We went to the resort with a wedding party of 30 people. We have to young children and were a bit aprehensive about going on this type of holiday with two kids so young (aged 2 & 4).
After a long flight and chaos at the airport I was looking forward to arriving at the resort and enjoying the luxury of a bath in the 4+*resort.
I could of cried when we got to our room!! Be warned block 5 is not nice. The room was old shabby and in serious need of a makeover. There was a faint musty odourthat was quite off putting and there was paint peeling of the walls. I could have lived with that, but the bathroom was disgusting (see photo's). My daughter refused to get in the bath (I can't blame her) she said to me "mummy why has someone done a poo in the bath?" she was referring to the rust. The patio doors, first wouldn't open and when we did finally get them open we couldn't get it to shut and lock, this was worrying as the resort had security posts all around.
We do not like to complain but we felt we could not spend two weeks in this room. We spoke to reception and they offered us another room in the same block. We looked at this room but it was no better. We was informed we could upgrade at a cost of $40 a night. This was not acceptable considering how much we had been spent on the holiday already and in our opinion the room was well below 4+ standard. Giving it a rating of 3* would be a generous grading!!
Following a call to Thompson in the UK early the next morning who were very helpful and a day of going back and forth to the reception we was moved to Block 1 at no extra charge.
This room was clean and bright and of a good stardard, it was nothing extrodinary just what anyone would expect in a 4+* hotel. Once we moved we felt that we could start to enjoy our holiday and from then on we did.
We cannot grumble about much else within the resort the food was good and plentiful and being all inclusive really worked well with the kids, the resort was clean and well maintained. The staff on the whole were very friendly and helpful. If you like lazing around the pool and beach then this is the place. For me I would have liked to have gone somewhere with more to do and see outside the resort.
Make sure you go well prepared as there is not much to buy in the resort. If you forget to take something with you, or run out of anything you may come unstuck. The first week we ran out of sun cream and we couldn't buy any in the resort (A shop opened just prior to us leaving.) We ventured into Bayhibe to buy some which was very daunting and not much fun. The locals swarmed round trying to sell stuff. There was not much to see in the town and the beaches were littered with rubbish as soon as you left the resort.
We did a couple of trips out which were good, they were well organised and good value for money. They were booked by a guy selling them in the resort and much cheaper than through Thompson.
The Casino is well worth a trip, we had a great night, it was nice to get out of the resort.
My only other slight grumble is that in some of the bars if you don't give a tip as soon as you go to the bar you will receive your drinks in plastic not glass and have to wait a long time to be served. I'm not opposed to tipping and we did give lots of tips, but I feel that tips should be given because you have been given good service. Not that you should have to give a tip to get good service.
Would I return to the Dominican Republic? NO
Would I recomend this hotel? Only if you were in the upgraded accomodation.
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