Our suite (rm 124) was ideally located on a windy peninsula so that it felt as though we were sleeping in a hammock with ocean breezes. Really wonderful.
It was a bit of a Trek to the main resort area and even further to the sister resorts where the water sports equipment was held.
The food was the best we've had in DR and My 5 yr old would not let us miss mini disco each night.
Correct information was hard to come by though & we were misdirected several times for scuba lessons & ATM locations.
although there was a chart for activities -- it didn't designate where they would take place and many things weren't even listed , so you just stumbled upon them. That was frustrating for all and we did inform the concierge and he made a report and offered us a reservation at the very hard to get into Steak House to make amends.
Overall ~ my entire family of four (kids- 5 & 11) enjoyed ourselves immensely- 8 perfect days (85 & sunny) in paradise.

Me and my husband stayed at RIU Bachata from 17-24 of Feb, 2008. Who ever knows, that week is the winter break in USA and alot of people take off and go on vacation. My parents stayed at RIU Mambo 2 1/2 years ago and had a wonderful time.
The Puerto Plata RIU resort is made of 3 different hotels: Mambo, Merenge and Bachata, when Bachata is considered to be 5 start hotel. When we first arrived, the check in process was very fast. We got a king size bed as we requested before with an ocean view. The Room: When we went to bed that first night, my almost past out when I saw what was under the cover of the bed: it was covered with rust and dirt and sheets looked like some one was staping all over them. There were blood, dirt and food stains all over the bed and the bed sheets. I called the front dest right away to request the house keeping to come and change the sheets, it took them 40 min to arrive, another 30 min to find a clean sheets and on the top of it, the house keeping gave us an attitude! We didnt change the sheets all week long becasue we were so disgust and did not trust the house keeping to change them at all! The Towels: another problem was the towels: we did request that the towels will be changed everyday and everyday we had to call front dest to ask someone to bring us fresh towels and each day we had to wait 2-3 hours till the arrive!!!! At one point, I had to go myself to look for the house keeping and get the towels my self, when the were just chating!!!! The Pool: that was the worst!!!!! the pool was never cleaned, and every day that we came there, it became more and more dirty. The problem was, that all the quests from the Riu Mambo and Merenge could use the Riu Bachata pool, so every morning I had to wake up at 7:30 to run to the pool so I could get fresh towels and a seat, at least one!!!! It was impossible to get any fresh towels and seats after 10am and people were always fighting the staff becasue of that. The Food: the food was ok, nothing special, basically we ate the same thing everyday and the food that was left over after breakfast was made to something for lunch and the food that was left over from lunch was make to something for dinner. The reservations to the Italian and the steak house restaurants were also imposible to get, you need to wake up at 7:00 and run to get any. And it wasnt that special either. some people that we met there and spoke to said that it was the worst hotel they staid in and some had bugs all over their room!!! Basically, I would not, ever, give that hotel or resort more then 3 stars. If you can get a realy cheap deal for it (not more then $800 per person with flight) and you do not care on what you sleep and what you eat, then it is a good resort and hotel to stay in. Riu, if you do not upgrade your hotels as soon as possible, you will end up with a lot of complains.

My hubby and I stayed at the Club Hotel Riu Bachata in early December 2007. We booked through a website of a large travel agency and had never stayed at a Riu property before.

We arrived at the airport with our vouchers to be transferred to the hotel. After you leave the baggage area at the Puerto Plata aiport, you fight off the porters who want to carry your bags about 500 feet around a corner and out into an exterior waiting area. We politely declined the porters' offer with a no gracias and it was fine.

We basically found our transfer company by me walking into the middle of the crowd of people yelling out the name of their companies and yelling back the name of the company we needed. It worked like a charm. We were quickly paired up with the transfer company, loaded our bags into the mini-van and after waiting for about five minutes for another passenger, we were on our way.

The ride to the Bachata is a lot longer than I expected, even after reading the posts. Because we managed to hit "rush hour" in Puerto Plata, it took about an hour to get to the Riu. We arrived at the front entrance of the resort and forgot about the ride.

The entrance to the resort is a farily small roundabout with a set of steps leading up to the open-air lobby. The checkin desk is on your left when you ascend the steps. The bellman carries your bags up to the lobby for you and waits while you check in.

Check-in was a fairly quick and painless process. Juana was friendly and before we knew it, we were following the bell man to our room. He showed us how the mini-bar worked and actually poured himself a shot of rum while doing so. The first room we were assigned was a ground-level room with the patio right on the main pathway. We called Juana and asked if we could be moved to a room that was more private. She agreed and had another key waiting at the front desk for us to pick up. We went to the second room, but the ceiling fan did not work. We called maintenance to fix the fan, but also asked Juana a third time for another room since we did not know how long it would take. Each time, we were polite and in turn, Juana was helpful. The third room was on the second floor in a fairly quiet building. At last, we could unpack.

The room itself has a vaulted ceiling, dark wood accents, a very colorful curtain across the slider doors to the balcony and had a king-size bed that was actually two beds pushed together. The mini bar was stocked with Pepsi products, beer and water. There was also bottles of rum, brandy, vodka and more rum in our in-room optics. The ceiling fan and air conditioning worked well in our final room. We like it a bit cold when we sleep and it was definitely cool enough for us. The bathroom had granite countertops, nice tile in the bathtub and enough countertop room for me and my husband. The only negative was that the toilet was directly behind the door so heaven help you if you threw the door open and someone was sitting there. You'd definitely bruise some knees. Overall, we were very satisfied with the room. We're on vacation! We figured that we wanted a comfortable space to get ready in the morning for a day at the pool, clean bathroom and a quiet spot to sleep. The rooms here covered that. We tipped the maid $1 US every day and got squeeky clean bathrooms and a fun towel sculpture every day.

The pool at the Bachata is the nicest one of all the Riu resorts in Puerto Plata. You can take the path that leads you to all the resorts and we walked it to check out the other pools. The Bachata is the only one with a swim-up bar and is definitely the biggest and nicest pool. There are three sections to the pool, the main one with the swim-up bar, a sports pool and a "quiet pool". The barmen at the pool bar are all very friendly. We got to be buddies with them during our week there. They knew exactly what we ordered and had it ready for us as we swam up. There are lots of sun loungers around the pool, but as always, there are those crazy people who get up god-awful early while they are on vacation to lay their towels out. We normally got to the pool around 9 and had to hunt for chairs in the sun. Finally, we bowed to the pressure and laid our towels out before we went to breakfast. We were taken aback by how many people were smoking right next to the pool. I wish that they had smoking and non-smoking sections for the pool too. The pool is usually pretty clean and they sanitize it every night around 7 p.m. There is no night swimming. The hot tub is not really hot at all, but we found that to be common at many of the hotels in the area.

Food at the Bachata is the standard buffet at an all-inclusive. While not gourmet, it is fine. People who go to an all-inclusive expecting outstanding food annoy the heck out of me. You want top-notch food, go somewhere else. I am a fairly picky eater and I managed to find something at every meal to eat that was tasty. I will tell Americans that the ice cream is very different than what you're used to. Not bad, just different. There were not that many Americans there while we were there, mostly English, Germans, and some Canadians. It was a nice mix of nationalities. There are smoking and non-smoking sections in the restaurant.

Employees stand outside the restrooms with hand sanitizer. We were actually pleasantly surprised by how clean everything seemed to be.

We ate at the Steak House ala carte. The snack bar and the ala cartes share space with the ala cartes taking over at night. The food was OK and plentiful. Since we had dinner there the night that Tropical Storm Opal was moving through, we were requested to finish up our meals and head back to our rooms as soon as possible. I won't comment on the ambiance of the place since there were high winds blowing things around the open-air space and it was raining like the dickens.

For only the third time in history, there was a recorded Tropical Storm in the Caribbean in December. (Figures!) So the weather was not great for a few days while it moved in, and finally moved out. The damage to the resort was minimal. The massage hut on the beach blew down and there were many branches all over the place. However, we were secure in our rooms. Construction was good enough to get through a Tropical Storm without any worries. The crew was out the next day, cleaning up and they did a fantastic job. By 2:00 pm the next day, you wouldn't have even known there was a storm if you didn't see the massage hut on the beach. After the storm moved through, we had beautiful weather.

The animacion crew were fun to watch and while they tried to get you to join their activities, they were not pushy about it if you declined. During the bad weather, they moved activities into the pavilion area. We spent time playing cards and trying new drinks. Be sure to bring some cards with you. The gift shops sell them for outrageous prices. We didn't actually go to any shows in the evening so I can't mention how they were. But even if we went, we wouldn't expect Broadway calibre. People who complain about the entertainment are the same annoyances as those who complain about not getting gourmet at an all-inclusive. Pay more and pay extra if you want top-notch in countries like this. The people who work at these resorts work longer hours than I ever would be able to, and they do it with a smile on their faces and for far less money.

We did manage to find the tennis courts and sport court. No one else was there. We found a soccer ball and kicked it around the sports court for about an hour. When my hubby misplaced a kick and sent the ball flying over the fence, a helpful employee kicked it back over the tops of the trees back into the court.

My husband used the internet room at the resort. You have to pay cash, you cannot put the charges on your room. The connection is very slow. Cell phone reception seemed only available at the point with the gazebo and so, if you want a romantic interlude at the gazebo, you're out of luck. Rooms have umbrellas in the closet. Most of the time, you will be walking outdoors with no cover. If you think you need the umbrella, take it. Otherwise, you will find your options for moving around without getting wet limited.

