The DR was the coolest place I have ever been. We flew in on Sunday (6/29) and as soon as we got in the transfer van the skies opened up. Torrential downpour which made our 45 minute ride into an hour and 45 minute ride (we flew into La Romana Airport and saved over $700 US). Paved (luckily) two way streets with potholes the size of New Hampshire. If they have traffic laws, I don't think they told their people about them! :o)

Got to the Royal Suites and it was gorgeous, flowers and palm trees everywhere. Didn't rain again the whole trip (at least during the day). We got a room on the third floor, so we had vaulted ceilings, travertine tile floors and a balcony overlooking the pool and beach! Jetted tub, separate shower and toilet and a king size bed.

1st full day we spent on the beach, powdery white sand, turquoise water, bluest sky I have ever seen and the sound of the trade winds rustling the palm trees above. We eventually made our way to the pool (our exclusive adults-only pool) and meet some great people from Arkansas, Ohio, St. Louis, Maryland, Chicago and Boston. We partied with them the rest of the week.

On Tuesday, we ventured around the resort and found some of the tours we wanted to take and vegged by the pool and beach again.

Wednesday my husband and I went scuba diving (my 1st ocean dive!) at the Rontana site. It was so amazing, like swimming in an aquarium! Tons of fish and corals and luckily no sharks! We had such a good time we scheduled an all day dive (two dives total) for Saturday. Thanks Jonathan!

On Thursday we vegged on the beach and at the pool and hit a little flea market right down the beach from our (exclusive again) beach (the flea market comes on site Thursday and Friday nights in front of the Palace).

On Friday we were supposed to go deep sea fishing, but when we arrived at the beach we were told our boat was having mechanical problems and our trip was cancelled. Only bummer of the trip. So we went to the pool bar and got toasted! I was 4th of July and all! No fireworks, but all the Americans partied together and had a great time! There was a beach party that we skipped due to our early dive time the next morning. But I heard it was fun! (Way to go Carla!!!)

On Saturday we did our 2nd dive trip and I can't even describe how amazing that was. The first dive dropped us off around a small island named Catalina Island. We were over a coral reef at about 35 ft deep. Our dive master (thanks Rafael) then took us on an underwater tour and we found ourselves looking over the reef into the abyss. The reef drops off 120 feet and is called the Catalina Wall. We only went down about 60 ft, but saw some really cool fish and plant life. The second dive took us to a different reef and we stayed down at about 35 ft for 55 minutes. It was amazing (sorry I'm running out of adjectives!)

Sadly we had to pack Sunday and fly home, but we had the best time!

As the previous post stated, we had no cold water for two days. The resort next to us (Palace) had an electrical fire in their Pool Tiki Bar and it burned to the ground. They closed their pool and drained it completely. We were inconvienced for two days in order for them to fill their pool back up with water. While uncomfortable, not unbearable nor a reason to write off this resort.

Oh, and the food! We had Italian, Mexican, Dominican, seafood, steak, Asian and tons of breakfast buffets. I swear I gained about 10 pounds while I was there. The rum, wine and beer were flowing and we were never without anything we wanted. It was truly Awesome!

Bring bug spray if you venture off the resort, sunblock and plenty of cash for tips (if you are nice and you should be) and excursions as there are no ATMs or banks on site. Give our best to Ronny (the Royal Suite pool Bartender). And enjoy the Coco Locos!

We stayed in the royal suites for our honeymoon from 6/14-6/21/2008. We are from Ohio and booked through Apple vacations. We loved every minute of it. The employees of the hotel were great. The service was impeccable. The bartenders at the pool bar were awesome!!! hi teodoro and ronnie!

The beach is beautiful. The sand is soft and the water is clear blue and warm(but cold enough to cool you off on a hot day). The pool was refreshing and we met some great people there. Hi everyone!!!

