I only have great things to say about the Majestic Colonial in Punta Cana! I stayed there for the second time between May 03 and May 10 2008. Just like the first time, everything was awesome!

Beach: The Majestic is located on a pointe, the beach is larger there than in nearby resorts, the sand is white and very fine. Water was turquoise blue and warm and the beach was cleaned daily. Also plenty of pallapas for shade, and activities like beach party and paella party during our stay.

Rooms: Great rooms, although looked a bit more "used" than during my previous stay in July 2006 when the resort had just opened. Not much privacy in rooms as toilet is stall-style (not a full door). Something to keep in mind if travelling with friends. Shower is marble and amazingly big, with telephone head. Note there are no face clothes, so better bring a few if you need them. Beds/pillows are decent. Unfortunately our room was overlooking the construction next door (new adult only Majestic resort to open in October 2008), but I personally do not care much as I only sleep in the room :)

Pool: The pool is great, warm and as long as the resort. Of course there's a wet bar, lots of animation around 4-6pm. One drawback is pool closes at 6pm. There are also some jacuzzi type areas in the pool, with jets.

Food/Drinks: The food selection is great, everything was delicious! Breakfast buffet is amazing, waffles, crepes, pancakes, eggs, omelets, pastries, fresh breads, smoothies, fresh fruits, a full hot buffet, etc. We had lunch at the beach restaurant everyday, where they have a good variety of food and you can enjoy your meal outside. For dinner there are plenty of options, everything is very tasty especially the French restaurant (gotta try the creme brulee with mamajuana infusion!!!). Seafood and japanese were also great (although the ambience at the tepanyaki isnt the best in my opinion as it is way too bright in there) , steak house was my least favorite but my friends liked it a lot. The drinks were great, especially for happy hour at the lobby bar!

Staff - The dominicans are so friendly, always smiling and willing to help! Of course it helps if you try to speak Spanish and tip. I went there with two girlfriends and I cannot count how many times we were told we were beautiful... :) My favorites were Felix at the beach bar, Denny the beach concierge, and Orlando at the Japanese restaurant. The animation crew was also great, getting us moving on the beach in the morning (aerobics, stretching, dance lessons) and at the end of the afternoon at the pool (step, games, etc.) I have to congratulate Reginaldo, Melvin, and Jesus for their energy! Loved dancing with you guys :)

Shows - The shows were well prepared and looked very professional, and some were really hilarious! A great way to digest your meal before hitting the disco bar!

Discotheque: I made it to the night club every night but the first, and had a blast there! If you like to dance to latin rythms (even if you are not very good at it) go there after the show and dance with the animation crew, they are great. Music is good but could be a little more diversified; they also play a lot of club music you hear in the US. There is also a pool table, and a small casino next door. I am not a fan of casinos but I guess it is big enough to waste some money there if thats your thing :)

Clientele: During our stay there were a lot of young people, we made a lot of new friends and got to speak tons of Spanish :) Not too many kids screaming around, which was good for relaxing.

Overall: Love the Majestic, for that price you absolutely have to go!

The resort was very nice. We had a problem with our room on check in and within 15 minutes we were moved to a much better room.

The staff, service were great!! The place was clean and very well run.

Now the food. I am a chef by trade and did not think we were going to get exceptional food. I know the challanges and cost it takes to run a operation like this, but the food was worst than I could have ever thought!

Both my wife and I got food poisoning. I wanted to contact the hotel staff , but my wife did not want to make a big deal of it. Thank god we both ate very little and had a mild case so it did not total destroy our short trip.

We later learned as we were leaving that we were not the only ones that got sick.

I have been in the foodservice buisness for over 20 years and was shock at the food and beverage operation. This resort did sooooo many things right, the staff worked very hard, it was disappionting to have the food take away from all this.

I can not stress how bad it was, when we got our return flight home, the airline serverd us some kind of chicken and instant mashed potatoes and my wife and I thought we were in heaven. Imagine airline food being the highlight of our culinary experience.

It seems to me that if they could reduce what they offer and do it right they could be the best resort in the area.

Bottom line- Great resort but plan on losing wieght and bring snacks!!

I just got back yesterday from a fabulous week's stay at the Majestic. When I was there I was constantly thinking of the hundreds of reviews I read on tripadvisor and wondering where some people were coming from with their complaints!

When my boyfriend and I arrived we had a speedy check in and a personal tour from Richard on the way to our room. After reading so much about him here I felt like he was a celebrity! I really appreciated the time he took with us to make our dinner reservations and show us where everything was.

Walking around the resort for the first time left us totally awestruck. By the time we reached the gorgeous beach we were just giggling like idiots, we were so happy! That night we ate dinner at the buffet and continued to be very impressed, the service was great and the food delicious. We returned to our hotel room to find a bottle of champagne, a plate of cheeses and a fruit platter. We truly felt like King and Queen, we were just delighted.

A few things in response to reviews I had read:
-some said you had to get up early to reserve chairs at the beach/pool. Perhaps we were there at a less busy time but we always had our pick of great spots, regardless of the hour. In fact nothing ever felt crowded.
-we brought bug spray and an air freshener and really did not need either
-I almost didn't go to the Taino restaurant because it seemed a lot of people didn't like it- this ended up being our favorite. We were not impressed with the seafood restaurant. I think a lot of it is personal preference and what you order from the menu.
-the pool is almost as warm as a bath, hardly even refreshing, I do not understand how some were calling it too cold??

