Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Beautiful Resort

This was an amazing place to stay. My friends and I loved every second of it! It was clean and beautiful, the staff were amazing and friendly and we couldn't have asked for a better stay! The rooms and grounds were clean and everything was perfect! We can't say enough about how much we loved the staff, they made the trip even more amazing!

Be Live Experience Hamaca Suites: Some Good, Some Bad

OK: Lets break this down: Food: We thought the food was great as was the all of the dining staff. We were there for two weeks and never tired of it. Great variety, great deserts, chap who serves the eggs in the morning is an artist. Beach: I’m thinking - Chair Wars. Too many people for such a small beach. Oh and don’t think just because you left your towel and belonging on your char they are safe… certain guests didn’t seem to hesitate to toss your stuff and claim your chair. (Ne [... read more]ver a Canadian of course).But the beach was nice, maybe too calm and shallow for all likes. The water was clear. Pools: They should buy a skimmer and put it in the pool over night. Either that or catch all the birds flying around and put tiny diapers on them. In spite of the poo and the drowning bugs it was an enjoyable pool. Entertainment and animation: Tough job at the best of times, but not an area I was too concerned with. (sorry) Let’s say it wasn’t bad. Bar staff: Excellent. 10/10 Rooms: Well, we were in the older building with a garden view. The room had issues which could have been easily and very inexpensively repaired, and it’s obvious that their service staff are in dire need of training and/or resources. For the amount of time we spent in the room, and the price we paid, we can live with it. Internet: Forget about it. Every dollar spent is a dollar wasted, and forget about the ‘free’ internet. It’s only available near the beach, and when I say available I mean only theoretically. Walk up to the corner, of the main street, pay the lady at the corner $5(US) and get a G4 SIM card with 500MB, (more if you want ) if that is an option for you. This is one of the sore spots that if I let it, could have ruined my vacation. There is NO excuse for bad internet in 2017. And for some of us, staying connected is the only thing that make vacationing possible. Service(Front) Desk personnel. Fire the whole bunch of them. As I would give the kitchen staff a 10/10 I would give these people 1/10. They must be related to the owners. Fortunately after check in, you can forget about them (if you’re lucky)

Bahia Principe Escape Bouganville: Excellent resort

Grounds immaculate....Las Corrales best a la carte restaurant....buffet is great for breakfast lunch and dinner....always great service also.....the concierge service was not comparable to last year....never even met one....last year Miguel would come to us everyday to make sure everything was as we wanted

Blue Bay Villas Doradas: Great Vacation!

We stayed at the Blue Bay Villas Doradas from February 9 to 19, 2017. The resort is on the small side which is one of the things we look for when planning our vacation. The grounds are lovely but we found the rooms a little on the small side and slightly run down -- even though we purchased the Platinum upgrade. They were, however very clean. Food was very good in the a la carte restaurants. We didn't have a great experience at the Asian restaurant on our first visit but decided to give it  [... read more]another try and had a much better dinner the second time around. The entertainment crew were amazing and very interactive! Other staff were also very accommodating but seemed to work on Dominican time :) We had a couple of days of rain and didn't have an umbrella in our room so went to the front desk to request one. We were told that it would be put in our room shortly -- it arrived 2 days later. All in all it was a good vacation at a good price. As we always say, the vacation is what you make it and unless something goes terribly wrong, we always make the best of any situation.

Casa Marina Reef Resort: beautiful resort

The grounds are beautifully landscaped. The food was not so great but oh well. The pools on the reef were so much fun! Watching waves on the beach was great. It is not a place to go if you want beach time in the water. We were red flagged 5 out of 7 days.

