Stayed at the Caribe Club Princess from July 3 through July 6, 2008. The beach and pool was beautiful. The staff was friendly and helpful. But the few positives cannot outweigh all the negatives.
We used Apple Vacations and their staff was friendly and helpful. The Punta Cana airport was nice and easy to navigate. The Apple staff took us to the resort via airconditioned bus and it was about a 30 minute ride.
Check in was easy and we had no problems with the front desk. However, I read all the tripadvisor posts before leaving and found many of the same situations occurring during my stay. The room keys assigned by the front desk didn't work upon check in and it took about two hours for a new set of room keys to arrive.
The resort is fairly small, but the front desk/reception area is located a long distance away from the resort/rooms/pool area.
My biggest dissatisfaction with the Caribe Club Princess was the food. It was awful. I have travelled everywhere (throughout the caribbean and mexico) and have been able to find something to eat to survive. Not here. Buffet was terrible. Snack bar was even worse. Only thing edible was a the desert bar (ice cream). I pretty much starved for 3 days. The food was prepared very poorly and the Caribe Club did little for variety. The same food on the buffet showed up at the specialty restaurants at night.
The bread was always three days stale, the soda was watered down and the meat was always questionable. The service in the buffet was terrible, they pretty much ignore you (I was always polite and offered a tip..still didn't help.)
On the second day I got very sick to my stomach and spent the rest of my trip sitting on the toilet. My wife had many of the same ailments, but not as bad as mine. I am still sick (3 days later) as I write this review. I did not drink anything but bottled water and only at the buffet once.
The best part about the Caribe Club is the pool area and beach. The beach is amazing and one of the best I've seen. The pool is great. The activity staff goes out of their way to keep everyone entertained. The pool bar is staffed by "Jose", who has a great personallity and aims to please. His drinks are strong and fast. Jose pushes a native drink called "mamjuana", which is served as a shot. Mamjuana is a rum based drink with honey, cinamon and some local tree roots or bark. Jose was a bright spot for our trip everyday in the pool.
This resort is primarily habitated by non-American guests. People from Canada, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Germany, UK and Italy were all represented during our stay. Some of the guests from Puerto Rico were rather rude at times and became annoying at the pool, but they are from a different culture than Americans. Some of the travelers from Europe were not so courteous as well.
We left the resort one day to tour a local cigar-maker since we were told that many of the cigars sold in the local stores in Punta Cana were forgeries. The prices at the local cigar-maker were much cheaper and well worth the money for the cab ride.
Check out was easy at the Caribe Club. Apple provided a large air-conditioned bus again and transportation to the airport was very good. Leaving the Dominican Republic is much more of a hassle than getting there. They only had one crew working the security check point that was servicing the entire airport (probably 10-15 flights within a 2 hour period). This took forever and was not air conditioned. Therefore, all visitors were boarding their airplanes uncomfortable with sweaty attire.
Overall, I would consider returning to the Dominican Republic in a few years, but would not stay or recommend the Caribe Club Princess. On the flight home another couple told us about their stay at the Paradisius and they had identical complaints.
I will probably go back to the Mexican Riviera Maya for a quick inexpensive getaway next time.
I am not generally a negative person, but I felt compelled to write this review. If you are going to Punta Cana, I would suggest paying some extra $$$ and going to a resort that is 5 star or better....then maybe this won't happen to you.












