The territory of the hotel is small, but very well-groomed, there are many palm trees, exotic plants, flowers. There is a playground for children. The hotel has one fairly large swimming pool. The food at the hotel is good, you will not be hungry, but the choice of dishes is limited due to the low occupancy of the hotel plus the pandemic. In this regard, the Ala carte restaurant does not work, the snack bar on the beach does not work (only drinks). From the hotel to the ocean there is a promenade with many shops. The beach is quite cozy, a lot of sun loungers, there is enough space for everyone.
As for excursions: the excursion was taken from Anekstura, the manager Alena praised the excursion to Saona Island so much, but our expectations were not justified. We advise you not to take excursions from Alena, but to contact local travel companies. We recommend buying souvenirs and gifts from local operators.
In general, the rest is assessed as good. The hotel justifies its four.
In general, with the prices for holidays in the Dominican Republic, everything is not so simple. Everyone praises February as the best month of the year (respectively, the most expensive), but in fact - it is not hot here at all in February, a paradise for lovers of the so-called "comfortable temperature". Personally, it was even cool for me in the shade by the ocean, I didn’t always want to go into it, the wind near the ocean is strong. But the Caribbean Sea is a delight, I don’t know why everyone recommends going to the Atlantic to Punta Cana, the Caribbean impressed me much more, the water is transparent, like in a pool, and warmer than the ocean. But here to each his own. Tourists with a completely opposite opinion rested with us. In March and April, the price for two was almost $1.000 cheaper, and I think it was much warmer.
And again about the hotel - Cleaning in the rooms is good, the floor is washed often, but one FAT MINUS - PRUSIAN, they are huge....for me - it's tough... Animation - in the evenings sometimes show equilibrists, magician (credit, still in the bar of vacationers interested in magic tricks), sometimes music with a disco. In my opinion, there is no children's animation, they went by themselves, they were not interested. Aqua aerobics, darts, bocha - yes. They give mugs, t-shirts, dolls to the winners. Animation is better, sometimes worse. Average level. Separately, I would like to say about cocktails - this is not Turkey with their poisonous blue-green drinks, which can only poison Colorados, here the cocktails are cool, the fruits in them are real, and just the local alcohol is not bad. I liked tequila, rosé wine, Pina collada, Margarita, Mojito cocktails, and anyone can do it. The non-alcoholic ones are delicious too. Near the hotel "Caribbean street", about 10 shops with souvenirs, and that's it. There is nowhere to play. At all. The territory of the hotel is well-groomed and green. Standard room, nothing special.
Overall a good hotel for a relaxing holiday. But advice - it's better to take a tour to the neighboring 5 * Bavaro, it is much better, even at the entrance to the hall you will feel the difference. (You can use the infrastructure, watch shows, even pour champagne in the evening, just don’t shine your bracelet))) locals practically don’t rest in 5 *, unlike 4, in which they go every weekend. Another point - a dollar is not considered a tip here, less than 5 is not accepted, especially in a bar. Moreover, some bartenders almost demand a tip for a cocktail. Sockets are suitable for our devices, there is a water park. In general, the hotel is not bad, only to poison the Prussians, but if possible, it is better to take Bavaro, he is nearby. In the Dominican Republic, the attractions are the beach, the Caribbean Sea with stars, the Three Eyes Cave, humpback whales in February, and that's about it. Larimar-stone was not impressed.
+ Delicious and varied food.
+ Water park on the territory of the complex (free of charge).
+ Surrounded by tropical palm trees area.
+ Excellent beach with white sand, dotted with palm trees.
+ Large infrastructure of the complex. You can walk around the entire complex.
+ Active daytime and evening animation.
+ 150 m from the promenade and shopping street of Caribeñ a.
We traveled in December 2020 with a boyfriend (our honeymoon). We also read a bunch of reviews and watched a million videos about the RIU hotel chain. We decided to take this particular hotel because it was more affordable than other hotels in this chain. AND DON'T REGRET!
We met with the guys who, it turns out, have been returning to this hotel more than once. True, sometimes there were problems with wifi, it did not connect for a long time.
As soon as we arrived in the Dominican Republic, I was already delighted with everything: the climate, the country, good-natured people around, the ocean!
*Ocean and beach: just the bomb! The hotel is located 5 minutes from the beach (just walk there for a buzz, don't think it's far to walk)!
We practically did not swim in the Pool, and every day from morning until evening we rested on the beach.
It seems to me that we (our RIU hotels) have the most beautiful and well-groomed beach! The beach is cleaned every morning. THE OCEAN IS INCREDIBLE, REALLY!
*Hotel: more or less clean, good staff! We are picky guests
*Food: someone may complain of course, but we liked everything - the food is delicious, and there was always a lot of food! And especially fruits, pancakes, pastries, meat and fish (there was fish every day - 3-4 types each). Ice cream every day for every taste. Everything was in the restaurant
* Territory: large, well-groomed, mega green with a beautiful pool above which there is a good bar with awesome alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks)) + there is a good playground for children in the same place on the territory.
