Just returned from five days ( Feb. 19-24) at this beautiful resort. I had consulted trip advisor reviews prior to booking and up to three days prior to our departure and am pleased to say that the opinions expressed were right on. The grounds are exquisite not just in natural beauty but architecture and lay out: mountains, beach, gardens natural vegetation, it's all there. The property is immaculate and the staff is constantly sweeping, mopping, trimming etc. The walkways are showing a bit of age, but pose no danger.
The bohios ( huts) are very accommdating, but be advised I saw no elevators. If climbing stairs is an issue, be sure to ask for a room on the bottom floor( each hut has three floors). The rooms are more than comfortable and spacious. The cable TV provided plenty of viewing both in English and Spanish and the reception was excellent( be aware of the hour time difference).Contrary to many of the reviews, we had no problems getting towels or anything else we requested and there was nary a bug in sight ever. They do request to fumigate once a week. Although we returned to our room before they suggested, there was no odor nor ill effect. Many people complain about having to insert your room key into a box to turn on the lights. This is really a minor inconvenience and actually helps to prevent misplacing the key card. The bathroom was not luxurious but more than serviceable. My pet peeve at hotels is the lack of water pressure in the shower. At a beach resort this is a must. The shower was amazing. I have never anywhere experienced such good and continuous pressure and the water stays hot for the duration of the shower. The magnifying mirror in the bathroom was also helpful. My only complaint with both room and bath was lack of brighter lighting.
The beach and pool were terrific. Being at the end of the stretch of hotels affords Marien's beach more privacy and tranquility. My husband especially appreciated the abundance of shade providing trees on the beach, as the palapas are few and he is not a sun lover as am I. I guess we got very lucky, but the oft-mentioned seaweed must have been on vacation, too, at the Marien. As we walked down the beach we saw mountains of seaweed at the other hotels, but not here. Whatever seaweed had the nerve to show its face at Marien, was quicky raked up and carted away. The ocean was serene in the morning but the waves come on strong by two o'clock--great for those into wind sports. The water is clean and warm and the sand, while not white, is soft. The pool is picture postcard gorgeous. However, the water was too cold for my tastes. As many have mentioned, shade is at a premium and I think you have to claim your palapa the night before. This was a disappointment. Towels are doled out with a towel card which must be returned when you check out.
Now to the food. If gourmet dining makes or breaks your holiday, this is not the place for you. There are three specialty restaurants open for dinner only which do NOT take reservations. Moreover each one is closed one night a week, which they fail to tell you upon arrival, either verbally or in the brochure. Each has very limited seating and the service is very uneven. The food in these venues ( Italian, Mexican, Crepes) is fairly good with the crepes being the best and the Italian tasty but overcooked. The service at the creperie was also excellent. The buffet is available every day for the three meals and in the afternoon fruit and desserts are served poolside. Breakfast at the buffet is fine. Eggs and omelets are prepared to your order with assorted sides on the buffet. The bread, rolls and pastries are excellent-very fresh, great variety at all meals. Fresh tropical fruit concoctions are made to order from your selections. Lunch and dinner at the buffet are another story. While the food is plentiful and the choices adequate ( parents, be advised, there is always a pasta station for those picky eaters), it's just not very good (reminds me of a cruise). Each night dinner boasts a "theme". Yet it seemed I had the exact same chicken with a different name on two occasions. Desserts, I concede, are amazing ( alas I am not a dessert eater). They looked delicious and those around us seemed to concur. There is always ice cream available and sundae fixings. Lunch at Mangos, the snack shack by the beach, is a much better option. Hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, freshly grilled chicken and a salad bar are available every day and soup and about five hot items vary each day.
The food here was more than palatable and you can take your food down to the beach if you like. Mangos is also open late night. All the bars were great--never had to wait in line and the drinks are not watered down. Although it did not bother us, there is a list of about 15 or so mixed drinks available and a special drink of the day ( not on the list is Julian's special at the Tubano bar--it's a must). I don't know if you can request other drinks. We didn't feel the need, but do stay away from the house wine served at dinner. If you are an oenophile and must have wine with dinner, vintage bottles are available for purchase, even at the buffet (you might need a good bottle of wine there).
What really makes this a special place is the staff. When they say " happy to serve you" I do believe they really mean it. The chocolate friends are every bit as entertaining as you hear. Everyone at this property from the managers to the gardeners strive to make your stay enjoyable.
Just a few other helpful tidbits. There is internet accessability for purchase in half- hour intervals which do not have to be used all at one sitting. Four terminals are available. Cell phone capability varies. We got no service with our carrier, but others were chatting away. Spring for a lock for your in-room safe. Follow the mini-bar instructions as to what is complimentary and DON'T DRINK THE TAP WATER!!!! My husband was sick from just brushing his teeth--use the complimentary bottled water. As in many tropical resorts, the common area buildings are open air. Watch out for birds flying about you in the dining room and at the snack area. If you have a fear of birds, just be forewarned. They do not bother anyone, but I know how disconcerting this can be if one is not expecting it.
All in all this was a wonderful vacation and really just what I was looking for. It met all my expectations and I would go back in a heartbeat.

