TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

A truly frustrating experience at this resort. When going on vacation you always want to be optimistic but the service, and food has forced me to write this review. I was served RAW food twice within the span of two hours. Once was outside the Coral level buffet on the beach at an open grill, and again at the Selection resort open girl. The first item was chicken skewers, that we're being "cooked" to be served to guests on the beach. I showed the chef that he was serving RAW chicken, his response was to just get a new one. No apology was given. My partner and I decided to try and grab lunch somewhere else and we thought getting a grilled burger at the Selection resort would go better. Nope, you guessed it RAW. I assure you when I say raw i'm not talking a small bit of discolouration, but completely raw inside. Luckily in both instances I cut the meat open before eating it and probably saved my partner and I from getting very sick. At this point my partner and I decided that we needed to speak up about this issue so we went to the "Guest Experience Concierge" at the Coral Level Lobby. I gave both the time and location of where these incidents occurred. His solution was to "promise" me that this would never happen again. I politely told him that was impossible as he is not cooking any of the food. He wrote the infractions down inside a small book and said "I will call my boss, maybe you will hear from him, maybe you will receive some sort of voucher". There was ZERO follow up. I assured him I wasn't expecting any sort of compensation but only wanted to prevent future guests from getting sick and to help improve their standards. Once again there was ZERO follow up or any attempt to reach me by someone in management. This leads to another problem, when you have a complaint at this resort, it seems to fall on deaf ears. The staff just don't seem to really care or at least that was the impression I was given. Moving on to the ever so popular "entertainment" reviews. You'll notice a lot of 5 star reviews about "babalu" and that is because they literally force you to write a review. While relaxing on the beach with my partner, "Babalu" briefly introduced himself, sat next to me and asked for my phone. He proceeded to open up Safari and write a review himself. This not only gives a dishonest representation of guests' experience, but also made me and my partner rather uncomfortable. We later on deleted the review to not make things awkward at the time. He is very nice but taking a guests' phone and writing your own review is unacceptable. Taking a break from the cons I will say the beach is beautiful-turquoise waters and the softest sand. Also beach related this resort alongside typical beach loungers has very unique and beautiful structures for you to relax in on the beach. Unfortunately the amount of guests vastly outnumber these beautiful huts and combined with the fact that they are "claimed" by beach towels as early as 7am- it makes it very difficult to find one during the peak of the sun. If there is a "no reserving" policy like many resorts have, it is not enforced. Lastly upon check out, the same "guest experience concierge" was working and not a word was said to us. Once again it seems like the staff just don't care. As you can see in other negative reviews and i'm sure the same as mine, you just get a generic reply stating how "we hope you enjoy a better stay next time". More needs to be done because as of now the culinary experience provided as well as the hospitality of the staff is no where near that of a five star resort. We stayed for 7 days and my partner and I we're so disappointed because like I said you always want to be optimistic on vacation and not sweat the small things but this was a highly disappointing trip for us besides the beach which has nothing to do with the resort itself. I will not be returning to this resort.

