My husband and I just returned from a 5 night stay at Melia. We were celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary, and had an amazing time! We had never been to the DR so we were really venturing out when we chose this destination. We were not dissappointed in any way! We chose the resort based on the reviews from this website. It seemed to have the least negative comments compared to some of the other all inclusive resorts that we were looking at. It turned out that we made a great choice! This place reminded me of the show "Fantasy Island" from the 80's! It was gorgeous!! If you are looking for a tropical paradise this is the place to go! There were lush gardens everywhere, small ponds with fish and flamingos and plenty of peacocks roaming the grounds! The building that had all of the restaurants and the many lounge areas and bars was beautiful! Especially at night when the lights were dimmed, the smell of insense everywhere, the many lounge beds and light music playing throughout the whole place! It was very romantic! We did not have Royal service, but as soon as we arrived we were treated as if we did. At first I thought they had confused us with Royal Service guests. We were taken to our room by one of the many golf carts, instead of having to wait on a train. We were also set up a dinner reservation for that night at the Japanese restaurant and again dinner the following 2 nights at the Italian and Thai restaurants. We never had a problem getting into any of the specialty restaurants. The food always had a very nice presentation in all of the beautiful restaurants. Everyone talks about the food not being very good, but I had to realize that this is not the "American" food that we are used to........it is just different. We as "Americans" are spoiled with the foods that we have! Overall we enjoyed most of the food that we ate. My favorite (closest to american food) was the Mexican, Italian and the Japanese. I did miss the dipping sauces that we get here in America at our local Japanese restaurants. We also did a couple of the excursions which was the snorkeling trip on the "party boat" where you also got to swim with nurse sharks and stingrays! That was a really cool adventure! We also did Parasailing on the beach, which was breathtaking! The beaches were so relaxing with a constant breeze blowing the whole time, we never once got hot on the beach! The pools at the resort were so nice and so spread out! There are so many chairs and lounge beds that you will always find a place to lay. If you are looking for a low keyed place to just take in the natural beauty of the beautiful beach and tropical surroundings this is truly the place to go!!!!

My husband and I just returned from the Melia Caribe. We stayed from June 27 to July 4. We opted for the Royal Service because it sounded fantastic, what a waste of money. First, the grounds were beautiful and the food was good. I researched the property for six months before our vacation so I knew what to expect. This resort is very family oriented. During our stay there were many obnoxious children in the Royal Service pool area. There were also many large groups of families. I wouldn't recommend the resort for couples. The Royal Service did not have any pluses at all. Our room was mediocre. It was very outdated. We had three bugs in our room. Anytime we went to the VIP area to ask questions the help was so busy talking to each other they didn't seem like they wanted to be bothered. We called the evening before our flight back to Ohio to arrange to have our luggage picked up but they told us to call in the morning. We called in the morning and they weren't open yet. Golf transportation can only be arranged every hour. My husband had to walk back from the golf course with his clubs because Royal Service doesn't pick you up. We didn't see any plus in Royal Service.

We usually stay at Iberostar Lindo or the Grand and this place couldn't compare. It was a waiste of money.

I would recommend this place only to families because they did have a nice children's area. This is not a quiet or romantic resort. If you are going on your first all inclusive you will most likely enjoy the resort but if you have been to an Iberostar property in the Mayan Riviera don't bother with this property.

Im 14 years old, and just beacuse im young, dont think i dont know what im talking about!...ii went from june 28 to july 3.i stayed in d.r. at the melia caribe tropical. I dont know where to start!!...well, the place was so darn big, there was a train/trolley that took you from one side to the other! There are also many workers in golf carts that will drive u where u need to go...but i dont recommend this place for older people. I went with my sisters age 15 and 17, my uncle age 35, my grandmother in her 60's, and my great grandmother age 92...it was a hassle getting my great grandmother from one side to the other...she can somewhat walk, but not fully. She couldnt go on the trolley because of her wheelchair, and for her to get somewhere, someone had to either push her, or a golf cart had to take her. But, i highly recommend this place to any age!!! This place is action packed, and u wont wanna leave. There is a mall on the resort, but it's kind of wack...there is a baseball diamond, a very small basketball court, the beautiful beach, like 8 pools (2 with swim up bars), mad bars (on land lol), an arcade, a club, like 8 restaurants, and many many many more!...my advice to you is if you know good italian food, dont go to the italian resaturant. I highly highly highly recommend the dominican restaurant...we went there 2 nights in a row... When we first got to d.r., it seemed to me like the staff expected tips. But the staff is super cool! If you can, try to find a guy named danger... He is the best!........u will really enjoy it if you go here, and my family and i are plannning on going back!
MY BIGGEST CON IS THAT ALMOST NONE OF THE STAFF MEMBERS SPEAK ENGLISH!...ITS ANNOYING!...ALSO, CHECK IN TAKES A SUPER LONG TIME!

My family & I stayed for 1 week as part of a large group(part business). Out of the 100 or so of us, some had problems w/ their rooms & others were ok.
There are a few good points about this place.
1) the beach & scenery is great, but of course this is not something the hotel made.
2) Landscaping & grounds were neat & clean & lush.
3) There is a lot of staff around to take care of things. Everywhere you turn there is someone in a uniform passing.
4) most of the staff seems to be happy go lucky people(which cuts both ways when working)

The not so great features are:
1) some front desk & bartend staff have a habit of initially ignoring you when they see you coming up. Both my wife & I commented on this. They also have what I consider the worst habit of using their cell phones while working (both talking & text message) & you are right in front of them waiting.
2) Our room was in the older part of the resort, which always smelled like there is a sewage leak somewhere. Our room was fairly clean & most things worked properly, but the quality of construction was lacking & the tub really needed to be replaced. a few people in our party did have leaks coming into their room from the toilet above them & had to be moved.
3) Even though our room was right next to the pool closest to the front lobby area, we were told later on that we were not allowed to use it because it was for the "Royal Service" guests. This was not communicated to us before.
4) when we asked if we could be moved to another room closer to the pools we could use (we had our 7 year w/ us) one front desk person told us he would move us but it would be a higher rate. he said the reason we got the room we have was because they were told to keep our group together. Later we find out this was completely untrue because our group was all spread out, even at the other end of the resort which they did not want. A different front desk person we talked to the next day (w/o knowledge of what we knew) was perfectly fine to move us w/o charge. This & other examples indicate the staff has a tendency to tell you whatever is convenient for them.
5) The meals & drinks are all inclusive. But it seems they are more geared toward quantity rather than quality. The default meal is at the buffets, & it's actually not bad w/ a fair selection of different items, especially good if you have small children. The restaurant system make you jump through hoops to eat at the a la carte restaurants. Don't bother w/ them because you can find better & more authentic stuff at any American suburban strip mall restaurant. I am not a drinker but even I could tell it was cheap stuff (I grew up working in restaurants & tended bar in college).
6) their system of diesel trolley & gas powered golf carts to get you around will get you there but there were so many carts & staff on mopeds zipping around that you were constantly in danger of being run over. It also made so much fumes that it ruins the fresh air you might have enjoyed.

Overall I probably would not go back there again. If you are a big drinker & big eater & just want to lounge around the pool or beach it might be a good value. But it wasn’t for me.