenders were always attentive and courteous
Theatre & Entertainment
- some great shows were lined-up at the theatre and we thoroughly enjoyed the variety and the pool table
- excellent music was played in the Lobby - the atmosphere was quite festive and relaxed
- the free Wifi in the lobby did not meet our needs - it was intermittent and weak
- the coffee shop was great, had some neat desserts and mini sandwiches
Air Transat Rep
- our Air Transat Rep was not there the first morning that we were scheduled to see him - a replacement rep from another airline had stepped-in to help
- this replacement rep turned out to be very helpful and we booked our only excursion (Bavaro Runners) through him
- we finally met our Air Transat Rep by chance on the 4th day and he was very aloof and standoffish - not the kind that gives you confidence if you need a friend
Excursion
- the Bavaro Runners excursion was the best that we have ever made in the Carribean
All this to say that we come back with some mixed memories, mostly happy, but with some which left a sour taste. Needless to say, the Dominican Republic will not be a choice destination in our near future.
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Zel Punta Cana - All Suites: Beautiful resort but...
The resort was beautiful and immaculately maintained. The rooms were beautifully appointed. The food was quite good on the whole although probably not the island you want to have steak on. I would recommend sticking with fish as its fresh!
We have a 2 year old and they have so much for kids to do. Very kid friendly. This is why we chose this resort. One huge caveat though and I think the resort didn't address properly. They're too afraid to offend guests. There were a couple of people in the k[... read more]ids area and even in the kids pool smoking!!! Staff did ask them to stop but they continued. I understand that the resort is not a non smoking resort but they NEED. To make kids area and pools non smoking. Anything less is an insult to parents with young kids that can't swim in other pools. Frankly this is a deal breaker and as much as I liked the resort I won't be back. Frankly I may not return to DR if they are so smoker friendly. This is beneath our standards.
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Occidental Caribe: Amazing Resort-Great Value
Met all of our expectations-4 years in a row to the same resort. Great food choices, very friendly and accommodating staff and you cannot beat the beach! A la carte restaurants also great with exception of the French restaurant which had slower service and not as good food as the other a la cartes
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Akhan2017 -
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Wyndham Alltra Punta Cana: Nice Resort, Nice Amenities, Nice Staff...But Still needs work
Well kept grounds , no mosquitos. Kids clubs, family/teen centre, pools, and beach were great. Staff were nice. Food ok, but too much pork. Rooms clean, but too small. All of us got travellers diarrhrea.
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Private -
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Occidental Punta Cana: Rough start but ended ok.
Our stay started off poorly when the check in staff gave us the wrong color of bracelet. We had purchased the First Club option and the bracelet was for a lessor value vacation. We found this out quite quickly when the staff at the first club desk told us we didnt have first club bracelets and so we had to go back to the check in area and get the proper color. For us the First Club option was very much worth while. A separate bar area at the beach and on the resort made getting a drink very eas[... read more]y with no line ups and better brands of alcohol. As well they served breakfast, lunch, and appetizers at supper time. You needed to eat supper at the ala cart restaurants or main buffets though. Our room was in one of the newly renovated complexes and was very nice and clean. The most annoying part was this resort has been bought by the Barcello company and all of the front line staff will hammer you on going to a timeshare/vacation club meeting. They are very friendly until you turn them down. After a couple of days they leave you alone so you can actually start to enjoy your holiday. The beach is beautiful as advertised and we never had trouble finding chairs. Most staff are friendly with only one surly bar maid and restaurant welcome staff. The resort is kept very clean and the food for the most part was reasonably good. If not for the timeshare pressure I would rate this resort 4 out of 5 but can only give it 3.5 out of 5 because of it.
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Ancora Private Residence Yacht Club and Marina: Great resort, awesome staff!
I really enjoyed this resort! The buildings are modern looking and well maintained, the AC was great, the rooms were modern and comfortable (though my adult children thought the beds were on the hard side, I thought they were fine), the rooms had small kitchen areas, the staff were wonderful, friendly, and helpful (apart from the front desk staff who seemed somewhat unwilling to help with simple requests), the food was for the most part quite good with changes of theme to the buffet so you're no[... read more]t eating the same thing over and over, the a la carte restaurants were good, the pools were great, there were lots of activities going on and the ones I participated in were fun and run by enthusiastic staff, though the resort is large and was almost full it never seemed overly busy. The only downside was the beach, which was a shuttle ride away and was small and crowded, so we took a paid shuttle to a larger beach which was amazing.
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Royalton Splash Punta Cana: Memories Splash in Punta Cana
The resort is a great place for vacation with kids of all ages. The water park is amazing, food was excellent, room was not so bad. I really liked the experience and would recommend to anyone. The airport in Punta Cana could have been better fit for huge volume of people, but that was the only bad memory I have :)
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Occidental Punta Cana: Average Resort
Rooms very nice (modern, clean with jacuzzi on balcony). Beaches are clean, wide and impressive. Grounds ok as not many flowers (season).
What we were NOT impressed is service, very disorganized, confusing, rude, long and not very customer oriented. They do NOT for the extra mile for the customer
We've been to Punta Cana 5 or 6 times, worst hotel on service.
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Ocean Blue and Sand: Great resort
Very clean resort, staff were wonderful. The food was always very good in the buffet and beach restaurant, never bothered with the other restaurants. The beach was damaged in latest storm but they have 2 large pools that were well maintained. Drinks were great and never line up at bars.
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Hyatt Vivid Punta Cana: Dreams Palm Beach
Hello,
Let me start by saying I was not impressed at all with Dreams Palm Beach Punta Cana. We've stayed at Dreams resorts before and it exceeded our expectations! To start upon loosing our luggage once located made us pay a 70 fee to have it sent to the resort with no receipt to claim upon our return. The food selection was horrible.. even the buffet had the exact same food everyday! Like I said we've been to another Dreams in Dominican and never experienced that! We had to write a review on[... read more] trip advisor before we could get lobster! Are you kidding me!! The kids club was way out of the way.. the days it rained they had nothing lined up for kids! They didn't have the trampoline in the water.. Beach was horrible! Rooms were average. However no water pressure.. thank god I paid for our inlaws to come so we could use their shower! Special side note.. you should advise the rooms don't come with a bath tub! That was a treat trying to shower my 7 month old who can't sit up!! In the end the money that I personally paid for 7 people to go was insane for what we got! We would of been better off going to the last Dreams or even the Bahia that I would of rated a 15 over a 5 star!