We went to the resort on Nov. 23-30th. This was our fifth trip to the Dreams, and by far the best one ever. We got upgraded to a honeymoon suite and the room was spotless, the bed comfortable and the jacuzzi was fantastic. The staff at this resort is simply amazing. I celebrated my birthday while I was there and was treated to a special dinner of lobster and filet mignon, champagne, and birthday cake, thanks to our favorite waiter, Manzuetta. He even cut his holiday a day short so he could be back in time to plan my party. All the waiters came out and sang to me, and Manzuetta even bought me a present. I mean, have you ever heard of anyone doing somthing so thoughtful? The staff in the World Cafe was equally awesome. They all go out of their way to make sure you have everything you need. All of them greeted us with hugs every time we entered the restaurant. The names of the staff that really went out of their way are: Willy, Eddry (the super-duper waiter), Judith, Jennifer, Jose, Edison, and Jonathan. The manager at the Mexican Restaurant, Francisco, also was extremely nice to us.

Beauty, one of the entertainment staff, even made special arrangements to have the Japanese restaurant opened for a private lunch, complete with a wonderful show by the chef. Beauty goes out of his way to talk to the guests and make them feel like they never want to leave this resort.

Even though we didn't have any children with us, the staff at the Kids Explorer Club talked to us every day. Patricia and "Chocolatte" were so friendly, and we watched them work and they were amazing with the kids. I wouldn't hesitate to leave my grandchildren with them.

The food was excellent at ALL of the restauants. Everything was fresh, well prepared, and always served with a smile.

The pool is awesome. I am not a beach person, so I cannot comment on the surf, but we did walk down to take pictures and the beach was clean, and there were plenty of chairs. But why anyone would want to leave the pool area is beyond me. They had waitresses bringing us drinks constantly. Letecia was especially helpful in making sure we got everything we needed, and she even brought us peanuts to munch on while sitting at the pool.

The coco cafe, which just recently opened, was delicious. It was nice to get a cappuccino after dinner or a pastry.

Nancy, the concierge, also went out of her way to make our stay so memorable. She knew it was my birthday and had a bottle of champagne and a plate of strawberries sent to our room. She joined us for lunch a couple of times, too.

I cannot imagine how anyone could give this resort a bad review. My husband and I are already planning our next trip to the Dreams.

Went to this resort from Nov 23-28th with 2 other couples. We picked this based upon travel agent recommendations, despite some mixed reviews here. The biggest factor to consider is that this resort, is on the Atlantic side. This means that the beach is not as nice, surf is rougher and the floor is rocky. One of our couples in the group when on excursion to the south side of the island (Caribbean), and they said the beach was MUCH nicer (bluer water, nicer sand, smoother, etc).

Overall, I was underimpressed with the D.R. While we were there, it was cloudy almost the entire time. It was windy, as well. Both of the weather issues are unavoidable, and happens anywhere. The drivers there are crazy! The ride from the airport took about an hour and was scary!

Went on one excursion (the buggy ride offered through the resort). It was essentially a glorified way for them to pimp their goods. Minimal off road driving. stops are designed to get you to their people's shops, where they all sell you the same mass produced stuff. I would have liked it more if the people actually were making a craft, or doing the artwork - I would have bought some more stuff then.

Rooms - got 2 double beds when we asked for a king. were moved the next day with marginal hassle. both rooms had water/mold issues. showers were warm. minibar stocked intermittently, if at all. TV and safe didn't work in 2nd room we had. beds were comfortable. one of our couples was grossed out by the sheets and "old man" smell in pillows. for as little time as we spent there it was fine.

