I recently stayed at lifestyle hacienda with five friends, ages ranged from 18 to 44..and we all had the same mutual feeling that our holiday couldve been better.

The grounds were well maintained, although the ocean was a bit dirty some mornings. Wrappers and plastic bags is pretty much what you will see in the water.

The rooms- we all had connecting rooms which was nice but the rooms were cramped and the bathroom was tiny. The beds are pretty hard and uncomfortable...the mattress is only on a piece of wood that then connects to the headboard. And the mini bar only consists of four bottled waters that they don't replace unless you specifically ask them to. The maids have a tendenacy to open your door to the room for cleaning at like 8 or 9 if there is no do not disturb sign on the door, so dont forget to put that out.

The food- where do i begin? the only thing that we ate on a daily basis were french fries or potatoes from the al a carte or blue lagooon. The food at the al a carte was very bland and the meat was dry. Many of the dishes were repeated throughout our 5 night stay, so it began to get really boring, to the point that we ventured out to other restaurants to get lunch and dinner. Breakfast was the only good meal there. Fresh made omelets, french toast, etc. The bars all had a good selection of alcohol and many tasty tropical drinks, which were not watered down.

The staff- we experienced alot of unpleasant waitstaff and bartenders. There are three types of staff at the lifestyle hacienda..nice and friendly..rude and not polite..or touchy feely "wanna get to know you" . Make sure you find a waiter or bartender that you like and enjoy and stick to them, your vacation will be better that way =)

The locals- there are alot of huts on the beach with locals selling different odds and ends..but they will hassel you to buy things or book an excersion. A polite no thank you will do, and dont be afraid to say no..because they will try to take advantage of you. If you do want to buy things in the huts make sure you try to talk the prices down, most things are wayy overpriced. Also, on sundays the locals will crowd the beach and there will be no room on the beach for resort goers because of it.

Excersions - we only did one excersion and it was the catamaran...which we booked through the resort. Overall the catamaran was fun and we got alot of sun! the snorkeling was reallly beautiful as well as all the sights and horizon you will see on the day long catamaran trip. dont forget your dramamine!

Nightlife- the resort is DEAD at night. the shows are a little lame, but some are good. The disco is boring and only has two or three drunk couples dancing together, and you have to BUY your drinks at the disco..although it is an all inclusive resort. we ended up going to ocean world restaurant and casino a few nights and a bar down the beach called Ahora beach house..very friendly and cheap!

You have to pay to borrow towels...so bring your own!

there are alot of fine print details you should be aware of before you book your trip..

overall, it was a great vacation only because of the company around me..but if we had stayed somewhere else im sure it would have been beyond amazing.

After reading awful reviews on this resort, and then going there, I think some people dont know how to lighten up and have a VACATION!!! We stayed at lifestyles april 8-15 and the worest part about the whole trip was the awful, scarey car ride to the resort. I thought NYC traffic was terrible. There are apparently no driving laws in the Domincian!! We arrived a few hours before check-in, but were able to still recieve our room, which was amazing!!!! I had requested an ocean-view + recived one at no extra charge! and what a view we had!!! we were in building one-closest to the beach + pool bar. If you plan on taking afternoon naps this building would be bad for you, because they play music all day, loud. But for myself + my boyfriend (we are 25) it was ideal. We were right in the middle of everything!!!
The drinks were endless, but they will only give you Barcadi if you ask for it, otherwise its Brugal (local) rum. We never had a problem booking dinner reservations, and we even able to book for that day just by asking if there were seats available. The Mexican Rest. was bad news, and gave us upset stomachs. The Chinese was the best i have ever had!!! The Blue Lagoon was good, but the oceanview made it amazing. The Italian rest. was also very good. The buffets were awesome, but keep in mind this is Dominican food. They don't have FDA regualtions they we do. If you want top of the line food pay the extra money to go to a Sandals resort or Breezes. We didn't like the food at first, but by the 3rd day we were eating it all. The breakfast buffet is awesome, with an omlette bar that was great!
Everyone is very accomodating and pleasent. If you speak Spanish than you will obvisouly have an advantage over others, but you cant expect them to learn languages for tourist! We took the Paradise Island tour and LOVED IT!!!! It was amazing, and we got to see alot of the country. Our tour guide - Thomas was awesome too. He answered all of our questions. We also went to OceanWorld. The best aquarium I have ever seen.
The whole week we were there we got hasseled ONCE to be VIP members. I never felt like a 2nd class person. The VIP's were all at our bars/buffets. They had a small section of the beach with beds on it, nothing over the top. They had a VIP beach party Sunday night, which we werent allowed to go to, and that got me mad. Until we snuck in + then we partied it up VIP style!!!
The room was always cleaned, stocked with water/pepsi and towels, and I read some people complaining about the shower. The shower doesnt have any doors so water will get on the floor UNLESS you tilt the showerhead a 1/4 inch to the wall. This will remedy the water on the floor. And again, c'mon people. You are on vacation. let the maid clean up the water on the floor!!!
Overall it was an awesome trip. I got a cheap package through CheapCaribbean.com and would definately book through them again. They made everything easy upon arrival, with our transport ready + waiting.
If you are looking for top of the line, pay the extra money or simply go to another destation. Peurto Plata was beautiful. There are no white sand beaches, but the beach still was nice!! Any questions feel free to ask me because I cant stop talking about my wonderful spring break trip!!!

Stayed here from 05April to 12April08. Weather was perfect with not a drop of rain and sunshine and 35 degrees everyday. The grounds were beautiful and well maintained. The hotel was clean, the rooms basic but very comfortable. The drinks were flowing and spent a lot of time in the pools and soaking up the sunshine. The staff were all very friendly especially the bartenders who are very generous with the rum! The food was ok although I did get tired of the daily buffet but Bellini Italian Restaurant had great pizza and pasta which was nice for a change. Went to Sea World one day and had an encounter with the sea lions - lots of fun and a really nice and well maintained park. Not quite the same as Sea World in Orlando but still a great day spent here.

