TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

The breathtaking views, sumptuous cuisine, and luxurious spa were just the beginning of the 5-night feast of epicurean delights that my wife and I enjoyed for our 40th anniversary celebration at Sanctuary Cap Cana. We stayed at the Castle in a junior swim-out suite, and were treated to impeccable service by our butler, Joan. His knowledge of the property, foresight, advice, and gracious attention to detail made our trip an "over the top" experience. The service at the resort is world-class, and the gesture you will see frequently is the hand over heart, which is to say, "Service from the heart." We were the beneficiaries of that genuine service from Joan and others, and were are honestly grateful and blown away.

I absolutely loved our stay in the castle swim out suite! Our Butler, Joan, was absolutely amazing and was very attentive to everything we needed. He was always available and made sure we were always taken care of! I highly recommend requesting him as your butler! There are so many options for food and all is so good! Highly recommend the pizza in Sanctuary Town!! There are lots of pools and seating around it and it was so easy to find a great seat to enjoy the sun and pool. Honestly just an amazing vacation and sooo relaxing!

Short version, food is really good for an all-inclusive, we were happy with our room, and the employees and level of service were outstanding. You won't regret coming here. Read on if you wish to know all the details. This was a combination trip for us to celebrate my 50th birthday in the fall, our 30th anniversary in February, and my wife's birthday while we were there. We wanted to come in February but flying out of New Jersey at that time of year can be unpredictable. We knew we liked smaller, adults-only, all-inclusive resorts that catered to couples so after researching and changing our minds a couple of times we chose Sanctuary. We used Noor Limousine of Edison for our airport transfers in the US and Dominican Airport Transfers(DAT) for our transfers in Punta Cana. We pulled out all the stops for this trip and treated ourselves, flying American first class out of JFK and using Punta Cana's VIP arrival and departure at their airport. We normally fly United but gave American Airlines a shot. We went a little unconventional with our stay this time as we usually go Saturday to Saturday. Playing with the flights and resort availability we got an extra day for the same cost(flight+resort) staying Tuesday to Wednesday. The flight to Punta Cana was uneventful and our VIP greeter was waiting for us as we exited the jetway. She directed us through the airport to a nice little lounge and provided us with cold drinks while heading off to find our checked bag. As to the value of this service, we flew into and out of terminal B, which as I understand it, is not as congested as terminal A. In hindsight, I probably only would have booked the departure service, but I do not regret having it for arrival. In the amount of time it took me to finish a cold beer and consider getting a second one our attendant returned with our luggage and porter. Again, the airport was not super busy but I did notice that lines were starting to form, and we did not have to wait in any of them, which meant more time at the resort. We were shown to a private exit and taken directly to our transportation. Our driver was slightly aggressive with his passing moves, but nothing that made me anxious. After being back home for a couple of days I honestly think I'd prefer to drive in the DR over Jersey. It was about a twenty-minute ride to the resort and after checking in at multiple gates our driver took us directly to the Castle. We received a warm welcome from the staff and were shown to the check-in desk. The process was quick and simple and we were brought our welcome drink, a frozen coconut lemonade, which was delicious. Protip: they'll make it for you at any bar, have the bartender add some rum. You're welcome. We arrived right around noon and check-in was not until three, so we did not expect our room to be ready and it was not. They stowed our luggage for us and we caught a ride down to the Blue Marlin for lunch. Dining in the open air on the water is always something I'm up for. We started with cocktails, both having a blue marlin, one of their signature drinks. We started with a crab cake and fish croquettes, both of which were enjoyable. The crab cake at the marlin was one of my favorite things at the resort. We wandered the grounds a little after lunch to get our bearings and eventually made our way back to the castle. We found the Ocean bar and the castle pool, where we would spend a lot of time throughout our vacation. We were informed around 230 that our room was ready. We had a castle junior suite, the entry-level room in the building, and were shown to the second floor, room 2069. The room was spacious enough, with comfortable furnishings and a king-size bed. There are nightstands on both sides of the bed and available plugs behind them, also they have reading lights integrated into the headboard. The bed was comfortable enough, the pillows were a bit squishy for my taste, but taking the extra one from the closet helped. The closet was the only part of the room that I felt could use some love or even a total makeover. We had to contact our butler for more hangers which were promptly delivered. The room could use more drawer space, aside from the clothes I had hanging in the closet, I lived out of my carry-on. The bathroom was well-lit and even had a lighted mirror for the ladies to do their makeup. The toilet had a frosted door so you could do your business in peace and solitude, and the flush was powerful enough that it was never required twice. The walk-in shower was smaller than we are used to but had a rainshower head and a handheld wand, no worries there. A tip for the bathroom...the sinks are shallow and the faucets have pretty good water pressure so if you throw it on without thinking you may get an accidental bath. Turn them on gently. Our room came with a balcony with two chairs. It would have been cool to have a small table out there, but you could always grab the smaller one from the room I guess. Our view consisted of the swim-up rooms and pool below us and Margaritaville behind us. I had read some other reviews where folks had issues with noise coming from the resort behind. Personally, this was never an issue for us. We also had some pigeons that would hang out with me while I read on the balcony in the morning or while my wife was napping. Apparently, guests have been feeding them because they do not seem to have any fear of people. We decided to hit Sanctuary Town for our first dinner and settled on the Burger Factory. We had the hot nachos to start, and they were good, with a nice kick but not so much that you didn't want more. I had the fried chicken burger while my wife had a classic beef. Both were good, we made our way back to the castle, grabbed one more drink at the Ocean bar, and called it a night. We decided that day two was going to be a pool day since we had a cabana on the beach for Thursday. We had room service for breakfast, got our beach bag packed for the pool, and headed upstairs. It took a little getting used