First let me say that we were really impressed with the resort. The look of the facility is great. The pool is phenomenal. The views were tremendous. The buffets were plentiful and they would always offer you seconds. A couple people in my party went for thirds. I would go back to in a second.

However, I will be aware of the limitations of the staff next time I go. Unfortunately, I have to disagree with some other reviews. I felt the service was sub-par. I found their English to be weak. Truly, I felt they were able to speak English but were reluctant and when we tried to speak Spanish they laughed when we used the wrong word. This happened on more than one occasion. In the future, I won’t even pretend to know Spanish and will force them to speak English. I am not there to be laughed at.

The two girls working the casino were terrible. Their attitude was far from pleasant. I felt like I was inconveniencing them when I had to ask them a question. I won’t even go into the language barrier any more. You would think they would want to make you happy in the Casino. That is where they will get more of your money. A word of advise, if you are due change when you cash out, they don’t give it to you.

Finally; bring your own singles (as in dollars). While it is an all inclusive, we still liked to tip a dollar here, dollar there. We could not get any singles. The desk could only give me two tens for a twenty. The bartenders, purportedly, did not have any singles. And get this; the casino couldn’t give me singles (??). How does a casino work without singles (then again see me comments above regarding the casino employees). We wound up playing the casino machines and cashing out whenever we were at $4 or $9. That way they would be forced to give us some singles (by the way, then they had singles). I shouldn’t have to strategize on my vacation.

Matt and I went to the Majestic Colonial Resort to get married along with about 25 guests. I was expecting some disorganization or something to go wrong but the entire day was even better than was anticipated. Our wedding coordinators were Aurelio and Larissa. Both were extremely organized and prepared. It was a fantastic experience. The hairdresser did a really nice job, I brought a picture which she copied. The flowers were beautiful. We got married on the beach in a more secluded spot than some other resorts. We noticed that other resorts had the wedding set up in between beach chairs, ours was more off to the side. The photographer did a really fantastic job as well. Dinner was set up in the back corner of the steak/seafood restaurant and they somehow organized it so that side of the restaurant was not overly busy. The table was beautifully decorated and the cake was huge.

We just returned from a wonderful vacation at Majestic Colonial Punta Cana. We were 3 couples and this was our first vacation in the caribbean. We had a blast at this resort, it is truly a 5 star!! First, let me say that we were surprised, upon arrival, that many staff people spoke not only english very well, but french too!!! This was nice as we are french canadians…

We had requested that our rooms be close to one another, and that was granted. We had garden view junior suites that overlooked the resort next door and were close to the pool bar and beach. The rooms were very nice, clean and spacious. We found the beds very comfortable, no complaints here. Didn't have problem with bugs or anything like that, as we were on ground floor. There was a bad odor and humidity in the room on the first 2 days, but with the A/C on, and if you bring scented candles, it will be fine after. Maybe, we got used to it…

We tried every restaurant except the Mexican/dominican. Our favorite was the steak house, the chateaubriand was delicious. Went there 2 times and wish we had time to go again !! The japanese was also very good and entertaining, we laughed a lot. You can never go hungry at this place. The breakfast at the buffet is very impressive, a lot of variety for every taste. The fresh made omelettes and crepes were my favorites. They make all sorts of fresh bread every morning! For lunch, we ate at the buffet near the beach (steak and seafood restaurant for dinner), and I liked the pasta bar pretty much. Yummi!! We didn't have any problem with the food at anytime. Noboby got sick during the whole week.

As for the beach, it is the most beautiful spot on Bavaro beach!!! You don't have to fight to have beach chairs nor a relaxing spot. The sand is white and so soft. Same thing in the water, you can see your feet and all kinds of fish that swim around you. We spent most of our days in the water or relaxing at the beach. My friend and I took long walks almost every morning around 6:30 am. This started the day on the right track!!

