M
hodelpa caribe club, punta cana
L
Linda
Guest
Here are some reviewsa that I found on another site. I too will be at the Hodelpa with my husband and two teenaged children March 20/27. I have also attached a link to pictures that I found.
Linda
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Darrell
We just came back Feb 20/01 from 2 weeks at this resort. The accommodation, food and activities are excellent. The beaches are the best we have encountered on our travels, white sand for miles. The layout of the resort, beach, pools, restaurant, bars, rooms are all within 2 minutes of each other. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The management is very visible from the General Manager on down. I would recommend this resort to anyone thinking of Punta Cana. ...
Darrell - February 2001
Top
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Lori & Doug Ontario
Just returned from a weeks stay at the Hodelpa Caribe Club in Punta Cana. We are regulars of the Dominican Republic, going at lease once a year. We were pleasantly surprised upon our arrival. Out of 300 people on our plane, only two families were going to our hotel. The check in was very quick and easy. Our room was on the third floor. Very clean with a partial ocean view. We had cathedral ceilings with a ceiling fan and air conditioning. The remote control for the television is not kept in the rooms, you have to ask for it at the front desk.
The food at the hotel buffet was exceptional. There was nothing that I tried that I did not like. My husband is a very picky eater so we did not try the a la carte restaurants, but I heard people saying that they were very good. We had roasted turkey, ribs, duck, etc. Absolutely outstanding. The deserts are decadent. Don't forget to try the homemade ice cream.... The snack bar by the pool was also very good. It opens for breakfast and offers continental style breakfast, for lunch they had pizza, hot dogs, hamburgs, fruit trays, meat and cheese to make sandwiches, nachos & cheese and fried chicken. The snack bar stayed open until about 4:00 in the afternoon and then closes to get ready for the dinner hours. The snack bar turns into a paying seafood restaurant. This is not included in the package. In the bufet restaurant at breakfast there is a girl sitting at a table with the menu's for all the restaurants and you make reservations with her. The snack bar reopened again at 11pm and remained open well through the night (4 or 5 am). There is a bar in there as well.
The pool was kept very cold. I didn't mind it but my husband found it hard to swim in. I don't know why they have to chill it, maybe to keep the bacteria down?
The animation team worked hard to keep everyone busy. They offer Spanish lessons, archery, pool and beach aerobics, bike rides, horse back riding, pool games, etc.
The beach was exceptional. Very clean and the waves were nice and high. Very fun! There were ample lounge chairs for everyone. Around the pool there were beach umbrellas at alot of the lounge chairs you can use to stay out of the sun.
The nightly shows were ok. Still need some work, but very good considering the short time they have been open. Warning....if you don't want to be picked on to go on stage, sit at the back!
All in all it was a wonderful vacation. We would definately go there again. They are still working on the landscape, planting flowers etc. and this hotel when totally completed will be gorgeous. I highly reccommend this hotel to anyone, with or without children.
Lori & Doug - February 2001
Top
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Cindy Montreal
We just got back from Dominican, where we stayed at the new Hodelpa Caribe Club. This was my third travel adventure, and my fiance's first. We flew from Montreal, Canada, with no problems whatsoever, and arrived at the resort around 6:00 pm. We were a little shocked when we first arrived as there was very few people around, and we thought it might be a very quiet week!! The first evening there, we were pleased with the buffet restaurant, although we found the food was not labelled which can be a problem with persons with food allergies. The next morning we were pleasantly surprised to find the resort was quite full of interesting people from all over the world.
We checked out both the Italian and Mexican restaurants as well as the buffet, and found the food to be excellent. The 24-hour snack bar had a wide selection of fried foods, fruit and desserts, and there was always a supply of drinks at the lobby bar, snack bar, and swim up pool bar. We did not try the Chinese but we were told by others it was also excellent.
The beach is incredible, with miles of white sand. There is a beach market, where we purchased our souveniers, about a 20 minute walk on the beach. The people are agressive to sell to you, but I have seen worse in both Mexico and Jamaica.
We took a bicycle tour into the nearby village (about 10 minutes), which was ok, but a bit unorganized (we were not allowed to take the bikes alone, as some previous visitors had been harrassed by locals). We tried the Jeep Safari (which was not included in our package), and we recommend any visitors try this, it is well organized and you get a feel for the way of life of the local people. We were also told the Catamaran tour and the Dune Buggy tours were excellent. The Santa Domingo tour was not that great, according to people we met on site.
The "Panas" (fun-makers) were a good group of people, very available and the games/activities seemed interesting and fun. The evening entertainment was ok, although we tended to hang out in the lobby bar and chat with the other tourists.
