Secrets Tides Punta Cana: Amazing resort

It was an amazing trip. The coco coffee bar in the morning, gym with state of the art equipment, delicious buffet for breakfast, lunch & dinner, 3 new pickleball courts, beautiful infinity pools with comfy loungers, beach loungers under palapas, breezy weather so beach great for walking on, we didnt go in for swimming, evening entertainment incredible, lots of a la carte restaurants (we actually preferred the variety at the buffet). MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR QR code to enter and exit DR!

Lopesan Costa Bavaro Resort Spa and Casino: Very good resort

We just came back from a 7-day trip there. The resort is approximately 25 min away from Punta Cana airport. We're the only ones being dropped off there, so the check-in process was quick and easy. The check-in starts at 3 pm, but if you arrive earlier, they will let you enjoy everything at the resort already (except your room if it's not ready). We already had the Lopesan app installed. As soon as you have your room number, I suggest you log in and start making the restaurant reservations. They [... read more] fill in quickly. What I didn't like in our stay: Tipping culture: I know DR is a tourist destination, and many people there depend on that. I just don't like it because the vacations are not cheap, and we still need to worry about tips. The worst part is that they expect tips, so if you don't give it or give little, you may receive a lower quality service. We didn't bring too much to tip (I wish I knew that before), so we gave little. I noticed on the third or fourth day that the service was not the same. It looks like they already knew we don't tip much and provided a not-great service. Beach: There were two problems with the beach. One, the swimming area of Lopesan is super small, less than 10 meters wide and maybe 100 m in length. And don't think that it's okay to go over if you know how to swim, the lifeguards will whistle the hell at you. The second problem of the beach is that, for some reason that I don't know, all the boats in the area park right in front of the resort. It's just annoying because you can't get a good picture of the sea. If you walk like 500 meters east, you can take nice pictures there, but if you're just chilling in the resort beach area, you will always have the boat view. However, the beach area of Lopesan has the best structure. There is an umbrella for every two chairs, unlike the neighbouring resorts, which only have chairs and some palm trees to make shade. Daily activities: They offer 3 free daily activities (provided by a third party). The scuba dive experience (on the pool, just to people know how it feels like), the kayak, and the sailboat. The kayak is fun and can take up to 3 people. The problem I had was with the sailboat. They say it's free like the kayak but they said it would cost $55 for the first time, "to learn" how to use the boat. Something that I'm sure it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes. Maybe that's why nobody uses the sailboat there. Now, what I liked: Everything else! The resort is very good overall. The food is excellent. I could eat every meal at the buffet, I just didn't do it because we wanted to try the different restaurants. The pools are very good too, none of the pools were too crowded and they have several to choose from. The waterpark is awesome, I had a lot of fun with my son. The gym is excellent, all the equipment is new and well-maintained. The theatre is ample with nice attractions. Next time, we will try a different resort, but I would definitely go back to Lopesan if I had the chance.

Secrets Royal Beach: Secrets April'24

Secrets Royal Beach is top notch. Our group of 7 enjoyed all the amenities including our rooms, the bars, coffee shop in the lobby, stores, entertainment, pools & restaurants are great. Would go there again.

Occidental Caribe: An honest review for families with small children

I wanted to write a review of this resort, something I don't normally do but there are some standout things families travelling there with small children should know. We were a family of grandparents, and two families with an infant and a baby 20 months. And very experienced world travellers. 1. If you want your rooms together, be sure to book together. We emailed the resort all reservations to get our rooms together. Despite initial responses asking us for more information and at least [... read more] 6 attempts to connect with them, we were eventually ghosted. 2. Upon arrival we went the resort for assistance in getting our 3 rooms moved closer together for childcare reasons and I showed them our previous requests. We offered to be downgraded from ocean front to regular rooms to accomplish this - but every visit to the front desk we were told there was nothing they could do. Eventually, the resort offered that if we paid an additional $350USD they would give us a suite and another room nearby - but the third room would still be far away from these two rooms. So, our view is that they were not helpful. 3. They shut off many of the elevators during the day - so getting strollers down to the lobby proved challenging every day. Two people had to move the stroller and baby manually down the staircases on numerous occasions. 4. Getting milk by the bottle was accommodated, but we ran into difficulty getting anyone to give us more milk for the night feedings. Bring more than one bottle to be filled for your baby just in case. 5. The resort would NOT confirm a crib for the two babies before our trip, and there were none in the rooms despite the babies being on the reservations. This we felt was unacceptable and we were thankful to have brought the travel beds. 6. For toddlers, note there is nowhere to get them a meal between 4-6:30 pm. After a day in the sun, the toddler was exhausted and couldn't last until 6:30 - we had to bring a travel plate with lid and make their dinner from the lunch buffet, then run it up to the room fridge for storage. There should be an early dinner option for families. 6:30 is the earliest. 6. The Pools was dirty! Balloons, bugs, hair ties and other items just floating around in the pool and water had a grey cast to it. Need better skimming and testing of the water for safety and health of the guests. Folks - this is not whining and I am a very well travelled person who has never written a resort review before. I did write the hotel to give them this feedback but the concerns I outlined in our holiday week with the Occidental Caribe were glossed over in their reply. They said 'hopefully the beach and setting made up for the issues we experienced". I was aghast at this response. Occidental Caribe needs to do better here and most issues we feel are with the management and staff attitude towards families with children.

