I stayed at the Merengue from 9th to 23rd August for my honeymoon. We paid around £2000 for two weeks.

I must admit that I was a bit dubious up front about this being ranked as a 5 star hotel. I really couldn't believe that for just £500 per week we would be getting 5 star quality; and it turns out that I was right to think this.

Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t have a bad holiday – it was just not 5 star, more like 3 star at best. The moral of the story though, is to look at the cost of the holiday and not just the star rating.

What was excellent....

The location was amazing – right on the beach front. We had a sea view apartment, so were literally a few metres from the sand. Other rooms are only a 1-2min walk away from the beach.

The staff were really friendly and helpful. I’ve never stayed anywhere that the staff had such a good relationship with the guests. Again though, this wasn’t 5 star style, it was really really informal. I guess this will suit most people, but just didn’t have any feeling of refinement.

The flight. I definitely recommend that you upgrade to the Premium seats. I’ve travelled long haul a lot and this was probably one of the best flights I have had. The entertainment wasn’t as good as Virgin, but the leg room, seats, food and service was excellent.

Columbus Ocean Discovery Trip. Absolutely amazing – was worth the holiday just for this trip. You go in a yacht, swim in the ocean with a floating bar, eat on a paradise beach, swim in crystal clear water from a sandbank, go on speedboats among the mangroves...

What was bad...

Other than in your room, there was no air con anywhere. The days and evenings were incredibly hot and humid, making it really uncomfortable to sit in restaurants and bars.

The noise. This is most definitely NOT the place for a relaxing holiday. It is amazing from about 7am until 10am on the beach. At which point, the massive speakers dotted all the way up the beach start playing extremely loud techno music to start the ‘activities’ for the day. As far as I could tell, there were about 10% or less of the people interested in the activities. Everyone I spoke to couldn’t believe that such a relaxing environment was being totally ruined.

The food. Again this was definitely NOT 5 star food – it was decidedly average. I have had better at a 3 star. Also, there was pretty much the same every day for two weeks. It really didn’t feel special going to eat – felt more of a chore to be honest. I really enjoy dressing up and looking forward to the restaurant experience when I’m on holiday, and you didn’t get this at all. The speciality restaurants were just the same as the buffet. The only difference was that someone would bring you your main course. Also noted that there was no veg option on the menu at all (the menu was the same every day), which again isn’t the hallmark of a 5 star hotel.

The stomach upsets... I had a dodgy tummy for the first 5 days, until I cut out all meat and fish. As soon as I did this I was absolutely fine. Unfortunately, this meant even less choice in the already samey restaurants.

The drinks. You had one choice of lager – that’s it. The “cocktails” were a kind of strange alcoholic Slush Puppy. The wine is disgusting. The spirits are total gut rot. So nothing nice to drink really, unless you buy some wine from the shop for about £10 per bottle.

Everything is the same... I originally booked because the Merengue shares with two other all inclusive hotels. This was to get over the usual all inclusive problem of things getting the same after 2 weeks. Unfortunately all the bars and restaurants are pretty much the same as each other. Same feel, same drinks, same food, etc... So there is no variety no matter where you go.

Sand fleas and mosquitoes... The beach seemed to be covered in sand fleas. You will need to take 50% DEET insect repellent and literally coat yourself in it every day. Even with this, I was covered in bites (from mosquitoes as well). Be sure to take your anti-malarial tablets and get the correct vaccinations too.

The “nightclub” – was OK, but played nonstop Dominican music with no attempt to cater to an international audience. We had to leave after a couple of hours, as we really couldn’t get into the music.

The entertainment – think of Butlins of old and you get the idea. You may like this – lots of people seemed to, but again this was definitely not 5 star material!

Also, beware of some of the trips. I spoke to one traumatised looking girl one night. She told me that she had been offered a trip to see some local night clubs with her friend. It ended up with some Dominican men taking them to a sex club! They were then encouraged to have sex with dominican men in the club, and had to demand to be taken back to the hotel. They eventually were, but not for a few hours! Another trip someone told me about involved going to see a waterfall. It turned out to be an incredibly dangerous rock diving trip. No one explained this to them before, and they said that they were happy to still be alive!

To sum up, I really hope you don’t think I am just one of these people that complain at everything. I have travelled all over the world and stayed in all quality of hotels. Most hotels I stay at are excellent and I have very little to complain about. I just felt that I needed to give my honest opinion here, and these were all valid points to give you a fully rounded impression of the place.

