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Casa marina
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Middle of the road, average All Inclusive. Easy access to Sosua Bay. Decent beach but small. watered down alcohol but well priced normally. Food is decent, plentiful but not awesome. Rooms adequate, nice pools...
BUT they do decent shows compared to many other average resorts.
How is that anything else you want to know?
BUT they do decent shows compared to many other average resorts.
How is that anything else you want to know?
Clean, not expensive and close to the restaurants (if you want a change from their food) and beaches. Not in close proximity to the working girls street.
Nicely lanscaped with nice pools. Rooms are okay but not fantastic. We stayed there last year and the air in our room didn't work the best and there were piles of termite dusk at the bottom of the bathroom doorframe every morning but we dealt with it and didn't complain because we hardly spent any time in the room.
The food is okay but is dominiated by local Dominican specialties (especially at breakfast) as opposed to North American fare so if you are not into Dominican food, you won't be impressed with the buffet restaurants. I can't speak to the A la carte restaurants as we did not eat there. We also heard the shows were good but we didn't see any so I can't comment about that either.
The hotel beach is not the best but Playa Sosua is close by so we didn't care.
The main thing I can say is location, location, location. You can walk right out the main entrance and you are on a nice little street in Sosua, close to shops and within 5 minutes of nightlife, guagua's and caro publicos to Puerto Plata and Cabarete, etc. It's a 5 - 10 minute walk to my favourite beach, Playa Sosua.
If, like us, you are staying there because the price is right, it's in a convenient location, you are not at all fussed if the place is 3-star hotel and you are looking for a nice, comfortable, clean hotel, then this is the place for you.
The food is okay but is dominiated by local Dominican specialties (especially at breakfast) as opposed to North American fare so if you are not into Dominican food, you won't be impressed with the buffet restaurants. I can't speak to the A la carte restaurants as we did not eat there. We also heard the shows were good but we didn't see any so I can't comment about that either.
The hotel beach is not the best but Playa Sosua is close by so we didn't care.
The main thing I can say is location, location, location. You can walk right out the main entrance and you are on a nice little street in Sosua, close to shops and within 5 minutes of nightlife, guagua's and caro publicos to Puerto Plata and Cabarete, etc. It's a 5 - 10 minute walk to my favourite beach, Playa Sosua.
If, like us, you are staying there because the price is right, it's in a convenient location, you are not at all fussed if the place is 3-star hotel and you are looking for a nice, comfortable, clean hotel, then this is the place for you.
I stayed there recently and liked it.
My room was okay.
I was lucky that my air conditioner stayed on without the key card but my friend's room did not and his room was a bit warm.
No fridge or hair dryer.
Lots of hot water except one day when it was cool.
Room safe was $15 US for the week.
Food was okay and we ate out a lot.
No bacon except for 1 day and it was not good.
Bars open at 10:00 AM and close at 11:00 PM and the disco bar closes at 1:00 AM. Good Mamajuana.
2 beaches are very nice. Nice sand and clear water and no seaweed or corral.
Here are some pics and videos.
Malibook Gallery - DR1 Media Gallery
http://i50.tinypic.com/98dq4l.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/33avymr.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2a50so.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/whi6tf.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/23trwup.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/r1wmj9.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/w8kf0x.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/11spenb.jpg
http://yfrog.com/50mvi0380z
http://yfrog.com/f1mvi0356z
http://yfrog.com/2tmvi0354z
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/5604/mvi0380.mp4
My room was okay.
I was lucky that my air conditioner stayed on without the key card but my friend's room did not and his room was a bit warm.
No fridge or hair dryer.
Lots of hot water except one day when it was cool.
Room safe was $15 US for the week.
Food was okay and we ate out a lot.
No bacon except for 1 day and it was not good.
Bars open at 10:00 AM and close at 11:00 PM and the disco bar closes at 1:00 AM. Good Mamajuana.
2 beaches are very nice. Nice sand and clear water and no seaweed or corral.
Here are some pics and videos.
Malibook Gallery - DR1 Media Gallery
http://i50.tinypic.com/98dq4l.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/33avymr.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2a50so.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/whi6tf.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/23trwup.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/r1wmj9.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/w8kf0x.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/11spenb.jpg
http://yfrog.com/50mvi0380z
http://yfrog.com/f1mvi0356z
http://yfrog.com/2tmvi0354z
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/5604/mvi0380.mp4
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i like casa marina. my second AI visit. it's location and that outside jacuzzi thingy overlooking the cliff was cool. do they still have that ?
what i liked best was playing baseball across the street at the field. although i was a stranger, pulling out some brand new MLB baseballs always got me some playing time. :laugh:
what i liked best was playing baseball across the street at the field. although i was a stranger, pulling out some brand new MLB baseballs always got me some playing time. :laugh:
not overly impressed
My husband, daughter and I stayed at the Casa Marina about a year and a half ago.