to having to go up to get to the main floor. If you are looking for a quieter, more leisurely place to enjoy the outdoors the castle pool is the place for you. It is most definitely not the hub of activity that you will find down at the main pool. That being said, I was perfectly happy here with my book and a steady supply of margaritas from the Ocean bar. They have service at the loungers but it can be a little sporadic. I think the resort pulls employees out of the castle pool area and sends them elsewhere for the lunch rush. It's really not an issue as it's a very short walk to the bar and I don't mind grabbing my own, keeps me honest about how much I've had. If you feel like being social we found there were usually folks around willing to chat, but we also had some stretches where we literally had the place to ourselves, which I thought was kind of cool, like our own personal giant plunge pool. The biggest drawback to the castle pool in my opinion is the limited food options. The main pool has the beach shack, the buffet, and the blue marlin. At the castle pool, you get a limited room service menu. I still chose the castle pool over the main pool because, at this stage of my life, I like quiet. After many margaritas and lots of sun, we decided I should venture into Sanctuary Town once again, this time to procure a pizza. I got a pepperoni and a to-go box for five dollars. The pizza was decent, and that's high praise for a guy from Jersey. We had a cabana on the beach for Thursday from 9-5, and made our way down there around 945. Our server was a young lady who worked the Destination bar, she was excellent. The experience itself was nice, but probably not something we would repeat. We received a nice bottle of rum as part of the package, and in hindsight, probably would have requested it not be opened, so we could take it home with us in our luggage. As it turned out we ended up giving it away, with no regrets as we felt it was going to a worthy recipient. We got lunch from La Yola which came by really quickly after we ordered. I had the smash burger and my wife had the fish and chips, we both felt the fish was really good. We ended up leaving the beach around two and headed back to our room for a shower and a nap before dinner. Tonight's destination was sushi town, since my wife and I are both big sushi fans. We got five rolls to split between us and really enjoyed four of the five. We liked the acevichado roll, spicy tuna, avocado, and california. The only one we weren't thrilled with was the crispy crab. Stopped off at the love bar for a cocktail or two and headed back to our room. Friday was a slow day for us, we made our first foray to the breakfast buffet and really enjoyed it. My wife was a little under the weather so she napped quite a bit, while I went down for drinks and a bite at the castle pool. Even managed to fit in some swimming. Staysie provided excellent service, and I went back to my room in the late afternoon to get ready for dinner. We went for a late bite at the wok restaurant, the service was a little slow even though they didn't seem terribly busy. I enjoyed the Geisha cocktail, and we had the steamed dumplings and spring rolls as our starters, they were just okay. We had chicken pad thai with udon and shrimp fried rice for our mains, we ended up swapping our dishes halfway through but didn't finish either one of them. Had a mandarin yuzu mousse cake for dessert which I thought was good. Saturday I got up and out early to take pictures of the sunrise, then we headed to Casabella for the buffet breakfast. We grabbed a quick lunch of fish and chips and nachos at La Yola. We spent another day at the castle pool and even had it all to ourselves for an hour or two. We were excited about our dinner reservation at Capriccio, and on a hunch, I had made an additional reservation for Monday night. I am so glad I did. Now, I know food is extremely subjective at resorts, and things some folks love others may find to be average. That being said, I'm just a blue-collar guy from Jersey so I can't say how refined my palate is but this meal blew the other resorts we've stayed at out of the water. The piccolina is a light and delicious cocktail, and I enjoyed it immensely. For our starters we had the fresh burrata and the eggplant parmesan, both were delicious. For our entrees we did the spinach and ricotta ravioli, which my wife raved about, and the sicilian swordfish, which I absolutely fell in love with. We also had the tomato risotto to share, which was also very good. For dessert, we shared the Roche chocolate tart, which was simply stunning. Our server Felix did an outstanding job, very friendly and attentive. On Sunday I had scheduled a fishing excursion, it was supposed to be six hours but due to choppy seas and my wife not feeling well we had to cut it to two. I did catch a beautiful mahi so it was not a complete loss. I've fished both coasts in the US and consider myself seasoned, even I was a little queasy. As a result, we slept most of the day and had to cancel our hibachi reservation at the wok, just didn't feel up to it. We ordered some cheeseburgers from room service later at night. We both felt better Monday, had a room service breakfast, and went to the buffet for lunch. Our spa appointment for the "better together" package was at three. We both felt the massages were excellent but that the hydrotherapy area could use some more attention. We had a 730 at Capriccio and couldn't wait for round two. we were fortunate to get Felix as our server again. This time around for starters I had the arancini which was delicious and my wife chose the eggplant parmesan. I went with the swordfish again for my main, this time with the squid ink risotto on the side. My wife went with the boneless ossobuco, also outstanding. For dessert this time we went with the tiramisu, which my wife absolutely loved, and the vanilla panna cotta, which I felt was very good. Tuesday, our last full day, brought another room service breakfast, time at the castle pool, and the Blue Marlin for lunch. David, our server at the Marlin was excellent. We were planning to hit the steakhouse for dinner and were glad that we did. The Hooke cocktail was light and delicious. My wife had the house cabernet, which she felt was decent. For starters, my wife had the Caesar salad and I the shrimp cocktail, both enjoyable. We both went with the Angus 7 oz filet and they were delicious. I also ordered the cajun salmon, which was the best I have ever had. We topped it off with a chocolate lava cake and mamajuana. Our transfer was due to pick us up at one o'clock Wednesday, I arranged to have our luggage picked up at 11, and we checked out and lounged around the ocean bar until our ride came. It was a lovely resort with great employees who provided excellent service at every turn. The food was outstanding for an all-inclusive in my opinion. I wish I had taken more names down throughout our stay, as every employee we interacted with was friendly and helpful. Our butler, Joan was gracious and accommodating for anything we asked of him, even going above and beyond with a few of our requests and arranging things for us even when he was off the property. He is an asset to the resort. We would return, although maybe for a shorter duration.

