Bahia Principe Escape Bouganville: Amazing Place

One of the most beautiful hotels we have even been to. Rooms are large and modern. Excellent food with good variety. Grounds are gorgeous and very well cared for. Employees go out of their way to keep guests entertained and cared for. Quite place and out of the way from the hustle and bustle. Beach is great however the water is not crystal clear as it is in Punta Cana. Nevertheless, an amazing, relaxing place well worth visiting.

Royalton Punta Cana Resort: Perfect vacation

Royalton, Punta Cana is one of the best resorts visited so far. Everything is close to be perfect. The management is great and the people working here are very friendly and assertive. I would recommend some improvements for Zen restaurant. Overall the drinks and the food were distinguished. The bar from lobby was great, thank you Adriana. The beach party came as a wonderful surprise being very entertaining. Many thanks to everybody working in this resort.

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Good Resort - Good Value For the Money

We visited Dec 12-19 2014 - stayed at Esmerelda (2 adults 2 teenagers) What we liked: - grounds well kept up(garden & landscaping beautiful, staff attentive to making sure any litter was immediately picked up, easy to get around the resort either on foot or via mini-shuttles) - rooms were spacious, bathrooms modern, bed and sitting areas nicely appointed - lobby at Esmerelda is open, airy, access to wifi for your teenagers, and lots of cafe, drink space inside and outside - restaurants had good  [... read more]to better than normal down south food, would say much better food quality than in mexico or cuba, but don't expect 5 star New York, LA, Toronto food you are down south remember :) - beach and water were nice, Esmerelda has a specific section which makes getting a spot easier (yes you need to get there early on those sunny days) - plenty of room for quite a few people, so you may not get first row, but plenty of space at the beach; drink service at the beach was very good - tip or no tips, sand was soft and clean - daytime lunch spot near the beach was perfect/ideal for moving between beach and snacks/meals - pools were ok - 2 open to all ages, 1 soaker pool for adults only, fewer spots here, so you need to get there early, (a few more loungers would help solve that problem, but understand a few less loungers means less clutter and less people right on top of you) - service was generally good to above average, servers were around regularly offering drinks, liquors, snacks, coffee, attentive and pleasant, again i noticed no difference whether i tipped or not What we didn't like: - booking restaurants, we tried first day, and 1st choices were either booked and 2nd choices were very late sitting (20:45 or 21:00) - almost felt like you needed to "work$" the system to get prime booking, reminded me of getting concert tickets - where everything is mysteriously sold out unless you know someone - need a better system in place for this In summary - good to very good resort, alot of Canucks, Latin Americans & Europeans made for a friendly atmosphere and good time.

Sunscape Coco Punta Cana: reception staff very rude,leaking in our bathroom

food excellent,pool clean,room clean but leaked in bathroom ceiling for entire week-complained daily-never fixed[got condescending attitude from guest services,not enough beach chairs,ran out of towels daily.;activities staff were great,our maid[Clara] was fabulous!

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Great Family Vacation

It was good overall. GOOD: - Food was awesome and they accommodated and cooked food without salt or oil for our baby. - Staffs were kind. - Pool was clean and well kept. - The games and small activities are going on throughout the day and that kept us busy and fun. - I loved the mini shows done by kids. We didn't get to see the night shows till the end because of our baby, but from what I have observed, I think they were okay. - The room was well cleaned. - wished that we had more towels becaus [... read more]e we had a baby. - Common areas are clean and well kept. BAD: - Beach was not very clear because they had a lot of seaweed and corals. But because of that, we were able to see some fish! - Swimming pool was cold. - We had a room facing poolside and we liked it, but it can get loud if something is going on at the pool. Two nights when we were there, there was a wedding and the music was SOOO loud. I think many people had issued with it too. - Our in-room fridge was not working properly, we had it replaced and the same thing happened again. I had to call 5 times before someone come by to fix it. That was frustrating. - Specialty dinner was hard to get the spot.

Riu Merengue: Holiday nightmare

I'd love to say that there are any positives, it's been nothing but a horrific experience: the shower head is broken, there was no hot water 3/7 days, power outages meant that there was no breakfast two days in a row; all the power outlets needed adapters, and none of the adapters at the riu store worked (we had to prop them up using furniture.) the AC barely worked, it was humid every night and the ceiling was covered in mold (I woke up stuffy and irritated every morning). The towel service kio [... read more]sk runs out of towels mid day, and the beach chairs are reserved by the other tourists which are nowhere in sight (nowhere to sit). The "a la carte" restaurants can only get booked between 7am and 8am in the morning, otherwise they are full. The staff are grouchy and overworked (some of the bartenders are very nice). Our housekeeping forgets to provide towels, and I had to call for them 50% of the time (no big deal). Shampoo is not provided. Local vendors are allowed to harass you to sell you garbage at the lobby (they are very pushy and very annoying). Everyone including nexus-tours tried anything to get money from you; their general attitude is that we are rich and ungrateful people that need to be scammed (even though we consider ourselves down to earth and friendly). We decided to leave the resort and go to a town called Susua, at a 3 star hotel to spend the remaining week and had a great time.