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Average to Good Resort

In our opinion (myself and my two sisters), we thought the hotel grounds were very clean. The pools seemed very clean. We only swam one late afternoon in the pool next to the ocean because we had returned late from an excursion. The pool was warm and clean. Our room was located next to the ocean which was a plus for us. The transportation at the hotel (shuttle train) was good for us as one sister has a walking disability. The room was clean. The main issue we had in our hotel room was the [... read more] safe as the instructions were not very clear. We had to get someone to come twice to help us out. There were other small issues but we were able to resolve them without too much delays like we had two towels rather than three as we were three in the room, the coffee machine wasn't working but we were given a new one. We kept on asking for an additional coffee cup and saucer for our afternoon coffee but that never happened so we had to take the matter into our own hands and get one from the buffet. When we arrived at the resort on our first day, we were given a photocopy of the resort map which I thought was not very professional considering the amount we paid for this holiday. We were able to get a coloured map half way through our holiday only to find out on our last day that, at the guest's office where you do your flight check-in, there were plenty on the desk. Everyone should be given a coloured map of the resort regardless the resort you are staying at. I found that to be poor judgment on the part of the hotel management. The wine at the buffet was not very good. Its like it was watered down but the wine at the specialty restaurants was good. The drinks at the bars were OK but not exceptional. We would have liked Presidente beer in our fridge in our room instead of Coors Lite. We have Coors Lite at home but not Presidente as it is their local beer. The food at the specialty restaurants (Mexican, Japanese and Mediteranean) was excellent. The food at the buffet for breakfast was very good but the buffet for supper was not very good. We did not like the food all that much for supper. It was average but no more than that. At Italian night at the buffet, there was no more tomato sauce, no more mushrooms and no more tomatoes at 8:00 pm and there were not making any more even though the buffet was opened for another two hours. If you have Italian night, you should have a lot of already prepared platters to choose from. I only find lasagna and that was good. There was not a lot of choices to choose from at the buffet considering it was Italian night. I would have expected more choices. We booked two excursions through our airline representative and that was very good. We would recommend them to anybody (Runners and Marinarium). That was a lot of fun especially swimming with the sharks and visiting the Dominican people in the country. The Dominican people are very nice and courteous people. They spoke our language and we practiced our Spanish with them as we speak French, English and some Spanish. We had great weather and always found chairs at the beach. The beach was a definite 5/5. What was missing at this resort was animals, like Flamingos, peacock, birds, turtles, ponds with fish,etc. including cats. The two cats we saw at this resort did not look all that healthy. I have seen cats at other resorts where they looked much healthier and the hotel staff confirmed they were fed daily. Not sure about these two cats. That really bothered us. All in all, we were glad we went but we would have to think again before booking at a Bahia Principe resort in the future.

Riu Palace Bavaro: Good resort

The food and service was very good, the hotel rooms were clean, the beachfront was spectacular. Not many activities/games took place during the day - other resorts appeared much more lively. Entertainment at night was ok.

Sunscape Coco Punta Cana: Be Live Collection Punta Cana

Upon our arrival our room had been given away. We were put in a building that is not even listed on the hotel map; building 18. We had to have a security guard let us into the room, we were given no keys for the room, there was no phone, the room was freezing and no control for this, there was only a blanket for the bed that was dirty. Managed to get into a proper room the following day.

Sunscape Dominican Beach: Good resort

Very nice And good but the beach is not...Excellent food And staff.....I recommend this resort not for the beach but for the service,staff And food.....And also it s neer the airport. ................

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Relaxing Resort

Wonderful,resort for a week of R&R, gorgeous grounds, beautiful beach you can walk for miles. Lots of activities if you choose to do so or you can simply read a great book under a palapa on the beach.

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: February 14*21 visit

We stayed at the Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana, Our stay was good. The hotel needs updating as it,s age is showing. Our bar fridge had water soft drinks and Coors light....really....should have been the local beer. The drinks are average as they serve the local liquors unless you stay at the Luxury hotels of the Bahia where they serve the premium liquors. I did not like the fact that in the lobby bar there was an additional fee for premium liquors. The beach is beautiful however it is crowd [... read more]ed. We had seven in our group and in order to get beach chairs together we would go to the beach around 7:30 to get chairs. There were plenty of pools with swim up bars. The buffets were good but the food choices were repetitive. The A la cartès were good/average. We had some issues but they were resolved quickly. Whenever we called for extra towels they brought them right away. We had a few servers in the A la carte restaurants that were average but for the most post the staff was friendly. If I were to go back I would stay at one of the Luxury Bahia resorts.

Vik Hotel Cayena Beach: Great Resort!

I found the bed very comfortable, and the room very well equipped and well kept. The food was very good, especially the healthy food at breakfast which included smoothies. There were many couches and chairs around the pool and beach area. The Transat representative was very helpful in booking a very informative trip to Los Haitisis National Park. Everyone we met were very friendly.

Vik Hotel Cayena Beach: Superb resort

This resort offered everything: very comfortable room with an ocean view from the balcony; excellent food at the restaurant for Cayena Beach guests only; separate beach area for Cayena Beach guests; lots of comfortable seats around the private pool, and bar. The resort was also very close to the beautiful sandy beach, with lots of trees at the edge of the property line. The staff was very friendly and accommodating.

