Back from Sirenis and a week with perfect weather. Other than that I can't say the rest was that perfect...
The drive up to Sirenis is horrible! I thought my poor Peugeot was going to fall apart before we got there (US$75 for a taxi is not enough I would say if you look at the road condition!!!). On the way back we went by La Otra Banda and that was much smoother and quicker, so I personally recommend that route.
The major down points of our stay were:
1. Slow check-in, being sent from one side to the other of the lobby due to lack of staff. (6:00pm) US$50 deposit (cash only) for the safety deposit box + daily cost. Don't know why they don't simply take a credit card imprint....
2. After 4 calls to the reception on the evening of the first day and morning of the second day to report the air conditioning wasn't dropping under 25C, a Maintenance guy finally showed us another room which appeared slightly better. The move was made at 9:00pm.
3. Almost same problem with the air conditioning in the new room. More complaining in person at the reception and gave a quick training on what customer service is and how other hotels in the area are doing it... finally got shown 4 different rooms with the last one have more reasonable air temperature of 23C. That's where we finally stayed.
4. Restaurants: Due to low occupancy, only 1 buffet restaurant was open daily. Upon check-in, we asked about lunch and were informed that we would have to come up to the buffet close to the reception area because it was the only one open. Found out on the 3rd day that the restaurant by the pool was open for lunch daily also...
5. Weekends: Pure hell!!!! The hotel fills up with Dominicans on the weekends and their one goal is to ruin a nice vacation. Don't take me wrong, I love this country and its people but it was just a bit too much for me. No respect around the pool area with splashing people, pushing and cutting in line at the buffet restaurants, shouting and loud talking wherever we went... dear god, that was NOT relaxing.
6. Theater: Mosquito city. We only went twice and ended up getting our feet all chewed up. I stayed for a show one night and it was pretty sad. The kid's show has the same 5 songs as all the other hotels in the area. Someone should really think up some new ideas!!!!
Pros:
Nice, wide beach with plenty of shade. Great for those that like to walk a lot.
Rooms of nice size and amenities.
In general nice staff who were happy to help out. (bellboy Ruiz, reception supervisor Junior and waiter Pedro were very helpful)
Local music in all the areas with a nice variety.
Food was ok in the restaurants. Buffet had a reasonable variety.
Always a good stock of water and sofdrinks in the room bar.
Would I go back? Definitely not unless it was free. I've been to 8 or 9 hotels in the PC area so far and this one unfortunately is on my black list.
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Punta Cana airport - Uvero Alto resorts