Our room was standard, nothing special, and it was not quite finished when we arrived (but was completed the next day). Everything was kept clean for us, and there was always water and drinks in our fridge.
A couple of tips - (1) a lot of people brought small gifts for the room cleaning staff (go to your local dollar store and stock up on nail polish, soap, toothpaste - this is extremely expensive in DR and it is valued as much as a tip would be). (2) if you are doing any tours where you may see local children, some pencils, gum, candy, really brings smiles to the children's faces!!!
Overall, we would go back again, the weather was perfect, and there was no problem that could not be laughed at or solved.
Cindy - February 2001
Top
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Toronto, Canada
We just returned from week in Punta Cana. We stayed at the Hodelpa Caribe Club, which just opened in Dec 2000 . We flew from Toronto on Jan 27th on Canada 3000 (we booked through Conquest Vacations). We arrived at approximately 9:30 PM at the Hodelpa.
Check In
Was not really smooth, my wife and I had to go back to the reception a 2nd time before we got access to our room (they didn't give us magnetic cards to turn the lights on in the room, they just gave us a key), this would not have been bad except we had to walk in the dark from the area where the rooms are to the reception area (about 5 min), as this was our first experience at the hotel, we were regretting booking at the Hodelpa, but we changed our minds the next day when we saw the beach.
Given that the resort is new, we should have been prepared for something like this. In defence of the Hodelpa, the two others that were travelling with us were able to check in and get into their room without any problems.
The Room (Superior Category)
The room was nice with a partial view of the pool and ocean. We had a few problems with the room, there was a hole below the front door lock, no iron or ironing board etc. We complained to the manager of the reception and on Monday they upgraded us to a Caribe suite without extra charge. The suite was very nice, similar to the superior room but with a sunken TV area. Our suite was oceanfront, the view was breathtaking.
Restaurants
The main buffet restaurant had quite a variety of food, the food quality is o.k. We tried all the specialty restaurants except for the seafood restaurant, which was not included in the package. We found the food at the buffet restaurant the best. The beach snack bar has pizza, fries, burgers and fried checked 24hrs a day! Overall I would rate the food a 6.5 on a scale of 10. We were in Jamaica last year and found the food quality to be generally much better than D.R. But for what we paid for D.R. was a much better deal.
The Beach
The Bavaro beach is truly amazing, we walked for miles and miles....Its 37KM of white sand and palm trees! We were not disappointed with the beach.
The People
The hotel staff are very friendly and courteous, people in general in D.R. are very friendly.
Entertainment
Not bad , gets better towards the end of the week, less audience involvement towards the end of the week
Other Details about the hotel/activities
The Safety Deposit Box price is not included in the package, but its fairly cheap $16US for the week.
When the balcony door is open the air condition does not work. There is a swim up bar in the main pool.
Horseback riding is included, but unless you have a lot of experience I wouldn't recommend it. We tried it, we were in pain for a day, they get the horses to trot really fast, you get bounced around on the harness very hard.
Excursions(not included with the hotel package)
We tried the Bavaro Runners, we didn't really like it we thought it was overpriced. The best part of the trip was the deserted beach we went to (Nisibon beach?), there was no one on that beach except us (the tour group).
Overall we had a great time, if you are looking for a relaxing beach vacation and good value for money go to the Hodelpa in Punta Cana, I'd go back there tomorrow if I can!
February 2001
Top
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Norm Baines Canada
We just returned from the Hodlpa Caribe Club which opened on the 15th of Dec. last year. We arrived a couple of hours late due to snow and de-icing in Ottawa. Our holiday began once we boarded Royal Airlines and received great service all the way to Punta Cana. The first look at the Punta Cana Airport is breathtaking, seeing an airport with a thatched roof and no windows is really something; especially in January....
Our trip to the hotel was in a mini bus with about twelve others and we drove direct to our resort in about twenty minutes. Check in was swift and the staff very helpful, our bags were sent to our room within fifteen minutes of arrival. The layout of the resort was well thought out, as the lobby, lobby bar, disco and showplace are all about a five minute walk from the rooms, dining area, pool, and beach.
We were in a standard room and found it to be spacious and well equipped. There was a mini bar which was stocked daily with two bottles of water and two bottles of pop. After three days in the standard room we were upgraded at no cost to a suite, the reason for this was because our room looked out on a road that was being used be workers from early morning to late at night. The suites are the same as the standard with the only real difference being sq. footage, and a sunken t.v. area. The food was excellent!!! Now we did hear some people complaining that the food wasn't up to their expectations. For us after five years of travelling in the Dominican and Mexico we both agreed that this was the best food we had ever experienced at any resort we stayed at before. The chef was from Montreal and has been in the Dominican for the last seven years, we were there for two weeks and on the day we left the menu had not repeated itself. Some things were offered each night like pasta, fish, and rice, but every night we were there there was something we hadn't seen before.