Hyatt Vivid Punta Cana: Amazing stay with family

We had a wonderful stay. The beach is beautiful, the pools were refreshing and always plenty of chairs and umbrellas. The kids pool was nice and shallow for the kids. The buffet was fabulous so much variety. Coco cafe was nice spent each evening there after dinner. The Italian restaurant was good but service was very slow. The japanese restaurant was delicious and entertaining. The french restaurant was extremely slow, we left after 1.5 hrs as we still hadn't had our full meal yet. The r [... read more]ooms are very dated and there is no storage to put away your clothes, not a big fan of living out of suitcases. The washroom layout very poor, and floor was always soaked after shower as there is no closing door on the shower. Do not fall for the Ultimate vacation club, waste of 3.5 hrs was disappointed to have wasted that time. Overall amazing experience and would definitely return. But next time we would upgrade to Diamond club, we stayed in regular room but for the extra I think it would be worth the upgrade. High recommend this hotel.

Grand Palladium Punta Cana: Awesome resort

Everything was great at this resort..beautiful beaches and the grounds are well maintained. There are plenty of restaurants and the buffets ...well there is everything ...including fruit loops . No one can say they can't find something to eat. They have assorted dishes and meats, fruit, breads.ect.. The staff at the resort are the most friendly that I've ever met at a resort.They sing and dance almost always which gives you this welcome happy feeling. Rooms are spacious, cleaned daily. Cement  [... read more]around pools and walkways are cleaned daily with bleach and water. There are 3 large pools, one has a pirates ship, slides for the kids, they also have a huge castle which is a daycare centre. There is also a casino, meringue hall Different shows nightly and another hall that has a Micheal Jackson performance. I definitely would go back to this resort. This resort is super clean and friendly.

The Eurostars Grand Cayacoa: best surprise!

Booked this resort, with pretty low expectations as we were trying to go south and not spend much. Spent only a few days at Gran Bahia Principe Caycoa and the views are spectacular! The view of Samana and the bay are stunning. The best surprise was we got offered to upgrade for free to Luxury Bahia Principe Samana....wow! Adults only, butler service and amazing restaurants! Also, spectacular views. Fell in love with Samana, quiet low key place compared to Punta Cana....would highly recommend thi [... read more]s destination.

Majestic Elegance Punta Cana: peaceful elegance

This is a beautiful property. The grounds are extremely well kept. Food is good but not exceptional. All specialty restaurants do not need reservations. Some bartenders are not great but the good ones are around. We really enjoyed this vacation and would return.

Vista Sol Punta Cana: Dominican Vista Sol Review from a Cuba Fan: A Honest Review & Comparison

