My boyfriend and I stayed at the Breezes from April 18 - 25. We had a great time.
Check-In:
We were the last people to check-in and had to wait quite a while. A waitress brought us drinks in line while we waited, even though we did not have our bracelets yet, which was nice. As we arrived at approx. 11am, our rooms were not yet ready. We checked back around 3pm and the room was available. We were told that our bags would be delivered to our room. We called approx. 4x for them, as they did not arrive. Eventually, at about 8pm, we went up to the entrance and another traveller that came on our flight advised us that our bags were still at the front and we should just get them ourselves. We retreived the bags from the entranceway and walked them all the way to our rooms. We were not impressed with this.
Room:
We payed extra for a superior suite with a King sized bed and were surprised that we actually got a villa close to the beach. It was very roomy and also came with a cot. We tipped a few dollars every day and our room was kept fairly clean. Do not be fooled, there is no mini bar, only water and pop, and they do not always replace what you drink! The beds were rather hard, but we got over it. The sun wore us out anyways.
Pool:
The pool was great and always kept clean. We were always able to find chairs, no matter what time we got to the pool. The lazy river was the best part and very relaxing. The swim-up bar is easily accessable and you do not have to wait long for a drink...but remember to tip, they really appreciate it and will make sure to serve you as soon as you come up.
Food:
We ate at all the a la cartes. Make sure you book these as soon as you get there. The French Restaurant fills up fast! If you miss one, you can ask to go back to one of the others. The french and japanese restaurants were the best. The regular buffet was good and had quite a variety of things. Try the french toast at breakfast...its delicious! The 24 hr snack bar was good and we went there quite often as it was right by the beach and had a great view. It is always stocked with hamburgers, hot dogs, soup, chicken and ribs and a few salads. Technically, it is not 24 hrs as it is closed between 6:30 and 10 for the Mexican restaurant.
Beach:
The sand was very hot, as was the direct sun when lying on the beach. Chairs were a little harder to find, but you usually can pull some together. We had a couple of red flag days and yellow flag days. The water was very nice and people were swimming regardless of the flags.
Entertainment/Bars:
There was a show every night, and some were quite funny. Not all are kid-friendly!!! They did have a Circus show which the kids really seemed to like. The entertainment staff did mini-club activities daily (they would often bring the kids around the pool for games). They also do games and dance lessons around the pool during the day. There is a trapese and rock climbing daily, but neither my boyfriend or I did these. We heard from others that they were really fun and everyone doing them seemed to be having a good time. The staff seems to be very attentive to the kids and makes sure that they have a safe and fun time.
All of the bars were good, and served mostly the same drinks. The disco opened every night after the show was over. It is quite small, but plays American/Popular music. It was mostly 18-30 year olds at the disco.
Casino:
The slots are very old and rarely pay out. There are some table games, but the dealers do not talk to you or make eye contact. We both felt it was a very eerie atmosphere in the casino; not the excitement and adrenaline rush of Las Vegas...so don't expect that!
Excursions:
We did the catamaran, and weren't all that impressed. You have to get up so early, spend the morning on a boat with no way to cool down, snorkel, and then turn around and sweat all the way back. The snorkelling was great, but spending all that time on a boat while we could have been at the pool or beach was somewhat disappointing.
We heard from others that the dune buggys/ATVs were the best. It is only a half day excursion that leaves from the hotel. You get extremely messy, but it is a blast.
Others also had fun at Ocean World, but it is quite expensive.
We did not go into town, but heard that Sosua was too hot to spend the whole day in. There are also women there who grab your hair and try to braid it. Also, the shops all have the same things and you can get at the hotel when the vendors come.

Things to remember:
Bring lots of $1s and tip often (but not too much). They appreciate anything you can give them. We had the best service from waiters and bar tenders when we tipped them once a day at least. When you put it in perspective, you would be tipping way more at home, so in the end it seems worth it.
If you arent satisfied with your room, say something. We met a couple that had a horrible room experience and were moved right away to a much nicer suite.
If you are able, bring some school supplies to leave for the maids. They can always use little things and in return you will have extra towels, pillows, whatever you ask for. If you can, write a note in Spanish saying that it is a gift for them to take.
Practice your bartering skills! Always offer 50-60% of the price that you are given!
Bring your own cup as the drinks are small and the ice melts fast!
Watch out for the hotel reps trying to sell you Club Gold! They will stop you and want to talk and give you an info session. They are nice guys, but are really only out to sell you another vacation. Who wants to think about booking another vacation when you are just trying to enjoy the one you are on right now??!!
Have fun and relax!

