My wife, teenage son, and I just 10 nights here. This is a nice hotel and you are not overly picky you will enjoy your time just as we did.
I would have given it 4 stars if not for the fact that they charge you for Wi-Fi ($13 for 1 day or $10 for 4 days or more). At this day and age it is ridiculous and I refuse to even consider a hotel to be 5 stars if Wi-Fi is not offered. You wouldn’t go to a hotel that charges you separately for TV, would you? I do have to give them a credit for the fact that Wi-Fi works in your room and even on the beach.
That being said if you already booked your vacation and not too picky no need to read farther, you will enjoy your time. For the rest here is good and not so good on the amenities:
Beach: Very good sandy beach with plenty shade and lounge chairs. The down side is many of the chairs have seen better days and seems like they have never been washed as about 30% covered with bird crap. The ocean for most of our stay was practically covered with seaweed, that’s obviously not hotel’s fault as they cleaned everything off the sand everyday, still something to consider.
Rooms: Spacious rooms even for 3 people, relatively clean, decent quality mattress on a true king bed. On the down side, air conditioner barely works even on the highest setting, if it were a hotter month the room would be uncomfortable and that was on the ground floor. Refrigerator doesn’t cool well enough. I called front desk couple of times on both issues. They promised to check it but nothing really changed. One other odd thing – there is no alarm or any other kind of clock in the room which is a little annoying when you wake up in the dark and trying to figure out what time it is. Finally on the cleaning, as mentioned rooms as clean and I am nitpicking but I still think it is not acceptable for a 5 star hotel – on the 4th night I noticed a nail sized piece of toilet paper on the floor behind the toilet, when we were leaving it was still there a week later.
Pool: It a pretty big pool but it doesn’t have a swim up bar. Which could be a detriment if you like getting drinks while in the pool or an advantage if you prefer fewer people, quieter, no floating glasses and straws.
Buffet: I would say that the buffet here is a notch above most other all-inclusives as far as selection and quality goes. Everything but beef (which is also true almost everywhere) is well prepared, although they do tend to overcook certain things, as is the case in most buffets. The one odd thing that could be better is that they don’t seem to start cooking next batch of popular dishes until previous batch is completely gone. Case in point, scrambled eggs in the morning, it would take them 10 minutes to notice that the dish is empty and another 10-15 minutes to make the next one. This happened repeatedly with few other things too.
Ala-carte: They are decent but nothing to write home about. Some dishes better than others, If you like your stake or tune rare, don’t order it. My wife ordered tuna rare and the International and got well done. I got the same with beef at Mexican. Taste wise we liked Brazilian the best, the only issue is 30 minutes after we left the restaurant both my wife and I experienced indigestion. While mine what mild my wife was pretty violently ill for the next 36 hours or so. We travel a few times a year and it never happened to this degree before but I guess this could happen sometimes. I am not necessarily blaming hotel, just stating the fact.
Front desk and Guest services: very courteous but painfully slow. Takes forever to check in or make a reservation.
Bars: very good and efficient.
Entertainment: During the day they do a pretty good job. At night as amount of alcohol in your system increases so does the quality of the shows. But is not for the lack of trying, just some succeed better than others. No one expects Broadway quality but although costumes are different shows are pretty much the same.

I went to hotel in november 15.11.2012 till 22.11.2012.It was beautiful hotel,excelent staff and definitely wort to stay.Only minus i would say was beach and all those people trying to sell u different stuff.I know that is not hotel s fault as beach is not private but u pay quite a lots of money to have a piece and quiet when u need and those people are following u all the time,and just dont leave u alone.I m type of person who wants to rest on holiday and not to be pushed into something.Otherwise everything exelent. Bufet and selection of food excelent,drinks options also very good.We did couple of extra trips like dancing show bravisimo and have to say it was amazing,Then we took trip to paradise island and must say,it was one of the most beautiful day in my life,Spending day on yacht with chamapagne and island in the middle of Atlantic ocean is once in lifetime opportunity.I would return in this hotel.

Travelled here for a week on the 15th - 23rd Nov. Best holiday I have had in a long time. Travelled with Thomson, bought our travel cards before travelling and glad we did as we didn’t have to pay to enter which was much quicker. Our Rep Dindo was really good always about when you needed something and would help you as much as he could.

Check-in was quick and easy all ready for you with a refreshing drink on arrival which is nice and luggage was taken to our room by the bell boys. Room was spotless, we stayed in room 1001 which is close to the beach but not the best sea view. The room was cleaned everyday with new towels and towel art as well as the mini bar being stocked, oh and the safe in the room is not free but its only $14 for a week which nothing really.
Pool was amazing plenty of sun bed and cleaned every day, bit cold but refreshing when you’re cooking in the sun. Beach was nice again plenty of sun beds but spent most of time by the pool.
Buffet food was also amazing nothing to moan about that’s for sure, all was cooked fresh from breakfast lunch and dinner and such a variety even the fussy eater would be happy. Big thanks to Frank our waiter who was always asking if everything was ok and anything you wanted he'd be more than happy to sort out. Bars were good plenty of drink and good variety of cocktails.
Entertainment was class, they all work had throughout the day and into the nights entertainment. During the day there are many activities on the go from water polo to archery, there’s many things to keep people occupied if you get fed up of sitting by the pool. Evening entertainment was good all shows we seen were amazing, make sure you see the Lion King that’s really worth a watch.
We only done one excursion which was Paradise Island, we done the full day package and was well worth the money, from waiter service on the catamaran to dinner cooked then off the island for snorkelling on the reef and feeding the fish. This is a must.
All the staff work very hard and are all friendly and very helpful from reception to the gardeners. Big thanks to Santa, Capuccino, Pepsy Cola, Frank ,Eddy, and GG.

This is an excellent hotel and I can understand why people return. Il be looking to return in the future and book longer than a week as we thought a week wasn’t long enough.
Travelled as a couple November 2012





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Second time in Puerto Plata,first stayed at Jack Tar some ten years ago. Having travelled often over the years I keep an open mind when staying at AI resorts. Iberostar Costa Dorada is a nice resort with potential. Beautiful lobby and nice setup as a layout leading to the beach. Staff is friendly and entertaining and was pleased with the service. Food was alright and there was variety which is good. Personally I most enjoyed the Brazilian restaurant. Keep in mind the Mexican & Brazilian are not available every night and you need to make a reservation in advance. The resort was clean for the most part and the beach was acceptable,don't expect white sand and clear turquoise water.

My only real problem without being picky about such things as slow checkin procedure(could've just been one of those nights) which took about 45 minutes. Cockroach sneaking in my room( for the record I didn't see any other for rest of trip) and try not booking ground floor rooms. My mistake.... Is entertainment. I wasn't all too impressed by some of the shows that were presented and the daytime activities were rather dull and aside from bingo lacked participation. This hotel pertained more towards an older audience. The dance club was for the most part empty. I wish there would've been music playing on the beach during the day as well as I'm sure people other than myself would appreciate that. I recommend this hotel to people just looking to take some sun and have a quiet vacation time. Looking to party and have a wild time, maybe meet some singles? Look elsewhere.