Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Horrible experience

ello, my name is Holly Desrosiers I had booked a package to Dominican Republic just arrived home lastnight. My experience was nonethenless traumatic and horrible. I had sent this email 2 days into my trip but the wifi i had paid 100$ for was not working on top of everything else that could possibly go wrong. Our room had problem after problem and it wasnt until the second last day of our trip that we were finally moved into a new room with ac and working plugs. Our first room had no ac so y [... read more]ou can see in our attached pictures it was melting away, our suitcases were wet from the leaks and humidity in the room along with all the plugs so we couldnt even so much as charge our phones i had purchased 3 different chargers thinking it was my phone when finally i asked a worked to plug my phone into their charger so every morning i went to the cigar shop and dropped off my phone to charge , Our bath tub was clogged so everytime we showered it was dirty water up our legs and then after that was fixed our bathroom ceiling was leaking which left my hAir straightener broken , i wish this was the end. After this was “fixed” my entire bathroom was dirty from the ceiling leak we waited 4.5 hours for someone to come clean it up, i would have cleaned it myself if they wernt charging $20 for a new towel. This hotel should absolutely be a 2 star resort , the food is horrendous and old and cold ! The service is horrible if youre not tipping EVERY single time , and if you are a vegetarian good luck to you, my husband had to eat off the resort multiple times because all that was available for him was rice and beans or fruit .. the spa harassed us every single day, we purchased a $250 USD spa package and they STILL bothered us everyday for more even though we didnt even get what we paid for to begin with. On our second day we were walking to find food because it was scarce to find any, and this worker told us he will bring us he seemed so sweet and welcoming and knew we were upset …. He brang us on a 5 minute golf cart ride to the vip section to be harassed into buying an 11k timeshare , i just explained i was hungry and now i am left 20 mins walking distance from where i needed to be , when they realized we were not interested the customer service was out the window and u were treated horrible compared to the vip guests. This resort is completely segregated, vip is treated amazing and have so many options when the regular guests are treated horrible . This was my first time booking through trip central and i could honestly say it will be my last. I would highly not recommend cofresi palm resort to anyone !

Blue Bay Villas Doradas: Quiet and Relaxing Resort

Resort was very quiet in July, had a very relaxing stay. We did the Isla Bonita and City Tour excursions which were both very fun. Food was good, especially the Chinese restaurant was amazing, but the snack buffet at the beach could have been better.

Playabachata Hotel: A very average to below average resort.

I will start with the positives. The beach area is well-maintained and is very nice. The grounds of the resort is also very well-kept. The rooms are antiquity and needs to be renovated. I had to change my room because the first room that I got had wooden boards planked up in the window, the bathtub was all stained, and there was a hole in the wall lamp. The hotel was nice enough to upgrade me to a "renovated" room, without any additional charge. The room was ok. The furniture were all out [... read more]dated, there was a huge hole at the wall beside my fridge (and I was afraid of vermin or other things coming in), the safe was old and rusty, the mattress was a bit lumpy and low, and there were holes in the room curtain. But, believe me it was a massive improvement over my first room. The room was very large, and housekeeping did a good job of cleaning. The food was also not that great. The drinks were mostly sweet and too syrupy, and the food tended to be salty, with not a lot of variety. The pool area was a lot smaller than advertised (I only went to the beach). Service at this hotel was sub-par.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Nice resort

Very clean resort, friendly staff, awesome beach, huge pool, lots of variety for meals, rooms were good as well. Only complaint was that the daily & nightly entertainment was very poor. Sanitizer available in all areas, tables spread out in dining areas.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Average resort!

Grounds are clean, rooms were good. Entertainment is repetitive despite trying to switch it up. Barely any entertainment during the day. The alcohol and food is average, missing some of my fav Dominican dishes and avocados !!!!