Overall, we had a great time. We spend most of our days by the pool lounging or floating down the lazy river. We loved the flexibility of being able to eat when we wanted and not on a set schedule. My boyfriend said he would definately go back there, and I likely would as well.

I enjoyed this vacation with a group of 9 people, aged 20-25 from April 19th- April 26th.

I flew with Westjet provided by Nolitours, and my boyfriend and I enjoyed a very comfortable flight as opposed to my uncomfortable flight with Air Transat back in August 2007.

The air conditioned shuttle waiting for us at POP was on time, efficient and comfortable. Make sure you watch your luggage be put away as it is your responsibility it stays with you.

Check in was a breeze, no issues and we stayed in a Villa (2002) even though we had booked a standard room.
Our room location was amazing! This is a large resort, and our villa was central to all the restaurants, was opposite the pool, close to the lobby and 5 minute walk to the beach and snack bar/Mexican restaurant.

Our room was not renovated, and did have some aesthetic issues (ie. peeling wood/paint). But our room was very large and comfortable, we had a patio with chairs, and everyone knows location is everything so the rooms looks is definitely minor.

The pool is great. We swam the lazy river, did the water slides, and enjoyed the swim up bar.

The opinion of the beach lies in the eye of the beholder.
I love waves. And my friends were surfers, but if you do have children, exercise caution. We did not count how many yellow/red flags there where, but to be honest we all swam in either colours. There is an undertow, you wil lose sunglasses/bikini bottoms, but hey, good photo opps for facebook.

The shuttles to Sosua and Cabarete are amazing! I think this bonus is so worth while, because one way to each city is $10 US, and Breezes offers each shuttle for free 3 times a day.

You will get hasseled by locals to braid your hair, "lookie, lookie" in their shops, and whatever else you want to get yourself into.

Just say no, gracias, smile and walk away!

Ladies and men, if you dont want to get any part of you braided dont let them touch you, and don't bring a purse, they will try to bead that part for you too.

Excursions. If you feel more comfortable booking with the resort, please do so, even more so if you have children.
If you are a worldly travelor, or trust your gut, you must check out Mel's Tours in Sosua, right beside Checkpoint bar.

We booked with Linda for $56, the Jeep Safari, and visited a soapstone/petrified wood carving factory. Great prices, still haggle, but Canadians be careful, the only wood we can take home is mahogany.

From there we visited a local school, gave some pencils/pens, and then visited a coffee/cocoa factory. We bought fresh organic coffee, and a whole cocoa bean for $3 US, and had tons of fun grinding the coffee and learning about the agriculture.

After that we had the opportunity to have a great lunch (so much better than the resort food) since it was fresh, local, dominican style meal! Beans and rice, pork cooked in squash, bbq chicken, fresh delicious pineapple, papaya, and banana, and tons of Brugal and coke for everyone.

Finally in the same excursion we had was my favourite part of the trip. We visited the 27 waterfalls, and if you want to do this, do bring watershoes from home, and a waterproof camera, you will use the hell out of them.

The experience was amazing and definetely an adrenaline rush.

We hiked for 20 mins, and started to climb through 7 waterfalls.
You wear lifejackets, watershoes, and helmets, all mandatory. We had 5 guides, very strong, spoke english/spanish/french, and I felt so safe with them knowing they were literally throwing you up the waterfalls, so that once you reached the 7th waterfall, you could either slide or jump off the waterfalls as you decend.
Most of us jumped the waterfalls, and the people who did slide said their butt hurt after, but it is all dependant on your comfort level.

The other excursion we did was with the Tip Top Catamaran. To begin this catamaran is the same offered by Breezes, at $89 US. We did not book this excursion through the resort, instead we went to Josef at Fun Tours in Cabarete, located right across the street from Scotiabank (Yes, there is a scotiabank!).

Josef gave us an amazing deal of $57 US for the exact same Tip Top Catamaran! His regular price is $60, but b/c we were a large group we got a hook-up.

This is ligit! I read tripadvisor all the time, we did not want to book outside the resort either, but our group did not get ripped off, and we sat right beside everyone else who paid $30 more than we did.

But, the catamaran is definitely for the relaxing types. Very beautiful scenery, hanging out on the nets while water splashes you are great photo opps, and snorkeling was included, but fish not super super awesome. We docked at an island, swam/speedboat it to the shore, and had another great dominican style meal, drinks included.
Do eat a hearty breakfast, and bring snacks if you have kids or are starving students not willing to pay $1 US for halloween size chips. (My friends killed the wall-mart for pringles before leaving!)

