Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Wonderful place to stay!!

Had a great time there in April 2017, was our 2nd time at this resort and the service was excellent and the staff were very friendly and accommodating. The pool and beach are very nice with plenty of lounging chairs. Lots of restaurants and buffets with many food choices. Will be back again.

Weare Cadaques Bayahibe: Potential to be a 5-Star

We've been to a number of resorts, and this one has the most potential to be a 5-star getaway. The relaxed nature of this resort is mainly due to its small size, and for that you almost feel like you are a VIP for the whole duration of your stay. I'll break down a few important things to note: Arrival: They wouldn’t let you check in until 3:00pm on the dot, so if you arrive early expect to wait around before you can get comfy in your room. Fortunately you can get something to eat at the buf [... read more]fet while you wait and take a stroll around the grounds to get familiar with the place. Location: This is on a very nice strip of beach - to the left you can walk endlessly as there are no resorts that way (you can find yourself a good private beach spot). To the right you have an easy walk past other resorts, and there are some small shops on the beach where they try to hassle you to buy their paintings/nick knacks. If you’re flying into Santo Domingo, it’ll be about an hour and a half bus ride to the resort as you have to stop at a few resorts along the way (Cadaques is the last stop). This makes for a super long day of travel, so be prepared for that. Rooms: Their “king sized” beds don’t meet Canadian measurements and would equate to a Queen size – a little disappointing when you first arrive if you’re expecting a giant bed. The rooms are small, but it’s really all you need – bed, mini fridge, washroom, desk, safe, closet. There’s not a lot of closet space or drawers (not really a dresser!!), so you’ll have to get creative with your space if you have a lot of clothing. The shower was okay, and there was no bathtub in the regular suites. One complaint would be that the throw pillows smelled funny, like they hadn’t been washed or changed ever. We also had little worm like bugs on the bed, toilet paper roll, and curtains (about 8 of them).. not sure how they got into the room but it’s a Southern vacation and you should expect such things. We let front reception know about this, and they had the sheets changed immediately. A few worms came back, but nothing too much to worry about. The maids are super friendly and will stock you up nicely if you ask. Food: This is where there is a lot of room for potential. There are two main areas for you to get food: the buffet by the beach, and the a la carte restaurant in the lobby. I’ll break both of these down… Buffet – There’s a small variety of food each day, generally with one good meat, some pasta salad, and breads. I could only find vegetables one day which was a huge disappointment if you’re trying to eat a somewhat ‘balanced’ meal. The HUGE problem with the food is that there are NO heating lamps or any methods to keep the food warm once they put it out. It gets cold extremely quick, so you need to be there right when the food is made or else it ends up tasting bland. The variety was the biggest disappointment, but no one in our party got sick from the food so that was a big plus. Restaurant – hidden atop the lobby is a small restaurant with about 10 tables that can accommodate groups ranging in size from 2 to 12 people. You book your reservation on the morning of (we never had any issue finding a time). They rotate through 3 menus – Mexican, Italian and “Gourmet”. They never seem to know which menu it will be each day, but we figured out that they simply rotate these three options. The Mexican and Italian were actually both really tasty, but the gourmet was a little disappointing since it was basically all seafood (we’re not seafood eaters). They do have a small steak for the gourmet menu, which was decent. Each night we had the same two waiters, Jose and Frank – these guys are AWESOME and have a lot of fun with the guests. They certainly made the restaurant experience more enjoyable. Comparing the two, I’d say to eat at the restaurant more often than not. There’s also a small sushi restaurant that doesn’t get much traffic – our friends went there one night and said it was excellent. Swimming: They have two pools – one large infinity pool that sits in the middle of the resort that has a pool bar, and another small pool right beside the buffet/beach which no one ever enters because the location is so awkward (no one wants to swim right where people are eating..). The pool bar doesn’t receive much traffic, so you’ll get VIP service if you spend some time here. The infinity pool is very clean and great to relax in. I would suggest bringing a floaty device (tube, bed, etc) so you can relax and basically have the whole pool to yourselves! The beach is very nice (as stated above), and there is a great dock to walk out on that has lounge chairs/shady area for you to relax on before jumping into the water. The water below the dock is only about 3 feet, so it’s shallow for anyone to swim in. There is also a man-made ‘coral reef’ to the left of the dock. If you bring some bread out by this area, you will be swarmed with stripy and needlenosed fish – a really neat experience! Staff and Service: 3/4 of the staff were super helpful, friendly, and genuinely good people who want you to have an amazing vacation. They will take the time to figure out what exactly you are asking for, and be there if you need any assistance. The other 1/4 seems to not care about you, with slow service (waited on a coffee for 25 minutes!), or will try to hit on the girls in your party and stalk them outside of the washroom (super creepy). They don’t serve premium drinks, but you can make do with what they make for you. Most of the bartenders understand what you are asking, while some will just make you a drink that you didn’t quite ask for. Overall: If you’re looking for a relaxing getaway, this resort is great. Cadeques only recently became an all-inclusive resort, so they are still working out the kinks on how to operate like one. One they fix a few bugs, it’ll easily become a 5-star resort.

