Me and my boyfriend stayed here on 30/06 - 14/07 2008. I want to start of by saying don’t believe the bad reviews you read on this hotel - a holiday is what you make it and these people are clearly stuck up - especially to say the service is horrible?? there is nothing but smiles from the people who work there, nothing but great service - we couldn’t speak any Spanish except for "OLA" and we didn’t get different looks from them, they didn’t get funny with us like most of the comments say on here that they are funny if you cant speak their language - most of them can speak English. don’t worry if you cant speak Spanish.

Next there was a lot of moaning on here about only getting your drinks till after your mean in the main buffet - not true for us, first week as soon as we sat down water was being poured into our glasses and a drink of our choice. there was only one time it was extremely busy - which we had to wait, understandable however people may see this as being an inconvenience as they simply are not patient!

You don’t get treated differently if you don’t tip - where do people get all this from? we tipped our maid - and occasionally, only occasionally the waiters. but when we didn’t tip we was treated the same.

Beach is AMAZING but be careful of the annooyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyying people trying to sell you stuff - on evenings when going to the lobby part when there are men in green WALK THE OTHER WAY they stop you and ake you feel so guilty into buying something fro there stall!!!!

Room - basic enough nice bathroom, no problem with water, air con etc was in villa 9.

Weather - gorgggggggggggggggeous!!

the holiday is really what you make of it - we loved this place and had not one problem. Thought I’d leave a review as I was on this every single day before I was going so I know how fun it is to read a good review ;-)

We spent the week before Memorial Day at the Ocean Blue Golf and Beach Resort in Punta Cana. Food was wonderful! An endless amount of options, from the theme restaurants to the buffet. The buffet is changed daily, so while some food is the same, most is rotated. Even my vegetarian daughter could find multiple selections at each meal.

The service was wonderful. We were treated like rock stars. They fondly referred to my daughter and her friend (two 19 year olds) as the princesses, and they were treated as such. Our rooms were cleaned thoroughly with lots of bleach! (you could smell the clean) Note; they are a bit stingy with towels, and they don't always make your room up in the morning, however, this wasn't a huge deal. As we walked the property, we were greeted all the time, and the staff remembered our names and little details about us.

This was a great place to bring two teenagers. They could choose to be with us, or they could be on their own and stay on the property and be perfectly safe. There are fun activities every night, especially the bar scene, which they were legal for down there. (They are college students - I have no illusions that they don't drink) The other guests were friendly and they quickly made friends with other young people, and met up with them after dinner to hit the disco. There was nightly entertainment in the large lounge, and then a theater with shows. The theater was somewhat cheesy, but still fun. Don't expect NYC caliber, and you'll be ok!!

Here's a tip - if you plan on doing extras like para sailing, or Manatee Park (swimming with the dolphins - fantastic!), bring lots of cash. No one down here takes credit cards, and they price everything in American dollars. We were four people, and we did a couple of pricey day events and we were glad we had brought extra cash (we brought $800) in cash and I had about $80 in my wallet when I got home. You are not expected to tip, but we did some bar tipping because we were so impressed with the service, and the same waitress was attentive to us every night.

Believe them when they say watch the water you drink. My husband and I got a parasite the last day there, and arrived home very sick and had to go on antibiotics immediately. Of course the girls were fine! Perhaps we let our guard down - it's hard to say. I think we are the exception, not the rule. Don't let that stop you from going there. Great choice for the money!!

I went with a group of 9 to the Dominican and absolutely loved it. The one complaint I have about the hotel is the fact that they didn't put our rooms all together- we were spread out in different "villas". It would have been nice to be close together so we wouldn't have to go searching for other members of the group. The food was average- Of course everyone had "issues" and had to run to the toilet once or twice but that comes with eating an entirely different type of food than we do in the states.

I thought the entertainment was great. Each night they had people on a stage performing. Each night was a different theme. At times it was a little "erotic" but good. Our group loved going to the Disco. It's so fun to watch people let loose and have a great time.

the pools were amazing. Along with the pool bars! I love being able to drink pina coladas at the pool at 10am!!! The beach was also great, but a little windy. You can walk up and down the beach a long ways. Nice to check out what else is around! Lots of shops so you deffinately don't have to leave the resort to do your shopping if you don't want to.

I liked the set up of the resort- it was like a big square and there were shops/restaurants/ etc around the square. Also has a place where internet can be checked, pictures that were taken through out the day at the resort can be purchased, etc.

I saw that several people tipped. I didn't. And I never had bad service. I guess it's your preference.

Several people in our group took light bulbs with them because they read on here that the rooms were dark. I didn't take any along with me- but it appeared to me that someone that stayed prior to my stay had already changed the light bulbs.

I have also noticed people making statements about how the rooms were. You will notice when driving through the Dominican that EVERYTHING is hand made. They don't have the forms of building equipment like we do here in the states. It's amazing to see how they build their buildings... all by hand.