The staff are amazing. They are a resort who are not supposed to take tips, ie. if a manager sees them receiving, they may get in trouble. But they are appreciated, the service is great with/without tips, so practice your money handshake/bill slipped under your glass trick before you go.

Ok, this is for the shoppers.
Santo Domingo Coffee, Leon Jimenas cigars, and Brugal can all be found at surprise surprise the supermercado!

Don't buy at the beach! You will get ripped off, even after you haggle and use the "I'm a poor student" line over and over (I know I did).

We went to Janet's Supermercado in Cabarete. The Breezes shuttle will drop you off at the Souci Hotel, if your facing the hotel, walk East (right). Walk 5 minutes ish, and we paid 130 pesos ($2 US) for Santo Domingo coffee (easily 5 bucks on the beach).
Brugal cost $5 US for the big bottle, and Leon Jimenas flavoured cigarillos cost $8 US, or 5 cigars for $5, or Principes for $2 US.

Leon Jimenas cigars will cost you $5 US for ONE cigar at the Breezes tobacconist!

Overall it was an amazing trip. If you want an adventure trip, do the jeep safari and walk/party in the cities. Try Cabarete's Bambu Bar!

If you want relaxation and peace of mind, stay poolside, do the catamaran, and be wary of the dairy.

Cheers to all!

Just got back yesterday from a week stay at Breezes, and was completely blown away. We booked about a month early through air canada vacations and requested an ocean view room. We arrived to the hotel with no problems at the airport as well as a free shuttle, just be aware you cannot check in till 2 or 3pm. We were quite pleased with the rooms, 6208 and 6211, in my opinion two of the best rooms at the resort, Big and Cold with a king and sofa bed with a huge bathroom and a nice ocean view. The property grounds here are quite nice, the pool is just great with the 2 bars, the river, and lots of hot and cold tubs. The beach was phenomenal, you have to expect the rough waves being on the exposed north shore, but still not very hard to swim in even on red flag days and the actual sand and beach is quite nice. Best part about the beach is there are only people at the resorts using it as there is nothing else remotely close. If you are planning on playing basketball or tennis, i would suggest just going back to the beach as the courts are completely beat up and really hard to play on. Book the restuarants early as they fill up quickly especially on weekends, never tried France, but our general liking was the Italian. The bars are quite good, with the disco opening up later in the evenings, but for a better dancing experience head into cabarete. All of the staff here are amazing and extremely helpful and considerate, treat them well and with respect and they will treat you even better. If interested in any excurions, do not book them at the resort. The resort offers a shuttle service to sosua and cabarete, and find a Mel's Tours store and book through there. There is one right where you get dropped off in sosua. We did two full day tours for the price of 1 from the resort, way cheaper going this way. We did the Outback Tour and it was a complete blast and a great way to experience the culture for sure. I would recommend doing the one that goes to the waterfalls, these cannot be missed and were definitely the highlight of the trip. There are a ton of companies that do varied versions of these safaris, but i would definitely recommend that one, especially with the Tour Guide Mario, he was a riot. We also did the Paradise Island excursion and was definitely worth the 3 hour bus ride to get there, it truely is an unbelievable sight. We spent a few hours in Sosua and then a night in Cabarete, if you only get the chance to see one definitely go to Cabarete. If you take the shuttle or a taxi just get off on main (kite) beach and enjoy the scenery. There are people all over kiteboarding, lots of beach volleyball, and lots of cold beer and delicious fresh seafood. All of the restaurants move onto the beach usually around 7 and it makes for a truely memorable experience. I would also recommend taking a trip, even if only a short one, on the back of a dirtbike taxi, quite entertaining. All in all it was a fantastic trip, the people of the dominican are just great and it is definitely a beautiful country to visit, i can definitely say i will be heading back there hopefully sometime soon. If anyone needs any information i would be glad to help with anything just email me at brad.snell@hotmail.com and i will do what i can. Definitely go visit this resort, it will be fantastic!

I used Trip Advisor as a guide when we selected our resort. My husband and I went alone - our 2nd honeymoon. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous after reading the very few bad reviews. After being at Breezes for a week, I must say that all bad reviews must have been written by someone with unrealistic expectations. We got a great price for our vacation, and we feel we got our money's worth AND MORE! So, I felt I had to post a detailed review for those of you trying to decide:

THE FLIGHT: we flew air transat, it was very cramped in economy class. if you are tall/big or want extra space, spend the extra money and fly first/business class.

