Before stopping at this hotel I read the reviews on this website and was terrified by some of them!
My boyfriend and I stopped from July 1st - 14th. We paid approximately £650 for our holiday and this was great value for money. This was low season and we basically had the hotel and beach to ourselves for two weeks (apart from weekends). The food was excellent and the other people we met at the hotel loved the food too. The rooms aren't great, ours was damp but we complained and it was sorted out. After reading the review about credit card fraud I would advise that you pay for a safe. We did this and have checked our accounts and have no problems yet.
As for the Dominican people they are very respectful and I never saw any going to the toilet or having sex in the pool! I think it all depends on your state of mind, they usually come from Santo Domingo and are on holiday too. They just want to have a good time and I don't think you should begrudge them this. In fact, my boyfriend and me were playing pool one night and a Dominican family came along. They actually took us out, got us drunk and tried to teach us how to do the bachata, we had a great time!
The highlights of the holiday was walking along Playa Dorado (if you're facing the see walk towards your right - the sea is much calmer) and finding a reef and snorkeling over it, there were beautiful fish everywhere. The lowlights were getting a bad stomach (not sure if it was the malaria tablets - but take some imodium) and a lot of people trying to rip us off (on the beaches and in the shops they say they have no change so take small notes). There also was an incident where a little girl had her Nintendo DS stolen and the desk staff did not seem bothered at all - because of this I'm not sure whether I would recommend you bring expensive items out with you.
You need to go on this holiday with a respectful and positive outlook - try to learn even a bit of Spanish and you will get much further with the people! We did meet a lot of British people in this hotel who did nothing but moan! I didn't sit on a plane for 8 hours to hear people complain!
My only other tip is book trips at the Plaza - they are much cheaper than anywhere else - some reps want 100 dollars for a trip to Paradise island, when it is about 40 dollars at the Plaza. (By the way it takes nearly 3 hours on a bus to Paradise)


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