My husband and I arrived on feb8 by air canada, which was terrible,to say the least, no food, two glasses of tomato juice, to dreams punta cana. This is our eighth year consecutively visiting the DR, and one of the worst trips we have ever taken. We usually stay in five star resorts, as this was listed, and usually upgrade when we arrive. Upon arrival the room that we booked wasnt available, and it was well after 4 pm. Front desk staff were totally not helpful when wanting to upgrade to the preferred club. Took almost 5 hours to get us a room, and when we paid the additional 560. us dollars, they finally gave us a key and said walk to the room and the luggage will be brought up. The room was horrifying, old dated, tub/shower together, tiles missing, ceiling hanging, etc…. , we went immediately up to the front desk again to ask to see the room that we had given up, seeing the seedy one was the upgrade, and the front desk person all the sudden didnt speak english anymore….. After having a tearful breakdown, and management noticing , a gent came over and asked what the problem was , and I relayed our problem. Turns out the frontdesk man took our money didnt give us the upgrade, as they can tell because the preferred club has black key cards. He hadnt offered us any information with regards to the benefits of the upgrade because i am sure he intended to keep the money and send us packing hoping we didnt know what to expect. We were then told to follow the gent and he led us to a suite in building nine which he said was a time share suite. It was beautiful, clean, spacious, etc. and we left the room to go find a place to eat as we had not eaten for 14 hours. The first two restaurants we went to gave us plastic pucks, to wait for our table, which we later thought were a great idea, but on that night, ten at night, was very annoying to us as starving people cannot eat plastic pucks!!
Room Number:
9211
Arrival:
We arrived at 4 pm, no cold drink offered while waiting for our room , that was not ready, even though check out is 11 am. Only one other couple checking in at the same time, their swim up room was not available and they were given a honeymoon suite in place of it. Paid 80 dollars per night for room/service upgrade and eventually , five hours later were given our room. It was a suite on the second floor of building nine, facing the pool , with a full deck, hot tub. the room was excellent.
Rooms:
The room was very clean, a couple of the lamps didnt work, other than that it was excellent. No robes, one pair of slippers, no big deal, although we did call for a robe for hubby as i had one and using the hottub required one.
Restaurants and Bars:
the restaurants and bars were all excellent. Clean, great staff, excellent food and presentation The coffee boy at the oceanic restaurant is a must, he is very entertaining!!! We tried the Oceanic, the Chinese, Japenese, the Mexican and the world Buffet, all were very, very good. They give you a puck if there is no seating, and ask you to have a seat at the bar and when your table is ready the puck lights up and your table is ready. No reservations necessary and very efficient. The staff in these restaurants went above and beyond to make your dining experience complete and wonderful. Cannot say enough about the service.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Beach was nice, clean, adequate chairs etc The pool area was clean, pool too, although seating around the pool was always hard to get. Poeple out 6 am to put towels, books and stuff on chairs, which was very maddening, because almost everyday we would take one of the marked seats as there were none to be had, and only once did the person that had their stuff on it ever come back, greedy people who put towels on chairs in both the beach and pool,then dont come back to use them. Even the floats in the pool were supposed to be left in the water for everyones use, and you would see people putting them up with their stuff, and not allowing others to make use of them.
Other Comments:
The only thing we would stress to not do , is pay for the upgrade to the preferred club, there is absolutely no bang for the buck. Only got the service when we asked for it, and then didnt really get what you would expect. Turn down service only happened periodically, no paper in the room,no upgraded mini bar, until we asked for it, no snacks in the room, till we asked for them. Overall the preferred club was not preferred. I dont like to complain, but when they advertise a service and you pay to get it and dont, it leaves a very sour taste in your mouth, and a bad impression on the plave you visit.