AIRPORT GREETING: we arrived at nite, and were not harassed by workers to carry our bags remember: if a man offers to carry your bag, give only 1 dollar tip. The tour leader took my husband to get us a refreshment – you have to pay for these until you get to the resort but it was 5USD for 4 big bottles of beer.

STAFF: VEry helpful!!! the beach "supervisor" helped everyone get beach chairs - give a 1US/CAD tip if they do help :). we unfortunatley misplaced our key and my purse, and the customer service rep and grounds staff were very keen to help with relocating the items. Front desk staff were also helpful and all main service staff spoke good english. We tried to use spanish phrases where we could. I brought a Spanish-English dictionary but did not really use it at all.

ROOMS: we were placed in a Villa inside a series of 8-plex buildings. They were beautiful!!! Very peaceful, surrounded by lush greenery and each had a balcony/deck. The downside was that our villa had 2 twin beds pushed together - not the best for romance! So ask to upgrade (has 1 king bed) when you get there - often the upgrad requested by your travel agent does not get relayed. The rooms were spotless and cool - our hot water, water pressure, and A/C worked the whole time, no leakage. There were only 2 small-ish spiders (small by Canadian standards) in the bathroom. The villas are old, you can see in the windows and bathrooms, etc. but not at all unpleasant. we left a small tip in the fridge every morning to get extra water and towels. They stock to fridge with pop and water (no booze!) Bring facecloths (or disposable wipes) and alarm clocks they apparently do not use clocks in DR! or leave it at home if time is not important to you!! We used the safe for valuables. Do not lose key as there is not an extra - they will have to drill out the lock if you lose it!

FOOD: Overall it was awesome! You should sign up for the a la carte requests the next morning/day to avoid disappointment. you do not have a lot of choice if you are in a large party or if you book late! There was food at beach bar – don’t eat hot dogs! Otherwise sufficient for when you are hungry! Food often was not hot, but that did not matter to us. We did not get sick and we regularly feasted on omelettes for breakfast, all types of meat and fruit. Drinks are made very strong so beware! And bring a travel mug to keep your drink cool and reduce trips to the bar!

TRAVEL/TOWNS: Crazy drivers!!! Don't rent a car/bike unless you want to hurt yourself! Do not be rude to flea market workers - they work hard for their income as well and it is an insult to tell them their goods are "crap" (as quoted from some of the travellers). Sosua has 1km of flea markets, be nice and visit but be firm with them. Offer 25-30% of original asking price. There is a 2 dollar store at the "checkstop" walkup bar that is worth stopping in - she makes her own goods (rare for the rest of the flea market)

EXCURSIONS: we went on one of the Catamarans (not the main advertised one) and it was awesome! highly recommended. you get to snorkel if the conditions are right, stop at a fishing village, eat traditional food and continue on. the crew was a lot of fun, bring your sense of humour!!! We found that we just wanted to relax so we only did 1 trip. They were a bit pricey (180USD/couple) but well worth it! There are external tour companies that a lot of people opt for but we felt safest going with the company that is regulated by our vacation company.

POOL: awesome!!! IThere is a main pool (kids) and then long winding narrow extensioins of the main. Attendants clean it constantly. A bit on the cool side, but likely due to being so hot when tanning beside the pool. The water is quite deep so beware – use floaties. Bring or purchase floaties to relax. There is a cool swim up bar but the water is deep so be prepared to swim. Go early to reserve a chair or umbrella if desired, as the pool seats fill up fast!

KIDS: I was anxious about going to a family resort but I was pleasantly surprised..they have many activities for kids, and with so much to do as a family, I did not hear 1 child cry or throw a tantrum. Now I can't say the same for the high school kids...

BEACH: very rough. The resort is not known for awesome beach swimming so don't expect it. Bring water shoes – a child stepped on a stone fish, ending up with a medical bill. The water is red flagged for most of the day, but you can still go in if you feel comfortable. The beach is beautiful, lots of room for everyone and always an available chairl.

COMPLAINTS: only 2!! I will never go on another vacation in March again! For the better half of our vacation, we were in the presence of high school spring break groups, and that definitely was very distracting and irritating. Also, the confectionary is very expensive, which we were expecitng but not to that extent! Bring your own toiletries, and extra snacks that you wish to have in your room.

Overall, we have a wonderful experience at Breezes and we are planning to go again next year, but this time in a bigger group. In my opinion you get more than what you pay for, but just remember that you are not booking a 5 star!! you are getting a 4 star that is clean, attractive, well looked after, and with great staff!