This was my second time at the Celuisma Playa Dorada. We were here March 11-18, 2008 and about the same time last year. We booked the same resort because the price was right, we had a good time last year and knew what we were getting. I was a little disappointed this year. They have cut back on the number of staff so the service is a little slower. The beach is awesome! They have begun to renovate some of the rooms/buildings and so some are still a bit shabby and there are occassional issues with hot water and phones. But the beach is amazing, and who goes to the caribbean to be holed up in their room the whole time? This is a third-world, tropical country. There are bound to be issues.

The food was plain but usually something for everyone. We ate out at the Pasta and Mexican a la cartes and all was good. The highlight was dinner show on the beach on the Monday night. No one in my group was sick from eating the food.

We booked our excursions on the beach. You can negotiate better deals than with the excursions through the hotels. If you're going to do Paradise Island, do it through the tour company with the hotel and get the trip with the glass bottom boat ride. Don't do the dune buggies, they are in horrible shape and have issues with brakes and steering and no helmets and they take you down the crazy Dominican roads. Last year we booked with Jones Safari for our excursions, this year with Mekur Tours. Both were good but we preferred Jones Safari. Enjoy your trip and don't forget to bring your thermal coffee mug for your cervesas and pina coladas...keeps them cooler longer on the beach.

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

DO NOT STAY HERE under any circumstances

Bad food
Sickness
Terrible rooms
Terrible service

Nothing good to say except the beach....do yourself a favor and immediately upgrade to another HOTEL

Firstly, let us tell you this is the first day we have been off the couch or out of bed in one week, since our return March 12th as we have been on antibiotics, violently ill from the garbage food we had to eat for the week. If it wasn't for the french fries on the beach and the fruit in the morning, we would have starved.
Secondly, let us tell you something. If you book your trip through an online website, you're on your own. This online travel agency we're told, only has one airplane that is constantly delayed, sometimes up to 5 hours or more, when all other airlines are on schedule. We arrived at the Ottawa airport 3 hours prior to departure only to learn it was delayed another 5 hours, try waiting in the airport 8 hours, for reasons no other airline was delayed. We were supposed to have a brief stop to drop off some passengers in Samana that lasted 1.5 hours, because we couldn't get cleared for take off. We finally arrived in time for supper at our resort. We were exhausted and our rooms were not functional, no lights, toilet didn't work and not in the location we were told we'd have. When we checked in, we went back to complain about the non functional appliances in our room and suddenly, no one seemed to understand english. Finally, the manager said he might upgrade our room the next day, for a price. Well, we already paid for the upgrade. Paid for oceanview and if you got down on your knees and peered through the trees from the balcony, you might have seen some blue water. This also cost us $100 extra for the week. Do not get talked into this.
The only good thing about this resort is the beach which has nothing to do with this resort. The ocean is very clean and warm, as is the beach and sand. Get to the beach early and reserve a lounge chair with your towel, not your sandals, because your sandals seem to grow feet and walk away. Mine did, twice!
There is a grill/bar down on the beach, the food is open to the air and anything flying in it. The hamburgers sit cooked in a tray for heavens knows how long. We're not sure how old the food is, but it tastes like dog food. We believe this is what started our violent illness. The buffet in the evening offers limited choices and nothing, absolutely nothing looks remotely appetizing or tastes appetizing. If you decide to stay there, bring your own butter, gravol and pepto bismol, because you will need all of the above. Everything is made with goats milk. The a la Carte restaurants are a joke and we were quite ill after being served in the Caribbean Restaurant, we just walked out, it could have been dog meat, we're not sure.
We are not picky people, this may sound extreme, but we have travelled before and many resorts 3.5 star and no where near this bad. Do not go on any excursions from the resort as this is a complete waste of money. You should know, you're travelling to a 3rd world country, what more can we say. Do you really to go see it too? There is a very strong sewage smell that tends to linger in the evenings, just when you would like to sleep with your window open, which has no screen. The air conditioning is so loud when it works, it sounds like your jet taking off. This is why we turned it off and opened the window. Unfortunately, the mosquitos come out at night too. The booze, if you like to have a drink, is very poor. Hope you like draft beer, no bottled beer, and the alcohol must be watered down. It is their own label. The rooms are very musty and damp. Bring a plug in air freshener, it might help you. We did.
Upon checkout, we had to leave our rooms by noon hour. Our plane, which was supposed to take off at midnight, was delayed another 5 hours. We were travelling with two older gentlemen over 75, we asked if we could have an extended checkout or have another room so they could rest, due to the delay. Suddenly, no one speaks english again and they suggest there are no rooms available. We tracked down our rep from the travel agency who put his arms in the air and said, there is nothing I can do about it. We were exhausted by midnight, when they finally took us to the airport where we all layed down on some seats and went to sleep. Even arriving at the Ottawa airport left us sitting on the tarmac for almost a half hour because another plane was in our hanger.
All in all, there are much better choices out there. Don't get fooled by the price, you get what you pay for.
We felt the handling of the food made our stay unbearable. We can now understand why we are so ill. Please consider other resorts.