First time in DR was really excited.
Place sure was clean and had a hankering for hygiene! Maids and reception staff very friendly and helpful. Free access to alcohol in rooms - cool if you like rum, otherwise you gotta walk to the nearest bar - which can be quite a trek when you've got a powerful thirst going! Food was varied but soon grew boring after 3 days. Beach was not to our standards - no clear waters as it's on the Atlantic Ocean so pretty breezy and rainy some days, pebbles and seaweed on the seabed which was gross and harsh on bare feet. The sand was hot and gritty not like the white soft sands of the beaches on the caribbean sea. Entertainment team - well they sure made us laugh! If you want to sing along to Grease songs or any popular songs at least be able to properly mime to them! But no! But it did make us laugh loads though! They did take us on the "disco tour" which consisted of ONE outing to the local tourist club, Coco Bongo's. Great show of spiderman et al. Music and crowd were excellent which is why we returned two more times! Don't think the club at the resort was worthy of its name. Didn't even bother staying there longer for a drink to be drunk! Not to mention you had a 70 yr old and 12 yr both getting drunk (though not together I hasten to add!) at the same bar which kind of put you off!
Best thing about this holiday were the excursions. Went to a place called 27 Charcos (pools) aka 27 Waterfalls where you get a chance to climb (or be pulled up!) 7 waterfalls and slide and jump on the way down. This was excellent! The guides were entertaining, singing and making jokes the entire time! And boy were they strong! :-)
Second place we went was white water rafting on the Jacques del Norte river - again sheer fun! The guide - Wilson aka Superman - was the devil in disguise, pushing us into the water on purpose. He was great in pulling us out as well - and with only one hand! Be careful with the paddles though - unfortunately whacked the guy behind me by mistake and felt real guilty afterwards!
Last thing we did was quad biking! Now that was FUN! No matter what you wear - bikini or overalls you will get dirty! Warm mud flying everywhere, driving along the beach and on a sugarcane plantation, better than a day at the gym! Also the machines are quite heavy so if you've got puny arms like my friends I give you fair warning you will need to rest the next day!Which is why I highly recommend having a massage on the beach the next day! Very relaxing!
Overall, a good adventure holiday. Perfect for families and couples. The hotel facilities were good and the staff were helpful. Pity the beach wasn't all that!

We just got back from 7nights in the Riu Mambo and really had a fantastic time!
But firstly a couple of negatives out the way:
Maybe this is really obvious to most, but we were expecting the sandy white beaches and clear turquoise waters you always see in the pictures of the Caribbean .. but in the Riu hotels of Puerto Plata (being on the north coast and hence the Atlantic) it sooo wasn't! Perhaps me and my buddies have been spoilt by other places we've been to, but in the water, you get COVERED in odd bits and seaweed and can barely put your foot down as there are so many sharp stones about! So if you're after a beautiful beach, you're best staying in the south of Dom Rep.
The only other negative is the aircon in the rooms - as someone else mentioned in their review, it seemed to work in the daytime and nights in the room were pretty warm as the fan was so slow!

OK enough of that, here's the good stuff:

Hotel - EVERY area of the hotel was kept extremely clean, the maids kept the extremely rooms immaculate every day, the hotel toilets were very clean with an attendent there all the time, giving hand sanitizer as you leave - and also as you enter the restaurant. There was a great choice of food but very samey every day.
All the staff are very friendly and always always smiling and saying hello.
As the 3 Riu hotels are next to each other, you can use all facilities in all 3 hotels - we found the Bachata pools the nicest with nicer people as well.
The Ents staff were very cool and the "disco tour" they take you on twice a week is well worth the $20 - they put you all into the taxi, take you the same club each time (Coco Bongo where you get to see the very entertaining Spiderman which is erm .. memorable!) and 5mins before leaving time, will round everyone up and get you back to the hotel safely. The club was safe and had a mixed crowd of both locals and tourists. The music was mixed too - commercial stuff you'll know and stuff you may not, but great to dance to.
The hotel club (Pacha) seemed empty whenever we saw it and music didn't seem so hot either. The hotel has performances every night and involves a lot of rubbish miming but were fun if you like that sort of thing!