Secrets Royal Beach: Wonderful

This resort checked all the boxes for our group of 7 women. Adults only, close to the airport, beautiful beach, well appointed quiet rooms, very good food & restaurant choices, great daytime & nighttime entertainment. I could go on & on. You won’t be disappointed!!

Majestic Colonial Punta Cana Beach Resort: Good Resort But

This is a very good resort but it could be better. The worst part was the check-in on the Club side. We arrived a little after 3:00 PM when the rooms should have been ready (and they probably were). Unfortunately the hotel had only one person on the check-in computer; he was overwhelmed and our check-in took over an hour. Interestingly, the non Club check-in was empty. Should be an easy fix. The maids were awesome but some start very early in the morning and they like talking loud amongst  [... read more]themselves ... they were our alarm clock at 6:30 AM. Easy fix again. Finally, for those that have gone to the Dominican before, you know that DR staff are not always the friendliest in comparison with other southern destinations. This was a topic of conversation I heard a number of times at the resort and on the way back. We also noticed that there was less tipping than normal (we came back with half the USD tipping money we went with). There is probably a reason for this. Again this is simply a case of the management talking to the staff and telling them they are missing out. As I said at the beginning, it is a very good resort: good rooms, superb beach, nice pools, terrific food, lots to do and some nice special touches. I think it will be back to Mexico next time.

Occidental Caribe: It's a trap

Cons ? Shower has no pressure and the head is for short people, have to hug the wall to get wet ? No welcome drink, as advertised ? No servers at the pools to help with drinks ? Says mini bar in room on dis but it’s actually mini fridge it 0 liqour in room ? Toilet barely flushes and if it plugs you wait 3 hours for them to fix it ? Pillows are clumpy and old and they dont give new ones ? No fitted sheets just sheets used instead ? Food has no flavour or horrible flavour. I was disappoin [... read more]ted every time we went to the buffet usually only 1 or 2 items seemed edible ? Room service doesn’t show (waited 7 hours for toilet paper and still had to go find a janitor to get some) ? The service desk only has 2 people working and your waiting forever ? Room cards constantly stop working and got locked outta my room. Had to wait at least 30 for them to reactivate my cards which only takes a min ? Bar service sucks. Barely anyone making drink or they’re annoyed that they have to 6 people behind to bar 1 making drinks at a time ? Barely any AC and it was humid ? The power goes out every night couple times a day ? Every pushy with trying to sell you stuff CONSTANTLY ? Excursion that sounded so nice was horrible. Sorna island. Boat ride was way too long and the drive. They fed us horrible food and it says it’s 9 hours long but we were gone for 13 mostly just travel not enjoying the ocean. Also a couple having sex in front of little kids. 9 hours travel 3 hours on the actual excursion ? Hard to get into the restaurants that you need to make reservations at ? Very busy on the weekends cause the locals come in and they seem to be very entitled. one lady threw her drink at the bartender for serving us after we waited 10 minutes for service. if you dont speak their language they ignore you. ? Our room got too hot and we wanted to air out our room and they told us we weren’t allowed to have our room door open to let the air circulate - You have to be at the pool by 5 am to secure a spot at the pool as people will go down and save spots and make it impossible to have seats at the pool. - Lots of false advertisment and lack of care. - Constantly try to trick you into time share meetings with sister resorts. - pool closes at 6:50 Pros ? The beach is beautiful although the waves are a bit rough if you’re wanting something a bit calm ? They have some stores and can charge them to the room ? Two big pools ? The japanise restaurant was entertaining and great food ? The theatre is great and great entertainment ? They clean the rooms well, well at least the floors. More Date of stay: April 2024

Occidental Punta Cana: Great resort

Very clean resort, the room was very spacious, great food, I just wished they had more snacks bars, the wood burning oven pizza place only open at 6 pm, they have a very good pizza, we arrived at 10:30 pm after the buffet was closed and went to get pizza, it was delicious, friendly staff at the comon area, but most of the buffet staff were mean, it felt like they are angry with the guests. I found one big roach in our bathroom, I told the front desk to come and remove it as I am terrified of th [... read more]em, 2 times they said we will send someone right away and no one showed. Over-all, great place and I will recomend it and will visit again.

