My husband and I just returned from the Carribean Village Playa Dorada last weekend. We booked last minute through Red Tag.ca and got a good deal. We had searched the reviews on various sites and knew what to ex pect at this resort. It is listed as a 3-star and it is definitely no more than that. We knew to ask for an updated room and were thankful we had. If our room had been updated I would have hated to see one that hadn't been. The bathroom was nice though, all new and very functional. The suite was quite large with a big balcony overlooking the golf course. It was very dark in the room - only 1 bedside lamp and 1 wall sconce - no good to read at anytime of the day. The entry doors could have been broken into very easily - no proper locking mechanisms except a key into the doorknob. Maid service was questionable on a daily basis - we had to ask for towels 3 times during our stay, found our own new soap/toilet tissue on a cleaning cart nearby. However the bathroom was cleaned daily. There were no screens on any of the windows or sliding doors, the air conditioning did not work but the ceiling fan was a lifesaver at night since we had to close the windows to keep out mosquitoes. Minimum mosquitoes though . The food was very good and plentiful, fresh and good variety. Service in the dining room ranged from good to horrible. We started tipping the staff but gave up because it did not improve the serv ice. We had to sometimes ask for cutlerly, napkins, water and the tablecloths seemed never to be changed. Coffee was terrible , from a self-serve pushbutton machine. The a la carte restaurantes were very good and well served. The beach was great, bartenders were great and outside staff very good. Shuttle to beach was wonderful, however, we could also walk quite easily the distance. Beach bar and buffet was really good and a fun place to pass the day. The beach vendors are plentiful but a nice bunch of fellows who know what "no" means. We loved the location in Playa Dorada and walked everywhere daily, checked out the Casino, "great", the mall - Lonely Planet Cafe for , finally, a good cup of coffee and very reasonable shopping for everything you could need. We will not be back to this hotel, we would rather pay a bit more for a better place, but for the buck we paid we had a blast for a week away from the snow of Ontario.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC