BookIt.com® Verified Traveler Vance Richards from Yorktown, Virginia

"We read the reviews of the place prior to booking and traveling. The reviews did help alot with the upgrade and what to expect. Our experience was very close to all the reviews: Shuttle service was good but we looked for the sign once we got past the croud of people wanting to help with everything but what we really needed. We finally found the VIP shuttle service that was on our paperwork but did not notice. No problem there. Check in was good and we had 3 couples on this week vacation. Resort was not able to assign rooms close for any of us but once we got to our rooms everyone was very satified. We stayed in Building 1 room 103 (1103), one couple in Building 20 (20206) and the other couple in Building 5 (5102). Everyone was very pleased with the condition of the rooms. Building 1 and 20 are a stones through away fromt he big pool by the ocean. Highly recommend these. Pool and pool bar was great, and had daily entertainment. Dinner was good and we ate at the main Buffet every evening. None of us even bothered to reserve alacarte dinner because we never knew when we would be off the beach or pool. Nightly entertainment was good but the Monday Micheal Jackson should is highly recommended. The trolly service that runs down the middle and on both sides of the Resort is very simple and easy to use. Don't sit up front as noted by others the fumes fromt he vehicle can be bad. Kids should be warned as noted by other that there are alot of topless women on the beach and a few at the pool. Should be expected from the wide varity of travels from around the world. Overall we loved the resort, service, and condition of the Resort. Highly recommend this resort for your travels to Dominican Republic."

BookIt.com® Verified Traveler Heather from Tonawanda, NY

"For my boyfriend and I this was our first time traveling to the Dominican Republic. The airport was kind of crazy, and the transfer van driver was terrible. Besides that the trip was amazing! The hotel and grounds were immaculate. The staff was very curteous and kind. The resort is HUGE so you better like to walk, unless you plan on getting carted around in their trollys which I wouldn't recommend because of the massive amount of fumes that pour out of them. The only downside to the trip was that I paid to upgrade to a deluxe room which was supposed to include an extra night at one of the sit-down restaurants (which would mean 4 of the 5 nights we were there we should have been able to eat in the sit-down restaurants instead of 3 which you would normally get without the deluxe (golden) upgrade), but upon check-in we were told that you have to stay a minimum of 7 days to be able to recieve the 4th dinner in the sit-down restaurant which it does not tell you anywhere in the fine print. So that was kind of disappointing that I paid to upgrade for that reason and that reason only and didn't even get what I wanted. One other thing to be aware of is that if you plan on bringing children, steer clear of the beach. It is very European style and there are many topless women and bottomless men."

BookIt.com® Verified Traveler William & Shelly Schnitzer from Fredonia, WI

"We spent April 7-12, 2012 at this resort. The nightmare began right at check-in at 'reception' when we were so unfriendly greeted, I had hair in my greeting cocktail, followed by another cocktail with a bug in it! The receptionist was unfriendly, not offering an explanation of the resort layout or telling us about the eating areas... thank goodness I did some research before our arrival. We could only eat at the restaurants because of cancellations or if we wanted to eat after 9:30 p.m. Our room had a grit on the floor, the filler between the tiles, lifted onto our feet when we walked on it, and our sheets were gritty as well. Then we discovered the unthinkable... BED BUGS!! Yes, the mattress and bedding had the critters. We requested maid service daily. Our sheets were NEVER changed during our stay, only the towels. By the way, we also had dirty towels given to us one day. When speaking to the representative, we were told the resort was sold out, so moving rooms was not possible. The food was bland, tasteless, and cold at the buffet and in the restaurants. The Tropicana entertainment... glorified Karoake to 80's music. The activities were a highlight at the beach pool, watching a set of 6 year old twins dancing, otherwise we were constantly being told to not make the activiity director angry. Save your time, there are beautiful beaches somewhere else!"

BookIt.com® Verified Traveler Schnitzer from Fredonia, WI

"After being home for two days, I stil am in shock at the absolute nightmare that my husband and I went through. We were greeted by the staff in less than a friendly manner, was given a cocktail that had hair in the glass and then given another cocktail with a bug in in it. The only way we were able to eat in the restaurants were be the cancellations of another guest, unless we wanted to eat after 9:30 p.m. When questioning eating in half-full restaurants later, we were told that the open seats were available in case someone from AMBAR or ESMERALDA would happen to walk in because apparantly they don't need to make reservations. We were told about the $4/day safe fee, but was not told that it had to be paid for ahead of time, thus causing another trip back to the 'wonderful' and unfriendly check-in area. On to the buffet that we was available to us. We NEVER had a warm meal out of this area. The food was bland and became less and less appealing as our stay went. The food in the restaurants that we made reservations for (Mediterranean and Mexican) was also less than warm and tasetless. The room that we stayed in the grout was coming off the floor and sticking to your feet, and we had BED BUGS!!! We requested maid service everyday, hoping that the sheets would be changed; but instead realized that only the towels were changed. To top that off, we even were given dirty towels one of the days. We were told that the resort was sold out, thus moving rooms was not an option. If misery loves company, we certainly found the company at the pool bar where others were counting the number of bed bug bites that they had as well, even after having the room infumigated! Our 5 night, 6 day holiday was nothing short of hellacious, and wish we could have some sort of refund."

BookIt.com® Verified Traveler Dorian Sanchez from West Palm Beach, Florida

"The stay at this resort made the Punta Cana experience phenomenal. From the moment we arrived we were treated like royalty. Now I'm Dominican so I know spanish but i made it a point to say hello and talk to everyone at the resort, the staff were so friendly that I made friends with them and are staying in touch. By the end of the trip, everyone at the resort knew who we were. There's nothing more i like seeing than staff that are actually happy to be working where they are...and i know it made their day when they had their own people staying there. My cousin and I were at the bar at the Bavaro side everyday at our stay, the bartenders there considered us brothers by the time we were leaving. The restaurant experience was above 5 stars in my opinion. The food was always excellent, the servers were always happy to come by and make sure you were getting treated well. I would have conversations with them. Now i had two reservations with my stay, the manager of the Domincan Restaurant extended another reservation because of the respect and enjoyment we had at that restaurant. What also contributed to that were these guests that were so rude to the servers there that it upset my cousin and i to the point where we made sure the manager knew that the servers did nothing wrong and the guests were just being stuck up...i would say that was the ONLY negative experience i had there but it immediately passed when we started conversing with the server of that table. I enjoyed both my reservations, the Italian and the Dominican restaurants. I would strongly recommend experiencing both of those restaurants. I know exactly where to go back to when i return to the resort next year. And I am returning for sure because I loved the resort...when i left, I was actually sad about leaving...I really did not want to leave. The beach at the resort was beautiful...my favorite part was returning to the beach at night...AMAZING view of the stars and for those early risers, it is a great opportunity to see a gorgeous sunset or sunrise. The pool closest to the beach was my favorite pool to go to...being able to sit barside or enjoy the entertainment right by the water. You can honestly enjoy every aspect of your vacation right in the resort. The attractions are a super bonus. For the clubbers...I definitely recommend Imagine Night Club. If you have seen the Matrix and remember the scene of Zion when everyone is dancing in the caves before the war with the machines...it is alot like that. Epic experience. I definitely recommend the VIP path when going there. Free drinks and entrance for the first night and free entrance for 5 days. There are so many good things I can say about this resort...I can honestly not think of a single thing that I disliked or thought negative of for the entirety of my stay."