There is always a lot of thing to do if you are the active person. The Animation team (Jesus, Ray, Andre, Mariella, etc…) is the best. They remembered us by name and came to say hello every chance they got. They never forced anyone to participate. Around 4:00 pm, there were organised activities by the pool bar and they were funny!! It was a good time to take a few drinks and socialise with other people. The staff at this resort were so friendly, always had a smile!

Ismael at the pool bar was our favorite bartender!! My favorite drink was the Majestic and Bananamama. The others said the beer, rhum and coke and bloody ceasars were great!!

As the temperature was not always sunny (unfortunately) the week we were there - April 21-28, we decided to go to the spa and have an aromatherapy massage (one hour). It was perfect and just what we needed to relax even more. It was very professional and would recommand it strongly. We chose not to do any excursion off the resort because it was our first vacation.

On a final note, I have to say that I have never seen in my life such good service. Especially the waiters at all the restaurants. You don't have time to put your fork down, they take away your empty plate. You drink a little water, they come and fill it up. You always have 2-3 people waiting on your table, incredible!!! They are fast on their feet and efficient. And, they keep smiling day and nite!!! The dominicans are really good people!!

My boyfriend and I just got back from the Majestic Colonial-Punta Cana 2 days ago and we had a fabulous experience. It was everything I had hoped for and more. Plus it was very reasonably priced. We would highly recommend this 5 star resort. We would like to take this opportunity to provide a detailed review of all aspects of the resort.

Food
As with most all-inclusive resorts the food was good but not spectacular. With that being said there were however many choices for food. We never felt like we were eating the same stuff all the time. We really liked the Supreme buffet the best. They always had different entrée choices but they also always had some of the favorites (ie. Churros at breakfast). The steak house and the Gourmet restaurant were our next two favorites. Be careful when you order the seafood.
It does not taste like seafood you get in New York.
I think they prepare it differently. Even the lobster tasted different. We did not get to eat the Japanese steak house because we were only there for 5 days and there were no reservations. Also be aware that the dress code for dinner for all restaurants is like the equivalent to business casual. The men should be wearing pants or nice shorts.

Drinks
The drinks were fantastic. Every type of alcohol we had was included in the all-inclusive package. The drinks were very strong and very tasty. The only beer they have is Presidente but I had no problem with that I actually like it! There are 9 bars on the resort so wherever you go there is an opportunity to get yourself a drink.

Service
The service was really unbelievable. First of all, the resort was spotless. Wherever you turned you saw someone cleaning something. Secondly, whenever you were at a restaurant or a bar someone was attending to you. The second you finished your water class someone was there to fill it up. Everyone who worked there was super friendly and helpful.

Beach/Pool
The pool was wonderful and the beach was gorgeous.
The pool stretched the length of all of the hotel rooms. It did not matter where your room was you were close to part of the pool. The entire pool is no deeper than 4 feet so it is really nice to just relax in (plus there is really no way for kids to jump or dive in since it is shallow). The water was at a nice temperature and there were ALWAYS open chairs. You never had to fight for a lounge chair. The beach was also very nice. The sand was white and soft and the water was as blue as can be. It was windy on the beach but on most days it was nice to always have a breeze. If you do not like wind while you are laying on the beach than Punta Cana is not right for you.
You might want to try a different part of the island.
There were also an abundant number of chairs on the beach.

We stayed at Majestic Colonial, Punta Cana, DR, over Easter. We had a large family group ranging from 11 months to 73 years. Ten people in all.

Check-in was smooth except for a small glitch with my son's room. He had booked and paid for a swim-up room and was assigned a regular room. This was corrected quickly. We had asked to be in the same area on ground floor but were spread over a large area but were in the same building. There are elevators that work quite well so we were OK (my dad has bad knees and cannot climb stairs.)

