Just returned from a long weekend at Hamaca Coral by Hilton, 2/3/06 to 2/06/06. I was a little nervous from all of the different reviews I read, but was very happy with what I found. Traveling together were 3 women ages 36-50, 2 married (husbands left at home – sorry :) ha ha) and 1 single.

Flight from Dulles to Santo Domingo was excellent – thanks American Airlines. Airport is modern and very easy to maneuver through, tourist card is $10 and is purchased before you go through customs. Very smooth through customs, no problems. Try to book your ground transportation before hand. Once you get outside to the ground transportation you are like a piece of raw meat being swarmed by hungry animals. Very pushy, wanted to see our itinerary – told them NO, prepaid transportation to Hamaca through Silva, [-----------] $50 US to and from, tipped the driver $5 US each way. They left us alone then, moved onto the next tourists. We were at the hotel within 15 minutes.

*** Don’t be cheap – TIP *** You get what you pay for and if you want good service - tip!!! (Look around on your drive from the airport to the resort and remember how good you have it) Tip after your meals, every few rounds of drinks. You will not believe the service – we felt like princesses.

Arrived at the hotel around 2 pm. Check-in was great. Did not have to wait in line. Booked a smoking double deluxe ocean front room. Tipped the guy $10 US and got a beautiful room on the 3rd floor with awesome views. Found the room to be very clean and spacious. I had requested a roll away. So our room had 3 full size beds. Bellman took our bags, put them in the walk in closet and showed us around our room. Tipped him $10 US. The room smelled wonderful – not that funky smell you sometimes have in hotel rooms.
We changed and were on the beach by 2:30 pm. (We tipped the housekeeper $10 US and a small personal gift from Bath and Body Works everyday, always had extra water, towels, soap, toilet paper, and turndown service) I am not a coffee drinker but my friends are and they said it was a little strong and just ran the water through twice on the same coffee pack to make it to their tasting.

Ate breakfast and lunch at Mango’s every day. We met Andres the 1st day and he took very good care of us. Our drinks were never empty, dirty plates always removed, ashtray always clean. He was wonderful. He remembered our names, what we drank – everything. Andres is a real asset to Hamaca – seek him out, you will not be sorry. I feel like we formed a great friendship those 4 days, exchanged address and plan on keeping in touch. (Tip!)

Franklin and Alfred at the beach bars are awesome. Margarita’s, Bahama Momma’s, Passion Fruit with Rum and the shots of Mamajuana’s. Need I say anymore…? (Tip!)

I have traveled a little, Aruba, Cancun, Daytona, and found the beach to be great. We always were able to find chairs on the beach or by the pool, with shade. If you want a prime spot go out early and claim your spot with your towel and book, then go to breakfast. The water is beautiful – so clear. You can go out for what seems forever and it never gets over your head. The gentle rocking of the water was ideal for floating on your back, never rough.

We ate dinner at the main buffet 2 nights and the Italian restaurant 1 night. We found the food to be wonderful. Remember that you are in a different country so try new things. (Dinner - we tipped the server when we were 1st seated and we never had to ask for anything)

I am now back in Virginia looking out the window at the snow falling (2/11/06) and wishing I was on the beach. I could go on and on….. Please take a look at the pictures I posted. Feel free to email me with your questions, cbb1989@aol.com.

All in all, I would recommend this resort to everyone. Co-workers are booking trips there now. I plan on returning one day but want to go to different places. I will visit the other three Coral Resorts in the Dominican Republic one day, it is a beautiful island.

Too many islands, not enough time.