My wife, 3 kids (15, 13, 9), and I just got back from a week at the Marien Coral in Puerta Plata and am happy to say that we had a great time.

Reception/check-in/check-out was flawless.

The facilities are kept in great shape overall, but there were some items that need updating (treadmills are the oldest I have EVER seen at a resort; foos ball table falling apart).

The bars are well located and serve very good (bordering on excellent) tropical drinks. The food service is overall very good. The room with the main buffet is beautiful, has plenty of seats and has non-smoking/smoking sections. The buffet was varied enough and has the usual bad dishes served in mass quantities and prepared in advance, and some that were very good. Fresh pasta, carving board, fish at every dinner; fresh rolls/danish at every meal. The biggest lacking was the desserts: they are terrible so most times we just tasted a few, but this wasn't so bad since we ate so much else anyway.

The specialty restaurants do not take reservations. We tried the tex-mex Santa Fe once - it was bad so didn't go back. I don't understand how other reviewers recently said that it was the best. We didn't try the Creperie but it seemed reasonably popular, though had only a small number of tables. Mangos at the beach/pool was very good for lunch and even early dinner, though the pizza, a staple, could have been a little better but was fine. The best specialty restaurant was Rigolettos italian. The meals were excellent, in a very nice, special environment, like going out to an italian restaurant. Only problem with this restaurant is that it's small (seats about 30 people) and service is slow, so you had to get there early (6-6:30) or else you would have a 1.5+ hr wait. We ate there twice and enjoyed it.

The pool is the highlight of the grounds and is one of the best we have ever been in, with different areas for different activities, though no slides, etc. You have to get up early if you want to get chairs under an umbrella. The beach, as others have written, is on the smaller side, the sand isn't as white as in many other areas of the Caribbean, and overall not a highlight of the facility. We used it as a break from the pool. There aren't alot of waves, which is good for small children, not as good for teens/adults. A disappointment was lack of anywhere worth snorkeling nearby; there is a pay trip which we didn't do.

We took a number of walks along the beach to and past other resorts. There are some nice beaches close by at other resorts, but they seemed to not have nice pools.

The "Chocolate Friends" activities people are the best and the shows, though not "excellent" were still enjoyable for a family and worth going to most nights. The staff overall were friendly and excellent.

We were not bothered at all by people approaching us to buy things. Yes, they are there, but a quick wave and they were gone, they were not aggressive, and they seemed to fairly quickly get to know that we were not interested and did not bother us. The beach is monitored and security does not allow peddlers.

One nice aspect for families and for non-smokers: overall there was much less smoking here than at many other Dominican resorts, and especially much less cigar smoking. There was no smoking at the shows, which was GREAT. We were happily surprised.

Overall we had an excellent time

We stayed 7 nights 8 days and easily could've used another week at this resort. My husband and I took our 6 year old to this resort and felt completely safe here. She was able to do plenty of swimming and activities with the staff and other kids while my husband and I were able to relax and socialize and join in our own activities at the pool, if we wanted to.

Definately recommend this resort to couples and/or families. There is something for everyone here.

The BEST part was the staff - the Chocolate Friends - they are high energy, social people with a lot of talent. WE really enjoyed the spanish lessons every morning at the pool as well as the merengue lessons every day. The entertainment every night was the best I have ever seen at a family resort - audience participation for adults and children.

The buffet restaurant was good - some nights better than others but breakfast was always excellent - especially the omelet station. Mangos - the snack bar near the beach -was awesome- especially the grill where the chef prepares the food fresh for you on the grill while you wait.

Also, the city of Puerto Plata is very tourist friendly.

We are already planning our next trip back!

Moved here from Grand Flamenco on third day of vacation. Wish we would have been here from the start.

Rooms: very nice, large, water, mini bar, coffee maker, large bathroom, working tv, nice patio, wonderful view of ocean and pool. All rooms in this resort are centrally located and would be nice. Housekeeping was prompt each morning and made a swan from our towel and a flower from my pyjamas. How nice.

Resort: Beautiful, and great layout, never had to walk very far to get to anything. Very helpful and friendly staff. Pool is huge and lots of chairs to go around. Grounds are well kept and you could see staff working daily to keep place nice. Some timeshare people around but a simple no and they left you alone. Pool staff and nightly entertainers worked really hard and did a great job.

Food: No reservations for a la cartes. Ate at all three. Excellent staff and food was great and plentiful. All women got a red rose at dinner on Valentines Day. Nice extra touch. Buffet was large and always something good to eat. A good mixture of American and Dominican food. Drink orders always taken and refilled promptly.

Desserts....wonderful.

Beach: typical Puerto Plata beach. Some seaweed and water was rough but still nice. Staff were always cleaning up seaweed and lots of chairs for everyone.

Tours: Went on two tours, Paradise Island and City Tour with Sousua Beach. Both pretty good, 2 hour bus ride to get to boat pick up for Paradise Island but beautiful once you get there. City tour was a little long with a stop at a really crappy jewlery factory/store. But Sousua beach was cool with hundreds of little shops, got some great deals. I would skip the city tour next time and go straight to Sousua.

Overall, a great time, we only stayed here for 4 nights but would definitely book here the next time I visit the Dominican.