Rooms: All rooms had a jacuzzi tub either in the room or outside. In my son's swim-up room it was outside.
The swim-up rooms are all ground floor and can only be occupied by 2 adults. We came to find out that free room service is included (and the room service is VERY EXPENSIVE.) The bathroom situation is a bit odd but the toilet behind a glass door and VERY SMALL. The shower is right next to it and is spacious. The privacy issue is apparent. My son's room had a 4-poster king bed which was very nice. The furniture was a blonde color and very nice. The beds were comfortable, the pillows were OK. The TV had a lot of channels and many in English. Two terrycloth robes were hanging in the closet. The lighting for putting on make-up was bad so I used the other dresser which had better light. A magnified make-up mirror was provided. There is a coffeemaker with coffee, powered creamer, sugar & artificial sweetener.

Beach: The beach was gorgeous. Lots of palapas with nice comfortable sun beds. The sand is perfect, the surf was quite wavy but we're from NJ and like that. The ocean floor was 100% pure sand with no rocks or creepy crawlies. One day we had lots of tiny fish swimming around us. It was windy everyday we were there but its nice as it gets very hot. Massages were available on the beach under a gazebo. My husband and future daughter-in-law both got one for $50. (1/2 hr.)

Pool: The pool winds all thru the resort from the front near the lobby all the way to the beach. The swim-up rooms run right alongside it. There is a swim-up (wet) bar with a regular bar on the opposite side. It was OK but no activity, games or fun going on. There are 2 jacuzzis but are both cold water (pool water). There are bridges going over the pool to get from one side to the other.

Food: We thought the food was generally good. Breakfast was excellent. They had fresh, just baked rolls every morning. Also pancakes & waffles every day. The orange juice was excellent (and champagne to make Mimosas every day.) We had lunch each day at the beach buffet. There is a large bar there. You can get your food and eat at the bar. The lunch buffet had plenty to choose from. Hamburgers, chicken, salads. The dinners were OK, nothing spectacular. The lunch beach buffet turns into 2 restaurants at night. To the left was a steak rest. and to the right, seafood. The garlic shrimp was very good. The lobster got mixed reviews....my son said it tasted like they caught it in 1960. We were not able to go to the Japanese Teppenyaki restaurant as it was booked but the Chinese was good. The gourmet was not thrilling.

Bars: Here's where Majestic is great if you are a bar patron. All the premium liquor is included like Bombay Sapphire gin, Tanqueray gin, Absolute, Cuervo, Beefeater and.....Jagermeister. My sons and nephew polished off two bottles over the time we were there. I took one of the bar menus. The bartenders are fairly good with English and knew what you were asking for. The mixed drinks were quite good. Hi to Vladimir at the big lower lobby bar. He was great and cute. There are lots of bars like one near the check-in desk, a huge one on the lower floor. Another one across from that (they had live music here). Also the wet-bar and the large bar in the lunch buffet. The only one lacking is a beach bar directly on the beach. The bar at the lunch buffet is up a big flight of stairs and is not easily accessible. NOTE TO MAJESTIC: BUILD A BEACH BAR.

Casino: There is a small casino with roulette, blackjack and slots. Put it this way, it's not Las Vegas and they make up the rules as they go along. My dad did well at roulette. The bar in the casino does not follow the rules of the hotel. You may have to pay for SOME drinks, not all.

Disco: The disco opens at about 11:00 after the show ends. I only went one night for a short time. My daughter liked it. Its a sports bar in the daytime. Not much of a dance floor but the music is loud and it has a large bar.

Shows: We only saw one audience participation show (the International Show was cancelled for some reason). It was OK. The Michael Jackson show WAS INCREDIBLE. All of us thought it very professional and VERY well done. Don't miss it.

Overall we enjoyed our stay here at Majestic and would recommend this hotel. Nobody got sick except from too much drinking. Mike is the guest services manager and is Canadian. Speaks perfect English so if you have problems, talk to him. Bring lots of sunscreen and reapply often. Stay in the shade or you will burn to a crisp (some of us did even with #50 sunscreen.) If the management builds a beach bar, this place will be nearly perfect. Some fun games and activities in the afternoon at the swim-up bar would help, too.

