My LONG Review - Breezes, Puerto Plata and more PART 1

[BettyB2]

Well - HOLA to everyone here at DR1 !! (Missed you all)!!
I want to thank everyone here that helped me with this vacation this past year..it means a lot to me.

I have been home for 6 days and busy uploading pics, doing my review etc as well as taking care of a sick husband and being sick myself. I still have a couple hundred pictures to post of Sosua, Cabarete and water camera pics and will hopefully get them up early this week.
Now am ready to get back into the swing of things. Glad to be home (not really)!!

I loved the DR and look forward to going back.....just somewhere different this time. I sadly was not happy with Breezes this time around and they are a company that I have raved about for over a year!!

As you begin reading this review, take note that it will be VERY long with some details possibly not in order. We loved the layout, the beach and the pool. We felt the bar staff, gardeners, pool guys to be friendly and very hard workers.

There was always cleaning going on. As you will see in my notes, everything else is hit and miss. One thing for sure, the view was always spectacular as was the coffee……..

Many of my group will try Breezes again (as will I) - but it wont be at this resort. 16 of 22 pretty disappointed with the food (much better off the resort) and housekeeping is NOT consistent resort wide.

Breezes in Nassau had our expectations much higher and sad to say this Breezes came nowhere near the quality of service, food etc that we received a year ago in the Bahamas.

There is much good and bad about the place. All I know, is I loved the coffee, the staff and my morning, afternoon and nightly views of the ocean. I miss my Malibu and Mango Juice frozen every afternoon (always thick)!!

AGAIN, I am sorry for the length as this is quite long.

ARRIVAL
Happy to be here after airport delays of hours and all night in Jersey. The tour companies we hired to pick us up from POP and STI were excellent and our arrival from the airport went smoothly. (ISAIRA & PARADISE TRANS) Juan at the front desk was very nice and helpful and made sure we were in BLDG 6 as I had requested in precious emails. I was very happy at that point. Our rooms were not ready (it was 1pm) – but we knew that coming in and proceeded to the lobby bar for some drinks (myself, hubby, my parents and another couple).

Here we met Roberto who was “super” as he would say to us with thumbs up when we used Spanish to thank him or ask for a cervasa.. He was awesome and a pleasure to visit the whole 9 days we were there. Lobby bathrooms were very nice and clean with fresh flowers on every sink. No welcome drinks.

We were able to get the rest of our rooms in BLDG 6 before 3pm.

ROOMS:
Our group was split up into two different buildings-after a couple of room changes (3 changes from BLDG 10 to BLDG 6)
BLDG 6 – which is Ocean Front and BLDGS 10 & 11 (not much of a view).
Cleaning service was night and day between BLDGS 1 & 6; we found maids rinsing our drink glasses in tap water (a no-no), floors not swept, sheets not changed and sometimes no towels.

My friend Anita in BLDG 11 had fresh flowers or towel animals on their pillows, beds, plenty of bath towels, clean rooms and good beds.

Our maid service was under par and my mother saw the maid rinse her drink glasses out with tap water!! (We have been home 5 days and her stomach is still bad). I am sure the same was for us - as many in group are sick with a bad stomach. One of our group is a nurse and her doctor told her yesterday no fruit or milk for 10 days!! We didnt even GET to drink milk at the resort - but the fruit was HEAVEN!!

We always tipped and left gifts for them as well. still nothing specialm but I did not really expect much of a difference from reviews etc.

It was my anniversary on Feb 15 (married at Breezes Nassau last year) and although I was emailed by management that they are happy to have us for anniversary there were no Presidente’s or fruit in our room as we thought. Some friends of ours had some hearts decorated with gold glitter from Valentines dinner and it was posted on our door the next morning with our names and anniversary date. I WAS hoping for something special from the resort on this day..but nothing.

We survived and made the best of it. The beds are hard as a rock. Request extra pillows and towels and they will usually be there daily. Washcloths were also delivered to each of our rooms on the second or third day and we did not ask for them.

If one washcloth came up missing - it would cost you $20 (same price if you lost you beach towel or towel card). In Bldg 6 some of us did not get towels until very late in the day and some rooms were so unhappy due to the fact sometimes they would bring juts one towel or not change them at all. I guess you should not hang them to DRY after you use them or else they do not take them in some of the rooms. (There was supposivley a note int he rooms that said to leave them in the tub? - that is what someone told me.
Great housekeeping in BLDG 11.

BLDG 6 has 2 small single beds pushed together and they are hard old mattresses placed on a wooden board…..not very comfy. The other BLDGS had 2 doubles or queens. Air worked fine in room 6109 and always had hot or at least warm water. Same day and same time the room above me had NO HOT WATER. Strange.

4 couples were in Bldg 11 with absolutely no complaints about their rooms - big beds, great service. It is also a good location - but NO views of the water.

7 couples in Building 6 - 2 single beds pushed together - but in my view they are the best location - close to the beach and beach bar. If you can survive with the beds in these rooms, they are great with the best ocean front/view. Even the rooms on the side have views of the ocean. Many in bldg 6 had leaking air conditioners as well (room 6109 no leaking).

Most rooms in Bldg 6 now ALL HAVE TV (as most of us had NONE upon arrival). I went to my parents room 6102 and checked it out with them – balcony door did not open and no television. We went back to front desk and went to check out another room one floor up and there were 2 Presidente’s and a dish of fresh fruit. They moved rooms and balcony door and tv both worked in room 6212. They had the "black box".

