Dreams punta cana

i stayed there for a week and i really would not rate it to be honest, its not actually in punta cana its in uvero alto and if you plan on leaving the resort you are a good 30 mins from bavaro shopping centre, clubs and the centre of town. The biggest problem i had with it was the beaches, there beautiful but really rough and i'm sure when you think of punta cana you think of white sand and clear water but the waves there are huge so much so that you can't swim.

the staff are lovely and the food is so so, and the rooms are ok but if its your honeymoon you want everything to be perfect, i would recomend the Hodelpa hotel in Bavaro, i think its called H2 or something about the same price range and its got beautiful beach and the place is a bit more lively and if you upgrade the rooms the suite's are beautiful with great ocean views!

if you want to splash out a bit more edenH is great and Palma real. Good luck with everything

Hodelpa, H2 sold a couple of years ago

Depending on what you want to do on your vacation, the hotel may be well situated for you or not. It took me 45 minutes to get there from the airport and I had a great week. I enjoyed the amenities (which have only improved since I was there) and the food, but I think that's extremely personal and I would never assert to anybody that because I did or didn't like the food somewhere would mean that you would feel the same. There is more to the area than just Bavaro or El Cortecito or the airport, but indeed knowing where the place you are headed is situated is important information. When I was there I did an unbelievable horseback ride at sunset on an undeveloped beach, the start point being 10 minutes from the hotel. I also did an ATV tour through the countryside a bit, to a cave and Macao Beach (pictures at: Dreams Punta Cana ATV excursion with Tropical Wheels pictures from caribbean photos on webshots) which was a 15 minute drive from the hotel. I was sick on the day so didn't go, but a group from a bunch of hotels met one day on the Kontiki Cruise. For the 1:30 departure, the Dreams crew were collected at 12:50 and those at the Bahia Principe and other more central hotels were picked up at 12:55. Not much difference and we didn't feel like we were so far away.

I have pictures of the beach conditions and other areas of the hotel posted at Sunscape the Beach/Dreams Punta Cana 01/19/07 - 01/26/07 pictures, photos, and videos, from caribbean on webshots When I was there, the water wasn't so rough. Could be dictated by time of year or passing storms. I won't say it's flat calm, but I was looking forward to the big waves and was disappointed that they weren't there. I had a really good time and would recommend it to anyone if we had the same idea of a great vacation.

All of this said, are you aware that by April of next year there will be two Dreams properties in the Punta Cana area? You may be headed to this one in Uvero Alto, or the sister property Dreams Palm Beach. It was, until recently, the family level of the chain called Sunscape Punta Cana. It will be having its big reveal as Dreams Palm Beach in December after having been closed for a number of months undergoing substantial improvements and renovations. Just so there's no confusion!

Kaki

I have stayed at Dreams (when it was Excellence) about a year ago and I live in the area. I thought that the hotel was nice. We stayed in a regular room which I thought could use a bit of a facelift but I do have a friend who goes and stays for weekend breaks and she stays in the upgraded suites and she LOVES it. She is a bit high maintenance so I take her word that they are nice if she says so. I thought that the food was great. My best friends from NY also stayed there on their honeymoon and they had a greet time.

The beach is beautiful and tends to be more wavy than other hotel beaches here. I actually prefer that rather than a beach that looks like a lake. It depends what your preference is, but I'm sure that the weather and time of year determine whether or not the water get rough, just like anywhere else.

The hotel is about 45 minutes to an hour away from the airport and is a bit out of the way for shopping area, restaurants and some excursions. There is a small strip of gift shops not too far from the hotel and there are some shops on the beach if you take a walk. Keep in mind that being far from the airport is not necessarily a bad thing. You are on your honeymoon and will be so busy paying attention to each other that you probably won't even notice that you are far from other things.

Here are a few excursion choices that you have that are closest to your hotel if you don't want to take an hour long trip to get there:

Bavaro Runners - Dominican Safari
Zip Lines
Macao Crazy Wheels - ATV
Horseback Riding - They can arrange that for the beach there
They also have some buggy excursions there but I am not familiar with their names.

Think positively about your trip and I am sure that you will have a great time. I don't know how much stock I would put into the reviews from tripadvisor. I tend to think that more people with negative experiences tend to post more than the ones that had a great time and are busy telling their friends about it rather than writing a 5 page review online.

