My husband and I just got back from 8 days at Melia Caribe Tropical and we loved it. I am honestly not sure where the people stayed who wrote the bad reviews. We were not in the Royal Service area, but a regular hotel room and we had a great time. Here were our thoughts:

Size of property – Yes, the Melia is a large property. We enjoyed the walks to dinner and the bars as some form of exercise. We were in building 25 right next to the pool. Our walks to dinner would be about 7 – 10 minutes. If you do not want to walk, they have 2 trams that circle the property every 10 – 15 minutes. We also enjoyed the fact that the resort was so flat that we ran several times during our vacation.

Food/Drinks – The food ranged from good to excellent. The breakfast and lunch buffets are pretty standard with cook-to-order omelets, fruits, pancakes, French toast, etc. Lunch was a pasta bar, grill, hot dogs, pizza, salads, and sandwich meat. The dinners were the excellent part. We ate at a reservation restaurant every night and we were very happy. Our favorites were Le Gourmet, Ma Maison, Dominican, and Mexican. Italian was our least favorite, but still enjoyable. Each menu had several choices for each of the 3 – 4 courses. I am a picky eater and I always enjoyed dinner. Also, you do not have to worry about the drinks being watered down or strange brands. The drinks are very strong and I had Absolute Vodka all week.

Hotel Rooms – The room itself was nothing overly impressive. It reminded me of every other Marriott, Hilton, or Sheraton that I had ever stayed in. But, the beds were very comfortable and we enjoyed the ceiling fan. The small refrigerator was also nice for soda and water.

Other Comments – 1 other posting on trip advisor recommending bringing insulated mugs on the visit. We bought 2 before we left and we were very happy. We used them to keep bottled water as well as bar drinks nice and cool. The bar tenders are very nice and more than happy to serve you a drink in any container you have.

We did not have any issues with the service of the bar tenders and waiters. Our personal preference is to tip. We would tip 1 – 2 at the buffets and 3 – 4 at dinner. For drinks, we would tip 1 every other round. The staff works very hard and definitely deserves these tips. However, other people did not tip and I do not think that their service suffered.

We booked the Melia through our RCI timeshare. As a result, we had priority check-in and they made all of our dinner reservations for us. This was a definite perk. However, the hotel does not make your dinner reservations for your first night at the hotel. We got to our room at 4 pm on Saturday and I called and I could have had reservations at 4 different restaurants. As a result, I do not think that the restaurants are too hard to get into by any means.

My husband played golf twice. It was dirt cheap - $35 a round and the course is in good shape. There is a shuttle from the hotel.

There is a small casino on the property. We went 2 nights but did not spend a lot of time there. They are not quite as impressive as a Las Vegas casino. 

The pools and beach are every bit as beautiful as the pictures. We never hit the pool until after 11:00 and we were always able to find a chair quickly and easily. The 2 main pools have the swim up bars, music and lots of activities. But, there are also 2 quiet pools by the spa as well.

We had a wonderful time at the Melia. We would definitely go back. We would also recommend this hotel to any of our friends. We seriously did not understand the bad reviews it received and we are picky travelers.

We are a couple in our early fifties traveling without children. My husband and I stayed at the Melia Caribe Tropical from May 7 through May 14. After reading some of the reviews on Trip Advisor, we decided to upgrade to Royal Service. We booked our trip through Vacation Express. Our experience with Royal Service was very positive.

The Melia Caribe Tropical is a very large property. More like three hotels in one! It has a Tropical side, a Caribe side and the Royal Service side. The Royal Service side seemed a little more intimate because it had a private lobby, restaurant, pool and beach area. It was about a five minute walk to the beach or to the lobby. Shuttles were constantly stopping to offer you a ride. Here is our review based on our experience with Royal Service:

CHECK-IN / CHECK-OUT: Was quick and efficient. Be sure to tell the bell-hops that you have Royal Service so that you will be taken to the private lobby. Here, you are greeted with drinks of champagne and orange juice. It is called a mimosa! The lobby is air conditioned. The luggage is quickly retrieved and off you go!

ROOMS: We had a Royal Service Suite (Room 5228) on the second floor. The balcony overlooked some beautiful gardens. The room was beautiful with marble floors and bath. The jacuzzi is open to the bedroom area by wood shutters. The living area has a couch and a bar area with a fridge that is stocked with water, beer and juices. We loved the plasma T.V. with some nice movie channels in English. The Royal Service rooms have garden or pool views no ocean views.

FOOD: Good Food. We had a private restaurant call the Gabiclub. It was great because you did not have to make reservations and the dress was casual. The club was a buffet in A.M. with an omelet station, a buffet in the afternoon and at night it turned into an a la carte restaurant. Really enjoyed their rib-eyes at night. Also did not have a problem making reservations at the other a la carte restaurants. Called at seven a.m. and got the times we wanted. Our favorite restaurant besides the Gabiclub was the Mexican restaurant. There are good margaritas at the Turey Bar. And I loved the capirinas at the Caribe lobby bar.

TIPPING: Not Necessary. Received good service without tipping. Paid for an all-inclusive vacation and got it! But, if you wanted to tip, the Staff would graciously receive it.

BEACH: Very pretty! Water changes color from emerald to light green to turquoise depending on the reflection of the sun. The sand at the water's edge turns a light pink. You can walk for miles . Nice breezes on a palm-tree lined beach. At times there could be seaweed in the water. This is due to the winds and the boats stirring it up. The Staff is constantly cleaning it up. Go early to reserve a palapa on the beach. People will stay in those things all day long.

