General
We stayed here for a week last time 2006 at new year.
this time we stayed for two.
It is a good 3 star hotel.
We had a problem with the view from our room and the staff changed us the next day because the hotel was full at point of complaint. The staff gave me a list of rooms that would be avaliable and asked me to take my pick.
Generaly the staff are very friendly and helpfull.

Rooms
The rooms are quite basic but what do you need from a room on a beach holiday? TV, Satalite, clean sheets every day fresh towels, floor moped and a balcony Is all I need and it was provided. One thing you dont get is a fridge but the resort is all inclusive.

Security.
We had no problems at all in the resort, Sosua or Caberety
however, A couple staying on the ground floor at the end of block 2 got there room turned over. They may or may not have not taken basic precausions. When I heard this I took out the option of the safe box. We had no problems.

Location

Sosua is a realy nice wee bit of the island. You will see the air craft comming in as the airport is only 15 min away. The town itself is not what you would call alpine charm, however, Its ok, places to go at night and a few walks during the day. Sosua beach is entertaining at the weekend!!
Only walk to caberety if you are fit and have time to kill 2:30 to 3 hours walk.

Tips
Caberety is $15 by cab however you can get there for as little as $3-$6 by cab if you tell them you are going public (public transport)
Comming back from Caberety
If you are getting a cab get it in the main street where the bars are. If you start to walk home hopping to get one on rout you will find that there are actualy few on the road after dark.

Top Tip
An exelent deserted beach is just round the bay. To get to it go through the US Steak House (the one you see from the beach).
use the old public foot path, pass through the grounds of Mirimar Hotel (defunct) there is a sign telling you to keep out private property. HOWEVER All the beach houses on millionares row have now been sold and are due for demolition, locals have taken to using some that were not locked.
walk through the gardens (on the beach side) you will come to a perfect sandy beach. the beach is also split in the middle by a rock that is easily passable.
To get back go back along the beach or just have a look at the yellow house (the last one) use the old drive back to road and come back via this.

Resort General
If you are looking for a typical european resort then cabereti might be more your style, however Sosua offers some nice walks and has life out with the comlex that is safe enough to walk about at night. There is a little prostitution this is centred at "The Happy Bar" after dark.
WIFI is free at Pedro McMurphies if you dont mind having to look a a celtic scarf.

We just got back from a 5 day trip to Sosua. We stayed at the Casa Marina Reef and absolutely loved it. Prior to our trip we read many reviews about the resort. Most were great but some were bad. After our experience we have to say.......
1. If your someone who is "high class" and expects things to be like the Ritz Carleton, then STAY HOME! However if you have a good outlook on things and are not stuck up then this is the place for you! It truly is a 3 star resort. However.....
2. The staff was great! Roberto is a nice guy that runs the beach activities. He remembers your name and is friendly.
3. The bartenders hardly get tipped and still have a smile. I recommend a tip every now and then. They work hard and don't we all usually tip our bartenders a few bucks anyway?!
4. Food......The food was your basic all inclusive. Not too bad but not a 5 star. Make sure you make your reservations for dinner your first day. The fish place is yummy.
5. Drinks....Bar opens at 10am and stays open till 11pm. Some people complained of it closing early, but when you drink all day who needs to drink much after 11pm anyway! Make sure you drink water. We got dehydrated the first day of drinking and laying by the beach!
6. Beach.....Clean, clear water, nice waves and friendly people! We recommend the beach by the bar.
7. Pool....Pool was nice but we stuck to the beach. You can find a pool almost anyplace but not a beach in the DR!
8. Rooms.....Rooms were pretty clean. Not too fancy but well maintained. They get cleaned everyday, but mostly late in the afternoon.
9. Power....The power goes off at times in the day. It lasts 15-30 seconds. It happens all over the island so do not worry! It actually happens mostly at night around 8pm.
10. Sosua........It is a very poor city and if you walk around make sure you say NO to the local shop keepers and kids wanting to shine your shoes. We went to a local bar Eddies, and had fun drinking some beer and hanging out with some people we met. The locals are nice but pushy about selling you stuff!

