My wife and I are both working professionals with no children and were looking for a summer getaway to an exotic location. We went to a local travel agency and booked a vacation to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for a week in early August. There were chartered flights leaving Cincinnati, OH directly to Punta Cana, which was extremely convenient and cost effective.

The flight to and from Punta Cana from USA3000 was as near perfect as air travel can be nowadays. We arrived early on our trip down and left early and arrived VERY early on our trip back. I can’t say enough good things about the USA3000 staff and the flight crew.

A few cautions for the Punta Cana airport. It’s very cute from the outside. The roof is constructed of palm leaves, much like a beach hut you will find at the resort. It’s very small, so you won’t have to taxi very long. There are no jetbridges, so be prepared for extreme heat as soon as you get off the plane. After you pick up your luggage, hold onto it for dear life, because apparently in resort areas, a booming business is luggage toting. You’ll be accosted by hundreds of people trying to carry your bags 150 feet to the ground transportation. Don’t bother. Say “no gracias”, carry your own bags, and find the guy holding a sign with your travel agency name on it. They will find your name on a list and direct you to the correct ground transportation.

Be prepared: the roads in Punta Cana are AWFUL. If you are susceptible to motion sickness, be sure to take a Dramamine or something before you get in the van. The driving is INSANE. The roads are so bad that oftentimes the drivers will drive on the left side of the road for long stretches of time so as to not hit gigantic potholes.

The resort itself is interesting. When you get there, there will be a guy to watch your luggage while you check in, so don’t be alarmed. He will also bring your luggage to your room for you. The room is pretty nice. There are a few American channels which is good. It’s tough to dry any clothes due to the humidity. Also, the device mounted on the wall in the bathroom was the poorest excuse for a hairdryer my wife has ever seen. Bring your own or air-dry your hair. The maid service is excellent here.

For lunch, there are only two buffets, one at the Punta Cana (the sister resort) and one at the Dominicana. They are both average and serve their purpose. Also, the water and ice are perfectly fine there, so don’t worry about that. The table service at the buffets is very good.

The dinner restaurants open at 6:30pm and are open until 10pm, I believe, so if you’re used to eating dinner early, you’ll definitely have to shift your schedule. In addition, if you stay there for 7 days, you only get 3 dinner reservations. We made two reservations and didn’t bother with the last one after that. We went to the “Steak” Restaurant and the “Mexican” Restaurant. The “Steak” restaurant took nearly an hour to get our entrée, and it wasn’t prepared as requested. The dinner was small. Overall, it was a poor effort. The “Mexican” restaurant had better service, however the arrachera I ordered, which is a type of steak, was not good at all. I asked for medium-well and got charred on one side and bleeding on the rest of it. I couldn’t even eat it. We actually enjoyed the “Star Rock Café”, which is their attempt at a sports bar, and the Dinner Buffet was also pretty decent.

The Beach vs. The Pool: If you have children and you have come to this resort with a family-centric purpose, then this is the place for you. There are children EVERYWHERE. The pool is average but there is no swim-up bar, which is a definite negative. It’s also very large, but between sections of it are these steps that you have to climb over to get to the other side. It was very strange. In addition, there is very little drink service at the pool area, so that is also another negative, considering there is no swim-up bar.

The beach is FANTASTIC. It’s beautiful and the water is nearly crystal clear. We spent most of our time here, since we were trying to get away from the kids a little bit. I think some of the parents kept their kids near the pool due to the beach being a topless beach. You can tell that this resort prides itself on the beach area, which is evident in the number of shaded palm huts available on their portion of the beach. That being said, there is a huge problem with the reservation of these huts very early in the morning. I read about it in other reviews, and every word of it is true. People get up at 7 in the morning, take their beach towels from the day before, and “reserve” their huts before leaving and going to breakfast. This is against the hotel rules; however, it doesn’t seem to matter because there is really no way to police this. Unfortunately, you will have to play the game if you want a hut to relax in. I would definitely suggest doing this, even though I think it’s ridiculous that you have to. There is also no drink service on the beach either.

This brings me to the nightlife, which is a serious issue with this resort. After waking up at 7am to “reserve” your beach hut, you are EXHAUSTED by the time 8 or 9pm rolls around. There are a few key bars at the resort. One is located near the lobby, which is where the stage is and the other is near the beach and is more of a “chill” bar. Like I said before, this resort is very family friendly. They have what’s called a “Mini Disco”, which is essentially all of the children up on stage until about 10:30 or 11pm doing the chicken dance. Now all of this is going on while you’re trying to have a drink and do more “adult” things. It is actually kind of weird for someone that is used to going to a bar and seeing adults. And this Mini Disco happens pretty much every night. So we tried to avoid the stage bar for the most part. The beach bar was nice, but boring. But it is relaxing and is nice scenery. The liquor is top shelf. Just make sure to ask for it, or you’ll get the well liquor. The casino is a nice air-conditioned option, but it is smoke-filled as most casinos are.

Overall, the resort is pretty nice, but if you are an adult or adult couple looking for a getaway from kids, I would not recommend this resort. In addition, if you don’t like to be around cigar/cigarette smoke, I wouldn’t recommend this resort. If you have children and are looking for a beach getaway, this resort will work, but if you are looking for nightlife, I would look towards an “adult only” resort in the area.

