My husband and I spent 1 week at Bluebay Villas 5/7-5/14, 2008. We enjoyed our time there very much. If you are looking for luxury and grandiose, I suggest you choose another place. This was a budget vacation for us – in December we are going to Couples Swept Away, so I booked through Orbitz when I realized I needed a little break in May.

The service at the hotel is outstanding – the best I’ve experienced in all Caribbean all inclusives. The staff is attentive, smiley and peasant. They make a point of calling you by your last name, not by a room number. The cleaning staff is great; the service at the buffet restaurant was excellent! The bar service at the beach is OK. The a la carte restaurants are good – the food was delicious, the service at the oriental restaurant was a little slow, even for Caribbean but both, the seafood and the grill were really good. The house wine is not dry. I am usually a red wine drinker, and I switch to white – the red one was on a sweet side I didn’t care for it. Both choices have high residual sugar content, if you know what I mean…The manager’s party was a very nice touch – they were serving Mimosas during the introductions of the staff, and then had a live band by the bar and entertainment area, with the tables both inside and outside the buffet restaurant, and a raw oyster bar! The food at the buffet was good – the usual for all inclusive but always something to choose from. They offered piglets and ducks, paella and stewed goat – for those who like to be a little extravagant with their food choices (like me), and a bunch of regular choices including a low fat menu. I would suggest a better selection of salad veggies but the fruit was excellent – ripe and just right, with the great selection. I cared for Bluebay food actually much more than at the Iberostar La Romana, and the service can’t even compare!

There is always somebody at the beach, to drag a beach chair for you, under the palapa you chose. The “towel game” is on all the time – by 7:30 the 1st and the 2nd row of palapas are taken. We weren’t crazy about the beach area - too dirty for us, and doesn’t get cleaned regularly – or not enough, there were cups and straws on the beach, especially after the manager’s party. The other resorts to the left of the hotel have nicer areas in front of them, and the water is clearer, too. Bluebay’s water is kind of murky – typical for Puerto Plata, so if you want water like you see in Negril – go to Negril.

The rooms: we had to change the room twice. I requested a quiet room on the higher floor (we booked standard plus which guarantees you a balcony or a terrace), by e-mailing the guest services. When we went to the room, it was small, on the top floor, and the tiny balcony was facing the garden, the perimeter fence, and the construction of some small building. We had to ask for another room, and they immediately gave us another room, in a quite area but on the first floor. In some rooms you have to leave the building, to get to you terrace (it is not walk-out), we got one of those. There was a big gap between the floor and the bottom edge of the door – we could hear everyone going up and down the stairs. Next day they found the room we liked – on the second floor and quiet but no balcony. We said yes because we like the location, the room was much larger than the first two and we had two arm chairs and a magazine table (other rooms didn’t have them). Beware – you can get a standard plus which is much smaller than a standard – not all rooms in the same category are the same. Our drain was semi-plugged for two days – not too bad – the water didn’t run out of the walk-in shower, but the AC worked great, and there was always a good water pressure, except for out last day – at 11 AM when we came from the beach, to prepare for departure, there was no hot water. This might have been just a short incident, we didn’t ask because we were leaving. The turn down service is a nice touch.

There was a minor incident with the room card – we accidentally left one in AC, before we went to the beach for 1 hour. When we came back, the key was gone. I was very uncomfortable because the window didn’t have a lock on it, and I though somebody got in our room and took the key. The front desk explained to us that the personnel have been instructed to take the key out if they are in your room, and the AC is on – conservation of energy, etc. He couldn’t tell us who exactly was in our room, and he didn’t know what happened to a key (we new our room wasn’t cleaned yet and it wasn’t a plumber – our shower drain wasn’t fixed). He keyed the second card for us, though…Nobody took anything from room. I understand the environmental concerns but I am still puzzled by why the key disappeared from out room – whoever took it, could have just left it on a table.

Anyway, we had a very good time – it was a great deal for the money, and a very pleasant experience overall.

We are just back from our stay at Bluebay and we enjoyed a nice relaxing holiday.

We asked them to change our room as we were allocated a room close to the main pool which was fine until we realised it was also right next to the area that the band played at. The change was no problem and we ended up at block 7 near the SPA and Gym - perfect.

All the staff were excellent and could not do enough for us. We spent a lot of time on the beach but we had to be smart in the mornings to get our beds placed under the limited number of thatched beach parasoles.

Only disappointment was in the dubious activities of the "Yellow Canaries" who we discovered were trying to talk us into visiting a small building located at the beach bridge where other high pressure sales persons take over by trying to sell a type of timeshare deal for Bluebay Vacation properties around the world. Very unethical especially since we did not need this type of sales pressure during our holiday.