We booked several excursions through "apple vacations". which can also be booked by the people that walk around the pool area trying to get you to book. Here are my thoughts on the excursions that we did. the first one was the snorkling/sting ray- It was awesome. They had a mini bar on the boat (couldn't drink until after you swam- liability reasons) a little treat, and entertaiment. They had quite a few staff members that actually took a groups of people in the water and showed you different things, fed the fish so they would swarm around you, etc. It was deffinately worth the month. 4 of us did the swimming with the dolphins $130. It was not worth the money at all. You did not get to interact with the dolphins nearly as much as you should have for that price. we felt like we were being hurdled around like cattle. They do not have individual sales of pictures- so be prepared to spend 30 dollars or more for a video. Some of the group did zip line- which I heard was amazing- and 4-wheeling, which was alright (be prepared to get dirty as you drive in the sand). I wish I had more time there because there is soooo much to do, and you also want to have some relaxation time by the pool or by the beach!! isn't that what a vacation is for?!?!?!

Be prepared- this is a very poor but beautiful country. No one will ever harm you- they appreciate the money and work that you bring to the country. Remember- you don't need to pay full price for items that you buy. You can always get them to take less money!!!

Becareful- I could never get through on the phone to the states- but just for trying I got charged. Some people were able to use their cell phones while there. I however, was not able to.

Enjoy your trip! I know I sure did!!!

We did a lot of research on the resort and thought we had made the right decision on the stay. We were a group of 10 that stayed 6/24 - 7/1 and had our ups and downs with the resort. We were in Villa 6 and booked under the "elite club" and prepaid for many things through our travel agent. Don't get me wrong - we had a good time on the trip, but we just didn't get what we paid for.

The Good

- the beach was very nice and gives you the feeling of South FL - if you swim out a little bit, it is nice and clear. The area is lined with resorts going both North and South, but you are welcome to walk the beaches as far as your legs will carry you. We found that about 1/2 mile to the south of the resort there was an area with much larger waves to jump and body surf. We were never hassled on the beach by the walking cigar vendors, a simple no gracias and they kept walking.

The shops will hassle you whenever you walk by and you should expect to pay @ 25% of whatever they start out with.

The pool is HUGE and you may need to watch for the little ones if you take them with you. All of the kids in our party can swim, but it is very big and if you are in the middle, you could get tired(sorry, past lifeguard coming out of me).

The food was what you would expect at an all inclusive. Some resorts are better than others - this one is about right in the middle. For those that complain about the food - when was the last time you cooked for 1000 people from all over the world?

The town square concept was very nice and people seemed to enjoy themselves.

The Bad

Service - not so much without tipping. I know a lot of people say tip because they don't make much and work so hard...I paid for an all inclusive. If I had wanted to tip I would have gone to Miami or the Redneck Riviera and done ala carte everywhere

The room was nice and cold, but our friends room was nice and hot. They called 5x a day every day for someone to fix it and they never did. I watched them work on it one time and they took a screw driver and banged on the compressor and said that it was fixed - not once did they take a set of guages to check the freon level. Their room and ours also had shower issues - in eac of our rooms there is a secondary floor drain under the bathroom sink that became very useful - the showers over ran the tubs every time we took a shower and ran in to the secondary drain. Our friends shower didn't have one of the pieces of glass, so it just ran in the floor anyway. They were suprosed to find that one day they came in and there was a hole in the floor where the shower once was, looking down in to the room below them - apparently their shower was draining in to the bathroom below.

The shows are mundane. I have been to several resorts that do nightly shows, and these seemed to be all the same. There was a theme to each show, but I could not follow the theme. ie doing a Brazilian Copa Cabana theme and playing American music that did not relate? Even my kids didn't care to go back to the shows. They performers try very hard and obviously work very hard, but they are simply doing what is put in front of them.

The Ugly

Be careful if you book an Elite upgrade. Some of the highlights we were sold and have in writing include: 1 hr of motorized watersports daily(jetski, mini speed boats, banana ride, water skiing), 30 min catamaran daily, climbing wall, bungee jumping, conciege in our building (with beach towels), private check in and check out, ability to reserve a restaurant, 30 min relaxing massage, horseback riding, 24 hr room service, premium alcohol in room, stocked mini fridge, pool and/or ocean view

what we received:
15 minutes on our choice of a banana ride or water skiing
one 30 minute catamaran ride
climbing wall was broken all week
bungee jumping was $7 per jump per person
concierge was in villa 5 with the main purpose of selling trips/upgrades
had to get beach towels exchanged by 9 am each morning on the beach before they ran out
check in/check out was to the left in the lobby
reservations at restaurants were taken, but we were served las
15 minute massage
did not do horseback riding
alcohol in room was one time thing - if it was restocked, you had to pay for it at whatever price they wanted which included the mini fridge
our room overlooked the service road between Ocean Blue and the next hotel

The Really Really disgusting

My daughter had the following things stolen - a pair of Rocket Dog sandals while swimming in the ocean, a dive mask, and a Teddy bear was taken from the room 2 days before we left for home. I personally put all of the stuffed animal in one spot before leaving the room each day and know it was there when we left. It disappeared and the hotel said that the maid that cleaned our room was no longer with the hotel.

When checking out of the hotel, I was being charged $30 for calls that I made from the room. I used my cell phone, not theirs. When I forced them to show me the times and numbers called - it was before our plane ever landed in Punta Cana, so be wary of the phone thing.

To summarize the trip - we had a good time, we didn't get what we paid for, no one got sick from the food or water(self induced does not count), the grounds were clean, the entire resort including rooms and lobby are slicker than snot when wet, I wouldn't go back. I will be happy to answer anyones questions or comments.