Typically my husband and myself with a medium to large group hale the island of Cuba for our winter getaway and pick a different resort every year. We have visited various resorts in Cayo Coco, Holguin and one in Santa Clara. For the 2017 holiday, six of us (three couples) decided to try the Dominican, more specifically, the Vista Sol Punta Cana as this resort was very reasonably priced as compared to other ones in Punta Cana. We flew out of Waterloo Regional Airport (the name is larger than  [... read more]the airport-lol) as we live locally. Sunwing flys to Punta Cana on Thursdays from this airport - a tad inconvenient choice of day but SO close and wonderful to bypass Toronto airport hassles. Big Bonus especially when you arrive back home. After at two hour delay (it was a connector from Sudbury) we were finally boarded on our plane and off we went. Smooth flight and arrival to a very beautiful thatched roof Punta Cana airport. A tad disorganized flight as Sunwing was without the proper papers aboard to go through Punta Cana arrival so it was a scramble once we got inside to get a form, a pen and either table of floor space to sit and fill them out. Typical cattle line to get through, pay arrival tax ($10US) and out the other end.(Quick note: It is a $20US departure tax when you leave for home).1st cold beer and shuttle to resort within 20 minutes - awesome. To continue re the airport (jumping ahead to our return home), we were in a 2 hour line just to check our luggage, by the time we got through everything else we were boarding our plane for home. Beautiful airport but Sunwing very non-efficient and disorganised to have three flights trying to leave at the same time. Give me Cuba - funny little airports, but far more efficient. Arrival rather unshattering (no greet drink or "welcome" - this is the 1st thing we noticed not the same as Cuba arrivals). Went through reception quickly, no smiles or greetings at all. Don't get me wrong, I am not needy or a critical person, it just felt kinda "blah". Three swim-up rooms booked for each of our party (3 couples), one room not available for our friends so they were to come back next day to change. This can happen, but no apology for any inconvenience given. Rooms were great, love the pool right by our stone patio. Each side of the patio space had somewhat spanish inspired stucco divider wall with large planted green palm. Very nice.Were they any better than Cuban rooms? - I would say they were same caliber as 4 star Cuban but the pool proximity put it over the top. (By the way, its $10US for the safe key). Dont know about you, but we go south in the winter for the beach as the number one priority. This did not disappoint. A walk down really lovely maintained grounds landed you right onto the sand. Continue walking by the activity areas (volleyball, darts, bocchi ball etc) placed in and around 40ft tall palms for the next 100 ft when finally, 'cleared' to waters edge. Very tropical feel however, when seeking full sun took a few moves in the afternoon as these palms cast dappled shadows everywhere. My preference? - palapas, then sun and shade seekers can still sit together. My best reference in Cuban experience would be the lovely super wide beach with palapas and the odd beach tree at the Rio de Lunas Y Mares in Holguin. One of the best beaches on the island. Also (back to the Vista Sol), only a short walk at the oceans edge in to a ridge of sand and then it went deeply down to mid chest. We are used to Cuban shallow entry with clear view of the bottom so you can sit on a dune or in shallow waters. My preference is a typical Cuban entry. Ok, now for the vendors. NOT used to this - the hotel commissions staff to wander among the beach bathers to sell excursions (this is fine) BUT the locals do it too although they have to adhere to closer to the waters edge but it is constant. As expected then, when you wander to the left of this resort (facing the ocean) you are harranged by locals every minute as we walked to buy from their beach shops which are pretty much on the waters edge and they look it as they are eroded and crumbled for the most part. This would actually make a neat painting for colours, shapes and cultural visual purposes, but not what I want on a vacay beach stroll. None of this happens anywhere in Cuba. Bottom line - prefer Cuban beach over Dominican beach. We went to the main pool to check out the Animacion games, always fun at the end of a beach day. Lots of sun there as the palm shadows were long at beach (sun sets behind the resort, not on the ocean horizon)They had one activity that took almost an hour so we were not impressed even though one of our friends was in it (he always does this everywhere - a really good sport) Even he decided just to get up and leave. So we did not return to this pool again, after all we had our own back at the rooms with a lovely bar!The pool bars close at 6:00 including the bar where the swim up rooms are but the bartender would not serve my husband at 5:45 as she had closed everything. She told us to go elsewhere and even rolled her eyes. There's a word for her and it starts with a "b". We actually witnessed her pouring jugs of beer for the workers who stopped by her bar and discreetly put in their wheelbarrows only to return again. Nice job if you can get it but treat your patrons with respect please.Again I refer to the attitude and level of service from the staff as being below par. We encountered this also with our room service. We tipped our maid $20 US the 1st morning to ensure good service with a good tip for the week? Well, that day, this worked well as we got plenty of bottled water, pouches of coffee for the coffee maker and 6 beers in the fridge. "Awesome", we said, but the room was not cleaned for the next two days. Honestly, we felt ripped off and a little silly for tipping at all. Again - NOT an experience in Cuba. Our friends did not get a swim up room (remember them, no room as booked the 1st day so they had to come back the next morning) so they were placed in an oceanview room at no extra charge so that was actually really great for them. Our other friends (in the swim up rooms) had a large leak from their bathroom ceiling for three days in a row, maintenance came to fix it quickly each day, but it was not fixed properly so they went to the reception on the third night and had management come out to their room and all agreed that this was not good and promised a new room in the morning. Next day, you know it, no room available BUT they too were reassigned to an oceanview room with our other friends. On we go. Our toilet stopped working and finally got a maintenance guy with a plunger 6 hours later. Actually it was pretty funny trying to get someone to understand the issue. I had a Spanish-English pocket dictionary, finally found the word and went running in my PJs along the pool edge at 8:00 am chasing the senorita with the clipboard. A few hand gestures later, everyone understood and had a good laugh. Food - FABULOUS! I have a few food allergy issues and ate extremely well as did everyone else. The buffet wasn't huge but the open layout was very nice and the food choices were great. The food is far better than Cuban fare for sure. It is pretty much self serve for drinks (coffee/expresso automated machines that also gave you choices of tea) but I gotta say, their house wines were pretty nasty. So what our friends did was buy a few inexpensive bottles from one of the resort stores and drank that instead.) There is also a cigar and gift shop on premisis with typical fare. We also went to the Italian a la Carte. This was delicious! Our four friends also went to the Mexican and thoroughtly enjoyed it too. A Plus. Entertainment was lacking. No lobby entertainment and I really like that in Cuba. A typical one of our days is a little breakfast, into suits, hit the beach all day, a little poolside at 4:00, back to the room, shower and then go to Lobby for drinks and entertainment before the buffet. Sadly missing. The whole "festive island" feel was missing for us. Excursions? Normally we don't bother but four of us bought the doon buggy excursion from one of the hotel reps on the beach and bargained it down $20US. If you don't ask, you don't get and always worth a try. We did this on pretty much a monsoon rain day and it was hilarious!! Covered in splattered mud, I mean, what can you do but just give into it and enjoy? Visited a beautiful ocean beach (couldn't swim as bad undertoe in storm) and a 30ft deep swimming hole 30ft down in a cave - very cool. We returned to the resort and walked through the lobby with lots of questioning looks like, "what the heck happened to you?" Actually a phenominal day. It rained for the next two days which was unfortunate but what can you do? Last day and the sun came out which was so beautiful. Attended a foam party in the pool (Wednesday late afternoons) which was really fun, we had a blast. Im done, hope this helps a bit. Our consensus as a group of six (three couples) was back to Cuba. Maybe spend the same money ($1500US each) and go to a higher end Cuban resort for next round. The people and beaches far outweigh the amenities and the food for me. As far as the Domincan goes, this was just our first trip there, I do understand that spending more money would likely make a difference. Was this resort good value, yeah, I think so for this island but as a comparison to most Canadians other island destination, I prefer Cuba. I hope it remains as it is even with the current allowable entrance of our neighbours south of the 49th parallel. Have a great holiday wherever you go!!!

