Dreams Palm Beach Resort - Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

This is an honest review of the above resort where me and my partner just spent a blissful week, relaxing under the wonderful Caribbean sun. Punta Cana is situated in the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic, La Altagracia and is part of the newly developed Punta Cana-Bavaro –Veron-Macao minicipial district. Truth is, that as much as I was looking forward to this holiday, I could also barely hide my concerns regarding this trip to the Caribbean. Let me explain: last summer we have decided to holiday on the exciting island of Jamaica, and of course we were the envy of our stay at home friends. What a disappointment that trip turned out to be! I won`t blame the terrible, rainy days on the locals, but the poor service the staff have provided at the Riu Ocho Rios is just inexusable. Based on that truly horrible experience, I just really couldn`t imagine what the Dreams Palm Beach in Punta Cana will be like, and of course I didn`t dare to get my hopes up despite the many wonderful reviews on Trip Advisor.

I could not have been more wrong both about the place and its people. We had an absolutely fantastic time combined with glorious weather, a near-perfect hotel, and the staff at the resort -as well as the locals we have met- were just wonderful, welcoming and extremely helpful.

Pros:

• The setting is breathtakingly beautiful: perfectly landscaped tropical gardens, marble reception area, and comfy lounge areas. You definitely know you have landed in paradise.
• The exceptionally friendly and knowledgeable staff is always at hand when you have a query.
• No wristbands to be handed out on arrival (to prove that you are in fact a guest of this particular establishment) and no towel cards. Big brownie points for both!
• As this is an all-inclusive resort, all your meals are being provided in a form of a breakfeast, lunch and dinner buffet: I know this might not be for everyone`s taste, but the food at Dreams Palm Beach is definitely the best I have tasted in any all-inclusive resort. In any case, buffet food does get repetitive after a couple of days, but the selection is huge here and everything is prepared to the highest standards. We could not fault the food, and I have definitely enjoyed the unlimited lobster that was on offer every night. Watch out for the tropical fruit stand on the beach next to the Bare Foot Grill; great healthy snacks throughout the day!
• The Coco Café is something like a Caribbean Starbucks except you won`t have to pay a penny: great selection of coffees, teas, cakes and pastries.

• No bookings at the specialty restaurants! You can literally just walk into any of the A La Carte Restaurants, such as : Himitsu Restaurant (Asian), El Patio (Mexican), Side Grill (seafood), Portofino (Italian), Bordeaux (French). We have tried the Mexican and the Side Grill Seafood restaurant and were very impressed both with the quality of the food as well as the service.
• It`s common practice in this type of resorts to offer free gym facilities to guests. I have to say though that I mostly had bad experiences previously with this, as in some other resorts most of the machines were not even in working order, there was no trainer at hand, no towels, water etc. In DPB all machines were absolutely perfect, was great to get the towel + bottled water on site from the friendly gym attendant, making the workout session much more pleasant.
• Tennis and basketball courts: no need to book these ahead, you can just walk there and pick the rackets and balls yourself from the little shed next to the courts. There are also toilet facilities on site as well as a water cooler. The setting is something else: plush tropical bushes, magnificent flowers, even banana trees! I personally have never played tennis in a more beautiful place before, that`s for sure.
• Endless entertainment: there is no chance to be bored in this place. The members of the entertainment team work their butt off to make sure there is always something going on. Great place too if you have kids (regardless of age), the list of activities is very impressive for both adults and children. Morning walks, stretching classes on the beach, bike tours, Spanish lessons, archery competion, beach aerobics, pool- and beach volleyball, table tennis tournament, water polo, food carving contest, club dance at the beach, step aerobics, etc. The list can go on and on: I have never seen such a well organized entertainment team. And they have a back up plan in case it`s raining!

Cons:

• As nice and clean as the room was, the way the bathroom is set up is rather odd: the sink is at the front of the room, then a smallish, cowboy pub style (ie. too short) glass door leads to the toilet-shower area. The shower doesn`t have a curtain as such, and the toilet area gets easily flooded after a couple of showers. Also there is no privacy whilst using the toilet. Questionable design indeed.... Solution: if needed, use toilets in the lounge area, and don`t take showers on full power, so the water won`t splash too much.
• Seaweed on the beach: despite the landscapers’ best effort to keep the beach seaweed-free, lumps of this annoying plant do gather alongside the front beach. Solution: walk down about 10 minutes on the left hand site and you`ll discover much less occupied, perfectly clean waters. Truly spectacular.
• About twice a week the resort management would allow a handful of vendors to display their merchandise around the pool area. While you`ll find the random vendors on the beach to be rather shy and not aggressive at all, the vendors within the resort can be harassing at times and they certainly don`t give up easily. Solution: don`t make eye contact with the vendors, firmly say no and keep walking.

• Soon after arrival, new guests would be approached by resort staff (generally hanging around at the breakfeast and lunch buffet) asking if they have received the “Welcome Pack”. The very friendly member of the staff will then advise you, that they can get you 200$ worth of resort credit for spa treatments, free pictures, dinners, etc. Is there a catch? Of course there is a catch: you`ll have to sit through a 90 minutes long presentation with the member of the sales team, who will try to sell you a crazily overpriced membership for their “Unlimited Club”. It`s an easy 200$ to be made in fairness, if you don`t mind spending 90 minutes of your precious holiday time listening to a pretty amateur sales pitch. It is what it is, but at the end you have the vouchers! Solution: make up your mind early on whether you want the vouchers or not, so at least you can quickly decline or accept the invitation for the presentation. You`ll only be asked once.
• No teaspoons at breakfast. Every single morning without fail we would have to chase the waiters for about 10-15 minutes to get some teaspoons! This will forever remain a mistery to me. Solution: when the waiter first comes to you offering coffee/tea, make sure you ask him/her for a teaspoon.

All and all I would defenitely recommend this resort and I would not rule out returning to Dreams Palm Beach either. There always wil be ups and downs in any resort, but on the whole we had the best time and we will always think fondly of the Dominican Republic and its lovely people.