Wyndham Alltra Samana: STAFF VERY LAZY!!!

The hotel was beautiful and the food was good. Samana is a beautiful place - I would try a different resort next time. I found the overall staff was very lazy and did not interact well with the guests. It took 3 days for a cot to be placed in our room. It took 4 days to provide blankets for the beds..only sheets on it...I gave up asking for an extra pillow. The maid took 4 days to learn how to make our beds. I finally left a tip once she got it right. The bartender at the pool bar enjoyed talkin [... read more]g to other coworkers instead of making drinks for the guests.The reception area - the ladies took personal phone calls (on speaker) while serving the guests. The towel boy would not give our towel card back until we filled out his survey. The good side was a lady named Maria from the Asian restaurant - very nice and helpful - she made us feel very welcomed...I wish we would have discovered her in the beginning of our trip. On the weekend the locals are allowed to come and enjoy the resort. It was a mad house, kids running around unattended. The kids were allow to run around and cross contaminate the food at the main buffet.Guests screaming and partying until 4am. I felt I was a burden on the staff...next year I am going back to Cuba

Occidental Punta Cana: Great staff!

The staff was really friendly and taught us a lot of Spanish words. We made lots of friends. At first, it was a little confusing, but after a while it felt like home. The water is great too, white sand.

Occidental Caribe: great resort

This hotel is great.The food is great so is the superior rooms so is the cleanliness.The staff is very friendly and very devoted.The beach is excellent except for some seaweeds on some days.The best feature of this hotel is the layout wich provides pool view as well as ocean view from the main buffet the main bars and the beach bar.The Tokio a la carte restaurant is excellent and so is the Marenostrum restaurant.Do not book the regular rooms because they are a bit run-down.I have been there 7 ti [... read more]mes from 2009 including 2 times in 2015.

Royalton Splash Punta Cana: Love This Resort!

This was my family's 3rd time at this resort. There is so much to do here within the resort. They have a water park that the kids loved and the wifi throughout the resort is nice. The food was great and the staff in every department were always nice and helpful. Not much bad to say about this resort. Would recommend it to anyone.