Have fun and congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

ive never gone to dreams but ive beeen to quite a few resorts in punta cana.
out of all the resorts i went to i liked the rui resorts
there are five of them all together and they are quite nice

they have an awesome disco on site as well

the food was great and plentiful
and the beach and pool were nice
very clean
gorgeous lobbies

if your looking for a lil luxury
the rui palace punta cana

the bamboo was excellant as well

the taino very nice as well

i loved the bambu

iberostar very nice too
any of these hotels and you wont be dissapointed

not too exspensive either

i usually book the flight and the hotel seperate
seems to be cheaper for me
weddings are done at all

have a wonderful wedding

no harm checking out a few of these places

You're forgetting a great plus about Dreams if you are on your honeymoon - NO KIDS ALLOWED! LOL

shellygirl, are you sure you're thinking of the Dreams hotel in Punta Cana? The Excellence, which used to be "Secrets Excellence", is adults only, but Dreams welcomes families.

AMResorts has three brands in their arsenal starting with budget and family friendly Sunscape, then luxury but family friendly Dreams, then adults only Secrets.

If you live in the area it's unlikely that you're confused about which hotel you're talking about, but I know that there are kids at the Dreams hotels.

Kaki

Kaki,
of course you're right,
somebody living in the area or not.
there is the Excellence(former Secrets Excellence) as the adults only,
and there is the Dreams Punta Cana(former Sunscape the Beach) for families.
the new one Dreams Palm Beach is growing up right aside me in Cabeza de Toro, neighbour beach.
Mike

Duh!

Yes you guys are right!

I have it totally confused with Excellence! Dreams was the old Sunscape! There are too many name changes!

I do live in Bavaro for 4 years but thank you for jumping down my throat in typical DR1 fashion.

So please graciously forgive my mistake other "Bavaro experts", I am human, you know.

Michelle,
nobody intended to offense you,
a question been asked,
it has ben answered wrong,
so somebody with the knowledge(Kaki) jumped in and answered it by facts,
that's what a travel bord is about,
ask and get the right info.
4 years in the area mean you start to get some detailed knowledge about the area,
and when you write in your answers "i am living here" you can be sure newer members take any written word from you for the fact of life.
everybody is human and makes his/her mistakes,
there's nothing bad about this neither,
it's called 'life'.
s'y' around
Mike
(the Fisherman Mike)

Perhaps a bit sensitive?

Thanks Mike.

Perhaps I had my guard up a bit when I read

"If you live in the area it's unlikely that you're confused about which hotel you're talking about"

I guess it wouldn't have hurt to just leave it as "Are you sure your not confusing Dreams with Excellence?".

After years of reading posts on here there are always a few that are quick to post not so positive remarks and quick to attack, so I was probably a bit too sensitive to the comment.

Thank you for pointing it out to me and you are right that the people that post should be receiving the correct info.

Shell

shellygirl327 said:

Perhaps I had my guard up a bit when I read

"If you live in the area it's unlikely that you're confused about which hotel you're talking about"

I guess it wouldn't have hurt to just leave it as "Are you sure your not confusing Dreams with Excellence?".

Click to expand...

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, and not being offensive. You live there, so maybe you know the hotels better than I do. I only know the Sunscape/Dreams chain, but maybe exceptions are made of which I am unaware. You may know more than I.

Wouldn't it be nice if everybody could phrase a sentence exactly the way we want to hear it.

Kaki

yeap Kaki,
nothing to add to those 'people who live here'.
forget about that one, she's jumping on some theme's at the moment and will get her 'right' straight on answers there.
Mike

maybe i just had a bad experience when i was there but i did speak to some honeymoon couples and i think the honeymoon suites were pretty nice!

a point well made ..... honeymoon equals peace and quiet and i don't remember there being any kids there i could be wrong.

If you like dancing you should definitley check out some of the clubs in PC like the one in Riu (hold your wifey tight!), montechristo is pretty good in the real shopping mall and of course Mangu! what a place only in the DR do you see some crazy dude rollerbladding around in his undies and getting away with it ... quite a nice chap though!

have a blast and make sure to venture out at least once on an excursion its a fantastic country, people are so friendly i recommend horse back riding or some of the boat excursions!! you will have a blast!

Standard or Deluxe Room

Hi All

Further to the original question. I am wondering whether it is worth upgrading from the Standard room to the Deluxe room. Is there that big a difference. It will cost ?140 GBP. I understand the rooms are bigger, but how big is the Standard room?

Finding out so much about DR from this forum.

Thanks in anticipation.

Ardwyn