Awesome!

The Ocean Blue & Sand was more than we ever expected. I'll note the one negative thing but please recognize that is no fault of the resort or staff. The beach as been badly damaged from the hurricanes of 2021/22, however there is work happening daily to restore it. Thank you for trying to restore it's beauty. The entire resort experience was amazing. The grounds are pristine with work happening all day to maintain it's beauty. The pools and Mike's Coffee were the favorite gathering spots. The  [... read more]food was excellent with many many choices everywhere. Really appreciated the fact there were no reservations needed, except for the Sensai (Japanese cooking show). The wait for any of the others was not unacceptable, but worth it. Check- in and out went smoothly and very accommodating. All the staff we interacted with were gracious, pleasant and grateful. Tipping is highly encouraged (from us) as 1 US dollar and a 'thank you' can make a huge difference in someone's life. It's sad to see the "attitude of entitlement" in these environments, some vacationers could use a huge attitude adjustment. The staff we met, at all of the amenities, were such a pleasure to interact with (English wasn't always strong but 'thank you" is a global understanding). We will definitely return and will tell all our family and friends to consider OBS for another vacation destination. Thank you for an awesome vacation.

Not what we’ve expected.

Our goal was to have a pre-pandemic vacation experience. We haven’t had it for 2 years and decided to buy a privilege level of service. Unfortunately, privilege level is this hotel doesn’t mean much. Privilege pros: - ability to book restaurants - free room service - separate beach with canopies (only in theory) - beach towels by request without cards (only in theory) - dinner from chef (again, only theoretical) - maybe I forgot something else In reality, they have a very tiny pie [... read more]ce of privilege beach with 8 canopies that are always busy as well as all sun beds. We tried to come at 9, 8, and then 7 am - everything is busy. Beach towels - we have always been asked for cards, despite we haven’t been given any. Dinner - just a regular dinner in Italian restaurant, nothing else. Overall, I see that this is probably a result of pandemic layoffs. But stuff do es their job only if you give them money. Disappointed. But there is a bright side. This hotel is a really a thing for people with Celiac. It has a good gluten free menu and stuff knows about cross contamination. Milk products are of a good quality, no wheat, and can be consumed with an issue.

Amazing resort

I came with my family of 8 pepple of various ages. This resort was well designed when built. There is town square where restaurants, hotel lobby, bowling, coffee bar, ice cream bar, entertainment area was all located. There was 10 buildings, 5 on each side on the resort heading towards the beach. Two huge beautiful pools in the middle. All was easy access. There was carts to drive you in case . The food was amazing. Entertainment crew worked very very hard. The people working on this resort we [... read more]re exceptionally friendly. The beach was very nice, I saw they were trying very hard to restore it from the hurricanes. We enjoyed ourselves there also. The only complaint I have is getting chairs at the pool. People would put towels on the chairs with umbrellas, to reserve the night before. Frustrating, when there are signs all over stating No Reserving. I would go back to this resort and would recommend it highly.

Nice vacation but disappointed with beach

Overall the resort was nice. We were disappointed with the beach area. We were told that last fall’s hurricane did quite a bit of damage to it. I had read some reviews online before going - however - I didn’t think it would be as bad as it is! There really is no beach! Since there is no beach - everyone lounges by the pool area - therefore it was very difficult to find a lounger unless we got up very very early to reserve one. There are signs everywhere stating not to reserve loungers - how [... read more]ever there is nobody around to monitor this - so everyone reserved one anyway?! My husband was told you had to reserve a chair by 6 am in order to get one. He would go out in the middle of the night ( sometimes 3-4 in the morning) to reserve us chairs! Was ridiculous! I did comment on this when we left the resort. I will not be returning to this resort.

