My Fiance & I, 32 & 30, just returned from a week's stay at the Grand Flamenco on 3/28. This was by far the most relaxing vacation we have ever taken. With 2 careers and 3 kids we decided to take a well deserved vacation for just the 2 of us, and let me tell you it was well worth it!! We booked our vacation with Apple Vacations and I strongly suggest that anyone else do the same, I will tell you why: First of all the Apple vacation building is #13 right next to the BEAUTIFUL beach, anyone who books w/ Apple automatically stays in this building. Second, you have your own Apple representative in this building through which you can make daily dinner reservations and any additional excursions you would like to do. We never had any problem getting a reservation for the restuarant we wanted to dine in that evening, and both excursions we took (Outback Safari & The Aquatic Tour) were fantastic.
Juan was our Rep and he was always very friendly and eager to assist us in anyway possible. We noticed people who didn't book with Apple had LOTS of trouble getting even one dinner reservation for the entire week they were there. The Resort itself is Beautifully landscaped and constantly being maintained, the pools are lagoon style and very appealing as well. Our Room was spacious and the only downfall was we requested a King size bed but got 2 twins, they explained that there are only 150 king size beds in this approx. 900 room resort, which I thought odd, but we easily rectified the problem by putting the beds together, problem solved. All the employees at this resort were SUPER friendly and always had a smile on their faces, which I would find hard to do considering some of them are working 18 hour days. It wasn't uncommon to see your housekeeper later that evening hosting a restuarant or doing some other job. They do work very hard for such little money so we made sure we brought plenty of singles for tipping the wait & bar staff & lots of little trinkets, ( cosmetics, school supplies, candy, hair scrunchies, etc.) for our housekeeper, we also gave her a dollar every day. It's amazing how much 1 US dollar means to them, and you can obviously afford that petty price if you can afford a vacation down there. The Restuarants were both Good & Bad, we loved the Japanese & ate there 2 times, same with the Mexican which had an Excellent Octopus dish that was to die for if you like seafood. I liked the Steakhouse, I had a seafood kabob, but my fiance's dinner which was the "special" that day was horribly overcooked, it was some sort of seafood plate that consisted of shrimp, mussels, calamari & fish. He said thehe Calamari was the only tasty thing on the plate, which I must agree with from eating it in the other restuarants...very good. As far as the Italian the service & food were HORRIBLE!!! However I think we just had a bad experience, because I talked with several other people who were very pleased with it. We pretty much steered clear of the Buffet's for dinner, but usually ate at the Beach Buffet or Home Run (Burgers & hot dogs) for lunch. The Rotissere chicken at the buffet is EXCELLENT, and there is such a vast variety everyone is bound to find something they like. The Guests at the resorts were mostly in the 30 & up range, so if you are looking for the typical "spring break" vacation, this may not be the place for you. Very Culturally diverse French, Canadian, & German, with the occasional American thrown into the mix. We found everyone to be very friendly, we met couples from France who were great, a Woman from Germany vacationing by herself who I had a couple of fun nights at Mangu ( the disco bar) with when my fiance was too tired to come with me. We didn't run into any "Rude" tourists as we were expecting after reading past reviews, which was a nice surprise. The Drinks at the bars were always strong, & if they aren't strong enough for you, just ask them for more alcohol, they'll happily comply. The Beach is absoultley GORGEOUS, with soft white sand, turquoise water, and palm trees for miles & miles. There is always a breeze which is nice because that sun is EXTREMELY hot, so fairskinned people like myself be forewarned, never wear less than SPF 30, or you will be miserable & ruin your trip, I have never gotten so much color wearning 30 before in my life. My fiance who is of Puerto Rican decent & never burns got absolutley FRIED!! All in all this was a wonderful, beautiful, relaxing vacation. I would definitely visit Punta Cana & this resort again anyday. Enjoy your trip, I know we did. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions. P.S. You have to try parasailing, it was so much fun & the scenery from up there is gorgeous, but make sure you walk down the beach to the right about 20 minutes to the flea market to pay for it, their price was 70 US$ for 2 people where the resort wanted 95 US$ for 2 people. Souvineers are also much less expensive there. HAVE FUN!!