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Very good resort, with some areas for improvement

This was our trip 16 to the Caribbean, 3rd to the Dominican Republic, first time to this resort, staying for 2 weeks. The good: • This resort is a solid 4 stars. The landscaping is impeccable, the gardeners are working non-stop, day in and day out. • Great settings – absolutely stunning views, gorgeous sunsets. We’ve seen 3 weddings while we were there, a picture-perfect set for a Caribbean wedding. • Decent size rooms, relatively clean (though there was some hair left from the [... read more] previous guests in the bathtub). • Good, whisper-quiet air conditioner, best I’ve ever seen in the DR/Cuba/Mexico. • Safe key is free. • Never had an issue with exchanging the beach towels, they were always available. No issues with beach chairs either – plenty of free chairs were always available. • Food variety is good, you won’t be hungry. Lots of fresh fruits, salads, sauces, cheeses. Passion fruit, mangoes, avocados – ripe and juicy. The baking goods in the buffet are excellent, some are really impressive. The coffee in the coffee shop is great as well. • Local beer and mamajuana – the best. • WiFi in the room was workable, 5mb/s. Sometimes it went out, but overall was fine. • Sports bar is awesome, food there turned out to be way better than we expected. The hot dog is not just a hot dog, it’s a real meal. Hamburgers would give any North American chain a run for their money. • Staff was friendly, any questions/concerns were addressed. • The “VIP Breakfast” people were not too pushy, told them that I am not interested and they lost interest in me too. • The gym is excellent, if you’ve seen the pictures – it’s a real deal, one of the best gyms I’ve seen in the Caribbean, except for one massive flaw (see next section). • The ocean is amazing, great for swimming – minimal to no waves, good depth most of the time, and safe for children. The flag on the beach is meaningless, it never changes and is for decoration only, so swim ahead. The bottom is sandy, there are rocks closer to corals, but you will quickly learn to navigate around them. • You will see plenty of small colorful fishes, kids will have a blast. Fish seems to be trained to come in schools when you get closer to the (dead) reef. Don’t need a snorkel, they will literally surround you. We’ve also seen one large (really fat and large, about 1m long, tuna-like) fish, not sure what it was, probably harmless, but it scared the hell out of us. Great experience though. • The steakhouse was good and exceeded our expectations, highly recommend. We visited it twice – the medium-rare tenderloin stake was cooked to perfection both times. • We’ve visited a sister resort next door – night and day. If you are torn between the two because of the two hundred dollars difference – don’t even think about it, choose Senator. • Aside from some staff wearing mask, there was no difference between our vacation experience before COVID and now. The not-so-good: • I hope you like CNN, because there are only 2 English channels available. We did not come here to watch TV, but still. • The shows were amateurish. If you like karaoke or seeing fat tourists twerking, then you will have a blast, otherwise not worth going. Nothing to do after dinner either. Having a live violin or other instrument played in the lobby in the evening would have been fantastic. • Japanese restaurant was a letdown. Any food court in Toronto cooks much tastier and much more “Japanese” food than in this restaurant. The restaurant ambiance is great, and the show the chef puts up is spectacular, but nobody in my group was able to finish large chunks of undercooked chicken. Their version of sushi was as far from real sushi as DR is from Japan, not worth it. • The protein in the main buffet is meh... I tried different meat and fish, but it was rarely prepared well. Some meat is clearly reheated from previous dinners. Often, there were more bones than meat. Same for fish – stale, occasionally half-raw, tried multiple varieties – hit and miss, some of the worst cooked fish I’ve seen in the Caribbean, and we usually travel to cheaper resorts. • We all got stomach problems, some of us – multiple times. 10 days of diarrhea is not fun, I assure you. I suspect that fruits and salads are not washed well, as we ate a lot of them. • The lineups to the protein section during lunch are epic – I’ve never seen 30-meter lineups in the restaurant before. For some inexplicable reason, the cooks cook very little meat before dinner, starting when crowds arrive. Very poor planning and flow control. If you are not in the restaurant the minute it opens and among the first – you might as well forget about the meat (or settle for hamburgers or cold cuts, which are served separately). If you come 30 min later, good luck finding a table. The mayhem at lunch was my biggest point of contention by far. Interestingly, the dinner is totally different story – the restaurant is half-empty. Since the lunch is packed with locals, I suspect there is some kind of dining special going on for locals, thus they come to lunch in hundreds. • Coffee machine (one) in the buffet. Getting a coffee was an adventure. There is almost always a lineup to a single working (sometimes – not working) coffee machine preparing some powder “coffee-like” substance. Why not just buy a bunch of cheap drip coffee makers and keep the good coffee going? Three hundred dollar investment would have gone a long way in ensuring there is always enough fresh coffee. • Things do walk away sometimes, so lock everything, including hats. • If you want to buy rum at the resort – you are up for sticker shock. The prices for Dominican rum at the stores are higher than in Canada. But hold on to your money – on your way out there is a Duty-Free in the airport with much, much better prices. • The gym. While the gym itself is excellent, they have a stupid policy – no teenagers under 16 are allowed in, even with their parents. The gym was one of the reasons we chose this hotel, my son is 13 and has been visiting a gym in Toronto since 10. He takes his routine seriously, and being kicked out of the gym because he is under 16 was a big letdown and disappointment. Overall – we are happy with our stay and might return to Senator, all the letdowns were not that big of a deal and were far outweighed by the beautiful settings and the ocean. However, we probably won’t be back for another 3 years, until my son is old enough to use their gym.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: The absolute worst service, Terrible hotel