Beautiful weather, an ok resort experience

We booked with Sunwing and stayed at this resort in February 2023 for 8 days. We paid for the Privilege upgrade. Overall, we had an ok experience but this resort is at best a 3.5 star. This is NOT a 4 or 5 star experience, regardless of what some reviews indicate. Positive - Layout of resort is nice, easily walkable for those without mobility issues - Pools are nice, grounds are generally well-maintained. Pool closer to beach is louder in the morning but quieter in the afternoon. - Buffet [... read more] and food in general was good, there were a lot of options available at all 3 meals - The cafe (Mike’s) was great for a nicer coffee - Catamaran excursion with Tours Point was the highlight of our trip! - Our resort’s Sunwing rep was extremely helpful and responsive to our questions - Housekeeping was timely and well-done throughout our stay - The lobby bar is beautiful - a fun place to hang out in the evenings and have a drink, play cards, etc. Neutral - Restaurants were ok - we ate dinner at all except Route 66, and enjoyed the Mexican the most. The Privilege breakfast was often not worth the time spent, as we found the service to be incredibly slow (50+ minutes waiting for food). - The room was fine - as we had the Privilege upgrade, our building was closer to the pool/beach and I assume has been more recently upgraded. Air conditioning was great. We received a room on the first floor, facing a service road, with 2 double beds. We requested a change, but they were unable to accommodate our request for the duration of our stay. - Lounge chairs - the towel reservation game is strong here. If you are looking for a spot at the pool or beach, especially with an umbrella, you need to be up at 6am. Easier to just play the game then to try to scrounge up chairs later on. - Entertainment - for those who enjoy this aspect of resorts, the team here is full on, high-energy for most of the day. Not our taste but we saw others enjoying it. This resort is not quiet! We enjoyed the Super Bowl event. Negative - Timeshare Presentation - we were taken to this meeting under the guise of receiving a tour of the resort on our first morning. Ended up in a timeshare presentation and it only ended when we walked out after an hour. Incredibly dishonest and annoying! Word of advice - do not agree to a “welcome breakfast” or anything of the sort, it’s not worth the promise of a free couples massage or your valuable vacation time. You can tour the resort easily enough on your own. - Privilege upgrade - we did not find this service to be worth it. Our Butler was non-existent for the majority of our stay (we never met him, he was only available on WhatsApp) and we ended up making many of our dinner reservations ourselves. We did not receive many of the items listed (bathrobes, etc). The Privilege lounge was ok and we appreciated the clean bathrooms. - Beach - we spent very little time on the beach, aside from actually swimming in the ocean or walking up the beach towards other resorts. Erosion has had a major impact on the beach, and while the resort is doing work to rectify it, it’s not very nice to look at and they have a pump running all day long. There were constantly vendors on and surrounding the beach property, which was a bit off putting. We noticed other resorts nearby did not allow these vendors on their beaches.

Awesome Vacation Resort!

This resort has spacious, clean and well kept rooms with great housekeeping staff. The food at the buffet, a la cartes and snack bar is better than any resort I have ever vacationed at before. The pool is very large and can accommodate many people. Relaxing at the beach was great, however, the beach itself has eroded due to weather. The only draw back, this is not the resorts fault, is that patrons reserve loungers with their towels at the pool and beach, but do not use them. This causes a  [... read more]shortage for other patrons. If you want to use a lounger, you have to be at the pool by 7 am. We would definitely return to this resort for another vacation!

Nice week away

Room: We stayed in block 5, room 5301- our room was amazing, great view of the pool area. The housekeeper kept the room spotless and left us fun towel designs in the bathroom. The fridge was always fully stocked with pop and beers. There was coffee and a coffee maker in the room- which was good. Food: The buffet breatfast was good, lots of choices, sometimes the food was cold but there were egg stations and pancake stations where hot food was always available. The breakfast mimosas were [... read more] an added bonus. Coffee in the buffet was not good. However, a stroll over to Mikes coffee house was excellent. The other restaurants were amazing. We loved the steakhouse and itailian the best. The Staff was excellent.The snack bar at the pool was great for grabbing a quick lunch. The bars all served basically the same thing. The lobby bar had the best selection. The piano bar had martinis-but the room was very cold to sit in. Entertainment: The pools were great. Cool, but refreshing. They were much deeper then expected, both came up to about my shoulders (5'10") The ocean view and walking along the beach was so nice. However not much of a beach to sit on anymore due to the hurraicaines. The pool chairs were in short supply and we had to go out and reserve spots early because come 1000h there were no vacant seats. The shows were not great, but maybe just not my taste. The bowling ally and pool tables were fun. There were no quiet common areas at night to sit and chill- other then outside. The lobby always had a lot of events in the evenings too. overall we had a great time. There was a lot of walking from room to food, but we have no mobility issues and enjoyed our walks. There are golf carts offering rides, but not very often. I would recommend this resort, but I wouldn't go back-mostly because I like to try other places. We found the vendors on the beach very pushy, twice while we were there there were vendors in the resort as well, also VERY pushy, would barely let you walk by.

