My Husband and I went to the Melia Caribe Tropical to get married in April 208. 24 people came with us and had an absolutley amazing time. Myself and my husband had been there before which was why we decided to go there.
After reading some of the reviews we were getting quite worried, things can change so much in 4 years. However none of the bad reviews were justified. If you are going expecting the type of service you would received in a 5 star hotel in London then you will be disappointed but this is the carribean and the pace of life is somewhat slower. As long as you realise this nothing will be a problem.
The hotel is very big and that was a worry for some people but the way it has been done it is perfect, you dont realise the size of the place as the buildings are only ground and first floor and are well spread out so not over bearing at all. The gardens are some of the best gardens we have seen through out the carribean and create some wonderful walks.
There was a variety of people that came from 6 year olds to 60 year olds and from seasoned travellers to people going abroad for the first time and every one of them had the holiday of a lifetime.
The hotel simply can not do enough to help you, and our wedding co-ordinator Emy Rose was outstanding. We had a few problems that had been created by our travel company but she went above and beyond the call of duty to sort it all out for us and made sure the day was a dream, nothing was too much or unimportant to her.
The restaurants were a bit of a nightmare to book in the begining but only because we were trying to book as a group of 26, when we realised and split up into smaller groups we had not trouble at all. We also realised after a while that if you're prepared to eat a bit later you can usually turn up on the night and ask for a table (some people simply dont turn up for their reservation).
The pools are wonderful and the beach is beautiful - what more could you want!
The whole group enjoyed the holiday so much that they want to organise another trip as a reunion.
I can not reccommend this hotel enough and suggest that you ignore all the bad reviews, if people cant find what they want in a hotel this size there is something seriously wrong.

We have just returned from the Melia Caribe Hotel, from 6/29/08-7/6/08 and this hotel is very highly recommended. This hotel has a beautiful lanscaping that is breathtaking.There were also beautiful peacocks walking loosely aroung the resort( more than 30), every morning and evening they would come to our area to eat. Room service and room decor and cleaningness was excellent. As to the resturants the food was above average, but it all depends on your palate. The Capri Restaurant was excellent and highly recommended. The pools were very large and clean. We stayed in the Tropical side of the hotel, we did not have the royal service and we were very happy with the treatment in the hotel. The waiters in the buffets were extremely nice and always pleasant with the customers. There are 3 buffets, 2 on the beach (1 in the Tropical and 1 in the Caribe Side) and 1 next to the Tropical Lobby. There are 8 restaurants, which you need to call every morning to make the reservations for the following day. We were able to make our reservations with no problems, and the Melia was fully booked during the week of our stay. Every night there is a show in the Caribe Lobby which is also recommended foer one to see. Every night is a differnt theme night. Also they have beach parties in the evening several times a week. In the Tropical Lobby they have every evening a Mini Disco for the Kids.There were 3 trains that go around the property, and the most we waited for a train was 5-7 mins. I recommeded the tropical side especially in the unit # 17. Its in a quiet location, walkway is in front of one of the train stops, and this building may be a little further from the beach, but it is closer to the resturants and lobby were the night life began. We walked every night to the restaurants which took us about 2 minutes to get there. The Melia has a nice white sandy beach, very clean, and very liitle seaweed. Beach area had many tiki hut umbrellas for whom did not want to get much sun and wanted to lay down in the shade, with the nice beach breeze..We were a party of 7 and plan to return next year.

My husband and I just returned from a 5 night stay at Melia. We were celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary, and had an amazing time! We had never been to the DR so we were really venturing out when we chose this destination. We were not dissappointed in any way! We chose the resort based on the reviews from this website. It seemed to have the least negative comments compared to some of the other all inclusive resorts that we were looking at. It turned out that we made a great choice! This place reminded me of the show "Fantasy Island" from the 80's! It was gorgeous!! If you are looking for a tropical paradise this is the place to go! There were lush gardens everywhere, small ponds with fish and flamingos and plenty of peacocks roaming the grounds! The building that had all of the restaurants and the many lounge areas and bars was beautiful! Especially at night when the lights were dimmed, the smell of insense everywhere, the many lounge beds and light music playing throughout the whole place! It was very romantic! We did not have Royal service, but as soon as we arrived we were treated as if we did. At first I thought they had confused us with Royal Service guests. We were taken to our room by one of the many golf carts, instead of having to wait on a train. We were also set up a dinner reservation for that night at the Japanese restaurant and again dinner the following 2 nights at the Italian and Thai restaurants. We never had a problem getting into any of the specialty restaurants. The food always had a very nice presentation in all of the beautiful restaurants. Everyone talks about the food not being very good, but I had to realize that this is not the "American" food that we are used to........it is just different. We as "Americans" are spoiled with the foods that we have! Overall we enjoyed most of the food that we ate. My favorite (closest to american food) was the Mexican, Italian and the Japanese. I did miss the dipping sauces that we get here in America at our local Japanese restaurants. We also did a couple of the excursions which was the snorkeling trip on the "party boat" where you also got to swim with nurse sharks and stingrays! That was a really cool adventure! We also did Parasailing on the beach, which was breathtaking! The beaches were so relaxing with a constant breeze blowing the whole time, we never once got hot on the beach! The pools at the resort were so nice and so spread out! There are so many chairs and lounge beds that you will always find a place to lay. If you are looking for a low keyed place to just take in the natural beauty of the beautiful beach and tropical surroundings this is truly the place to go!!!!

My husband and I just returned from the Melia Caribe. We stayed from June 27 to July 4. We opted for the Royal Service because it sounded fantastic, what a waste of money. First, the grounds were beautiful and the food was good. I researched the property for six months before our vacation so I knew what to expect. This resort is very family oriented. During our stay there were many obnoxious children in the Royal Service pool area. There were also many large groups of families. I wouldn't recommend the resort for couples. The Royal Service did not have any pluses at all. Our room was mediocre. It was very outdated. We had three bugs in our room. Anytime we went to the VIP area to ask questions the help was so busy talking to each other they didn't seem like they wanted to be bothered. We called the evening before our flight back to Ohio to arrange to have our luggage picked up but they told us to call in the morning. We called in the morning and they weren't open yet. Golf transportation can only be arranged every hour. My husband had to walk back from the golf course with his clubs because Royal Service doesn't pick you up. We didn't see any plus in Royal Service.

We usually stay at Iberostar Lindo or the Grand and this place couldn't compare. It was a waiste of money.

I would recommend this place only to families because they did have a nice children's area. This is not a quiet or romantic resort. If you are going on your first all inclusive you will most likely enjoy the resort but if you have been to an Iberostar property in the Mayan Riviera don't bother with this property.