Bahia Principe Escape Aquamarine: Very big resort

Beautiful grounds great pool awesome beach great food. Rooms Need more maintenance ie: broken plugs, toilets, hot water hats to regulate, etc., but very clean. Front desk staff need to be more fluent in English as there is definitely a language barrier as a result confusion reigns

Serenade All Suites Adults Only Resort: Great Recommendation!

We would definitely consider heading back to Serenade again - so new - only 6 months old, housekeeping is exceptional, food is a wonderful selection and the resort seemed to cater to a middle age group with quiet spots to relax at the pool or beach. Animation team was top-notch too! Hopefully the electrical failures were a fluke, our air conditioning quit three days during our stay there and front desk is unavailable to help. Their software holds the info for everything and you create your ow [... read more]n service tickets for maintainance, etc. But repair staff was there immediately to rectify so all was dealt with swiftly. Great place, can't wait to check out that Junior Swim Out a second time. Great recommendation by our Trip Central Agent Monique!

Dreams Flora Resort and Spa: 10/10

Amazing all inclusive. Great food, resort, pools, drinks...everything. The water park is excellent for all ages. The seaside grill is phenomenal, the Mexican restaurant is great and the hibachi restaurant is a lot of fun.

Ocean Blue and Sand: Very nice resort that has a lot to offer

We enjoyed our stay. However, while some points were very positive, some were negative. The bus ride to the hotel took well over an hour and we stopped at six hotels before we got to our hotel. The road was mostly secondary road punctuated by what felt like four hundred speed bumps. The bus host told us to meet the Sunwing person in the lobby the next morning for our briefing. We showed up at the appointed time, but the Sunwing person told us that she was only booking our tour(s) and answering [... read more] any questions we may have. She also told us where to get our towel card. As a result of not having the benefit of a formal briefing, as is the case in all similar resorts we visited, we had to discover what this resort had to offer on our own and we missed out on some of the amenities for the first few days. We only discovered the existence of the Bowling Center and the Sports Bar after our return home. Our room was freshly renovated but the bathroom had not been renovated at all. The floor and the walls were showing signs of fatigue, and the floor of the bathtub was cracked. This is inconsistent with a four-star hotel. The pools and surrounding areas were clean, spacious and well maintained. The beach was fantastic and well maintained. The vendors were polite, discrete and kept their distances when we were not interested in their merchandise. The security personnel were present on the beach and on the site but were very discreet. The food at the Tortuga and the Villa Marina was impeccable, but the service was slow at times, for no apparent reason. We tried all the restaurants with the exception of the Mexicain restaurent and Route 66. The Mexicain restaurant was closed on our last evening. The food and service were excellent at all the restaurants we tried. Numerous shuttles were traveling on the site but one of our friends who was walking with a cane was refused boarding on several occasions because the shuttle was already on a trip. We enjoyed our stay and would recommend the resort to friends and family.

Bahia Principe Explore Legend: Great week at Fantasia

Just returned from a week at Bahi Principe Fantasia. Overall it was a great experience. There is always something good to eat from the large variety o food. My room was beautiful quiet and clean. The staff were very kind and helpful.I asked for a mattress topper and received one promptly. My only suggestions would be providing some quiet areas to sit with family and talk without having to shout. The music at thenpool and the theatre were too loud. Also 6:30 is late for the buffet to open for lit [... read more]tle ones who have been out in the sum swimming all day. Difficult to keep them awake during dinner. Otherwise a great reaort.

Occidental Caribe: Needs updates

This hotel was getting some fresh paint outside, stairwells and balconies. The rooms inside are in need of updates to plumbing, air conditioning and cosmetics. Many beach chairs were broken or in need of repair.

Dreams Macao Beach Punta Cana: WOW!

Of all the places I’ve been to this is no question the best from the check Lin to check out. The food was way out of this world. I recommend that you go Preferred if you want to be children free. Their pool is busy.

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Beautiful Resort

This hotel is just massive. The grounds are very well maintained and has one of the biggest pools I’ve ever seen. There are many restaurants to choose from with excellent food. The French restaurant was one of my favourites. There is always something to find at the many buffets although they are very busy. The beach is fantastic and the water unbelievably warm. Had a great experience overall. Employees speak mostly Spanish, and understand very little English. Learning Spanish would be a great a [... read more]sset. Would definitely go again and recommend it to anyone.