Amazing resort

I’ve heard great things about this resort so I booked it by myself and loved it ! The entertainment and the entertainment staff was absolutely fantastic!!!!!! I didn’t think the staff was as friendly or outgoing as I’ve heard they were however still professional and kind , The resort was very very clean and beautiful. The beach buffet staff was my favourite very friendly and always helping and smiling , however the staff at the main buffet not so much there was a few that were amazing but  [... read more]overall no smiles had to beg for coffee and the really didn’t go out of their way to clean the tables to seat us or even bring us a coffee , as a server it was very disheartening;( they seemed mad or sad or something I couldn’t figure it out. as soon as they saw I had a tip the demeanour changed and I was royalty and got a smile , although I do understand that it must be hard to serve and not make tips I do think that if they smiled and or look like they were happy they d be making more . That’s the only complaint I had was some of the staff was rude in buffet areas ;( I give the resort a 4 and a half star ⭐️ Because they went above and beyond to entertain us and keep the place beautiful!!! Very impressed. Food was good !! I’ll be back and recommend it . Thank you especially Mini Cooper and Loly from the beach buffet for being so nice and accommodating to a solo guest ❤️

Good resort - small beach, AMAZING STAFF

Overall, a really great resort. Be careful however, bring lots of extra cash. The guys on the beach really try to scam you, so be careful. Restaurants are decent.. But staff was truly incredible! The beach is fairly small and there was some seaweed but they were diligent with scooping it up the following day. Pools were amazing!! As i said previously, the staff truly make the experience worthwhile.

Loved our stay

Everything was great. The ocean and the pool were lovely, the food was amazing. Everything was clean and well-tended. The coffee shop deserves extra praise for the delicious coffee and cozy vibes. We'd go back in a heartbeat.

More wrong then right

Grounds were well maintained, rooms for us and 15 family members were in good condition, minor repair issues. Most staff friendly and attentive. Buffet food limited choice but adequate, a-la-cartes rotated closing, no notice. Most had better cuts, choices on menu for $$$, same with alcoholic drinks, limited inclusive, lots for $$. Restaurant near beach closed all week for lunch until weekend day pass guests arrived. I paid for Privilege service, which ment room was close to beach, but no Resta [... read more]urant near now. One pool closed for week, but opened as we checked out. Sunday, very crowded with week end day pass guests on Saturday. My Butler quit second day, no replacement, calling Privilege reception for anything, required several calls even though they said "yes, right away" . Shuttle service seemed to stop at 6 pm, prime dinner time. One daughter needed wheel chair, they wanted over $500., but saw others who had them free. Beach erosion worse then pictures show, now 4-5 foot cliff for most of beach front forcing loungers and bali-beds to be jammed in small area. Requested bell boy and shuttle for 12 noon check out Sunday,,several calls by me, but 45 minutes late and sent a truck with one seat. Told us they had to check out 400 rooms at noon, shuttle priority for week enders over guest staying all week. HOWEVER...the weather was sunny, hot, no rain all week.

