Occidental Caribe: horribly frustrating

lost our reservation checking in. Initially said they could not check us in. After a half hour call (60$) home to Canada looking to forward email from Westjet. We were check in to 1 room for 5 people until our other 2 rooms were ready. We arrived around 2 but were not in until about 8. When i asked the next day after westjet rep spoke with staff what the problem was the rep said the staff member must have been new and didnt know they dont use hotel vouchers. the next few days were good but our k [... read more]eys stopped workig twice. After that we wre careful not to put them near cell phones or cameras but on our last full day it happened 3 times back and forth to the lobby. Finally i said i was sick of walking back and forth and waited in the hall near my room for over 3 hours for a supervisor to come fix it. I should have been on the beach not in a hallway! The hotel was ok. The food was good.The beach was amazing but the staff never smiled and were not friendly. I was one of a few people who tipped so I cant say that was the reason for the unfriendly customer service.

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Awesome Resort

Highly recommend this resort. Excellent service and friendly staff. They made you feel like a VIP person. Very clean and beautiful foliage. Sandy beaches. Array of different foods and lots to drink. Its an excellent vacation resort.

Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: Great food, beautiful resort & beach

This was our 7th trip to Punta Cana - 3rd stay at the Bahia. The resort is clean and very well maintained, the staff are friendly and willing to help when they can, the food is excellent and abundant, the beach is beautiful soft white sand and you can walk for miles in either direction. We found lounge chairs easily on the beach and there was plenty of shade. There was not enough restrooms at the beach - always a line up at the 2 we found. Lounge chairs around the pools were hard to come by unti [... read more]l later in the day. We tried to make our 3 a-la-carte restaurant reservations as soon as we arrived but there was nothing before 10pm - too late for dinner for us. We were put on a waiting list and we did manage to get into the Japanese and Beach BBQ with short notice.

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Average

Facilities were good but drinks were sickly sweet. Transportation was spotty unless you were a time share client. Big push to become time share clients. Air conditioned rooms smelled of mold. Service was OK

Bahia Principe Explore La Romana: Vacation

Overall, this resort is beautiful and clean! Landscaping: Is very lush, lots of palm trees, flowers and very well maintained. Check In: Very Slow Service: Very Slow Food: Okay Rooms: Nice and very clean! Pool: Nice with swim up bar Beach: The beach is beautiful and nestled into a bay with lots of palm trees! Ocean: HORRIBLE, Very Murky Water, lots of seaweed and jellyfish. No turquoise water! The water is not clear. There are also alot of wasps on the beach!! I would not return to this [... read more] resort and would not recommend it because of the murky ocean and rate the resort as a 3 star. Sorry.

Bahia Principe Explore El Portillo: Fantastic Getaway

This is THEE perfect getaway! It was a quiet resort located on a beautiful stretch of sandy beach. Our room location was great, as it was close to the main pool, beach, and most restaurants. The beach is public, so there were sellers walking up and down in blue shirts. They left you alone when you said "no gracias." The grounds of the resort are beautiful. You can tell how much pride they take in them. It rained once our entire trip (late night, so we were in bed) and in the morning they had som [... read more]eone shot-vacing the roadways by reception! The selection of food was more than I imagined (and it had flavour!). There was no shortage of it, either. The staff were anxious to please. We found they understood French a bit more than English, though. Unfortunately we had to make a trip to the doctor, as I got a fever that wouldn't go away (cold-related). The doctor on staff (Tony) is wonderful. There was lots of paperwork to fill out, but I was feeling better and back on the beach within a couple hours of seeing him. You have to purchase internet (if you want it). We found we used it in our rooms at night when we were winding down. The cost was reasonable for 7 days. You also should purchase a safe (in fact, they highly recommend it). It gave us peace of mind knowing our passports, tablets, etc were locked up in our room when we weren't in it (which was hardly ever). We did one excursion through our tour operator. It was nice to get off the resort for the day. The hotel sells excursions, but it's best to go through your tour operator. On Tuesdays they put a bar in the ocean for the afternoon! It was nice not having to walk back to the main bars to get drinks! Snorkeling is free, but you can only reserve equipment for a 1/2 hr per day. Make sure to bring lots of $1 USD bills. It's good for tipping. We never had a problem finding beach chairs, although the ones under umbrellas were always gone first. It gets so hot by 10-11am that it's best to find a chair close to some kind of shade. Our chairs were never stolen either. We'd go for lunch and leave our towels (hotel-provided...new ones every day) and books on them. All in all we loved this resort and we would go back in a heartbeat.

Riu Palace Punta Cana: good resort but could easily be amazing!

Im writing on behalf of my parents and basing this review on everything they told me. The biggest concern was the elevator was broken, so if you stayed on the last floor...good luck. Everything else was what you paid for, it is what you make it. Also it seemed like a big party place.

Riu Palace Macao: Fantastic stay at the Riu Palace Macao

My husband and I recently stayed at the Riu Palace Macao and had a wonderful vacation. The people were all very friendly and there to meet all your needs. Food selection was plenty, well presented and very tasty! Beach is wonderful and the property was well maintained. Our room was clean and refreshments restocked daily. Would definitely recommend this hotel, you will not be disappointed!

