Grand Palladium Select Bavaro: Palladium 2018

We travelled with friends who were 13 time returning guests. The hotel upgraded all of us to VIP status, even though this was only our 9th Palladium visit. We had access to everything that only Royal Suites guests usually get. There were some new restaurants this year. We tried a couple of them and were impressed. Overall dining experience was excellent. Our initial room was quite musty and Ruth suffers from asthma. The porter arranged for us to be moved and we were pleased with the new room.  [... read more]It was in the same building as last year's room, and very close to our Bavaro pool. Total experience was very good.

Sunscape Puerto Plata: Amazing Staff!!

We have stayed at several resorts in Dominican and I would say Sunscape was one of if not the cleanliest. Staff was constantly cleaning, painting, trimming landscaping, cleaning pools, etc. In addition to the clean state of the facilities, I would say some of the highlights for us were: 1. not having to wear a plastic wristband all week 2. not being limited to number of a la cartes we could attend and not having to reserve 3. compact and orderly layout providing ease of movement 4. staff a [... read more]ctually responded to requests for more towels, blankets, etc. - our experience at other resorts would be negative, they rarely appeared. Above all, during our stay my sister-in-law had the misfortune on the last day of breaking her ankle. The medical & hotel staff were wonderful and very caring from tennis court attendant, to doctor, to hotel management, the concierge, the restaurant staff etc. They helped to make a difficult situation more bearable. We truly felt and experienced their concern for her well-being. We would not hesitate to return to Sunscape Resort, we had a most enjoyable vacation.

Bahia Principe Explore El Portillo: Perfect week!

We always stay with Bahia Principe, and Samana area is our favourite part of Dominican. We loved this resort. Food was terrific with a lot of variety all week. Beach is stunning and the snorkeling, right on the beach, is awesome. A couple days of wind stirred up the sand but the rest of the week was crystal clear. Highly recommended.

Excellence El Carmen: Amazing retreat!

If you want/need to relax and reconnect, this is where you need to be! The rooms, the general feel, the pools, the people and the spa made our stay a total bliss. Luxury and calm all while having lots of activities should you want to be more active. Its really has it all.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Very clean resort

This resort was the cleanest resort I have ever been to, they bleached all floors in your room , bathroom , and balcony everyday . They also bleached the hallways , pool area and main hall everyday . There was always people cleaning . When you went to dine in the buffet at anytime you were offered hand sanitizer . We had the royal package and found it was well worth it as you never had to worry about getting a chair at the private beach as they always found one for you and the bar and food servi [... read more]ce at the beach was excellent. The vintage club was very enjoyable and was nice to have the premium drinks as the cheap ones are pretty blah, also a lot quieter then pool area , it would be nice if it had a outdoor part as it is on the second floor . The a la cart restaurants are hit and miss some nights great some not . We liked the ocean grille best , then the Italian , and then the octopus. The food in the buffet was pretty good with a wide variety. Our room was just like the picture with a king bed in the renovated building , we heard scary stories about the building by the quiet pool very rundown . I recommend taking hangers with you as there are not many in the room and also there is no dresser in the room so you live out of your suitcase . Staff do not speak much English but they try . If you get the upgraded wifi it works great but the free wifi very slow . The upgraded is included in the royal package and each person gets their own wifi as it is only one device on one password . Lots of vendors on the beach constantly even on the private beach gets annoying after awhile . We were warned about drinking cream drinks as they can cause as they call it the Puerto splash 😁. I stuck with Jackie’s special for the resort drink . The free wine is not the greatest , I ordered a drink instead . Snorkelling is great out front the hotel as the are lots of reefs and wave breaks so you see lots of different fish and someone actually caught octopus in front of the hotel . Water is not deep , so great for kids . It is hard to get chair around main pool unless you get up early and put a towel on it , but I preferred the beach anyways so it didn’t bother me . Your entertainment is typical resort nothing great but not bad , they had karaoke, Michael Jackson impersonator,etc . I would recommend this resort.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Good

The service wasn’t that great here. Also the beach was lacking. The entertainment was pretty bad. Otherwise it was good but won’t go back to this one. Expected more from a four and a half stars. The stores are a massive rip off. Don’t buy from them.

Riu Palace Punta Cana: Very good resort

All was very good except room wasn't replenished with bottled water, consequently got travellers sickness on 2nd last day of vacation. Other than that it was very good. Would only recommend if assurance of safe water was made.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Quite wheelchair Accessible

I am in a wheelchair, but also can use my rollator Walker for short distances, but there aren't many short distances. We have travelled. The pathways were in good shape and fairly flat. There are several ground floor rooms that should be asked for ahead of time. The toilet was directly behind the door, which wasn't good! There are only 2 bathrooms on site. They have good grabbers in the bigger stalls. Just be careful, as the floor is very slippery. There are ramps to all places, but you have to [... read more] look for them.

Riu Republica: Our Stay at Riu Republica Dominican Republic

There are many points that I want to review. Firs the hotel itself was very nice, nice clean room but with our stay our balcony faced the laundry so it was noisy and not the best thing to view. The overall hotel grounds were very good and easy to get around you just need to walk as it is a large complex. The grounds were clean but I thought more attention was needed to cleaning up cup, plates, and litter around the facility. I have stayed at the RIU in Aruba and they were constantly policing [... read more] the grounds for litter, plates, cups, etc. A plus was the numerous swimming pools at the complex so there was never a problem finding chairs by the pool, in Aruba the RIU usually did not have enough chairs. The hotel staff were great and I thought always friendly and accommodating to our needs or questions. Yes not all the staff speaks fluent English but I thought they still did their best to help us. The hotel surprised me by decorating my room on my birthday with balloons and towels that reminded me how old I am :). The hotel as RIU's do had daily poolside entertainment and games which are fun and I recommend you participate in. Evenings the hotel put on shows at the two stages which are loads of fun and you get to see local entertainers show their talent, I also highly recommend you see the shows! Now the RIU is all inclusive (food and drink). The food was ok but we found much of it to be to salty and limited in taste and flavor. You can manage but do not expect to be overwhelmed. We did attend some of the themed restaurants (Indian, Asian, US) and again they were fun but limited in taste and flavor. The drink was not great. Much of the hard drink, like whiskey, gin or jack Daniel's taste watered down I usually do not drink hard drinks but I tried them. I am a beer drinker and the only beer available was Presidente. That beer had no taste and no flavor or impact, the RIU must do something to either improve it or instead offer other beers both local and foreign. I had multiple cups of the Presidente beer and after two days (we stayed 6) I just stopped drinking it. So overall if the food and drink was better I would say that the price we paid was worth it, but I feel like I paid to much because of the food and drink quality. We did take a 1/2 day tour of the local area which included a local family and farm, I would recommend seeing the local community.

Sunscape Dominican Beach: Loved it!

We loved this resort. It was very clean. Eveything was close to eachother. A 5 minute walk at the most. Everyone was very friendly and willing to help with anything you need. The rooms were great. The restaurants were great, especially the Japanese and loved the fresh pizza at lunch. They also stay open till the middle of the night. There were some game on the beach during the day and at the pool that are fun. Also the shows at night were good. They normally had live music at the lobby  [... read more]that was great. The disco was slow but on the weekend it is full of locals and only play thier music. We would recommend this place to a friend and would love go back again.

Sunscape Puerto Plata: Great resort

Second time in four months! Smaller resort but lots going on. The Asian restaurant is great!!! All the staff super attentive. I’ll be going back. Juan at the preferred club lounge is super friendly and makes great bloody mary’s.

Royalton Splash Punta Cana: Memories Splash was the perfect family vacation

The family trip we had from Toronto to Memories Splash in Punta Cana was an ideal winter getaway for a family with a very active 6 year old boy. Everything from the flight to the hotel staff to the waterpark to the beach was fantastic. The buffet selections were plentiful and the variety was more than sufficient for our family. The hotel staff were all friendly and helpful and definitely made for a positive experience. Special hello to Ramon at the pool bar and Jay Blue of the entertainment  [... read more]staff! From Trip Central we booked with Tanya Smith who was able to answer all of our questions in a friendly an efficient manner and I would definitely recommend her to any Trip Central customers! The beach at the resort was beautiful which is of course what Punta Cana is known for. My only complaint? The lineups in the Punta Cana airport both arriving and departing were extremely long -the worst I've ever experienced. It was very difficult to keep our boy from being bored out of his mind for the hour and a half we waited in line on the way home. It would seem that Punta Cana has become a victim of it's own success. That having been said, we would definitely return!

Bahia Principe Escape Bouganville: Luxury Bahia Principe Bougainville

Tout était parfait, accueil, nourriture, personnels toujours souriants et accueillants. Belle température malgré un peu de pluie. Décors magnifiques, magnifiques fleurs et aménagements paysagés. Merci,

Bahia Principe Grand San Juan: Great resort features other than the beach

Extremely clean and well taken care of. Great staff and very good food. Amazing a la carte restaurants with great service and food. The beach has two creeks/rivers on both sides of resorts and with the heavy rain, they make the ocean water very muddy. Pools were very well maintained and clean. A great place for those that do not spend time in the ocean.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Too many stairs

I found this resort mediocre. They try to take you on a tour to sell u vip package. Waste almost a full day. Because you are not a vip you do not have access to all alacarte restaurants. Also there is no premium alcohol available. The food is all right. However I was very disappointed in the seafood restaurant as I had my heart set on lobster and because I was not vip it was not available and when I order shrimp pasta there were only 2 salad size shrimp in the meal. Plus for the resort was [... read more] the multiple pools. However there was so many stairs it was hard getting around without some discomfort . I would not recommend this resort.

