Just got back July 2nd 2008.I have been to lots of places including Europe Canada south America and stayed in first class hotels, But this is by far the best hotel we stayed in. We got the deal through AAA and Apple Vacation, everything was perfect since pick up till we got home. The resort is beautiful,clean. the staff is Aplus. the rooms are big we stayed in the loft suite, my husband and I in one and my 2 daughters in a separate one.When we got there there were not 2 together, but a half hour later they called me from the front desk and offered one in the same complex, so the bellman came right away and switched us. Very Very friendly staff and I mean all the staff. The pool is awesome (it burned down a day before we left but the same day they started rebuilding it, we came back from the disco at 2am and the crew was working) The beach was clean and clear just awesome. The shows are very nice and we felt very safe, especially witht the girls. The only down side is the ac it works but not like we are used to in Florida. The previous reviews I read helped a lot, took little gifts from the $ store for the maid, and singles to buy some souvenirs Its true its all inclusive. The best drinks are in the lobby and the pool, the ones in the beach were kind of weak. but refreshing. The weather was super nice hot and humid But breezy.Men make sure you do wear long pants for a la carte restaurants they DO enforce it. The food was excellent.No bugs or mosquitoes.I highly recomend this resort. We stayed in the Villas 82, to me that was the best pavillion, our rooms faced the beach we sat in the balcony and just chilled. Ask for an xtra key so you can leave it in to keep the ac running while you are out of the room. Also when you open the sliding door to the balcony the ac stops running.The bohique is great for lunch. For the 10 p, show walk accross to take the train b/cwhen it comes back by the hotel is full. I took a wet noodle and used it a lot, they do not sell them there. The soaps are very very small, but they give you plenty. The staff will do anything to keep you happy. They cannot do more for you. I am sooo happy we chose this resort. The shuttle was right on time picking up both ways. You really do not need to bring any $, except for gifts. For seven days just take 3 nice outfits the rest of the days just casual for the afternoons the days you stain in your bathing suits. Do not think about it twice. You will not regret it. Have fun. Take a clock with you there is none. You do not need any transformers either. the power is the same.

We stayed in the Royal Suites section of the resort. Some of the benefits are as follows:

1) No children are allowed in this area. We have two daughters and love them very much, but this trip was for us. It was nice to be able to stay in the Royal Suites area and not hear any whining if we didn't want to!

2) You have an exclusive pool with a swim up bar that only Royal
Suites guests can use. The pool was never full and you could get a drink quickly at the bar because of this. Teodoro was a great, friendly bartender.

3) You have an exclusive area of beach. There is a short log fence that separates the Royal Suites area of beach from the rest. There are guards, but we never saw them have to do anything. We did not have any trouble finding chairs or palapas in the Royal suites beach area. Another benefit is the waitresses take your drink orders and bring your drinks right to you on the beach.

4) You have an exclusive restaurant called the Royal Gourmet.
It is an ala carte restaurant. They recommend that you make reservations, but we did not and were seated immediately. The menu changes daily. We ate dinner there twice and it was very good. Again, if you want a quiet atmosphere it is wonderful because there are no children allowed. We actually saw a family with children staying in a different area of the resort turned away because they were not Royal Suites guests.

5) There is a small refrigerator in the Royal Suites lobby that you can get water, soda, sandwiches, wraps, fruit, yogurt, etc... from 24 hours a day.

6) The room was beautiful. We had a jacuzzi, king size bed, desk, loveseat, table with two chairs, television, coffee maker, mini fridge, ironing board / iron and hair dryer. The room also has a digital safe which was very nice. Our standard U.S. voltage and plugs worked just fine. Our mini fridge was stocked daily with water, soda, beer, peanuts and crackers. The maids came twice a day. Once during the day to do the regular cleaning. Then again in the evening to turn down the bed and bring more towels, etc... The room was always immaculate. They would fold our comforter and bath mats into all different things such as hearts, etc... and leave hibiscus flowers throughout the room.

Now I will cover the other areas of the resort that we experienced.

Food:
We also ate at two other ala carte restaurants, Mare Nostrum (Italian) and La Mariachi (Tex-Mex) for dinner. Again we did not make resevations at either. There was no wait at La Mariachi and only 10-15 minutes at Mare Nostrum. Both were good, no complaints.
All of the buffets were very good. The variety and amount of food was amazing. The presentation was also beautiful. We tried most of them and were equally satisfied. We ate at Las Torres the most because it was probably the biggest and closest to our room.
The Sports Bar was good to go and grab a quick snack or bite to eat 24 hrs a day. They had hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, nachos, popcorn, a salad bar, ice cream, soft drinks and a bar. They had a pool table, two foosball tables and a huge t.v. The satellite reception wasn't always great though.

Activities:
There is almost always something to do. They have an animation team called P.O.P. (People of Palladium). They organize activities from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on the beach and then from 3p.m.-5p.m. pool side. We played bocce ball, a simon says type game, a water ballon game and ocean water aerobics on the beach. We also did a dance lesson pool side. Some of the animation team staff: Melvin, Jocasta and Ronodillo were great!
There are daily tournaments too. We participated in the archery and air rifle tournaments. Both of which my husband won first place in! There are also basketball, volleyball, tennis, soccer (football) and ping pong tournaments. You receive a certificate and a prize on stage before the nightly show if you win the tournaments. Some of the prizes include hats, t-shirts, bags and Ron(Dominican Rum)!
There is also a sports complex. We played mini golf, basketball, ping pong and shot the air rifles. There is also a soccer (football) field and tennis courts.
Every night there are different show at the theatres. They are pretty entertaining. Don't expect Vegas or Broadway shows, but they do have a few very impressive dancers. The Michael Jackson show was pretty good. There are a few audience participation shows and they are hilarious. Before the shows they have the audience play bingo or pull audience members to play short games. I got pulled onto stage one night along with two other women. We had to reenact a scene they showed us each in different ways. I won a bottle of Ron (Rum) and a t-shirt by audience applause. After the show the P.O.P. team and cast dance with audience members.
There is a small casino. We don't gamble, so we only went and played the machines for a couple of minutes. There is also a disco. My husband doesn't like to dance so we only checked it out once right after it opened. There were a few people dancing, but it was early.
You can windsurf, kayak or take catamarans out for no additional cost. We tried kayaking one day for a while.

