We booked with Sunwing 2 weeks from Feb 12 to 26.
Sunwing: We booked supersaver room. Is it why we were at the Village? We don't know, but a lot of people from our plane seem to be at the same place as us.
We book with Sunwing because the price is right. You have wine with your meal, which is quite good. The personnel on the way to Dom.Rep. was very cold. On the way out of the plane, we said thanks and goodbye but were ignored. On the way to Toronto, they were more friendly.
The rep at the hotel was ok. The orientation had more emphasis on the excursions, specially the ones with OPEN BAR...

Once at the airport, a rep directed us to our bus. We received our bracelet and were given some interesting facts along the way.

Check in: Personnel polite, drink while we wait, keys (room and safe, which is free). At noon, we had unpack and ready to go.

Room: Block 18. Rooms are big. Closet with lots of hangers. Free Safe. Bar with 4 bottles of alcohol, fridge with soft drinks, water, mix. A rack on the balcony to hang wet clothes, chairs and table.
The cleaning lady was awesome. The room was cleaned and she decorated it every day with flowers and towel animals.
2 3/4 beds together that are not too comfortable, lumpy pillows.
Air conditioning and fan worked, hot water all the time.

Grounds: Beautiful. Workers always cleaning. Different palm trees and flowers all over the place.

Public washrooms rare but very clean. A smiling lady is there all the time.

Food: We tried different places offered by the resort, the Merengue Garden and Bachata as well as the 2 a la carte. We preferred the buffet at the Village. We were with the same waitress CARMEN which was awesome. The food was delicious and we always found lots of dishes (too many) that we liked. The wine is so so, better at the a la carte restaurant.
Thee were a few BBQ for lunch near the pool. The Jerk chicken and the paella were super good.

Beach: Lots of loungers, shade, sun. The beach at the Village is the nicest. you can snorkel near the rocks towards the shops preferably with shoes. There are some stones to enter the water but there is sand after. You don't need shoes to swim. While we were there, it was very windy and lots of waves. Only 4 hours of rain during our 2 week stay.Sun and warmth the rest of the time. Workers raking the beach every morning. Waiter offering drinks during the day.

Pool; The grounds around the pool are beautiful. There too, lots of trees, sun or shade. This is where the animation is.

Animation/Shows: The animation team is very nice. they walk around and mingle with the guests. We did a few activities which were fun. The shows at the Village are only the interactive ones (people from the audience) which are not my piece of cake. But the Crazy Show, done by our animation team was funny, The final song, the famous Dirty Dancing one, was performed by 2 guys and was really good. The other shows are at the Garden and the Bachata, same group of dancers and same shows but different nights. You have to go check at each lobby to see the show of the day. The dancers were good and i enjoyed the 3 shows I saw.

THE PERSONNEL; We had a VIP happy hour where we were served champagne and they introduced a representative of each department:... maid, restaurant, cuisine, grounds, bar and management which was a very nice gesture. The personnel at this resort is the friendliest and nicest of all the resorts I have been. They really made the vacation....

Excursions. We booked 3 excursions. one with Tip Top, 2 with a taxi driver in the lobby. The taxi is worth it, specially if you share with another couple. Look for Daniel. He is very knowledgeable and interesting.

We had a great vacation and got our money's worth.

We stayed at the Riu Merengue for two weeks in February2013. We were fortunate to have amazing weather! The staff at the Merengue are welcoming and friendly. The bar staff recognized us quickly and knew the drinks we wanted and had them ready. The diningroom staff were helpful and attentive. Our glasses were always filled. The wine in the diningroom leaves a little to be desired; however, the wine at the Steak and Italian Restaurants is better. You need to book reservations for the Steak and Italian Restaurants eary morning (7 am) in order to get seats. There are two sittings, but seating is limited. Try the crepes at the Steak House, the sauce on them is amazing! The Beef Marsala is worth trying at the Italian Restaurant. The food is good and the choices varied. We took advantage of the other two diningrooms on the resort and enjoyed the food at all three.

The grounds of the resort are well maintained and staff are ever working to keep it beautiful.

The maid (Amporo) was wonderful. Her daily creations were beautiful and appreciated. She did a great job looking after our room.

We were able to snorkell when the water was not rough. The fish are beautiful and interesting. We snorkelled just off the beach near the rocky areas.

We took a day trip into Peurto Plata and enjoyed the local market, rum factory, and stopped to see how cigars are rolled. We also took the cable car trip and that was an experience alone. The gardens at the top of the mountain are beautiful. The guide we had, directly from the resort, (Daniel, with the green eyes, as he called himself) was very well versed about the local area, population and vegetation on the mountain.

We did a day trip on the Tip Top Catamaran; not a great snorkelling day, but a nice ride.

All in all, a great vacation!

We want to thank all the staff at the resort.

We stayed at the Riu Merengue for two weeks at the end of July 12, we initially booked for the Riu Mambu but was told the we had to stay in the Merengue as they where doing up the Mambu not a problem and for the inconvenience we were upgraded to a suite. We booked the Dominican to celebrate my partners birthday and took our two children 14 & 15, reading the reviews on the trip adviser were people had put on the rooms that where the best i emailed the Merengue prior to going and asked if we could have a room with a view and boy we were not disappointed room 1086 right on the beach and very very spacious, the complex is large and you can use all three of the Riu hotels, the entertainment, food and cleanliness was spot on, The staff are friendly and work very hard the entertainment crew where a laugh and kept us entertained all day long, say hello to cheeky monkey, there is something for everyone if you want a quiet day on the beach or whether you want fun in the sun it can all be had here, we booked a couple of trips and paradise island is a must so unique and a little taste of a dessert island, i can honestly say that i could find nothing critical to say and i would recommend this hotel, and we will so definitely be coming back ,so much good things to say but what an experience and a fantastic holiday a credit to Riu hotels.

Recently Feb. 5-12,2013, my husband and I stayed at the Riu Merengue Garden Resort. The transition to our bus and then to the resort was seamless. We had a short wait and then a 35 min. ride through a very scenic route to our resort. We received a lovely cool drink on arrival and even though we arrived before 3 p.m. everything required to register was waiting in pre-prepared envelopes and handed to us when we got off the bus. We were escorted to our room and within minutes were unpacked and sitting by the beautiful pool, sipping on a cool refreshment. We ate great food, we participated in beach and pool activities daily, and enjoyed the fabulous staff and weather all week long. Our room was cleaned fabulously and we got everything we asked for. Anyone who complains about this place needs to stay home, as we had a great vacation!!!!