We waited 5 days for TV in my room (I did get the golf channel and stock market) but when hubby stayed out for a few more and I wanted to relax - it stunk. Wanted morning news with my shower - but I survived.

Complaints did not help for first 4 days and then I EMAILED management from the computer room and had the "black box" as they call it in my room that evening after dinner. Good to see news and information about the weather back home. A few of our rooms in BLDG 6 had no tv all week. They kept telling me at the front desk they would take care of it…never happened.
One couple on our group did not get the black box until the morning of their check out. They were not happy.

Check your room before any unpacking - check tv and make sure balcony door opens and that air-conditioning works, Bring dryer sheets or air freshener for room.

We had room 6109. Some friends had 6209 great view.
Also - out of the 22 of us, 6-8 had absolutely NO COMPLAINTS.

We are not picky - and my sheets not need be changed every day - but the SAND...oh the sand. AT least shake them out for me.

My husband was in the ocean every day and all of us were on the beach or in water many times a day - the beach rooms get sandy and if you are barefoot and the maid does not sweep up the floor you will have sand and possibly sand mites? in your bed. Did not see any bugs in our room at all - always had hot/warm water and air conditioning.

Some in BLDG 6 saw tiny little bugs, but not daily. I did not see any bugs in our room except once in awhile at night when one would fly in with our balcony doors wide open.

Hair dryers worked fine. I used my own once and theirs once and then never dried my hair the rest of the week. It was just too hot.

Linens were old and tired - the blankets on our bed looked like they could have been mine from 20 years ago. But they kept me warm and I always snuggled in one late night or first thing in morning on balcony.

Linens did not seem to be changed daily - there was always sand in the bed.

Floors didn’t seem swept, and when we were looking under our bed for a Larimar earring that I had lost, we were DISGUSTED – thank goodness we only had one more night.
There was enough hair and dust under there to clog a vacuum cleaner.

Beds are hard old mattresses on a wooden plank and ask for extra PILLOWS - we had 2 each and I thankfully took my pillow from the plane. Pillows not that great.

NOTE: The first night I cried myself to sleep, dinner was not good that first night and I had no TV, so tired from 2 days of travel, and worrying about disappointing the group that came on this trip; as I had chosen Breezes again since we were so happy with our stay at Breezes, Nassau last year.

[BettyB2]

FOOD
Buffet not up to my expectations from my last trip to a BREEZES (Nassau) - watch for undercooked food and check smell. Some items were excellent - but most nights dinner not the best. Most everyone we talked to, including most of the 22 of us found regular trips to the bathrooms after ALL MEALS served. No matter how good some of the food tasted..
BOOK your restaurants as soon as you get there - someone usually there at 7am and 2pm in afternoon at entrance to main buffet. They let us book 2-3 days in advance.

Much of the seafood did not smell FRESH - whole shrimp served on Friday seafood night buffet was NOT COOKED this past Friday night...I did not eat any of it, my some at my dinner table did and it was not cooked. Their seafood night is not much to brag about – I would try to get a specialty restaurant on this night.

Our first night we ate at the buffet ( no reservations available) and with it being seafood night, we were pretty happy. Alas, first thing after vegetarian buffet area is a cook grilling shrimp – they were whole shrimp, with legs, eyes and tentacles……I could not eat them or rip them apart. Hubby and Dad had some and said they were just okay.

Not much otherwise offered in terms of seafood: seafood salad, a seafood paella (which was the best for me this night). I saw lobster bisque and was pleased, yet, the smell overwhelmed me and one taste with my fingertip I knew it wasn’t good (I also manage and run a kitchen on the side).

Very unhappy with our first meal, but decided to let it slide and see what the rest of the week would bring.

Lunch buffet tended to be better than dinner buffet.
Good calamari at buffet sometimes at night. One friend raved about the beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and beets on the following Friday and also raved about the lamb (he is a chef). He also chowed on the duck. Tuesday night buffet is lobster and it was hit and miss. A couple from our group loved it, some hated it and some said every other piece was good. No melted butter served with the lobster.

Mexican Restaurant called COCOS was our first reservation for our whole group the day after arrival. What a good choice and so much fun..... Ceviche here was phenomenal as were the soups.

Shrimp and Chicken style salads were also served here and as we soon found out – ANY shrimp dishes at specialty restaurants served shrimp with tails on them.

Nacho chips with a very spicy, yet wonderful salsa and some cheese sauce was served at all the tables. We were also all greeted with Orange Margaritas that were quite tasty.

Fajitas, steaks and tacos served and everyone enjoyed it. One person ordered the fish and pushed it aside to eat the rest of his wives’ steak. Mexican coffee and desserts were good as well.
All 22 of us ate there together with NOT ONE COMPLAINT that I know of.
Fun time for all here with Mexican hats, shots of tequila and music/dancing.....Staff was AWESOME

Our next reservation was two days later at the Japanese Restaurant.
Japanese meal was the best of them all – small sushi app or a salad and then some delish Miso soup - although there was not any tofu in it.... The wasabi served here was some of the hottest we have ever had…but soooo good.

The chef cooks up a big pile of chicken on the grill and it is just about done when you are served wine and appetizers, then he starts cooking the beef, adds garlic and cooks the vegetables & rice.