I visited the Hamaca Coral by Hilton from Jan 26-Feb9/06. There were about 512 of us Portuguese people. I would have to say that this hotel is wonderful. After reading alot of the reviews i was scared that our trip wasnt going to turn out so good but it turned out to be an amazing experience for me. The hotel is huge there are two parts to it there is a hotel on the beach and then there is a little road in which you have to cross to get to the other hotels. The resort was very well kept the beach was constantly always being cleaned. The water was amazing it was so beautiful and blue on sunny days. This resort has plenty of bars and restaurants which offered good service just dont forget to give a little tip they work very hard from day to night. When we first arrived at the hotel they gave us a room in the garden which we really didn't like it was to small for a family of four and it wasnt to clean but my father kindly went to the front desk and was able to switch our room no problem (ROOM A223)And now for the best part that made my trip was the amazing entertainment staff. These people welcomed me with open arms. I would pretty much spend all day with them or doing aerobics to playing games on the beach. If you do decide to go to the hamaca coral make sure you meet them because they make your stay there soo much more enjoyable because you become really good friends with them. I have kept in contact with them and i do plan on going back in the future. The entertainers who made my stay at the hamaca amazing was David,Raul,Orlando,Rudolfo,Julio,Eduardo,Denis,lowell,Pippa,Claire and graciela you really have to meet these people and if you do tell them that Natacha/Nadege from toronto says hi please. Overall i would have to stay that this hotel is very beautiful the beach is wondeful the entertainment is amazing and the food is ok. Hope this review helped a bit and i hope you enjoy your stay as much as I did.

My husband and I just returned from a short stay at the Hamaca. My husband had business in Santo Domingo so we came a couple of days early and decided to stay at this resort. Based on other reviews, I wasn't expecting a top quality resort but an affordable decent place to relax for a few days. We were upgraded to an "ocean view" room due to a few minor problems at check in. The room was very clean and big. We liked the convenience to the beach. We were a little surprised that we had to pay $6.00 for the key to the safe at an all inclusive Hilton property. Our room was located in the building with the lobby so we could hear noise from the lobby bar and casino at all hours of the night. Fortunately, our room was near the opposite end so this was not too bad but could have been a BIG problem if we were further down the row of rooms. Our favorite restaurant was the Tex-Mex. The margaritas were great and the food was very good, too. It was open air and had a wonderful view over looking the pool. Our waiters name was Domingo and he was wonderful. The next night we ate at the Italian restaraunt...the food was good but we found the atmosphere very cold and stuffy. Again, we were surprised when they gave us a wine list and a separate menu that we could order from and pay. The house red wine was very good. The beach was nice. There were losts of shade huts which were great for the afternoon rain showers too! We went out on the paddle boats and kayak. I also did low impact aerobics and water aerobics on the beach. There was always something to do. The Pina Coladas at the beach bar were great! We also liked the Presidente beer. We never went to the pool although it looked beautiful. We are beach people and enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere. There were very few people who spoke English on this resort. Luckily, my husband speaks fluent Spanish. I do not think all the terrible reviews about this property are justified. Overall, we enjoyed our visit to the Hamaca Coral.

I just returned from a 1-week stay at The Hamaca with my wife and another couple (1/28 - 2/4). Our ages vary between 30 and 37 years old. So you have an idea as to our frame of reference, my wife and I have been to the following vacation destinations: Hawaii, New Orleans (predisaster), Las Vegas, Cancun, Aruba, and Italy. We also cruised on RC and Princess and stopped off in Cozumel, Costa Maya, Grand Cayman, Barbados, Belize, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and Antigua. We always stay in 3 or 4 star resorts. Here is what we found during our stay at The Hamaca.

Bars:
There are plenty and we did not ever wait for booze.

Tip - For the best service ever, even better than Hawaii or Aruba, give them $5 on your first round and every 2 hours after. They will treat you like a rock star. You normally would tip more anywhere else when you do the math ($1 per round) - don't be cheap just because it is an all-inclusive. lastly, if drinking rum, ask for the especial viejo - smooooth:)

Weather:
Except for 1 day that was overcast with periods of light rain, it was sunny and hot, 80's, with low to moderate humidity every day - beautiful!

Food:
EDIBLE is the key word. There is enough of a selection for everyone and you may find a few items you find "good," not great, and certainly nothing you will crave after your vacation has ended. One of our friends is a vegetarian and she made out ok. We did not find any flies or other bugs at all - not even at outdoor eateries. For breakfast and lunch we preferred LaCotica buffet in the gardens and for dinner, the Mexican and Italian a la carte's are your best bet but they are hit-or-miss as we had both good and bad meals at each. Breakfast is the best meal of the day for certain. For snacks, pizza at the beach wasn't bad. One night we ate at El Pelicano's and it was the WORST surf & turf of all-time. Definitely not filet, at least not beef, and certainly not lobster - trust me here! To be fair, my wife actually had a very good sea bass entree but, everyone else was disappointed especially for the $$ we paid. I can't understand the good reviews on EL Pelicano.

