Royalton Splash Punta Cana: Great Family Resort

Punta Cana - Grand Memories Splash Resort is a great place for families with kids. I was pleasantly surprised how everything was organized. Nothing was missed or forgotten. All activities were well planned - date changes, pickup location, activities, and returning back. We were Diamond Club Members and, from this perspective, everything was taken care with extra attention but, in all honesty, I cannot tell I saw big differences between us and regular members. A cheap bottle of liquor or wine a [... read more]s welcome, a butler that couldn't be reached on the phone (but he was available every morning at the buffet), the Diamond Club upgraded room looked pretty regular for us, and some extra benefit we didn't took advantages, couldn't convince us worth the price. Maybe is us as we are moderate people when is about drinks and food. After all how much can you drink and eat? However, we saw some people... Anyway, the resort looks really nice with its lush green tropical vegetation and palm trees. Wild birds and peacocks all over. It is really nice to see the birds walking in the vegetation. The resort is great for walks and can be covered in 20 minutes from one side to the other. Extra 10 minutes to walk to the adjacent resort - Majestic where is the beach assigned to Memories Splash Resort. Maybe the big difference between Regular and Diamond members is here. The Diamond Club beach is bigger, the open bar is great for drinks and snacks. In opposite, the Regular beach is smaller even the Regular clients are more numerous. When we visited it was packed with no more empty long chairs to be used. I would be concerned as Regular member about beach spots availability in the morning, especially if you want to go every day on the beach. But in evenings there is plenty of room and we found after 5pm is the best to go there as the sun is not strong. Here, the beach is fabulous with clear water and light yellow sand. What can I say- use the photo studio from Majestic to take professional pictures back home. If you negotiate hard the price with them you can go back home with great pictures from the beach. Back to the resort, you have 2 big pools and 2 smaller ones - in surface, and a few more whirlpools. They are beautiful shaped with blue tiles and both they have wet bars. For kids, these pools are the way to enjoy the water as in the ocean you cannot swim. We used the pools more than the beach. Another fun you can have is on the fabulous Water Park. You can enjoy the great slides, the wave pool, and other mini pools. In the evening, you can go to the Social Plaza where you can enjoy drinks from the social bar, watch kids / family movies or see live shows. We saw Lion King live show and we enjoyed it. Our 7 years old kid enjoyed the time spent in the evening there. The show hours are daily displayed there, at the entrance, with the upcoming events - dance, karaoke, movies, shows... a great idea and place to spend the evenings before going to sleep. Other activities can be done- jogging, tennis, ping pong, basketball .. so a bit for every taste. The food is fabulous. I have read some reviews complaining about food but let me tell you from a pretentious European fancy food guy, the food is absolute great. The international buffet was much better than a-la-carte restaurants. What I have eaten in the Mexican restaurant, I found here as well. Only the Italian restaurant serves great pizza and pastas that you cannot find at the buffet, I didn't tried the Sea food restaurant, but I saw amazing choices of sea food here at the international buffet. The choices were amazing. Every day you can eat something different. They prepared daily amazing well known recipes, I didn't see something I didn't recognized. Everything was fresh, divers, and delicious. Fruits and cakes fresh and in excess. Just great for an all inclusive resort. The service was great as well. Only the butler wasn't useful for us as we couldn't reach him by the phone. What's the logic to go and look for him if you need something? The same needs were fulfilled by people from reception or our Sunwing resort agent. We noticed from his notebook, he had many tourists in care so simple we didn't use his services. Other than this, people are polite and thankful for appreciative words and …tips.. a dollar here and there do wonders and makes you feel better. These people are hard workers. I saw same faces daily from 7AM to 10PM serving you and still with a smile on their faces. Learn a few Spanish words to make them lighten up their faces. They deserve it for sure. Angel- a restaurant server was our favorite. You'll find your room daily cleaned and sheet beds fresh. The lady that cleaned our room (I am sorry I didn't get her name) was very sweet and she did every day amazing origami figurines using the towels and putting fresh flowers. Our Sunwing resort agent - Danelly Anty was really helpful and ready to help us booking activities, with schedule change, or any questions we have had. She was available every day, approachable and very friendly. We got great information from her. Look for her by the side of the pool to book activities or ask anything. Everybody is there for you to help with any request you may have. Very professional, simple a great service. As a side note and complain, avoid resort workers that will lure you into free meals on Majestic , it's just a sale trap, either a time share or become Sunwing member. Just refuse politely when you hear about free meals at a 5 star hotel (all meals are free anyway in your resort) . This is a minimal hassle that should not be permitted (pushy souvenirs vendors as well) on the ground. But this doesn't change my mind to give a 4.5 starts out of 5. It's just a great family resort with everything you need for one week relaxation.

