My girlfriend and I spent 10 days, 9 nights at Ocean Blue (March 23rd - 31st)...and for the most part had a great time. My thoughts are listed below.

Punta Cana: We did not leave the resort once we got there. The cab ride from the airport to the resort was hilarious. The guy didn't speak a word the entire trip, drove like a mad man, and how he didn't kill one of the guys riding along the side of the road on old motorcycles is beyond me!!! The guy would pass when there were cars coming the other way....he would pass on a corner when you couldn't see what was coming....it was funny, yet scary as he## at the same time :) The way they live is incredible. The living conditions are like nothing I've ever seen. It's nothing but poverty....very sad.

Resort: The grounds are beautiful. Very well maintained, very well laid out. Seriously, the only negative thing that I can say about it is that it is VERY slippery when it's wet.

Food: We stuck with the buffet. We heard and read mixed reviews on the various restaurants, and to be honest...we were very happy with the selection and quality of food at the buffet. We are usually not buffet people, but it was really good.

Entertainment: Wasn't really impressed. It's a really nice venue that they have...but I've seen better entertainment at other resorts that I've been to. Honestly, the entertainment is not the most important thing to me. I would like to see them have more choices for adults to mingle at night. Most people hung out atthe lobby bar which was nice....but we usually ended up at the sports bar. The bar tender (Livio) was absolutely the best!! He was so nice to us the entire trip, and I would go back to the D.R. just to see him!! What a good guy! He didn't speak a lot of English....and I speak NO Spanish...girlfriend speaks a little, but not much. But we managed to communicate with him and had a great time.

Pools: The pools were large, beautiful and very clean.

Beach: The beach was probably as nice as any I've been to. (Hawaii, St. Maarten, St. Barts, Aruba, Mayan Riviera) They really are gorgeous!

Rooms: The rooms were not bad at all. The do get a little musty smell some times...but it's freakin humid there! Not a big issue. Like others have said....your clothes always feel a little damp. It would have been nice to have laundry facilities there...luckily we took enough clothes to last for a month!! :) We were in Villa #8, 3rd floor, overlooking the pool. I would NOT want to have a room on the back side of the resort with the "Garden View"....there is no garden. All rooms have a nice large balcony. The rooms are VERY dark...not sure what the deal is with that?!?!

Staff: I thought for the most part the staff was very nice. Our maid was very friendly after the first few days. I think they are very timid people by nature....but they seem to open up once you do. They TRULY do appreciate tips....the bartenders, the maids, the wait staff in the restuarants etc...even though it's an All-Inclusive....a few bucks from you means a heck of a lot to them. We took $100 in $1 bills to use for tips.

Weather: "sigh"...it wasn't as nice as I had hoped. The first 3 days were gorgeous! 4th day was mostly cloudy and rainy. The 5th days was torrential downpour for most of the day. Day 6....more of the same. Clouds, sun, rain. Day 7 was pretty mice...day 8 was mostly cloudy....day 9 was gorgeous...and the day we came home absolutely poured the entire day! Luckily we got plenty of sun the first 3 days because we only had 2 other REALLY nice days the entire trip.

Advice: Take plently of sunscreen (I used 30 on my face and 15 on the rest of me and got great color without burning), chapstick with SPF protection, insulated mug...and yes, take a couple rolls of toilet paper. You'll thank me later.

We stayed at the Ocean Blue the week of March 18-25th.
When we got to the Ocean Blue one of our suitcases
was missing.It was left at one of the earlier stops from the airport.We told our Rep and had no problem.
The bus went right back to the other resorts and we got our luggage in about 20 mins.Our check in went fast.Our rooms were not ready until 3.We left our
luggage in the lobby.The Bellman Watches them and we went to the Buffet for lunch.
After spending our last two trips in Cuba we were a little unsure of what to expect with food selection.All I can say is that we thought we died and went to Buffet Heaven in comparison to the 4 star resorts in Cuba.All week there was lots of selection and something for all.Even Hienz ketchup and mustard.
We loved Mikes coffee and tea house.Great cheesecake!!!
The resort is big to walk but a trolly comes by about every 15 minutes to catch a drive to the beach or lobby.If you forget anything at home,the store on the resort has a good selection.It's a little pricey but at least they it!


