TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

I first came here with my wife 11 years ago when it was the Now Larimar. What a difference. Mind you not all for the better. After a lot of research prior to booking, we settled on here due to reviews, etc, for being or having plenty of gluten free options as my wife has celiac. That was wrong. Speaking with the concierge, we were assured there were options everywhere, and separate menus. That was not true. Sure, there were some items marked but no separate menu. Buffet, very little marked. Speaking with staff and chef at buffet, came to realize even less was safe. Something as simple as steamed vegetables, you would think safe, but having a basic understanding of Spanish, chef said they were sitting in water that had flour. Why? No reason for that. Food, overall bland. We always say if we get a good breakfast at least we have that. I understand the allure of the a la Carte, but I don't want to have to wait an hour for a table (unless I show up 20 mims before open and get in line), then wait for food. They ask allergies on entering and give you a piece of paper to put on your table. But at the end of the day, it's a matter of are the staff actually trained to know what gluten is?(after almost giving my wife normal bread). How is the food cooked for cross contamination? I know at the best of times going out somewhere that is a challenge. Not to mention it seems like wait staff are tripping over one another there is so many. Coco Cafe, awesome. Great drinks. Room service: fast service, once again limited options for gluten free. If the entire breakfast to night menu was available 24hrs, that would be good. Housekeeping: hit or miss. There were days not done. One day I put in a request on the app for it to be done by a certain time. Got a message back saying it was done. My wife had to go back to the room for something, it wasn't done. We got a knock at the door at 8pm from housekeeping. I'm sorry, that is unacceptable at thst time of night. The resort is a good size, but not crazy massive. I would guess they are short on housekeeping staff (but have a million wait staff). Pool: great. Like many say, you want a good spot, get there early. If you are showing up late afternoon expecting a prime spot, you are daft. Plenty of signage that says no chair holding and items will be removed, but never saw it done. Plus the people who hold spots in various locatioms and you never see them. Same with bluetooth soeakers. Signs that say no. But they are there.Chairs, horrible. They need to be replaced. Very uncomfortable. Think the beach chairs were better. Service at the pool great. Though I think the bartenders don't put alcohol in frozen drinks sometimes. Heard one person watch his drink being made and witnessed this. Took him 3 tries before the alcohol was added. Idelsa was a great server. Very attentative. I feel bad when a large group tries to monopolize their time with constant running and not tipping. Beach: what can I say, you can't beat it for the size. They are very lucky to still have the size of the beach with erosion everywhere else. Rooms are nice, grounds are very nice. We were non-preferred. Cost of preferred is outlandish given what we paid for this trip. Our first trip here we were preferred master suite ocean view. I don't think given the price there is a worthwhile benefit, unless you are in a wedding group for example and are getting a lot of help from your butler arranging things . The vacation club predators are always watching, but with a polite no will leave you be. We are not people for the evening entertainment shows as they typically are rehashed at every caribbean resort. Spa prices are ridiculous for massage. Eyes almost popped out of my head seeing the prices. I don't pay that at home from someone I know is a professional. For example, we stayed at the Melia Punta Cana last year and prices if I recall were at least half of what they want to charge here. Pre-covid was at the now closed Sensatori (awesome resort, sorry it changed to something else), prices were much lower as well. Almost booked off resort on a rain day and took an uber to a spa. For the most part, the staff are friendly. Some you know are just going through the motions. Others are very genuine. Some, you can tell they dislike their job and would rather be doing anything but. Given what we paid for this trip, I wonder if we should have tried the Exclence brand, Hyatt Zilara/Ziva (I know same company as Secrets), Live Aqua, one of the other Secrets (unless food is similar at all) or a different country for Sandals (never been to one), but I love Punta Cana. The challenge always on top of celiac safe options is adults only that doesn't look the same as it did in 1995 when it opened, or shared properties where the line is blurred and I have to listen to lids screaming at the pool. Meal time, whatever. But pool or beach time I want to relax amd chill.

We really enjoyed our time here. The staff is wonderful and we had the best butler, SUPER D! The lazy river is very relaxing.

Very average place, un-deserving of a 5 star resort. Food is very basic, enough to keep you from starving but nothing to rave about. Get up early if you want pool towels!! Get up early if you want a decent spot at pool or cabana. I’m on vacation who wants to get up early???

Upon arrival into our upgraded room, we found the air conditioning to be broken, the toilet was dirty, the tv would not connect and there was no welcome bag. I had to call twice about the A/C before getting anyone to show up. No one ever showed after asking about that twice as well so I had to get up on the counter to reach the AP and router and reset them myself. That had to be done every day by me. There was no welcome bag and I had to ask twice about that as well. Since we upgraded on site, I gave a little grace period but it was a little ridiculous to keep asking about basics for an upgrade. The toilet was disgusting upon arrival as well. Not preferred level or basic level of service in any way. Very disappointed and made me regret the upgrade to preferred immediately. The service level over the rest of the trip was the same level of disappointment. The butler had to be asked 2-3 times about any questions I had and made incorrect reservations twice. We also experienced issues with the lock on the door and made me late for dinner twice. While the butler was nice, he was not great at communicating. We only had out room cleaned twice out of the 5 days after asking several times about it. And the bar/fridge was never restocked the entire trip. I feel like I might as well have thrown $1000+ out the window for the preferred level as we did not experience anything close to that. Upon check out I told the employee of all the problems and she only offered me a $425 credit saying I did not come complain when the things were happening. However, I told my butler about all the issues as they happened and nothing was ever corrected. I am still awaiting that to show up in my bank account but in all honesty, I should get a complete refund since I did make real time requests to the butler. This is a not a benefit in any way shape or form in my opinion and unless there is a better resolution I would never come back or recommend this place. We came with a group of 18 people and most were preferred level...most had issues and the one with no issues was the one who did not upgrade.

Loved this resort! Something for everyone. We stayed mostly at the preferred quiet pool with the Manatees swim up bar. No problem with getting pool chairs and one day we didn’t get to the pool until 10am. Very close to the beach and super close to restrooms and the Barefoot grill where we ate lunch most days. Best food we have had at any all inclusive. We ate at El Patio, Olio, Bluewater Grill, Himitsu, & La Riviera all really good. Our butler Marr was there when/if we needed her. Everyone you come in contact with is friendly and welcoming. We likes having preferred, but am sure you would have a great time at this resort even if you didn’t get preferred. We will definitely be back.