The Merengue clearly is what a lot of people want, as you can tell by a lot of the reviews here. If you want to pay for a 3 star experience and are happy to get this, then please go to the Merengue. You will have a wonderful time. If however, you do actually want a 5 star experience, you will need to pay twice this amount and stay somewhere decent.

My only issue is that I cannot understand how anyone can rate this hotel 5 star – I think it is really misleading and mis-selling. What is interesting is that Expedia (http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll/qscr=cmhi/rdct=1/htid=542187/crti=0) rate this as 3 1/2star and it is rated as a 3 star on here. I would believe this rating rather than the dubious 5 given by the hotel itself and the travel package companies.

I recently came back from my vacation at the Riu Merengue. We had a 4 night stay, 4 people, two rooms. Upon our arrival, the first problem we encountered with our rooms was that the AC was not working..at all! After many attempts and many phone calls, to have it fixed, they later discovered it was broken and it was not until our second night that they offered to switch us to a suite. We discovered then that there too the AC was not working properly but at that point you just have to make the best out of the situation. Overall, rooms were ok. Very clean but the beds are not heavenly by any means..

The food is ok. Buffet style. I was dissapointed at the variety and often times most of the dishes seemed to be overcooked. If you stay there you also have the choice of dining in one of their "restaurants" located near the beach but the menu did not seem that different from what you get at the buffet. Plus you have to get in line everyday at 9:00 am to make a reservation. Best meal was breakfast by far...

whats good? Friendly staff, beach was really good, massage near the beach at a considerable low price. I found a good deal thru Hotwire and the whole trip including airfare was $601.00 per person. You get what you pay for...the price also includes the enterntainment...I rather no comment about that..

Beach - please be aware that the majority of the tourists are from other countries and the women go topless and we are not talking Victoria Secret Models here...

You also have the choice to use the facilities and eat breakfast and lunch only at the two adjacent hotels Riu Mambo and Riu Bachata. Riu Mambo is the oldest and Bachata is the most recent hotel that was built..the facilities at Bachata are a bit better and they have a small casino...we wondered if we would have been better of staying at Bachata but I doubt it...

BEWARE - the liquor you will get as part of your all inclusive deal is the cheapest kind you will ever get in your life. So be ready to drink lots of soda and water...

Overall - it was a very relaxing vacation because we spent everyday at the beach enjoying the good weather...but Riu Merengue will never see us again. Hope this helps! ;-)

Having read several reviews about this hotel I was a bit doubtful as what to expect.

This hotel is rated 5 star in the Riu magazine and 4 star plus with Thomas Cook, we always stay in Riu hotels and can honestly say this is neither I would rate it 3star plus at best.

Having said that the hotel staff were welcoming and friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them.

Be very careful if you need to go to reception and it has been raining or you have wet feet. seen several people slip and one or two really hurt.

The pool area is small and the pool is not very clean, I would certainly not swim in it. We were lucky we were based ont he beach, which was not white sand but was a really good beach, the water was lovely, it is rocky and there is seaweed but if you invest in a pair of swimshoes which cost approx (£12 in the hotel shop) it is great.

The rooms are clean and offer adequate accommodation, we did have coachroaches once ( we reported it to reception we were offered a swap as our location was so good we didn't want to move, the room was fumigated within an hour and we had no more trouble). The food is a bit boring same for lunch everyday breakfast was about the best meal, evening meal seemed to rotate every 3-4 days.

The steak house is highly recommended and worth the trouble of having to book before 9,00am.

We did a couple of trips the Oceanworld trip was fantastic swam with dolphins and sharks hightly recommend.

We did the Tip Top day tour would suggest if you want to do Cable Car you hire taxi from reception they will wait for up to 3 hours and go direct yourself. We only had 1/2 hour on mountain and needed at least another hour to see everything.

Did not appreciate tour of rum factory at 8.00 am would have preferred to do this last on tour not first.

The beach visit was awful you have to go through the flea market to get to beach and you are constantly annoyed by vendors trying to sell you things.

Mega Truck tour was great, you get to see some of Dom Rep also see how real people live. Would suggest if you plan to go and see school you take crayons, paper and pens not sweets as these children receive a lot o candy and denistry is not available to them.