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Awesome Capsulated Resort

We stayed here for our first time late March 2018. Everything you need can be found in the Ambar Blue section without having to leave. There are 3 buffet restaurants and also 4 additional reserve only restaurants including the Don Pablo which was exceptional. The pool was clean and warm and the pool bar was hopping with lots of servers so not much wait time. We had a room on the 3rd floor in building 60 which was the closest to the beach and facing the pool gave a nice partial ocean view. The fr [... read more]ont desk staff was 1st class and I found everyone spoke sufficient English. I would go back anytime.

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Nice Resort

The resort was beautiful and clean, the food was good but hard to get a decent time for the al a carts , found that the staff could have been more friendly, they totally screwed up our rooms , I had booked three rooms one with king bed and the other two with two beds, we got 3 rooms with king beds, they said they change them next day at 3pm, we moved out of our two rooms for the day and when we went back for new rooms at three they gave us one room said the other won’t be ready people were sti [... read more]ll in them, we went to the one room that they changed and it was a room with king bed and they threw in a cot, not acceptable we were stuck with this room and ended up taking back our old room that had one bed and had to share, when you pay that much money for 6 people and three rooms you expect to get what you paid for, very unexceptable as far as I’m concerned.

Bahia Principe Escape Bouganville: Exceeded Expectations

We stayed at the luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville on Feb 18-23. We researched this resort extensively on Google earth and on YouTube before going so I had certain expectations going in. The picture's or video's didn't do it justice. The resort is spotless from the main lobby to the beach and everywhere in between. The rooms were spotless as well. Cleaned every day and mini bar restocked every day as well. There are 2 pools. The party pool next to the beach where the entertainment was [... read more] and the quiet pool on the other end of the resort. Both have swim up bars and both have waiter service. The beach water isn't aqua blue but the beach itself more than made up for it with the megalithic palm trees. A very tropical feel which is exactly what I was looking for. The food was all good no matter where we ate. The Buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner were hot and fresh. Different Selections every day. Different themes for dinner every night. We ate at 2 ala cart restaurants, the Brazilian and the signature Don Pablo restaurant. Both were out of this world good. The filet mignon is indescribable. The drinks weren't too weak but not too strong, they were just right all the time. I would suggest that you bring a "bubba", the supplied cups are pretty small. The staff are all helpful and friendly. Almost all spoke some english so if your Spanish isn't up to snuff you'll still be ok. Overall everything exceeded what I hoped this vacation was going to be. If a quiet relaxing vacation in a lush tropical enviroment is what you are looking for then this is the place for you.

Blue Bay Villas Doradas: Lovely Resort

The staff was very friendly, the food, while limited (Only 3 ala carte restaurants, was very good. The buffet had sufficient variety that I could eat very well, even though I am vegetarian. Vegans may have a bit more of a challenge. We went on some wonderful tours as well. The only downside is that if you want to go to the pool, unless you get there very early, the chairs are all taken, even though there are only a couple of people in the pool. Somewhere I had read that you should not reserve c [... read more]hairs, but this was largely not enforced. Some people prefer to spend a lot of time on the beach. We were warned that the beaches in Puerto Plata are not that good because the sand is not white. We did not care about that. The sand is similar to that of beaches in Ontario. We are also not the type of people that spend the entire time on the beach. We prefer to get out and visit the community we are in. This is what we did. We got to see a school, interact with the students, see a farm and spend time in the city.

Royalton CHIC Punta Cana: beautiful beach, beautiful resort, kind staff

Elvie was an outstanding waiter, the best one at this resort. Kind, attentive and always had a smile to share! Fabio was quite an engaging entertainer! He helped to keep us fit while on vacation! He is a motivator, we enjoyed our morning ritual of water aerobics then the afternoon the stationary biking in the pool.....really appreciated and enjoyed Fabio's kind smile & energetic personality. My only negative comment would be the way the staff treated the "back" disc versus the "white" disc.. [... read more]..had I known this before going to this resort, I would have reconsidered going there. We met 2 people who booked in Nov (as we did) and paid $200. more than us who had the "white" disc bracelet with ocean view.........now that's an issue!