Caribe Deluxe Princess: Beautiful grounds! Great activities for families and kids.

The hotel is beautifully done! Exceptional landscape and overall design. Modern rooms. Varying pools to choose from. Great white sandy beach and great for long walks. However, would have expected better quality food! It was ok. Nothing special. Typical resort offerings. Service was extremely slow. Would need to ask multiple times for coffee cup to be filled! There was no great effort by staff to ensure timely service!

Occidental Caribe: Beautiful resort

Day 1- get here at 9 pm room isn’t ready, the lady at the front desk tells us to go to the restaurant and wait. Doesn’t tell us where restaurants are, not given a map or any information about what is when or where. Finally get to room about 45 minutes later and call down for room service only for them to tell us it’s closed even though the room service card says 11:30. Tells us the snack bar is open but can’t tell us how to get there other than “umm it’s orange and white?” We decide to give up a [... read more]nd just go to bed. Day 2- we got drinks no problem and found the buffet on our own. Food was delicious. Went to one of the shops, they don’t take cash just CC but machine wasn’t working. No big deal, they can charge to your room. We decided to go to the pool. Plenty of chairs, nobody saving with towels and we found two under an umbrella. Pool is perfect temperature to make you feel refreshed. Although it was a little gross, there were bubbly sections of whitish sludge. Pool is huge and majority is quite clean. Our maid is so sweet and everyone else has been very helpful and friendly today. I’m not impressed with the amount of cockroaches I keep finding in the room. Called room service for water, never came. Asked for towels from a maid in the hall, Said shed be back in 5 min, never came back. Beach is beautiful and warm. Hard to find a lounge chair. The guys that set up tables to sell stuff are extremely pushy and touchy feely. They are very flirty and will use any tactic to make a sale. Buffet always has something delicious. We have eaten everything and not been sick. A doctor recommended taking a chewable pepto bismol each morning and I guess it works. No tummy issues. After a few days more people started saving lounge chairs by the pool, so bad to the point people were sitting on the cement on their towel near lounge chairs that had been saved with nobody on them for hours. The beach was beautiful but very wavy, some days the undertow was so strong but they did have the red flag up and were on top of the warnings. Overall I had a great time, it was extremely humid so the water always felt great. I probably wouldn’t go back due to how busy it is and no control over saving seats.

Majestic Colonial Punta Cana Beach Resort: Great Resort

We were at the resort from the 9 to 17 April 2024. Went with family and friends and stayed at the Colonial Club. Ages ranged from 30 to 76. Overall the the resort is very nice. The room was nice bed was comfortable. If i had a complaint about the room it would be the TV. Not the best picture and limited English stations. But I didn't go there to watch TV. Our Butler was Javier, he did every thing we asked of him. Our AC stopped working at 9 pm we texted him and he had someone come down right awa [... read more]y. The food at the Buffet was very good there was something for everyone. When we went to Buffet our server was Tomas. He made going to the Buffet so much fun. Always ensured there was a table for 7 ready when we got there. Steak House and Sea Food Restaurants were good. The staff made made you felt at home and all your requests were met. The Japanese was very good as always and entertaining. The French was a big let down. Had much higher expectations then what we got. Service was very slow and we left there Hungry. The Lounge by our room was awesome very nice touch. It was like a continental buffet all day. Went to the French for lunch which was for the Colonial Club the staff there were very nice and accommodating especially Alfredo and all of them. The Beach was very nice, no seaweed which was nice. We spent all our time at the Adults only pool so we didn't see what they had for entertainment at the other Pools. When we left they allowed us to stay in our rooms until 2 pm as we weren't leaving until 5.

Ocean Blue and Sand: Terrible Hotel

WORST Hotel I have ever experienced. To start upon arrival had to contact maintenance to fix safe that was not working, then I had to argue with them on 3 occasions for a coffee maker, they kept telling me that my room does not have a coffee maker included but on their website indicated it does and they kept leaving me coffee pouch instead after 3 days finally hot one. There were about 1000 guests during our stay but Hotel only had about 50 to 60 umbrellas aroud the pool, would have to wake u [... read more]p at 5 am to reserve 1 and hope that by the time you go to the pool after breakfast no one else took it, and when you inform the hotel they would stand there and say they don't have anymore left. One of the stairs to get out of the pool was broken (missing a screw), I was there for 10 days and let maintenance know about how dangerous it was to have slippery loose stairs, also other guests let them know almost every day but nothing was done, ( easy fix, just drain about 1 foot of water and reistall the missing screw). Infested with mosquitoes, Hotel does not spray. Beach is dirty when you mention it to them nothing is done. Animateurs don't involve themselves with all guests unless you speak their language.