This resort needs to pick it up on the service to meet a 4 star rating for me. Language barriers with front desk staff and concierge service and I felt they did not want to accomodate the guests and create a wonderful experience. Entertainment staff was excellent. They were busy throughout the day and night and deserve koodoos for a job well done. Definately made our evenings enjoyable.
Your Arrival:
checkin is noted on website as 3:00 p.m. we arrived at 2:30 were told checkin was at 4:00 and did not get a room until 6:00 p.m. So pack something on your carryon and plan to sit around for awhile.
Rooms: a little paint does not upgrade the hotel to a 4 star. This resort, at best, would be a 2 1/2 star. The rooms are cleaned but basically-floors are washed and toilets are cleaned. The sheets, towels and pillows smell like mold and I’m not sure if they even use soap. When someone showered above us, a broken pipe in the ceiling would leak in our bathroom and would create puddles on the floor and drip over the toilet. We complained 5 times, even showing the housekeeping and the inventory people (yes inventory people-apparently they are worried we are going to steal the stained lamp, dirty towels and rusty cd player in the rooms), nothing was ever done. I was able to go to each area of the resort and fellow travellers were gracious in letting me view their rooms and they were no different. This is not a new resort as noted. our room also had an inside and outside balcony…..section 3 over the french restaurant. Don’t recommend staying there as you can hear the staff cleaning and preparing for the next day in the restaurant, cutlery and chatter after 11 pm also the bar was just outside the restaurant, which is were guests gather for after dinner entertainment, so this also echoes up through the inner balcony. Plus the doors barely closed which did not provide much of a sound barrier. Balcony door did not lock. I strongly recommend checking your room before unpacking…and good luck getting a new room.
Restaurants and Bars:
Food was okay at main buffet. Wide selection of food available but variety did not change daily. They did have a few speciality nights however still the same selection of food with a few add ons. Japanese restaurant was excellent, italian was okay and seafood, well I would have expected maybe seafood on the menu, but the fish was still good. we missed the french/Paris, but heard it was very good.
Beach/Pools/Grounds: pools were cleaned daily. I think the family/kids area was cleaner than the recreational area were all the university students were. it’s sad to say that the children behaved better than the university students. Towels were a hit and miss-some days you would get towels that seemed they weren’t even cleaned. Some were bleached (they were suppose to be blue) you had to register or get a card to get a towel. For prestige class, towels were suppose to be delivered to your room-again a hit and miss. You’d think they’d know 3 people were in the room and would give you 3 towels.
The grounds were clean, beaches were beautiful, the ocean was a little rough to swim in but if you walked down the beach there were other areas that were calmer. It would have been nice to see the beaches combed in the evening to clean smaller debris however all in all it was nice.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Activities were great. Lots to do for the kids and entertainment by the pool was good, if you can stand the obnoxious university students. The sip line, reef explorer and swimming with dolphins excursions were very good.
Other Comments: When I travel I prefer 5 star and expect 5 star treatment as I pay extra for that. This resort was not by choice,however it is selling itself as a 4 1/2 star and giving 3 star service. If I had known it catered to university students, i would not have booked there. However, all in all the beaches were beautiful, the excursions (hosts) were great and I enjoyed my stay in Punta Cana. Would I go back? Perhaps, but I would choose a different resort.