*Settlement: there were no problems with this. At first we were given 1 room with windows on a neighboring hotel (where the water slides are), but at night it was a little noisy as these slides were being cleaned. We asked for another room and were given a nice one - pool view.
* Vouchers: taken from the guide already at the hotel.
BE SURE TO VISIT SAONA - take a ticket there: of course there is beauty, this is the Caribbean Sea, you will be shocked by the beauty! They also advised us to swim with dolphins in the open ocean (by the way, the price is affordable). If the budget remains - FLY BY A HELICOPTER (I will attach a photo, super views! ).
*Animation: cool by the way: the guys from the circus studio also came and magicians and live music =)
Advantages of the hotel:
1 - you can use the territories of all 3 hotels of this RIU chain. (1 of them has a small water park for adults and children) You can come and ride the slides for free.
2 - just a gorgeous beach and a warm clear ocean.
3 - good staff attitude
4 - delicious variety of drinks (alco and non-alcoholic).
5 - the price is very affordable
6 - on the way to the beach there are many shops with food and all sorts of gifts.
Cons: honestly, we were so delighted with the rest that there is nothing bad to say)) Sometimes cleaning may not be all super.
We enjoyed the rest, which is what we advise you. We dream of returning to Punta Cana more than once (perhaps to the same hotel! ).
Essential review:
They flew Azur, damn it...bruises on my knees...the seats are shifted outrageously! 12 o'clock tin...
Check-in - the plane landed at 4.30 local time, go to the hotel at about 1.15. There was an almost full bus to this hotel, but packed envelopes were already waiting at the reception with 2 keys, 2 cards for towels and a login and password for wi-fi, which works great throughout the hotel and the beach.
Room - we were settled in 410 with a view of Riu Bambu, from the balcony in the morning just a gorgeous sunrise! The room is quite lively, tired refrigerator and safe, but working. Cleaned every day, towels changed too! Of the accessories - ordinary soap and shower gel, so take your cosmetics with you. Water was brought without problems 2 bottles of 1.5 liters, 2 bottles of 0.5 liters, 2 bottles of Pepsi of 0.5 liters. There are mosquitoes, take funds.
The food is all delicious!
although not signed) just try a little of everything and come for what you like) Breakfast - I counted 6 types of scrambled eggs! Delicious pancakes, and simply divinely delicious fried bananas in syrup! to pancakes and pancakes nougat, various toppings and nutella! Behind a separate counter of sausages and cheeses and a particularly tasty pate) there are also freshly squeezed juices and fruits: papaya, pineapples, melons, bananas, passion fruit. Lunch - always liquid, fried sea fish, poultry and pork, rice in different versions, mashed potatoes, various side dishes, salads, cuts, fruits. Dinner is beyond praise! every evening white fish, red fish, mussels, squids, paella with seafood, meat of various types 3, on the counter with jamon or basturma salads, avocado with tuna, their signature dish is guacamole! different sauces - all sooo delicious! Tables in a checkerboard pattern. On the street, do not leave food on the table - there are little black thieves)))
The bars are the coolest above the pool!
the cocktail menu is just superb! make very tasty! Tequila comes in awesome! ) on the beach - a little simpler, but then it's not boring on the beach) for those who don't drink coffee and tea there, the last bar on the lobby is open in the evening.
The beach is the ocean ....it is terribly beautiful! it is amazing at any time of the day...Insanely unreal sunrises, don't be lazy and meet at least one (sunrise at 6.47 local time). There are plenty of sunbeds, a very green beach with palm trees, there is enough space for everyone, a light breeze always blows, so take creams - it is very deceptive. The climate is very humid, it is impossible to dry your hair, clothes are the same, therefore, girls, take plenty of swimsuits) places for selfies are simply heavenly, walk along the strip in different directions, the coastline is very cool.
Pool - yes, mostly locals with children there, but, frankly, I don’t understand people who flew 12 hours to then sit in the pool ...they never went there.
The locals are very colorful people and it is interesting to watch them) wonderful children and in general the locals did not bother anywhere and in any way.
Daylight is short, at 18 it is already dark. After dinner, everyone goes to a bar where Spanish music, dancing and alcohol are played)
Regarding complaints about noisy locals: my husband and I spent the whole day so much in the ocean that we couldn’t hear this noise, it cut down literally after a delicious dinner right away) who wants silence - to the Maldives or Zanzibar. The Dominican Republic, in principle, is a continuous movement, here all the locals are always dancing and having fun.
Trips: with Anex we went to the island of Saona, for whom pathos, beautiful photos with stars - go there) along the way we stopped by the city of artists - an interesting place and very beautiful)
from the Dominican Republic. we went to Samana, this is the north of the island, very green and colorful, visited the reserve with flying stones, the cave of the natives, the island of Bacardi (or Caya Levantado) - super!
