My husband and I stayed at Casa Marina Bay Jan. 27 - Feb. 3 /07

We flew Canjet /Sunquest, the flight was fine although delayed in Toronto for de-icing , which put arrival in DR 3 hrs late .

Arrived at the new Samana airport , through customs no problem and fairly quick, very nice airport but no amenities yet only clean washrooms . bus ride to resort was in a small bus clean and A/C.

The ride took 1.75 hrs on rough road in spots but the driver was good.

Upon arrival at the resort , it was dark due to the 3 hr delay back home.
Check-in was quick and smooth probably because only 18 guests arriving. We were shown to our room (oceanview ) nice but to far away from outlets for me due to health condition. We requested another room closer to main area., which was taken care of the next day and we were moved.

Rooms very nice size and very clean. cleaned daily and fridge stocked with bottled water , Coke , & Sprite( brand names) Lots of towels but no face cloths.

The buffet restaurant had a good variety of food and it change most days.
There are 2 a la carte restaurants , seafood and Italian, tried both again very good Snack bar every pm served pizza , tea, & pastries daily. Pools were clean and warm 86'F

the beach area was large and located in private bay very private but seaweed came in on the tide..but no complaints. Chairs were in abundance both beach and pool, you never had get up early to reserve.

Presidente beer was good and cold and mix for my gin and tonic was Canada Dry. along with ginger ale and club soda.

the only negative thing was the communication , not enough English spoken by the staff. the spoke French and German and Spanish

Tours , we only went to the town of Samana for a whale watching tour $79.00 us which was awesome Miss Kim's Tours, English spoken .

Flights
As always, Sunquest was using Skyservice for the flights. As this is the first time that they have offered Samana as a destination from Ottawa it was via POP. This caused problems on both our south-bound and north-bound trips as some of the seats we were assigned were assigned at other airports as well. On the southbound trip we were moved from the exit row to Row 1 as those seats had been assigned in POP so we would not be able to stay in those seats the entire trip. Turns out row 1 has more leg room than the exit rows anyway.

On the northbound trip our seats were again assigned to someone else getting on in POP so we were moved again. It was actually good this time as I got an isle seat instead of the middle seat. For some reason the regular leg room seemed to have a wee bit more room than last year (perhaps a ½ inch) but maybe it was because I had the isle and could stretch one leg out.

I hope that once Samana picks up in volume they stop this dual flight from Ottawa as it leads only to confusion with the seat assignments. We also had to get off in POP got through a “security screening” and wait with the embarking passengers while the plane was serviced.

Check In
After the 90 minute bus ride to the resort (of which the Air Conditioning broke about 30 minutes into the trip) we arrived at the resort.

Check in was very good. There were 12 people on the bus to the resort, 8 which were part of our group. I had emailed about a week before asking for a complimentary room upgrade and was pleasantly surprised to have gotten it. It was a great way to start our stay.

The keys to the safe are $15.00 USD per week and for some reason they wouldn’t do that at check in so we had to go back an hour later to get it. No big deal. The key allows you to program in your personal code into the safe so only you know it.

Room
As mentioned we were upgraded to a Villa/Bungalow and it was very nice – looked just like the brochure pictures (so those rooms do exist!). Off the veranda was both an Ocean View and Garden View that we could sit outside in the morning and relax or even sit and enjoy a coffee in the late afternoon.

There was 1 double bed on the main level, the loft had 2 twin beds and there was a pull out bed in the love seat.

We had no problems with the water pressure or hot water supply. The resort did lose water a couple times but it was always back within an hour at most. The power also went out a couple times for a minute or so. The longest one was for about 30 minutes in the middle of the night.

Each room has a card reader that you need to insert your room card into for the Air Conditioning and Lights to work. Ours must have been rigged as it stayed on without the card but the rest of our party had to insert it for it to work. The front desk may say no to a second room card but politely ask again and they will give you one (just don’t tell them it’s so you can leave the A/C running!).

