My wife & I stayed at the Celuisma Tropical Playa Dorada from March 1-15, 2008 in the Dominican Republic. My wife & I are in our early 40s and thoroughly enjoyed the resort and its amenities. We booked this trip back in July 2007 and read all the reviews we could find and some people just seem to complain for nothing. This is our fourth trip to the Caribbean. We’ve been to Cuba and stayed in a 2.5 and 3.5 star as well as a 4 star on Marguerita Island (Venezuela). The Celuisma is a 3.5 star and we think that it is better than the 3.5 star that we stayed at in Cuba and close to the 4 star on Marguerita Island (LTI Costa Caribe).

ROOM
We stayed in bloc 16, room 1646 (third floor) which was a one bedroom apartment with a small fridge, microwave & coffee maker as well as a big balcony. The bed, couch & chairs were very comfortable. We were surprised to see carpeting in the apartment since they don’t use vacuum cleaners but the maids did a great job to keep the place really clean. Although the bathroom needs to be redone (cracked tiles), the shower, toilet & sink worked perfectly and we had hot water all the time. Also, our block was directly on the beach, right in front of the beach restaurant & bar as well as the beach activity/entertainment center. They also have rooms with 2 beds and a balcony as well as economical rooms that only have 1 bed & no balcony or fridge as well as a one bedroom apartment but the bedroom is on the 2nd floor.

BEACH
We stayed on the beach the whole time we were there and you could walk several kilometers in either direction. The beach area is kept quite clean and at 6am there are employees already raking the fallen leaves & garbage that the guests left behind. If guests would take the time to pick up there own garbage (plastic cups, straws & cigarette butts) there would probably be less complaints. Even during the day, there are employees who pick up the garbage. There is always a strong breeze on the beach which helps keep you cool. They only have 5 shade huts but there are plenty of trees all along the beach that give shade through out the day. There seemed to be enough lounge chairs for everyone and on the last day we saw employees replacing the netting on loungers that badly needed them. They also have regular daily activities such as spanish lessons, morning stretching exercises, dancing lessons, volleyball etc.

POOL AREA
We didn’t use the pool but it was vacuumed every morning while we were having breakfast.

FOOD
They have 5 gallon bottles of water on water coolers in every building with specially filtered water. This filtered water is also available at the beach bar & buffet. All ice, hot water for tea, coffee, soup is made with this water and vegetables are also washed with this water. We also brushed our teeth with this water and we were NOT SICK at any time during our trip. Don’t forget that coconut water & pina colodas are natural laxatives so don’t blame the water if you get the runs the next day after drinking a dozen pina coladas the day before.

We ate lunch almost everyday at the beach bar/restaurant were they serve hamburgers, jumbo hot dogs, french fries, chicken, fish & rice (ketchup, mustard & mayo too). They also had plenty of lettuce, tomatoes & onions for the burgers but you could also make a salad since they had a home made dressing. They started serving lunch at noon and about 30-60 minutes later they had fresh home made pizza. Everything was delicious.

We ate breakfast and supper at the buffet restaurant. The buffet restaurant is covered but open aired which lets the breeze flow through. Nettings are installed all the way around the restaurant except for the entrance and the occasional bird flew through which some people really dislike. So if this bothers you, go to Cuba where the restaurants are closed in and air conditioned. They always had a wide variety of fresh fruits, cheese, cold cuts, cereal & cold milk, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, boiled eggs, pancakes, french toast and they also cooked special omelets and eggs any way you want them as you waited. They also served some types of things that you wouldn’t normally eat at home such as fried bananas, battered pineapple slices etc.

For supper, they had a salad bar, cold cuts, cheeses, soup, meat (chicken, beef or pork and fish), pasta and an assorted of cooked vegetables and a fresh assortment of desserts. The trays were continually replaced with fresh ones. For the complainers of 'mystery meats', each tray is clearly identified with iits content in 4 different languages. They had a different theme every night: Italian, Mexican, French, Pirate, Dominican. On Mondays, it was Caribbean night where everyone ate directly on the beach and they had cooked 4 pigs, and served T-bone steaks, chicken, pasta, paella, salads, desserts etc.. On Pirate night the first week they had lobsters cooked on the grill while they had shrimp on the second week. There was also a BBQ night were they served T-Bone steaks and ribs.