We had the worst time during our stay! The staff are rude, had no consideration for patrons (my mother) with accessibility issues. We had the worst experience ever and would not return or recommend this hotel to anyone. Our group was over looked many times over the locals visiting on the weekend. Rude comments were made by staff as they didn't realize we spoke and understood Spanish. Tripcentral and Air transat should stop sending Canadaians there everyone on our flight was complaining! They  [... read more]even refused us dinner the day we were leaving, I had to beg for food for my diabetic mother and daughters, absolutely disgusting service

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: BE LIVE - more like stay alive.

The hotel did look like it’s pictures but there were so many inconsistencies. The hotel we were placed in was an extremely old building with a broken shower handle, broken toilet and an awfully looking mirror. The room did have a smell to it as you enter and it did not look as nice as the pictures you would’ve seen. The ac does leak and when asked for support in this, we were told that we cannot turn the ac of even though it was extremely cold in there. We were given a suggestion that we tri [... read more]ed but the ac continued to leak. We were also not accommodated with late check out even though we had gone with other Canadians who got a new room when asked and was given a late check out. They told us that we could not get a late check out as it gets booked in advance but there are about 9 different building with many rooms in it. The customer service was absolutely frustrating to deal with, the food was mediocre , not all of the a la carte restaurant are opened every night so you don’t get to decide which one to eat, the weekends are absolutely chaos with an overflow of people so there is barely any space in the pool or restaurants. The pros are definitely the staff around the resort (everyone other than the front desk) as they always ensure great service. It was a 3/10 for us

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: great resort amazing staff

i really have to say this hotel was really the best experience it provided for our vacation and what relates to this enjoyable experience definitely goes to the friendly and helpful staff who attended to us.The team working at the Vintage Club really treats you like family.Maria,Sujeidy and Milton from the Vintage club i must say treats you like family When our daughter who was a bit sick on one of the days they went out of their way to make sure she felt better.A special thanks to Juan and Ro [... read more]sa for accomodating us during that time Roxana from housekeeping made sure our rooms were prim and proper and on time Aquilino and the barmen on the beach really gave us VIP treatment.Regarding the nightly entertainment it was nothing special but just games and crowd participation,infact thats one area the resort has to look into.A special thanks to O Neil Graham our ticketing man who was very informative,patient and polite during my booking of this trip So overall I would definitely recommend this resort

Blue Bay Villas Doradas: Wonderful!

The grounds were amazing. The staff polite, went out of their way for any needs. The entertainment was wonderful and friendly. Always felt inviting and relaxing. The beach is amazing!!! Restaurants varied and well prepared food. Pasta and omelette stations!!! yes please! wonderful. The rooms were always done well daily. Having a towel exchange for the beach towels was so handy. Had the photographer take some photos he was polite and the pictures were beautiful. Thank you Darlin [... read more]! I have no negatives about this hotel. I went Solo as a woman and did not feel intimidated or ignored at the couples resort. Treat very well. Security was amazing and I will be back!!