Royalton Punta Cana Resort: Fun family vacation spot!

Royalton Punta Cana was an amazing resort with manicured gardens and beautiful water features and stonework everywhere you looked. The staff are very friendly and accommodating.. many went out of their way to teach my three sons Spanish and encouraged them to speak 😊. The main buffet had anything you could ever desire to eat at each meal-we actually preferred this to the restaurants (they were good but limited selection). Food Service was well organized and well supervised. Service in [... read more] the restaurants seemed better if you ordered the bottle of wine (charge above the all inclusive). We were forgotten once when my husband ordered only a glass of the house wine. Rooms were clean but bathrooms were small. Housekeeping needed prompting to clean the rooms in a timely fashion - we would return to our rooms late in the afternoon to find them still not cleaned. Restocking was spotty - we had to often ask the maid for what we needed, which was a trick at times if they didn't speak English. There was alot of push to attend "breakfast" which apparently was a 90 minute time share presentation. Very difficult to get $1 US bills for tipping. The best they could do was $5 bills. Stores never could do it despite a lot of shoppers and the currency exchange said they didn't have American money! This made us feel we were expected to leave $5 tips each time and quite manipulated. Fortunately this was interspersed with some genuine individuals who didn't ask for anything and seemed to really enjoy their interaction with us! One server saw my husband's Canada shirt and proclaimed it "Punta Canada" ! 😊

Occidental Caribe: Nice resort

The resort was very nice. The only complaint was the food in the main buffet was not very good. The other restaurants were excellent. One other thing was the golf. We were told the green fees were $75.00 U.S. which was fine. We were not told however it was going to cost $50.00 to get to the course. Also we weren`t advised if the cost to play included a cart.

Cayo Levantado Resort: This was a beautiful resort,and the staff were the best.

The Vella that we had was very nice and kept so clean. Our butler Remon was so helpful,and such a friendly young man,that we felt he kept us very comfortable and informed. The sad note was the weather,and several of our friends got sick.

Bahia Principe Grand Samana Roulette: great resort

No complaints Staff friendly food amazing rooms nice and very clean the scenery great and grounds well kept and beautiful beach was small got beach chairs everyday the shows were typical resort shows animation staff engaging and alot of fun The restaurants Italian and french very good

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: Excellent resort

The resort was great,the pool was nice and big and very very clean..the beach was great, you could easily walk 45 minutes (one way) on the nice sand. The food was AaaMazingly good.We had a blast.Super!!