General:
The grounds were beautiful and well kept. The gardeners are out all day, every day trimming and cleaning.
The beach was beautiful soft, white sand. The water was clear blue and warm.
The pools were clean and the water was as warm as bath water.
The buildings are well kept and beautiful.
The staff was very friendly. Some both understood and spoke English very well. Even when they didn't we were always able to get our point across using our very limited Spanish and their limited English.

We both enjoyed ourselves and would highly recommend both the Royal Suites and the Dominican Republic to others.

The DR was the coolest place I have ever been. We flew in on Sunday (6/29) and as soon as we got in the transfer van the skies opened up. Torrential downpour which made our 45 minute ride into an hour and 45 minute ride (we flew into La Romana Airport and saved over $700 US). Paved (luckily) two way streets with potholes the size of New Hampshire. If they have traffic laws, I don't think they told their people about them! :o)

Got to the Royal Suites and it was gorgeous, flowers and palm trees everywhere. Didn't rain again the whole trip (at least during the day). We got a room on the third floor, so we had vaulted ceilings, travertine tile floors and a balcony overlooking the pool and beach! Jetted tub, separate shower and toilet and a king size bed.

1st full day we spent on the beach, powdery white sand, turquoise water, bluest sky I have ever seen and the sound of the trade winds rustling the palm trees above. We eventually made our way to the pool (our exclusive adults-only pool) and meet some great people from Arkansas, Ohio, St. Louis, Maryland, Chicago and Boston. We partied with them the rest of the week.

On Tuesday, we ventured around the resort and found some of the tours we wanted to take and vegged by the pool and beach again.

Wednesday my husband and I went scuba diving (my 1st ocean dive!) at the Rontana site. It was so amazing, like swimming in an aquarium! Tons of fish and corals and luckily no sharks! We had such a good time we scheduled an all day dive (two dives total) for Saturday. Thanks Jonathan!

On Thursday we vegged on the beach and at the pool and hit a little flea market right down the beach from our (exclusive again) beach (the flea market comes on site Thursday and Friday nights in front of the Palace).

On Friday we were supposed to go deep sea fishing, but when we arrived at the beach we were told our boat was having mechanical problems and our trip was cancelled. Only bummer of the trip. So we went to the pool bar and got toasted! I was 4th of July and all! No fireworks, but all the Americans partied together and had a great time! There was a beach party that we skipped due to our early dive time the next morning. But I heard it was fun! (Way to go Carla!!!)

On Saturday we did our 2nd dive trip and I can't even describe how amazing that was. The first dive dropped us off around a small island named Catalina Island. We were over a coral reef at about 35 ft deep. Our dive master (thanks Rafael) then took us on an underwater tour and we found ourselves looking over the reef into the abyss. The reef drops off 120 feet and is called the Catalina Wall. We only went down about 60 ft, but saw some really cool fish and plant life. The second dive took us to a different reef and we stayed down at about 35 ft for 55 minutes. It was amazing (sorry I'm running out of adjectives!)

Sadly we had to pack Sunday and fly home, but we had the best time!

As the previous post stated, we had no cold water for two days. The resort next to us (Palace) had an electrical fire in their Pool Tiki Bar and it burned to the ground. They closed their pool and drained it completely. We were inconvienced for two days in order for them to fill their pool back up with water. While uncomfortable, not unbearable nor a reason to write off this resort.

Oh, and the food! We had Italian, Mexican, Dominican, seafood, steak, Asian and tons of breakfast buffets. I swear I gained about 10 pounds while I was there. The rum, wine and beer were flowing and we were never without anything we wanted. It was truly Awesome!

Bring bug spray if you venture off the resort, sunblock and plenty of cash for tips (if you are nice and you should be) and excursions as there are no ATMs or banks on site. Give our best to Ronny (the Royal Suite pool Bartender). And enjoy the Coco Locos!

We stayed in the royal suites for our honeymoon from 6/14-6/21/2008. We are from Ohio and booked through Apple vacations. We loved every minute of it. The employees of the hotel were great. The service was impeccable. The bartenders at the pool bar were awesome!!! hi teodoro and ronnie!

The beach is beautiful. The sand is soft and the water is clear blue and warm(but cold enough to cool you off on a hot day). The pool was refreshing and we met some great people there. Hi everyone!!!

They do have some american liquor at the royal suites such as Jim Beam/Skyy vodka but you have to ask for it. All of the drinks i had were strong enough to taste the alcohol. I had WAYYY too much to drink one day but we did get to meet alot of people by me being drunk :)

The only complaint i would have is the food. I am a very picky eater to begin with(i only eat chicken, no meat or seafood) but my husband had a hard time finding something to eat as well. I would say the best place we ate at was the Mexican themed a la carte.

We had a honeymoon suite in the royal suites. On the first night and the 4th night, we had ants in our room. We called down to the front desk and they came and sprayed our room. We didnt have any problems after that.

Overall, we had a great time. The weather was great, the people(workers and those we met) were great. The beach was awesome. We had a great time on our honeymoon.

Please contact me if you have any questions!