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Great staff, old building

My experience at this hotel was not as good as anticipated. The hotel grounds were decent, and staff were very kind but our room was extremely old and mucky. There were stains on the sheets, towels, rags, headboard, side tables, and when bringing this issue to the front desk, nothing was done. I presume most rooms look like this and the rooms are simply old and need renovations. Definitely a big surprise for an Iberostar chain hotel. I would also say the hotel is seemed to be more targeted t [... read more]o locals rather than tourists., as they populated 98% of the hotel. Also, 90% of the staff I interacted with barely spoke any English and it was difficult to make simple requests. I would not return nor recommend.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Beautiful resort

It a nice resort and friendly staff but activists for younger crowed are not much.Dancing club could be better and more pool area could be added. Food was good and drinks were good too.Rooms was nice but I didn’t like the shower missing curtain so every time you take shower water comes out on floor. Balcony are was nice, other than that it was good.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Awesome time!

This resort Is incredible! I visited with my girlfriend and we can both say it was An amazing vacation. The food was one of the best from an all inclusive. Usually the buffet is below average at resorts but this one was really good! The beach and pool was also nice. We enjoyed the two pools as one provided entertainment, with volleyball and music. While the other was “quite” and it was nice to read a book or go for a light swim. The rooms were fabulous with very good AC. Would recommend this [... read more] resort to all as it’s in my opinion the best in the city without question.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Amazing staff, very clean resort - Poor drinks and food

The hotel its self was beautiful, ground were fantastic, well kept very clean and all the staff were amazing. Tony at the Mexican, and the beach bar guy - sorry forgot his name was very friendly. i have to say i have been to many places in my time and the food was not up to par here, nothing on a grill and very watered down drinks - however this may be because at the weekend fri - sun the local Dominicans do overtake the whole resort and the food options completely change and the drinks are very [... read more] watered down. i know it is very overwhelming for the staff as we did speak to a few of them. beautiful place, but i would not go back - i can go to Mexico, Punta Cana or Jamaica for the same price, with 100% better food and drinks. They did have no bottles water as they say they have a filter system station, believe me its not filtered properly - we travelled with friends and we are all still sick from this as we did drink lots of water.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Clean, excellent staff, food was amazing not one complaint at this hotel !

Amazing staff was very friendly, VIP was worth every penny ! Room was clean, food at the buffet and restaurants was great . Pool was clean the only issue was the weekend when the hotel allowed the locals to come to the hotel with their families . It was loud and crowded at the pool , the bars and the buffet.

Casa Marina Sosua Trademark by Wyndham All Inclusive: Good Resort

Been to better resorts. The entertainment I could not understand. Performances where mediocre. Food was all local stuff with no taste, breakfast (pancakes and French toast soggy). No entertainment for kids during day/knight.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: quiet and small

Think i would of enoyed it more if the first 3 days wernt ruined by lost luggage, having to shop to find some things toi wear other items u cant take on carry on , very dissappointed and the trip was 3 apr nad not a call back hrs on a phone call that u never get thru to talk to someone about a claim! To top the lost luggage the flight back was horrible delayed in dominican and then delayed twice in toronto for a 5 hr flight the delays were unbelievable sure makes u not want to travel wel [... read more]l me anyways and then to try and get your money back its horrible, I wont again Thanks westjet for your (not) quick response (3 months and still waiting )

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: ok resort

Hotel, beach , food, customer service- ok Entertainment- bad 3 from 4 people fully vaccinated 2 and 3 dosses got Covid starting the 5th day of staying . Bad points- local people during the weekend -crowded, noisy, long waiting line . Hotel owner professional and nice . Trip to PP-ok but too pushy to buy expensive things . Too noisy for the night - rooms near pool .

Playabachata Hotel: 1st time in Dom Republic

Rooms a little outdated, very slow internet, available in the lobby area only, more a la carte restaurant would have been nice Very nice people, friendly. Lots of employees spoke English Buffet food was good More snacks, Only pizza was available in between for snack

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: Amazing trip

I just wanted to say it was an amazing trip to Puerto plata. It was my 3rd time there and first time for my grandson. He really enjoyed taking the plane for the first time. We did alot of activities like dunebuggy, ziplining and cable cars. We swimmed everyday and the ocean was warm and relaxing. I'm looking forward to go back sometime soon. I thank all the wonderful staff at be live collection marien. Also thank you trip central and especially jaris at trip central