Ocean Sand Gold Resort
Arrival: March 1 – 8
Arrived March 1st, check-in was easy, a bus full of guests arrived with us and we waited only about 10 minutes, which is very good. The resort says that rooms are available after 3:00, our wasn’t ready until 4:00, we just sat at the lobby bar and enjoyed our first drinks.
Rooms
This is a 4 1/2 stars, however rooms are ok but could have been cleaner, the walls were a bit dirty, I would blame previous guest rather than cleaners. We didn’t had a TV remote control, so I went to front lobby and got one immediately. My kids 10 and 13 didn’t want to sleep together in a double bed, so splitted the sheets and one slept on the sofa/bed, the next morning, the maid to get installed new sheets on the couch without us asking for it.
Restaurants and Bars
I love Dominican Republic as food is excellent, this resort did not disappoint us. Every meals, drinks we had were excellent. Presidente was cold. There are 9 restaurants on this resorts, 2 not included in the AI. We tried them all except those we had to pay for. Bars, I am not sure how many there are but each time I was looking for a drink there was one close by. (2 swim up)
Beach/Pools/Grounds
Bavaro Beach in Punta Cana is great, long strech you can walk for hours. Lots of chairs with comfortable cushions. We loved the tents like they built for shades(better than palapas). The only negative point was that we got 4 days (out of 7) of high winds, red flags. So being on the beah meant to be sandblasted (sand flying) So we went for walks but stayed mainly around the pools. Location of the resort was also good, just beside a little marketplace.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
On site activities, shows are good, we appreciated that they put a lot of efforts to entertained the guests, the "showtime" (place where they perform) is big, they have a lot of chairs but it fills up pretty quick, so go early to get seats. Of course you could follow the entertainment team all day and get all kind of challenges/sports/drinking contest etc. Sports, you can do everything or almost, volleyball, soccer field, tennis, bikes, etc. They have a climbing wall my kids liked.
Outside activities, we took a tour, it was the Dune buggy rides. That was fun, they take you to see a private beach where you can body surf, weather not permitting, we didn’t go in the water. You see a cave, that was nice. And you ride a horse…that was more a joke, you ride a horse for about 100 yards around their property.
Other Comments: Bugs: We didn’t see bugs outside, but say a lot of mosquitos inside our room. The maid leaves the doors open when she cleans for many reasons, her security, to show where she is or to dry the fleshly cleaned floor. Well it seems that mosquitos take that time to get in, or I have no idea how they get in. Each day my son was having fun to kill them with a towel or a shoe….which also explain the dirty walls/ceiling…. On a few occasions we woke up with a few bites on our arms. We also look at other guest (they only wear bikinis) and others had bites too. To conclude, I would recommend the place, I would go back. Kids had a blast. Would not take the dune buggy ride anymore, I did it once so I would try something else next time. Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate when you shop. A bottle of Rhum, 40 years old. excellent they started at $65us, I got it for $16, then when shopping somewhere else, I saw the same bottle tagged at $12.
You can even negotiate the rides, we did it and saved about 30% from advertised prices.