Horrible

I have never been to a resort where they bring the Locals in at a cheaper rate for weekends. From Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon the resort is "TAKEN OVER " by 200 or more local residents. Noisy, loud all hours of day and night, leaving garbage eg. diapers, food, cups, drink all over pool decks. Kids with floatation toys in the adult whirlpool, taking up dining room seating, food and services from the people that have paid big for a vacation getaway. The resort has issues with proper A [... read more]C, no water pressure or temperature control for showering, flushing toilets, limited internet. Several rooms have a gross odor to them. When you arrive the next day, you are hounded by representatives to buy into and join the "ELITE" club. Wanted us to spend at least 2 hours of our vacation time listening and participating in the seminar. Food presentative was pretty but no taste. Japanese was excellent.. Grounds and set-up was nice. Large rooms Beach, very little beach area. Mostly eroded away. Hi Tide, there is no beach area 2 big pools but cloudy and some days weren't open going green. Overall; was expensive, horrible experience and disappointing. Not a 4.5 star at most 3 star. We will never go back unless they update AC, water and stop the locals from coming in. The opinions of the other guests we spoke with fully agreed and felt the same way..

Meh!

We decided to upgrade to Privilege since our Tripcentral rep had requested the 2’nd or 3rd floor (2 adjoining rooms) however we were assigned to the first floor and I had read in other comments that there’s more chances of roaches, etc. Another thing that we were very disappointing in was when we went to return to Toronto from the airport in Punta Cana they said “ we have bad news….” Basically Sunwing had overbooked and did not allow us to pre-pick our seats. Needless to say we WERE  [... read more]getting on that flight even if we couldn’t sit together as a family. Why bother booking an all inclusive if you aren’t even guaranteed a return flight home?? Beware this hotel allows locals to go for weekend visits and the resort gets very busy and not very relaxing at all as the swim up bars are hardly accessible! Wish I knew this ahead of time. We probably would not have booked in the first place.

It was good

The resort has a nice layout and interesting and fun things to do. The staff in the restaurants and bars were efficient and very friendly. We had issue with our door keys but they were fairly quick to rectify. The luggage took a while to get to our room even though the recetion/check-in area was not. We received face cloths on only 1 day and the last day we had zero towels, zero. The rest of our issues were with Sunwing.

Nice resort

If you want a simple small resort this is good to go to. Very nice resort layout and rooms. Beach not all great but once in the water it’s great. Very good staff. Entertainment for a small resort was fantastic. Two pools were fantastic and warm. Excellent pools.

Nothing extraordinary

To say the least the hotel is ok. Nothing to write about that is out of the ordinary. Food is ok. There are variety of prepared meals for everyone. A la cart restaurants do not need reservation but wait in the evening could be long (1-2hours) so in my opinion it would be better to book restaurants so you can plan where and what to eat throughout week. The only restaurant that required reservation is Sensai (japanese). There were evenings that half of the restaurants were closed so you do not kno [... read more]w where you are going to end up for dinner. In all restaurants (closed spaces) masks are required and most people followed the rules. Staff wears masks everywhere even outside. Gloves were handed to guests at the entrance of the buffet so nothing was touched by bare hands. Staff was disinfecting tables and chairs after each person. One annoying thing about hotel was pool and beach chairs. People would reserve them early in the morning (leave towels on them) so if you come to pool or beach around 9,10 there is no free sunbed. It seemed that there is more hotel guests then available chairs. Room is clean but a few issues that we come across are : no hangers in the closet, safe was not operational, we got coffee pack and cups in the room but no coffee maker, no hair dryer ( only after 2 complains to different staff we got it). We also had to ask for towels to be replaced. Staff is friendly and helpful but some of them do not speak a word of English so no use of talking to them about issues. Pools and ground is well maintained All in all we had restfull vacation and I did not want to get upset over small things.