The pools are HUGE!!!The second swim up bar with Victor is the busier of the Two swim up bars.The beach is Beautiful.Not much shade and all the reviews that say that you need to put your towels out early are true.I went down to the beach @ 7;15 in the morning and only one shaded space was left.Lots of spaces by the pools,but none with shade.There is a photographer that goes around and takes photos with a parrot;a monkey or cockatoos.You can buy them in the photo shop on the resort.They also take fun in the sun pictures if you want.The quality is excellent and the pictures a good keepsake of your trip.The rooms are very clean and if you don't have hot water right away,try running the water a few minutes;this usually worked.Our room in Villa 9 was close to the pool and our view was a vacant lot.We really didn't spend any time in our room so a great view was not our priority.I think you should know our maid was a man.I left stuff for him every day.Our fridge was always stocked and if you need diet pop they have diet pepsi. We always had facecloths and lots of towels.
This resort was very,very clean and the staff are trying to make your stay wonderful.The only downfall is the reps from ROYAL.They are all over the resort to get you to buy time shares.After a few days of saying NO they just left us alone.We would recommend this resort to all.Our Transat Rep Emily was GREAT!If you need anything,she's very helpful.
I think we've seen the last of Cuba! It's the DR from now on!

Our travel group decided on the Dominican Republic's Ocean Blue Golf & Beach Resort, with a little help from our travel agent and Apple Vacations. With the damage from the recent hurricane to Cancun, and the subsequent increase in travel fares to the Mexican Carribean (who was the marketing genious here?) Punta Cana became very attractive. Our stay started 03-20-06 and ended 03/27/06. The flight down was great, but that has nothing to do with the resort, so I won't mention anything more of it. We arrived at Punta Cana's thatched roof airport and after a very brief check in, were whisked away to our resort by air conditioned bus. What a resort, the Ocean Blue is huge. It takes a few moments to walk from one end to the other and that suited us just fine. I would recommend the biggest group you can find to travel there with. There were seven of us for this trip. The resort is big, but there isn't really a whole lot to do in Punta Cana. There is more than I had read prior to traveling there, though. If you are adventurous, take a "banana boat" ride from the beach (whoo yeah). You can take little day trips if you are into that and some folks had good things to say about a few of them, but we stayed at the resort. That is why you are reading this, right? The outside areas were very clean. They scrub the stone and concrete every morning. This is no small task. The climate is very warm and humid; perfect for spending the 85 degree days at the beautiful huge pool area. There were plenty of lounge chairs and of course, the guests planted there towels on them very early in the morning as they do at other resorts, and left them there all day to "mark their territory". Yes, you can get into an argument over it if you want. Try not to though, you are on vacation. We just adapted in our own special way. Punta Cana is about 5-10 years behind Cancun. The people there are ascending the ladder, but just haven't been doing it as long. Oh, about the people; they are as warm as people get. They are a gracious, sincere race and I cannot remember one instance where we were upset with any of the staff. Things do run a little slow there, but that seems to stem from their laid back approach to life. We have traveled together before and we all tip regardless of the all-inclusive packages. If you order a round, give the bartender a dollar or two. A buck will get you service while others who won't tip wait. It got us some warm hugs, too. You young men will love the señoritas there.

O.K., the resort is huge and there are bars convenient to everywhere. They are in every eatery, on the beach, at the pool, lobby, etc. Their beer, El Presidente is a good pilsener (light, not heavy). You can get your Budweiser at the lobby bar if you ask, but why; you can order that when you return home. They make all kinds of island style mixed drinks and the old mainstays. They were all tasty. Oh, you may have read the people don't speak English, they do, just not perfectly. We speak very little Spanish and got along wonderfully with them. It was actually fun, you just have to be patient. Some spoke English or French quite well. As I said, they are going up the ladder. The food quality was about average in the buffets. I don't care for buffet style eating, though. Others in our group were quite happy with it. There is a big selection, but the buffet is the only place to get breakfast and lunch which was my biggest complaint. The "dress up" Casa de mi Abuela was our favorite and the staff and food was excellent. We ate dinner there twice. The American style Route 66 was also a pleasant surprise. We were quite satisfied with our visit there. We were also satisfied at Margaritas, but would rank it third of the sit down establishments. We never made it to the Italian I Mascherati. We also eschewed the two "premium" restaraunts. The nightly entertainment, a staple of these kind of resorts, was good. Very colorful, but loud! That was a complaint of the whole group.

The rooms are spacious and indeed dark. I don't read in bed, but I could see how it would be difficult. This would be another issue they need to resolve. The air conditioning worked fine in our room. Good thing too, without it you would wilt and die in that climate. Stuff does not fully dry. That is not the resorts fault. Yes, sometimes the rooms smell musty, but again, fault the climate or turn down the A/C, freeze your room and run the ceiling fan. They do have a problem with face towels (don't call them washcloths, they don't understand the term). They don't seem to have enough of them. We just enjoyed it and made it our weeklong joke. The maid corrected me, they are called facia toallas. She did bring us a couple. The water did stop running one time. It quickly recovered and didn't ruin our trip.

All in all I rate the Ocean Blue a 3.5 out of 5 as resorts go and 4 as Punta Cana resorts go. It's not perfect, but with a little more practice, could become close. We would definitely return and that about sums it all up.

It always amazes me that people can have such different experiences at the same place. We are a family of 5, w/ 3 teens/preteens. We are former New Yorkers. We have been to several AI's in both Punta Cana and Mexico. We stayed at the Ocean Blue from Mar 10-17. It is a lovely property and we had a great week.

Some thoughts on AI's: An AI experience is not the Ritz or the 4 Seasons. If it was, you would be paying a lot more for your vacation. Few, if any, AI resorts, are true "upscale" traveling. So, no matter how many "stars" they have, set your expectations accordingly.

Know what is important to you before you read reviews. Windy beaches are not great for sunbathing but they are for wind surfing. If you're not a big drinker, do you really care about the "strength" of the alcohol content in your drinks (they are free, after all)? If you have young children how important are the a la carte restaurants, when your kids really want nuggets and pasta from the buffets?

On to the Ocean Blue: I won't redescribe the property or the rooms since that has been done and then some. Everything is clean, neat, and no bugs (at least the fewest we've experienced anywhere). Everything in our rooms worked fine. We had no problems w/ mold, the safe, door locks, the maid service. We don't get overly bothered by leaky showers (put down a towel), whether there are 2 or 4 beers in the fridge or what time they clean the room. We're on vacation.

What we want is a great beach (we don't really get people who go to the Caribbean to sit by the pool), fun things to do, good weather, and decent food and service. Though Ocean Blue can't take credit for the weather (which was beautiful), they delivered in the other categories. Yes, you do need to get up early to get shade at the beach or the pool. Yes, it probably helps if you speak a little spanish (my high school spanish worked just fine, and it was MANY years ago). If you don't, learn a few words - fork, spoon, napkin, water, please, etc. Yes, the service can be slow - take a chill pill, you're on vacation. We did not tip and felt we were treated just fine. If you can, sit in the same general areas so the staff recognizes you.

The food is fine - like every AI we've been to, it starts to get old by the end of the week. You are told to try to go to the a la carte restaurants after 8 pm b/c people are lined up when the doors open at 6:30. However, even at 8:15 we were told there were 30-45 minute waits, often b/c of large parties (not sure how they got reservations). So, we only ate at the Italian, which was mediocre, and then just stuck w/ the buffets. My sense is that though there are several restaurants, they are small, and there just isn't enough seating (combined w/ the slow service)to accomodate the number of guests on the property. Was this frustrating? Yes. Did it ruin our week? No. (We don't have high expectations for American or Italian food when we are in the Caribbean, after all).

The resort could do a better job of trying to faciliate places for teens to meet each other. The basketball court we were told about did not exist. Hopefully they will build one - there is plenty of room.

We took out a Hobie Cat, wind surfer and sea kayaks. My daughter did the climbing wall. We did the ATV rental trip and drove around Punta Cana which my sons loved. The folks we spoke with who did the all day safari tour felt it was very worthwhile. We played football in the water (no waves - very calm if you have young children). We played pool and went bowling. We went to several of the shows and they were fine (do people really expect Broadway?) We read a lot and walked on the beach. A fun time was had by all and for what we paid, it was a great value. Go and enjoy. Questions? Just ask.