They have 3 a la carte restaurants (Italian, Mexican & the Grill). We ate at the Italian restaurant once and ate very well. We didn’t go to the Mexican restaurant since Mexican night at the buffet gave us everything we wanted.

Overall, we ate very well. You have to remember that you are in a different country and the food doesn’t necessarily taste like home cooking because of the provenance of the meats, cooking styles & spices. Tasting different cooking is all part of traveling. If you expect home cooking, stay at home.

ACTIVITIES/ENTERTAINMENT
Although we didn’t see many shows, they always had entertainment near the pool or directly on the beach every night. They also had activities during the day in addition to beach volleyball. We were there for the beach, ocean & sun and only participated in a few activities. There is a fully equipped & functional gym, foosball, ping pong table & pool table near the pool. On the beach, they had a basketball court, foosball & a ping pong table. There was a mini putt for kids near the lobby but not too many putters. There are also 2 golf courses 5 minutes walk from the resort. They also have rides on a big banana towed by a boat, wind surfing, cayaks etc.

SHOPPING
There is a big plaza with a descent restaurant/bar called Hemingways were many Canadians went to see hockey games. There are many stores that sell jewellery, souvenirs, clothes, paintings etc. The plaza is about a 3 minute walk from the resort. There is also the ORANGE FLEA MARKET a short walk down the beach but beware, you must negotiate hard or they will rip you off. The rule of thumb is usually 50% or better so if they ask 50$ you should be able to get it for 25$ or even better depending on your negotiating skills. They also have employees in blue numbered shirts that walked around on the beach all day selling similar objects such as jewellery, stone carvings, wind chimes, hair braiding, manicures & pedicures etc. We found that the prices at the plaza were reasonable and you really didn’t have to negotiate to get a better deal. (i.e. 3 necklaces at the plaza cost 10$ but they were at least 20$ to 30$ at the beach or flea market).

TOURS
Travel agents in the hotel offered all types of excursions but we got better deals from FAN TOURS located in the plaza. (i.e. half day tour of Puerto Plata cost 24$ US at the plaza but the travel agents at the hotel sold them for $30 – 1 day tour on a catamaran cost $50 US at the plaza but cost $65 at the hotel). We did the Puerto Plata tour and visited the Brugal rum factory, the Amber Museum (actually a jewellery store specializing in the sale of amber & larimar), a cigar factory, the San Philipe Fort and a short tour of the city. We also saw their oldest cathedral which is under renovation. It’s worth the half day.

They also have scuba diving, catamaran tours (one VIP for approx. 15 people where you can snorkel or the party catamaran that has slides and holds approx. 100 people which is great for kids), deep sea fishing, horse back safaris, outback safaris, jeep safaris, river rafting, ocean world, day trips to Santo Domingo & Haiti.

LANGUAGE(GUESTS)
We had read a review were someone complained that there were many French Canadians at the resort and there were – SO WHAT. We both speak english, french and bit of spanish and have been to resorts where 70% of the guests only spoke German or Italian while the minority were English or French. SO WHAT.

MISC
Our air conditioner stopped working 3 times during our 2 week stay. We noticed it at 5pm after coming back from the beach, told the front desk and it was fixed by 9pm. No problems at all.

There are sales people on the resort trying to sell VIP which can be pesky as well as sales people outside the resort trying to entice you with t-shirts & bottles of rum to come and see their resorts.

They have a small pharmacy on the resort and the doctor’s office is next door.

Since we traveled during the Quebec & Ontario school March breaks, there were many children as well as babies.

We hope that you enjoy your trip as much as we did.

Paul & Sylvie