My only real complaint was the VIP salesmen who attack you when you leave the buffet restaurant. They are very agressive and quite annoying. I finally got across to them that we were not at all interested and they finally left us alone. They were evern at Ocean World where I again had to tell them to "beat it".

Overall, it was a great vacation and made some new friends and lots of great memories!

We stayed at the Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort and Spa from April 6th to the 12th. I was concerned by all the bad reviews I read after I booked our vacation and relieved that everything went so well.

This was our second trip to Puerto Plata (we went to the Blue Bay Getaway last year, which I highly recommend).

More than anything, I hope I can shed some light on the complaints that surfaced the most often in the negative reviews.

The VIP thing - We were approached twice during our stay by salesmen. We said “no gracias” and they smiled and wished us a good day. There is no VIP beach. The whole beach, as in the sand and water, is accessible to everyone. You can swim and lay around in the sand as much as you want in front of the VIP section. The area NEXT TO the beach that is set aside for the VIP members is limited to sun-beds, a bar, and a jacuzzi that are located behind a wall. This is no big deal as the area for “regular” resort patrons is exceptionally nice: there are lots of lounge chairs, palm trees, a beach bar with the friendliest bartender imaginable, and a restaurant that has great service and a view of the ocean and volleyball court.

I really have no idea what other reviewers were griping about. We NEVER felt like second class citizens or that we received inferior service or amenities because we were not VIP. The staff was always smiling, friendly, and helpful. Perhaps those that had negative experiences went to the resort with a chip on their shoulder and the expectation that they should be treated like royalty just because they paid for a vacation.

Our room was in building 5 and was reasonably clean and comfortable. We always had enough towels and the maid replaced the water bottles most days. When she did not, we simply refilled our empty bottles from the water cooler on our floor. No problem.

We had one chilly shower all week and frankly, after being in the hot sun all day it was kinda refreshing and certainly not something to get bent out of shape over. Yes, the bathroom design isn’t great and the floor tended to get wet when we showered, but we put a towel down and the problem was solved.

The balcony was a great place to start and end each day. We could see the ocean through the trees and it was lovely to hear the birds chirping in the morning.

We ate at the buffet every morning and evening. The food isn’t gourmet but there was a lot to choose from and we always had more than enough to eat. We found that the beef and pork tended to be tough but that the chicken was always cooked to perfection. There was always lots of fresh fruit – have a banana, they are out of this world.

We didn’t bother booking any of the a la carte restaurants, but people we met raved about the food. We did go to Bellini’s for pizza one afternoon and thought it was pretty good.

My husband and I tended to eat our lunch at the restaurant near the beach for the convenient location, great view, and refreshing breeze. The waiters were super friendly and the food pretty good – we tried the burgers, fried chicken, bbq pork (kind fatty but tasty) and my husband raved about the fish sandwich. They have a nice homemade soup too.

My only complaint is that there was hardly any shade around the pools. There were about 5 or 6 palapas between the various pool areas which were snapped up pretty quick. There really should be some umbrellas in these areas for people who don’t want to bask in the sun for hours. We tended to go to the pools for a swim and a drink (or two) and then headed back to the beach to enjoy the shade under a palm tree. The view from the pools is fantastic – you can see palm trees and the ocean.

The beach is not very long or wide, but there is still plenty of sand and refreshing surf. If you want to snorkel I recommend going to Sousa. I paid $20 to go as a passenger on the boat while my husband and brother-in-law went scuba diving. The boat anchored near some corral reefs and I spent a good hour being amazed by the beautiful fish. Tip: the fish love banana so bring a couple in the water with you and they will swarm all over you to eat it!!

Our only other excursion away from the resort was horseback riding. We went for 2.5 hours in the morning and found that to be just long enough with the sun and heat. The horses were in reasonably good condition (there was only one that looked way too thin). The land is rugged and beautiful with lots of hills, cactus, and palm trees. We rode out to a small farm where we stopped and had a drink. The people are very poor and I’m sure selling water, pop, and beer to tourists helps them out.

If you are adventurous, I recommend walking down the beach to the right and going up the set of stairs. You will find an undeveloped area with tall palm trees, horses tied up to graze, and along the edge some really nice beach areas. Keep in mind it is not resort property and therefore there is lots of garbage washed up on the shore (mostly plastic bottles). It’s a nice quiet area and the ocean is much calmer here (so perhaps bring a snorkel and mask with you).

There are some nice tidal pools to explore if you head down the beach to your left (towards the Ocean World sign) and you will also encounter more locals out this way.

Overall, the resort is a really nice place to spend a week if you are looking to relax and know that your meals etc... are taken care of. It is sometimes a little rough around the edges, but not to the point where it will interfere with your enjoyment or experience.

Based on the negative reviews, here are some things to keep in mind before booking.

1: this isn’t the Hilton in Major City North America; if you want the same conditions, service, food, English tv shows, and amenities as home, then stay home and don’t vacation in a poor, developing, Spanish speaking country.

2: the beach and the ocean are natural phenomenon, and therefore it’s not the resort’s fault that the sand isn’t white and there are waves. In addition, the resort is on the Atlantic side of the island, so don’t expect the same quality of beach as the Caribbean side.

3: perceived rudeness is more than likely due to language barriers and easily overcome with a “gracias” or “por favor” once in awhile. It’s unreasonable to expect all the staff to speak fluent English (or German, French, or Dutch for that matter).

If you have any questions or concerns about the resort or want to see more pictures don’t hesitate to ask.