Great location - you can wander around Sosua without the need for a vehicle. The beach was ok although while we were there a huge storm came through and washed the beach and one restaurant away. Room was disappointing but that's ok, unless it was raining we weren't in the room.
Housekeeping did what they could, they were pleasant but the rooms are old, mold everywhere in the bathroom, a/c was very noisy and leaked onto the floor. No fridge in the room. The patio door never did lock even after several requests for repair. Good thing we paid for the in-room safe. Rather than pay for internet service on site (very expensive) we found a place by the east property wall where we could get wireless for free on our laptop.
We were given two (remember there were three of us) bottles of water on arrival. They would not give us a third so we went to the local grocery store and bought our own. You have to fill your own water bottle from a cooler in the buffet restaurant if you want more water - we thought this was kind of strange but whatever, it really didn't matter. Alcohol was watered down, the wine wasn't drinkable. Beer was great! After 10 pm you have to pay for your drinks. Bar tenders were great. Front desk staff was less than courteous most of the time.
Now for the food....I'm not a particularly fussy person and most days will eat what is put out but we found that the only decent meal of the day was breakfast. You get your own coffee/tea and basically the staff is there to clear tables only. If you need something, you basically fend for yourself. After day three we started eating at the local restaurants (excellent food at most of them) as the buffets were horrible - everything tasted the same with the same tasteless sauces. The meals served at the al a cartes were quite good and the service was great at those.
The grounds were kept clean and quite pretty to walk through - only annoying thing was the time share dudes and vendors that showed up - but hey, we were tourists at the time and that is to be expected no matter what AI you stay at. We did our shopping in the stores in Sosua and got much better prices for the things we purchased. We never did catch any of the entertainment on the resourt as we spent a fair amount of time off the resort in town and in Cabarete.
Would I stay there again? Nope - we have purchased a home in Sosua. Would I recommend it to friends or family who were coming to visit? Not likely unless I didn't really like them. It was advertised as a three star but I would be generous and give it a two at best.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Any AI rating is based on what the tourist's expectations are. Lots of people absolutely LOVE the Casa Marina and think it is the best thing since sliced bread. Everyone is entitled to their option and I thank you for reading my opinion.
My husband, daughter and I stayed at the Casa Marina about a year and a half ago.
Great location - you can wander around Sosua without the need for a vehicle. The beach was ok although while we were there a huge storm came through and washed the beach and one restaurant away. Room was disappointing but that's ok, unless it was raining we weren't in the room.
Housekeeping did what they could, they were pleasant but the rooms are old, mold everywhere in the bathroom, a/c was very noisy and leaked onto the floor. No fridge in the room. The patio door never did lock even after several requests for repair. Good thing we paid for the in-room safe. Rather than pay for internet service on site (very expensive) we found a place by the east property wall where we could get wireless for free on our laptop.
We were given two (remember there were three of us) bottles of water on arrival. They would not give us a third so we went to the local grocery store and bought our own. You have to fill your own water bottle from a cooler in the buffet restaurant if you want more water - we thought this was kind of strange but whatever, it really didn't matter. Alcohol was watered down, the wine wasn't drinkable. Beer was great! After 10 pm you have to pay for your drinks. Bar tenders were great. Front desk staff was less than courteous most of the time.
Now for the food....I'm not a particularly fussy person and most days will eat what is put out but we found that the only decent meal of the day was breakfast. You get your own coffee/tea and basically the staff is there to clear tables only. If you need something, you basically fend for yourself. After day three we started eating at the local restaurants (excellent food at most of them) as the buffets were horrible - everything tasted the same with the same tasteless sauces. The meals served at the al a cartes were quite good and the service was great at those.
The grounds were kept clean and quite pretty to walk through - only annoying thing was the time share dudes and vendors that showed up - but hey, we were tourists at the time and that is to be expected no matter what AI you stay at. We did our shopping in the stores in Sosua and got much better prices for the things we purchased. We never did catch any of the entertainment on the resourt as we spent a fair amount of time off the resort in town and in Cabarete.
Would I stay there again? Nope - we have purchased a home in Sosua. Would I recommend it to friends or family who were coming to visit? Not likely unless I didn't really like them. It was advertised as a three star but I would be generous and give it a two at best.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Any AI rating is based on what the tourist's expectations are. Lots of people absolutely LOVE the Casa Marina and think it is the best thing since sliced bread. Everyone is entitled to their option and I thank you for reading my opinion.
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