Old Reviews – Don Juan Beach Resort

Arrival and Flight March 14, 2008, Sunwing 400. Our flight to La Romana was excellent. Sunwing staff were very attentive. I had an omelette on the way down with my glass of champagne. Sunwing, as usual, provides free earphones for the movie, but remember to hang onto them because they will charge you if you need a pair on the return flight. Attendants came by many times throughout our flight for pop, water, drinks etc. The return was much different unfortunately. The cabin was extremely warm, and we had kicking screaming kids directly behind us. The meals were either chicken or tortellini. We were offered wine with it and when my husband requested pop instead, he was told they didn’t have it at that time. And no one ever came back with it. We received a drink of water just as the descent to Toronto started.

Rooms

Our room was adequate. It was very nice and clean but location was poor. It was our 6th or 7th time there so I did leave a comment with hotel mentioning that maybe with the use of computers they could offer return guests a slightly better room. In my review from last year’s trip, we had received an upgraded room which was beautiful. We don’t spend a lot of time in the room so this was a very small problem for us. We could have requested a room change but didn’t bother.

Restaurants

We didn’t enjoy the a la carte restaurant last trip so didn’t bother with it this time either. The buffet always had something good – we definitely didn’t starve and actually gained about 4 lbs. Both of the pool bars had snacks as well. The one near large pool had pizza and the other near the conference centre had burgers, hot dogs and fries – all very good

Bars

Bars, three in total, (there are 4 but one of them I have ‘never’ seen open), were all good, well staffed and friendly. They have changed their beer from Presidente to Brahma. Unsure of reasoning for this.

Beach and Pools

Pools, especially the large one, was maintained fairly constantly. And the beach was as white as ever. Saw no evidence of the oil spill from two weeks before our trip. The beach on Thursday was quite crowded, due to Semana Santa but fun too. They had a huge inflatable Presidente bottle out by the reef, that took almost all day to inflate. They also had an inflatable ‘castle’ of some kind at the end of the beach, which had bars inside. Again, this was all for Semana Santa.

Grounds

The grounds at the Don Juan were, and always have been, extremely well maintained.

Activities and Entertainment

We weren’t as impressed this year as we have been in the past, with the nightly entertainment.

Tours

We did one tour, (a first for us), which was the Outback Safari. Very good but VERY dusty/dirty. We actually got back to hotel and got in the shower with our clothes on. The waterfalls we went to were beautiful.

Departure and Check Out

Very efficient and speedy.

Conclusion

We love Boca Chica and have for years, however, we are now thinking of a possible change in scenery for next year. This has nothing to do with our trip experience, just the fact that we have gone so many times. We have always been big Boca Chica boosters, and we go into town everyday at least once, for our cappuccino if nothing else and have never had a problem. Hint** Take candy for the shoe shine boys. We usually go into town once or twice at night for a change from the hotel. We have never, ever felt threatened or the slightest bit nervous in doing so.

There is a new cigar place on Duarte, across from the banco populaire. And what looks like a couple new restaurants. I saw a NY pizza place called Joey’s (on Duarte also) but we didn’t try the pizza, so cannot comment. Our cappuccino bar, (on Duarte, about halfway to Hamaca) is still there with the same staff, so we had our daily fix.