The swim up bar was great! What more can I say
)
The beach bar was also great and the fact that it was open 24/7 was even greater! The pizza and the fries are to die for!!!!
Also make sure you try the speciality restaurants they were good and getting better each week. The staff for the most part speak very little English but more than make up for that, by being very accommodating and friendly.
Overall we were pleased with the resort, we had three days of rain in the first week and the animation team worked hard at trying to provide fun things to do. Other than the freaky three days of rain the weather was picture perfect, mid 30's daytime to mid 20's night time.
We heard a couple of people complain that they had all kinds of problems with their rooms, no air conditioning, water leaking, fan not working. Well, we too had a problem with toilette running and plugging, and yes it did take three days and about six different men and women to finally get it so that worked right. But one has to remember that you are not living next door to "Home Depot" and even finding a plunger in the Dominican is a bit of an adventure. Most of the people we heard moaning about this or that were in my opinion, the type of people who should have just stayed home. My advise to anyone who is travelling to the Dominican is to make sure you take with you your sense of humour, your best smile, and dose of patience! that along with your daily shot of "Pepto Bismal" (sp) and you will have a great time.
The resort is for the most part accessible. My wife uses a wheelchair to get around and found that the grounds we accessible with the exception of the Lobby bar and washrooms which were down three steps.
Check out was quick and simple and we were allowed a late checkout as we did not leave until 7:40 p.m. we checked out of our room at 7:00 and there was no extra charge.
Finally, I would go back, and may do so in a couple of years. They are having start up problems and they are working hard at getting things right. I believe that by the end of the year it will be smooth sailing for those decide to try the resort. The beach is as good as you've heard. The people are as friendly or friendlier than you've heard. And the holiday was GREAT!
Norm - January 2001
Linda
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Darrell
We just came back Feb 20/01 from 2 weeks at this resort. The accommodation, food and activities are excellent. The beaches are the best we have encountered on our travels, white sand for miles. The layout of the resort, beach, pools, restaurant, bars, rooms are all within 2 minutes of each other. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The management is very visible from the General Manager on down. I would recommend this resort to anyone thinking of Punta Cana. ...
Darrell - February 2001
Top
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Lori & Doug Ontario
Just returned from a weeks stay at the Hodelpa Caribe Club in Punta Cana. We are regulars of the Dominican Republic, going at lease once a year. We were pleasantly surprised upon our arrival. Out of 300 people on our plane, only two families were going to our hotel. The check in was very quick and easy. Our room was on the third floor. Very clean with a partial ocean view. We had cathedral ceilings with a ceiling fan and air conditioning. The remote control for the television is not kept in the rooms, you have to ask for it at the front desk.
The food at the hotel buffet was exceptional. There was nothing that I tried that I did not like. My husband is a very picky eater so we did not try the a la carte restaurants, but I heard people saying that they were very good. We had roasted turkey, ribs, duck, etc. Absolutely outstanding. The deserts are decadent. Don't forget to try the homemade ice cream.... The snack bar by the pool was also very good. It opens for breakfast and offers continental style breakfast, for lunch they had pizza, hot dogs, hamburgs, fruit trays, meat and cheese to make sandwiches, nachos & cheese and fried chicken. The snack bar stayed open until about 4:00 in the afternoon and then closes to get ready for the dinner hours. The snack bar turns into a paying seafood restaurant. This is not included in the package. In the bufet restaurant at breakfast there is a girl sitting at a table with the menu's for all the restaurants and you make reservations with her. The snack bar reopened again at 11pm and remained open well through the night (4 or 5 am). There is a bar in there as well.
The pool was kept very cold. I didn't mind it but my husband found it hard to swim in. I don't know why they have to chill it, maybe to keep the bacteria down?
The animation team worked hard to keep everyone busy. They offer Spanish lessons, archery, pool and beach aerobics, bike rides, horse back riding, pool games, etc.
The beach was exceptional. Very clean and the waves were nice and high. Very fun! There were ample lounge chairs for everyone. Around the pool there were beach umbrellas at alot of the lounge chairs you can use to stay out of the sun.
The nightly shows were ok. Still need some work, but very good considering the short time they have been open. Warning....if you don't want to be picked on to go on stage, sit at the back!