This was our 5th. trip to Punta Cana. Each time we have stayed at a different resort. All were rated as being 5 star.

Well, we can testify that the Majestic is truly a 5 star resort. There is not one thing that would be worth one grain of that wonderful white Dominican sand to complain about. If you do, then in our humble opinion, you must be high maintenance.

Kudos to the person who designed the layout of this resort. Very creative with the spectacular pool meandering through the length of the 3 and 4 storey villas on each side.

We were situated in the 2220-36 room range which was second floor overlooking the pool and above half way between the beach and front lobby/main buffet restaurant and entertainment stage. About a 2-3 minute stroll either way. No need for a tram like some of the other large resorts we stayed at.

The owners of this resort knew the recipe of success. We met 3 former staff of the Bahia Principe (we stayed there 2 years ago) and they were very happy to be at the Majestic. They all quicky said "More Money ! "

The staff and the supervisors were obviously more experienced and hand picked from other resorts. Paying them extra makes for a happier employee and no need to lift $400 from your room like happened to us at the Bahia Principe.

Another nice touch was the speciality restaurants. No limit on the number of times you could go to any of them. Only the Gourment and Japanese required advance reservations.

We went twice to the Steak Restuarant and once to the Gourmet and Seafood. All three were very good. We would rate them in the order listed here. The second time at the Steak Restaurant, I asked for was brought an extra sirloin steak without question. You could pull the meat with your fork, it was that tender.

The main buffet restaurant was also very good. The daily menu had enough variety and change not to get boring. Quality of food was as good as anywhere else we have stayed in the Dominican Republic.

Our rooms were almost suite size with a double sink and vanity area separated from the washroom and shower areas. There is also a good size jacuzzi tub just outside the shower area opposite the vanity. We had a king size bed that was comfortable and with enough pillows to satisfy. There is a good size sitting area and the balcony is huge. You could have easily had 10 people out there without being crammed together.

Housekeeping was fine with floors washed regularly and towels done up fancy with flower petals.

The beach is of course famous and rightfully so. We would rate it on a par with Varadero beach in Cuba.

We took two excusions during the week. One day we went on a full day tour of a cocoa and coffee farm part way up one of the mountains, toured a cave, visited and sampled at a sugar cane plantation, had lunch on a private beach and enjoyed some Presidente at a stop on the way back to the resort. Our Bavaro Runners Safari Adventure guide, "Fast Eddie" did a great job explaining the history. He is a very proud and passionate citizen of his country. We had a great lunch but we were too late to tour a school which had closed for the day.

The other excursion was a half day of riding ATV's through various so called roads, ditches, through small villages, on main highways and along a beach. What a blast !! It was worth every penny of the $80 U.S. each. Tip: Wear an old pair of shoes and shorts as you may get muddy navigating the ditches. Great fun !

Check in and check out were uneventful. Met Magnificent Mike from Canada who is one of the host managers at the resort. Talk to Mike and consider it done. Super nice guy orignally from Belleville, Ontario just an hour from the area where we live.

That just about wraps it up for this year.

One final comment. We like to try new places each year. However, we like the Majestic so much that when we come back to the Dominican Republic, we want to stay there again !

Cheers !

We visited the majestic colonial in punta cana from march 16th to march 23 with another couple and enjoyed our trip.

We already went to Punta Cana together 2 other times. We visited the Palladium and the Bahia Principe.

The majestic is really nice and the staff is most of the time very friendly (and you don’t have to tip them for that as we had to do in Cuba!).

I read bad reviews about the food and was concerned but let me say that the food was VERY good, in fact, better than the Palladium and the Bahia. The lack of choice that some may have mentioned is probably due to the fact that they were eating their breakfast and lunch at the beach. We did that for 2 lunches but decided that the food was better in the main buffet.