Grand Bavaro Princess: The Good, The bad & The Ugly

April 22-29, 2017 Platinum Suite #813, 1st time in the Dominican Republic for my wife & I. 1st off the staff are amazing, Awie in the platinum lounge. She is an absolute rockstar! She goes above and beyond for her guests, My wife had an allergic reaction to something and the next day after the Dr visit she had called our room to see how she was feeling, and went out of her way to make my wife as comfortable as possible while we were there. Jorgie and the sweet older lady who works the bar in th [... read more]e platinum lounge at night (I so wish I got her name), also so amazing just making our stay that much more enjoyable. Ramone down at the platinum beach bar, always keeping the drinks flowing on the beach by the platinum bar. Jennifer our maid, every day new flowers and towel designs on our bed...And Jerry at the hotel reception, I needed a $20 USD deposit to make a collect call from the lobby, I had zero cash on me and instead of me taking a 15 minute tram ride to the far side of the resort back to my room this kid let me use his personal cell phone so I could contact my bank to move money around to be able to pay for my wifes medical bills while up at the main lobby, and help me save time contacting the people I needed to as quick as possible while my wife was with the Dr. The Hotel is absolutely beautiful, pictures dont do this place justice. We stayed in Platinum suite 813, upper floor right beside the platinum lounge. Very well kept, and always clean. Being this close the the Platinum lounge you can pick up the wifi signal anywhere in the room. Not strong enough to stream netflix or spotify but my wife was able to use snapchat and even facebook video call our kids and granddaughter back home in Canada without issue one night. King size bed, mini bar had 2 coke, 2 sprite 2 Budweiser and a 2 liter bottle of water in the fridge every day with another 2L bottle of water on the counter. Platinum lounge is the only bar on the resort to carry Coors Light. Food selection is very minimal in the platinum lounge. Pretty much the same stuff almost all week, apples, danishes, croissants, muffins, cookies yogurt. out of the 7 days they did have fruit bowls once. Being in the platinum area was way more cooler than up near the main lobby pool, always had a breeze even on our balcony which helped with the heat. Zero breeze up in the main lobby and buy the lobby pool there because of all the buildings and distance from the ocean. Main buffet, lots of a selection but after 7 days its literally all the same. One night I think was a Dominican themed night, I couldn't eat anything it just didnt look appealing to me. Chopin - buffet - exact same food as all the other buffets just has a piano on a boat while you eat. We ate there for the Sunwing dinner - same food as the other buffets El Goucho Buffet (Breakfast and lunch) - easy for platinum guests to go for breakfast instead of taking the tram to the main lobby - miniature version of the main buffet, every day the exact same thing is served - Breakfast nothing changes. (scrambled/boiled eggs, omelette station, pancakes, waffles bacon, breakfast sausage or chopped up hot dogs? (no idea why), Fruit, muffins, croissants... Lunch - I only ate here once in the whole week. was Mexican themed and not to bad. McPrincess - Burgers, cheese steak sandwiches(more like steak fajita sandwich) Still good, hotdogs and fries...Quick and easy when you are on the beach El Goucho - becomes a steak house a la cart for dinner - Wife and I both enjoyed it Tanuki - A la cart - Japanese cuisine - by far this was the best a la cart we ate (rice, vegetables, chicken, beef, and seafood cooked right in front of you. All Buffet's had the same items pretty much made the food less desirable by the end of the week seeing the same stuff every day. Main lobby bar area - There is a group of people at a desk close to the currency conversion counter and walking all around the lobby, They will offer you a free Dominican package (Tshirts/rum...) all they want you to do is sit through an hour long presentation for a time share. This group made my time in the lobby a living hell. No matter how many times I explained that I spend 65% of my work week in board rooms and meetings, I had no desire to sit though 15 minutes let alone an hour. I am on vacation and just wanted to relax. Every time we went up to the main lobby or lobby bar, no less than 3 separate guys would pester me into going to this presentation. The last day while we were waiting for our bus to go home, I had 5 of them come up to me within an hour. I told em I was leaving and they left em alone just as quick as when they walked up. Being accosted constantly while trying to relax on vacation doesn't make it enjoyable in any location. Even the beach vendors did not harass my wife of myself over the course of the week as bad as these guys did. Even the Dominican market in the lobby the one night was just as bad...why did I pay almost $3800 for a vacation just to be constantly bombarded with "come buy my crap"?! Photographers - the hotel has photographers to help you capture the moment with professional pictures all over the resort. One day on the beach one of them walked up behind my wife with a 5' boa constrictor snake, I asked the guy to stop where he was about 10 feet away from my wife, she turned to see the snake and took off a good 20 feet in the opposite direction. I spoke to the concierge the next day and suggested that they dont walk around with reptiles as some people are terrified with them. To sum it all up, Staff was amazing, Hotel was great, beach was beautiful, food was ok, but needs way more variety!! ...trying to walk through the lobby at any time, forget it! If you stay here, Go platinum, stay down at the beach area and make use of the other 3 resorts included for meals, I would have but my wife got sick 3 days into our vacation. Hotel seriously needs to put a leash on the lobby canvasing!!

