I am writing this as an overview of eight separate visitors sharing the same experience on a visit to this resort. We are all seasoned travelers. I am reviewing this resort based on our experiences at other five star resorts and as a counter balance to many of the glowing reviews. If you are used to living and traveling in relative luxury you will be disappointed. If you usually vacation at two to three star properties you will be happy. A five and a half star rating as shown on many publications and internet sites is extremely misleading. Many reviewers make excuses for the resort based on its island location in the Dominican Republic. Five stars should be five stars anywhere on the planet.
The good things are that the location is beautiful, the rooms are large - in other words the visual aesthetics are all there.
A summary of the disappointments:
Lack of service. If you asked anyone for anything they either did not understand you or the answer would be no, it would have been nice to here a yes to a request . Some examples would be that if you ordered room service the meal would arrive incorrect and cold after one hour. Nachos would run out at lunch and five requests were made to five different people the first three said there were none left the last two said they would have some - one hour later they arrived. I would at least expect the bar tenders to know rudimentary English so that if you were to order a drink they would no what it was. I had to ask three bartenders for peanuts and was told they had none and after talking to the guy at the front desk they had some. No chips and a fight to get peanuts at the bar. I find that to be unacceptable for an all inclusive five star resort. Speaking of the bars,... all of us felt that the liquor was very diluted. They say that Premium liquor is available but we only found it at the main bar in the main hotel - definitely not where you spend most of the day.
As a couple we spent about three hundred dollars in tips and did get preferential treatment from what I could see around us. An interesting note is that our friends left five dollars taped to their minibar (above what was left for the maid) and rather than the two tiny bottles of liquor and two beers they were always given eight liquors and four beers. This is more what I would expect when they advertise a stocked minibar. If you consider a two ounce bottle of whiskey and one of vodka along with two beers and a couple of soft drinks to be a a fully stocked bar in a five star resort you will be happy! Although I requested potato chips and was told there were none that extra five dollars seemed to make them appear for our friends on a consistent basis.
Now on to the food. If you are used to fine dining you will find the food in the a la carte restaurants to be largely inedible. One night at one of the restaurants we were happy to meet some friends that we met on the beach sitting at the table beside us and asked to have our tables joined together and again rather than a yes to the request it was a NO. Again another irritation not expected.
The buffet food is better with all of the food being overcooked and often kept lukewarm with the warmers not on. If food was served in this manner in Canada the health inspectors would close the restaurant.
Men should be made aware that any variation from the dress codes for lunch and supper will be refused service. Women on the other hand can wear anything. Men must wear full short sleeved shirts for lunch , but a woman in a bikini top seems to be very acceptable. If a man was to wear long Bermuda shorts to supper he would be refused service but if you were a woman hot pants are alright. The resort needs to be a more rational in its dress codes and there enforcement if it wants to have them at all. It all seems a little overdone for a tropical resort.
A comment on the rooms would be that you should be prepared to have your keys fail a couple of times in a week. The beds and pillows are not up to standard. It took about three hours to fill the hot tub and when full it was found to be brown. The toilet room is non vented.
There are usually only one or two staff people that can speak fluent English at the Resort.
There is no internet in the rooms and the wireless service in the lobby is extremely slow and you are restricted in your usage. Again this is not expect in this supposed class of resort.
It seems strange that there is only one free shuttle onto and off of the island per day.
Five star service? No. Five star accommodation and food ? No.
This is a nice place to visit but do not e mislead into thinking that it is a fabulous Five star experience.

I agree with much of what is set out in other reviews: gorgeous grounds, huge and lovely rooms, friendly and helpful staff, almost magical island location.

The property has two significant drawbacks, both of which could be easily fixed. First, it desperately needs a decent kitchen. Because of the island location, you are hostage to whatever they serve. In most cases the food is merely bland. Unfortunately, the food was worse in the ala carte restaurants to the point of being inedible. At least at the buffet there was more choice. My strategy was to eat a high protein breakfast, and subsist at lunch and dinner.

The second and more surprising issue was the comfort of the beds. Pillows resemble cinder blocks in size and comfort. I didn’t enjoy waking up with a backache every morning from the poor mattress. Management would be well advised to look at what major chains do to make their beds comfortable.

Other issues were minor but annoying in a property that I wanted to like more than I did: oversweetened drinks, cheesy entertainment, unvented bathrooms, housekeeping being consistently late in making up a room.

This hotel is like an over-decorated cake: pretty but unsatisfying. Fix the cooking - maybe an upcharge for palatable items - and the beds and we’ll be back next year.

We were there Jan 28th to Feb 4th 2008. The resort was beautiful and the rooms were georgeous. I have been in Cancun, Punta Cana and Cuba this was the nicest room I had ever stayed in. All the reviews are accurate about what they say. The food was great and lots of variety. The weather was a little rainy when we were there. It rained about 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night. It was a bit overcast most of the days. But when the sun was out for the full day it was hot. Although there were a few people who spoke a bit of english, I wish I had brushed up on my spanish. Special regards to Gabriel who gave me a tennis lesson, he spoke the best english, Miky at the beach bar who was going to be a new dad the day we left, and also Adan at the lobby bar, great bunch of guys. There was no night life and we had wished there would have been more at the water sports hut. Communication wasn't great there and they didn't offer alot. The snorkeling was not good, the ocean was too rough and cloudy. The best spot we found for snorkeling was on the south side of the public beach which was beautiful. We saw mostly starfish, conch and a few unusal fish but nothing colorful. The only problem we had was the key card to our room kept failing, so we were frustrated from time to time.

My Husband and I were recommended by our travel agent to go to this resort and glad we did!! Our week was fantastic! Beautiful grounds, clean pools, friendly staff and lavish rooms in the villas. Our room had a king size canopy bed, jacuzzi tub seperate shower, private balcony etc. We also had 24 hour room service and a mini bar which was totally awesome!!! Our whole trip started off with a cool towel once arriving at the dock at the resort. You don't even worry about your baggage, it's all taken care of! Then we were entertained with dancers and were given a welcome drink and welcomed by the whole management staff! It just got better from there, the food was amazing at the buffet and at the A La Cartes. We liked both DonPablo and the Mediterrainian just the same. The Seafood restaurant unfortunately we didn't get to try. The regular buffet has themes aswell which was great. My fav was Gala night. Red carpet style and candlelight. Very nice. Overall we didn't have any problems exept for turndown we only received it a few times. The entertainment got better and better as the week went on. My favorite place to relax was by the bottom pool by the ocean in the comfy lounge chairs. You are close to the action. Ie: Games, Snack Bar, regular bar etc We are definately considering making this resort our yearly tradition! But before you go brush up on your spanish. Some speak english but not many. Enjoy!