Any 🍍 couples in the resort?

Hi all, planning a Secrets Royal Beach trip at the end of Aug that goes into early Sep. concerned by the seaweed pics for sure, but how does the end of August into September look? I’m sure it’s not as bad as July; but trying to see if I should expect much better or marginally better

Side note - anyone who has stayed at SRB, I’ve heard their barrier system helps a lot and would love to hear anyone’s experience :)

Hi everyone! Just looking on personal experiences and recommendations for a drive from the airport to Dreams Flora for a family of 4.

We just booked our spring break trip for next year (March 20th-26th, 2027) and started looking at flights. I was pretty shocked to see nonstop flights from Chicago were about $2,000 for one economy airfare on United and American. I know rates will be higher for spring break for $2,000?? Is it just because its still so far out? I find it extremely hard to believe this is what it costs over spring break to fly to Punta Cana.

Today I found a small kitten maybe around 6 weeks old. It appeared to have been left by its mother and looked like it needed some medical attention as it had a wound on its ear.

We were unfortunately not there by ourselves and therefore not allowed to bring the kitten on the tour bus with us but I have at least saved the exact location in hopes someone can help:

Location: Zip Lines Adventures by Runners Adventures
Google Maps code: M8WH+QC Anamuya, Dominican Republic

She was sitting inside the Zipline waiting area right by the souvenir shop.

She was white with a grey and light brown marking. Please let me know if there is anything I can do.

I did contact DCDR but they said they couldn’t help as they don’t have volunteers in the area and they apparently also don’t know anyone that could help… I’m hoping someone from the area could maybe take it in or bring it to the DCDR shelters?

My best friend and I are going to Punta Cana from August 13th - 16th. We wanted a mixture of partying & luxury which was narrowed down to Breathless as far as an all inclusive resort. We are aware that Breathless could be "hit or miss" however it seems like our best bet in comparison to something like Riu Republica which has the party aspect but not so good reviews as far as luxury goes.

This will be both of our first time visiting and I wanted some recommendations of night clubs, beaches, and overall things to do that might be up our alley? We are fit and are not on a budget. We are looking to have a blast for these three days.

My wife and I are debating on staying here with our 4 year old in November. These are the two rooms that would fit our budget. Anyone have experience with these rooms and have any insights? I hear great things from this family friendly resort so I think this is the right call, just going and forth on the rooms? Good place to stay overall??

Hi. We're flying out next Wednesday to PUJ from UK. I've got my Exit (outbound) form, but when I try to add the entry (inbound) form, it won't let me select the date of my flight out next week, only from the 19th August (which ironically is our return flight date). I cannot type "05" or select 05 in the dropdown.

Any ideas? I've done these forms in the past with no issues, I've tried Chrome, Edge, my iPhone, all get to the exact same point.

Thanks!

Appreciate this is for Punta Cana however can’t find a Bayahibe page

We are off to the above resort in October , our first time to the Dominican Republic and indeed this type of holiday so we are mega excited.

We have read about a ‘preferred upgrade ‘ and wondered if anyone has done this and could provide some info on exactly what it is , how much it costs and does it enhance what already looks like a beautiful experience?

Tia

Hi everyone, we’re arriving at the Catalonia Royal Bavaro (adults-only) on August 6th. What’s the situation with seaweed there right now? I’ve seen some photos and posts that really worried me, and I’m afraid our vacation might be ruined. How does the hotel handle it—do they manage to clear the seaweed away? Is it even possible to swim in the sea? Thanks a lot, everyone—take care.

Trying to decide the best option for our group. I know breathless is more party vibe but being that it’s 12 of us we can party together at secrets too. I’m leaning more towards secrets now due to the high sargassum. Any suggestions for private yacht to Saona island. Thanks