DRinks - we did preferred club which offered some more liquors which other bars had. I liked preferred club but most others didn't think it was definitely worth it. they only have presidente beer unless you are in preferred club then they have coors light. they had crown and CC, but ran out of it at the club. mixed drinks seemed good. they didnt skimp on liquor i didn't think.

food - HIbachi was fun and tasted pretty good. buffet was popular but not great. for an AI, food was actually pretty good. actually probably one of the highlights. small portions.

staff - fairly friendly. didn't knock our socks off. we initially tipped $1 on each drink/order but stopped after we realized that they didn't seem to care. they never said thanks and it didn't affect the service. language barrier was problematic often. entertainment staff were great.

casino- horribly rude. don't know how to count. completely unfriendly.

spa - nice. great massage. jacquzzi was awesome. wish you could get into jacquzzi without buying a spa service.

pool - nice. ample chairs.

beach - rocky. dirty. windy. crappy

Summary: wouldn't go back to the DR. atlantic side resorts suck. food good. drinks fair. rooms ok. staff so - so. however, it was cheap overall. probably got what we paid for.

If I could I would give this Hotel 3 1/2 stars. I decided to round up to 4 strictly because of the hotel staff who are all so amazing. We never had any problems with the service, every request was handled quickly and efficiently.

My husband and I traveled to this resort over Thanksgiving weekend for a wedding. The resort put on a beautiful ceremony and a fun reception.

On to the Hotel:

Rooms: We had a room on the second floor of building two. It was clean, no mold and the AC worked really well. I was actually cold. We did however have ants in the bathroom. I noticed this 2 days before we were set to leave and just dealt with it. To be honest, I was scared to get a moldy room.

Food: After reading the reviews here I was scared of what the food was going to be like. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Was it great? No. But it wasn't awful. It really was just hit or miss. Our group really liked Portofino.
I'm a vegetarian and I never had a problem finding something to eat.
I enjoyed breakfast at the World Cafe quite a bit. They have fresh spinach, carrot and fruit juice! They make you fresh smoothies on demand!! Amazing! And the omelet bar was great. The fresh fruit stand was a great treat as well. There is a lovely coffee bar in the lobby that makes delicious lattes, mocha's and even frappachinno's! Plus they have soy milk for all the dairy avoiders out there like me.

Drinks: We felt the drinks were extremely watered down. But hey, you can just keep ordering them!! If you want top shelf you have to ask for it.

Beach: It's not paradise. Like everyone else has said, this resort is on the Atlantic side. It is what it is. There are plenty of beach chairs and it's pretty easy to go sit on the more comfortable chairs in the preferred club section. No one is checking your room key here. There are lots of activities you can do on the beach (Volleyball, horseshoe's, badmitton, kayaking) so that's a nice plus.

Pool: The pool is great. The best feature of this property. The only thing is that it closes way too early.

Entertainment/Nightlife- This was probably one of the reason's I just didn't love my stay here. You are very far away from everything so you are pretty much stuck on the property. There is a tiny casino, a dance club the smells like mold. The entertainment in my opinion was pretty cheesy.
There was supposed to be a Thanksgiving night football on the beach but I think it got cancelled due to the weather. Another night there was supposed to another party on the beach and hubby and I walked over there and didn't see anything..it was windy so maybe it got cancelled as well. Needless to say, I usually went to bed early. Bring DVDs.

All in all, the reviews on Trip Advisor scared me but I have to say it wasn't that bad. Would I go back? No

On the second day of our stay my daughter came down with high fever. We were sent to the hotel "doctor" which "examined" her and decided to send us to a medical "clinic". Needless to say, the examination and ride to the medical center cost us a great deal.
The doctor at the medical clinic told us that this is a serious case, and that they need to hospitalize her and inject antibiotics into her veins. At that point we just wanted to get back home ASAP. I scheduled the next day flight for us, and in the meantime started giving her antibiotics orally. When we landed in Toronto, we went to a hospital straight from the airport and the doctor said its just viral infection and that no medication is required. The next day my daughter was up and running around the house.
There were no refunds from the hotel or travel agency (in fact we had to pay a large amount for rescheduling our flight)
A little piece of advise - give it some thought before you take your kid to a third world country. You might find him laying down in a sleazy medical center if you can find arrangements to fly back home.
As for the resort itself: The sleep quality was bad. Beds are uncomfortable and the rooms are poorly isolated from noise. The pool is really nice. The food was of poor quality, especially the buffet. The hotel is located at the shores of the Atlantic and as such the water is very wavy/rough. It is also about 1 hour drive from the airport, and the driving habits there are disastrous.