We just returned from the Melia on Jul 6 and were there for a week. We booked into Royal Service and upon arrival upgraded to Royal Service Master Suite. After seeing both types of rooms I highly recommend the upgrade to the Royal Master services. Our room was elegant and spacious righ beside the pool the only issue was that it was on the 3rd floor and there were no elevators. I think these stairs helped me from gaining mega weight while on vaction. Also, if you suffer from heat and humidity you may want to rethink going between May and October. The weather was great, the pools and grounds are exceptionally clean and lush. The hospitality staff contrary to what others may say on here were absolutely top notch. At no time did we wait for anything and by the end of the week if the waiter saw you coming he would have a drink ready for you. I think that if you make an effort to speak to them in Spanish it goes a long way to instilling good will and helpfulness from the employees, At no time did I ever pass a staff member who failed to say "Hola" good moring etc. with a bright smile and an offer of assistance. If there is anything that would bring me back to the DR it is the people......everyone of them. Once off the resort though you can see how incredibly poor this country is and how importnant the tourist dollar is to the economy. The few dollars that you tip them goes a long way to help supplement their meager income. These people work long hard hours and yet always have a smile and a quick have a nice day....eager to help and friendlier than the average american/european tourist, so if they didn't speak your language or were not as attentive to your needs as you demanded think of them and maybe treat them with a bit of respect and encouragement. Also, this is a huge resort and expect to walk or wait for transport. At no time were we bothered by the "time share" sales people that a kind "non gracias" didn't stem. The worst experience I had was waiting in line at the airport to check through security on our return. It was hot and humid and the line took forever or so it seemed. I would definitely go back but maybe in the winter months.....

Sayed at the melia from the 5th june to 19th 2008 absolutely loved it. We stayed in block 34 right near to the pools and beach not to far from the turey restaurant for breakfast. The rooms are spacious linen and towels changed every day fridge stocked daily free. The rest of the restaurant are very good me and my husband tried the mexican chinese american the list is endless good service in all the best buffet is the market place. the entertainment was good or you can just sit [or lie] to many sofas and beds to choose from seen a few complaints about the size of the complex it is big but get your bearings and youll be fine the train and the golf carts run all the time and the staff even the gardeners are willing to help so no need to worry will definately go back cant wait.

Let me start by saying that the resot is huge. So big you need to take a trolly EVERYWERE unless you want to walk for miles everyday on vacation in tropical weather. I found this extremely anoying and time consuming. if you want to spend you're vacation waiting in lines for tains and waiting for tains this is the spot for you. I would not go back for this simple reason.

If you are already boiked I highly recomed you tip the recepcionist $10.00 and ask for the room closest to the beach and pool area. The las thing you want to do is have to wait for the train to take you to the pool and bring you back when you want to shower and relax in you're room.

Royal Service is for Royal fools. $70.00 per person/ per night unreal. I ate at every restuaurant I wanted never had a problem getting reservation + or - 30 minutes. If you pay this you have to be the biggest fish ever. The ROYAL building is at least 1-2 miles from the Beach. You do get cart service from anywere in the location but first you have to find one. Many times i flagged a cart down gave him $1.00 and took me anywere I wanted. This was the only advantage I saw to Royal Service. Moral of the storry DONT BE A ROYAL SUCKER!!!!. I went the weekend of memorial day and IT was empty maybe 10-20 in the beach at a Time. At times we were the only ones on the beach and in our section of the pool. There is two humoungus pools there is space for EVERYONE. Dont let them convince you the Royla Pool service is private it's simply not worth the price. The location is terrible Punta Cana is all about the beach you have to ride a cart to the beach. The restaurant are the same for everyone royla or non. The fun bars are the main entrance for everyone and one in the Casino with live sports.


Food = Averagfe being form the U.S I used to very good food and service. Service was good and food ranged from Average to Good. Highly recomend the Jappanese tepanyaki restaurant and order the fried ice cream for desrt. WE ALL LOVED THIS MEAL. The buffets are no Vegas Buffets but they are good. The American grill was terrible the stake was like drowing in salt stay away. You are not allowed to bring food into the beach or to tkae out food to bring to you're room. This was really anoying I love late snaking and wayching movies. They have some ridicolusly expensive shops in the resort and across the street. There i a Cigar shiop in the stores that rolls its own cigars. Good cigars decent price highly recomended.

Bars are anoying they serve really litte cup so you dont consume much. The people by the beach are too lazy to go get more drinks including myself. You have to wlak about 300 feet to get a drink you drink half of it on the way back. Tricl/Tip they serve water in huge foam cups. Give the bartender a couple of American Doolars and ask him to mae you drinks on that cup. Save the cups becuase they run out quick and bring them back to be refilled. This was a grat way to keep a cold drink in the ebach for a long period of time.

Beach Area: FANTASTICCCCCCCCCCC I have been everywere the most beautiful clean beach I have seen in my life. ALMOST WORTH all the negative things that I experinced. I LOVE THE PUNTA CANA BEACH. I cant put this into word I loved evey second of this beach. It was almost deseted that weekend so I enjoyied it to the Max.

The NIGHTLIFE was fantastic. They a had a nightly musical style show evvery night. It was a different show everynight and It was great. Our ritual was Dinner, Casino, Show, and then either go back to the casino and hang out at the Bar or do the discoteque till 2-4 AM. This was fantastic everyone did what they wanted there something for everyone. They had piano music i nthe lobby bar and disco music in the disco areas after the 10:30 pm show. Overall if it wasant for the anoying transportation this vacation was FANTASTIC.

We just returned from 5 nights at the Melia Caribe Tropical. While the property is beautiful and well maintained, it is very spacious and the activities (pools, beach, restaurants, casino) are not within walking distance. We were told there was a "train" that could take us around the property; I envisioned the train in Disney World. It was more like a train from a kiddie park that travelled at 5 mph. It took 15-20 minutes to completely circle the property. If you upgrade to the "Royal Service" you will be driven around the property via golf carts -- I would highly recommend this option.
The sleeping room was nice; however, the plumbing in the bathroom is horrible...also wash cloths are not provided and the hotel is extremely "stingy" with bath towels. The pools and beach are beautiful. The food was very good; a large selection and variety of items for everyone's taste. We only booked one 'ala carte' dinner and were disappointed in the portion size, so we went to the all-you-can-eat buffets instead. The atmosphere in the main dining room is very casual; no need to dress up for dinner. I was also surprised that most of the hotel staff does not speak English; even the simplest things (i.e., black coffee, diet soda) was difficult to communicate. Overall, we had a nice time and would go back -- but only by booking the "Royal Service."