I’ll keep this long nightmare of a story as short as possible. We were robbed, literally. The 2nd night at the resort, we had all of our cash, our credit cards, and our driver licenses stolen from our room. The items were hidden inside of clothing, which was placed inside dresser drawers and inside our luggage. Guest Services & security more-or-less treated us as criminals rather than victims. They even tore apart our room (even dismantled the bed) looking for the items, or rather ensuring that we weren’t lying to them. "Why didn’t you use the lock-box?, you ask. We tried, twice: once before the robbery, and once afterward. Both times, the guest services employees told us, "we’re sorry but the keys aren’t available yet. Please come back later." Huh? The remainder of our 8 day "vacation" was spent having meetings with resort personnel continually rescheduled, filing police reports in Puerto Plata (against Guest Service’s wishes), waiting for some resolution to the resort’s "investigation", trying to work with our local travel reps., and being watched very closely. Did I mention that we carried every valuable item we still possessed everywhere we went, because we weren’t granted the luxury of having a key for our lock-box? We wouldn’t even leave our sun glasses on the dining table in order to visit the buffet. We didn’t receive so much as an apology until the day before our departure, and that came from the resort director himself. There’s so much more to tell, but would it matter?
Arrival:
The expected mass-confusion, but not bad. I feel sorry for the employees at the front desk… it seems nothing they need to be able to work efficiently is located at the desk. They CONTINUOUSLY have to walk into an office located behind the desk to verify reservations, obtain documentations, get room keys, etc.
Rooms:
The first room we were in had many issues: A/C didn’t work, mini-fridge didn’t work, electrical hazards, the A/C in the room below ours worked so well that our tiled bathroom floor formed condensation which created a dangerous/slippery surface, the ceiling fan was mounted so poorly that we were afraid to leave it running. We honestly thought it was going to fly off the ceiling it wobbled so badly. The second room we were placed in was comfortable, minus the whole "being robbed of everything" problem. I guess we should count ourselves lucky…. they did leave our passports so that we could leave the country.
Restaurants and Bars: Seafood – excellent. Brazilian – Excellent, if you really like meat. If not, stay away from this one. Italian – Excellent. Pizzeria – disappointing. Quite frankly, the pizza from the buffet was better. Mexican – we didn’t try this one. The "grille" located closest to the beach wasn’t good at all. We even witnessed birds eating from the buffet tables… I didn’t know birds would like rice. 🙂 The "grille" located near the pool was ok: however, most of the food wasn’t kept warm enough.
The buffet was very good at any time of day. The only complaint I would have is the access to the buffet tables was somewhat restricted. I witnessed a LOT of near-miss collisions between guests and employees.
Beach/Pools/Grounds: Pool: during the week, very nice, for the most part. On the weekends, many locals vacation at the resort, and the pool becomes overrun. If I was the resort directory, I’d remove the bar from the pool. There were way too many intoxicated adults "hanging" at the pool all day long.
Beach: nice. Nothing too noteworthy, good or bad, to report. The beaches in Punta Cana are much nicer, but the beaches here weren’t bad. The large number of vendors is a bit annoying.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel: Be very careful when deciding to purchase excursions. We chose one, and it did not deliver. We chose the full-day Puerto Plata tour. The tour bus was 45 minutes late picking us up, and had us back to the resort in just over 4 hours. Half the "stops" were missed, the promised lunch never happened, and the tour guide was obnoxious (beware of hotelbeds tour company). Nightly entertainment was very good, in my opinion. Kids activities: I have a 5 year old, and to be honest, I wouldn’t consider taking her to this resort. I’m not sure how they can get away with advertising as a "family resort". The kids club? What kids club? The kids activities consist of 45 minutes of dancing to kids songs, every night. They do have a small, segragated, pool for kids, but just as many adults use it as children.
Daytime/Pool activities… Uuum, I saw the schedule, but I rarely saw these activities taking place… perhaps 4 or 5 activities (total) during the 8 days we were here.
Other Comments: If we hadn’t been robbed, and hadn’t had to deal with the persecution that followed, I would probably recommend this resort for adult vacations. Unfortunately, having this happen to us really allowed us to see exactly how the resort thinks of its guests. My conscience simply can not recommend this resort to anyone.
If you do decide to stay here, do yourself a favor… DON’T LEAVE THE FRONT DESK UNTIL YOU HAVE A LOCK-BOX KEY IN YOUR POSSESSION – NO EXCEPTIONS!