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: NOT SURE WHY THERE ARE NEGATIVE REVIEWS

We stayed at the Bahia Principe Ambar from December 12th to the 19th. From reading the reviews prior to my trip I was expecting some possible negative situations however was prepared to deal with them in a rational manner. Bottom Line was this resort is wonderful. The staff is wonderful. Sure the majority of them do not speak English but what do you expect; you're in their country so learn a little Spanish. We found the food to be 910. We went to 5 of the Al'a'carte restaurants and were pleased  [... read more]with all of them. The service was great. The buffets are excellent and everyone should find something they like. We found that as long as we smiled at any of the staff they smiled back and were friendly to deal with. The sand and beach are wonderful. We had a few days where the sea-weed blowing in off the ocean was bad. That is mother nature folks so get used to that part. They did do a great job to remove it as best they could. Service on the beach was good. We prefer to go get our own drinks and see the bartenders. Everything worked well in our room and the room was cleaned everyday on time. If we needed something we just went out in the hallway and asked any of the maids for it and we got it. This is a wonderful resort. The average age was around 44 in our opinion. The swimming pools are nice but we are beach people. We used the pools for about 1 hour per day and the rest of the time was at the beach. The resort is quite large and we used the shuttle buses all the time. We never waited more than 3 minutes to catch a bus and drive to where we wanted to go. We do not mind walking around either and the most it took us from the beach to the Ambar was about 6 minutes. We took in some of the shows as well. The Michael Jackson show is really good. As well we liked the disco night where they played great music from the 70's, 80's and 90's. The booze was great. They have a wide choice and if you go to the bars yourself they will make your drinks as strong as you like. In my opinion the people that are writing negative reviews are just plan spoiled people. If they want 5+ everything then book a resort that charges you $4,000 or more a week. This hotel was great value for what we paid which was $2,900.00 for two people.

Bahia Principe Grand San Juan: Christmas Fun in the Sun

7 days of pampering and lounging by the 4 pools and wading into the warm ocean water. Grand Bahia very enjoyable. The staff were friendly and helpful. Our newly renovated family suite was perfect for our family. The suite is two regular rooms with an archway through them. Two of everything! 2 showers! 2 balconies, 2 TV's. The grounds were very well maintained. Food was good and plentiful. Special effort was made over the holidays. Santa arriving on the beach by speed boat and giving a wrapped pr [... read more]esent to each child. Very cool! Gala Buffet! The main pool was quite busy with daily activities. We wanted quiet and and had no issues finding chairs and natural shade at other pools that were close to the beach. The beach was darker sand and had plenty of interesting shells and coral to discover. Some issues though: bites from sand flies. (Take benadryl). Water not potable. (bottle water was issued daily). Toilet paper not to be flushed. It took 1 hour 15 minutes to get to the resort from the airport. Quite the eye opener as to how the Dominicans live. You are not in Canada anymore. The Resort made every effort to make us comfortable. Thank you Grand Bahia

Catalonia Bavaro Resort: Amazing Resort and Friendly Staff

I am Celiac and managed very well with the Chefs in the Buffet most of the time. The Rodeo was a bit more challenging but we finally got a person who understood. Japanese Restaurant was excellent . The Reception seemed understaffed when we arrived at midnight which seemed very odd since they knew we were coming

Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: Excellent Service

Stayed for a week over Christmas. The grounds are meticulously kept but are large and meandering to say the least. The resort is beautiful and the service was excellent. Food was plentiful and good quality. A few bugs at night but nothing a little bug spray can't handle. Beach was pretty well unusable because of seaweed but I think that is just due to the time of year. All in all a good place to go.

Royalton Splash Punta Cana: Splashes Memories Punta Cana

Grounds are well kept. Beach area is small. Drinks are not mixed, they are from a machine-blah Rooms were nice for Punta Cana. We paid extra for a room upgrade for location. The sister hotel was very nice.

Majestic Elegance Punta Cana: Great resort, very friendly staff

Stayed at resort over Christmas. Most notable was the staff was extremely friendly and helpful through out all aspects from bartenders to cleaning staff and everyone in between. Food was great, especially huge seafood feast for Christmas dinner. Resort is large but they have enough chairs and areas that it never felt like a lot of people. Elegance club worth the upgrade.

Viva Tangerine by Wyndham: Viva Wyndham resort

The rooms were cleaned daily but I had to request clean sheets and towels Good was ok at the buffet but booking the other redrsurants the Italian and mexican was restricted to once per week per room ! No free wifi. Big disappointment Not enough hot water. We felt drinks at the bar were a little weak. And we are not hard core drinkers! Other beach was great. Only free water sport was boogie boards! Wish I had know all of this before going Lots of beggars on the beach. Would I g to this resort ag [... read more]ain no. To the Dominican yes. The people are amazing

Bahia Principe Grand San Juan: 10+

A little bit of paradise at this resort..only one drawback was the food of course but it was always fresh, nice touch in the buffet was leg of lamb, roast turkey or roast of beef during the week. Always fresh fruit, salads, vegetables..terrific assortment.