Impressive Punta Cana: Felt like trapped in sheep herd

Pros: New hotel, good beds, room service, check-in, facilities Cons: Absolutely horrid food/dried food, food takes a lot of time to be refilled, lack of choices in food, bad customer service elsewhere from servers, to bellboys. Lack of entertainment in hotel (same group slow dances everyday) and around the hotel. Downtown is 30 minutes walk/inconvenient location. Just all around 'I don't care attitude' - maybe due to the # of people admitted here. Felt like trapped in a heard. Overall v [... read more]ery poor experience for the buck paid

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: LOVE The GRAND BAHIA PRINCIPE PUNTA CANA

This was our second year at the Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana and we love this resort. The grounds are immaculate, the rooms spacious and clean, the pools are beautiful and the beach is our favourite of anywhere we have been. The food is great at both the buffet and the ala cartes and the drinks are good. The staff work very hard and are friendly.

Ocean El Faro: 5* Ambience with 3* SERVICE

This resort has a lot of appeal just based on decor alone. It’s very glam and chic, and pictures are telling the truth, but what you do not see are the serious issues with the staff, their ability to provide service people are accustomed to at other resorts that are qualified to be 5*. I do not blame the staff, I blame management, both upper and middle. There are managers walking around observing, but they have no impact on the quality or lack thereof of the actual service. There is NOONE pers [... read more]on greeting you when you arrive at the resort, for a 5 star there should be someone with a friendly smile either providing you with a cocktail or water or a cold cloth as most other resorts do. When you checkout and leave there is NOONE offering you a farewell, asking how your stay was or just a simple, goodbye. At the main buffet where you spend most breakfasts and lunches there are ZERO servers, no one person coming to your table specifically to ask what beverages you would like to drink with your meal, coffee service is one of two men with coffee jugs walking around serving the entire Buffett of hundreds of people, and you will be lucky to receive a coffee, not to mention water. They only have people collecting your plates(busboys) and even that doesn’t happen often throughout your meal. The pool bar has 2 bartenders serving hundreds of people that are overly anxious to re robe their cocktail to consume under the hot sun. There is one waitress also serving drinks around the pool, but imagine one waitress attempting to service hundreds of people, with one tray carrying 8-10 drinks at the most. The beverage staff that fills refreshments in your room forgot to attend our room for two nights, so no water bottles in the room for the kids. Water is a necessity. I should not have to holler and argue to have this service at a five star resort. At Mikes coffee, while a great idea to have a cafe onsite- there were two staff on at all times to service a resort that has approx 450 rooms. The bowling alley closed down for maintenance all day and two evenings. One restaurant closed for maintenance for 4 days, it’s not a necessity, so I’m not complaining, however my issue is that I can go as far as to call this misrepresentation. The Ice Cream hut that was supposed to open everyday at 3:30pm, did not, the girl serving chose to open when it was convenient for her, and she really didn’t give a crap whether you were mad or not. The Buffet ran out of mango and passiofruit for 2 days. This is not a necessity but when you arrive in a country when they have farms of these fruit and this resort “runs out” you can clearly see how much they want “pleased” guests. Tables are not prepared for guests when you are seated, they are dirty, no napkins, no cups, mugs and cutlery. I have experienced service like this in Cuba, My mother had a leak in her bathroom in one of her sinks that she called maintenance to fix 3 times, as she slipped in the water in the bathroom, no one showed up, all services to call by phone after 10pm are constantly busy, my guess is they took phones off the hook. Who was really great and always ready to speak to you and follow you and chat you up... the timeshare staff... very eager to get you to attend a breakfast meeting to show you around the hotel... with service like we experienced I would not recommend this hotel to anyone, and those timeshare staff will definitely have a very difficult time.