Bahia Principe Explore El Portillo: Had a Great Week at El Portillo

First of all, the drive from and back to the airport was fabulous, amazing views, mountains and beautiful vegetation everywhere. I normally just tolerate the drive to the resort but I enjoyed this transfer so much. The resort is very pretty and yet elegant, loved the open air concept in all the additional places to the lobby, restaurants, seating areas. There were so many places to go and sit if you wanted to get away from everyone. Rooms were great, everything replenished on a daily basis.  [... read more] Restaurants are really nice, loved the buffet outdoor seating on the beach. Food was good to really good depending on the dish. Tons of selection at every meal, fantastic fruit, yogurts, breads, salad bar, lots of flavourful dishes, some of the highlights for me were the pork tenderloin in prune sauce, the oxtail stew, the goat stew and the octopus stew. I know that these are not to everyone's taste but I loved them and there are plenty of delicious chicken, pork, seafood and beef dishes as well as lots of vegetarian. Rodizo, the Brazilian restaurant was a great experience, the most amazing chicken and pork although the service was poor, especially to two women. Dishes were replenished regularly at the buffet and those desserts were too good, especially the small squares of cakes, so light and delicious. Staff very friendly and helpful, slow to serve at the bar so you need patience but this is the Dominican so slow down. The beach was beautiful as expected, lovely bay with spectacular views to the right side. Lovely soft, fine golden sand, clear, calm water. You could walk for miles. My only disappointment and for me this was significant was that the beach was so crowded. There are not enough palapas and beach space with chairs for this size of a resort. I felt that people were on top of each other all the time. The only exception was if you got a front row palapa, otherwise you were looking at a sea of beach chairs and bodies. Lucky for me is that my sister is an early morning runner, so she was able to get a decent spot most days. We had great weather, one really overcast and windy day so we took a taxi into Las Terranas. Interesting town. lovely beach side promenade and restaurants and stores. The cab driver offered to wait for us for 2 hours but if not, there are plenty of other cabs. I loved Samana and would like to try one of the other smaller Gran Bahia resorts in this area.

Bahia Principe Explore El Portillo: The resort is lovely

The rooms were clean and comfortable. The resort is small and quite intimate and the food delicious as it is at all Bahia resorts. The buffet had plenty of options so there was always something good to eat. The only special restaurant that I tried was the Brazilian and the food was good but be prepared as it is a slow way of eating. The water was very shallow quite a way out which is good for families with little children. There is some coral in the water which was good for snorkeling. This [... read more] is a good hotel to go to with your family or for a relaxing vacation. The town of Las Terenas is a good place to go for a look round the town, there are some nice restaurants there too.