Overall Can't Recommend This Place
Traveled June 4-9 with my husband to celebrate my 31st birthday. Overall the hotel was nice, but it was not exactly what I expected. I hope this review helps to shed more light on the area for prospective travelers.
Dreams Resort:
First things first—the food is NOT great. The French and Italian restaurants are fine—average, but in the World café and especially the Mexican restaurant the food is barely edible. I say this of the World café because it is an open air buffet, and unless the food is cooked in front of you, I wouldn’t trust it. Especially the fruit that is cut and open to flies, insects, birds, etc. That and some of it just did not taste good at all. I just thank God for the French and Italian places because otherwise the whole week would have been ruined by the crappy food.
The liquor is fine, all tropical drinks are excellent and the bartenders know their stuff. Of course the house red/white wine is not great but you can pay for an upgrade if you wish.
Accommodations—we booked a regular room and I hated it. It smelled funny, the ceiling leaked and it was on the ground floor with a big palm tree in front of the one window so there was no view, oh and the other window was boarded up. Since it was my birthday I decided to upgrade to the honeymoon suite in the preferred club. I’m glad I did and would only recommend staying here if you’re getting the suite. It is clean, spacious, beautifully decorated and really makes you feel like you’re in a tropical setting. All guests in the preferred club get access to a separate pool and free internet during the stay. But it is annoying that you have to get a new internet password every day. I would also recommend having a separate restaurant for preferred guests (with better food!!).
Service—service is above average. So many of the Dreams employees are nice, friendly and willing to go above and beyond with a smile. Of course everyone is not like that, but a lot are! A few names I can remember are Bernardo—time share; Delightful—hostess/waitress; Jason—entertainment area and Belkus @ the preferred club. They were all so kind to us and really exemplify outstanding service w/a smile.
Beach—the beach is SMALL. You will not go and walk around the beach for miles. I’m not even sure if the entire beach area is a whole mile. The water is blue—not very clear during my stay. They could do better in cleaning the beach. And yes, there are sand crabs and fleas so watch for them. Also bug spray is a must if you’re prone to mosquito bites like me.
Entertainment—not much. They have a lounge they is mostly empty at night. A casino that is small and mostly frequented by older guests. The night shows are a bit dated/lame. I did think that the ocean aerobics and step classes at the pool were cute. The instructor had lots of energy!
Overall—I would recommend this place for couples/families and anyone that just wants to relax, but not for a girls/guys trip because there is not much to do. The scenery is beautiful, service is great, food is not and some rooms are excellent, others are not. I will probably not return to this resort because of the location and the food, but I would definitely return to DR.
Location:
This area of DR is not developed for tourism and there is very little outside of the resorts. I liked to see the natural beauty of the countryside, rivers, valleys and tropical surroundings. For anyone not used to traveling to a developing country, it is a culture shock to see the level of poverty in some of the undeveloped areas. It is a stark contrast to even the poorest cities in the US.