Each plate is served up with some vegetables, chicken, beef and rice. He then cooks up the shrimp while you are eating (hundreds of them) and will give you a choice of shrimp or salmon. I wish I would have ordered salmon as you get around 30 or so of those tiny shrimp with tails on. What a pain, especially eating with chopsticks. But the food was very good and very fresh. I enjoyed it.
.
All 22 of us ate there and ask for Saki if you want some - They don’t offer it, but if you ask - they will bring it. Abraham our cook was great. We gave him a $10 after dinner since he did just about all the work. I enjoyed the ginger ice-cream a lot and some raves about a banana dessert they had.
TIED with the MEXICAN for flavor

Tuesday we went to Martino’s, the Italian Restaurant. We did not realize that our reservation was for 7pm until we showed up at 6:30 – but they said it was okay and we were seated. Well, service was slow and I think it was due to the hostess seating us before other tables were ordering. We had two tables of 4.

Service was okay and not as friendly as the other restaurants. I had the seafood dish which was supposed to have red snapper in it along with other seafood, and when it was delivered it consisted of 2 pieces of calamari, one scallop, 3 mussels and around 30 of those little shrimp with the tails on! You would think at the specialty restaurants the tails would be removed.

Another person in our group asked the waiter about the same seafood dish and asked if their were mussels in it because he would have to go to hospital if there was. Waiter assured him there were no mussels and when his dish arrived, wahla! there were mussels in it. He was quite upset and ended up getting some food from the adjacent buffet and brought it in and had dinner with the rest of us.

Caesar salad, procuitto and melon were nice appetizers. My seafood dish was not spicy, nor did I taste any cilantro. By far, the Canneloni dinner was the BEST choice at the Italian restaurant, the sauces were so good.

My mother had pork and it was quite tasty, Dad has Sea bass with a pesto linguine which he said was also good. Another friend had the chicken and she said it was okay. No parmesan cheese served here. Dessert (Tiramisu) nicely presented and tasty.
Service at the Italian was not as good/friendly as the rest.

Valentine’s Day we ate at the buffet and probably my favorite buffet night of them all as it was Japanese night with a sushi station set up. I don’t eat duck- but heard raves about it. There was also beef and chicken on stick on Japanese night. More of that great HOT wasabi! This was the BEST meal in the buffet ALL WEEK for me.

French (Paris) had great French Onion soup - and pretty much everyone of us enjoyed our meal - plus the place has air conditioning.
Service was great.

Beef not the best at any of the restaurants...at Paris the Chicken, Salmon and Pork had nice reviews....... My hubby and I both ordered beef, yet consistency was different on both steaks….hmmmm

Do not order creme brulee ( I should have remembered from precious posts) it is just a bowl of custard type pudding with NO CARMELIZED crust on top. Big disappointment.

ANYTHING at the specialty restaurants with shrimp in it - you will get MANY tiny shrimp that still have their tails on........something that should be changed...... We were sitting at the Paris (nicest inside of them all and the only restaurant where men HAVE TO wear slacks) and my mothers shrimp salad appetizer had again, many of those tiny shrimp.

Some very nice fish sometimes at buffet and at restaurants - but smell it first as many, many times, it did not smell so fresh.

Fried chicken, chicken fingers, bbq chicken we would pile up and wrap up in foil to bring to the beach bar area for all of us to share. It was pretty good. Also chicken fingers on kids buffet were good and we would also bring them back with us. Also brought plates of pastries some afternoons and would share with those at "our cabana" on the beach.....our private little ocean front pavilion that sometimes had 20 of us there at a time....

Good hot sauce at beach bar and buffet - I used in soups, on eggs, on french fries....(and bought 4 bottles in the grocery store in Cabarete to bring home).

Beach Bar Daily -
MORNING - fruits, danish, croissants, breads etc (you can toast your rolls, bread here on a huge panini. LUNCH - Fries, burgers, hotdogs, wings, ribs and meatballs. Soup daily. Salads. Condiments, cheese, onions, pickles, olives, pickled onions etc . No relish and the pickles are not that good.... Check the rolls before you use them as the birds get first picking. - Go to the BACK of the basket and one or two down to get a guaranteed good roll.......

Ribs were hit and miss - most days pork ribs and a couple days of beef ribs - sometimes not cooked all the way, some days to0 tough to eat - but ONE day the pork ribs were so tender and delicious - if they could only be consistent and do that every day.

The guys raved about the meatballs and had meatball subs at lunch. I took raw onions and grilled them on the panini for my one burger I had for lunch one day.
The burger was good - but wanted dill pickle or relish soooooo bad. Packets of Heinz ketchup and mustards provided by the resort were just fine. Hot sauce always here at beach bar with a nice Tarragon Vinegar.....(great on fries)

Check your rolls, breads first before you take them as the birds get first picking. Literally unconvering the bread napkins and taking what they want. It would make more sense to have them covered, less waste, less labor hours and bird proof. There must be a solution to this one.......

Sometimes during lunch there would be a chef there making/serving a seafood paella that was pretty good. Soups were generally very good here. In the afternoon near the coffee station they would put out baked good and fresh fruit.....

Beach bar FOOD closed from 6:30-10:30 and then opens back up again with the same offerings as lunch. It closed during the hours that COCO's was open (Mexican).