CLIMATE: May is the beginning of the rainy season. Do not pay attention to the national weather reports or they will scare you to death! We had beautiful weather with the exception of 1 day. The climate is very tropical. We could have rain very early in the morning, then maybe late in the afternoon and then again in the evening. If it did rain the showers were usually brief then the sun came out. Kind of reminded me of Florida weather. It can be humid inland but, there is always a nice breeze on the beach.

LANGUAGE: We do not speak Spanish and the Dominican Republic is a Spanish Speaking Country. The Royal Service, the Service Desk and theTour Desk Staff all speak excellent English. The Staff that worked in the restaurants, bars, grounds and also the maid service would speak different levels of English. Your would have your needs met. But, in order to have conversations with certain Staff members, you would need to know some Spanish. So bring a Spanish phrase book and have fun!

ENTRY INTO COUNTRY FROM U.S.: Pretty easy with passport. You enter airport and have you picture taken with the Dominican Ladies. Then you can buy the pictures if you like them when you come back to leave the country. Buy a tourist card for $10.00 and proceed to immigration. Deposit tourist card at appropriate place. They have it marked with sign along the way Pick up your luggage and proceed out of airport to your taxi or transfers. They will be standing there with signs. Its about a twenty minute ride to the Melia Caribe Tropical.

LEAVING COUNTRY: A little more hectic. The lines can be long. Go to the airport about three hours early. If you have transfers with CoCo Tours back to airport, be sure to meet with you representative at the scheduled time and have him call you or better yet you call him to be sure time of departure from the hotel has not changed. On the day of departure from the hotel back to the airport, Coco Tours tells you to be at the front of the lobby about ten minutes before your designated departure time (come earlier to be on safe side). Once you get to airport the porters will take your luggage to the airline desk. The luggage will be searched. You'll get you boarding passes then proceed to that long immigration line again to have your passport stamped. Then you wii proceed through airport security. They will xray your carry on, etc. Once that is completed go to you departing gate.

Hope this helps!

This was possibly the greatest vacation my family ever took in 15 years. WE stayed in the royal service suites and i would say theat the upgrade is worth the money. the private pool and restaurant anre great and far less crowded then the normal pools. The private beach is a plus too. it is blue and so clear that you can see schools of fish passing underneath the surface. The ther advantage of the royal service is private restaurant reservations, instead of getting up[ at 6 in the morning you can make it whenever you want. I will now attempt to go over every aspect of our vacaiton:

DINING:
The restaurants are quite good but our favorite was the japonese. it is amazing and the benihana style food is incredible. Do not go to the dominican restaurant, it looks good but is bad. The french and gourmet are also good

ACCOMIDATIONS:
WE stayed in the Royal Service and it was completely worth the extra money. besides our huge room the pillow menu and room service are great.you also have 2 plasma screen tv's in your room. it is worth the extra money...believe me.

POOLS:
The private RS pool is great but so is the normal pool, however it is slightly more crowded.

OVERALL:
You need not be scared, do not be afraid of the people or the food. the water is fine, just ask for bottled and they are very accomidating.



ENJOY YOUR STAY!!!

We went on April 30th- May 5th , the weather was awesome!!! We had overcast a few mornings and it was hardly that humid it was always just right! Our stay at the melia caribe tropical was awesome! We went with two other couples my bf and I were the youngest of 3 couples we are 23 and 25 the other couples were 26 and 31 and 37 and 39….and believe it or not all the bad reviews that were on trip advisor that I read about basically happened to one of the couple that we were with lol….when we went to check in they found out that they’re room wasn’t near ours lol…and me and my bf were right next door to the other couple. They had problems with they’re keys, the room service didn’t make up they’re room one day and they didn’t get this pretty little flower heart decoration thing on there beds like we did and they’re room had less pillows lol…But other than that my bf and I and the other couple staying next door to us had a great time !! We all stayed in royal deluxe suites! Didnt have the royal service. We also didnt have a problem getting reservations at the restuarants either....The food at the buffet was awful lol I was eating mashed potatoes every morning it was the only thing I could find that was good I didn’t really like anything else…One day we went on that $100 per couple boat ride to captain cooks for an unbelievable seafood lunch ! It was well worth the money! The fun pub wasn’t bad they closed at 3 so that was a bit of a bummer for me i like staying out late lol….we wanted to go to mangu but no one could ever decide any night of when we would actually go I should’ve just went alone with my bf. So that will probably have to happen next year when we go again! We were on the caribe side and our room was right near the pool and the beach, they didn’t make the drinks that strong so I had to have just tequila shots one night lol. The shows they had were awesome, the casino was great but u have to watch ur chips or they WILL take ur chips even though u beat the dealer lol u have to say something and then they go “oh sorry sorry” like they didn’t realize it….but other than that everything was great! We made friends with all of the bar tenders, the Japanese restaurant was awesome! The dinner was unbelievable and the dessert was even better! We ate at the American grill the second night we were there and it wasn’t that bad the mozzerella sticks were made fresh and they were very good, then I got some chicken teriyaki on skewers that was also good. I think the first night we were there we went to atabales (I don’t remember how it was spelt) but that was a giant buffet and it was ok it wasn’t the best. Capri was great mostly seafood on the menu, the Mexican place was beautiful inside and the food was great as well the only thing was that they only had guacamole sauce and they didn’t have any salsa lol. I cant wait to go again next year! I was so relaxed after this vacation! My bf and I both got massages while we were there, we relaxed...laid on the beach, laid by the pool, got tan, went to dinner every night, and then drinking and gambling and dancing later after dinner it was awesome !! It was the greatest time ever !