Where do I begin? This will be long but as someone who carefully read every single review before I went, I want to give as much info as I can - don't read it if it's too long for you...

I traveled from June 25-July 2 with my husband, parents, and other family members. There were 8 people in our party. Aside from my husband and I who are in our 30's, everyone was in their late 50's. With the exception of my aunt and uncle who have been to DR 5 times, it was our first trip to the area.

BOOKING: We used CheapCarribean.com and they were wonderful! Always helpful and friendly and answered all questions we had prior to going. We got a VERY, VERY good deal on this place - 7 nights including airfare for $900. So our expectations were not all that high - we thought we'd just be going someplace that was decent for the price...were we pleasantly surprised!

TRAVEL: Flew on Spirit Air (honestly thought it was fictitious until we got to the airport - like maybe the whole deal was a hoax!) and they were good. We were put off by having to pay for our checked bags and there was a fee if you wanted to choose your seats ahead of time, but lots of other airlines are starting to do that too and we figured it was part of keeping fares down.

ARRIVAL: We chose to purchase our connections when we booked the trip so there was a guy waiting for us at the airport from Turniter Tours. They were very good and got us to the resort quickly and safely. We did have to drop off other passengers at a different resort, but we didn't mind. We loved seeing the area.

When we got to the resort, check in literally took 30 seconds. They pulled up our names and gave us our key cards. Then a hotel rep (Wilson) sat with us and explained everything about the resort and how it worked - like which restaurants were open when and dress code, etc. This place is all inclusive but there are 2 restaurants that you pay extra for - we did not go to them. He seemed genuinley concerned that we have a good time and thoroughly explained everything, detailing the resort on a map. We were told that there was an important meeting the next day that we had to attend. (Turned out the meeting was to sell us tours, but it was useful because they told us about our return shuttle so we appreciated that and he didn't even try to sell us tours - just told us about the excursions that were available.) Our luggage was in our rooms within 20 minutes of arrival.

Rooms: We stayed in villa 8 - perfect location!! I would suggest villa 5 or 8 for the best location. Close to the restaurants and pool, but still not far from the beach. We requestetd rooms together and got ones that were fairly close. The room lookd just like it did in the pictures i saw. They are defintiely no-frills, but the bathroom is nice. My only semi-complaint was that there were fingerprints on the mirrors and glass. Everything else was spotless though. There was definitely a washcloth shortage and some days we were left none. Our bar was restocked every day. Save every bottle of water you get because you need it to bruch your teeth. We had an overabudnance of bottled water. My curling iron plugged in with no problem - no adapter needed. Air conditioning worked well and we were able to adjust it. We only had one problem with the safe but it was fixed fairly quickly. Rooms were cleaned in the late afternoon, but it was fine.

FOOD: Everything was very, very good and I'm super picky about food. My aunt and uncle have stayed at all-inclusives in Punta Cana 4 other times and they said this place had the best food by far. We had breakfast in the main buffet. There were fresh, hot donuts every day! Warm croissants with jars of nutella every where! And any other thing you can think of. Omlette station, creppe station, french toast station, juice bar. You must try the melon juice (it's like a freshly squeezed cateloupe) and the watermelon juice. It's like nothing we have inthe US - not sweet and sugary, but just like a glass of fruit. Sooo good! We had lunch at the beach buffet and I have to say that Ocean Sand and Blue makes the best french fried I've ever had in my life and I am a french fry expert - they are my favorite food. I ate rice and beans (different beans every day) and french fries every day for lunch and was happy as could be. They also had paella, hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, moist oven baked chicken, and lots of other things. We ate at every included restaurant each day and I will detail each:
Italian: FABULOUS! There is an anitpasto bar that is as good as any upscale restaurant (and we're Italian and picky). The fish fillet is the best and the white chocolate mousse is better than any mousse I've ever had. Stay away from the lamb, it was tough. Men have to wear pants and shoes to this one, but my husband wore sandals with no problem. Ask the waiters to have a Mama Juana with you and they'll bring the bottle out and do the whole ritual...it's fun.
Mexican: FABULOUS! My favorite of all. There's a bar with tacos, beans, salsa and the best guacamole. Order the chicken chimichanga - it's the best I've ever had!
American/Route 66: Very good. The fried mozzarella was excellent. I had the fish fingers and they were great. The ribs were excellent as was the ribeye steak.
Domenican: Very good. My family was put off by the menu but it was their mistake not to go because it was really great. The fried yuca is amazing. We tried the goat and it was very good - fall of the bone yummy - who knew?
Carribean: La Brasa is the same place as the beach buffet but at night they hang up curtains and have a carribean grill menu. My family liked it best because it was on the beach and it's all open air and felt so tropical. The Jamaican Chicken wings are fabulous! I had the beef filet and it was very good.

At any of these places, feel free to order more than one entree if you want to try other things - they totally don't think twice about it.

Of course, Mike's Coffee was great. They really do keep the cheesecake hidden (I don't get why) so you have to ask and it is very good!

There was a wait at times for the Italian and Mexican restaurants, but we needed a table for 8 so that was tough to accommodate. The wait was never more than 20 minutes or so and it's super cute out in front of everything so we didn't mind. After dinner, we sat at the tables in front of the restaurants and they came out and served drinks. We also went to the lobby bar at night.

CASINO: $5 blackjack tables every night! We did very well on blackjack and roulette (almost won enough to pay for onr trip!). We didn't play any slots but they looked weak. The casino is tiny, but met our needs. We played with US funds and were paid in US.


SERVICE: Super duper five star! Whether tipping or not, we had consistently great service. Please tip them, though - they desserve it and work so hard for long hours. We spent about $100 for the week on tips including the maid.

WEATHER: Perfect every day. We were worried because the forecast said rain every day. It did raing almost every day,but literally it meant we were on the beach and it would rain for 1-2 minutes and then clear up immediately. One day it rained a lot just before dinner but it didn't impact our plans at all. There's an umbrella in the closet. I thought it would be very humid there but it wasn't. I didn't sweat at all even though the air was so damp all the time. Perhaps this is how the caribean is, but I was surprised that it wasn't opressively hot and humid. I was thrilled that I didn't feel gross and sticky at all.

BEACH: Very nice. Yes, there were dogs on the beach, but hey were the nicest dogs. I warned everyone about what I read comcerning the dogs and was worried at first. There were 2 main dogs and they were very loving. My mom (and many other patrons) fed them every day and they lounged around and napped under our chairs. If you don't want to be near the dogs, don't sit near the beach bufffet closest to the market place. The dogs never went past the bungee jump equipment. It was no problem getting chairs, though the cabanas went fast. They often ran out of towels so we kept our each night and only exchanged them a couple times. The trip includes the kayaks and wind jammers, so be sure to do that. We paid for a banana boat ride and since it was only a single banana, we flipped over and had to haul my 59 year old mother back on - it was scary since she can't swim. Plus it was hard for me to even get up there! I suggest you only ride double banana boats since they can't flip. We would get on the beach at 10 or so and then move over to the pool at 3 or 4. Also, there is a market area right next door where we bought all our souveneirs. There is no need to go shopping off the resort. Definitely bargain with them as you would at any place - they always asked $60 for everything and we ended up paying closer to $20.

The crowd was vaired from families to couples to groups of friends. The atmosphere is festive without being obnoxious. There were some little kids but they didn't get in the way at all. It was a perfect vacation and I would recommend this place to anyone. It's not upscale and stuffy and I like that. It was very very nice, super clean and emmaculately groomed. The people are the most accommodating I've ever seen. Go to Ocean Blue and Sand!!