Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Lovely Resort

We have been coming to this resort twice a year since 2018. It’s obvious we love the resort. The pool area and hallway areas are in need of some upgrades. The tiles in the hallways are old and many are discoloured. The outdoor walkways need a little repair to make them safer as they aren’t level and I have seen people with wheelchairs having challenges getting over when unlevel; just need some cement to join the unlevel walkways. Food and service is excellent and cooks and wait staff are ext [... read more]remely helpful and friendly. We are not fans of the à la carte restaurants and do not attend them anymore. The beach snack bar and the buffet restaurants are wonderful. Rooms are ok but need some brightening up. Bathroom showers tend to flood unless you take out the strainer plug entirely. Minibars need to include diet options for those that are diabetic or just cannot drink sugar drinks. They used to have them but our last 2 visits only had full sugar drinks and beer. We will return again in December as we have been advised that they are closing for 2 months to do major repairs and upgrades.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Senator

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Senator Hotel ! The hotel was clean! I enjoyed the fact that this Hotel resort wasn't too large! It wasn't crowded. The food was great! No long line ups! Thoroughly enjoyed the restaurants on site! The staff was very friendly. The entertainment near the pool was loud, and not always appreciated. We would escape to the beach. I would much rather have music playing..and have games away from pool.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: So So Resort

Beach and Pool very nice plus Food was good. The power in our room which was an ocean front constantly would flick off then on then off no hot water always just warm. No face cloths no beer in the room and no service at the pool .

Casa Marina Sosua Trademark by Wyndham All Inclusive: Not happy

Staff was not friendly or helpful . Never had any pool towels . Two days once before we could get clean pool towels . We had to chase the cleaning staff to clean our room , even when it was cleaned they never put fresh towels in the room .We went to eat dinner on evening thinking we had an hour to get there but it was all cleaned and packed up . We had an excursion. Booked through air transit we were supposed to get our money refunded because the trip was cancelled because of weather. We are g [... read more]oing on two weeks now and still no refund.. entertainment was horrible and I always started 30 minutes late or more each evening. It was the same every evening just dancing.. The resort has no other fun things going on the whole week we were there.. I would never return .

Blue Bay Villas Doradas: A wonderful holiday!

Blue Bay is an older, but well appointed resort. The grounds are well kept…lots of paved walking paths, lush greenery and beautiful walkway to the beach. Three pools, swim up bar, beach bar, spa and a great entertainment team to keep you active and smiling. Buffet restaurant offered delicious food 3 times a day. If any one went hungry….that’s there own fault. Rooms were clean, made up daily and staff made sure there was water, towels etc. Best part…the entire Blue Bay staff team were very fr [... read more]iendly and welcoming.

Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada: Very nice Resort

The resort was wonderful. The check in process was smooth and painless and we were shown to our room by a bellboy. The room itself was large and very spacious with a nice balcony overlooking palm trees. The mini bar was stocked daily with 4 cans of beer, 4 pop bottles and a can of sparkling water. On every floor there was a water fountain from where one could refill the water bottle kept in the room. Ice dispensers were readily accessible. The bathroom rain shower was fantastic and the bathroom  [... read more]was well stocked with plenty of towels and toiletries. The resort had a couple of swimming pools which were nicely laid out. The food was amazing with such a huge variety to satisfy even the pickiest eater. Best of all were the bars where you had to hardly wait for a cocktail to be served. In addition, no matter where you sat - out in the gazebo, in the lobby or the pool - there were always waiters circling around asking you if you needed a drink. Even on the beach, servers always came by asking if you needed a drink. Very convenient. We especially enjoyed the daily lunches that were cooked on the beach on an open fire. The paella that I had here on the beach was probably the tastiest paella that I've eaten. The specialty restaurants were nice although honestly one could get better food in the buffets. There was no shortage of lounge chairs on the beach - which was a pleasant surprise as this has been a beef of mine at other resorts, where you either had to wake up very early to grab a lounge chair or wait till someone left and you got their chair. The entertainment got to be monotonous as every day there were the same dancers albeit in different costumes. But the dance moves were all the same and after day 3, one lost all interest. During the karaoke session, the backing track volume levels were so high as to almost drown out the singers. Also the schedule laid out on the Iberostar app as well as displayed on the notice boards was seldom adhered to. As soon as "shaggy" had enough people around, he would begin the tournament. This was not fair to those that came in time for the tournament and were disappointed. Shaggy should exhibit more professional conduct and should be aware of the times posted so he can stick to the times and not to his own schedule. A dart tournament that was supposed to start at 11:30am was almost finished by 11:10am. Twice I landed up at the correct time only to find that the tournament had finished. Venues were also incorrectly labelled as "At the Beach" whereas in fact it was outside the Bohio bar and not the beach. The confusing this is that there was also a dartboard set up on the beach. Maybe once upon a time they used to have the dart tournament on the beach. The table tennis was not even mentioned anywhere yet there was supposedly a tournament held daily. Another resident told me this. At the archery tournament, I found that the bow was designed only for right handed folks whereas I am left handed. Hope the resort corrects this so laft handers can also enjoy some archery. But overall we had an amazing time and were glad we chose this resort. If I were to offer a few suggestions, they would be as follows: 1. If you advertise a time for an event, please stick to it. 2. During Karaoke evenings, ensure that the volume of the backing track is such so as to not drown out the singer's voice. 3. Have a few more coffee machines at the restaurants so we don't have to wait in a line up every time. 4. Have more variety in the entertainment, not the same dancers every day. For example a magic show, or diffent dancers, or impersonators or a musical show. When one sees the same old dancers every day, one loses interest.