Breakfast Buffet has: fresh fruits, cheeses, breads, danish, pastries, french toast, pancakes, yogurts, sausage, ham, bacon, vegetables, beans, scrambled eggs, cereal station and fresh squeezed juice station on a daily basis. Can also get hard boiled eggs, salads, cheeses, sliced meats and more. I had one good omelet and pretty much would have bacon, ham, fruit and juice every morning with a slice of wonderful rye bread.........mmmmm

Yogurt is from France and was very good as well - especially if you are craving milk products......

The egg man would be so busy at the buffet as he ALSO was working around 15' away making pancakes and french toast. DO NOT put other things on your plate while waiting for eggs as they will get cold. Most in group ate the over easy eggs as many time the omelet would taste funky. I only had one GREAT omelet all week out of the three I ordered.
We were usually there first thing in the morning and wondered if the sides for the omelets were left over from previous day. Found most everyone that ate after 8:30 loved their omelets.

Everyone that was in our group that ate pancakes and french toast loved them, Check kids buffet in the morning as well - I found wonderful croissants one morning with melted cheese on top.

Women taking the ala carte reservations were always sweet to us. You needed to be there around 7 am or 2pm in afternoon and that was never a problem. We were able to eat at all 4 at our desired time of 6:30 or 7pm.

Our other 4 nights tho we were stuck with buffet because earliest dinner time at any of them was 9:30 and that is waaay to late for me.

[BettyB2]

STAFF:
The staff at the beach bar is the ABOSLUTE best. Jose, Ricardo and Roberto were wonderful waiters and Jocelyn (J pronounced "h"), Sami and Flor were fantastic bartenders.
We (all 22 of us) are going to miss these guys and left Jose many, many gifts for him, his daughter and his wife. I cried having to say good bye to Jose and walk away from the beach bar for the last time. We exchanged addresses, phone numbers with Jose. He called us his "familia" and would spend much time talking with us, serving us drinks and teaching us Spanish.....

As stated housekeeping could go either way. We left many gifts (coloring books, crayons, valentines day presents, toys, candy, and cash) still our room was never swept, no fresh bar of soap (they give you free little bars that do the trick but after a couple showers they get mushy.

Shows were just oka, although a few in my group saw 2 that they thought were pretty good.
Fun to watch the Animacion team by the pool. They were fun.
Guys working the beach would get volleyball or darts going daily.

The lady in the small grocery store was sooo very nice as were the two women we encountered in the small gift shop.

Loved the layout and met some great staff members and we have exchanged address and phone numbers with Jose who was our daily waiter at the beach bar. He became my buddy, my brother - I cried saying good bye to him yesterday.

We had 22 of us and we pretty much dominated the pavilion area at the beach bar - with 4 tables and many, many chairs. we met many good new friends.
I loved Jose, Ricardo and Martin for our waiters and Flor was always good to me. Hubby became friends with Jocelyn and Samy at the beach bar as well as Flor...we took good care of them.

Roberto was our favorite at the lobby bar, so funny, so nice.

I watched some of the entertainment, but we spent most of the time near beach bar near the ocean so we were not front and center. My husband, my father and another friend played darts on the beach and had a great time...fun to watch. We will miss the staff and the wonderful view the most.

Front desk was great, but there were a few "fibs" to members of our group (Like- Ocean Sands is the ONLY casino around) Which we all knew from the boards to NOT BE TRUE!!
Also always telling you they would be there to take care of the tv/air conditioning problems. I know the staff knew if we didnt have the black box - we virtually had no television. NO- we dont go on vacation to watch tv, but nice to have for the time and news back home (oh yeah, and nights when hubby would stay out MUCH later than me) !!

TIPPING/GIFTS
We tipped our maid daily $1-$5 depending on what else we left for her. We left her Spanish/American coloring Books (Tom & Jerry) with crayons, candy, nylons, dish towels, hair barretts, soaps, body wash, toys, m&ms, and more on different days. Always left her a small gift from Chapstick to toys for her children. We left her our thermal cups and a few bucks as well on the last day. We always left her a note with our names and room # to thank her. Still with the tipping etc, the room never seemed to have anything special.

My husband met a guy that works the beach at night - Alphonse - moving loungers etc and we gave him some toy cars, coloring books and crayons for his 6 yr old son. My husband and he had some enlightening conversations - helping eachother with Spanish and English.

AHHHH, our bartenders and our servers extraordinair- Jose & Ricardo got the best of it all. Lots of cash (from the entire group) during the week and on our second to last day we presented a NY Yankee baseball to Jose who became our favorite of the week - he was so appreciative and told me the next day he had it at home, on a shelf with our note next to it. He loved it and was so happy to show to rest of staff.

I had packed the baseball knowing we would give it away by the end of the week to whomever was our favorite, our friend, and Jose beat everyone hands down although we had GREAT waiters all week at the beach bar (Ricardo & Martin just to name a couple) We had wonderful service at the beach bar.......that was our home for the week.

We tipped all our bartenders around $5 the first time we would encounter them and ended up with favorites we had daily and would probably get tipped daily by at least ONE of our group of 22.

Our bartenders at Beach Bar were awesome - Flor, Sammy and Jocelyn (pronounced "Hocelyn").

