Stayed here in March. I could go on forever and bore you entirely but here are a few brief guidelines.

Service: Don't expect any unless you are able to hand out huge tips - and even then it's not guaranteed.

Food: Expect the worst and you will receive it. Salads are rehashed over and over. If you know the taste of old oil you will know where I am coming from. They have a hamburger chef for lunch who carries on cooking even though there are already 20 hamburgers ready.

Rooms: Yes they do smell and you will get a room overlooking the construction site.

Haughty staff: Lots of them especially in the "Gourmet restaurant". Just one example, my husband went to apologise that we may be late for our booking 20.30 the "hostess" pulled a stop watch out pushed it under his nose and said "it is now 20.32 and if you are not here by 20.40 your table will be cancelled. YOU HAVE 8 MINUTES" Enough said but having made the 20.40 deadline we noticed there were at least 4 tables for two free for the entire evening so there was absolutely no need for this attitude.

Pool: Nice pool but you do need to put your towels out. They closed the beach for two days during our stay and instead of bringing the beach stools to the pool they brought in two pool attendants who, (having seen the colour of your money ,at least 5 dollars per stool) would grudgingly assist!

Casino: If you like to gamble then you'll go there anyway - but be prepared for the most hostile croupiers you have ever encountered. Order a drink on arrival - it may arrive within the length of your stay. Alternatively go to the bar which is SLIGHTLY quicker. Do not tip. You will receive neither thanks nor recognition.

Summary:

This was a last minute booking and I will not make the same mistake again. My thoughts were, the carribean is the carribean, but nothing could be further from the truth. We have travelled extensively in this area (Curacao,Aruba, Antigua, Barbados, St. Thomas, St. John's, Barbados) and have never encountered such hostility.

If you are unfortunate enough to have already booked here are my suggestions:
Book a table at the seafood restaurant and order the shrimp starter.
Then order the Chataubriand from the steak restaurant (they will bring it to your table and you will not have to move). This is the best evening out we had in our stay.

If you have a complaint go straight to the Managers Desk at Reception - talking to the waiting staff will only result in name calling!

As I said in the heading if you havn't already booked - don't
and if you have lower your expectations!

I will try to make this review as short as possible, however I do want to get every amazing detail about our trip included in this review. Me, my boyfriend and another couple traveled to the Majestic May 3 to May 10th. We booked through TNTVacations and I can only say amazing things about that website too. Everything you need to know is on the site and everything that needs to be done to book the trip is taken care of all at once.

We arrived at the Majestic around 4pm on Saturday afternoon and were greated with the cold towel. We had a shuttle that was included from booking our trip to the resort. It only had 1 other stop so it wasn't as bad as from other reviews I read. Checking in was not a problem what-so-ever. I had e-mailed Richard in advanced and requested that us and the couple we traveled with were right next to each other and our request was granted. We stayed in room 3134 and it was absolutely amazing.

We didn't do any excursions. We enjoyed how our days were set up though. We did the beach all morning until we wanted to do lunch around 1ish and then enjoyed the rest of the day in the pool (which the pool is aboslutely amazing and you will never want to get out). The excursions seemed interesting, however we didn't want to be commited to something for the whole day off the resort. I would also recommend getting up early a few days and go for walks on the beach. It's aboslutely beautiful in the morning and it's such a nice walk!

I know a lot of the reviews before we left complained about the food so we were a little nervous. I can honestly say, being the picky eater that I am, I never had a problem finding something. We tried every place for dinner excecpt the seafood (us girls don't like seafood) and we enjoyed everything. I personally enjoyed Le Gourmet and the Steakhouse the best! Also, breakfast everyday was amazing!

The last topic I wanted to touch upon was the serice. I want to thank Richard again for all of his help before we arrived. I also want to give a huge THANKS to Denny. Denny works on the beach and made sure we were given plenty of drinks everyday. He is an amazing asset to the resort.

If anyone has any questions definitely let me know. I'm already looking forward to visiting the Majestic sometime in the future :)

Diana

We arrived at the Majestic Colonial on April 13 to 20th 2008 and just wanted to tell anyone who is booking this hotel that you will have the time of your life if you just relax and don`t listen to all the nay sayers who have been picking apart the resort. We traveled with another couple Troy & Cathy who we have been going to different resorts in the carribben for the last 13 years so we have something to compare it to.First off the best thing about the hotel is the staff , who never let a day go by without making sure you are having the best time posible weather it is getting you up off your butt to do the MANY activites or just serving you a nice cold drink on a hot sunny day.A big shout out to Maciel,Ivelisse,Tony,Ray and Francisco who made our trip one of the best we ever had.We felt like we made friends in the short time we were there with all of them.The resort tended to our every need including coming back to our room one evening and finding rose petels from the door to our bed,wine on ice and a bubble bath poured which was a very nice touch.The hotel itself is a great size , it seams like you are just 5 minutes from everything. But what really made our stay great was the food ,from the great breakfast in the morning to the A`la carts in the evening that you didn`t have to book aptm's for. It was awsome not being on someone elses time every night.We loved the food in all the restaunts but found the steak house to be the best ot of all of them.The beach is one of the best we have ever been to and the pool is just fantastic. So just go with an open mind and you to will have the time of your life. GREAT JOB MAJESTIC ( SEE YOU NEXT YEAR)!!!!!!!!!!

Please keep this in mind when you go to the resorts,bring some nice gifts to give to not only the maids but also the gardners,the guys at the towel huts,& also the buffet servers,we are so fortunate,so like Oprah say's pay it forward,they truly appericate everything we give them.Plus you make someone's day!!!

This resort is a 5* all the way!!!!

We just returned last night from The Majestic Colonial Punta Cana, DR. I have been all over the world including the Carribean and found this vacation to be among my top 3 best ever. In preparation I had read many reviews and became frightened by some of them. Well, all of my negative expectations were proved wrong by this fabulous place. My husband and I were able to get away without kids for a change; we were in need of some serious alone time, were looking for total relaxation with no other agenda, no sightseeing or schedule of any sort and we did just that. The resort is very large however it seems as though they have really thought out the layout and paid attention to detail. The staff was very accommodating as we were never told "no', that something could not be done. Weeks before arriving I had requested a quiet room close to the ocean and that is exactly what I got. Even with the noisy activities going on you could find a beautiful quiet spot somewhere.The entire resort is very clean. My fears of becoming ill ( and I usually get sick the minute I leave the zipcode) did not materialize as the food was very good, actually better than I expected and the drinks were not weak. I had a policy which I stuck to; no salad, no tap water, no ground beef, I did take ice in my drinks but still did not get sick. The grounds are beautiful, like the garden of eden and the beach, ahh you will not want to leave it. The rooms were very clean, and as for that mildewy odor you read about in other reviews, it is not that bad. It is a humid beach climate and you will smell it on your clothes and items more when you get home and is nothing a bit of washing won't fix. There is security all around the resort, some armed some not and they do not allow stray vendors to wander on and solicit you. There is constuction going on right next door for the new Majestic Elegance and you could see it from my room; I did freak out at first then realized it really isn't that bad, didn't really notice much noise. The pool was great too, very clean. For all of you uptight Americans, (I am one) realize this place is NOT "americanized", don't be so picky; you will enjoy this place, it is beautiful, we did not want to leave. Funny because I once said I'd never go to the DR and now I can't wait to go back!! This is an adult vacation and really not for kids although there were some there. Personally I would not bring mine here they would be bored after 1.5 days. In closing, we were very impressed with the resort overall, the staff could not do enough for us and we plan to return in the future.