This review is for Crown Residence Suites only.

Pros:

We were upgraded from two one bedroom suites to one 2 bedroom suite, because they messed up our reservation.
The VIP Beach is really nice. There are huge canopy beds (some were bunk beds) all over and small whirlpools every 15ft or so. You can also order light fare at the bar 11am -5pm.

Cons:
They advertise 11 restaurants but only one or two open daily. They also get limited amount of reservations per restaurant. We were a party of 6 and were only able to dine at one restaurant. Even with that one reservation, we had a hard time getting a table for 6. They only take reservations from 9am-11am.. but you have to be there at 8:45 to even attempt to get a table. Their reason for only opening only 1-2 a day is because they're low of staff.. likethat should be the guests concern.

The pools have no lifeguards and the water is too warm. It's also very dirty. There was a performance with fire torches and floating beds in one of the pools.. the next day the water was still filthy with residue from the show.

The front desk is only open until 11pm and they are extremely unprofessional and rude. You have to constantly remind them of things and they get upset when you do.

There is no room service.

Our minibar was stocked every other day.. and only because we requested it.

Housekeeping also came by every other day.. again only when requested.

There was a hammock stand with no hammock in our patio. We requested one the first day of arrival and received it on the last night of our stay. This is only because we kept reminding them that it never arrived.

The couch in the room was filthy.

The patio door was broken (wouldn't lock), the TV had static on every single channel, there were dead bees and flies in the bathrooms every day. And I'm almost 99% sure there were bed bugs in the beds. I was really itchy when I slept.. it also could've been the lack of room service in the already disgusting room.

I am a frequent traveler and this was the worst trip ever! Our room was not ready. Waited 45 minutes for the room to be ready and when we eventually got inside the room the A/C was not working!! We had to wait another 30 minutes for them to fix the problem. The personnel were detached and rude. The pools are closed at 7pm!!! You cannot go make a reservation for the specific days that you want--they will tell you what days you can have your reservation. The shuttle system between resorts is a joke! It does not take 5-10 minutes like we were informed. Many times we are waiting 20-25 minutes for a shuttle!! Sometimes we ended up walking to the other resorts. Twice quarrels and fights occurred because it was chaotic on the "lines". The food was mediocre and there was not a variety to mixed drinks available.

The best part of the trip was the excursion that we bought from Jose on the beach and it was the best time that we had! It was our highlight....

In summary, if you go you were forewarned. Spend your money elsewhere!

We spent the first week of June in Puerto Plata in the Lifestyle Holiday Vacation Club Crown Suites. We traveled with two 17 yr old boys, who really enjoyed the trip. This place is maintained on a level only seen at Disneyland and Disneyworld. They are constantly grooming the grounds. The staff was very pleasant.

We had the penthouse with 2bdrm and 2ba. Our terrace was spectacular with views of the pool and ocean. The condo however was not air conditioned throughout, just the bedrooms. Be very careful with the showers in the bathroom as there is not separate shower and therefore the floor in the bathroom gets wet. I unfortunately slipped, grabbed the towel rack which was not bolted in just grouted in and went slamming to the floor. Thankfully not sustaining more than bruises and a twisted ankle. Maintenace did come out and cleaned the bathroom up and replaced the large section of tile that came off with the towel rack.

With this timeshare we were able to have VIP status which allowed us to have access to most of the restaurants and some of the best pools and beaches. You had to wear wristbands 24/7 and if you lost them it was a very high cost to replace them. With the exception of the fine dining restaurant and Jazz (the New Orleans themed restaurant) the dinners were good but nothing memorable. Breakfast at the Presidential Suites is a must as it is far better than any other restaurant and the buffets are mediocre.

The pool below our penthouse was delightful and had it's own bar and a restaurant near by. Plenty of cabana's and chaises for all guests. The VIP pool was my favorite as it had many options for relaxing in the sun or under cover. I wish the wait staff would have made rounds to ask if you wanted anything but they waited until you came over to the bar or called to them.

To get to the other pools/restaurants/shops you could walk (it's a really BIG place, this is not a recommendation) or you could wait for a shuttle. We had pretty good luck at having only 5-10 minute waits for shuttles.

The big dinner show on the beach was spectacular and the food was from every restaurant on the facility. We enjoyed many different choices, from Dominican to Asian, American to Gourmet. The show is very much a Vegas Style show (which the boys loved!) The only downsides to the night was the constant push to do the timeshare tour and that we couldn't get a shuttle from the dinning location and had to walk quite a ways in the dark without street lights of any kind.

We did a couple excursions (city tour, fishing and Zip and Splash) and enjoyed the Zip and Splash the most. The waterfalls are incredible and I jumped from everyone of them. The water was so cool and the mineral formations on the sides of the river walls were really very interesting. We wished we could have stayed at many of the large pools to swim but they kept you on a steady pace. Which brings me to the hike up the falls, I unfortunately have a bit of a health issue and the heat and the climb almost did me in. The guides offered to get the donkeys for me to ride the rest of the way and they had plenty of water to drink. AWESOME adventure. After the Waterfalls we had a typical Dominican lunch that was the BEST lunch we had the whole trip. After a quick cigar rolling tour and demonstration we were off to the zip lines. We got a treat as well, they have added horseback riding to the adventure. The zip lines were a kick in the pants, and coming from someone who had issues with heights, this was so much fun I wanted to keep going.

Just a warning, they are voracious timeshare sales people. You can not escape them, you just need to either be better saying NO (continuously) and at running the numbers.