We just returned from a wonderful getaway to Punta Cana and the Iberostar Dominicana was amazing. Our Apple representative welcomed us with drinks in hand and gave a great presentation to let us know everything that was going on at the hotel. Be sure to book your dinner reservations as they do fill up quickly. Don't worry though the buffet is great and be sure to try the smaller grills down by the beach for breakfast and lunch everyday. One tip I would give is to bring a big mug that keeps drinks cold, the temperatures are high and the drinks melt quickly but with our mugs we got about 2 1/2 drinks at a time and they stayed cold and were wonderful. Other reviews talked about how difficult it was to find chairs at the pool and beach, some people did reserve chairs with towels very early but it was never a problem to find a place you just might have to look. The staff was amazing, everywhere we went they had plenty of excellent help and it seems like everyone is helping just you.

My only complaint as an American would be how totally rude and inconsiderate the European people are. We met many wonderful British people who were great but almost all others were clearly not thinking about anyone else.

A warning or heads up to Americans there are many many topless women on the beach everyday so be prepared and don't stare you will look really dumb.

It was an awesome vacation and amazing time so enjoy yourself and ignore those bad reviews.

This is the 5th All Inclusive resort I've stayed at and was the worst of all. However, the beach was by far the most beautiful of all places I've been to.

The food at the resort wasn't anything great. I would avoid all the al-a-carte restaurants except the Oriental. The food at the restaurants was not great so you're better off eating the buffet every night. The buffet had enough variety but definitely lacked in size compared to all the other all-inclusive resorts I've been to.

The rooms were always clean, ac worked well, and the maid-service was outstanding. The room itself was dated and the beds were very firm. Double size beds were actually extra wide twins so book a room with a King size bed if possible.

Even though it's all-inclusive, everyone demanded tips so that was a huge downfall, especially when tips are included with the price of your stay. And if you don't tip, you get slower service especially at the bar. So plan on spending quite a bit more than what you already paid for.

There weren't a lot of activities to participate in at the resort. The shows were supposed to start at 9:45 pm but realistically didn't start until close to 10:15-10:30pm since the first half hour is an introduction to what the show is about and the show performers.

My opinion - you can get more for your money elsewhere in the Dominican Republic. I would choose a different hotel than the Iberostar complex. I would recommend still going to the Dominican Republic as it was very beautiful and a great culture/atmosphere.

I will start with a bit of background info so that you know where I am coming from when I give my opinion. We traveled as a group of 6. My mother who is 59, my husband and I who are 34 and 37. Our two childre 4 months and 3 years and a daughter of a friend who is 15. Quite a range of ages to please. This was my 5 all-inclusive vacation and I have also been on 2 cruises. We usually stay at family friendly locations like Iberostar, Riu and Bercelo's.

We were very hesitant in taking our little ones to Punta Cana but, our travel agent really urged us to try and we are glad that we did. There really wasn't a time that we felt unsafe or that we regretted bringing our young family.

Food: Everyone in our party enjoyed the food in all of the resteraunts. Something for everyone. There was not a meal that any one of us was unhappy with. Caviar at an all-inclusive? I've never seen this. Lobster 4 times. Very well prepared fish at every meal. Very good desserts. We found that the desserts were very flavorful and not bland and boring like a lot of other all-inclusives we have visited. The gourmet resteraunt was EXCELLENT! We also went to the Japanese and Carribean resturants which were very good too but the Gourmet was EXCELLENT!
The seaside buffet was alright. The food was pretty good but pretty much the same everyday.
The drinks were very weak. I am not a big drinker but I think that my 3 year old could have had them and been fine. The ref. in our room was always stocked nicely but of course not very cold. I think that this just happens with the small refs.

Rooms: We checked in and tipped $50.00 and got 2 jr. suites on the edge of the Bavaro hotel. Same rooms as the Bavaro hotel guests. Nice size and great for families. That said , we did not appreciate the fact that they either had 1 king or 2 double beds. The suites that were on the first floor were 2 double beds only. Who in their right mind wants to cuddle that close with their spouse in 90 degree weather????? not me.... Also, it is important to note that the elevators in the main building for the Dominicana could not fit our double stroller. A single stroller would work fine. We thought the beds were plenty comfortable and that the rooms were kept very clean.

We were disturbed by the people getting out of the disco at 3 AM yelling and screaming and chanting and swearing and fighting. This happened 4 nights of our vacation. The first night it happened it lasted for at least an hour and had everyone in our party awake. The "securiuty" dd nothing but stand there. It may or may not be important to note that people causing the disturbance were obviously not American. I was very frustrated that in the US, these people would have been cuffed and sent to jail for the night with a heafty fine. Rediculous! They weren't even kicked out of the hotel complex because they were there again and agian. I was not impressed. When I called the desk I was told that security was doing their best. They did nothing.

Beach: Wonderful, beautiful, fun etc!!!!!!! Plenty of chairs and palapas. We all loved it! Yes, lots of topless which my dorky husband found to be a great bonus.

Pools: The pools are very nice. Most of the pool was 5 foot plus in depth. We treaded a lot of water. Bring air-mattress. Yes, very slippery entries. My daughter did well with water shoes. The children's wading pool was very fun for my daughter. There are plenty of chairs with and without shade around the pool area. There were people who saved chairs with towels. We would go down before breakfast and drop off our stuff and we always found a good spot. We did miss having a swim-up bar.

The hotel was at capacity and it showed. There were too many people for us but it was a really nice resort. I would recommend it for families. It is not 5 star but we knew that going in and it did suit the needs of our vacation.

Hope this helps!