P. S. Who will travel from the Dominican Republic.
about Samana, you will make a stop for breakfast at a local bar. There is a dog with an injured paw - be human and feed, she needs so little: a little human warmth and a sandwich.
Who wants to visit the shops - install Uber and go! we went to a huge Jumbo supermarket, bought rum home, mangoes, chips (you won’t bring fruit home, transportation is only in luggage and 15 kg of luggage per person, though you can plus for two)
Who wants to rent a car - think about it ...the country has a curfew from 19, and tourists are not allowed into tourist spots because of covid ...only tour operators. Toll roads, gas in gallons, car rental from $30
In general, the rest is simply gorgeous! 11 days flew by quickly, I did not want to leave. Those who are accustomed to seeing the minuses on vacation will always only notice them and will. We had a blast and will be back for sure!
Anex's rep did nothing to help reduce the noise, for example by talking to the manager in person. She offered only to write a complaint about the hotel. By the way, conversations at the reception about writing negative comments and reviews also did not find a response. It's all the same to everyone, write at least a million. Our travel agent wrote a complaint to Anex, no one answered her. I also wrote on the Anex website and no one answered me either.
In the morning you can see a splattered elevator and heaps of garbage from disposable cups near the bar, pool, on the beach. The rooms are tired - somewhere there is a problem with the safe, somewhere with the toilet. The cleaners do not bring water to the rooms, you need to ask at the reception. If they don’t give it right away, maybe a specially trained person for this will bring it. Or maybe they will bring new towels, depending on whether they understand you at the reception. Only a few people speak English normally. By the way, the menu in the bars and in the a la carte restaurant is in Spanish. Google translator to the rescue. There are no name signs in the main restaurant at all. For example, if there is a tomato, then everyone understands what it is, but if there is sauce or juice, then you can only choose by color, guessing what it is made of.
As for the food, everything was ok until the moment they introduced the distribution by the staff. The amount of food and its variation has decreased significantly. For example, a spoonful of chopped cabbage, 3 slices of cucumber and 2 slices of pineapple. To put more, you need to constantly poke a plate, then put another 2-3 slices of cucumber). At the same time, you can take meat, fish, pastries, bread yourself, where the logic is not clear.
The beach from the hotel is small, lay on the sunbeds from the neighboring hotel of the Riu network, no one drove away. The waves are almost always big, sometimes they bring algae. The staff cleans the beach which is a plus. Palm trees instead of umbrellas. It is very beautiful and authentic to make your way through small and medium palm trees to your sunbed - I also consider this a plus).
If you do not speak Spanish and English, the reception will still understand you - there are employees who understand and speak a little Russian. There is no hard language barrier unless you are going to talk about higher mathematics or nanoparticles.
• Number. Despite 4 *, there were cockroaches in the room. We asked several times to get rid of them or move us to another room. Only after the third request was the room sprayed.
The furniture and pictures are shabby.
Cleaning every day, but after it is as dirty as it was before: there were often stains on the “fresh” bed linen (foundation, pen ink, black shoe polish, etc. ), similarly on beach towels; after cleaning, other people's tufts of hair remained on the floor.
We do not know how the process of assigning stars takes place in the Dominican Republic, but this hotel is definitely not 4*. It was about the same dirty in a hotel in Italy, but with 2 *. And it's definitely not a tip - we regularly left them.
Also in the room did not leave bathroom accessories, except for soap. We had ours, we used them.
• Nutrition. Very, very good - the food is very tasty, a huge variety of dishes (Italian, American, Japanese and other cuisines), wines are not diluted (we have seen such reviews about other hotels). But… dirty tablecloths, dirty cups and glasses.
• Beach. Very beautiful beach. Sandy, you can always find free sunbeds. Right on the beach there is a bar where you can have a bite to eat. The hotel is located on the Atlantic Ocean, so the waves are almost always strong. We heard reviews from other tourists that it was not possible to swim. In fact, for an amateur - we swam every day, the waves were not a hindrance. Often there were algae on the beach and in the water, especially in windy weather, but this hardly interfered with swimming. In the ocean you need to be careful - there are corals, it is unpleasant to step on them. Of the beach activities, we tried snorkeling (there is nothing to see, there are no underwater animals) and kayaking (very cool, we recommend).
• Animation. We paid almost no attention to hotel entertainment. Every evening in the hotel bar there was live music, you could dance. Were in the Aquapark: 5 slides for adults + slides and a pool for children. Pretty extreme.
• Internet. There were no problems with the quality of the Internet.
• It is very difficult to get anywhere by public transport, but this is in Punta Cana in general. The bus to the shopping center from the hotel and back runs only 2 times a day. The explanation at the reception of the way towards the shopping center (they were going to go for souvenirs) was understood, but not back. Therefore, we bought part of the souvenirs after the tour, part - in small shops on the way to the beach (but the mark-up there is 4 times higher).
• The laptop adapter is sold in the souvenir shop to the left of the Cohiba Dining Room.