Bahia Principe Escape Aquamarine: Bahia Principe Aquamarine

We stayed at the Esmeralda, part of this resort 3 years ago, and thought we had such a good experience we would go again. Well a lot has changed. Not the quaint, amazing 4.5 star resort that we knew. Now it is a huge unorganized, impersonable money grab and a 3star at best. Liquor is sub par, and any upgraded brands come at a charge, so much for all inclusive. Rooms in the Aquamarine are dated, but clean. Our bar fridge was not stocked everyday fully, and unless we left a tip, not would any [... read more] requests be filled, and a call to desk needed to be done. The buffet for breakfast is not stellar, you can get the eggs, omelets, fruit etc. The lunch is the same, and choices are the same everyday. There are many rules what you can access depending on where you stay. A bbq cart right by beach is not for you unless you have a Ambar bracelet, you have to walk to the dirty buffet, by the beach, and eat the same food, but it bbq but meat swimming in broth,and you cannot access the pool right by the beach, again only for the Ambar guests. It is a 10 min walk, from aquamarine buildings, or a trolley ride. Not a big deal, but if you have mobility issues could b a challenge. There is a pool for aquamarine, but we like to start at beach and sit by pool at end of day, but first have to walk back to our pool and in the rain or heat was not fun. No butler or anyone to offer any extras, like at the Esmeralda. We never went to any of shows at main theatre, just sat in our lobby for after dinner entertainment, bar service stops at 11 pm. The French, MEAT al la Cartes were good, the Dominican aweful. We ate there and before we were done our meal, they started dismantling the tables and cleaning around us, we had the only available sitting for 915pm, but it was empty when we arrived, no dessert as they took it away, and we felt like we didn’t even receive the proper service. We did voice our concerns to the waiter but all he said was thank you, he didn’t understand how rude it was. We won’t go back, it has become a big resort with little service and I really don’t think they care if you come or not.

Riu Republica: Great resort!

Very large resort with lots to do! The staff was amazing, very friendly and helpful. I can't say enough good things about every staff member from the wait staff at the restaurants to the entertainment team they were all great! The evening shows were a little repetitive with the dancing during the week but the weekend shows were much better and there was always a party happening at the other bar. Beautiful beach, great food. Even the buffet was great. The room was spacious and very clean. It was  [... read more]our first sunny vacation and definitely won't be our last. Highly recommend Riu Republica. You won't be disappointed!!

Punta Cana Princess: Relaxing resort!

Punta Cana Princess is a small resort, adults only which is the perfect place to relax and go for long walks on the beach. The staff work very hard to make sure the guests are happy and comfortable. It was our 6th visit and we will visit again next year.