Ocean Blue and Sand: Some good... some not so good

Pools/Beach - I was very surprised to find that there is almost no shade at this resort. There is a small area at the beach with shade but it was so packed, there wasn't enough room for us. Sure we could have gone down and put our towels out early in the morning but I don't want to sit inches away from total strangers. The loungers were really packed together. They also have a roped off "privileged" section and the beds and chairs are practically on top of one another. This was seemed so ob [... read more]noxious to me... apparently the resort wants you to pay for shade. We normally love to lounge at the beach but were also very disappointed in the view. There are massive sand barriers that look like washed up submarines on the beach that block your view. The beach is very washed out and you have to go down hill to get to the water. We thought maybe we would spend some time at the pool instead but my partner saw a woman vomit in the pool... yuck. I had read that there was a party pool and a quiet pool but they are literally right next to each other so the quiet pool is not that quiet. Despite my grumblings, we did enjoy the weather, found a quieter spot on the beach in front of the beach buffet and just made sure we had on a lot of sunscreen since we had no shade. We enjoyed walking the beach and swam in front of other resorts without the sand barriers. We also enjoyed a beautiful sunrise walk on the beach. Punta Cana is quite lovely. Service - was good. The first day we thought we were being given a tour by the concierge but half way through we realized he was trying to get us to go to a meeting on the second day after our arrival. He wanted to talk to us about H10 - sales job. We did not go to the meeting but we saw him again and he was eager to get us to the meeting. We just explained we are on vacation and we don't want any schedules... he left us alone after that but I have to say it was a bit annoying. We started avoiding the staff with yellow shirts after that. Food - tasted quite good but I had some travelers tummy. Felt quite ill for a couple of days. I think I'm just susceptible to it. The restaurants were clean. Rooms - very spacious and clean. Lovely balcony

Secrets Royal Beach: Meh!

Staff were nice; especially Angel, he was great! Food was ok, Himitsu was very good, not the Tapenacki but the sit down portion was the best on the resort. Oceana was very bad. Seaside was also great! Swim up rooms are not private enough, waiters walking past your room every 3 minutes (great service but wanted privacy). Overall, not worth what we paid.

Bahia Principe Grand San Juan: Lots of fun

This is my second time to the resort, yes it hasn't changed much in 12 years, but I still had a blast. Entertainment is a strong point. Food is decent. Excursions were also pretty good. Rooms clean and well appointed. Enjoyed my time. Great bang for buck.

Bahia Principe Grand San Juan: Great place

All pools.bars.shows and food were great.staff was amazing .not enough seafood presented.not enough english tv or guide to english channels.would have preferred a channel guide or radio for music in the room.

VIK Hotel Arena Blanca: Was disappointed in the service

When we arrived there was kaos in the front lobby, and they weren't friendly at all. The food was good, the beach was great, but we were harassed constantly by the locals trying to sell us hotel deals, activities and jewelery. We liked the fact that it was a smaller hotel, didn't have to make reservations for dinners, although they only had 2 restaurants. Our room was ocean view and the view was stunning. Would we go back, no. I would rate this a 3.

Bahia Principe Escape Bouganville: Great vacation

The resort was well laid out and easy to get from place to place. Two pools offer you a quiet day or a more entertaining day both with swim up bars. Overall we enjoyed this resort. Food was great. Rooms were nice, clean and spacious. Staff were great. Special shout out to Annabel and Luis. If there was a suggestion to be made it would be the service in the lounge/bars. The servers need to be more attentive, this is were there is room for improvement. I would recommend this resort.

Paradisus Punta Cana: Disappointed!!

This resort has the potential to be a true 5 star,however due to the poor restaurant reservation system and building maintenance,this distinction can not apply!! Also when i arrived the staff had no idea what Emerald Club was about,they said they never heard of it. No Separate check in,No welcome gift,No bottle of rum,No welcome basket with snacks and no turn down service!!

Zel Punta Cana - All Suites: Amazing Resort!

This resort is amazing!!! The food is fantastic, best I've ever had at a resort. The buffet was so good, we didn't even eat at the restaurants. The staff here are so attentive and happy, they always wanted to help. I travelled with my 1 1/2 year old son and this resort is perfect for families with young children! The kids club is great, lots for my little guy to do. The staff were so good with him, even in the restaurants! The room was really nice! We had the master suite and it was perfect for  [... read more]our child, as the bathroom was in a room separate to the main bathroom, so we were able to make this his room with the crib the hotel provided. I would go to this resort again and again, I highly recommend it for parents looking for a resort that is both luxurious and child friendly!

TRS Turquesa: Beautiful Adults Only Resort!

