Stayed at the Melia Caribe 1st week of January 2014, first time at the Melia Caribe and second in the Dominican Republic. It is an all-inclusive resort, generally rated at 4 Stars, but that should be reevaluated. Overall our experience was fair to poor, for the following reasons: 1. The food was disappointing. Clearly a decision was made to improve profits by reducing food quality. Low cost ingredients, not many choices. 2. Service is just OK. Generally pleasant staff, though not highly motivated. Most don’t speak much English, but if you speak Spanish you might be OK. We encountered one extremely rude employee, as have other reviewers. When we tried to report the incident to the Hotel Management, we were very surprised to learn that if there is actually on-site managers, they have no interest whatsoever in dealing with guests. 3. The guys in White Shirts (masquerading as Hotel Staff) are in fact selling TimeShares, and can be quite aggressive. 4. The "all-inclusive" alcohol is the same as the food – cheap. The wine in particular seems to attract the most complaints. It’s a shame to have to buy a bottle of Beringer Cabernet for $34.00 because the included red wine in not drinkable. 5. Dinner reservations at their "specialty restaurants" are frequently screwed up. I don’t know if "greasing the palm" of the host would have helped ensure that you could keep your confirmed reservation, but clearly something is going on here. 6. The resort is large, and you have to walk a lot. It feels like 10-15 min every time you go to eat, to the beach, etc. 7. Several reviewers have expressed serious concerns about the Hotel furnishing alcohol to minors, particularly at the bars in the evening. Apparently the color-coded bracelets must be too hard to see at night. Parents of teenage girls should be particularly concerned! 8. The reviews that they receive seem to come in 2 flavors – 1. Amazing/Incredible/Best Week of My Life etc. or, 2. OK place but I wasn’t thrilled… Generally too many over-the-top reviews is usually an indicator that the business has hired a service to ghost-write unfailingly positive reviews, to pump up their ratings, and minimize the effects of the negative reviews. "If it looks like a Duck, and it walks like a Duck, and it quacks like a Duck…"
On the plus side, the buildings, grounds, and beach are very nice. If the food, and service, and alcohol were as nice, and if they retasked some of the Time Share salesmen and fixed their dinner reservation problem, and had some evidence of on-site Management that cared about their guests, this could be a very nice litte resort
Room Number:
4405
Arrival:
Arrival OK. Departure not so good. Definitely get to the airport 3 hours ahead. Pay exit tax when you get in, so your long wait in line to get to the ticket counter in not wasted.
Rooms:
Generally nice. The drain on our sink would not open. The phone did not work well, no instructions. The cabinet door in front of our refrigerator was falling off.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Get out early to stake out a claim to beach chairs, otherwise bring a blanket