Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Great resort & great staff!!!

Super clean resort...lots of pools...close to beach...great food and great staff!!! This place is family friendly with lots to do!! We ate definite coming back!! Make sure you bring usd $-no need to change over to lc$ - this will help with tips $1s & $5s

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Amazing resort

Beautiful grounds, beach, pools. Food and drinks are great. Service at the restaurants and bars is impeccable. All the staff is so friendly and helpful. Rooms are great with comfortable beds. I would definitely recommend to a friend.

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Bahia Principe Esmeralda

I took my whole family (10 of us) for the Christmas Holidays. Everything about the resort was specatular, the kids enjoyed the spotless clean pool, the kids area pool and the all the kids activities. The adults were impressed with the service staff,the rooms and the specialty restaurants.No compaints.

Grand Palladium Select Bavaro: Best of Times and Worst of Times...all in a week!

Upon arrival our pre-booked adjoining rooms were on opposite floors. The concierge asked us for $250 USD to have them adjoining so naturally we paid this as we brought children with us. We asked the Supervisor the next day if this was common practice and he said NO and returned our cash within 24hrs. The rest of the staff were friendly and helpful. Unfortunately 3 out of 5 of us became sick from food poisoning on 3 separate days. They were reluctant to permit us to take food from the buffet back [... read more] to our room for those who were ill but then finally brought out styro plates and then it was not a problem the rest of the week. The beach was beautiful, the grounds were well manicured, the trolley was nice to see all 3 resorts, and there is a wonderful 'secret' adults only pool that we found out about on our 2nd last day (open to all guests of the three resorts) that is an absolute dream free of children playing, filled with spa music, fountains and much more elaborate beverages at the bar. Find this pool...you will NOT be disappointed.

Hyatt Vivid Punta Cana: Great Resort - Repeat visitor 3rd time

The Dreams Palm Beach is a great resort, which prides itself on customer service. (Note you will find a sour face in the crowd, but for the most part all staff are eager to please.) The grounds are immaculately kept as are the pools. The beach is not the nicest due to the tremendous amount of seaweed that gets washed up on shore. There is staff cleaning it on a daily basis, but keeping up with the clean up is difficult. The rooms are a nice size and are renovated (at least block 21 where we stay [... read more]ed), maid service is excellent, always enough towels and stocked fridge with beverages. The food at this resort is excellent. Keep in mind you are in a foreign country and therefore some food items are prepared differently than how we are accustomed, e.g. desserts. The Seaside Grill excellent food, unfortunately our experience with service in this restaurant was not great. The World Cafe (buffet) had a variety of food and was different daily, excellent staff and service. The Japenese restaurant great atmosphere and entertainment, but a lot of sodium in the food. Mexican was average, and the French and Italian not enjoyed. Entertainment was good; my son enjoyed the beach volley ball tournament against the hotel management. While it was a great idea, the lack of sportsmanship exhibited by the General Manager - Pedro Tomas was suprising given that his job is to cater to guests. It was more important to win at all costs. The only smile you saw was after they won. Very disappointing. In closing, nice resort with many extras that make this a better choice for your vacation.

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: Enjoyable and Relaxing Trip

We stayed at Be Live Grand Marien from December 4 to 11, 2014. This is the 4th time we visited Dominican Republic, and our 2nd trip to Pureto Plata, this resort is much better than our 1st trip. Hotel room is comfortable, room service is very good and the maid is so friendly. Hotel front desk responded to our request quick, good customer services. During our stay, they upgraded our TV to flat screen TV with satillate channels. We enjoyed the swimming pool, not too crowded. Walking along the beac [... read more]h was so relaxing; and there are plenty of beach chairs. Exercises room is also available. Food at the buffet is good, plenty of varieties, always have new items. The dinner food at Brazilian restaurant, Mexican restaurant and Gourmet restaurant is excellent. Snack bar located at the beach side has varieties of food. We could relax and enjoy at our own pace. Entertainment crew is great, they have different types of performance each night. We will certainly go back to this resort again in the future.

