Cabarete Bay Hotel

Hi traveller,
I plan on being in Cabarete tomorrow and checking things out. The weather is great in Sosua. It has only rained one day since we've been here. I'll get back to you on your hotel in the next day or so. Talk to you soon.

Boris

Hi Traveller,
Just got back from Cabarete. Took a few photos of the work being done in Estrella Del Mar. They tell me it will be completed in one month. Talk to you soon.

To: boh

Thanks for the report about the Estrella del Mar. I just got off the phone with my travel agent who told me that Air Transat Holidays (ATH) sent someone from Montreal down last weekend to inspect the hotel. They reported back that it is undergoing heavy construction on the pool, restaurants, and rooms. They don't recommend that I keep my reservation there.

This seems to directly contradict what I'm reading about in these forums. Either ATH is totally incompetent or we're talking about different hotels. ATH say they've never heard of the Cabarete Bay Hotel. My reservation is for the Estrella del Mar owned and operated by Starz Resorts. Everything I've read here indicates that they're exactly the same place.

Is there any chance you could post some of the photos you took online? (This site has a photo area I believe) I don't mean to bother you, but ATH is telling me that the place isn't livable and I don't know who to believe.

Thanks much,
Guy

check this out its under caberte compensation

http://www.dr1.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=28918&perpage=15&pagenumber=3

To: tomson

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm a little worried by the fact that he indicates the "Estrella del Mar" is a separate part that is closed. My reservation is through Air Transat Holidays for the Estrella del Mar, not the Cabarete Bay Hotel.

Previous posts indicated these were the same place, just multiple names. Now I'm not so sure. Are your reservations for the Estrella del Mar or the Cabarete Bay Hotel?

Thanks for the response.

Guy_Davis

See my response to your question in the other Cabarete Bay Hotel thread.

Miss - Infromation

guy_davis said:

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm a little worried by the fact that he indicates the "Estrella del Mar" is a separate part that is closed. My reservation is through Air Transat Holidays for the Estrella del Mar, not the Cabarete Bay Hotel.

Previous posts indicated these were the same place, just multiple names. Now I'm not so sure. Are your reservations for the Estrella del Mar or the Cabarete Bay Hotel?

Thanks for the response.

Click to expand...

Good for ATH for being truthful. No other tour company seems to be.

I do however have 2 disagrements with ATH info. (although this depends on when they sent it)

The Estrella Del Mar section IS NOT CLOSED. although all rooms were not being used when we were there from Jan 26 -Feb 2 We were booked for the Cabarete Bay section which is what Sunquest exclusivly offers, but a few in our party got put in the other section even though they too were booked for the Cabarete side. So, go figure. With the new pool being filled the old side will look right out over it which is nice. The new Cabarete side looks out over their new pool which is smaller as I said.
The hotel is operatable, but not all things listed an amenities are finished.
It all depends on what you paid for your trip, or were going to pay.

My husband and I and a lot of our fellow travels got our package - All Inclusive with airfare for under 700 Canadian plus tx. One person got it for under 600 CA.

If you can get a good price and put up with everything not being finished you can still have a wonderful time. We did. Weather was perfect all week. Fooms were nice. food good and beach spectacular. Cabarete as a town as I have said in previous postings is quaint and charming and enjoyable just to walk around in. Photos wouldn't really give you the best idea. If you look at Sunquests postings of the place on their web site and a few other web sites that are selling the packages. The picutres you see are correct. The rooms look just like in the picture and the beach looks the same to. Notice no pics of the pool. The small pool is really nice with 2 hot tubs and the new pool had water going into half of it the day we left. The pool is split into two sections, thats why half could be filled.

I suggest you read all the posts and based on price and what you want then decide. It is definately a place I would like to go back to.
MJ

Amazing price!

mjkalau said:

My husband and I and a lot of our fellow travels got our package - All Inclusive with airfare for under 700 Canadian plus tx. One person got it for under 600 CA.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the responses. The price of your vacation is amazing! How did you get such a deal. We booked in early January for an early March vacation through the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) with Air Transat Holidays (ATH) and we're paying double what you describe above. Looking at the Sunquest site now, the Cabarete Bay Hotel at the end of April is over $1400 CDN from Calgary for a week. I expect a bit more for the flight from Calgary than Toronto, but half price is outstanding.