Casa Marina Sosua Trademark by Wyndham All Inclusive: Needs overhaul

Toilet seldom working, had to pour water down it to make it flush,phone in room was so full of static could barely hear the person at front desk, had to call 3 times to get someone to come and fix it as well as going to front counter ourselves however Veronica our cleaning lady was amazing and tried to assist us several times to get it fixed, it was an ongoing issue for 2 weeks. The bathtub had a crack in it and was very soft , room was in dire need of an overhaul/renovation. The food in the buf [... read more]fet was good but if you wanted to make a reservation for an alacarte restaurant you had to stand in a line up for a hour in order to do so and could only make 1 reservation for that day. I’m not one to complain but these are necessities.

Playabachata Hotel: Had a wonderful time!

While the rooms are dated, they were very clean- that's more important to me. The buffet had a variety of options but not so much so if you're vegetarian. I never went hungry tho! I loved that the resort is small- buffet, bar and beach were close by. Each building has 4 rooms on the main level and 4 upstairs. Bathroom outlets are like those in Canada but all other outlets are recessed. Take a small square charge and/or extension cord/power bar that has 2 prongs of the same size. I would defi [... read more]nitely go back to Playabachata! Loved the beach. Never had trouble getting lounge chairs either

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Horrendous Resort!!!

The bad: This is the worst resort I have ever stayed at!! The front desk customer service is awful to non-existent. The public washrooms at the lobby were so bad they had to place pilons in front of the doors to stop people from going in to use them. During our 7 day stay, we had 3 hot showers, 3 cold showers and one day with no shower because there was no water!! Our family members had no a/c, no television, no telephone, and no coffee pot. In their room, they had 2 lukewarm showers, 3 days [... read more] with cold showers and 2 days with no water to shower with. One day my sister had to go find a mop bucket of water and carry it up 3 sets of stairs just to flush her toilet!! Although we were promised beer and bottled water in our rooms, we had to buy bottled water because they weren't supplying it, even though it was requested multiple times per day. In our room, our toilet broke and when we called the front desk to ask for maintenance they hung up on us 3 or 4 times. When I finally walked over to the front desk to speak with someone, I got eye rolls and name called (I do understand some Spanish). They tried to get me to go in a van with an unknown man "to find maintenance". I refused because I had read the stories from others who were driven to remote spots on the resorts and abandoned to walk back. Mark heard maintenance men working upstairs from our room and blocked their exit until they looked at our toilet, which they then fixed, although they had not been informed of the issue. The smell of raw sewage was overwhelming multiple times per day - really bad!! For a handicapped person or someone with a disability, the number of stairs was overwhelming to get from one spot to another. The main lobby/courtyard area has 1 bar to serve everyone!! Although there are 3 other bars on the Cofresi resort, 1 was at the beach (multiple levels of steps), and 2 were shut down and left moulding. The good : the pool was great, the scenery was nice and the food was adequate. We were told that Air Canada and Air Transat vacations have stopped selling packages to the Cofresi resort because it is in such bad condition!! I would not recommend this resort to my worst enemy!!

Casa Marina Sosua Trademark by Wyndham All Inclusive: Casa Marina Reef

This was the most disgraceful resort I’ve ever been to. When we arrived our room was trashed, the exterior door wasn’t even on the track and couldn’t close, there was blood stains on the bed and the lights and phone didn’t work. After begging for hours for a new room we finally got one. Since it was pouring rain we asked for more towels as we had used ours to go for dinner and to the front desk because again the phone didn’t work so we couldn’t call the front desk we had to walk in the rain. The [... read more]y told us no, only 2 towels per day. Thank goodness we brought our own. When we tried to shower there was no hot water. During the daily cleaning they never changed the sheets our entire stay. Never filled the fridge up with water and when we asked for water got told no we had to buy it from the store. The beach is a public beach in which you have to pay for chairs. This is rated a 5 star resort and I wouldn’t even give it one star. The food is disgusting and the same thing everyday. The staff at the front desk are rude and arrogant and do not care about you at all. We received a threatening note under our door one night and we went to tell them and they said “not our problem”. We did not feel safe there and will never return or recommend this resort to anyone.