Activities - wouldn't advise booking actvities / excursions through the hotel as you can get it cheaper by hotel staff wandering around asking you .. a guy called Gigi got us some great deals - the number 1 activity which is really a once in a lifetime thing is climbing the 27 waterfalls. (Damajaqua Cascades) This was AWESOME and although we only went up 7 (in 3 hours) you end up climbing, swimming, sliding down natural slides and jumping into lagoons - is AWESOME and if you're up for a bit of adventure, soo sooo worth doing this.
Another activity worth doing is the white water rafting - this was so much fun, the guides make you feel really safe and again, prepare to get very very wet :-)
We also did quadbiking which you can book through the hotel - you get so much mud all over yourself (so careful which trainers you wear! flipflops are probably better!) and this was so much fun as well.
All in all, we had a 100% fab time there and if you're out to have lots of fun (and chilling if you want to) then the Dom Rep is a great place to do just that!

We returned June 14th from this hotel Our family of 4 (two daughters 17 and 19) had a great time. The reort grounds were better than I expected, the staff was great, the food was real good. We did not eat at the "specialty restuarants" as we preferredt he buffet selections. The beach was real nice....good for a long walk, plenty of chairs and shade! The beach bar only serves beer an non-alcohol frozen drinks and is in front of the Mambo hotel. The full bar is not to far to go for some Brugal rum! We tipped the wait staff and room staff pretty good and they certainly appreciate it. We did one snorkel excursion for a morning, but to tell you the truth, the snorkeling was better just off the beach in front of the Scuba Caribe hut. I snorkeled every day. Reserve a kayak or paddle boat ahead of time, or if you see them sitting there after the half hour, they will let you take thenm out as you bring it back for the next reservation on the hour. I loved the fact that there were many Eurpeans there. They stay for 3 weeks ! You guys are lucky!! We met people from France, Belgium, Holland Great Britain and Germany. Invite some strangers to join you for a drink or coffee and get to know someone new...it was great to do! The Animation staff was great for the girls. They danced with them alot and got us involved in many activities. The shows were fun...Cruise ship entertainement style. We felt safe all the time and my girls had their own room in another building...All in all , I loved the place was really surprised with how nice it was and would go back anytime and recommend it to anyone. A great deal for the price!!

We stayed at the Hotel Riu Mambo from 15th June – 29th June 2008.

It was the best holiday I have had yet by far. Everything about it was perfect (Apart from having to come back home!!!!)

HOTEL
The hotel is definitely worth it’s 4* in my opinion probably more. Out of the 3 Riu hotels there my favorite one was definitely the Mambo, I found it smaller and more personal than the Murengue or Bachata, which are bigger.

I had emailed the hotel a week before we went over to request a top floor room as close to the beach as possible. When we arrived on the late afternoon of the 15th we found we were in the front building right next to the beach but on the ground floor. I went to reception to see if they could change it to the top floor, by 2pm the next day we were in a top floor room in the same building – top class service as was the service all over the hotel..

Also it was my big 40 while we were there, firstly when we first arrived into our room there was a little gift bag with a birthday card and some gifts from the hotel for me which I thought was very thoughtful. Also on my actual birthday they decorated our room with balloons and sent a huge plate of tropical fruit to the room and when we had dinner in the evening the waiters and the head waiter (Freddie) came out to the decorated table singing “Happy Birthday” and presented me with a cake.

We spent most of our time when not out on excursions on the beach but the pool was very nice, though I did like the pool at the Bachata as they had a pool bar where you could sit at the bar in the pool!

Some of the times they had people with stalls set up in the hotel selling souvenirs. Though this is a good idea, I have a feeling that some of their stuff, mainly the Amber and Larimar could be fakes as they are “Cheap”!! My suggestion for Amber, Larimar and Brugal rum is that you do the Puerto Plata City Tour and Cable car trip, there you will visit the Brugal rum factory, the Amber factory and Larimar factory where you can then buy these products knowing they are the real thing as they will tell you how to spot fake merchandise, for example with Amber, if you get a bowl of sea (Salty) water true Amber will float and fake Amber will sink! Buying your rum to bring back with you the cheapest place is the Brugal rum factory where you would be looking at between $7 - $10 a bottle compared to double this amount at the duty free at the airport!! There is a Brugal rum called “151”, this is very potent at 75% proof!! And as such you are NOT allowed to bring this back on your flight as it is highly flammable. Cigarettes (Marlboro) are cheapest at the airport duty free though at $24 per 200 where as at the hotel and around Puerto Plata they range from $28 - $35 per 200. You will also have the opportunity to be photographed with either Macaw (type of parrot), Iguana and monkey.