Tip - buffet in the garden much better than at the beach. Also, fake a birthday at the Mexican place for a funny surprise - bring your camera!

Beach:
Overall it is ok. The sand is soft and the water is clear and shallow, great for kids. I myself have seen much nicer Caribbean beaches but, Hamaca's beach is fine for a week of sunbathing and water sports which, they have all of them except wave runners. Just do not expect the beach to be on par with Waikiki, 7-mile, or Orient Bay. One last comment, the hotel was not at full capacity and we did have to get up every day at 8 AM to reserve a shade hut. There were not many left either by 8.

Pools:
Beachside pool is sad but the pool in the gardens is nice. The water was a bit cold but it was refreshing in the sun. Both pools are clean and well maintained. There is only 1 large jacuzzi located in the gardens. It got crowded later in the day. We all liked the garden pool very much.

Tip - do approx 6 shots of Mamajuana before getting in the pool to dull your senses.

Grounds:
Very nice with tropical foliage and fountains and well maintained throughout.

Casino:
You can play in $US or DR Pesos and they pay out with the currency you play with. That's nice because I have heard of other casinos in the DR playing exchange rate games. Craps was fun, as usual, but watch for the "springy" table; I've never seen dice jump like that. Blackjack was not fun. The tables were crowded and the dealers were emotionless robots. They also dealt real fast making it hard to relax and enjoy the moment.

Tip - If you are having a tough time getting a seat at a Blackjack table and are a "small-timer" like me, ask the pit boss, not the dealer, to lower the min on a higher min table. Most likely the higher min tables will be sitting empty.

Disco:
Dead. We went in once for a drink and peeked in another time and there was no one there on either occasion. It was early though, maybe 11 - 12 PM.

Tip - nightlife is not so good so be sure to party hard all day.

Rooms:
Check-in was easy at 1 PM. We waited for about 10 minutes. We upgraded from a deluxe garden to the top floor on the beach with a panoramic view of the sea. Want to do the same? See my tips below. We gave the maid $5/day and got everything we asked for including extra soap, towels, bottled water. She also made us towel swans, left the A/C on while we were out, brought fresh flowers, and did the linens fancy daily. The beach side of the resort seems older and it shows - tiling, TV, etc. The mattress was bearable but the cover wasn't fitted so by morning the mattress was exposed on the sides. The pillows are just not good. However, the room was large and clean and we had everything we needed. Also, we had no toilet troubles and everything flushed just fine:) You can ignore the sign instructing you to dispose of TP in the garbage next to the toilet.

Tip - Negotiate the upgrade charge down from $30/day. Let the check-in guy know that if he does you right, you will take care of him. Don't be cheap here; this guy can make your stay painful. $20 should do for the DR. Also, do not bring gifts for your maid. I don't know why people do that. $ talks and is the int'l language. How would you like to be paid with shoes and toys that your kids are too old or young for? How would you like to get paid in candy? I never paid the electric and gas with jolly ranchers. Also, you will save luggage space tipping your maid with $. One final note here, make sure you do not have a connecting door to another room in your room. You will hear the people next door very easily.

Conclusion:
Overall, we had a very good time - sun, water, great company, great service, tropical setting, and plenty of cold drinks! I guess everyone's experience is different based on what type of people are staying at the resort at the time you're there, quality of food shipments, the weather, and your travel companions. We got an unbelievable internet deal that boiled down to just slightly over $500 pp for 7 all-inclusive nights, nonstop air out of NYC-JFK, including the room upgrade. I would pay up to $700 out of NYC - adjust for your area - to stay here. Otherwise, I would rather go elsewhere even if it cost a bit more. Do not get me wrong, the negative reviews were way off from what we experienced. It's just that you would be better off going elsewhere for just a bit more money - Cancun or maybe Punta Cana. Our friends have been to the Melia Caribe in Punta Cana and found the food and resort to be nicer than The Hamaca overall.