Not a 4+ star resort. Not even close

I planned to go to this resort back in March 2020. As travel restrictions have reduced for April 2022, I decided to go and stay at this resort. A big mistake as I didn't read the recent reviews since Covid caused some issues at this place. I have been to the Dominican 7 times now. Quite the experience. BEACH- there is no beach. It is a shoreline. There is water and there is sand. I did read that the shoreline was washed away but the resort has done nothing to attempt to improve this ot [... read more]her than the large sand bags to break the waves in various places. Many people give the beach a 5 star rating which is a joke. I don't spend much time on the beach but on this trip, I walked both north and south of the resort and didn't see anything near as disappointing as the Ocean Sands. POOL-large and beautiful as described. Unfortunately no where near what is needed for the umbrellas and pool chairs for both the pool size and number of people. Reserving an umbrella required you to put out towels at 4-5am. I caught on to this on day 3 and did it for the remaining of the week. In speaking with many people and families, they to never experienced anything like this. The pool bars were understaffed based on the number of people in the pool area. I did ask for Canadian Club at all the bars and only one had half a bottle. When i completed the bottle after mid week, there was no more available. When I asked when they would have more, they didn't know or even check. Service was only good if you tip them. Also very poor communication skills. I also went to the lobby bar and it as well did not have Canadian Rye Whisky. When I laughed at the bartender, he became a little annoyed. However, not as much as I was. STAFF-Most were not friendly but I do make a point of saying hello to everyone when I walk by or they come to my table for service. Many of them did respond with a hello. I don't blame them as I think they have not been trained properly and don't speak the language very well. I do think they were understaffed in most areas based on the number of people staying at the resort. WELCOME GIFT-These Time Share people try to get you to commit to the H10 resorts (cash for life program) on your 2nd day on site. This is a waste of time as I would only consider listening to someone at the end of my stay to see what they have to offer. They did mention that I should consider switching to premium to get an upgrade which I did see on a review that it is not worth the offering. I did get a chance to speak to someone from Ontario that had the upgrade and felt it was a waste of money and didn't see the benefit. I did notice that the people involved in this "scheme" speak English very well. Too bad the rest of the staff didn't have the same communication skills as that would help improve this resort. FOOD-spent most of the time eating at the buffet in morning and night. Large variety of food but most of it was never hot, either warm or cold from a previous meal. Always very busy, good but not great. I did manage to get to the Steakhouse one night and waited 90 minutes for a table. A very rushed meal and not a relaxing dinner. This was only open 2 days during the week as some of the others. When I spoke to a few others from Canada at the pool, they suggested to stay away from these specialty ones as they were also only open a few days. Not enough staff to manage all the Customers that were on the resort. RESORT-beautiful grounds, layout and pool as indicated on websites. Looks like very little maintenance and money was spent during Covid over the past 2 years but I did notice that they were working on fixing a few things during my week. MANAGEMENT-I do sum up that the issue with the resort is due to poor management. No consistent communication to the Customers. I do see that this resort wants your money and really doesn't want to deliver the service and attention it needs to in order to be a 4+ star. I have only been to a 4 star resort once in my years of travel and this is definitely below that. In summary, it must be a 3 star. I would suggest staying away until such time some travel agents visit and confirm if improvements are made. I know I wont experiment with any H10 resorts in the future.

Big, but a nice relaxing resort.

The grounds, pools, restaurants, rooms, buffets, were all good. The people were fantastic. They bend over to please you. I was told not to, but still did the H-10 sell to buy on to travel the world with their resorts. You are family till you refuse and say no- thanks to the offer. Don't waste your time with that. You would have to spend over 25 years travelling with them and MAYBE work out in your favour. Sorry, back to the resort. We choose the privilege package and was very happy we did. [... read more] You end up in a room by the ocean. Poolside view is better. Pick it when you book! The upgraded drink package was worth every penny if this is important to you! It is a big resort, so you can walk to the restaurants or wait for the rides that circle and pick you up. Sometimes a bit of a wait for them. Finally, a big shout out to Mike our butler. He was great to look after whatever we wanted.

Decent trip

Hotel was beautiful and clean. The pools were great and not over crowded. The staff for the most part was very good and friendly. The beach isn't huge but has good seating and the water while we were there was fairly calm and warm. Now our only real issue is the restaurants.... The food is ok but nothing to rave about. Tge biggest issue is the reservation system and the face that you can't plan because you have no idea what is going to be open or not. It really frustrated me There is a webpage  [... read more]that you can see but reservations don't work and you have to search out each day to see what is open instead of a full schedule. It bugged me enough to really only taste this a 3 outta 5

Wonderful Resort

All features of the hotel where more than expected except for the Junior suite we had. It was not what the picture showed it would be and we where very disappointed. Examples - The toilet roll kept falling off of the broken post on the wall. The door on the cupboard that the fridge was in scrapped across the floor evetime we opened it. The room in general was not clean, especially the bathroom.