I think we'll probably end up still going and paying full price, as we really need a vacation. However for future trips that we'll be taking, what's your secret? Did you use a special discount agent? Did you get special discounts for booking early?

Any tips you have would be appreciated as we haven't booked trips like this much in the past. As they say, "Fool me once, shame on the travel company, fool me twice, shame on me." I rather not end up paying so much next time around.

Cabarete Bay Hotel and Estrella del Mar

I just met with the GM from Starz resorts last week. To clear some things up...

Estrella del Mar is their 3.5 star property which will be renamed Azurro Club Estrella. Cabarete Bay Hotel a 4 star proeprty is on the SAME property but a different complex and will be renamed Azurro Club Cabarete. The pool should be done by Feb 15 and the rest of it in phases by the end of the month/mid March. There will be 5 restaurants. Cabarete Bay Hotel guests have full access to everything, Estrella del Mar guests have limited access. HOpe this helps

Cabarete Bat Hotel/Estrella Del Mar

marina said:

I just met with the GM from Starz resorts last week. To clear some things up...

Estrella del Mar is their 3.5 star property which will be renamed Azurro Club Estrella. Cabarete Bay Hotel a 4 star proeprty is on the SAME property but a different complex and will be renamed Azurro Club Cabarete. The pool should be done by Feb 15 and the rest of it in phases by the end of the month/mid March. There will be 5 restaurants. Cabarete Bay Hotel guests have full access to everything, Estrella del Mar guests have limited access. HOpe this helps

Click to expand...

May I ask who you met with? That is who was this GM from Starz? I am assuming you were down there if you met with this person, but then that confuses me.
My husband and I were recently down there and I don't know how anyone could possible say that the two places are "separate complexes." The only thing that "separates" them in any way is the Buffet restaraunt. There is absolutely no way this property looks like two differnt resorts, unless you count that one section of rooms is painted candy colours on the outside and the newer section is a natural beige type colour.
Also the new big pool with the swim up bar and restaraunt etc. is right outside the Estrella Del Mar section. Unless because this pool is split in two that one side is for one half of the property and the other for the other side this would not make sense as the new part has the smaller pool. Also the fabulous new roof top restaraunt is being built on the roof of the old part, not the new part. All I can think of is that some a la carte restaraunts will be included in the 4 Star Cabarete part and will be a supplemental cost if you want to use them if you are in the other part.
and maybe if they have a disco, which they did in the past with one it will be included with drinks and the other not.
Currently everyone from both parts wears the same wrist braclet, so unless they change it, I don't know how they would keep track of who was staying in which section.

We had a similar experience with the Luperon resort further north in Porta Plata. We couldn't figure out how sometimes it was referred to as the Luperon Tropical and sometimes as the Luperon Beach resort and sometimes the Luperon Tropical Beach Resort. When we got there is was like the above situation. The property had been added to, with a section of lovely new rooms whose building looked slighty different and nicer than the older part.
However the only thing that was different was what room you got. There were no other restrictions whatsoever.
So who really knows what will happen with this resort. I do feel however that it will be very nice when it is finished and I hope the people who are going there know if there is a difference or not and what they are getting.
Apparantly Sunquest ONLY books the Cabarete part, at least right now.
MJ

Deals

guy_davis said:

Thanks for the responses. The price of your vacation is amazing! How did you get such a deal. We booked in early January for an early March vacation through the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) with Air Transat Holidays (ATH) and we're paying double what you describe above. Looking at the Sunquest site now, the Cabarete Bay Hotel at the end of April is over $1400 CDN from Calgary for a week. I expect a bit more for the flight from Calgary than Toronto, but half price is outstanding.

I think we'll probably end up still going and paying full price, as we really need a vacation. However for future trips that we'll be taking, what's your secret? Did you use a special discount agent? Did you get special discounts for booking early?

Any tips you have would be appreciated as we haven't booked trips like this much in the past. As they say, "Fool me once, shame on the travel company, fool me twice, shame on me." I rather not end up paying so much next time around.

Click to expand...

No real secret, just find a few good travel web sites and check everyday for deals. Most sites will let you click onto pictures with description like what are in the brouchures. For those that don't just get the brouchures, which are free at a travel agent and then check out what you find interesting from what is listed on any given day.

