We were at the Majestic Elegance from July 26 – July 4, 2011. We are a mid-fifties couple and we traveled with our Daughter, Son-in-law and 10 year old grand son. This was our 5th time in the DR, having previously stayed at the Barcelo Bavaro Beach (2000), Barcelo Bavaro Palace (2002), and Iberostar Bavaro (2005, 2008). Contact me ckapell@yahoo.com with any questions. Bottom line: A fantastic vacation and I would recommend this resort. There were not a lot of kids there. There were definitely more over at the Colonial. Luckily my grandson met another boy his age the first day and they pal’d around all week. We ended up spending lots of time with his family that week and figure we have met some life long friends.
Room Block:
Building 2
Arrival: Flights: We flew in on Air Tran and all the flights were on time or early. Baggage handlers at the airport seem to be more aggressive than before. One basically tried to rip the bag out of my hand. If they would just ask politely I could make a rational decision, but their aggressiveness is a deterrent to using them.
Rooms: Rooms: We had read many reviews where people going to the Majestic Elegance had been bumped to different rooms or to different resorts. We came prepared to negotiate etc. since we had booked swim up rooms in the non-elegance section. When we checked in we were told that because the resort was full, we would not be able to get the swim up rooms. Uh Oh! Well then we were informed that we had been upgraded to the one bedroom suites on the second floor of building two! This turned out to be a good thing and a bad thing. Good thing: the room was fabulous and really turned out to be the best for my Daughter’s family. Bad thing: My wife informed me that if we return to the Majestic Elegance we need to get that room category, Cha-ching!! As I said the room was great with no real issues. I could see where some families could have a problem with the open bathroom layout. That was my wife’s only complaint in that she would like an enclosed bathroom. We (both rooms) never did figure out how to get the horizontal sprays in the shower to work. Once we got there we realized also that the swim up rooms just weren’t cracked up to be what we thought. I saw very few people using the space out front of theirs. It is a small patio & grassy area in front of the sliding glass door. The beds in front looked to be pretty badly weathered and hardly anyone using them. The only way into the pool is over the edge, not bad going in but it would be difficult for shorter and/or older people or children to get out as the edge is about 8 inches above the water probably at about 4 feet. Therefore most people were using the other side of the pool. The only way I see the swim up rooms being an advantage is if you wanted to be able to lay young children down for a nap and still be outside close or in the pool, but then you have the danger of them falling into the pool.
Restaurants and Bars: Restaurants: See & Sea: We ate there everyday for lunch and found the food and service pretty good. We ate there once for dinner, food and service was fine. We ate there breakfast 3 or 4 times, (served after 10:00 am). Food was good, service was a little spotty. The Sea and Sea is a nice place to sit on the deck at night with the ocean breezes and a cocktail. There was a 4 piece band traveling from table to table playing requests for tips. “Country Roads” with a Dominican lilt! Japanese: We ate there once. It is fun and the food was good. You have to get up early for reservations. Ours were for 9:30 pm. We arrived at 7:30 pm and asked if they could fit us in, they did at 8:00! Steak: We ate there three times. Food was excellent and service was excellent. Overall this was the best restaurant. Hint: Order you meat one step higher than you normally do. If you want medium, order medium-well, if you want medium-rare, order medium, etc. Also if you are used to a 12-16 oz portion, order two meals Italian: We ate there two times. Food was good and service was excellent. Overall the second best restaurant. Flavors Buffet: Ate 3-4 Breakfasts and 1 dinner, typical AI buffet, Service was good Food in general: All four of the adults in our group suffered some sort of gastro-intestinal fluidity. I do not know the reason because there was no real common denominator other than alcohol, ….hmmm. Some of us thought it might be the oil that is used in all the cooking especially on the grill. Personally I think it was too much different food, too many drinks and not enough water. I attacked it with heavy artillery: Pepto, Immodium and Zantac. Pepto seemed to work the best, no wonder that product has been around for so long. Next time I am taking two bottles.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel: Shows: We saw the Circus, Michael Jackson, 70’s music and Ideal Couple Circus: I thought it was boring, being in the last row and being tired didn’t help Michael Jackson: Excellent production and the family really enjoyed. My grandson had is groove on LOL. We got there at 8:45 for the 10:00 pm show and got third row 70’s Music: Disco music with good dancers. It was enjoyable Ideal Couple: Funny competition between couples, could be a little risqué for tweens. Over the head of younger ones Animation Staff They were great!!! Chocolate and Spaghetti went out of their way to make sure my grandson felt included and special. My grandson said this vacation was better than Disney!! Excursions: The only thing we did was go parasailing through the dive shop associated with the hotel on the beach. The cost was $89 for two people/tandem. I went with my wife while my son-in-law went with my grandson. We have been thinking about doing it for 20 years and glad we did as it was fun. The roller coaster, rocket sled ride on the shuttle boat to the main boat did more to scare my grandson more than anything else. Also the parasailing crew was pretty rude always yelling hurry up as they moved us around the boat. My wife was ready to rip them a new one. I know they are trying to get in as many rides they can a day, but this was a little over the top
Other Comments: Biggest irritation: 1. The person who took my two towels off my chairs so that I had to go grovel at customer relations 2. The blisters from my new sandals!!