First time in DR, visited last week of October 2012. Resort location is pretty isolated, no way to visit other resorts by foot for a look around if you wanted to. Rooms are tired and small, basically a motel room, bathrooms real tired,no privacy in the regular "deluxe tropical view" rooms only a swinging glass door between you and your business, with anyone else in the room. Preferred club suites not bad, basically 2 "deluxe" rooms made into one, really nothing special, just bigger and some bathroom privacy, we looked at one and they wanted another $150 a night, negotiable, but we didn’t bother haggling to spend even more. We paid $2800 for the two of us for a "deluxe tropical view" room and as far as we are concerned this resort did not live up to its 5 star class or its trademarked "slogan" of "unlimited-luxury", nothing luxurious about this place at all as far as the "regular" rooms go and it was supposedly a group rate as they booked 15 rooms for this wedding. We were moved once we were so disappointed, but second room was more or less the same, although the air conditioning didn’t work as well in the second room, it never shut off the entire week and room hovered between 23°C and 26°C and was very humid in rooms, nothing dried. Fortunately there was a ceiling fan that made it feel a little cooler. food was ok, no need for reservations at al a carte’s which is a good thing and no problem getting in although it was not busy at this resort while we were there. grounds were nice, beach was nice for first 2 days but sea got rough and there was lots of seaweed on beach and in water rest of week,not hotels fault but I guess you have to expect that in autumn in DR. not a real good snorkeling place if you don’t want to take a "tour", no rock or coral structures reasonably close to shore or within the swimming area. Outside of swimming area you are likely to be hit by a boat, not sure why these local guys run their boats so close to shore. Also, lots of "sharks" on the beach selling all the usual stuff, tours, souvenirs, etc…. there are only a couple other places nearby so you see them many times a day. kinda annoying. Staff was pretty good, but not 5 star good. I spent over $150 in tips not including the maid but didn’t seem to make a difference, we waited for everything we asked for which wasn’t much. Bottom line, probably won’t be going back to this resort.
Room Number:
9320 & 2201
Room Block:
bldg 9 & 2
Arrival:
no problems with checkin, close to airport, 15-20mins but isolated location.
Rooms:
don’t even bother with the "deluxe tropical view" rooms, unless you can get one a lot cheaper than our travel agent did, worth maybe $1500 for a week for two.
Restaurants and Bars:
only 2 bars there and a disco and a small casino. Restaurants were good for the most part. buffet was acceptable for the Caribbean.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Beach as you would expect, except for the seaweed, pools good, grounds good.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
good activities if you wanted to get involved.
Other Comments:
we feel we just paid way too much for this place, DID WE??? my wife actually has a lot more complaints but I feel she’s just being too fussy.