Just returned from the hotel, and enjoyed our stay.

Booked & flew with First Choice, flights were great. POP airport is very small & on our return journey eating and drinking at the airport was expensive. Transfers to hotel is approx 30 mins. Was pleased with first impressions, met with non alcoholic cocktail, friendly reception staff, and bags were taken to room. We asked to change our room from a ground floor to a room with a balcony & they changed us immediatly.

Each hotel block has 8 rooms, 4 ground floor, 4 upper floor. Room was clean, two beds pushed together to make a double, very bad tv signal, mini bar with optics, free safe, and a poorly operating hairdryer in the bathroom. Was very close to pool and beach in room 1075.

There was a good selection of food, although like most all-inclusives was repetitive. They do try different themed nights, and the food in the a la cartes was not much different to the main restaurant. Yes this isnt air-conditioned and can get very warm.

The staff were very friendly, and the animation team work hard, although as we wanted to relax did not take part in their activities. Evening entertainment was not the best, there seems to be quite a lot for children, but we were in bed early most nights.

Did one trip - the VIP Paradise Island which was $150 pp, which we recommend. Our rep was always around, as was Thomsons and were very friendly.

We enjoyed the use of facilities at the Bachata, and the only restriction is that evening meals must be taken in your own hotel. Never had a problem getting a sunbed by pool or by the beach. Weather was brilliant, last day was a bit showery.

Beach was very nice, and as there is not much breeze at the pool we enjoyed being around the beach area. Non motorised watersports are free.

Simple things at the hotel gift shop and on caribbean street are expensive, $8 for a newspaper that was 3 days old for example.

Would recommend this hotel, but probably wouldnt return, as we'd like to see the south of the dominican and there are many more places we'd like to see first.

We have recently returned from our second visit to the Riu Merengue, the first visit was Sept 06.
Arrived at Puerto Plata with fast entry through immigration, we purchased our visa's online prior to going on holiday ,avoids the queing at the airport immigration
Transfer time about 25 minutes with one drop of at the Mambo which is no more than two minutes away from the merengue.As before welcome drink a little talk then of to rooms with cases soon following. In 2006 we had a sea view, we emailed two weeks before departure to ask If we could have same room as before, our wishes were granted.
Will not go into to much detail about this hotel, every thing has been said on other positive reviews, immacuatley clean every where, toilets,restaurants, gardens rooms.
In fact our room was cleaned every single day, with sheets and towels changed daily , also tiles in the main room and bath room washed every day, Air con worked fine, infact we got cold one night and had to turn the thing down.
We also found the food just as good as our last visit with endless choice, pork, beef , fish ,salads, pasta dishes.
In the two weeks there we never here'd or saw any body ill ,
I think you would be hard pressed to find a cleaner hotel than this in the U.K.
There are no coffee or tea making facilities in the rooms, but if you can make the effort a flask of tea or coffee can be obtained early morning from the restaurants and taken back to the room.
We preferred the mambo for breakfast only because the restaurant has a veranda with a sea view, every kind of breakfast you can think of is available and was one of our favorite meals of the day
Beaches
The bachata end of the beach is the most rocky, this is where the coral reef comes in closest (great for snorkling) and it's best to where beach shoes, there is also a lot of shade.
The merengue part is not quite so rocky , also has plenty of shade, For all sun lizards the mambo is best, lots of soft sand and less shade
Pools
Used all the pools at various times, but mainly the beach, all were great, Bacha ta pool had the most life with the mambo pool the quietest the merengue in between
Shows.
Cannot comment on the shows, in the two weeks there never made one show all ways to nacked and had usally passed at by 9-30 (not trough drink) did see one or two dominican live bands who were quite good, Did make the Carribean street party which was great fun.
Annimation team
They may not be every one's cup of tea but they work there socks off trying to entertain, we did find Bill gates an absolute nut case.
We preferred the peace and quiet on the beach, but did find them entertaining some times.
Sports
Played beach volly ball most days, great to play with germans, french, dutch, americans and dominicans, had some great laughs.
Steak house
We did book the steak house one night for a change food was good with even the wine tasting better than our last visit (or had I had one over the eight, who cares)
Trips
We have been to the DR three times now and had done most trips. One which we had not done was paradise island and decieded to go to whole hog and do the V.I.P version, champaign, oysters, breakfast, dinner, lots of rum, beer soft drinks. We have to say this was one of the best excursions we have done, a magical day from start to finish, we booked through t.c at a cost of $310 for two, worth every penny (dolla)
To sum up this was another wonderful holiday at a great resort with the wonderful staff of the Merengue, Mambo, and Bacha ta.
We hope to return again one day

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! ;-)