TRS Turquesa: Dissapointing vacation

Let me start this off by stating that my wife and I are seasoned travelers and that we have rarely offered written reviews. We do however make it a practice to offer our immediate feedback (good and bad) to the hotel staff. Over the years, we have benefited from the written feedback of others and we felt that this time we should do our part. For us, the following factors were important for this trip: nice clean beach with ample room for activities and lounging, good food, decent accommodations  [... read more]and good service. BEACH: Extremely disappointing. While long enough to walk, it isn't very deep. In addition, it is crowded with lounge chairs and huts leaving very little real estate to move around. If you are a sun worshiper, getting a spot with sun anytime during the day is almost impossible since the beach faces north east. Since there are many trees and huts on the beach, finding sun is even more difficult. To add insult to injury, the tide seemed rather high for our entire 2-week vacation and there were a lot of algae being brought in by the surf. It simply accumulated on the beach making it even more difficult to walk or find a spot to sit. Not once did we see anyone clean this up. FOOD: By staying at the Royal Suites, we had access to 2 additional "a la carte" restaurants as well as booking privileges at all of the other restaurants on the Palladium grounds. Of course, there is a premium for this privilege. All of the bookings were coordinated with our concierge and this worked very well. The food in the "a la carte" restaurants was good for the most part, but we did return our lobster meal at the Royal Gourmet restaurant one evening as it was inedible. The lobster Termidor was overcooked and the "au gratin" was just atrocious. It looked as though someone had simply dropped a thick slab of cheese on it ... and it was terribly salty. We returned our food and spoke to Miguel (the restaurant manage) about immediately. Oddly enough, we were sitting right next to another couple that evening who also returned their meal. At every restaurant, every meal comes with a salad bar. After a few days, this gets repetitive. With the exception of the 2 "a la carte" restaurants (Royal Gourmet and the Chanterelle) and the Tapeo resturant (Spanish cuisine), our experiences at the other restaurants (for which we had advance reservation privileges) were disappointing. Our experience at the Japanese restaurant was mixed: our first meal was atrocious, to the point where we left half-way through our meal and then ordered room service which was much better. Our second attempt was a bit better. This was a "cooking show" with a chef at our table (of 10). While entertaining, the food was plenty (way too much) and very salty. My wife and I both had to get up in the middle of the night to re-hydrate. ACCOMMODATIONS: The room was fine and spacious. We had a room on the third (last) floor of bloc 56 (in the Royal Suites section) that overlooked the pool. Upon check-in, we immediately reported the following problems: the closet doors were very difficult to open, the DVD player did not work and there was no hot water in the second bathroom sink. We also noticed that there was no hot water in the shower the next morning. The closet door, the lack of hot water in the shower and the broken DVD player were resolved within 24 hours. However, it took close to 4 days to fix the lack of hot water in the second bathroom sink. We did notice that AC temperature control seems to be a widespread issue. The only way that we could control the temperature in our room was if we either turned the AC ON or OFF. I had to get up in the middle of the night on several occasions to prevent us from either suffocating or contracting frostbite (I exaggerate slightly here, but you get my point). Restaurants were the worse. We quickly learned that we had to bring a sweater if you ate indoors. The alternative was to eat outside on the terrace, but then you had to contend with the smokers which were plentiful (the most that we have seen on all of our travels). If you are a smoker, then this should be of no concern to you. The pools were nice and the tranquility and space of the Royal pools were appreciated. SERVICE: When you stay at the Royal Suites, you benefit from a concierge. Our experience with Angel was extremely positive and he was responsible for saving what could have been a disastrous holiday. We also interacted many times with Miguel at the Royal Gourmet/Chanterelle and he bent over backwards to accommodate. Extremely satisfied with both of them and we let them know. There were others like Emmanuel at the Royal Gourmet and Marie at the Tapeo which were very good at their job and it showed. The same can be said of the extremely competent and charming hostess at the Tapeo restaurant (we did not catch her name). On the down side, we did notice that a large proportion of staff – even in Guest Services – spoke limited English. While my wife and I always try to augment our travelling experience by doing the best that we can to speak to language of the country that we visit, we are still novices in the Spanish language. When we frequented the Italian restaurant, the server could not speak a word of English and did not offer to bring someone else to assist. We resorted to pointing to items in the menu and could not get any details regarding our order. We also noticed that the translation in English and French is very poor. We saw this throughout on food menus and signs on the hotel premises. In many cases, you have to read between the lines. We even overheard a conversation one evening in the Chanterelle restaurant where a German-speaking patron told the restaurant manager that the German translation was also wrong. We had no expectations regarding the nightly entertainment. This was a good thing because the only time that we caught a show (some ‘80s show) we were stunned to learn that they were simply lip-syncing to the original tracks. We left 10 after minutes … Summary: My wife and I are unanimous in our decision that we will not return to this hotel and that we would not recommend it to any of our friends. While we did come across some quite exceptional staff, it would seem that they were in a minority group. For the amount of money that we spent (about $5,800 Cdn for 2 weeks), we could have done much better.

TRS Turquesa: Punta Cana Surpirse

I have been to Punta Cana three times - the last visit was to the Royal Suites Turquesa by Palladium and this was certainly a step above what one would expect from a Punta Cana resort. I never thought I would use the words fine dining and Punta Cana in the same sentence but their French ala carte restaurant was terrific. The pool bar drinks were good - had booze in them and weren't too sweet. Staff were lovely and willing to please. Room was gorgeous. The seaweed was raked every morning so the b [... read more]each was lovely. Kudos to the management of this resort. They have set a new standard for Punta Cana.

Grand Palladium Punta Cana: Better than expected!