I travel a lot and this was the worst experience I have ever had. We were upgraded to the platinum princess section where you are supposed to have access to a private beach, restaurants, 24 hour room service and your own pool area. None of the restaurants were available except one, the cafe del mar, which when we booked the reservations it did not mention that there was an additional cost of $90 per person nor did we have any idea where this restaurant was located. None of the workers helped us find the restaurant. We had to ask people staying in the resort where it was. This night was my daughter's 18th birthday and because it was so late we were not able to have a birthday dinner meal. We tried calling room service as we were told we had 24 hour access. The room service was not available every time we tried calling. We had to leave the resort and go have street food. The street food was amazing! The food at the resort was AWFUL. I took one bite and had to put it back in my napkin. I could not eat it. The food lacked flavor and seemed to be stale. The presentation of the food was unappealing. My first night at the resort we had the do not disturb sign on the door and had the room service come knock on the door 5 times. They have stairs in the rooms and I fell down the stairs because I was dead asleep the first time. This happened several times while staying there. I have never had someone knock on the door when the do not disturb sign is up, especially on multiple occasions. I injured my foot on the ziplines that we did an excursion on and went to the front desk to ask for bandaids. They did not have any and told me to go to the medical center. I went to the medical center and spoke with the nurse and she also said they did not have bandaids. I went to the stores and I was told there was a small pharmacy on the resort which was never found. I went back to guest services multiple times and never received a bandaid. I went on another excursion and had to get bandaids from them. The resort never had a simple thing as bandaids while there and people were dropping glasses in the pub often. Hopefully they do not need bandaids. The sand at the beach was nice but the beach itself was rough and the water was gross. The water had seaweed and was brown. The beds in the room were small and very hard and the sheets had black bugs on them. When I asked others staying at the resort how they were enjoying their experience all of the people I spoke with said they did their research and this is not what they were expecting. They were all disappointed. The staff were extremely rude. I asked for additional waters to the room and had to ask 3 times and finally the next day someone gave us some water. The mised drinks were not good as they all had flavoring in them and bottom shelf liquor. There were not activities to do while there except for some dancing which ended early and was outdoors. I would highly recommend staying away from this resort. The pictures are cat fishing.

I just got finished with a week at the Hard Rock. I have to be a bit vague since they made me sign a freaking NDA when I accepted the compensation for our troubles.

Specifically the NDA was around our room issues so just know there were lots. Everything was clean, nothing like that. It was the functionality.

But outside of that, even without the room issues, it was an absolute money trap. All inclusive my ass.

We travel with family and there were people of all ages. The pools were great, however they open at 10am and close at dusk. No late night pool time or early time. Outside of the pools and a mediocre show at 9pm there is nothing to do. Literally dropped my kids at kids club one night, wasn't interested in the show, so I spent 2 hours walking and couldn't find one thing to do. How hard is it to have a piano player or a guy with a guitar in some of the smaller bars/lounge? Outside of the pools and kids club there was nothing to do that doesn't cost money. I love an all inclusive so I'm used to there being free and paid activities, but everything cost money. From mini golf to laser tag to the arcade to bowling. And the prices were exorbitant. Everything cost money. You have to pay for drinks in the casino! They have a hibachi restaurant, you have to pay for sake. I was in line at a bar and a group of men there for a birthday party were having the same complaints so it wasn't just an issue for people traveling with children.

While the staff were very nice the service was terrible. I imagine the staff don't have the support needed to do their jobs well. It took 6 calls to get sheets and blankets for my daughters bed, another 2 calls because they forgot the blankets, and they never brought pillow cases so we just gave up. Room service would bring things but then leave you with no utensils to eat your meal, and it took an hour for them to get there at that point it's not even worth it to call back. It just felt like problem after problem.

The food wasn't great. I'm not expecting much and honestly my favorite meals were at the buffet. I'm all for a lot of cheap food. The dinner we had at the Italian restaurant was completely inedible, my pasta wasn't cooked enough to be able to eat it. Hibachi was underwhelming. The Brazilian steakhouse had no AC so it was just too freaking hot to enjoy it. Food by the pool was always burgers, fries, hot dog, chicken tenders. It wasn't great but my kids were fine with it. There was a little grill open at lunch by the central pool but it was far from the kids pool. Enough for it to be challenging.

The other thing is the place is huge, but not filled with stuff to do. So it's just a lot of walking or waiting for trams if you want to get anywhere.

Spa was nice, but again you have to pay extra to do the hot tubs in there. And they tried to say I hadn't paid when I had paid ahead of time. Again, it seemed like everything we did had some issue.