All in all it was a wonderful vacation. We would definately go there again. They are still working on the landscape, planting flowers etc. and this hotel when totally completed will be gorgeous. I highly reccommend this hotel to anyone, with or without children.
Lori & Doug - February 2001
Top
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Cindy Montreal
We just got back from Dominican, where we stayed at the new Hodelpa Caribe Club. This was my third travel adventure, and my fiance's first. We flew from Montreal, Canada, with no problems whatsoever, and arrived at the resort around 6:00 pm. We were a little shocked when we first arrived as there was very few people around, and we thought it might be a very quiet week!! The first evening there, we were pleased with the buffet restaurant, although we found the food was not labelled which can be a problem with persons with food allergies. The next morning we were pleasantly surprised to find the resort was quite full of interesting people from all over the world.
We checked out both the Italian and Mexican restaurants as well as the buffet, and found the food to be excellent. The 24-hour snack bar had a wide selection of fried foods, fruit and desserts, and there was always a supply of drinks at the lobby bar, snack bar, and swim up pool bar. We did not try the Chinese but we were told by others it was also excellent.
The beach is incredible, with miles of white sand. There is a beach market, where we purchased our souveniers, about a 20 minute walk on the beach. The people are agressive to sell to you, but I have seen worse in both Mexico and Jamaica.
We took a bicycle tour into the nearby village (about 10 minutes), which was ok, but a bit unorganized (we were not allowed to take the bikes alone, as some previous visitors had been harrassed by locals). We tried the Jeep Safari (which was not included in our package), and we recommend any visitors try this, it is well organized and you get a feel for the way of life of the local people. We were also told the Catamaran tour and the Dune Buggy tours were excellent. The Santa Domingo tour was not that great, according to people we met on site.
The "Panas" (fun-makers) were a good group of people, very available and the games/activities seemed interesting and fun. The evening entertainment was ok, although we tended to hang out in the lobby bar and chat with the other tourists.
Our room was standard, nothing special, and it was not quite finished when we arrived (but was completed the next day). Everything was kept clean for us, and there was always water and drinks in our fridge.
A couple of tips - (1) a lot of people brought small gifts for the room cleaning staff (go to your local dollar store and stock up on nail polish, soap, toothpaste - this is extremely expensive in DR and it is valued as much as a tip would be). (2) if you are doing any tours where you may see local children, some pencils, gum, candy, really brings smiles to the children's faces!!!
Overall, we would go back again, the weather was perfect, and there was no problem that could not be laughed at or solved.
Cindy - February 2001
Top
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Toronto, Canada
We just returned from week in Punta Cana. We stayed at the Hodelpa Caribe Club, which just opened in Dec 2000 . We flew from Toronto on Jan 27th on Canada 3000 (we booked through Conquest Vacations). We arrived at approximately 9:30 PM at the Hodelpa.
Check In
Was not really smooth, my wife and I had to go back to the reception a 2nd time before we got access to our room (they didn't give us magnetic cards to turn the lights on in the room, they just gave us a key), this would not have been bad except we had to walk in the dark from the area where the rooms are to the reception area (about 5 min), as this was our first experience at the hotel, we were regretting booking at the Hodelpa, but we changed our minds the next day when we saw the beach.
Given that the resort is new, we should have been prepared for something like this. In defence of the Hodelpa, the two others that were travelling with us were able to check in and get into their room without any problems.
The Room (Superior Category)
The room was nice with a partial view of the pool and ocean. We had a few problems with the room, there was a hole below the front door lock, no iron or ironing board etc. We complained to the manager of the reception and on Monday they upgraded us to a Caribe suite without extra charge. The suite was very nice, similar to the superior room but with a sunken TV area. Our suite was oceanfront, the view was breathtaking.
Restaurants
The main buffet restaurant had quite a variety of food, the food quality is o.k. We tried all the specialty restaurants except for the seafood restaurant, which was not included in the package. We found the food at the buffet restaurant the best. The beach snack bar has pizza, fries, burgers and fried checked 24hrs a day! Overall I would rate the food a 6.5 on a scale of 10. We were in Jamaica last year and found the food quality to be generally much better than D.R. But for what we paid for D.R. was a much better deal.
The Beach
The Bavaro beach is truly amazing, we walked for miles and miles....Its 37KM of white sand and palm trees! We were not disappointed with the beach.
The People
The hotel staff are very friendly and courteous, people in general in D.R. are very friendly.
Entertainment
Not bad , gets better towards the end of the week, less audience involvement towards the end of the week
Other Details about the hotel/activities
The Safety Deposit Box price is not included in the package, but its fairly cheap $16US for the week.