I went to Punta Cana 13 years ago, and had an AWFUL experience. When my friend said she was getting married in Punta Cana, I literally shuttered, but decided to go as she's my bff. It was 100% better than my first time! Even though the resort(s) is MASSIVE, it was pretty easy to find our way, and shuttles to help when we got lost. Will definitely consider again.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Lovely resort!

We visited this resort from November 23-30, 2015. We had a great time but there were a few hiccups. Although we upgraded to the VIP option, we were under the assumption that this would provide us with several additional options when it really only allowed us access to a separate area of the beach. It was very confusing as the hotel also referred to their time share guests as VIP and they had several additional benefits. Several restaurants and areas are referred to as VIP only and advertised tha [... read more]t if you purchase the VIP upgrade you will have access to...it is not the case. The food was okay but our group really enjoyed the Asian restaurant.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Amazing Visit

A holiday is only as good as you make it. Was nervous after reading some reviews but we just got home Nov 30th after a week and everything was AMAZING. I can not complain about being in the sun in a beautiful resort not having to cook, clean or doing anything except relax. If you are going to complain about being taken care of stay home. Staff goes above and beyond to make stay good. We stayed in 304 building no issues AC worked great, housekeeping Ana tried to communicate always made sure we ha [... read more]d towels. Maintenance staff works so hard to keep grounds beautiful. One gentleman waxed lobby floors, moved umbrella's for people near pool if they asked, he picked up cups and emptied ashtrays around pool. He was always pleasant and had smile on his face and talked to us. Bartenders get to know your drinks and had us always refilled without asking. There is a lot of stairs though to get from rooms to pool level then back down other side to buffet.

Excellence Punta Cana: very consistant over the years it is our 6 visits

You just ask and you get.The staff is very accommodating and friendly. Adults site with a very relaxed atmosphere,no rush,no line up,no pain (8/9 restaurants on site. I walk 6/7 km a day on the beach,the closest hotel is abount 2 milles on each side of the EXCELLENCE resort.

Royalton Splash Punta Cana: Beautiful resort!

The grounds were beautiful and well kept. We were on the bottom floor of building 8 and it was clean as well as we were surprised that there was no bugs...The food was good with variety of choices for everyone. Excellent entertainment at both Memories and Royalton during the evenings.

Occidental Punta Cana: Beautiful resort

The grounds are beautiful and kept clean The pools are cleaned daily and the beach is amazing. The sand is white and so soft. The rooms were cleaned daily with no issues at all. Check in was fast and smooth. Overall we had a great time and I would definitely go back again.

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Wonderful Experience

Stayed from Nov 19 to 26/15 and had a wonderful time. The staff was amazing expecially the entertainment staff (Luis & Alex) who made our stay most enjoyable. The food was very good in the buffet as well as the a la carte restaurants. Everything was very convenient for access to the pool and the beach area. The Esmerelda allows children and therefore occasionally noise in the hotel hallways and rooms was a bit of an issue, but not enough to put us off. We enjoyed their enthusiasm. Overall great  [... read more]time had by all.