I have done this for 3 years now and am getting better at it every year. You get to be able to size up the decription pretty fast after awhile. Like, oh, this one sounds really nice and looks nice, why so cheap. Then you re read it and find the beach is across the street, or it will say only 5 min. away, which means across the street or connect to a different property. If you don't care about the beach that much then ok. Some properties without the beaches right there are sometimes nicer, especially the golfing ones.

Here are a few sites I use and the best one is the first one.
www.selloffvactions.com
www.itravel2000.com
www.travellastminute.ca
www.vacationstogo.com this one is mostly cruise sell offs at great prices. They quote in US$ but you can click on to their Canadian flag spot and it will automatically give you the price in CA. It also doesn't include airfare, but does include port charges and sometimes, depending on the cruise line all other taxes. So even if you have to pay for the airfare it can be a really good deal, especially if you sale out of Florida, where they air fares are really cheap. However coming from Calgary you may have ports that have better airfares for you then us. Like the ones in Texas. Check it out.
Good luck with your decision. Hope I helped.
MJ

Deals

mjkalau said:

No real secret, just find a few good travel web sites and check everyday for deals. Most sites will let you click onto pictures with description like what are in the brouchures. For those that don't just get the brouchures, which are free at a travel agent and then check out what you find interesting from what is listed on any given day.

I have done this for 3 years now and am getting better at it every year. You get to be able to size up the decription pretty fast after awhile. Like, oh, this one sounds really nice and looks nice, why so cheap. Then you re read it and find the beach is across the street, or it will say only 5 min. away, which means across the street or connect to a different property. If you don't care about the beach that much then ok. Some properties without the beaches right there are sometimes nicer, especially the golfing ones.

Here are a few sites I use and the best one is the first one.
www.selloffvactions.com
www.itravel2000.com
www.travellastminute.ca
www.vacationstogo.com this one is mostly cruise sell offs at great prices. They quote in US$ but you can click on to their Canadian flag spot and it will automatically give you the price in CA. It also doesn't include airfare, but does include port charges and sometimes, depending on the cruise line all other taxes. So even if you have to pay for the airfare it can be a really good deal, especially if you sale out of Florida, where they air fares are really cheap. However coming from Calgary you may have ports that have better airfares for you then us. Like the ones in Texas. Check it out.
Good luck with your decision. Hope I helped.
MJ

Click to expand...

P.S. the other thing I forgot to mention is that January is one of the cheapest months of the year. Feb, especially during College and Uni reading week and March break are killers. Even early March is more then Jan. unless you wait until about 2 weeks before or even 1 week. Your problem, like most people is that you think you have to book way ahead of time. If you have your heart set on one particular place, well then that makes sense. If not just chill a bit, have some patience and you will get your deals. Decide on the week you want to go and wait, wait, wait. Don't forget to keep checking the deals regualarily though.
MJ

guy_davis said:

Thanks for the report about the Estrella del Mar. I just got off the phone with my travel agent who told me that Air Transat Holidays (ATH) sent someone from Montreal down last weekend to inspect the hotel. They reported back that it is undergoing heavy construction on the pool, restaurants, and rooms. They don't recommend that I keep my reservation there.

This seems to directly contradict what I'm reading about in these forums. Either ATH is totally incompetent or we're talking about different hotels. ATH say they've never heard of the Cabarete Bay Hotel. My reservation is for the Estrella del Mar owned and operated by Starz Resorts. Everything I've read here indicates that they're exactly the same place.

Is there any chance you could post some of the photos you took online? (This site has a photo area I believe) I don't mean to bother you, but ATH is telling me that the place isn't livable and I don't know who to believe.

Thanks much,
Guy

Click to expand...

Guy,
I've uploaded 6 photos to the media gallery. I'm not sure how long it will take before they will appear. The person giving me the tour of the hotel told me the construction would be completed in one month.

Boris

traveller said:

HAVE YOU SEEN THE PICTURES POSTED IN THE MEDIA GALLERY, MEMBER PHOTOS???

Click to expand...

I hear you. No need to yell by writing in all caps. Yes, I have now seen the photos posted by boh. They were very helpful. However, both my post and the one from altinkerbell (http://www.dr1live.com/showpost.php?p=186147&postcount=50) which you also replied to, were made before the photos were uploaded and were therefore valid questions at the time. Thank you for your concern.

Guy