Also on the last day - we gave Jose more toys, 5 brand new kids tshirts, hair barrettes, soaps, bath sponges for his wife and school supplies for him to share with the rest of the wonderful beach bar staff. Plus my parents gave him three shirts and a pool float.Another couple gave him another float. plus my friend Tammy gave him a bag with aroudn 3 mens shirts in it.
He appreciated everything and said he will miss "his familia". He later had to come up with manager to have me sign a paper saying these were from us. One of our group gave Flor and Jose each $20 for their hard work taking care of us for 9 days..they were very appreciative. Gave Flor an ELKS bar towel and a Molson bottle opener as well.

Between our group we also brought around 150 lb of school supplies, clothing etc for a school we visited in Los Charamicos, as well as two other childrens foundations our group was supporting on this trip.. Well worth it and one of our highlights for the 7 of us that visited the school and attended a church service in French...it was amazing and moving.

I always carried a couple small toys, colored pencils in beach bag when we went into town to give to some poor children and shoeshine boys. One day at Checkpoint, two young boys came and wanted to "shine" my mother and my sandals. We said no gracias My Mom gave each of the boys a yo-yo and I gave them each a 24 pk of colored pencils...they were so happy.
They returned with flowers for my mother an myself, we were so touched and of course, my eyes did "water".
One of the most memorable parts of our trip for me (top 5).

Just some thoughts. Cash every day is good as well for housekeeping staff, but there are many things that are quite expensive for them or hard to attain. Bar staff seemed to love the gifts and were always so thankful and nice.

[BettyB2]

ORIENTATION
Never offered to any of us.

GUESTS: We knew there were the 22 of us Americans there, but we quickly bonded with many friends from all over the world. We found mostly Canadians, some British, our new German friend Nicholas who would share morning coffee or an evening cigar with us at our “Lodge”.

We were extremely lucky – we made some awesome new friends. Anita, Ron, Robyn, Gerry, Barry, Dennis (guitar player from Canada) and his brother Mike, Barry, Adam from GB who was to be married in a few days with an awesome singing voice as well); Adriana and Fabio from Santo Domingo, Silvia and Mark from Germany/Poland; Brenda and Lauren from Canada and so many more. Making some new friends was one of the highlights. Also spent time with a few couples that had gotten married...cant remember everyones names right now - but have email addresses and more all written down.

INTERNET/WIFI
The computer room was nicely air conditioned and I loved going there around noon to check the weather back home (remember I had no television) - we were bombarded with a few feet of snow while we were gone and wanted to make sure everything was okay back at home.

There are around 10-12 computers in there - sometimes you would not be able to connect on one and lose a minute or two - but could always connect each time any of us went in. Most of our group used the computer room and some even used for printing Nascar schedule
COST: $3 per 1/2 hr $6 per hr and 50cents a page to print. If noone is in computer room when you want to buy time, you can get it from the wonderful lady in the little candy store.

BEACH: Beautiful and rough. I only saw the litter when I would get up for my morning coffee and then it was only stray cups etc here and there. Staff always cleaning. Red flagged most days, but most of the men were in the ocean almost every day and went out to the reef and jumped the waves.

I enjoyed it when I was in there except when I went down 5 times (as my mother thoughtfully photographed)!!
Always loungers. If you want a palapa to sit under you must get there early before the beach guys come out or else they hold them for other people. We believe they were tipped well to do this.

Boogie boards, snorkeling and paddle boats were available and I saw folks out there snorkeling every day - red or green flagged.

I LOVED the beach area. When you get boogie boards and other sports equipement from the resort, you sign it out for one hour.

Water sports are only available if the water is good. We saw/some did: boogie boarding, snorkeling, paddle boats. Saw snorkeling every day, red or green flag.

I never found it dirty and I was on the beach morning, noon and night. I would see cups and plates sometimes early am when I would go get my coffee (sometime between 5-7 am) We had two full days of green flags and 3 days split with yellow/red and the rest were red flagged. Ocean was fun and most of the men in our group went in daily.

We loved the beach area. And did not find it dirt or overly littered and when there were cups or plates laying around, it was because people cant pick up after themselves. I never found it dirty and I was on the beach morning, noon and night. I would see cups and plates sometimes early am when I would go get my coffee (sometime between 5-7 am) We had two full days of green flags and 3 days split with yellow/red, the other 3 were red but didnt deter many from the ocean waves.....

POOL: It was always clean and sooo big. Many in our group just stayed at pool bar or floated down the lazy river. You really didn’t go with the flow and had to get some help. Some in my group swam the whole thing a couple of times. Always lots of loungers. I hit the hot tubs once and they were comfortable in the early evening. During the day they are too hot due to the beating sun.

The pool was VERY nice but it closed early. We brought a raft and never used it. Some friends bought tubes there for $8 , which was well worth it for them.
We packed a 6’ 8lb raft and never used it. What a waste of luggage space. Pool was beautiful and always clean. Sun and shade spots. Waterfalls.

Oh yeah - and the POOL BAR!!! Very nice, clean, good people, great service. There is one bar in the pool that is attached to another bar that is pool side where you can get drinks if you are laying in the sun.

SHOPPING
At the resort they sell bottles of dark and white vanilla for $1 each and the coffee is $4.50 per bag. This is the store with the rafts out front and they have some reasonable souveniers there (magnets that say DR and more) In Cabarete there is a grocery store (Alberto's) we went to where I bought coffee for $3 (same coffee) and a bunch of bottles of hot sauce. Hot sauce is good and cheap as well in the grocery store (i think around 50cents each?)