For breakfast, a lot of choice was offered. I ate excellent crepes and waffles, excellent French toasts, you can have an omelette made in front of you or you can pick other choices of food in the other sections of the buffet. The juices are very good, it’s true orange juice, not one made from powder and sugar! You can even have champagne style wine for breakfast.

For lunch, the choice is almost the same every day, but is large enough for you to try something new every day. We ate at the pasta bar a couple of times and it was very good (it’s better in the main buffet than at the beach). The French fries are really good, they are home made style. We also ate pizza a couple of times and it was really good. There is also a large choice of soups which are really good.

For dinner, we ate at the buffet once. We all liked what we ate. At other resorts sometimes, there is a certain flavour that you find in every meal and whatever you eat, you feel like is all the same. Well, NOT HERE. Everything tastes what it should and is very good. We ate at the a la carte restaurant to try them all. Our favorites where the seafood restaurant where the langosta is very good and tender and the grill where we all ate the chateaubriand that was VERY GOOD, nothing to envy to steakhouses in Canada. The only thing I would have wished for with that steak would have been a good bottle of red wine. The Japanese tepan-yaki is also very good and the Chinese also (they are in the same restaurant). We tried a different main dish and all like it. You can eat good sushis there. The Mexican/Dominican was also good, we all ate fajitas. Our least favourite was the gourmet restaurant but the service was very good there.

The only down side for us was the service at the bar. There is not enough barmans to answer to the demand and waitresses wait a long time to have our drinks ready. They have the time to walk around and verify twice if you are OK.

The service at the main buffet is really good and we rarely waited a long time to have a coffee refill or anything else.

A service that not a lot of people mentioned and that is better than the other resorts we visited was the spa. There are services that are included in the all inclusive. It is the access to the steam bath, the sauna, the fresh, cold and hot showers, the fresh water pool, the ice cold small pool and the hot spa. There is a large choice of features you can enjoy there. I dare you to enter completely in the ice cold small pool!!!!

A quick review of us - group of 13 - 7 adults, 3 young adults and 3 children. Half of us were seasoned travellers - the other half first trip anywhere.

Dealt with Sunquest - Beyond wonderful to deal with and really take care of groups.
Flew with Skyservice - everything was as expected and service was good.

Transfers to resort - easy and went well - grabbed some Presedente to the right outside of airport - started the trip out right! About 25 - 30 minutes to resort!

When we arrived - rooms weren't ready but gave us the wrist bands and headed for lunch. Kids had swimsuits on and after lunch went swimming in the ocean -when we went back rooms ready and bell hops took luggage to our room. Great service at the desk and from the bell hops.

Rooms - wonderful, clean and large - request for roll away bed granted - lovely view. As far as the bathroom situation - wasn't a problem for any of us. The door on the toilet is frosted so you can see a figure but so frosted can't actually see anything. It would be easy to toss a towel over the door if your so inclined. Shower was the same. Shower stall was huge and pressure and hot water not a problem. (resort was full when we were there) Large tub wonderful - easy to fill and enjoyed it every night! They even have little bottles of bubble bath, shampoo, cream, shoe shine etc... on bathroom counter. Iron, blow dryer (works good), coffee maker, bar fridge stocked daily. Maid service was good and the person who filled our bar fridge always filled it. Only area of concern - floor outside tub and shower can get very slippery - we asked for extra bath mats and kept them down on the floor which worked well.

Resort - The comment from everyone was that the pictures don't show how pretty this property is. It is something you have to experience when you are there. Some people in past reviews have commented on things not being finished well - I guess you can look at caulking and miss all the beauty around you or you can focus on the caulking.