Blue Bay Villas Doradas: Nothing Fancy

We travelled to this resort on March 22-29th, 2019. PLEASE BEWARE!! there is currently a new building being built very close to the beach right next to the resorts beach section. I wish we would have been advised about this before booking as it did kind of ruin the beauty of the beach for us a bit. Saturday and Sunday was a nice break as there was no construction during the weekend. The bad: - the rooms/building are very dated, the pool area was also very dated with many broken/cracked tiles [... read more] - Extremely annoying vendors on the beach (but I believe this is the same for every resort on Playa Doradas) - Time share people on the resort were quite annoying as well (one guy even asked our friends straight up for cash for beer after work after telling him they didn't want any part of the time shares) - Bartenders seem very overworked and tired most of the time - The buffet was just average - The white wine wasn't very good - Lobby bar was premium liquor "cash only" extra $$ if you wanted to get a drink there - Rusty old room safe was not included and had to pay extra $$ to use it - Only 1 key card per room or you had to pay extra $$ for a second (also A/C only worked if you had the key card in a slot for it) - Half of the loungers are broken or old and stretched out that they require a pillow to be used with them - You had to get up and reserve your lounger at 7 am or earlier if you wanted a none broken lounger and a shaded area on the beach (maybe for the pool as well but we spend 90% of are time at the beach) - Unfortunately the foam party is only once every 2 weeks and we stayed during the off week and never got to experience it - Shower water pressure was quite weak and one day the entire resort had no water pressure for several hours The good: - The beach is very nice (5*), it was a shame that there was construction when we went and the irritating vendors - The beach bar/snack bar is great! Its right on the beach and had a discotheque beach party at night twice a week - Ice water dispensers at all bars - The Oriental and Steak house a la cartes food was amazing - Lobby and restaurant seems fairly new and nice - Resort seem relatively clean everywhere - The garden and ground were very nice and well maintained - There was an area that had orchids and a pond/waterfall on your way to the beach that was very cool - There is a natural ravine with a board crossing over it (to get to the beach) where you can see plenty of wild birds/turtles/fish - Resort was a short drive from the airport - There is a shopping plaza 4-5 mins walking distance from the resort that has a disco-tech club/bar and a sport bar/restaurant. (Note most of the shops is all the same stuff the vendors try to sell you on the beach) I'd strongly recommend booking the catamaran tour with freestyle on the beach for $55 a per (all you can drink and a lunch included). We had a blast with them and really enjoyed the snorkelling and all. Also I would recommend going to the little restaurant at the for western end of the beach called "Le petit Francois" were you can order a Poutine (fries, gravy and cheese curds). Francois, a guy from Quebec, Canada started his own restaurant there and it was delicious. Overall we made the best of our trip and still had a pretty good time but I would not recommend this resort to anyone until it gets some major renovations done to the rooms/buildings and more chairs/lounger as there is not enough for everyone if the resort is full.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort

If you have mobility issues - do NOT go to this resort. If you have children in strollers - do NOT go to this resort. From the majority of rooms, there are 69 stairs to climb to get to the bar or 50 to get to the restaurant. The shuttle buses only run every 25 minutes and they are disgusting - cracked seats, doors open with ropes. The standard rooms are not very clean and very dated. We had no dresser in our room in which to store our clothes and we were there for 12 days. The mini bar is f [... read more]illed ONCE, before you arrive, so don’t except replenishments every day. Wifi is NOT included and neither is the safe. Our fridge was so coated with ice, the door would not close and we constantly had water on the floor. The majority of the rooms face the winding pathway that is used for the shuttle buses, the workers and all their vehicles and the golf carts that are used by the VIP guests and it is extremely noisy. Good things - service by the buffet staff (Pearl) was excellent for the most part. Other staff members of the resort eat in this restaurant and they could be pushy and arrogant at times. The life guards at the pools were a nice touch. Everything at this resort is outside, so when it rains, you will get wet. The only bar open at night is right beside the main pool - but out in the open. Transat labels this resort as a 4 star, but it is more like a 2 star.

Bahia Principe Escape Bouganville: The Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville is a jewel of a resort near La Romana in the Dominican Republic!

We were very impressed by the gardens, walks and pools across the resort and its neighbouring Bahia Principe resort to which we had access. One of the many fine restaurants was the Don Pablo serving French cuisine, which was our favourite.

Royalton CHIC Punta Cana: Good choice

Nice resort, good food, nice people. Unfortunately we had rain 6 days out of 7, and not just mist, but showers all day. But we still had an amazing time. I would still recommend to friends. Steak house and Italian are the best. They should think of changing the Tagine restaurant for something else. Not good and always empty

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Excellent resort

I was here 4 years ago and the changes that have happened and are currently happening are nothing but amazing. The buffet food is great the restaurants are impressive. Just a great time would go back again.