Another thing to watch out for is the jackdaws that fly into the open air dining rooms and loved to peck at anything they fancied on left over plates or from the uncovered salad bar and bread baskets etc.

My daughter and I stayed at this resort May 14-18 had a wonderful time. We were lucky our flight got us into Puerto Plata almost 1 hr ahead of schedule, at resort they had cold drink waiting for us, along with cold compress to use. I had requested not to be on the first floor, when we were given our room key it was the first floor, this was taken care of immediately when I spoke to front desk. We had no complaints about the resort, plenty of food to choose from, the staff was very attentive to us. The only thing we didnt care for was you had to leave the resort to shop, although was in walking distance.
Beach was great, we were the only ones in the water, the staff made sure that people from other resorts did not hang around our area, there were "merchants" on the beach but a firm no thank you was all you needed to say.
We did venture out to OceanWorld on day, what a fantastic outing that was. We really enjoyed it, but was a long day. (8:30am-5Pm)
have to do the Sea Lion Encounter, we booked thru Apple vacations which is the company we booked our vacation, they did everything for us.

The short version:

Family of 4, went between May 6 - 16, loved the food, the resort, the gorgeous rooms, the staff, and especially the animation team. Would go back without a doubt.


The more detailed version:

My family (parents both in their late forties along with two girls of 23 and 18 years) went to this resort between May 6 - May 16, 2008.
First of all, I would like to say that I was very skeptical coming to this resort, seeing as I normally like to go to 5-star resorts I know well, and my usual country of preference was Mexico.
Little did I know that Blue Bay Villas Doradas received their fifth star about a month ago. Not that it is a surprise, now that I have been there. The thing is, with Blue Bay Villas WE PAID four-star prices for blue ribbon treatment.
THE FOOD was simply amazing. The buffet offered plenty of variety at any meal of the day that was very very delicious (think high quality restaurant food) with healthy choices available. The desserts were simply to die for - it was difficult to choose my tip 5 of the day. The a la carte restaurants were great, the Chinese a little over air-conditioned and it took about 15 minutes to order, but the food was definitely worth the wait (Lemon chicken, fried ice-cream, espresso.... wow!). The bars always had what you wanted, plus great bartenders. Make sure to ask for the Blue Bay drink!
THE BEACH was clean, with normally clear water (if you bring bread you might even get to feed some fish!) and a safe atmosphere.
THE POOLS very mostly clean (the day after the storm it was a little murky). The bar pool has most of the people in it. The main pool has volleyball and other aquatic sports going on quite often, so join in the fun! The spa pool is a non-smoking, very quiet, and relaxed environment - shhhh. :)
THE ROOMS looked stunning. We got a standard double room - two queen sized beds, two beautiful arm chairs, a large window facing the spa pool and one smaller one facing the side, a large closet which was great for two people. Just remember that your minibar is only stocked free for the FIRST NIGHT, afterwards you need to request for it to be restocked for extra charge. The only complaint we had about the room was that the toiled plugged up at times, but it was fixed very quickly for us. Flowers in the sink and toilet every day by the cleaning staff. WOW! Best five-star room I have ever been in! (We had room 5212)
THE ENTERTAINMENT. This is a very big part of what made my stay at this resort the best time I have ever had on vacation. There are always activities put on by the animacion team which are sure to please. Anything from the spanish lessons to the yoga classes to the water aerobics (what a workout!) to the bike tour to water OR beach volleyball to dance or cooking classes... In addition, every night there was a different show beginning at 9:30PM, which were often a treat. After the show things such as the beach party, the in-hotel disco, or the disco tour also happened and were EXTREMELY FUN! They are definitely worth missing sleep over! Super Tino, The Cat, Machelo, James Bond, Lorenzo, DJ Rock, Tony Montana Anaconda, Mosquito and the rest made these 10 short days simply wonderful, and I would go back just to spend time with them again!!!
THE STAFF is very friendly, kind, understanding, hard-working, and fun. They always have merengue in their step, even when they are at their busiest! They try to do the best they can with the English and that is all anybody can ask of them.

All in all this resort most definitely EXCEEDED all of my expectations and turned me completely around, seeing as I was very doubtful about liking it.


If you are planning on going on any sort of tours outside the hotel (eg Jeep Safari), bring your waterproof shoes with hard soles. Bring water bottles and a camera with many shots to take! Paradise Island was also a great experience, if you don't mind the 2 hour (comfy) bus ride.

Meeting the Managers and workers of Blue Bay was also wonderful, since we got to see who made our stay what it was. The General Manager Oscar is a rare gem when it comes to hotel managers. He is the kind of person who is kind to his guests but also, more importantly, his workers. Oscar give me a call! I am always willing to come work for your wonderful resort! :)



Please feel free to contact me for more information on the resort or the Jeep Safari/Paradise Island tours. I hope this helped!