So to sum it up, we loved it and would go back in a second and stay longer! 5 days was not enough!

It's a "no brainer" kind of destination. Its not the fanciest of hotels and nor is it the 25 to 40 young couples fun destination. There are many families and europeans on site. The staff are cordial and respectful. The hotel complex itself is very big and it's impossible for someone to not find a place to relax. 3 pools, 3 large Spas located in the reefs, and two separate beaches give you a variety of areas to catch some sun.

We were 4 people in our party from Montreal Canada, my wife and I and my parents.

FOOD: We ate like "kings" all week long. The food and the variety of meals was impressive. We did try all three theme restaurants but were not worth the hastle of getting a reservation. The theme restaurant staff could work on their smiles! We found the regular buffet restaurants to offer a nice selection of dishes and the freedom of eating when you want as much as you want.

ROOM & HOTEL: The rooms are... OK. Some renovations especially in the bathrooms will be needed in the near future. I must admit, there were two unfortunate inconvenience at this hotel. The electricity and water shortage problems. The hotel complex is neighbor to a huge downtown power generator which runs about 12 hours a day in two 6 to 8 hour shifts. Let me tell you, it's not very romantic!!! The other problem is the water shortage. One or twice a day, no water for about 2 or 3 hours. There is always drinkable water but not for the bathrooms and showers.

As for the rest, it's 15 minutes away from the airport. Which is great, because a long bus ride after a flight is a downer. Inside the hotel compound... beauty. Nice palm trees, nice gardens, clean public areas, and nice brown sand beaches. Outside the hotel compound... lets just say it's not Monaco. (We came for the sun!!!)

If you're looking for an afortable family destination or older crowd, this is the place. I believe we'll be back some day with the kids.

I stayed at the Casa Marina in June 2007 for 2 weeks all inclusive with my boyfriend, and we loved it there. When we first arrived, it was raining and it was late afternoon and there was absolutely nobody around. We had to find our room ourselves which was quite difficult and annoying in the rain, and we thought we were going to have a terrible time from first impressions! But it soon picked up. We found early on that there was water leaking into our room from the room above, so we told reception and we were quickly moved to another room, which luckily had a better view too. The rooms are fine - it obviously depends on what you are used to, but as this was my first time abroad in a hotel, I was very satisfied with it, I don't really expect the room to be amazing anyway. We had 2 double beds (so we could choose which one to sleep on! ), a TV, chair, bathroom, and a lovely little balcony with patio chairs and a table.

When we ventured out for food on the first night, we were a bit clueless because we had just arrived and we found the restaurant by reception, which was just a general buffet, and we weren't impressed with any of the food so we filled up on loads of buttered rolls and bread. We were relieved to see people at last as we had thought that there was no-one else there! We thought this must be the only place to eat so we weren't thrilled, but the next day we found out we were completely wrong - so if this happens to you, just explore a bit further and you'll find it all - we were just really tired after the 9 hour flight!

There are 2 main buffet restaurants I think (it was nearly a year ago! there may have been 3!) and 2 special restaurants - Italian and Mexican - where you can reserve a table for a limited amount of nights. Breakfast buffets were brilliant - croissants, omelettes made with your choice of ingredients right in front of you, cereals, breads, toast, yoghurts...the lot. I always ate too much for breakfast and didn't feel hungry for ages. That didn't stop me pigging out on lunch though! We went everyday to the burger/pizza/hotdog/chips etc buffet (we love our junk food) which is right next to one of the two beaches. Dinner was not as good as breakfast or lunch - just the usual buffets, with similar stuff every night, but it was fine as we usually weren't hungry by that time due to the unlimited snacks and drinks throughout the day. Desserts were really nice though and so much choice. Just watch out for the kids dipping their fingers everywhere! The Italian restaurant is really nice - I liked the pizza, you get a starter, main and dessert with drinks as you would in a normal restaurant, except you don't have to pay at the end! Service was brilliant. The Mexican was not so good, but it's not to our taste really, so others may love it. The nachos were nice, but there were so many bugs crawling across the table all the time, which meant we had to cover up our food with napkins! You get some bugs in the other restaurants too but never as much as in the Mexican - and you get lovely little birds coming in for the breakfast buffets! - but the restaurants are outdoors so it's to be expected really.

