I stayed at the LIfestyles resort for one week with two of my girlfriends from college. We were picked up from the airport by a taxi that Lifestyles sent. They were waiting with a sign with our name on it and were immediately ready to go. The ride from Puerto Plata airport was very quick, only about 20 minutes.

The three of us shared a one-bedroom apartment suite. The room was perfect for us. We had a living room, balcony, small kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. The bedroom had a king size bed and the staff put an extra cot in the living room. We had plenty of room for our luggage and had no problems getting ready each day. There was a pool right outside our room and we were right next to the Bellini Italian restaurant. Our fridge was stocked daily with water, soda and Presidente.

We booked our trip through people that own a V.I.P. timeshare. Having the V.I.P bracelet was awesome. We had access to the welcome party on Sunday night, VIP beach, pool, cafe and gourmet restaurant. The welcome party was AWESOME. It was right on the VIP beach with a huge buffet spread. They also had a live band and fireworks. The VIP staff also assisted us in booking our rides to and from the airport and with day trips that we went on to the city and Ocean World (which were also both AWESOME)

The food was very good. We enjoyed the Indochine resaturant, Bellini, and VIP gourmet the most. The buffet was also pretty good, but we did get sick of it. The choices aren't bad though, there is always a pasta dish, some type of meat, vegetables, salad, bread, soup and usually some type of rice. We ate at the Indochine and Bellini resaturant several times and loved our food. For breakfast we ate at the buffet or at the Bellini resaturant which was right outside of our room. We heard that the Mexican resaturant was not very good, so we skipped that one.

We found the service to be excellent. This was actually my second time staying at this resort and several people that I had met the first time remembered me from the last time I was here with my family. Everyone was very friendly and nice. Whenever we called the front desk because we needed soemthing (like extra towels, beach towels, etc.) They were prompt with helping us.

As far as night life goes, it's definitely what you make of it. We are all in our early 20's and were lucky enough to meet other people our age that we ended up hanging out with for the week. A few of the bars stay open late, one of them until 7 am. There also is a bar/club that's like a 5 minute ride from the resort that apparently is a 20's crowd of people from all of the surrounding resorts. We also were fine with staying at the resort in the bars or going back to our room or the villas where we our friends were styaing.

While in the resort we definitely felt SAFE. We did go into the city one day with a tour guide and taxi driver. We were hassled a few times by people looking for money, but the tour guide and driver were very good about protecting us. Again, we were treated great and we enjoyed touring the city where we got to see the Brugal Rum factory, a cigar rolling factory, and various shops.

All in all, we had an EXCELLENT time staying at the Lifestyles resort. We are planning on going back again with a bigger group and staying in one of the villas. I would definitely recommend this vacation to anyone!

Just returned from Puerto Plata, DR. Had expected the worst after reading some of the reviews of Lifestyles Crown Residence Suites and Villas. Have done 5-star and yet we still throughly enjoyed this resort. Sadly, some reviewers had poor vacations, perhaps they expected 5-star. We enjoyed it here. We had a really nice 2 bdrm.-2 bath suite. The people were extremely friendly and helpful. Suite was fully stocked with clean towels and drinks daily...The food at the restaurants was good. Each has it's own theme and all asked we wanted a name brand after dinner liquor. Only the Blue Lagoon had lunches other than the buffet. They offered burgers, nachos and such. I will say, the resort should have other areas to pick up snack food when the buffets are closed for cleaning and setting up for the next service.The buffet wasn't bad at all, in fact some items were delicious. It's hit or miss depending on what you like. What do people expect from any buffet!!! Someone said they couldn't eat because seafood was next to other food types. Food allergies? Sorry, but don't go to ANY buffet! Another reviewer said they expected white sand beaches. I wish they were too, but I looked online before booking and none of the TripAdvisor reviewers of Puerto Plata photos showed that. If you researched you'd see other areas of the which were.The beach at the resort was still pretty and clean. Enjoy life more and relax!

This was my first time ever in the Dominican Republic and I was not disappointed. The Lifestyles Crown Residence Suites was a fabulous resort. Their logo is "Tell it only to your Best Friends" and I can see why - if you told everyone there would never be any rooms left! The service was impeccable and immediate. My every need and whim was attended to by enthusiastic, cheerful staff, always with a smile on their faces. I would definitely go here again and recommend it even to my worst enemies! What a great place. The food was excellent, the VIP pool and beach areas were very comfortable with both sunny and shady beds to be had. Staff were constantly cleaning the beach front and worked so hard to change the beach and pool areas from day use to night use, quick to fill an empty glass or ask if you would like something to eat, and yet they were very unobtrusive. The entire resort is like a small village, where you walk to the beach, walk out to a restaurant in the evening for dinner, walk to the bar for an after dinner drink, walk home - I actually managed to lose weight on this trip thanks to all the walking. It was just great!! You can really eat all you want of all the great food in the various restaurants and work it all off just walking back to your hotel/suite/villa! I have read some other reviews that were not very kind - I do not know why. I guess different people have different needs and each and every day of the year is going to be a bad day for someone. However, I encountered nothing but pleasant people (staff and other vacationers), great food, incredible weather and all reasonably priced. What's to complain about? Thank you very much for a very restful vacation Lifestyles. I'll definitely be back for another vacation!

We just returned from our vacation this weekend at this resort for the 4th year. Each year, we are so amazed at the improvements and changes. I am really not sure what the issues are regarding the negative reviews, as we have never had anything but positive wonderful experiences at this resort. They are constantly working very hard, especially when setting up the outdoor Sunday beach party, cleaning the beach, setting up outdoor beds.. Last year we had a 3 bedr villa and this year we stayed in the Crown Suites, in both 1 & 2 bedroom suites. Quick airport pick up, smiling helpful check-in staff (even found my friend's cell phone after they placed much effort to locate it), quick and easy dinner reservations (Food a plenty, and even the improved Buffet at Tropical), clean and safe accommodations (Rosa looked after us very well with full stock of water in fridge, towels), comfortable sun beds at the VIP pool and beach area (even on March break there was always a bed available at one of the many choices to soak up the sun or shade), very attentive service at all pool and beach areas and restaurants. We also once again met many interesting people from all over, who were always willing to share a joke or light conversation. At any time that you need something all you have to do is ask, and they did everything to help (we turned off the water heater by error, so couldn't understand why we did have hot water anymore, and our maid quickly showed us how to turn back on). Even though it was March break for many colleges, it was a refreshing change to see so many younger crowds also having fun. A small tip ($5) at the start of the week or every now and then ($1) or little gifts (candies, toys, makeup etc.) are very much appreciated by the staff, however not obviously expected. Many do not tip at all, however it is a very poor growing country, let's face it many Canadian service staff at home expect much more!
We will definitely return, and love the Dominican people/ staff/country. As always, you will get back what you give, so smile, try speaking a bit of Spanish, have patience (RELAX!), and it will be returned full force. Looking forward to seeing what's new next year (never boring!)
Pls. contact me if you have any questions