When the balcony door is open the air condition does not work. There is a swim up bar in the main pool.
Horseback riding is included, but unless you have a lot of experience I wouldn't recommend it. We tried it, we were in pain for a day, they get the horses to trot really fast, you get bounced around on the harness very hard.
Excursions(not included with the hotel package)
We tried the Bavaro Runners, we didn't really like it we thought it was overpriced. The best part of the trip was the deserted beach we went to (Nisibon beach?), there was no one on that beach except us (the tour group).
Overall we had a great time, if you are looking for a relaxing beach vacation and good value for money go to the Hodelpa in Punta Cana, I'd go back there tomorrow if I can!
February 2001
Top
Hodelpa Caribe Club - Punta Cana Norm Baines Canada
We just returned from the Hodlpa Caribe Club which opened on the 15th of Dec. last year. We arrived a couple of hours late due to snow and de-icing in Ottawa. Our holiday began once we boarded Royal Airlines and received great service all the way to Punta Cana. The first look at the Punta Cana Airport is breathtaking, seeing an airport with a thatched roof and no windows is really something; especially in January....
Our trip to the hotel was in a mini bus with about twelve others and we drove direct to our resort in about twenty minutes. Check in was swift and the staff very helpful, our bags were sent to our room within fifteen minutes of arrival. The layout of the resort was well thought out, as the lobby, lobby bar, disco and showplace are all about a five minute walk from the rooms, dining area, pool, and beach.
We were in a standard room and found it to be spacious and well equipped. There was a mini bar which was stocked daily with two bottles of water and two bottles of pop. After three days in the standard room we were upgraded at no cost to a suite, the reason for this was because our room looked out on a road that was being used be workers from early morning to late at night. The suites are the same as the standard with the only real difference being sq. footage, and a sunken t.v. area. The food was excellent!!! Now we did hear some people complaining that the food wasn't up to their expectations. For us after five years of travelling in the Dominican and Mexico we both agreed that this was the best food we had ever experienced at any resort we stayed at before. The chef was from Montreal and has been in the Dominican for the last seven years, we were there for two weeks and on the day we left the menu had not repeated itself. Some things were offered each night like pasta, fish, and rice, but every night we were there there was something we hadn't seen before.
The swim up bar was great! What more can I say
)The beach bar was also great and the fact that it was open 24/7 was even greater! The pizza and the fries are to die for!!!!
Also make sure you try the speciality restaurants they were good and getting better each week. The staff for the most part speak very little English but more than make up for that, by being very accommodating and friendly.
Overall we were pleased with the resort, we had three days of rain in the first week and the animation team worked hard at trying to provide fun things to do. Other than the freaky three days of rain the weather was picture perfect, mid 30's daytime to mid 20's night time.
We heard a couple of people complain that they had all kinds of problems with their rooms, no air conditioning, water leaking, fan not working. Well, we too had a problem with toilette running and plugging, and yes it did take three days and about six different men and women to finally get it so that worked right. But one has to remember that you are not living next door to "Home Depot" and even finding a plunger in the Dominican is a bit of an adventure. Most of the people we heard moaning about this or that were in my opinion, the type of people who should have just stayed home. My advise to anyone who is travelling to the Dominican is to make sure you take with you your sense of humour, your best smile, and dose of patience! that along with your daily shot of "Pepto Bismal" (sp) and you will have a great time.
The resort is for the most part accessible. My wife uses a wheelchair to get around and found that the grounds we accessible with the exception of the Lobby bar and washrooms which were down three steps.
Check out was quick and simple and we were allowed a late checkout as we did not leave until 7:40 p.m. we checked out of our room at 7:00 and there was no extra charge.
Finally, I would go back, and may do so in a couple of years. They are having start up problems and they are working hard at getting things right. I believe that by the end of the year it will be smooth sailing for those decide to try the resort. The beach is as good as you've heard. The people are as friendly or friendlier than you've heard. And the holiday was GREAT!
Norm - January 2001
L
Linda
Guest
Sorry I forgot to attache the link to the pictures
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/organizaire?e&.intl=us&.flabel=fld3&.from=d&.pindex=1&start=1&.src=ph&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/organizaire%3fd%26.flabel=fld3%26.intl=us%26.src=ph
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/organizaire?e&.intl=us&.flabel=fld3&.from=d&.pindex=1&start=1&.src=ph&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/organizaire%3fd%26.flabel=fld3%26.intl=us%26.src=ph
M
Michael
Guest
thank you Linda for all the information and the great pictures. It looks and sounds great wonderful. I am sure we will all enjoy this resort. Wishing you lots of sun!! Michael