just a quick review until i get more time, we stoped at hvgb 12 may til 26 may there was a party of 11 as we were to get married out there. after reading the reveiws we did not know what to expect when we got out there, we booked 4 rooms one of the rooms the air con did not work but the hotel had 4 guys there in minutes and had it fixed, that as the only snag we had on the whole holiday the only thing that spoiled the holiday was the english or some of them (no i am not canadian iam english) some of them were rude, insulting and went on like a bunch of total idiots at times we were ashamed to call ourselves british. the firstchoice staff and the hotel staff were amazing.the dominican staff are so nice and will do anything to help you as long as you treat them with a bit of respect its not to much to ask is it. all in all the holiday was fantastic the wedding was out of this world and i would recomend holiday village to any one

We stayed here Week of May 18th. The resort is advertised as a family friendly/child friendly resort. And generally it is... BUT unfortunately they allow smoking pretty much everywhere on the resort including the restaurants. So if you or your child has any breathing difficulties, this is NOT the place to go, because you can be sitting in any of the restaurants and odds are that someone next to you would be puffing away. As previous reviewers have said, accommodations are not the greatest; we also had little ants marching around in our room. Otherwise staff is great, and if you don't have a problem with the smoking bit and you have a child, a good place to go.

We atayed here from Apr.20th-27th/08 & thought it was OK. Had a fabulous time but the accomadations were not the greatest. We had little ants crawling on the walls, flloor. etc. The reason for this was because Room 16-2's patio door does not shut all the way!!!! Bring extra facecloths too because they are hard to come by. The lighting in the room was pitiful too,
We were not impressed that we paid to stay here & had to argue with the lady who book reservations for the a la cartes. Everyone should have a chance to try the restaurants. We went to the Italian restaurant & it was great, 6 empty tables though & they told when we booked that it was full that night. Go figure!!
The vendors attack you at the Orange Market by the way, so if you do not want stress, stay away from this place.
We went to Paradise Island on an excursion!!! DO NOT GO!!!! You spend in total 5hrs on a bus on roads beyond belief!! Ridiculous!! They took us to lunch at a disgusting restaurant with dogs walking around tables. Flies buzzing around the food didn't help much either!!! GROSS!!!!!
The entertainment here was beynd terrible. I f you were a kid you might like it, but other than that it was the pitts!!

First of all, let me start by saying that you really do get a good bang for your buck here! When we arrived, we took a chance by upgrading upon arrival to the VIP section (adults only) . This was a risky move as they coud have been sold out but weren't and for only 110.00 US total, we upgraded for the whole week. If you are two adults who are not travelling with children, I would highly recommend this. There is a lovely adults only pool with a swim up bar and beautiful waterfall and a VIP clubhouse with special amenities such as a special breakfast (served in the clubhouse or on the patio), t.v., bathrooms, snacks, internet, unlimited towels, bottled water, bottled pop. The rooms were a little larger and quite nice with a stocked mini fridge. Much the same as the regular rooms but were closer to the beach. I found the whole VIP section very relaxing and serene. You could also get a massage poolside and slide off to your lounge chair if you wished. There was a special VIP section at the beach reserved especially for you as well.

The al la carte restaurants were pretty good. We found the Lotus
which is the Japanese restaurant the best. There were four al la cartes which you are allowed once a week. The buffet was o.k. There was always something you could eat. I have travelled to the Dominican 8 times and spent most of my time in Punta Cana at a 4 or 5 star so have seen better food but never was hungry or had any tummy problems. You could get snacks (sandwiches & fruit plates) at the VIP club house during the day.

This resort was the old Jack Tar which has been refurbished so the resort was well laid out and had a few shops and variety store etc. The rest of the resort was extremely family orientated. If you are a family who would like to take kids on vacation, this is the resort for you. They had a terrific animation staff who were mainly british who kept the kids busy. There was a fantastick water slide & wave pool with another pool called the activity pool that was fairly lively all day. Unfortunately, if you did not upgrade you could not use any of the VIP amenities, including the pool so you are stuck at the noisier parts of the resort.

The drinks were all local alcohol and you could buy premium liquor for about $5.00/drink. One nice thing was that only Signature Vacations represent/own this property and there was always a rep on duty if you needed to ask or book any excursions.

The beach was a little rough at this hotel, but if you walked down around the point to the Barcelo you could find calm waters as they had a breakwater structure. The sand is not as fine as Punta Cana and not white, but we already knew what to expect.

If you are looking for an inexpensive serene clean safe stay I would highly recommend this resort. Next time I would prebook the VIP section now that I know how much nicer it is. You may have to pay a little more, but it is more than worth it.