We booked about 10 days before we left and I utilized trip advisor and the reviews here to decide which resort to book based on our budget and the reviews. We didn't want to pay more than $5K. We booked on Red Tag and there was a problem with my online booking so Red Tag contacted me and I worked with Elly P (who was excellent) and got the ball rolling. Westjet offered the same trip at $750 more and you had to fly through Toronto...no thanks. The package included return flights with Air Transat and we went to Coral Level Iberostar and had a great week. The flight from Halifax direct to Punta Cana in 4 hours offered an easy check in and on time flight. We left at 630AM AST and got into Punta Cana at 930AM EST. Received luggage and we were escorted to a van to transport us to our resort there were 6 people in the van. All was very slick no hiccups. A man helped us with luggage to the van and the van driver was also great. Once at the resort a shuttle (large golf cart) took us and our luggage to the Coral Club check in area and bar. We were checked in by 1030 and given our bracelets and a place to change as our room was not ready but we were welcome to go have lunch and head to the beach and have a drink (we came prepared with our swimsuit, lotion, beach items as we knew we were arriving too early). The concierge Dario asked us where we wanted to eat for the week and we said we would try everything. Our understanding was that we were booked in for a different restaurant every night but it did not carry over to the Iberostar app so make sure you should check at the Coral Club concierge and bar area or get a print out. That little bar area was a gem with food, bubbly, cocktails, etc. and the staff were so accommodating. Well the beach was amazing and in no time 3PM rolled around and our room was ready! The Coral rooms are close to the beach the Coral Concierge and bar area, ice, water to refill bottles etc. was all in close proximity to our room. The room was clean and had a nice deck area. Every evening we sat out and had a beer before dinner and it was so quiet, just the birds singing. The room was slightly dated, some of the small maintenance fixes were unfinished. The air conditioning and fan were louder than normal resulting in some poor sleep nights. When sitting on the deck you would catch a sewage smell from time to time. Mini bar stocked but we called to change some of the beers for ones we preferred and it was done each day for us. Overall we loved the beach, and the fact we didn't have to run down to the beach to get a spot with a towel early in the morning was amazing. There was always a spot for us with shade. We didn't sign up for any excursions as we were there to rest and enjoy. Staff and service were excellent. We eat plant based and were concerned about the choices for us but there was options for us. They did have beyond burgers and in the Greek restaurant they did have beyond meat moussaka. The main buffet area on italian night the guys doing the pizzas made me a veggie pizza without cheese...it was delicious...thank you! The buffet at the Coral level had amazing salad bars, you could make yourself a veggie sandwich too. While there could be more done in this area we were very happy with what was available to us. Be Aware: the concierge will likely invite you to a breakfast at the Grand. There will be a presentation and an offer to join "the club" they will say it is for 90 minutes we were there for 3.5hrs. They offered us tickets to the show at the Grand the next night but we never received them. I'm not sure if others experienced this or not. Your decision if you want to go or not? You just seem to meet with person after person and they leave you in suspense, not really knowing what you are there for and then they lay out the cost, which is a crazy amount and try and convince you to go for it. It puts a bit of an odd spin on the stay, not sure whose idea this is? We brought DOP pesos and US dollars to tip and we did so whenever we could as the staff deserve it! They are so pleasant and accommodating. Overall we had great flights, great transfers, great room (with some room for improving), great drinks, food, the entertainment reminded us of a high school variety concert from the 80s so we just passed on it but others loved it. We liked the coral level for the non-crowding and the peace and quiet, it was worth it. We would go back but would skip the presentation at the Grand.

We had such an amazing experience here!! The staff was incredible! Dioris, Vincent, Leo, Ronal, Anderson, Alexander, all the serving staff, house keeping were so kind and attentive! It's a beautiful resort, with great food, entertainment but especially the people!! Thank you for a wonderful family vacation!!

I spent 4 nights at the Iberostar Coral Level. This was part of a weeklong birthday trip, which began with 3 nights at Finest Punta Cana. Coral Level is basically an enhanced version of the Iberostar Selection Bavaro resort. The rooms are closer to the beach, but are otherwise nearly identical. You also get access to 2 additional pools and extra restaurants. My room was spacious, but definitely felt dated. Iberostar is very focused on eliminating single-use plastics, so water and mini-bar drinks are in glass bottles. Pro-tip: the bottle opener is attached to the inside of the refrigerator cabinet (I had to run all the way to reception to find this out). There was a sewage smell that lurked in the bathroom. It only went away when using the shower. Although the two Coral Level pools were appreciated, I loved the main Iberostar Selection lagoon pool. Staff were always trying to get people involved in activities. Food was a mixed-bag, with the Coral Level restaurants having significantly better quality. Dinner at Salt & Soul (exclusive to Coral Level) was outstanding. Perhaps the best meal of my entire trip. The breakfast and lunch buffets at El Faro (also Coral Level only) were very good. Lunch at the main Selection poolside restaurant was decent. The dinners at the Greek and Japanese restaurants were rather poor. The resort grounds were beautiful and it's clear that Iberostar invests heavily in landscaping. The fitness center was well-equipped, but always very busy. There was a very international crowd, with many guests from Europe and South America. This is in contrast to Finest, where 95% were Americans and Canadians. I'd like to commend Deisy, the housekeeper. She was so friendly and sweet. We communicated well in Spanish, despite my heavy Brooklyn accent. I'd consider this to be a 4* resort based on room quality and food, but a decent value. Definitely pay for the Coral Level to be closer to the pools and beaches, and access to better restaurants.

The beach and pool at the Coral section are amazing! Be sure to look up Angelino for your beachside drinks! He does an amazing job. The restaurants are ok, you can always find something you will like. The rooms are decent. We had to call maintenance 4 times with issues with our toilet not receiving water to flush properly. The shower is either scalding hot or ice cold, unless you wait 7 to 10 minutes of running, then it is bearable. We had numerous lights with burnt out bulbs or just wouldn't work.The Iberostar App they tell you to download is a joke! Don't waste your time. We tried watching a few shows but they were terrible. We are a very laid back group (12 of us), but we all were amazed how rude the majority of the guest were. You would stand in line patiently waiting your turn for something and have one or more people jump in front of you like you were never even there. This seems to be a big European resort. We will look for a bigger American/Canadian presence on our future trips.