Gardens - for a place that has only been open a very short period of time - the gardeners have done an amazing job! What I also liked was that they didn't clear cut the palm trees they built around them. This makes the place feel real tropical. In some places the palm trees go up and through roofs. One in the walkway and on one of the bars. Loved it! The way the hotel runs - I can't see one room having a bad view. The balcony's all seem to face something pretty to look at. Security - was wonderful and felt very safe at this property. Pool - the BEST pool I have seen anywhere. Very clean - lovely to walk from one end to the other. About half way down the pool under one of the bridges there is a little wall that divides the pool in half. We jumped over it but some people got out and went around. There is a definite temperature difference between the two sides but both were very nice temps. Bubble area with jets was nice. Outside the spa was a warm and freezing cold jacuzzi. We tried both very refreshing. They also had a sauna and steam room and a fountain thing that made crushed snow ice to refresh yourself after the sauna and steam room. Some of us used the spa and it was very nice. The resort was full when we were there and it never felt over crowded. The pool is so large and so much space - lots of chairs and lots of shade. Yes the save the chair game occurred but you didn't have to get up at six to find shade. Most of the saving occurred between 8 and 9. We went on a tour and when we came back by 1 able to find chairs and shade. The lounge chairs were very comfortable. We liked being near the swim up bar as that is were all the activities occurred. But many quiet spaces as well. Animation Staff were the BEST! We participated in so many things because they were so good. Special thanks to Ray and Six Pack Sandy! for making our PuntaCanada trip so much fun! The Beach - best beach area that I have been on in PC - MC has a deep wide area so the walking traffic never bothered us. The roped off swimming area was sandy and you didn't need water shoes - area to the left had coral and we snorkeled daily. Feed the fish (grabbed stuff from the grill - bananas etc...) My son loved watching and feeding the trumpeter fish. My daughter and I saw many different fish snorkeling. We brought our equipment but it was available at the resort. We did use the boogeyboards from the resort and had a great day playing in the waves. My son who is five ( I brought a life jacket for - makes me feel safer ) My 10 year old was fine with our supervision. Spent hours daily in the ocean.

Bar service - GREAT!!!! Felt like we were the favourites at every bar!!! They made us feel special and we really appreciated it.

Restaurants - well it constantly amazes me that people say the food is so so and not a lot of choices! The food was great and many choices!

Buffet - breakfast egg station, omelet station, crepes, waffles, pancakes, sweets, fresh sugar donuts, fresh fruit, smoothy bar, fresh juice, orange juice and champagne, toast of every kind, not to mention different pans of things like bacon, mangu etc....

Dinner - pasta bar, pizza bar, salads, buffet dishes, desserts, ice cream etc.....

Steak House - had Cesar salad station, salad bar, appetizers,desserts bar and a sit down menu which the chateau briand steak was wonderful! Grilled to perfection. You could also order french fries for the kids.

Seafood restaurant - I am not found of warm water lobster - I love cold water lobster so I ordered the shrimp. Wow was it good!!! I went back and had it again it was so good! The seafood side also had salad bar, soup, dessert bar and appetizers.

Japanese - way fun and food was good! I brought hot sauce with me from home. I travel in the Caribbean a lot and if you like hot spicy food you will have to bring hot sauce from home. Show was nice. Best was the staff came out and sang Happy Birthday to our 13 year old birthday girl!!! Very fun and wonderful! They sang it in Spanish which made it so much fun and special!!!!

Mexican / Dominican Restaurant - loved it Had chicken fajitas and also had lots of appetizers, salads, Dominican stew (loved it) desserts lots of other things on the menu

Grill at lunch - burgers, hot dogs, pasta station, grilled chicken, lots of other stuff too much to mention GREAT selection for lunch. Didn't make it to the Chinese or gourmet.

SERVICE at all restaurants - The best I have ever had!!! We had 10 or more at a table and we were always accommodated and never had to wait for a table or restaurant. Drinks came quickly and refreshed often!!!! Empty plates taken away quickly! Beyond friendly staff!

So if you can't find something to eat here - I can't figure out what you want?