Finally, I want to mention Julio at the bar next to the pavilion area. He was so nice and friendly. Honestly, I was a bit sad to leave because he was always smiling, asking how things were going and talking about whatever. I learned a lot about how he lives and works through our conversations, even though my Spanish is pretty rusty. Fortunately, his English is better than my Spanish. He created a drink just for me, poured the top-shelf stuff without me having to ask and basically was a joy to be around. Most of the staff there were wonderful but Julio was a little extra. We did not tip him until the end of the stay either. When we did tip him, we gave his $10 US. He had tears in his eyes while he thanked us and it hit me right then how different our lives are. $10 is really not that much to us, but it seemed like it was $100 to him. People, tip your servers, bartenders and maids if you think they do a good job.

One of the women at the front desk helped my husband arrange our outbound transfer. Since we were staying in another resort after the Riu, we thought we would need to pay for a cab. Instead, they worked it out so we could apply our voucher to get a ride to the next resort. It was a very nice gesture on their part and we were again struck by how helpful everyone was.

Check-out was quick and easy. The clerk at the front desk made us feel like family leaving his home. We were very pleased with our stay at this resort. It may not be four-stars in American terms for the rooms or the facilities, but the people are great. We would definitely stay there again.

I have been to the Dominican Republic 7 times. The last time I was to Puetro Plata was 20 years ago. And I am happy to say the area has improved significantly and I would even consider a trip into town, if I didn't have a little one with me.
This was our first international trip with our 2 year old. We had a great time! The resort was very kid friendly, but most of the child type amenities are for older kids (over 4 or 5). The scenery was just gorgeous: set among mountains so green and lush it was awe-inspiring everytime I saw it. The beaches were well shaded and perfect for playing in the sand all day! The main beach has alot of coral and rocks making walking in a swimming a little difficult. There is a smaller cove beach towards the back of the resort in which the water is calmer, shallower and better for kids. There are little vendor shops at the end of this cove where you can barter for touristy items (cut the price they give you in half or more and be willing to leave the item and you should get a good deal). Everyone spoke english fairly well throughout the hotel.
The pools were nice. There was no real kiddie pool where a toddler could stand and splash around and the water was fairly cold. There was a pretty good breeze most days and a coverup helps against the sun and chill at times. It is difficult to get a chair around the pool unless you go before 8:30/9 am and reserve a chair (put a book/towel/toys on it). We even found some days on the beach it was hard to find an unreserved set of chairs. The cove beach did not have chairs; you lie on your towels.
Our rooms was a basic room with a balcony and it was nice. We did get a crib for the toddler. The crib was very beat up and small but she managed. They cleaned the rooms very nicely. The in room refrigerator was only restocked every other day. So if you needed more grab them off the supply truck if you saw it while out walking. You can not drink the water in the room but they supply jugs. They water and ice in the restaurants and bars are all okay as well as the salads and fruit. We originally got a room near the pool and show area and asked to move somewhere more tranquil which was good because you could hear the festivities even from far away at night and with a toddler going to bed a 8 we needed quiet. One suggestion for the room is a dimmer light would be nice so we could read/something while our daughter slept or bring a booklight. We had an issue at about 11 pm with the toilet being clogged and they had someone up to fix it in minutes! There were a lot of TV channels if you are into watching.
And as for food, really this was the biggest disappointment. Everything was a glorified buffet. There is one large buffet and a smaller one by the beach. The sit down restaurants are really still part of the buffet by the beach and their service was poor. To make reservation you must do it in the morning at the large restaurants entrance and if you are there after 9 it is all booked. The food was fair to good; definitely edible some things better than others, but got kind of boring after a bit. I booked thinking there was several options of restaurants, but it was a lot of the same. And the restaurants in the other Ruis are the same exact thing. As for the bars, the drinks were good but the glasses are small plastic cups. Alot of people brought their own mugs or larger cups from home. I also found the tables and high chairs at all the restaurants were poorly cleaned and staff was not very responsive. Some suggestions for the RUI to clean up bettter especially the high chairs; have someone getting people drinks at the pool or beach, someone to assist getting chairs on the beach; and train staff in more 5 star service. Staff were nice but just not what I've seen elsewhere. There is a Carribean street; like a little mall for tourist shopping that is nice and you can barter at most of these shops. We did not get to experience any tours or much of the animation experience because it seemed our daughter slept during the peak hours. But on Thursday evening the Carribbean street was turned into a carnival type street fair that was very nice! We also witnessed a wedding that looked very well done.
Overall we had a wonderful trip I would definitely go back to Puerto Plata again. I am not sure if I would chose the Rui. It was nice enough but definitely not the 5 star rating it said. I may try somewhere else next time in hopes of more variety for food.