Riu Merengue: Great place for a vacation

Lovely grounds, nice room, good meals, relaxing place to vacation. Especially enjoyed the beach. Didn't use the entertainment feature, but did do the safari which was educational. Weather was great during our stay.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Very impressed with Riu Bachata

This was a last minute holilday with the girls, and we paid around $1000 expecting mediocre accomodations but it turned out to be one of the nicest places I'd been to. The food was good, beach was beautiful, and hotel rooms clean and large. The atmosphere was fun, friendly yet relaxing at the same time. Will definitely go back.

Iberostar Selection Bavaro Suites: average resort

My husband and I were taking our first vacation away from our toddler. We had a good time, but the resort is far from what I thought it would be. The positive: nice beach, big rooms and food is ok. The negative: old resort, no quiet areas for couples and service was bad. Overall, it was an average resort and would not recommand to my friends unless it is real cheap and they are going with a big group.

Grand Palladium Select Bavaro: Beautiful Resort

It was a beautiful resort. There were many dining options available + a 24/7 sports bar that had food! Our room was great, however, except for 2/7 days we were there we didn't have hot water and our all our tv channels had lines on them. They eventually fixed the hot water issue but the tv issue they said was a company issue and not the resort's..also, it was so hot there that the beds and sheets became kind of moist....my $ was even fading into my jean pockets lol ....I also lost $150 USD whi [... read more]ch I know someone stole from our room, I packed the night before we left and took everything out of the safe (which I know was my mistake but still) - the resort did an "investigation" and found "nothing"......there is a disco on the resort which was fun & I do recommend checking out Club Mangu :) the beaches are amazing..... Despite our room issues and my stolen cash, I did have a great visit - the people there are so friendly.... it also helped that my trip was all-inclusive!

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Amazing resort, I would certainly visit again.

Grounds were well kept, food was great just a bit too salty for me but overhall you had a lot to choose from. The fruits were the absolute best especially the mangoes and papaya. Breakfast was awesome I ate omlette almost every day.

Grand Palladium Palace: Our Second Home

2014 was our tenth consecutive yearly visit to the Palladium in Punta Cana. The resort is massive however the staff makes it seem small. We love everything about it. We are beach people and we don’t think you will find a better beach than Bavaro anywhere. I have no idea how many pools there are but I’m sure we have tried all of them. The fifteen plus restaurants are great and the staff treats you like family. I can’t say enough good about the place. In our mind it is perfect

Grand Palladium Punta Cana: Food okay, rooms were disappointing..

As title states, food was only okay and our rooms were disappointing - definite misrepresentation on the hotel website which set our expectations much higher. We traveled with a group of 50 - most of the group had nicer rooms than us. When we raised our concerns, it took the staff 2 days to act - we had no a/c for the first two nights... Will not be doing a trip like this again for the price we paid.

Grand Sirenis Tropical Suites: very comfortale layout

nice pool layout for children and adults,beach was great ,service was great, staffwere over the top friendly and abliging.the food waswonderful a good vaiety of all the things i like.the entertanment was great i dont have one complaint i would definetly return thanks

Punta Cana Princess: Great resort

My husband and I went to Punta Cana Princess for our honeymoon from May 31-June 6. It was by far one of the best vacations I've had. And considering this was our first trip together, it was picture perfect. Perfect location for a honeymoon especially since it's adults only. It's a small resort so everything was at a walkable distance. We stayed in building 5 on the ground floor and it was the perfect location, right in front of the beach and next to the beach. The nightly entertainment shows wer [... read more]e very entertaining and involved the audience. The people at this resort are very loving and friendly. The food is good too, a lot of variety at the buffet.The best food was at Mare Nostrum the beach hotel. We once went to the sister resort for Brazilian food, it was a different experience; it had just meat chicken and seafood. I would highly recommend this resort to my family and friends. Definitely looking forward to coming back in the near future.

Cayo Levantado Resort: paradise found!

We just got back from Bahia Principe Cayo Levantado - a choice we made based on the suggestion from Gina our Trip Central Rep. and it was an appreciated suggestion - we had a fabulous time. Thanks Gina it was all true! The resort is about an hour drive from Samana Airport, a tiny efficient airport and we were on our way in no time. We arrived at the mainland and waited about 1/2 hour and went on a small boat to the island. The resort is very lush and beautiful. Arrival and check in very smooth a [... read more]nd the rooms are very clean and spacious. We were in building 2, very centrally located - not far from the upper pool ( 2 pools, one upper and lower pool near the beach). Great spot! View of ocean was appreciated! We ate at all 3 a la carte restaurants and had wonderful meals. Buffet was also excellent - well about past Dominican standards we have met with. We we certainly go here again! It is a hidden gem for sure!

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: lacking

Dreadful beach, arbor where weddings held in poor condition,lamp shades/either missing or filthy, front lobby outdated and unhelpful, some days room not cleaned until 5 or 6 pm. Food just okay. Eaten alive by some sort of mosquito in room.

Iberostar Waves Dominicana: Good holiday, but use to be better

I have been here 3 times in the last 2 years. The last time I was there the dishes were dirty and the bed linens were always damp. They are saving on energy costs. I don,t think I will go back. Lovely beach.