Food
It was typical resort food. The selection at Breakfast rarely changed so that got hard to pick stuff from after 2 weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I always found something and it normally tasted good but it was a challenge. There is a crepe station at breakfast as well as an omelet station – both were good.

Lunch was normally eaten at the beach at the Seascape and was Burgers, Pizza, Fries, Pasta, Hot Dogs, etc. I didn’t try the main buffet for lunch so I don’t know the selection.

Supper was always a different theme each night at the buffet so that was good. We also did Marino’s (Italian a la Carte) and it was good too (we went about 3 times in fact). To book the a-la cartes, go to the Seascape between 11:00 & 1:00 the day you want and make your reservations. Note that they are closed to most people on Monday (I’ll explain later).

Afternoon snacks – Pizza is served from a wood fired oven next to the main pool from 3:00 – 4:00 pm. Then the pool bar offers a tea time from 4:00 – 6:00 pm with coffee/tea and cookies (while supplies last).

Evening Snacks – The Pool Bar offers sandwich making items beginning at 11:00 pm for those who get the munchies.

NOTE: Supper at the Buffet: There are 2 seating’s. You must book at breakfast to be part of the 6:30 seating or you will have to wait until 8:30. We had to get our Sunquest guide to get us in the first night as we didn’t get in till 4:00 and had no way to have known that before hand or do anything had we known. There were a couple diabetics traveling with us who would not be able to wait till 8:30 to eat.

Bars There are several bars to visit should you wish to. There is the main pool bar, the beach bar, Seascape, Buffet and the French pool (see comments later). The pool bar was the source for nightly karaoke (badly at that by one of the French animation staff) as well as the general spot we chose to hand around at night. Each bar we went to made good drinks.

The Beach
Being this our first time out of POP we were pleased to see the sand was nearly white. The tide tended to go down late morning so the raking of the seaweed was an afternoon task which wasn’t done too well (those raking were too busy looking that the topless women). Never did I see a raked pile actually removed so I’m sure they’ve been raking the same seaweed for months!

While you may have to move some chairs to where you want to sit, we never had a problem finding available ones to use. Some weren’t in the best condition but they worked.

A note for those with Children, I saw more topless sunbathing at this resort than I’ve seen at any other one. Some would even stroll up and down the beach topless. Didn’t bother us but if you have young children you may need to have a talk with them before going.

Pool
We didn’t make use of the main pools this trip but they seemed to come alive in the afternoon. You could walk by at 11:00 in the morning and only see a handful of people, but at 4:00 pm it was packed!

There is a “French Pool” (I’m quoting a staff member) that we made use of as well that is nice.

Entertainment
As with all resorts it is done by the in house staff and they do their best. Most of the shows I enjoyed a couple I didn’t, but they can’t please everyone. The one show I’d love to see again is the Pool show. They made use of fire in and around the pool and was by far the best show I’ve seen at any resort.

Activities
There are some organized activities for the general guest population but not too many. Most were organized by a French Tour Company.

Wedding
I think that this was about the third wedding that this resort has ever done. They have no designated areas for wedding so you have to hunt down your own location. As it turned out it started to downpour about 5 minutes before the service so we had to delay it and move it to the back up in door location (Seascape).

Money Exchange
This is offered at the front desk. And they were within 1 peso of the in town exchange services.

Trips
The only trip we did was to go into town for some shopping. We took a taxi (Marco) and it was $10.00 US return trip for up to 6 people. Unlike POP or Sosua they don’t barter too much in Las Galeras.

Explanation
As mentioned through out there was something that needs explaining. While this resort is new for Canadian tourists, apparently it has been offered for a few years from a French company (Look Voyages). This company brings so much business to this resort that they have their tour companies logo throughout the resort (which I’ve never seen), their own Animation staff, and Pool. While we crashed the pool a few times without problems it is widely known as the “French Pool”. While I have never seen such dominance at a resort, we were told by one of the resort staff members that they must “Keep the French Guests happy or lose your job”. Because of that statement alone I would not go back to this resort as I paid to go there as did everyone else and we should all be equals.