Some things that we agreed with:
-the resort could definitely benefit from some variety in the music. It was the same every day, like clockwork. We even had a joke about knowing it was 10:15 when you hear Toni Braxton singing "Unbreak my heart".
-some of the food in the restaurants could be improved. Certainly the Japanese would benefit from a Japanese chef.
-we did both have some stomach issues (no vomitting) and I would recommend everyone bring Pepto and Immodium since we certainly used ours. To be fair though, we ate everything and a lot of it, and we had no problems until the last day or two.

We did the Carribbean Festival and really enjoyed ourselves. The snorkeling wasn't great but the entertainers on the boat made our afternoon really fun and swimming with the sharks and stingrays was very cool. It cost $78 and you are gone for about 5 hours.

Also right on the beach you can do various watersports, we did the tubing for $13 each and it was well worth it. Very much a thrill! I was screaming half from joy and half out of fear for my life! It takes a lot of strength to stay on the tube and he goes really fast and makes you fly all over the place.

It was upsetting to see how few people tipped. Even if it says tips are included, a couple dollars here and there is most likely nothing to you and it can make a real difference for them. These people work their butts off, you never saw them stop for a second. I was disappointed to see how some of the guests treated the staff. Some people are just rude and walk around feeling so entitled. Don't be that person! Be polite, be understanding when they have to serve drinks to many people and you have wait a minute or two, and leave a tip!

Also we did not do the bus transportation to and from the airport, we just took taxis. It worked out well, we were very comfortable and got there quickly for $35 each way.

Another thing not many people write about is the photography. On the beach one day a photographer approached us and we started doing an impromptu photo shoot. It was great fun and the guy really knew what he was doing, posing us and spending a lot of time getting good shots. We felt like we were on Top Model! It works like this- they walk around taking pictures all day, and then at night you can go to the photo shop (the last shop in the little strip of stores) and buy the ones you want. You can get prints or have them on a CD for 10 dollars each. We loved the pictures so much we couldn't help but get a bunch- but you are not obligated at all.

The weather was perfect and even though the forecast said thunderstorms every day, we never saw a drop of rain! Bring a lot of sunscreen- we are people who tan easily and we still went through a couple tubes of it.

All in all we had a fabulous vacation and were very sad to leave the Majestic. I wish I was still there!

I want to give you the most objective review I can possibly give.

My wife and I went to the Majestic for a 5 day 4 night stay with best friends from college. I will give you a short review of the highlights for the Majestic.

1. Airport ride - first of all, just let the guys take your bags, if you dont they will pester you to death. The ride if you do a voucher will take longer than 30 minutes. It took us an hour, they stopped off at other resorts to drop off people from other resorts.

2. Check in - very smooth and fast. arrived at 4:30 so maybe it was a down time. The guy got us a room RIGHT next to our friends room. We were laughing cause he said it was the best he could do.

3. Food - sorry, but i will need to agree with other reviews...NOT good. The chinese/japanese place was OK - meat was good but the rice was gross. Buffet gets redundant for b-fast and lunch. Dinner we got sick from the salad at the seafood place. DONT eat the salad, they wash it with water. Dont drink tap water, heed to what everyone tells you.

4. Drinks - can NEVER get the coke or diet coke right. Always had too much syrup. EVERY resteraunt for the exception of maybe two places, you had to fight for bottled water...we didnt trust the stuff out of the pitcher. they say its bottled water poured in there, but even if it is, its still mixed with ice. Had a buddy who went to Excellence Punta Cana and he got a tape worm from the ice!!!!!

5. Pool - AWSOME! Loved this pool.

6. Room - Clean, had a must smell...just be smart like our friends and bring a renuzit or febreeze and you will be fine!

7. Beach - GORGEOUS

8. Excursions - Lady at the Marinia(sp?) who hands out snorkeling gear, etc... RUDE as can be. She has a gap in her teeth, you will know who she is. Lazy and runs the place on her own agenda. We wanted to snorkel for 10 minutes knowing it closed at 4, we showed up at 3:45. she said they were closed and then argued with us, etc... WHO does that?

9. Deep Sea Fishing - great time, lots of time on a boat though in the ocean that can make you very sick. My buddy caught a HUGE mahi mahi....dont believe them if they say you can keep it though.

10. Spa - Wife and friend got a facial, good price. I got a 30 minute massage on the beach...AWSOME. However, when i went to pay the bill, it said 85 bucks should have been 30. I reasoned with the guy at the front desk who had to bring in the lady from the spa. I signed for the 85, my signature was there, BUT i signed up for 50 and they say on the sheet 85 rsd not USD. they confuse you on purpose, trust me. THey have their tactics of trying to sneak one by you. The guys name at the front desk was Roberto, he said he trusted me what i was saying but still made me pay the full price when i said i CLEARLY had a 30 minute massage, not and 85 dollar one. The spa lady argued with me to at the front desk. I told them it was VERY simple. I have the money to pay you, you can charge me 50 or 85 its your choice....BUT you will either end someones trip on a good note or a bad one, your choice. They made me pay in full so i left pissed. I think anyone would when they say they trust you but had to bring the spa lady and couldnt make a MANAGERIAL decision to make a guest happy. Honestly, i am only one amongst many guests they deal with. But the internet is a great thing and can be their worst enemy if they keep on pissing off people like myself. It will bite you.

11. ALSO, the entertainment is good. We knew it would be low budget stuff, so dont expect broadway. If you do, then its your own loss. The MC was hilarious. Micheal Jackson show was the best. We also watched ideal couple last night. That was hilarious!!!!

I think that is it and should cover it all.