My friends and I take an annual vacation every year, this year we chose the DR, staying at the Melia Caribe Tropical. I have been all over the carribean, and this by far has been one of our best trips. The staff, accomadations, food, and service was top notch. The staff went out of their way...even for the simple things, and once they met you they always remembered your name and your preferences. My only negative is that the check-in process was a little confusing but other than that.....agreat vacation....would definatly stay there again.
bruce w

We stayed in Punta Cana from Nov. 16-24. 4 nights at Melia & 4 nights at Barcelo Bavaro Beach.

Melia – Check-in took a long time! We got there at 3:30pm and didn't get into a room until almost 7pm. We paid an extra 60/night to upgrade to Royal Service. It was worth the extra $$ because the Gabi had really good food and you don’t need to make any reservations. The hotel is massive. It’s a long walk to get from one place to another. You always had to take a trolly if you wanted to go somewhere. The hotel has beautiful landscape but hardly anyone speak English! It was really frustrating to communicate with anyone. I’ve been all over Mexico and Jamaica and I feel that customer service at those places are allot better than here. Although I would still recommend this hotel, I myself, will not go back again. Also….during the time we were there, the hotel was dead!! Only had about 10 people in their Disco.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach – This hotel was not as big as the Melia so it was easier to get around. Also, during the time we were there, the hotel was almost at capacity, so there were allot of people. The casino was always dead but the Disco was always full of people.

The Dominican Republic was very beautiful and food was pretty good but they really need to work on customer service. I still would recommend going at least once but I, myself will not go back again. I would rather go back to Jamaica or Mexico where it’s just as nice but customer service is much better and hotel employees speak “some” English.

Melia Caribe Tropical is one of the best resorts I've stayed at...We came to this resort for a wedding and were upgraded to the Royal Service room which was absolutely worth it. We had the pleasure of spending our days and nights at Gabi bar and restaurant where Luis and David , the bartenders were exceptional. The royal service also has their own section of the beach where cocktail servers will bring you drinks right to your beach chair. Abel and Pablo, the private butlers were so helpful and gave us incredible service. They made us a beautiful bubble bath for when we got home from dinner one night, complete with flowers in and around the tub. Also special thanks to Evelyn at the Gabi bar, she was a great cocktail waitress and helped make our vacation a carefree relaxing experience. Everybody here is so friendly and makes sure that you don't have to worry about anything while you are on vacation.

I just came back from a week (24 Nov-1st Dec) spent at the Melia Caribe Tropical with my sister. We really had a great time there, awesome vacations!
The hotel is really nice, the park is huge and beautiful with lots of vegetation, lakes etc. The room was nice too, lots of space, very clean and the good point is that it is not big buildings with lots of rooms but rather houses made of a few rooms. Regarding the food, the buffets are very good, with lots of different choices and there are also 10 restaurants. We tried 5 of them and all of them were very good. The reservation for the restaurant is really easy and we always got the restaurant we wanted. There are also two spas, we need to make a reservation before going but it is always available too. The two pools are huge, very nice, each of them have a bar too. The animations are "super", different activities during the day, live music at night and the daily show at the theater at 9.45, always excellent shows! Finally, the staff is really nice, friendly and efficient! I would like to give special thanks to Rafael Mendez and Jhonatan Montero for the differents activities (Aquagym, aerobic, dance and the different shows at night) and for the moments shared together :) They are amazing people, making this week even more memorable, their happiness was contagious! I would also like to thank Juan Jimenez from the buffet, very kind too and very professional! We also had a very relaxing body treatment at the spa, given by Rosa and Leoncia, very friendly too and good at what they are doing. There was also Johnny from the Capri restaurant who was a very nice person and also very efficient: as per our request, he made it possible to have our dinner in 30 minutes as we had to leave. The dancers also really did a great job! To conclude, everything was perfect, we highly recommend this hotel to everybody who wants to spend relaxing holidays. Whenever we go back to the Dominican Republic, we will definitely come back to this resort!