Vanilla there is also a buck or less. The resort was just about out of vanilla when I bought mine - so check it when you get there. The coffee is the best I have ever had in the world - I tried coffee made in Sosua, Santiago and Santo Domingo - all sooooooo good. - I have been drinking it at home too and now wish I brought home more than 4 lbs for myself!!

Also - this is HUGE - after many days of shopping in towns etc we found the BEST deals for larimar right at the Breezes store (the one with pool floats in front). VERY reasonable souveniers and jewlery with NO HASSLES at all. And the two women in there were so sweet.

I purchased a ring called a "Happy Hour" ring at a store in Sosua/POP area for $45 and could get the same ring at the resort and in Cabarete for $15-$25. They are pretty cool and you kind of turn them inside out and there is a beautiful Larimar stone on one side and Amber on the other. I wish I would have bought more of them to sell back here in the states...but I didnt.

At the resort I purchased a larimar and sterling bracelet with a HUGE stone for $80 and hubby also bought me a necklace there for our anniversary with beautiful dark larimar pendant and a sterling rope chain for around $130 (same in town was WELL OVER $250)
Gorgeous. Larimar earrings cheap as well as many of the rings..... It is a beautiful stone and ONLY found in the DR

You can get souvenirs here pretty cheap as well - and as I said - no hassles here. Tshirts, purses, decorative, jewelry, magnets, pareos and so much more.....

They also set up a huge area near the main outside buffet area with tables of crafts. jewelry, cigars and more a couple times a week. there was a case of Cohiba? cigars for $85 and one guy with us haggled down to $50 and was SOOOOO pleased. He shared with many of the men with our group as well as to new friends we met during our 9 days.

You can haggle outside of the stores at the resort when they have sales set up on tables in main stage areas - But everything inside stores is set price (although they did let me slide for being 40 pesos or so short for a bracelet I wanted)!

Bring potato chips, peanuts if you think you will need snacks.

I watched a lady in front of me pay $10 for one can of Pringles, one candy bar and one pack of gum, and boy she was not happy! The girl in store was trying to make her laugh, but she was just miserable.
When she left the wonderful woman in the store and I had a good laugh!.

I already knew chips were $8 from being on 4 DR forums and brought along one big bag of almonds, some pretzles and slim jims for our afternoons at the beach bar to munch on. If you want vanilla buy it for $1 in the small store on the resort with the rafts in front of it. Coffee on resort you can get for $4.50 or so per lb.

[BettyB2]

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MISC:
BEES - -I was at every bar and on the look out. I saw them mostly near the lobby bar, but not that many. Never saw them at the beach bar and did not see any at the pool bar. Bees will be attracted to sweets and although I did see “a couple” of them daily, they were not bothersome, nor did any swim in my cocktails.

Blackouts are going to happen, but they seemed short and sweet. I will admit the first one I was not scared, but worried it wasn’t going to come back on. They never lasted long.
One of our friends tho was in the shower when we lost power in the evening for a few minutes....she was alone and little afraid - but nothing major.

I agree that there is a towel problem..

I contacted management about the casino being mentioned on website and it was removed within 3 days of my email as well as there is now notices on other websites that the casino is closed. I spoke to a gentleman that had been going to Breezes for years and he said he could never understand how it stayed open so long as there was hardly anyone there gambling

Also the resort does offer FREE shuttle to Ocean Sands Casino and also FREE return to resort. You need to ask at front desk and they tell you to bring in taxi bill and they pay it. My parents and a friend went there on one occasion. I wished the casino was open at the resort, but it wasn’t. We had to make the best of it.
There are many other casinos you can visit as well if you contact the right people.

I ended up drinking Malibu coconut rum with mango juice frozen and they were great and had to be made to order. They may actually be my NEW favorite tropical drink and some of the bartenders would add some good rum to top it off! NICE!!
Slip bartender a $5 or so once in awhile and you get a little extra good service.

Pool bar had the best tasting Banana Daiquiri (with fresh banana) and the only way I could get one was to go to pool bar because they were NOT THE SAME at lobby or beach bar, At the same pool bar I was served a yellow looking nasty tasting pina colada.

Lobby bar best Miami vice - but most frozen drinks very watery.

If you ask for a mug at beach bar they will give you one and sometimes chill it for you. Special tequilas, vodkas, scotch, rums were kept put away and only given if requested.

I brought 22 people on this trip and my room had no TV for 5 day - I am sure SOMEONE knew there was no television as the consensus was that NO BLACK BOX, NO TV. The people at the front desk would ask if you had one, if you said NO, they said that is what was needed. 6 of our 7 rooms had no black box in our rooms......

Yes, I did get the Golf channel and the stock market on CNBC for the first 5 days – but just wanted a little CNN or sitcom for late night. Oh well, the sound of the ocean had to do for the first 5 days.

TOURS/TOWNS:
We did a couple day trips with Isaira Tours and although we had a bus breakdown on the side of the road (between Sosua and Puerto Plata) we ended up having a nice and memorable day.

We had our best meal of the first three days at the restaurant that is located in El Doral Plaza where Martin has is office for Isaira. The food was soooo good there. Great customer service here and great employees.

Thanks to Jami, Maritza, Juan, Payani (Papa Payani as we called him) and the owner Martin Espinal. I will write up a separate review on our tours.
They were awesome and Martin did call once to see how our day trip went.