Ocean El Faro: Very Impressed!

This is a great resort. Love that u can go to all restaurants except Japanese without reservations. Food was excellent in all, was impressed! Also a extra ice cream booth and great coffee shop(Mikes) to go too. Big place but never had problems to find a lounger at pools or beach. Lots of room in pools, not overcrowded. Love the lazy river, no shortage of tubes. Rooms are spacious bed very comfy, and seemed sound proof. Bathroom big with both separate shower and jet tub. Used tub worked great, sh [... read more]ower drain is slope wrong would leak on floor, but used rolled up towels by door and was fine. Only set back is people trying to sell you timeshares, we would tell them already went to seminar and would leave us alone. Beach is okay, a lot of waves, not much shade but were working on putting up more sunhuts. Overall were very impressed!

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Very bad resort!

The resort was very dirty, the rooms you see online are not the rooms you receive, to have the rooms online you have to pay an upgrade which costs 20$ USD per person per night the rooms we're also disgusting and very old. Food is poisonous you most likely will get food poisoning, no wifi what so ever you have to pay 70$ USD for one week of wi-fi from 6am to 8pm also nobody cares for your needs for example, you will have very early check out you wait 4 hours in the lobby you cannot use anything f [... read more]rom the resort because they cut your bracelet, I also waited an hour for towels and I called multiple times and they always said someone will be there soon and they're wasn't any hot water, the sheets we're dirty, the ceiling in the bathroom was falling down. If you still decide to go to this hotel I suggest you buy the upgrade, I personally wouldn't go there for me it's not even worth 2 stars. If you are looking to have a good vacation stay away from this hotel!!!!

Riu Naiboa: Not recommended

I dont know where to start. I had seen reviews saying this resort had a theft ring and thought it may have been a exaggeration, it wasn't. There was 3 thefts there that I had actually spoke with the guests, these thefts were from there room and the items that were taken range from passports, money and jewelry. I seen drugs openly use and the disco "Pacha" has open prostitution. The beds in the rooms are terrible and the towels stink. I really have nothing good to say about the RIU Naiboa so I'm [... read more] gonna stop there. Do not book this resort.

Impressive Punta Cana: Good resort

Impressive was a good resort. The only complaint I would have is the lack of beach chairs, but if your up bright and early there's no problem getting one. The food was good and both the buffet and restaurants. Its a great family resort

The Eurostars Grand Cayacoa: Clean resort with attentive staff

This resort is spotlessly clean! Our housekeeper spent about an hour everyday in our room cleaning everything - mopping the floor, wiping down the mirrors, making sure everything worked, etc.The staff were always busy taking care of guests and asking if we needed anything. The grounds were beautiful and well kept. We saw the bellboy polishing the elevator doors til they gleamed.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Amazing place

Very beautiful resort . staff was extremely friendly and helpful. Entertainment by the pool and at the stage was very good with excellent performances. Beach was very nice with lots of lounge chairs . pool was very nice as well with swim up bar . all the wait staff and bartenders are very friendly . the room was very clean . cleaned up daily and fridge was restocked as well and a beautiful view to the beach off the large balcony . will definitely be returning here again .

Dreams Dominicus La Romana: Super clean & friendly resort

The resort was small but had lots of chairs by the pool. No rush to get up early to save a chair. Always clean everywhere in the resort and I felt safe at all times. The staff was so helpful and friendly- especially Ramonsito in the restaurant. I would go back to this resort anytime.

Majestic Mirage Punta Cana All Suite Resort: Well worth the money spent!

Grounds were very well kept, the rooms were beautiful and fridge was well stocked. The food was good for the most part, Steak house served their steaks barely at room temp but food there was very tasty. Overall we loved our week away!