Riu Palace Macao: Needs more

Stayed at the resort Nov 7 for one week. Guests were split 30% each Brits, Germans and Americans. Age range 30 to 70. Check-in was efficient. Rooms nothing special but functional and clean. Maid service was rated 5 stars. Perhaps leave some school supplies rather than tips for the maids. The Macao complex is really compact. From the hotel reception to the put your toe in the ocean is less than a three minute walk The Activity team rated 6 stars. They work from 10.00a.m until at least 11.00p.m. T [... read more]his includes being dance partners in the lobby in the evening. Entertainment through various groups was provided in the lobby in the evening. We enjoy dancing so we spent quite a bit of time there in the evening. If you don't dance still good people watching. Food at the Buffet was rated 4 stars. Typical AI food. Lots of both fresh and already prepared. There are four A la Carte rests. We tried the Steak twice and the Krystal twice. The Steak is fair. I ordered both the steak and the lobster which was nice. The Krystal serves a more Gourmet style and is the best restaurant for ambience and service. We did not use the Italian or the Jap. rest based on comments from guests. What needs more? Entertainment in the theatre rates 2 stars. Very mediocre dance shows. The saving grace for the theatre is that it is air conditioned even though the doors open and close frequently. It is a nice respite from the humidity. This was probably our 25th Michael Jackson show. Enough!!! The ironic part of this show is that the dancers today "moonwalk" 20 times better than MJ ever did. Drinks are also rated 2 stars. No top shelf drinks. Beer is EL president.The wine is also a step above home made. Much as management argue that on TA it's true, however in our case not a huge problem The wait staff was very good and really friendly. Smoking. The hotel management need to prohibit smoking for both the breakfast and dinner outdoor patio. On two separate occasions we just sat down to eat breakfast and four people on the table behind us light up. Not good. More so with the current rules in Ontairo (I feel sorry for smokers esp. since it is legal). In summary we paid $3000 for our stay and really enjoyed ourselves. Whilst the review doesn't seem particularly positive, I try to highlight the points that I feel the hotel could improve on for the money paid. Of the 20+ AI's we have stayed this would not be highly rated esp. compared to the Iberostar resorts.

Bahia Principe San Juan-BP-El Portillo: very nice resort....great price

Very nice, big resort. Great staff, good rooms. Very good food - lots of selection, mediteranean a la carte incredidle. Not a good beach, lots of flies. 3 nice pools. Karaeoke should stay open all night, instead of closing and having to go to the disco. A littlefar from excursions.

Grand Sirenis Tropical Suites: The resort was fantastic

The overall resort was clean, people pleasant had a wonderful time, would go again had a great time took 26 people with us and they would say the same thing, the drive from airport to resort about 45 min. The food was great would recommend any time.

The Eurostars Grand Cayacoa: BEAUTIFUL VIEWS

GROUNDS WERE BEAUTIFUL. VERY LUSH. ROOMS LARGE AND KEPT CLEAN. WELL EQUIPED ROOMS AND FRIDGE ALWAYS STOCKED. FOOD WAS OK. STAFF SPOKE LITTLE ENGLISH BUT STILL VERY FRIENDLY. LOTS OF STAIRS BUT SHUTTLE ALWAYS AVAILABLE.

Paradise Playa Dorada: Great Value for $

Overall enjoyed this resort. The staff in general were outstanding and room spacious and clean. Reception services needs some work as it was difficult to exchange money and book a la carte. Recommend.

Grand Palladium Palace: Bad experience at the Grand Palladium Palace

I stayed at the Grand Palladium Palace in Punta Cana with 7 friends for a week in November. Overall it was a very frustrating, non-relaxing hotel experience, but I was honestly just happy to be on a beach somewhere. That said, I wouldn't recommend this place. Pros: - Nice pools - Rooms close to the beach/buffet/lobby Cons: - The toilets in 2/4 of the rooms backflowed into the rooms, there was sewage everywhere. We were moved to new rooms after complaining. Then right away they moved new people [... read more] into our old rooms and we heard they had the same issues - Phones didn't work - TVs didn't work - Mini fridges didn't work - Safes and locks on the doors didn't work - Generally bad customer service, we often had to argue a LOT to get even the most basic service, like being switched out of our sewer rooms - The regular buffet didn't have very good food, a lot of it was old - the VIP buffet had good food, I'd suggest paying extra for that - Room service food was very gross and we never got what we actually ordered - Very aggressive salespeople all over the resort and beach, one guy actually grabbed me

Grand Sirenis Tropical Suites: Big disappointment

Its only saving grace was the amount of places to eat in the amount of pools. The sink was falling apart in the room, the walls were filthy, the sheets had stains, and there was mold on the ceiling in the bathroom, not just a little bit a lot! , it got so frustrating we just gave up. We made the best of it, the kids had a lot of fun at the water park.