I stayed at this hotel from the 31st August 2009 until the 14th September 2009 with my boyfriend. Well what can I say, loads I guess, we loved it. Even the cockroach that my boyfriend found in our room. I mean come on what do you expect, its that type of country you are going to come across creepy crawlies and well it gave us a good story to tell, especially when I threw it at him. (Not on purpose by the way).
As always you can be quite worried about your holiday especially after reading some of these reviews. From the minute we arrived, we were greeted with smiles and a glass of refreshing fruit juice. It was lovely, even though we did arrive in a thunderstorm.
We were informed of a few things then given our room key, a map and some stickers with our room numbers on for our luggage which would be brought round after we had settled in. A short walk from the reception we were happy to enter a lovely spacious decent looking room with working AC and a fridge fully stocked. Roughly 10 minutes later our luggage arrived. Now can you complain about that. We gave the man a tip and he was so grateful he practically hugged my partner.
This hotel is beautiful and if you've come for a relaxing holiday then I would say that's what your going to get. There are various activities going on throughout the day and the entertainment team will do their best to encourage you to join in but if you don't want to then they will leave you to it. Not always but now and again the bar staff and entertainment team would come round with a selection of drinks from the bar, all different colours, alcoholic and non, these were greatly appreciated at times. The pool was lovely and most of the time we were able to get a space right next to the pool.
We had a go on the pedlows which I loved. It was great seeing the hotel and the coast, made it look so much more beautiful looking at it from the sea. Now I will say this, if your expecting white sand and crystal clear water you wont get it, but that doesn't mean its not a lovely site.
We did 2 excursions, we swam with the dolphins at Ocean World, which I have to say was awesome. Although I was rather nervous to begin with, I loved every minute of it and would do it again. Well worth the money we paid as it included the entrance fee and the shows along with seeing the other animals in the park. Dream come true. The other trip we did was the catamaran, although I wouldn't do this again I did enjoy it. Particularly the snorkelling. I was so nervous getting into the water with all the fish but in no time at all I was used to them and the sites were beautiful. Such an amazing experience.
Going back to the hotel side of things, the fridge in the room is topped up regularly but when we ran out of things we simply left the empty bottles on the bed with a tip and it was topped up. We didn't do this everyday but now and again we left a little money for them. The cleanliness of the hotel was lovely, never saw a dirty spot where ever we went and the towel art was amazing, they made some beautiful creations and this wasn't confined to our room either.
The food was lovely, I'm quite fussy and don't often try new things but you have the chance to have something you recognise and something you don't every night. The size of the buffet at breakfast and dinner was incredible. I have to say the Mexican night was particularly good. The A' la 'carte restaurants weren't as good as we hoped although the steak house I loved and we went in there twice. Was quite romantic actually as well, only thing is that my partner was up at half 6 to book a table as it gets quite popular.
Well I think I've covered most things, overall it was a lovely hotel with fantastic helpful staff, one cleaner in particular would say something different to us every evening in Spanish for a bit of fun, think I got the hang of it on the last night haha. Well if you need any more info please just ask and don't be put off by any bad reviews. Your holiday is what you make it and this hotel will help you with that. Complete value for money. Loved it!

I stayed at the Riu Merengue with my boyfriend and my parents for 2 weeks we had a great time! On our first night though we came across two cockroaches in our room very scary i complained at the reception and they were very shocked and fumigated my room i did continue to find babies but they had crawled out and died, i then found another two adult ones later in the week I eventually asked to be moved and the first choice rep and the reception staff were very helpful and i swapped rooms and recieved a note of apologies and a fruit platter! I was however put in a room over night when i found the roaches as i couldn't sleep and it wasn't very nice it was very outdated and smelly but the room i got moved to was very nice 1058 always clean and no roaches!

I do agree with some reviews about the hotel needing a refurbishment in some areas but it was always clean and tidy.

FOOD: The food was good quality always plenty to choose from only two nights i found it hard to find something i really fancied but i never went hungry as there was a fantastic choice available the people that complain about the food obviously are not used to eating fresh vegetables and fruit!!! Riu merengue was by far the best for the food but the fizzy drinks at the Riu Bachata were better.

STAFF: All the staff at the hotel were very friendly, helpful and always in a good mood, animation team are brilliant look out for Rocky the fastest dancer i have ever seen, Micky Mouse very funny guy, Sexy Romeo, Madonna, Honey, Shake a leg!!! All fantastic they really do make the holiday more enjoyable. Can't say much for the staff at the Bachata though not friendly and a bit boring.

FACILITIES: The pool at the Merengue isn't as good as the other two hotels but it's a pool at the end of the day and if you don't like it you can use the other two, the birds also like Red Rock fizzy pop if you have it in a cup at the side of your sunbed nice colourful birds come to drink it. Caribbean street is a place you can buy presents but alot of the shops sell the same things but i suppose it's to be expected. Pacha disco is a little scary at first looks like a place you would get mugged as it is very dark and no-one goes in when it opens at 10pm so leave it a little later when it get's busier but my parents have stayed at other Riu hotels and all the disco's are designed the same for some reason. I took my dual voltage GHD'S they worked but my hair was a mess for two weeks constantly in a head band as my hair is naturally unruly but some girls walked around with perfect hair don't know how they did it but it didn't ruin my holiday i just got on with it.

