This April i traveled to the Dominican with my three friends and two of their mothers. When we first arrived in Puerto Plata, it wasnt a long ride to the airport, which was good because the taxi was sweaty and nasty. It was interesting to see the city, though, and there were some nice views of the country.
When we got to the hotel one of my friends and myself had never been out of the country so we didnt know what to expect but the four other travelers wih me were really grossed out. The floors were dirty, and really really slippery. Although funny, my friend almost broke her ankle going down. The ceiling was moldy, there were stains on the bed, neither toilet flushed, and our balcony doors wouldnt shut. When we went to the desk at the front, no one spoke english, so we had to wait another day to get a key to the safe to lock up our valubles.
The pool area had a lot of chairs for everyone, but there was also a lot of people so you had to wake up early. Watch where your towels are too, because if you lose them, you have to pay for them, and those people who have lost their towels will steal yours.
The beach was beautiful with many things to do. The only problem was there were people selling things all day long. I think the most annoying thing was the man who was selling stuffed monkeys yelling "ive got a monkey monkey see monkey do."
I have blond hair and blue eyes, and do not look anything like the rest of the girls there. This brought some unwanted attention, and me and my 3 friends lost count at how many people went hola mamiiiii!! and then turn around and say it to the girls behind us. It was disgusting. Even one of the guys that worked at the hotel was really touchy feely and almost made one of my friends cry he scared her so bad. We were a little out numbered and we were afraid of what was going to happen.
The last day we were there one of the mothers I traveled with screamed and we went into her room to find a lady on our balcony. We were on the second floor..? Someone had let her in and she was hiding behind the curtain. She didnt speak English and ran away trying to get behind a fence. Luckily the fence was shut and she spent the rest of the week in jail. We later found out that there were 8 robberys that day in the hotel.

My husband and I stayed a week at this resort. Usually we go for 2 weeks but we are really glad we only stayed for one. We went with 4 other couples so all in all we had a good time. It only rained for 1 full day but we were told that it hadn't stopped raining for 2 weeks previous to our visits (that would really suck). Last year we stayed 2 weeks at Allegro Playa Dorada and we loved it. Wish I could say the same about Occidental Gran. Most of the food was tasteless and bland. The only food we really liked was their chicken, pork chops and pizza, when they had them. The bacon was raw and their scrambeled eggs were terrible. How do you screw up scrambeled eggs and bacon? It is funny though because we would get someting we found good one day and the next time we would get the same thing and it tasted completely different. All in all, we did manage to find enough to eat to get by, but I have to say the food here on this resort was the worst of all the places we ever stayed. We didn't go to any of the specialty restaurants because we stood in line for over an hour and just couldn't wait any longer they were so SLOW. From what I hear, we didn't miss anything because 2 couples from our crew went to the Brizillian and said the food and service was absolutely disgusting and another couple went to the Italian and said they had to leave because it was so bad. I did go upstairs for the pizza as you didn't need a reservation. I had one sent to my room for my husband and they did provide that service for us. It was pretty good. If I gained any weight, it was not because the food was good but because it was very greasy.
There are way too many rules at this place, I am not sure who they are trying to accommodate with the service they provide. We had a Premium package which provided robe, (don't pack the robe in your suitcase upon leaving or they will chagre you $100.00 U.S.) slippers and a bar fridge stocked every day with 2 beer, 2 soda (no diet pop :( )and 2 water bottles and also a bag of chips and chocolate bar were left on the dresser each day. That was nice, but I was hoping to use the bar fridge to place a little food and drink which we might like to store in there but unless we bought things offf the resort, this wasn't the case. The rooms were big and quite nice, but the plumbing is old and our bathroom sink never drained properly which really wasn't a problem. Floors are very slippery when wet so be careful. My husband slipped on some water on the bathroom floor and fractured 2 ribs by falling on the side of the bathtub. Needless to say, it just added to all the other inconveniences of the stay. They did accommodate us with a ground floor room by the pool as requested (thank God) but with that came a lot of little bugs so don't make the same mistake as us and leave an open can of pop on the nightstand or eat anything in bed or you too will be up in the middle of the night brushing all the little bugs off your pillow and bed (that is the ones you didn't already swallow with a drink of pop earlier. I really can't say the rooms were dirty though, the maid service was great and they did their best to provide us with clean bedding and linen and clean rooms each day. They are very grateful for any little novelties from Canada, such as kids colouring books, pens, pencils, socks toiletries or whatever you have room for in your suitcase to bring to them. They make very little and it all helps.
As my husband is handicapped and has great difficulty getting around, I tried to bring him pizza from the dining room one afternoon. I had my own paper plate but was stopped on the way out of the dining room being told I could not take any food out of the cafeteria. They did say they could bring it to the room but it never arrived. Also, we were not able to get coke products, (just pepsi) and we could not get our own soft drinks at the bars and grills or restaurant, we either had to wait in line at the bars or have to wait for a waiter (waitress) to serve us. The same goes with the coffee. Sometimes it was good and quick and sometimes it didn't happen, depending on how busy it was. We never stayed at a place where this wasn't part of the package. We did have a nice balcony but can't even enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning because of the rules.
The pool swim up bar only serves beer and soft drinks and if you want to have a drink by the pool, you have to go upstaris to the bar and grill and usually stand in a line up. (This is one of the things I found most inconvenient about this place as I usually spend most of my days at the pool side or in the pool and my husband couldn't do the stairs so he couldn't even get a snack at that grill if he wanted something quick to eat and again we weren't allowed to take food and eat it by the poolside. The times of the main cafeteria were not great. Breakfast was ok but lunch was 1:00 to 3:00 and then you couldn't get any food until 7:00 p.m. which with the time change was 8:00 p.m. our time. Too late for me to eat supper. I would have preferred something at least at 6:00 p.m. like most other resorts in the area. I just couldn't eat that greasy tasteless food in the grills. Another inconvenience was the fact that the men have to wear long pants every evening in all the speciality restaurants and even in the cafeteria main dining area. I only brought one pair of long pants. We should be told this prior to the trip. The women could wear anything though. I just wore jean shorts the first night and nothing was said but they turned all the men away who had shorts on. We are on vacation! I didn't want to have to dress up every night if I didn't have to. Food and drink and dress code shouldn't be that big of a problem while on vacation.
Also be ware of the Transat service rep, who tells you in the first morning briefing not to go on any outside tours and recommends that she gives you the best money exchange on your dollar. I exchanged $80.00 american dollars into dominican money and didn't use any of it. When I went to change it back, all she gave me is $70.00 U.S. I was sure she said in the briefing that she would exchange it back for the same rate is what you paid, a big rip off as far as I am concerned. This was a pretty high rate of exchange and I would have rather given it to the Dominicans who needed it rather than her. Live and learn.
Anyway, all in all, we did enjoy the sunshine and the fun club crew and most of the waiters and waitresses and hired help, did their best to make our stay pleasent. In the past, we stayed at the Coral Marien, Allegro Playa Dorada and also went to Cuba a couple of times and this is the only place that I wouldn't stay at again or ever thought of complaining about the food etc. It's nice to be handy to the mini mall but you cannot see the beach from the resort and this was a bit disappointing also. I guess this place would be good for those who are young and don't mind a lot of walking. The nightly entertainment wasn't very good and not framily oriented. It was really late getting started and very loud and drug out. In fact we could hear most of it from inside our rooms. There were children in the audience and some of the skit and dancing were very suggestive and not geared for family entertainment. Hopefully this review will help others to be better informed when deciding to book your choice of resorts in the Dominican.

