Stayed between Jan 25 - 9 Feb as a party of four. We would rate this as almost a 4 ... say a 3.9, and not the 4+ as advertised by Airtours.
We have been to the Dom Rep twice before, and also Kenya, Mexico, Tunisia and most Med destinations. We thought we would try the north coast of the Dom Rep this time after having previously visited the East twice…..which has much nicer beaches.
Hotel: Grounds and reception areas are immaculate, they are constantly gardening, cleaning up and chopping down coconuts, which they will freely give to you in expectancy of a small tip.
Pools: There are 3 pools, the large one being slightly unappealing due to discolouration of the paint on the bottom and severe overcrowding, loungers up to 4 deep, but loads of room for swimming.
The activities happen here, so gets a bit noisy i.e aerobics. 2 smaller pools much better and more peaceful - no activities. You could always find a lounger.
Food: there was 1 very large dining room, and usually 2 smaller ones open at lunch aswell. Variety and quality was excellent, although most dishes not very hot. By the time you walked from the servery to your table it was definitely cool, and I like my food piping hot. Freshly cooked food stations excellent. Speciality restuarants were excellent, the Medi and the Fish, we would rate as 5 star, a bit classier than the rest, you had to make a booking to use these, but well worth it.
Beach: Horrible, dark brown sand and gritty. Water was black at times in the afternoon, when all the sludge was washed up. But they work exceptionally hard to take it all away by the truck load every day. The complex seems to have a wind problem!! It got very windy every day after 12 noon, around the pools and lounging areas. Feels chilly when the sun is not out.
Staff: Fantastic, very friendly and attentive 99% of the time. Rooms very clean, mini bar restocked daily with Beer , Water, Coke, even had rum in it twice, never got any cola light though even after asking and tipping. Maid cleaned every day, huge queen size bed was great.
Drinks: Not watered down, as a lot of people were suggesting..........beer is great, most cocktails sickly, and i like me cocktails but couldn't drink them. Gotta try the Cucuracha (151 rum with coffee liquer), the men liked these!! Us women liked the gin and tonic. Red house wine pretty good for free......white not so good.
Trips: Go on the jeep safari......book with campo tours just turn right at the beach and walk for about 5 mins, much cheaper than rep at only 40U$ Please take kids clothing, pens/pencils, sweets or any kids items for the many kids than run after the jeep. It's great to see them happy with things that you don't want. We got pens and stuff from Poundland, it means a lot to them. I will never forget the joy on one kids face when I threw my old Liverpool football cap out to him, they certainly havn't got much stuff and will really appreciate anything, at least you know and can see the families and kids are getting stuff direct as opposed to contributing through charity shops back home. They are certainly not pushy or cheeky either not like in Kenya!
Evening entertainment: Very good....mostly dancing shows. The 'street' is fantastic and one of the best things about this hotel, if you want more fun and drinks after 11pm. There is a karaoke bar, a casino, a rock cafe bar and live music and dancing, and the drinks are included. We are not party people, but really enjoyed it. It goes on until about 3am, then you can get a burger and fries available until 7am!! Great. We inadvertantly (due to too much alcohol!!) left our bags/money and camcorder on our table while we went off dancing….they were still there when we got back.
Bugs: Not many at the resort, put stuff on and you will probably be ok....depends if you are prone to them or not.
Tipping: We did tip sometimes, usually a dollar each time, they are grateful but you don't have to as it doesn't affect the service.
Overall: We would recommend this hotel to anyone if the price was right. We paid £690 for a fortnight, which was very fair. Someone paid a £1000... which wasn't fair!! We would not return, mainly because of the beach, and because there are many other places to go. But the DR remains one of our favourite places due to the friendly people and good value for money.
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Advantages: Beautiful place, lovely people, great service and just plain good fun. Disadvantages: Telephon service goes down regularly though mobile reception was good.
Jul 8th, 2006
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