TRS Turquesa: Very nice resort

The Royal Suites Turquesa is one of four resorts in a complex of Palladium resorts. As such, we had access to the restaurants and amenities of the other three resorts. However, because the Royal Suites Turquesa is adult-only (and presumably the premium resort of the collection), guests at the other three resorts did not have access to the RST restaurants and pool areas. Among the four resorts, there were about a dozen a la carte restaurants to choose from, which were generally quite busy (reserv [... read more]ations required) and a bit noisy. We tried two (the Brazilian and the Japanese) and enjoyed both of them. The RST guests had exclusive access to two restaurants, without the need for reservations. We never had to wait more than ten minutes. Once we tried the RST restaurants (La Chantarelle was particularly good), we returned there for the rest of our stay. They were very good. In addition to the beach, we had access to three pools for RST guests only. All were very good. The servers were quite attentive, including checking in regularly when we were at the beach. All in all, it was a very good experience. We would be happy to go back.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Great resort

Everything about this resort is pleasant. Very clean . What makes the resort are all the friendly staff. They remember their repeat customers. The beach always has enough chairs. The entertainment staff try a get people to participate in the games. Thank you to Mari and Francisco at the reception desk. The food is always excellent. Thank you to Robert our waiter in the buffet. The bar staff are amazing as they get to know all their customers and know what they drink after the first order. The ni [... read more]ghtly entertainment is very good also, especially the production of The Circle of Life. This was our 4th visit and we will be returning in the near future.

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Punta Cana: Fantastic resort

Truly amazing resort offering a wide range of activities and entertainment while maintaining a highly luxurious environment. A must see for all travelers! Casinos where also a very nice addition to the experience.

Grand Palladium Punta Cana: Good food/overall atmosphere

Buffet food was the best I've ever had at a resort, however a few of us did have some stomach issues. Everyone is very friendly and overall atmosphere of the resort is great. Rooms were quite outdated - very nice and clean but did not have any water pressure in the shower our whole stay (maybe it was due to us being on the 3rd floor).

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Paradise setting!

My recent vacation to this resort, with my husband, was our third time here. The resort itself is idyllic in its setting. Beautiful well maintained grounds, pleasant staff, quite and peaceful. The only negative about this resort is the food should be improved. Even the a la carte food is slipping (especially the deserts),

Riu Bambu: Very friendly,helpful people always happy

The grounds were well kept. Rooms were a good size. Maid was excellent . Entertainment staff were amazing. Resort was always looked after with nice little touches. Fresh flowers throughout.Bathrooms kept clean and stocked.

Occidental Punta Cana: I might not return

I did not even get what promised. We are two adults and two kids. We booked for having two queen beds. Not even that, we were only given two double beds . Very little for having paid CAD11000 for two weeks (we have Wi-Fi one hour a day, yes one hour should we would like more is a payable option....unbelievable...

Grand Sirenis Tropical Suites: Don't go to this resort

The hotel was terrible for the following reasons: The rooms are dated. The pillows are lumpy. The bathroom needs a new tub. The chairs on the balcony are falling apart. The restaurants- Japanese was good, Italian(three of our party were sick. American was awful. Went to the buffet after. Steakhouse average. After talking to other guests we ended up using the buffet the rest of the visit. The waterpark was great for the younger crowd who could make it down. If you ran to the waterpark you might m [... read more]ake it in 2 minutes otherwise it was 15 minute walk with children. I could not use the golf cart to be transported down. One of the staff pushed me in a wheel chair. The golf cart was for VIP Only.

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Beautiful resort

Example: What did you think about  this hotel? (grounds, public areas, rooms, dining, features, etc.) Stunning guest room, large pool, beachfront, great options for specialty restuarants. Room service could be improved. Langauge barrier, many speak little English

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: great

staff are so nice food good grounds kept ex. and nice cold beer EX.resort and priced right nice beach peddlars but a no is all it takes.if you see something you like barter for it most of the time you win.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: The good and the bad

We spend 2 weeks in Grand Paradiso Smana. The food with the exception of fish was good and the table service was excellent. It would not hurt to purchase additional coffee cups, so by arriving later we are not forced to drink our coffee out of soup bowels. We were staying in unit #6 and here is the negative side. To blend in with the environment the roof over the hallway on the third floor was covered with palm leafs. Looks really nice but after a number of years the roof was deteriorating and t [... read more]he upper floor was flooded twice during heavy rain. This led to up to 10 mm of water in our bathroom. Absolutely avoidable if the roof was replaced in time. Would I go back? YES but I would inspect the roof first