P.S. I would recommend you bring face cloths also because most places in the Dominican don't provide them. Also, when you arrive, there are beach towel in your room. We had our own and never used theirs as you have to pay $20.00 if they get lost or stolen. Upon check out, they want you to return them to the front desk. If you leave them in your room they make you go all the way back and get them . Another thing they didn't tell us beforehand.

The Good.....
The front deak manager who was on the job for only a couple of weeks, tried his very best to be accommodating even though he has continuous long 'complaing lines'. The Allegro rep was very sweet, and did her best. There was only one shop on premisis worth going in to. And there was only one bartender who totally went out of his way to ensure you were happy.

The Bad....
The food was DISGUSTING!!! There was no variety, it tasted almost stale. The rooms were moldy and musty. The bed was very uncomfortable and the staff were rude. 'The pool was shut down for 2 days, it was broken like everything else in the place.

The Dominican is a beautiful place and this hotel needs to be shut down. There was no friendly interaction. The 'fun club' gang has no energy, the beach was dirty, the rooms had no functioning a/c and that was the case for the entire property except for one building (5).

WARNING: When your travel agent or the hotel staff tell you not to deal with the tour people on the beach; heed their warning!!! They are the worst!!!!! DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM, they will hound you every 5 minutes and will rip you off.

We are part of a really great time share and alway stay at the very best hotels. I invited my dearest friend and her family to join us because I wanted them to see how great the Dominican was. Sadly, this was a poor hotel choice to show off this wonderful country. We've been to the Dominican about 4 times now and we will keep coming back, but definately NOT to this hotel.

I dont know why so many ppl slam this place besides you are vacation you should make the best of it. The service was great really the best part of the trip. The hotel its self more the rooms are in need of updating and repair. Its an older hotel but its all about LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! And what a location! We were seconds from the beach which was beautifull. Busy and hot. Lots of beach chairs. Be prepared to be bombarded by the beach sellers but if you are polite and nice and say no they will leave you alone. Or if you are there to buy stuff here is a rule of thumb. Take their first price divide by three and add a dollar. Theres your price Wear lots of sunscreen and dont miss anywhere on your body you will pay for it. We did the alacarte restaurants........meh they were not that impressive and the daily menu in the cafeteria lacks in a big way! Burgers and pizza were good at the snack bar. Really enjoyed the staff in blue and yellow who get out and interact with the guests what a great bunch! Night entertainment was always good too. If you are planning on spending money take it with you. There are no ATMS! I would definatley stay there again it was overall a great stay and I had a blast. PS> If you are there to have a few drinks bring a big travel mug it will save you alot of trips and line ups when they are busy as they give you little cups! Have a great time I know i did
C.Gibson Nanaimo BC Canada