Just got back from a week's stay at Sanctuary Cap Cana resort. What a fabulous resort! We stayed at the Castle (Junior suite, Gardenview). Our butler, Eric, was so wonderful. He had already made reservations for all restaurants ahead of time, and he was extremely friendly, helpful, and easily accessible through What's App. He checked on us every day. The food at every restaurant was delicious. We cannot say enough praises for the staff at every restaurant we went to. Special shout outs to Kelvin (who introduced us to Dominican food, drink, and dance!) and served us not only at the Blue Marlin, but also at Casabellas, Valentina , our beautiful hostess at Casabellas, Tracey at Casabellas who always remembered what type of coffee we would order ("Decaf Lattes"), Brillis at the Coffee Shop who knew our coffee order every day without us asking for it after our first day (try a Sanctuary- delish!). Happy Boy- who always found us lounge chairs even when the main pool was busy! Stacey and Darlin- both the wonderful bartenders at The Oceanview bar/Restaurant at the Castle. I wish I could remember all the names of the wonderful staff from restaurant/bar service to pool attendants, just know you will be treated beautifully! We truly felt we were in sanctuary!

What an excellent vacation. We stayed in the Villas, which gave us the privacy we were craving. We also were assigned our concierge, Mr. Frank, who was always available, even when he wasn't working. Our needs were always taken care of. I 100% recommend the butler services and Mr. Frank was awesome for us. We did so many of the activities - biking, water aerobics, tobacco workshop, and several other things. Mr. John gave us a nice tour on the biking excursion and he was so much fun with the water aerobics. Mr. Jose made sure we were set up every day with chair and cabanas around the pool. Ms. Vanessa was their every day offering us the our favorite drinks. There were so many other people who were so nice to us. The staff is what really made our vacation. It's literally paradise. Warm, pools, beach, ocean, food, drink, all we could hope for. If you're looking for an adults only retreat, this is the place!