We did Brugal Rum , shopping, Central Park, a jewelry makers store (which we could get jewelry cheaper elsewhere), a great lunch. Drive thru fruit/farmers market and stop at Checkpoint Pub (Hi Mark and Colleen!!) to drop off school supplies for Sosua Kids and BTBCF.

We also brought gifts of cheese, Miracle Whip and black licorice for them. It’s a great place and we were there twice during our week.

One member of our group did a 3 dive package with Northcoast Diving and just loved it and said it was well worth it. Others went horseback riding a few times as well.

For SURE take the shuttles to the towns. There are three shuttles daily from the resort - 10am leaves for Cabarete and 10:30 leaves for Sosua

SOSUA
The shuttle to Sosua will drop you right off at the Checkpoint Pub owned by Mark and Colleen from Canada. Friendly place, good burgers, sandwiches, beers and customers. You will have a fun time there for sure and just tell Mark and Colleen that you heard about them on the boards - they are soo nice and we had a great time there on two visits. We met Brooke as well who is a very nice bartender and a lot of fun.
This is also the place we dropped off cash donations and school supplies for Sosua Kids and BTBCF.

Mel tours is RIGHT there as well as an exchange bank.
Across from Mels is a small jewelry store WITH no hassles owned by a woman I think that is from Germany. Really some good deals there. I bought 4 pairs of earrings here, 2 necklaces and 3 key chains and the prices were GREAT. The woman is blonde and so very nice. There was a child on the floor behind the counter with a book - he was so adorable with curly hair.

Mels, the bank, the jewelry store, another restaurants, real estate company are literally right behind you as you sit on your barstool. There are restrooms very close with a guard outside of them.

Boys will come up and want to shine your shoes....no gracias works. We usually had a small toy, pencils etc with us for the kids - some in our group would just give them a few pesos.

A few guys selling jewelry as well - but no gracias also works just fine - if you want to buy jewelry from someone selling it while you are at the bar - ask whomever is working if they think the guys is okay. Colleen recommended the gentleman we bought jewelry from - he was very nice and friendly and we got some good deals on some gorgeous necklaces.

Walk to the beach from there as well - but there will be many hassles along the way asking you to buy things. No gracias, no gracias and KEEP ON WALKING. Problem here is it is NON STOP - staying at the bar is just fine - but the walk to the beach is a pain - although once you get there it is breathtaking....
I was very happy just sitting at the bar chatting with a Presidente, bought jewelry and took photos right there - no hassles...YES

Cabarete- great for everyone!! Day or night. Very close to shuttle drop off is a grocery store for coffee, vanilla, hot sauces for a good price.

Cana Tropical is also a short walk - YOU MUST GO THERE - great drinks, atmosphere, view of beach and the food is to rave about. All the workers there were wonderful. I tried my first MamaJuana here that they let us each have shots of and that taste of honey was soo good.

They made GREAT margaritas here and squeezed fresh limes into each one ( iah ve pics posted in Cabarete file on webshots). Friends of ours had reaved about their meal there the previous day.

Lots to do in Cabarete - night time a lot of fun and the beach is sooooo beautiful. One couple with us went to Cabarete 6 out of 9 days/nights.......Lobster alfredo, burritos, mahi mahi and more - everyone loved the food here - breakfast also served very cheap - I have pictures of the menu sposted. The owner and the staff sooooo nice.

Beautiful beach location and great art, seats everywhere. I bought 4 painted wooden placemats that I fell in love with - they were NOT for sale - but I talked him into 4 placemats, coasters for $40 and they also gave me a few more of the local beer coasters and two handmade wooden beaded trivets for free.

The view of the beach from here is just wonderful......

At Cana Tropical a couple guys will come up trying to sell CDs or jewelry - a no gracias works just fine.

My problem was once after I said no to 3 guys selling jewelry - I finally said yes and kept this wonderful man (Vincent) busy for over 1/2 hour haggling - I ended up with 9 necklaces (coral, larimar, coconut, beaded) and 2 bracelets for $100 and was very happy with my one stop shopping and the best Margarita of the entire 9 days.

I even saw a necklace I liked but wanted it in a bracelet and he sat in a chair near us and took the necklace apart to make it fit my wrist. It was wonderful

Albertos was the grocery store where we purchased our coffee, vanilla and hot sauces. Great prices and friendly employees.

In Cabarete - there are 3 shuttles that run daily and FREE from Breezes - if you are hanging out and having a good time and stay past the pickup time - the taxi ride is only $10 (if anyone says more than that - refuse the ride) - there are cabs all over and you can just ask the owner/workers of wherever you may be partying etc - where to catch a cab - they will point you in the right direction When walking anywhere we say Hola and keep on walking - instances of ladies grabbing your hair and trying to bead it - stay TOGETHER.
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CHANGES I WOULD MAKE:
CONSISTENCY!!
If I order a drink at one bar and like it, I expect it to taste the same at the next bar. They were different every time. My normal vacation drink of a Miami Vice was only drank a couple of times as they were awful unless I ordered a single daiquiri and colada and mixed it myself. Still many of the drink machines were VERY watered down and not THICK.
If maids are cleaning rooms, daily fresh bath towels, sheets, leaving flowers & towel animals for some, IT SHOULD BE RESORT WIDE.

FOOD is also hit and miss. Only one day out of were the ribs at the beach bar buffet excellent. Too bad it could not be that way every day. The rest of the week they were either undercooked or too tough.

