TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Lovely week at this incredible resort. Modern with all the necessities. Great food at the buffet, really enjoyed. Beach was clean with a snack bar very close and the ocean a lovely blue green. The staff very friendly, efficient, polite and glad to help in any way. We will be back!

My wife and I booked this hotel as a romantic getaway since the reviews were very good, or at least we thought. We arrived at the hotel, Junior helped us to our room he was great all throughout our stay. After the first night we noticed the sheets were dusty and moldy, only one towel was provided for my wife and I, there were no mats near the bathroom so after showering our feet would always wet the floor. As promised the mini bar in the room were supposed to be refilled with two bottles of water a day by housekeeping however this was not being done and we had to keep calling front desk for our water to be refilled, towels also were not being changed. There were exposed wiring in one of the outlet plugs and the outlets are limited, good luck if you need to charge 3 devices at once. Food was ok nothing to brag about, we could have predicted what would be on the buffets menu everyday. There's this chef at dinner working at the habichi grill, line was long and we were unsure as to what he was cooking up so we tried to asking him with the help of another Spanish speaking guest, although our Spanish is not fluent we understood when he told the assisting guest "don't worry about them" and shoved us aside. Pool is dirty with broken tiles all over and their entertainment needs to be worked on. Same songs everyday Suavemente, Danza kuduro, brownskin entertainment host is insultive, there's to much to write about to go into the insulting part. Grey band wearers!!!, look out for the Circle one associates they are very crafty and pressuring trying to lure you into joining Circle One Vacation Club. This one guy wasted 3 hrs of my time talking about the benefits of joining circle one, and if we do accept when can we make the money transfer and all sorts of stuff I'm not trying to hear, got me frustrated to the point where I just wanted to tell him "leave me alone I just want to enjoy my vacation in peace". I have no idea what anyone sees in this place, it's lacking everything and for the price it should be better than this. First amenity on their website says free wifi but we were charged for it at the front desk. The waiters at breakfast were amazing, always happy and friendly, bartenders also! Friendly staff is what keeps this hotel going nothing more...with the correct management it has potential!

I have travelled south rather extensively over the past 10-15 years. I have been to several resorts in Cuba, Panama, Mexico and Punta Cana. I would never stay at less than a 4 star and I understand that 4 star means different things in different countries. However I have stayed in Dominican and I can tell you this resort is absolutely NOT a 4 star resort. I would say that for your reference that I would call a Hyatt a 4 star - and if the Hyatt is a 4 star then this resort is equal to the Red Roof Inn. This was my first visit to this part of the Dominican. I am quite happy in a dated resort, but there is a huge difference between dated and complete disrepair. I have to say I was quite concerned when we arrived at the resort off the bus with about 8 other people and when we were all standing in line for registration the woman shouted "okay everyone listen up because I am saying this once and not repeating to it to everyone" and then proceeded to provide an overview of the resort policies including that there would be a charge for the safe, all "top shelf" alcohol, and wifi on more than one device per room. Her demeanor was disinterested and grumpy consistently throughout the stay. I want to be clear that I have travelled south once or twice per year for the last 13 years with the exclusion of travel restrictions during covid of course. Cuba included I have never had a bad experience or ever felt that I needed to warn other travelers. I have never experienced anything like this resort, ever! Every international guest we spoke to would start their chat with us by asking if our experience had also been terrible and then go on to share their stories and shock at what it was like at this resort. This leads me to have absolutely no idea how there are any solely positive reviews on this site for this resort?! Room - our first room was on the 3rd floor after having requested main floor - the room smelled terrible and the fridge door was hanging off one hinge - we were told the resort was too full so we had to wait 2 nights. Our second room was better however the air conditioning would not cool, we went to the front the next day and asked for this to be looked at. A maintenance person came and looked at the vents and called in another guy who looked at the vents and then said it was done and went to leave, I used my minimal spanish to say the room needed to be more cold and they huffed and walked over to the thermostat and removed the cover and then removed the screw that was in place to make it impossible to turn the thermostat down below 73/74 degrees. The beds are quite similar to what you will find in Cuba, very very hard. The pillows are good though which helps. I should note that we met 3 other people that had cycled through our first room during their stay before they too were moved to another room that could only be described as "less terrible". Food - the food was cold every meal - even when you arrive as they open it is already cold. The food is essentially the same at every meal (potatoes/carrots/beans). The staff eat with the guests. It took us about 4 days to discover that bacon is kept behind the omelet station and you have to wait in line and ask the chef for it. Then if a staff comes up and asks for bacon they will get the bacon that is getting heated up for you. Now I initially thought that this was to bring to guests at their table until I observed that every time the staff took the plates of food and consumed it themselves. On one occasion a staff person tried to take our table while we were up getting food and when we returned and found them at our table we apologized if there had been confusion and the staff person essentially explained that if we had been there before getting our food we could have the table but otherwise we needed to find a new table. The food selections are predominantly catered to local guests. By far the mexican night at the buffet is the best! There is no drink servers at any time. You go up to the bar yourself or you get a drink at a meal. Outside of meals there is really no food available as the snack food at the beach is inedible as it is covered in flies and birds and literally ice cold. In all of my travelling I have never been sick. I started with diarrhea on day 2 and it did not resolve until about 48 hours after I returned home. Everyone in our party and all other guests we spoke to either experienced vomiting or diarrhea during their stay. Guests - it is important for people considering this resort to know that the vast majority of guests are locals. On the weekends it is much more full and all with local guests. Regardless, during our one week stay the international guests were far outnumbered by the local guests at the resort. We estimated there was max about 50-60 international guests at the resort at a time. Beach - the beach is beautiful with lots of chairs available. The local vendors solicit you about every 5 minutes, when you say "no, gracias" they leave you but they say "okay later" and then continue to approach you over and over. They approach you whether you are sleeping, reading, or chatting with others. It makes the beach difficult to enjoy. Safety - I was extremely uncomfortable with what appeared to be open prostitution at the resort. I understand that prostitution is legal in the Dominican and is likely to be sought out by certain travelers however I hope that I am not in the minority to have expected that guests would need to leave the resort to explore these options and that these options would not be brought to the resort with the guests. This made me extremely uncomfortable as these often appeared to be very young women. We did speak to a number of guests who had stayed before covid and said that things used to be much better. I imagine that the pandemic has had a significant effect on this resort but with the state that it is in now it should not be open and hopefully they are able to address the significant issues that are there right now and then the size and location of this resort would be stunning. Overall I need to say that there were some wonderful staff, the breakfast and lunch waiters at the buffet, Johnathan at customer service was kind and wonderful. The entertainment staff are energetic and wonderful as well.

