This hotel was not horrible, but I have had better times in the Dominican so I would have to say I would not go back.

Airport Drive: It was long and bumpy. It appears that they are making a new highway which looks great but it would be at least a year before you can take it the full way. Well two years Dominican time.

Check-in: I have to admit it was smooth but since we checked in around 10:30 at night I would not have expected any less. The real test is usually a 12 noon check-in when you have people coming in and the staff have not yet had a chance to flip the rooms. The bellboy was a little rude so feel free to take your own bag to your room, its really not far and it saves you having to wait for your bags to show up (took about 15 minutes).

Beach: As you may have heard Punta Cana has some of the best beaches in the world, too bad they are on the Caribbean side and this hotel is located on the Atlantic. Not to say this beach was bad but I have been spoiled, I have stayed on the Caribbean side and much preferred the white beach and crystal blue waters.

Pool: At first look this is a great pool. The pool is very big and has a deeper end (plus 7 feet) and a shallow end for the kids. The two hotels share the one pool and you have access to two swim up bars (beware the water gets uncharacteristically warm when you get near the bar ). On closer inspection of the pools you will find that the grout is really dirty and there were a couple pot lights hanging by the wires under water. I doubt it was electrical hazard but I saw two people get cut by them and it was still not fixed at the end of our trip)

Grounds: The grounds were great. The foliage and walkways were kept very neat and the staff worked hard at maintaining everything. They even had the lawnmower running at 6am outside my room…lucky I wake up early.

Food: To put it mildly the food was not good. For fear of getting bashed I would even say it was bad at times. To give some background I have been to Dominican three times and this is my second trip to Punta Cana, I have also traveled to Cuba 4 times, and I would say this was the worst food I had. This is not to say that it tasted horrible, it just was not good. Aside from breakfast it was not enjoyable. Of the last eight trips I was able to find something enjoyable. The A-la-carts were not very good. I am not sure what everyone was seeing but I watched people walk out after the appy’s. Maybe the food was not made for my Canadian palate, I like taste and being able to swallow my food without having to chew it for 2 minutes. Dominican has some great local dishes why did they serve bad nachos, bad burger, bad hot dogs, good fries….

Also food is served at odd times. If you want to eat between 4:30 at 7pm all you can eat is nachos and finger foods from earlier in the day. They do not open the buffet until 7.

Mosquito’s: Not sure what time of year they come out but I personally can go camping in Canada’s northern regions and come out with only a couple bites, I came home with 15 bites and these are hungry little things. Be careful at the airport on the way home, spray the bug spray there too…

Disco: Rather dead the couple times I visited, minus a few elderly ladies enjoying the affections of the

Animation staff. The DJ plays everything and its funny to hear a song stop, quite pause and the next song start…I guess they have not trained their DJ on a mix.
Animation: they were nice enough. I went to a couple of shows and kinda laughed because they were fairly bad. Yet I have seen worse so I cant complain.

Excursion: See this is a tough one. Since we are so far away from everything excursions take some time to get there and that kinda dampens the spirit. We did the James Bond boat trip and we were told 20 minute drive, well I guess that was Dominican time as it really took over an hour and that was with our overly aggressive driver. The ride was fun but 20 minutes would have been better.

Prices at the market: in case you want to know I bought a bottle of Brugal for $10 a bottle ($20 at the airport), bought a pack of 10 cigarellos for $10 (little expensive, do not buy Cuban cigars at the market, Dominicans cant get real cuban cigars), magnets for $2 ($8-10 at the airport).

Just returned from 2 glorious weeks at Sirenis Cocotal in Uvero Alto Dom Rep. Self and husband aged 50 and 45 respectively flew from Manchester on 1 May with Thomas Cook. Transfer to hotel from Punta Cana airport is approx 90 mins on road full of potholes and atrocious driving but an interesting journey! Upon arrival at hotel very slick check in and a welcome cocktail. We were given Room I005 on Cocotal side, a great location overlooking pool and beach. We received fabulous service, good levels of cleanliness and the food and drink were marvellous. Our only one complaint would be that the locals are allowed access to the resort each weekend and completely take over the pool and pool bar area and are very very loud and rude. We just moved to the beach over the weekend and did not let their presence ruin our holiday. The evening entertainment included some very professional shows and of course karoke. We have fabulous weather very hot and sunny every day. We took a helicopter flight from the hotels own helipad down the coast and also went on a shopping trip to Bavaro which we enjoyed. We will be back!

Before heading to Sirenis Cocotal, my boyfriend and I did our research and we heard nothing but good things about this resort. Maybe it was those reviews that made our expectations higher than usual, but we were both very disappointed with our stay.

We got off to a bad start during check-in when our bellboy was very rude and yelled at me because I was walking away from our room instead of waiting there for him. My boyfriend was the one waiting....it felt like he was ensuring someone would be there so that he could get a tip.

The rooms were ok. The maid was very good to us, but the bathtub was rusting and the beds were small and very uncomfortable. The resort is very big, so depending on which building you're in....it could be a lot of walking.

The bar at the lobby was nice, there were three bartenders, but after ordering my drink, I didn't get one until 10 minutes later when the bartender who took my order saw me go over to another one because I had been waiting for so long.

The food was absolutely horrid. Let me make this clear, I am not a picky eater by any means...but the food was just not appetizing at all. I found it very difficult to find something to eat at the buffet everyday. We pretty much ate french fries our whole time. And the BBQ chicken by the beach at lunch which was the only decent food. The a la cartes were not as wonderful as everyone has said. The Jade 'Japanese' restaurant was terrible. The food was overcooked and tasted the same...it was covered in syrupy soy sauce of some sort. The 'Mexican' restaurant was just as bad. The portions were small and the selection was limited. As well, they close the buffets during certain hours so you cannot get food until 1pm for lunch or after 7pm or dinner.(there is fries at the beach but really you want dinner at 6pm not fries).

We went May 01-May 08 and it is labour day in the Dominican. We were unaware that resorts will let locals come to the resort for the weekend. It made it very difficult to order drinks and get food as the locals were always served first.

The service was decent. I suppose they did a good job, but do not expect a friendly smile or hola from a lot of them. The resort itself if very nice and well kept, but when you take a closer look, little things are falling apart. The pool tiles were dirty, the pot lights in the pool were hanging out. We actually saw two people cut themselves but at the end of the week they were still broken.

All in all, it was an ok trip....but please do not believe all the good reviews or you will be very disappointed.

I was skeptical about this hotel when I saw the bad reviews that some other visitors made but after visiting this beautiful hotel I needed to describe my experience here. It was very gratifying and I am very pleased that I selected this hotel. The hotel is about 1 hour from the airport and away from the other hotels of Punta Cana. The grounds of this hotel are gorgeous and the staff very friendly and always willing to please you. I had an appointment with the spa for a massage and facial and it was excellent, the best massage I ever had. The entourage to entertain was great, I laughed with this people so much. I didn't have any trouble getting lounge chairs in the pool or at the beach. I had dinner one night at the italian restaurant and the food was very good. In overall I had a great experience and I would definitely will visit this hotel again.