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Great Resort

This was our third visit to the Grand Bahia Ambar. There have been changes to the property which may or may not work out for the best. Rooms have been added which means more people. The beach was very crowded. We found that there were sufficient chairs most days but as always you had to be down early to get what you wanted. Beverage service on the beach was hit and miss and I believe it was due to a shortage of supplies. There was a lot of seaweed washing up on shore every day. Workers seemed to [... read more] constantly be raking, bagging, and carting it away but the next morning it was back. Some days even the water was full of it. This was up to mother nature and hopefully she will be kinder in the future. Service at the pool/beach restaurant the first three or four days of our stay was pretty much non existent. I couldn't quite figure it out. Employees didn't seem to care. They didn't serve you coffee or water or even set the tables some times. Later on in the week this changed and everybody seemed to be happy to serve. Not sure what the problem was but I think management was trying to institute some changes which obviously were not working for them. The food was okay but not what we had received on prior visits. Lobby area was great. There were always a lot of people sitting and enjoying conversation and drinks. Service on the most part was very good. Food in the main buffet was good but not great. They no longer have all the canapes or variety of protein and veggies available as they did in previous years. The food seemed to be somewhat limited, pretty basic and for us disappointing. I don't go to a five star adults only resort to eat hotdogs, hamburgers and French fries but I guess some people do. Also noticed that the staff were not keeping the buffet area as clean as they had in previous years. The serving tongs were not changed on a regular basis and always appeared dirty and covered with food. People seem to like to pick the serving tongs up at one end of the buffet, help themselves as they go along, then leave the dirty tongs covered with all sorts " in the dish" at the end. Call me fussy but I don't find this appealing. A la carte restaurants were very good with excellent food and service. The only problem we had was at the Japanese Restaurant Maikaido where we had room temperature miso soup and cold tempura. Not sure if this is where it happened but ended up with bad tummy problems (first time we've had a problem at this property). Favourite a la carte was Portifino where the food and service was above and beyond excellent in my opinion. Our room was lovely, we had a corner suite which was very big and comfortable. The maids decorated it beautifully for our anniversary with flower petals on the bed and a heart made out of towels, and balloons. Nice touch. Bottom line is we probably will give it one more try and see if they work out their problems. Poor service will not be accepted and certainly lack of cleanliness around the food area is a no no. Tummy problems a second time will mean no more visits to the Grand Bahia Ambar for us. The property is beautiful.

Paradise Playa Dorada: Great Resort

Second time back to Grand Paradise for me, seventh time for my other half. Obviously we have really enjoyed ourselves. Staff is great, very helpful, rooms are clean, food is good. Premises are well kept. Beach is fabulous...both sides of the resort. Had a wonderful vacation and will return.jo

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Very nice resort

This resort is quite nice and the staff are excellent. My only complaint was that the locals were on the resort on the weekend. They kept to themselves and really weren't a problem, it just made the resort much busier - especially at the pool and restaurants. The beach is fantastic with plenty of trees for those who like a bit of shade. Lots of chairs at the large pool and at the beach. The food is excellent! Plenty of variety and everything is hot and fresh. The shows are great however they are [... read more] quite loud at night. We were in building 4 which has a nice view but is right beside the stage, so if you are someone who goes to bed early, you may want a building further away from the stage. Also, ask for a room on the second or third floor! There are no elevators but our room was on the ground level and was very, very damp The rooms are a bit dated - not 4.5 quality but clean. We paid $35 US for 7 days unlimited WiFi which worked everywhere on the resort, but they did have cheaper options available. There is a market off of the resort just down the beach a little that people may try to get you to go to. The people there are typically pushy, wanting you to come into their shop. I probably wouldn't go there alone. Overall, I would recommend this resort. It's very pretty with the tall palms, and it feels safe and clean. I just don't understand why locals are on this resort but not other resorts in the area.