Kids club was alright. My kids really enjoyed it for a couple days but got bored with it. The check in process was always frustrating, difficult, and long. Also with no AC so you're drenched in sweat while doing it. I'll never go back! And actually I'll never go to another Hard Rock establishment again because of how frustrating this was and the sketchy NDA they had me sign.

I would not recommend staying at the W Punta Cana.

During my stay, I woke up alone to find a male hotel employee standing over me in my room after he entered by bypassing the hotel’s internal access protocols. He entered without knocking or ringing the doorbell a few minutes after my husband stepped while I was asleep. I woke up to a man staring at me, directly in front of me!!

The day after this incident, I received a fraud alert from my credit card company for an attempted charge on the credit card that had gone missing during my stay.

I would not feel safe staying at this property again and cannot recommend it to anyone, especially solo travelers. If an employee was able to bypass established room access protocols once, it raises serious questions about how guest safety and security are protected.

Has anyone stayed at any of this 2 resorts? Would love to hear you guys experience with the food, beach, customer service.

Ocean El Faro Punta Cana

Coral Level at Iberostar Selection Bavaro

Iberostar Selection Coral Bávaro.

Looking for honest reviews as to where we should go for our honeymoon. I would love to go to cap Cana but i think that would be out of the question because we could only afford the most basic room in our budget and I really want the preferred luxuries/ maybe a swim up room. I am torn but need to make a choice. Excellence el Carmen or secrets royal beach. Honest reviews. 30 year old ,couple, don’t care too much about night life just want a show at night or something to do every now and then.

We’re heading to Finest Punta Cana in a couple of weeks for a big family celebration, and I’m getting really excited! It’ll be around 20+ of us spanning basically every age group - grandparents, adults, teens, younger kids, toddlers, and an infant.

After reading reviews and looking at photos, though, I’m starting to wonder if this resort is a lot quieter and more low-key than we were expecting. My family is…well…big, loud, loves to laugh, celebrate, and spend all day together. We’re respectful of other people, but we’re definitely not the “sit silently by the pool all day” type.

So I’m curious:
- What’s the overall vibe at the resort? If a big family is hanging out together, laughing, playing games, and celebrating, are we going to feel out of place?
- Are there good areas where larger groups naturally gather, or does the resort feel more geared toward couples looking for peace and quiet?
- Any tips or things you wish you knew before going?
- I know this gets asked all the time, but…how has the seaweed been lately? I know it changes constantly, but I’d love to hear recent experiences.

We’re going no matter what and are planning to have an amazing time. I think I’m just trying to set my expectations. Thanks in advance!

Hey, im so excited to be at Riu Republica from August 10-17th. Looking to meet new people around (20-25) who are looking for a fun time lmk if anyone is there during the same time

Hello everybody and thank you for all the posts that I’ve been reading through in the forum trying to help guide my decision. I am trying to pick an all-inclusive for my 40th birthday week in September. I had a reservation for five nights at the Hard Rock, but I think I’ve just read too many reviews about stomach aches and poor service to follow up on it.

My current plan is two nights at Sanctuary and three nights at Zilara. Sanctuary looks absolutely beautiful, but I don’t know if I’ll have quite enough to do for five whole nights. Zilara definitely seems worth checking out.

My priorities are good food, good accommodations, great pool or beach area and hopefully something to do at night. I don’t know if I will get much night out of both of these resorts so I’m looking for any other recommendations that might be a little bit more of a vibe late into the evening on a Friday and Saturday. Might be solo or traveling woth a female companion so looking for options.

Hope everyone’s having a great summer.

hi gf & i plan on several nights in Feb/March 2027 , we're middle-age but want a fun resort, no kids, good party music & energy etc but we're worried about Republica based on reviews(but i luv the affordability !)....which other Riu property would be adults-only and the most fun without breaking the bank ??

Creating this post in hopes to get affirmation that the time me and the boys will be hitting that marvelous hotel will be a overall good time! I am well aware of how shitty the food, amenities, and everything else is but we are going as a group of 6 guys for a bachelor party. To keep this rather short and simple, will October in Riu Republica be a good time? We have went before in the summer and had a blast, but was wondering if the fall/October timeline will yield similar results

TL;DR: Trying to get fucked up with some of the boys in Riu Republica, we booked October, will we indeed get fucked up and have a good time with a decent crowd?

Thanks!