They do have some american liquor at the royal suites such as Jim Beam/Skyy vodka but you have to ask for it. All of the drinks i had were strong enough to taste the alcohol. I had WAYYY too much to drink one day but we did get to meet alot of people by me being drunk :)

The only complaint i would have is the food. I am a very picky eater to begin with(i only eat chicken, no meat or seafood) but my husband had a hard time finding something to eat as well. I would say the best place we ate at was the Mexican themed a la carte.

We had a honeymoon suite in the royal suites. On the first night and the 4th night, we had ants in our room. We called down to the front desk and they came and sprayed our room. We didnt have any problems after that.

Overall, we had a great time. The weather was great, the people(workers and those we met) were great. The beach was awesome. We had a great time on our honeymoon.

Please contact me if you have any questions!

Well, we returned Friday night from our enjoyable trip at the Palace. It was very nice and the weather was wonderful. The grounds are very nice and yes, the resort is quite large. If you take the tram around you will get your bearings and you will be fine. We were a party of eight and we did walk and it was okay. You have the option of the tram or the casino car (golf cart like cars).

The theme restaurants are located throughout the resorts. The Palace has the Italian (across the street from lobby). Punta Cana has Dominican (by the beach). The Bavaro has Mexican, Japanese/Chinese/Thai and Spanish (next to the lobby). Across the street is the Sports Bar. The Bavaro also has the Seafood/Steakhouse located by the ocean. I thought that the Mexican and Japanese were the best. They all have very little choices on the menu and offer very unique options. The seasonings are very different from what we are used too. The buffets have many choices. We made it through the week fine (just remember if you want a change go to the Sports Bar for pizza and ice-cream). It is not the same pizza they have at the lunch and dinner buffets. Just remember they are cooking for thousands of people at each meal!

The bars are located all over the resorts. Hemmingway’s (Bavaro section) by far has the best alcohol in terms of quality and choices. I felt that the bartenders were very generous with the amount of alcohol that went into the drinks. The bars at the beach are very limited. Some of the bars had bands or entertainment at night.

The rooms were very clean. We did have problems with the lock on our door and our safe alarm. The safe alarm was resolved pretty quickly because of a very nice maid and my son communicating in Spanish. When we called the front desk we were told to wait a number of times. My sister's room had a problem with the air conditioner and it took three days to resolve the problem. They eventually moved her to another room. I questioned if they really couldn’t understand the language or they choose not to.

Our group of eight consisted of two American families; each family having two teenagers. I don’t think the resort caters to teenagers at all with the exception of the sports complex. They didn’t have teen hours at the disco. The only way they could go is at 11:30 with an adult. The resort had very few children or teens at all. And when we did see them they did not speak English. Most of the guests were Spanish or German. Language was definitely a challenge. Our group made the best of it and did our best to speak Spanish. Most of the staff was very appreciative of our efforts (others were not). We also always tipped to show our gratitude. I was appalled at the way some of the guests treated the workers. People were demanding, screaming out orders and just plain rude!

To sum it up we stayed at a nice resort with good food that got repetitive at times. We learned a lot about the Dominican culture and people. We really brushed up on our Spanish and met some very interesting and hard working Dominicans (some nice some not so nice). We enjoyed the beautiful pool (until the pool swim-up bar burned down) and the absolutely SPECTACULAR views of the ocean. Not bad for a week away!

All in all I do think it was a good value for your dollar. Would we go back? Maybe in 5 years or so (they are really building up the area). If we return, it will be a resort that enjoys Americans more!

Early Tuesday morning the palapa/pool bar burned down. The pool was filled with all the burnt palm fronds and soot as well as the bar destroyed. The pool was closed immediately for repairs. But thanks to some great Domincan igenuity it should be turned around fast. They brought in 30 workers Tuesday night, drained the pool and have been working around the clock with lights all night long. Wednesday they began rebuilding the pool bar and trying to refill the massive pool. We left Thusday and the pool was almost refilled and may open soon with the pool bar not too far behind. There are two beautiful pool next door in the Punta Cana section for use.
Check back later for a full review of our 11 nights at this incredible and beautiful resort. Also if anyone goes I would love a photo of what the "new" pool bar looks like.

Later...