This was our first trip to the Dominican Republic. The Royal Suites by Palladium is one of four resorts on their property in Punta Cana (adjoins their resort family of The Palace, The Punta Cana and The Bavaro). The staff were amazing, the grounds were impeccable and the beach was absolutely stunning! They have a wide array of a la carte restaurants which were delicious but even the buffet was amazing and we ate there several times. They had live entertainment and shows every night if you like.  [... read more]If there is anything you require, the butlers are readily available to assist with any request or need you have. We experienced some excursions and spent a day at the Zentropia Spa - it was absolutely wonderful. We stayed on the third floor but would highly recommend the swim up suites - they were completely booked during our stay. The people are wonderful, we had an amazing stay with the Royal Suites and would highly recommend this resort to anyone looking for a laid back, relaxing or romantic vacation together. We can't wait to go back!!

Grand Palladium Punta Cana: Amazing resort

This was our 13th trip to Grand Palladium in Punta Cana. Disappointing arrival experience. We were at resort at 10:15am. Totally prepared for our room not to be ready - always have beach necessities in carry on. We were told we would receive our bracelet at noon. If we wanted it sooner it would be $10/hour until noon. Our only option was to SIT IN LOBBY as we couldn't go to beach or get food without bracelet. After spending thousands of dollars on our vacation we were very upset. After much d [... read more]iscussion & asking for manager we were given bracelet. We specifically asked at booking time NOT TO BE IN JUNIOR SUITE because of stairs to sleeping area with bathroom on lower level. Yep, Junior suite it was. We were so tired & had no fight left in us we didn't even raise the issue.

Bahia Principe Grand San Juan: You have to go here!

This resort is amazing. I had such a great time. All of the staff on the resort are very helpful and friendly and fun. The only thing I didn't like were the beds, they were too hard otherwise everything was terrific. The food was delicious, the tour guide was great and told us so much about the history of the island. I would definitely recommend this resort.

Grand Palladium Palace: Great Resort

Rooms: we were in a newly renovated single story room in the palace section. Rooms were up to North American standards (with USB wall plates and a Bluetooth alarm radio for example). As you will read in other reviews, shower design is odd... it is a little difficult to get into and out of the shower (need a wooden step). Not an issue for people with no mobility issues but could be a problem for elderly guests. Also, there is only a sliding frosted door (with a finger hole) separating the room fr [... read more]om the bathroom. Not a big deal for a couple but could be awkward if you share a room with a friend. Also, if you can, try to get second floor room as the balcony is covered and is a nicer place to hang out (perhaps while your getting ready for dinner). Wifi: fairly strong free wifi throughout resort. Good enough for FaceTime. Beach: amazing beach. Chairs were not that difficult to find. We would go to the beach at 8am and could find very good seats in the "front row" with a parasol and there aren't really more than 3 rows (more or less) or chairs. Pools: pools were very nice and one is open late. Fairly relaxing atmosphere while we were there (ie people were having fun but it didn't feel out of hand in terms of partying - on the same note, i suppose that if you are looking for a more wild party trip, you may be a bit disappointed). Restaurants: Food was very good (relatively speaking - for an all inclusive resort in DR). Decor / ambiance was very nice in each à la carte. We went to six à la cartes. Our favorites were the steak house, Italian and Brazilian grill (we did not get into the Japanese restaurant but hear that it was also very good). You cannot make reservations unless you are in the royal section (i think). We would typically go to dinner around 8pm. I understand that if you go when restaurants open (6pm), you get in fairly quickly, otherwise you go on a waiting list. In our case, we waited anywhere between 15 minutes and 1.5+ hours. I would say the most frustrating part of the trip was getting into the à la cartes. Restaurants are sometimes half empty but you are still made to wait (i assume to keep tables open for whoever can reserve). It is also sometimes very difficult to figure out how much time until you are seated or how many tables are in front of you on the list. For example, you can be the next table on the list but then watch people walk into the restaurant ahead of you. When I asked if anyone can reserve tables (simply because I was trying to figure out how the system worked) I was told no... but I really think some guests can reserve and jump the line (royal guests and travel club perhaps???). This is all "fair game" if that is the case and perhaps if this was clear I could be "upsold" to one of those rooms if I decide to return in the future. In any event, we are on vacation and have nothing better to do so it did not ruin the trip or anything...also, you typically get a pager and can go wait near a bar so it was not that bad. Japanese was the only restaurant everyone could reserve but be ready to line up at reception at 7am if you want a sitting earlier than 1015pm. Also, if you have children or do not want to wait, the buffets were excellent and probably just as good as the à la cartes. Summary: great resort. Would consider going back, but with the option of reserving restaurants... so maybe upgrade to royal if price difference is not unreasonable (but could also be convinced to try another 5 star in the area).