We stayed at CDM on April 30th-May 7th.
I always do a ton of research on Tripadvisoe before I book any resort.
I did find out that this resort was the same owners and Dreams and Secrets...and it was being renovated to a Dreams from a Sunscape. I immediately found out which buildings were rennovated and sent an email to the concierge to upgrade us to building number 3. She was very accomodating...My boyfriend emailed her telling her that we will be getting engaged on this trip as wa another couple coming with us and she was able to put us in a nice room in Building 3. But again it was explained to us that it was only done because it was such a special occasion.

Here is a bit of a detailed review about the trip:

Beach: The beach is GORGEOUS! The water was absolutely amazing! Green and crystal blue! We rented snorkeling equipment from the water activities hut and went snorkeling right in front of our hotel! We saw puffer fish! Beautiful bright fish and caught a starfish! But of coarse we threw it back into the sea.
We were thinking of taking the trip to Catalina island, but with a reef this beautiful on our hotel grounds...who needs that?!
The sand was white and soft. There were always plenty of chairs and palm trees in case you wanted shade. There are a lot of Europeans in the hotel, so women tan topless...For me this was fine, since I was one of the topless tanners.

Food: The food overall was great! I was very happy with the fresh fish and vegetable selections daily. The pizza there was amazing! So fresh! Their caesar salad was one of my faves! The A La Carte restaurants were good. We had a bad experience with Hamatsu, the Asian restaurant. We waited for 2 hours to get served, and it took 3 hours for our first course to come out.
My fiancee and I had the romantic dinner on the pier (extra cost) and it was phenominal! In fact that was where we got engaged! The 5 course meal was absolutely incredible! And the service was perfect as well.
I think that even the pickiest eatier could find plenty to eat at the buffet. I am a VERY picky eater and I never went hungry!

Rooms: We were upgraded to building number 3 which was already rennovated. We did not have any problems, with the exception of a leaky ceiling. But it did not really bother us all that much...I did hear that the some of the other rooms in the other buildings were very inadequate. However, I did hear that if you are very inconvenienced you will be moved to another room.

Staff: The staff was very accomodating...no one in our group except myself spoke Spanish, but either way they tried to understand you to the best of their ability. I was never spoken to rudely or had any unpleasentries with the staff.

Bayhabie and the Locals: We walked over to the local city which was about a 10 minute walk down the beach. Many people tried telling us that it was dangerous and the locals were not ones to be friends with. I could not disagree more! We walked over there about 3 times! We purchased several paintings and sun block when we ran out. We chatted with the locals and one of them even showed us his favorite restaurant on the beach. We had dinner there, for 2 people it $51. This included 2 huge lobsters, platain chips, beers, a fresh huge grouper fillet for me and rice. We could not have been happier with the company and the freshness of the food. We went into the city with a positive attitude, were respectful to the locales, joked with them and had a wonderful time all in all! Don't be scared off by all the horror stories. Just be smart and have a wonderful time!

It was an amazing trip and everything about this vacation was terrific!

Feel free to email me with any questions you may have!
milachkaa@gmail.com

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.

I am currently staying at this resort i booked through cheap caribbean and apparently those who book through that tour operator are only booked in room 5 and 7. they are the oldest rooms furniture is old, room is dark, no washclothes, televison remote didnt work, sink is cracked it looks like a cheap motel. I came to sunscape with my mom as a 50th bday and am regretting every moment of it. I arrived yesterday and have complained so many times about the room but they say oh! you booked through cheap caribbean and u got the super saver room, which looks nothing like the room on the internet. I just went to the cheap caribbean website to see if they were showing avialibitites since the hotel says they cant change my room and i noticed that they posted the fact that the hotel is under renovation but that wasnt posted 2 months ago when i book my trip. I am told that my room can not be changed and if i want to change then I have to to pay and additional $420 to upgrade the room. I stayed here last may in building 3 and it wasnt considered an upgragded room at that time, i booked through cheap caribbean now sunscape is calling building 3 (sunscape club) that room was nothing like the rooms in the building i am in. I came back here because I was satisfied last yr. However this yr I am disappointed and upset. There are so many ppl that are complaining about their rooms and all they say is there isn't anything I can do. They say by November the entire resort (rooms, lobby, etc) will be renovated. I wouldnt take the chance to come back here again. I work hard and so does my mom and was looking forward to this vacation and its not what I expected.
I will take pics of the room and when i get back i will post them.

Booked 10 days in Sunscape Casa Del Mar April 19-29th through Apple Vacations. 14 of us went (9 adults 40-50 y.o. and 5 teens 15-17 y.o.). We have been in Punta Cana, Puerto Plata resorts in DR, overall this was our 6th trip to all inclusive resorts in DR and Mexico, so you can trust our judgment.

This is great resort for the first time Caribbean travelers. Great beach, pool, beautiful grounds with good weather is going to make your trip. But if you have been in DR and Mexico before and looking for better resort few things you have to consider.
BEACH: Gorgeous, sandy beach with a lot of shade from palm trees and huge oversized palapas. Blue calm water. We spent most of our times there. If you want to stay under palapas you have to reserve a chair at 6:30-7:00 a.m.

GROUNDS: Beautiful well maintained grounds with bird house, flamingoes, exotic flowers and trees. Spa is the best place to be. If you order massage, you can make half a day out of it, enjoying Jacuzzi with iced tea bar, grounds, hammocks and benches in quiet secluded areas. They call it Ecology Spa.

POOLS: Two big pools. Main pool with and “Infiniti Pool” with swim up bar. Clean, well maintained.

FOOD/DRINKS: Good quality but same selection every day. They had “International Food Day”. The only “International” was flags in a lobby. Food was same as usual. We booked Italian and Asian restaurants…not worth it. First there were nothing special, second, after one hour waiting to be served we decided to stick to main buffet.
Drinks suck. They all made from local brands and pretty much watered. Lobby bar has some top shelf brands…Beer was our best drink.

ROOM: Big spacious room with balcony, bathroom, safe, iron and fan. Everything was in working condition. Some people had rooms that need renovation. Ugly old white furniture, broken chairs and shower doors with mice running around all night. Have to mention that there are a lot of rats in this resort. You will see them at nights crossing sidewalks.

MANAGEMENT: Poor, typical for most of DR resorts may be except for Iberostar chain. Don’t be surprised if they forget to fill up your fridge, don’t give you enough towels. One day mate fixed one bed and disappeared….We had to call on front desk to bring us towels and finish clean up. Main buffet was constantly short on dishes. Imagine the trays full of food but all people staying in the middle waiting for the dishes. Same thing in the morning with glasses for fresh fruit cocktails and in lobby bar at night. I never saw lobby bar serving drinks in plastic caps.
This is a first all inclusive resort I ever seen that doesn’t use color coded wrist bands. If you have teens 15-17 years old, they can get alcohol drinks very easy since nobody is going to bother to ask them for ID. Be aware of it.

TIPS:
1) Bldgs #2, 3 and 4 are most convenient. Located between main restaurant and beach. We e-mailed request for bldg #3 few days before departure. Worked.
2) Bring your own snorkeling set
3) If you smoke cigars be aware that all vendors and small stores sell counterfeit cigars. The only place to buy real cigars is Duty Free shops in Airport.
4) Be aware of pinkish purple jelly fish. Few people were seriously hurt
5) Book your snorkeling trips through water sport booth on a beach. Apple Vacation’s trips have much higher prices.
6) Bargain hard on Jewelry from local vendors. We bought few pieces for $25.00. Starting price was $130.00
7) If you have some cloth or shoes that you not going to use or towels, give it to locals during your trip. They appreciate it. They are very poor.