WEEKENDS: Alot of reviews metion the 'Locals' being 'Let' in at weekends for a start they pay just like us and they aren't all local Dominicans yes some are a little over confident but I wouldn't say they are ignorant or try to rule the hotel. We never saw any trouble and they were friendly people as we met and danced with some of them in the disco.

TRIPS: We went on the Outback Safari and look out for the tour guide called Ruddy he is very funny and tells you alot of information about the Dom Rep very interesting. We went to a local school, went body boardng and on a short river tour. We also went on the dune buggies this was very funny we got covered in horse poo, mud and got wet but we wished it was going to rain the night before but we weren't that lucky. Well worth the money.

BEACHES: The beach at the Mambo was good, soft sand and no rocks or shells as you walk into the water some fish to look at if you like snorkelling.

Please don't let the bad reviews put you off as i found out with the rooms i heard bad things and yes i got placed in a bad room over one night but my room 1058 was alot better and clean we had a fantastic holiday and i would love to go back!!!

well wot can i say so dissapointed come on riu this hotel is so out of date needs total refurbishment if you have £2000 to spend dont come here dom rep is cheap and this hotel is a cheap riu drinks are rubbish,sweet ice spent 3 weeks trying to get drunk but still didnt manage it ,the dom rep is a nice country but the hotel is not up the standard of other riu that we have stayed in and in the end we kept on compareing it to other places we have been to and sad to say it doesnt its like buttlins BE VERY AWARE that for some reason riu let the dom rep people in every weekend and they use the place like its thers and let the kids run wild they drink in the pool and leave the plastic cups everywere they also alow the babies to swim with no nappy result pool full of poo and it was closed but managers sat by and did nothing,will not be going back its cheap and it feels it plenty of other island to visit they say its 5 star hotel I TELL YOU ITS NO WHERE NEAR 5 STAR

To Be Honest This Is The Best Holiday I Have Ever Been On, And Belive You Me Ive Been On MILLIONS !
i wouldnt like to clear up that riu merengue has no bad qualities at all! so dont belive any of thoes rubbish reviews ! they probably haven't even been. i went with my grandma and my grandad and they have been 11 times ! and they loved every time, butt i must warn you, if you burn easily BRING FACTOR 50 ! trust me, you still tan.

the animation team ?
BRILLIANT
-cheeky monkey
-mickey mouse
-michael <3
-shakira
-mama mia
-donald duck
-sexy romeo
-baby face
i loved all of these people, they are so helpfull and kind, nothing ever seems too much for them :) out of them all i must say michael was my favorite. he tought me how to dance, play volley ball, play darts etc etc, he always made an effort to come and speek to me, we danced every night haha. he even made me look good :) he even came and said goodbye :) thats the sort of people they are :)

the reception?
they are really amazing, they felt like family, again i have rafael as my favorite, because hes like a big teddie bear :) he was doing anything he could to make me happy in the hotel, i was also alowed to call the hotels boss and ask for a pizza hahaha, where as in this country you would get kicked out ! but in dom rep they laugh !!!

the waiters & cheffs?
ohh they are really loveley, we had our table reserved every night ! we didnt even ask ! ha! all of the waiters were super nice, i always had my lemonade waiting for me haha :) the cheffs are little jokers too, they constantly made me smile. and everyone was so polite !

the food ?
was beautiful, they had such a range, and you could have as much as you want! the deserts were my favorties though, they had a wide selection, eg: rice pudding to chocolate cake etc etc.

the alcahol is amazing, i recomend the pina colada :) but make sure you ask for alcohal or tell them no alcohol. another tip is to ask for a *balentines sprite* that was my grand dads favorite. they do alot of soft drinks, sprite, coke, miranda, red rock. they are all amazing

The Facilities are super ! there is a whole time table of activities in the reception ! So your never bored, you can also "chillax" on the beach or by the pool! with the amount of sun loungers they have, its unbelivable

also you can go to the other two sister hotels ! the bachata is the most posh. with its amazing pool, and fancy reception, but merengue is more homey, the riu mambo is fabulous ! the animation team are pretty fab too :) expecialy pikachu :) i got on brilliantly with him :) hes sooo funny :) the pool is nice and relaxing too, however there is alot of *topless bathing* so beware of that if you bring your children.

the hotels are full of maids and you are never out of towels, wherever you go, a maid is always there with a tub of disinfectant gelle :)

beware i do have to remind you too look after your items, you can never be to carefull.

in the hotel things are verry expensive! but if you go to the little shops by the mambo beach no price is too low :)




once again fabulous holiday :) cant wait too go back

tips
- try learn some spanish
- wear alot of sunscreen