ALL ROOMS should have the “Black Box” that the front desk would ask if you had when you complained about no TV. THEY KNEW when they put us in these rooms that there was not going to be "satellite TV" as stated on website and papers.

New bedding in OF buildings (queen instead of the two tiny hard as a rock mattresses). These 2 tiny beds pushed together do not make for good sleeping and many in our group found themselves falling between the cracks during the night.
They were JUST AWFUL and home now for 5 days and back still hurts. I have heard BLDG 5 (also OF) had one queen bed AND a single - I would have settled for a queen...but never offered

Be consistent with food and drinks - recipes should be the same at all the bars -My Miami Vice, Pina Colada and Banana Daiquiris were different at each of the 3 bars I went to (lobby, pool and beach).

COVER breads at beach bar. They need to be kept in containers like they put the fruit and pastries in. The birds here are so smart they move the cloth napkin covering the breads/rolls and feast. I have a picture of the little guy on webshots. We enjoyed watching them - AFTER we had our lunch!
Many, many times our group would grab a roll and it would be bitten into - some had centers missing. LOL

FOOD needs to taste better or at least not cause regular bathroom trips after EACH AND EVERY MEAL (no matter where we ate this was the case for almost all of us).

*And AGAIN - CONSISTENCY with drinks, housekeeping and food. Never the same anywhere.

SORRY so long. But all in all, most of us had a great time, loved the layout, staff, most drinks, incredible views and the coffee.

I would not recommend friends or family to go back unless a few changes were made..with #1 of course being consistency.

I loved Breezes in Nassau and sadly to say, the food and housekeeping was only 25% as good as the food we had in the Bahamas……

We will visit the DR again..... Just not Breezes, unless they make some changes.

Make the best of it and you can have a great time. I know good food and this was not it. Hit and Miss.

This was the first vacation EVER that I could not wait to get home to EAT!!!
We agreed that our best meals were OUTSIDE of the resort.

Again, thanks for your patience with this being lengthy. I just like to keep track of the entire vacation.

I am sure I will get some bashing, but I am just being honest.

I have a majority of the pics and videos posted here..... bettyf12's photos and albums on webshots

[dingdongdenny]

some bashing lol yeh you know some of the guy's .great review nice detail, hope it sheds some light for some future traveler's

[dingdongdenny]

i was going to stay at breezes but chose casa marina because it wasn't in middle of nowhere you can step out of resort and not reliant on shuttle's .after your review i know mine won't hold a candle in information and detail provided.

[BettyB2]

It would have been nice to actually WALK somewhere off of the resort - LIKE A CASINO - but....
Actually, I loved the location and the shuttles were great to go back and forth to Sosua and/or Cabarete (we mostly took cabs - at least BACK to the resort).

I am VERY thankful that I had these boards as a guide because as I learned SOOOO many people dont leave the resort because they are afraid - ALL OF MY GROUP of 22 left the resort AT LEAST ONCE and were so happy they did.

I think the Playa Dorado complex would have offered us more in terms of casinos and food and may try that next time (2009) but will do a bunch of research -

I truly liked the fact the fact that Cabarete and Sosua were soooo close and pretty quick to get to for free (not a bad scenic ride either)

Also sent a letter to Breezes and have been contacted twice by management and they said they are going to try and do something to rectify the situation. Not thrilled that one of my reviews were posted elsewhere....

I did not have an awful time - I had a GREAT time with all my friends and my parents - just not happy with the resorts inconsistency.

[CFA123]

BettyB,
Nice to get the feedback after seeing you plan the trip online.

I'm a little curious why you remain interested in the AI's. My experience with AI's is rather limited, (I abandonned them after only a couple of short stays). In comparison to many small hotels, the AI's I've been to offer inferior quality food and seldom better service or accomodation - at least on the DR north coast.

What's the attraction to AI's for you? There are so many nice non-AI hotels or condos in Sosua/Cabarete area to choose from!

If an AI is a must, there are several located within the towns of Cabarete & Sosua which would give you your AI experience but allow you to walk easily around those towns and give you a choice of all the restaurants (they're not all expensive). Azurro, for example, is about 300 yds west of Cana Tropical on the beach in the middle of Cabarete bay.

[BettyB2]

CFA-

I actually woke up this morning thinking about looking for a NON AI to stay at on our next trip to the DR, which will be in 2009. Martin from Isaira told us that he has apartments/condos? in Sosua and we could get them for $300 a week or $800 a month - cannot beat that price for 2-4 people.


I plan to check out the places you mentioned in your post and the one spot in Cabarete (Azurro) sounds like a great spot.

The reason I have gone AI on the past couple of trips is due to the fact that hubby and I had a $1300 bar/souvenier bill at the end of the week on one vacation and decided to go AI -

I planned a vacation last year and 39 people joined us and decided that land is much cheaper than cruising and that they were saving money and able to have their top-shelf scotches, etc for "free". For ALL the men that travel with us, I am sure going AI for THEM saves money - we had 11 men on this trip and at least 4 of them were STEADY scotch drinkers - and I think one guy with us covered the price of his trip after 3 days of over-indulgence!!

I do like the idea of having everything inside resort (beach, shopping, casino, restaurants) and not having to carry $ for drinks or food - BUT as stated in review, all of us who left the resort had a great time.

I will look into the places you mentioned...never too early to plan