Overall enjoyed our holiday would visit Dom Rep again but not this hotel.

Stayed at Riu Merengue 31st Aug to 14th Sept with my parents, my partner and my sister and her partner We were moved to this hotel 5 days before we were due to travel by our travel agent and reading the reviews for this hotel i was very nervous. Reports of food poisoning, ear infections, lots of bad reviews. BUT all i can say is this place was amazing! We were greated at reception with a cold glass of juice, reception guy was very welcolming and informative. We were taken and shown to our rooms, all 6 of us were put together, our cases were brought along about 10 mins later. The rooms are really clean and do not need updating! I don't know what people expect. They were bright and colourful and our air con and ceiling fan worked without a problem. Although my parents did come home one night and found their air condioning had been leaking and there was water all over the floor. They contacted reception and the maintenance man was there within 5 minutes, fixed the problem and the maid then came along 5 minutes later, cleared up all the water and it was all back to normal, not a problem. Mosquito nets across the doors and beautiful views of the gardens.
Reception called all our rooms to make sure everything was ok and to make sure we were happy. We were more than happy.
Food - Lovely, it is the same every week so if you are there for 2 weeks, you'll know what you're getting the next week! Breakfast is fantastic, freshly made omlettes with various different ingredients, pancakes and maple syrup, dinner is lovely to. I fell in love with the omlettes, their jam, the pancakes, the soups, desserts are fantastic, other desserts i've had abroad have been dry, not tasting great but these.....try the carrot cake! The staff in the restaurant great you with a smile in the morning and are still there to serve you with a smile for dinner.
The al a cartes are a bit of a pain to book as it is first come first serve and you have to be there at 9.00 am to book. But when you do get in it's very nice. Mexican night is once a week, this is lovely. Try the sauteed chicken in fajitas. Yummy!

All staff work extremely hard and deserve every tip they get. The maids are always outside the toilets and entrance to the restaurant to give you antibacterial handwash and they make great little things with towels in the toilets. They also make them in your rooms, not everyday but they will always put little fresh flowers on them. Our maid even found the time to say goodbye to us as we were leaving which we all thought was so sweet. The barstaff are such a laugh, they will have a drink on the bar before you have finished the last one and sometimes you won't even notice them do it! The pool area is fairly small but the great thing with Riu hotels is that you can use the other hotels facilities, we spent most of our pool time at the Bacharta, not a problem getting sunbeds, we got there at midday one day and still managed to get 6 altogether in the shade. We ate in their snack bar mostly in the afternoon and went for lunch in merengue once. One thing, if you eat lunch in the restaurant aswell as dinner then it can become the same. I suggest to keep mainly to snacks during the day, there is plenty of variety, burgers, pizza, chips, toasties, then rice, meat, pasta... The barmen in the poolbar at the barcharta were funny to, always had a drink waiting before you could finish your next one, this is good as it's so hot your drinks go warm very quickly. One time we actually had to quickly drink up and dive away from the bar before he noticed there was no beer left in our cups!
There is always cocktails ready made, like slush puppies with alchohol. They are lovely, try the miami vice, this was my favorite. Pina Colada topped with Strawberry Daiquiri.
The barman will make you up cocktails and my dad did try some of the 'specials' which were quite tasty.

TRIPS - We did Mega trucks, fantastic, what a great way to see some of the countryside among other things such as a 2 and a half tonne bull and how the poor actually live. The children love to get sweets and pencils and things from you so if you're planning to do this, take a few things with you. My partner took some old caps as they love them. We also went horse riding and got to lounge on a beach in hammocks.
Top view, also fantastic - rode a cable car to the top of mount Isabelle, what amazing views!! Went to the amber museum. Great day all round.
Oceanworld - AMAZING, 4 of us went here and loved it, 2 done a dolphin encounter and 2 done a dolphin swim. Certainly worth the money which isn't a lot to ask for when you see this place, the dolphins are beautiful and very well looked after as all the animals there. They are so close to their trainers it's facinating to watch. A brilliant day out!!
I could go on about these trips but you'll have to see for yourself

All in all the hotel is absolutely brilliant, nothing dissapointed any of us, actually my partner and i have been on holiday quite a bit and both of us can honestly say this is the best holiday we have ever had!
You'll have a fantastic time if you go to this place. We will certainly be going back.