FOOD & DRINK
The food was brilliant with a good selection. Each hotel (Mambo, Murengue and Bachata) has 2 a la carte restaurants and buffet for the evenings and 2 buffets for breakfast and lunch. The only thing I was a little disappointed about was that they did not have a big selection of seafood, like Lobster, Prawns, Oysters, etc. They had a little bit of fish and octopus. We ate like kings while there and had no problems stomach wise at all other than just getting used to it. Every thing was clean at all times and there were ladies giving hand wash when ever you entered any of the dining areas and also when you exit the toilets. Hygiene is a priority there, which I have not come across anywhere else so far.

They have a wide selection of cocktails, which are generally fairly weak, but if you were to ask they would make them strong. This applies to all their drinks though if you have say a Cuba Libra (Rum & Coke/Pepsi) it will be moderately strong! When you are out on excursions though they make them VERY strong, one of the lunches we had I asked for a Cuba Libra and the put ¾ rum and ¼ Pepsi, which nearly blew my head off!!!!!!

STAFF
All the staff at the Riu Mambo were absolutely fantastic. They work so hard to ensure that you have a perfect holiday and a lot of them work long hours yet have a big smile and cheery.

The Maid that serviced our room was brilliant and left a different towel art each day and if we left any clothes on the bed would create “art” with them as well. The room was always spotless and our drinks were replaced every other day or sooner if we requested.

The Entertainment team (Animacion) were the best, I cannot praise them enough – they worked very long days, starting at around 8 – 9am and would not finish until midnight! (Obviously with some breaks through out the day). They were so energetic, friendly and smiley the whole time despite the heat. It is really hard working in the heat, even for a normal day (I know as I come from Kenya which is very similar to DR weather wise) but to do a 16 hour day and still have the energy and cheerfulness that they do is amazing. The evening shows they do are awesome, yes they do mime a lot but very well and you are definitely kept entertained.

The Caribbean Street party is well worth attending and a lot of fun. They also arrange beach bonfire parties as well which is also a lot of fun.

EXCURSIONS
I would definitely highly recommend Isaira Tours (www.isairatours.com). We booked 4 excursions through them. They came on the 2nd day we were there and collected us, took us to their office in town to go through the various different excursions and then returned us to the hotel afterwards. They were always on time and the staff are very knowledgeable and fun. Martin, the owner, called us at our hotel half way through our holiday to ensure we were happy with their service, which I thought was great. Isaira were somewhat cheaper than the hotel reps. I will most definitely be using them again when we do go back to the DR. Also, we emailed them a few times before we went with questions and to book our dolphin encounter and they replied very quickly to answer our queries. We did the Puerto Plata City Tour and cable car excursion, Ocean World, Monster Truck Safari and Paradise Island through them.

Talking about Paradise Island, please look at the reviews, especially if you have young children! The Island is exactly what it states “Paradise” and is amazing and well worth the trip but it is approx 2 hours bus drive there and 2 hours back and bumpy (As the tour guide called it “Free Massage”!!) and could be very hard work with young children. We had a family in front of us where the poor little girl suffered travel sickness and the little boy was very restless!

HOLIDAY OVERALL
As stated above, this has been the best holiday we have had yet and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone and will be going back as soon as we can.

The only issue we had with the holiday which for us turned out not to be a problem is that both the Thomas Cook reps were on a day off on the day of our departure and as such unavailable. If we had any major issues that day it would have been a problem. In my mind they should have split their day offs so as there was someone available every day. As it was we just had a couple of queries, which we managed to work around.

PHOTOS
I will put a selection of photos on here as well.