I had been to Puerto Plata 8 times before finding BlueBay. I have stayed at Rhumba Heavens (closed), Dreams (closed), Jack Tar Village (closed), Gran Ventana twice(5 stars), Paradise, Riu Mambo and Riu Merengue. I have now stayed at Bluebay 8 years out of 9 starting in 2014 and am set to return in March 2023 For what I wanted, this could not have been a more perfect experience. This resort is less than 30 minutes from the airport and in an area called Playa Dorada that is gated with security and hosts a number of hotels, a casino and a golf course. The resort was clean and small; small enough that if you forgot something in your room is was less than 2 minutes from end to end to go back. The staff were incredible; friendly and outgoing when you wanted that but also not pushy and overbearing when they could tell you didn't want to b pushed into an activity. My room was clean, comfortable, cool. It's hard to read reviews that trash the "dated" rooms. They are just fine. The food was exceptional. For those that complain about food at resorts, you will not here. Along with the vast assortment of appetizers, breads, cheeses, cold cuts, main dishes, soups, salads, and desserts there was always an omelet station at breakfast and for lunch and dinner there was a pasta station. Simply choose from green peppers, onion, ham, cheese, tomatoes and other ingredients and hand them to the chef and he will make whatever sauce you want. During the day, the beach restaurant offered hot dogs, burgers and deep fried chicken! It was magical :) Honestly, some people I met chose to cancel an a la carte night since the buffet was plenty good enough. The nighttime entertainment was what you made of it. Don't want to see it? Go to bed. Want to watch and not participate? Sit in the back. Want to win the "Ideal Couple" crown? Then get up on stage and have some fun :) The shows put on by the staff were fine ... have a few drinks and the guy laying on glass seems more daring! The beach restaurant had music nightly with a small dance floor which is where the party really gets going. For those that say they had trouble getting a chair by the pool ... not in our case. There were 7 of us by the third day and we all managed to be comfortable. The main pool has a swim up bar and is as lively as the people make it. The second pool was fun, volleyball and water polo (choose your bikini top wisely) and still within ear shot of the swim up bar and the music. The third pool was back by the 7000 and 8000 building, had no music, no alcohol available there (but the people that turned the floatie into a tray that carried 18 drinks were genius) and was mostly for people looking to read and cool off. The ocean was 200 yards from the closest room and a very quick walk from all rooms. Some people thought a large cow or dying yak was emitting a sound from the river; in fact it was a bull frog (sorry Lindsey). The beach at our resort was PERFECT. Puerto Plata beaches are notorious for rocks, shells, coral but our particular stretch was great. I was swimming quite comfortably until Daaaaaan surfaced right beside me and made me scream like a little girl. If you get a chance and are not feeling hungover (ahem) you should compete in the Olympic games ... watch out for the tug of war rope though :( I don't have anything negative to say about this resort. It's underrated for sure. I will be going back many times. I don't travel for surprises. I want a nice room (check), good food (check), friendly staff (check), lots of booze (check), access to the ocean (check) and the ability to have as much fun as possible without offending anyone (check). If you want to see the rest of the country, go on excursions. There is NO NEED to buy Dominican Pesos. Just get lots of small American Bills for tipping those that deserve it. I tipped $10 per day. Why? Because the average income there is $50/week. Check out the people working the breakfast buffet at 7 a.m. still working at 10 p.m. serving you at the show. They work 10 days on and 2 days off, 12 hour days. You're paying $1,200 - $1,600 per week for a trip, what's another $70 to you? Tips: $1 to the person bringing you coffee in the morning and clearing your plate. $1 to the person making omelets .. look at how HOT he is every minute of his shift. $5 to the bartender working the swim up bar when you get your first drink and so you don't need to worry about money in your swim trunks. Trust me, your drink won't be empty long if you do this. $1 to the person working the pasta bar if you get one .. again, very hot job. $1 to the person clearing your table at lunch. $1 to the person clearing your table at dinner. If you're a solo traveler looking to pick up, this is not the place for you. If you're a couple guys looking to pick up, this is not the place for you. There were a large number of gay couples at this resort. It did not offend me, or anyone, and the only reason I mention it is I imagine as a gay couple looking for a resort and reading this review, you may be happy to know it's very gay friendly and you will enjoy your time there. I thinks that's it. If you go because of my review and enjoy yourself let me know.

The entertainment was amazing especially Jean Luis Lebrun. He was so informative, happy, polite. The alcohol flowed well. The staff was super helpful. The sun was plentiful. Went to the waterfall excursion it was great. My only suggestion is to go after some rainfall because some of the waterfall lacwere closed due to not enough rain. The entertainment had a show every night.