Now for the most important part - the beaches! There are 2 private beaches, 1 is used much less than the others, which we preferred because it was quieter and less packed. This was the beach where we discovered the beautiful fish. We would go in the sea in the morning just before 12 and find schools of tropical fish swimming by us, coming for lunch. We started taking bread to feed them towards the end because we knew when to expect them! Snorkelling here was fantastic and the highlight of our stay, but you can see fish even without a snorkel often enough. The quieter beach is down some steps, whereas the other beach is on the same level as the grounds. We would swim by the cave and go really far out and see the most colourful fish you could imagine. There were plenty of sunbeds, although you have to pay to put the parasols up, which is annoying - I think it was about 3USD but don't hold me to that! The sand was absolutely scorching so I couldn't even run to the sea without burning my feet!

The other beach is nice too and has a watersport equipment desk where you can get snorkelling gear and banana boats etc to borrow, all included in the all inclusive package. This beach was rather overcrowded though so we didn't go there as much as the other one.

There are lots of things to do in the hotel. If you want to relax, there are some hammocks right by the beach, which we spent a lot of time in. You can go on a bike ride some mornings with a man named Mike and he takes you around the local area - you have to be fully kitted out with a bright orange bib and helmet of course, which can be rather smelly, but it was an interesting experience. There's 3 pools there, so you can move around between them, and there's snooker tables and table football. You can also play ping pong and lots of other games, as well as board games if that's your thing - you go to the little desk by the snooker tables and borrow the equipment. You are given towels for the day by giving your pool card to the towel desk and taking the towel back to get your card when you've finished with the towel. There are also a few gift shops to keep you occupied, as well as daily activities, such as volleyball, etc, and bingo - but bingo is ridiculously expensive!

The entertainment is ok, but we didn't really come for that and were often too tired to go to anything at night, as we usually got up early to swim in the sea, and were exhausted at the end of every day!

One thing we did not like about the hotel was that the local people bring their market stalls there occasionally at night, and they will not leave you alone, there is no simple refusal - you are hassled and they will remember your face everytime they see you. All the time people kept putting all kinds of jewellery on me (against my will!) and telling me to come back later with the money, as they trust me! And if you've got long hair, the women doing braiding will persistently offer you their services! One day we went out of the hotel to the Sosua beach down the road and there were markets there, and every single person stopped us and hassled us - we must have been stopped by about 30 different stall-holders - both on our way there and way back! And they try to make you feel very sorry for them so you will buy something - this worked on me and I bought a few things I did not want. But they do have some lovely canvas paintings. The surrounding area is a bit scary and you don't always feel safe. Stay clear of the roads, as they don't stick to any limits!

We went on several trips while we were there - Isle of Saona, Oceanworld (swam with dolphins), monster truck safari, snorkelling trip around Sosua. They were great apart from the latter as we both got very seasick and had to be picked up by another boat!

All in all, we were very happy with our stay at the Casa Marina Reef. It is a good 3 star hotel - not a place for luxury - but a really good hotel for variation and lots to do, and brilliant for snorkelling. We really enjoyed our stay. Reception and waiting staff were always very helpful and fluent in many languages. The all inclusive package was brilliant for us as we had so may soft drinks throughout the day and you can eat as much as you like all day! A lovely hotel, but I wold probably not return here, simply because I like to try new places, and I don't see myself going back to the Dominican for a good few years.