Majestic Elegance Punta Cana: Very relaxing resort

Majestic Elegance was a very nice resort. Food was quite good, 5 à la carte restaurants made for lots of variety at supper time. Buffet had lots of selection but was getting a little old after a week. We were part of the Elegance club so we just went to the private snack bars for lunch when we were getting tired of buffet. Upgrade to Elegance club was worth it, private pools rarely had very many people at them, never any trouble finding a lounge chair or Bali bed (no reservations required!). Un [... read more]fortunately beach was covered in kelp when we were there (Dec 12-21, 2014), kind of put me off swimming or lounging on the beach. There were lots of activities during the day and decent entertainment at night. We accidentally ended up at the Colonial entertainment show the first night not realizing we'd crossed over resorts (they are connected and the division between the 2 was not 100% clear at first. This worked to our advantage, we looked at the proposed shows for each resort and then decided which we'd like to see each night (not sure this is encouraged but no one said anything to us, we were served at the bar with no issues). Was disappointed with the temperature of the pools, they were quite cool and no hot tubs at any of the pools. Towel exchange was also a bit silly, you had to exchange pool towels at certain locations (Elegance club people had different colour towels and could not exchange at the main pools only at the private ones, which was a bit annoying when you had a wet towel at the party pool and wanted to exchange. Not sure why they wouldn't just have some Elegance club towels available at the main pools as well. Towel carts at Elegance club were usually unmanned and I saw people waiting 5-10 minutes at some points to exchange towels before someone finally came. This last comment certainly doesn't make or break the resort, but be prepared for a very uncomfortable toilet, side were so narrow it was almost like there was no seat on it! Overall a very pleasant stay, would go again if the price was right and seaweed was cleaned up.

Ocean Blue and Sand: The resort is nice, I wouldn't say amazing thou.

The staff are wonderful..The food is ok, there is room for improvement in that area..The beach area is small and they need to put up more cabanas for shade and the same around the pool area, and also some table and chairs for the older guest. I also have to say the suites weren't all that clean.

Ocean Blue and Sand: Ocean Blue and Sand Punta Cana

We arrived Dec. 21/14 about 2pm, got our rooms about 3:30pm. I asked to have my sink in the bathroom fixed, bad leak in s trap when you run the water, everyday for 5 days I went down to the front desk, as well told Mr. Coffey from air Transat. Nothing was done, on the 5 day I spoke with a manager of Entertainment down at the beach, and finally he called someone, and was fixed! But still leaked a bit? At the same time I asked for our robs and slippers we were suppose to get!!! Never got them. As  [... read more]we pay the upgrade to have this service. The pillows were like pancakes!!! Very uncomfortable. and the rooms were not cleaned very good, as every time after a shower, we had to put our sandals on as the floor was dirty. Never put any boozes in the fridge unless we gave her $$$$ I stayed at this resort 4 year's ago, and was impressed, that is the reason we went back!!!! This time I could not believe how the resort was rundown. Even the booze was watered down?????? awful. The free Wi-Fi was also bad service, could not always get on, and when you did, very slow!!!

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Great vacation!!

Nice hotel,great service,,,,and yes the food was excellent. Our family trip with 2 kids (10&7 yrs old). Plenty of activities on the resort for all ages. Only complaint was for mother nature,a lot of sea weed in the ocean and on the beach.the staff did a good job of cleaning every day,just the time of year.

Paradise Playa Dorada: Think twice about this one!

Mixed feelings about this resort. Food was good, room clean. - vendors on the beach were annoying - charged you $28US for safety deposit box, $48US for internet - vendors at resort selling time shares - annoying - one key per room - no remotes for tv - disco too close to rooms

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: Rocky Start but fantastic from then on

I loved the resort, the grounds were amazing, the pool spotless and gorgeous, I loved the bridges that went over the pool and the different sections. The pool bar staff were great and the drinks were wonderful. There wasn't anything you couldn't get. Our maid Josephina was so lovely, and the decorating she did with flowers and our towels were a treat to see. We went to the Brazilian and the Mexican restaurants and the food was great. The Buffet could have done with a little more variety, but you [... read more] could always finds something to eat. We were there for the tree lighting in the lobby with drinks and snacks and a great atmosphere, it was lovely, the children definitely enjoyed it. The staff spent so much time and energy decorating the resort. I was sick the first week - something intestinal - nothing I caught at the resort, more likely on the plane. But the staff were very kind, one young man from the buffet put something together on a plate for me and came up with my husband. He also told me amaretto was very good for a dodgy stomach, so he went over to the snack bar by the beach and brought me back a small glass of amaretto and some herbal tea. It was very touching. I found the staff at this resort very friendly and very helpful, they always had smiles for you, even the grounds people said Hola to you. My husband and I were there for two weeks and the second one was amazing, as I started to feel better. There were a few bumpy patches when we first got there, with our room which they changed for us and it was great. and we had problems with our safe, which finally got straigtened away. But we did enjoy our vacation and are still talking about it. Marian