Lifestyle Residence Suites: Beautiful weather

The room was good and cleaning service was awesome. The beach was very disappointing, full of garbage and hardly any chairs. Staff was very friendly and helpful. The internet service was terrible. Our pool was really nice and was designated as an adult only.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Gran Vantana DR

Overall a OK hotel. Rooms in need of a refresh, however cleaning staff keeps them as clean as possible. The bath/shower area needs the most attention. Pools and beach were very clean and there always appeared to be a few chairs available. Tried two à la carte restaurants, The Italian and the steakhouse both were very good. The buffet was ordinary, and a little more variety would have been better. My spouse did get some food poisoning on the last day. The wine appears to be watered down which May [... read more] or may not contributed to the sickness. The resort was 80% attended by Canadians and many were repeat guest. A mainly 60+ age group which made for a quiet and relaxing time.

Playabachata Hotel: Playabachata offers a great time despite some shortcomings.

We're just back from a week at Playabachata. Here's a quick summary. There was a lot to like. The beach is very large and covered in beautiful palm trees with plenty of loungers. There was always a great ocean breeze to enjoy. The hotel grounds are really beautiful and well kept. The rooms are a bit dated but very clean and functional with huge balconies to enjoy. The buffet offered a good variety of food choices including lots of fresh fruit and good salad bar options. We found the buffet serv [... read more]ice to be a bit hit and miss. It seemed like there weren't enough servers to keep up with cutlery, water and drink service. The buffet restaurant did tend to get hot at times and they frequently didn’t open enough windows to take advantage of the ocean breeze. The a la carte restaurants were great, as was the lunch at the beach restaurant. You should know that WiFi is only available in the lobby and it's pretty spotty. The pool is not large enough and half of the resort is closed, meaning there's only one pool. There aren't irons in the rooms so maybe pack a travel iron if you need one and also a small umbrella. Be sure to take advantage of "Caribbean Street" pizza, shops and coffee house. Very quaint location for your morning coffee. Beautiful hotel, worth what we paid, great vibe and fun was had by all.

Viva Tangerine by Wyndham: Amazing trip!

We had a lovely family vacation to Viva Tangerine. We chose Caberete as our destination because of the awesome kite surfing and beautiful beach. The resort was well maintained. We always had hot water and the air conditioning worked great. We had awesome ocean and pool views from our balcony. The food was good (not great) and none of our family members got sick during our week stay. The front staff were friendly and helpful. We would have loved pickleball as an option but they did have a tennis  [... read more]court. The pool table required $50 deposit and was often being used. We enjoyed the evening shows and that they were not too pushy with their activities around the pool during the day. We spent most of our time on the beach. We would come back.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Amazing Resort

People were amazing, grounds were well maintained, buffet was very clean, workers were very friendly and helpful. Vintage bar and Ala cartes were great. Great place to relax. Would definitely return again.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Great value resort

This is a great resort in many ways , nice mid-size resort with multiple pools to please all and a decent beach . The food was great with lots of options and never to long of a wait time. The bars and staff were great with staff like David at the pool bar and Erica n Christy at sports bar working very hard and quickly so wait times for a drink were reasonable. The entertainment crew like monkey n skinny n crew did a great job getting people playing games who wanted to and miss Blondie got the k [... read more]ids enjoying games. The shows and beach party kept the night time moving along. If intrested in water activities in the ocean take a walk down the beach to the dive hut and talk with Chichi or Felix for a great diving experience or jetski rental or tubing or kayaking. This is a solid 4+ star , has everything you need unless you need huge crystal chandeliers everywhere and extravagant decors and crazy expensive alcohol to make you happy then pay double and go elsewhere . This is a family resort and have been here 2 times now with and without a group and have enjoyed both and looking at returning again.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Very small and dated but good price

This resort is very dated but clean and the food was ok. The beach was spectacular though. The drinks were all bottom shelf and only wine & beer served at restaurants. Odd that they took the towels out in the morning but didn’t replace until late afternoon. Entertainment was not good, terrible sound system. But for the money it’s not a bad deal.

Viva Tangerine by Wyndham: Nice size

Great smaller resort. No long walks to dining hall..lol. Entertainment crew are beautiful and fun. Thanx Uli for your special attention. Would return in a heart beat. The pool with the oceanview, and the closeness of the ocean is fantastic!

Select Sosua Adults Only, Trademark by Wyndham All Inclusive: Wonderful vacation

My husband and I were pleasantly surprised by our stay at Select Casa Marina By Wyndham. The resort is well laid out, our room was very clean and comfortable and the service was excellent! Staff were all friendly and went over and above to ensure you were getting great service. The food was the best we’ve had in Dominican Republic and we’ve stayed at a lot of resorts in Dominican over the past 9 years. The only issue we had was the amount of stairs that were needed to get around if you have an [... read more]y mobility issues this resort would not be for you. There are no elevators and just to get from the Select(adult) side to the main resort lobby there are stairs However we do plan to visit again in the future.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Cofresi Palm Beach

A little older built resort, very big, getting around is by shuttle bus or walking in short distances. Beautiful palms and lush greenery. Many pools, the best is the adult only. Some rooms had problems with the air conditioning not working, the cofresi part of the resort would need more renovation.