We went on 4 different tours or things. Deep Sea Fishing with Mikes Marina, Golf at Punta Blanca, Caribbean Festival and first time Scuba dive. The first three I have done reviews in tours and things to do! All were terrific! Scuba was through the Resort beyond amazing. Tried it in the pool first and signed up. Instructor from England beyond excellent (wish I remembered his name) very safe and an amazing first experience. So much so I signed up for certification lessons.

Disco and Casino both great times and great service! Had winners and losers in our group so fair odds in cards. Took a boat taxi from our resort to go shopping at the beach vendors in front of Ocean Sands-smaller kids took water taxi back - older ones and most of the adults walked 40 min walk back. Did some shopping and had girls hair braided. Wonderful time! The water taxi was fun too. We just went to the beach and used a local to get the water taxi at a much better rate - again barter!

Accessibility
The resort is very long (you need to walk a little) but is very wheel chair friendly. Including access to all restaurants - and washrooms all had an accessible washroom. An Elevator in main lobby to get to second level lobby. Talked to someone in a wheelchair - who thought this was by far one of the easiest places for him to access. He used the stairs to get in and out of the pool (Sat on his bum and slid down each step) and a lounger to get back into his chair. When I walked the pool - saw a manual lift chair into the pool. Hope this helps!

Majestic Mike - wonderful Canadian Manager there! Set up our birthday celebration and just a great person - Thank You!

Spanish is there first language but everyone I talked with had great English and many other language skills. Amazing since when people from other countries come to North America we certainly don't provide that same service. I was in awe of how many languages they could converse in!

This resort had by far the BEST service and people working here than any resort I have been to in the Caribbean! My pictures are in
http://community.webshots.com/user/holiday2fun

Just returned from weeks vacation at Majestic Colonial Resort in Punta Cana.

First time to the D.R. All in all a great vacation.

My wife and I travelled with 3 other couples ranging in age from 45 to 52. Two couples had been to Punta Cana several times before but stayed at other resorts. We stayed in room 3243 just five units away from beach, with an ocean and pool view, and what a pool it is! Late arrival caused by Skyservice airlines. Not happy with that. Needed to land in La Romano to deliver a new tire for another plane then take off and land again in Punta Cana.

Rooms very clean, all staff very friendly except for a few. Will get into that later. Elegant surroundings with lots of marble.

Toured neighbouring resorts and found them too large and busy. Majestic is just large enough to give all the necessities yet small enough we didn't feel crowded at anytime. Always able to get seating at the various restaurants and buffets. Lots of room on the beach and arround the pool. Breakfast buffet the best not too impressed with the lunch and dinner. Good meals at a la carte Steak House, Seafood and a must do is Japanese. Excellent meal here. don't be disappointed, be sure to book reservation early your first day if you want the cooking station seating. We booked first day and couldn't get in until last day of vacation. Didn't find our private chef and waiter here very friendly. We don't speak Spanish very well but we always make an effort. We had three guys from Spain sitting at our table and we know they and the chef where talking about us and laughing. The woman of our group found all the bartenders on the resort very chauvinistic, they would always serve a man first, didn't matter if the woman was standing there first. Unacceptable!

A little disappointed in the availabilty of premium liquors. My understanding before booking the trip was it was included. Found you had to pay extra. Being a Tim Hortons lover we found the coffee terrible. Thank god we brought

Maxwell House individual packet pouches with us for our in room coffee maker. Should have brought our own tetra pack milk too. Played a round of golf at Nick Price's designed Blanca Golf Course. Great shape but not very challenging, wide open and very forgiving. No ocean view holes like on their web site pictures. Very disappointing. Our friends booked a tour to Santa Domingo through our tour operator Signature Tours. Got up at 5 am to catch bus at 6 am only to find bus forgot them. Same couple booked deep sea fishing and found boat a very stinky mesh. Not like pictures they show you when you book. Be careful and know what you are getting into. Nightly entertainment very amature.

From what I understand pretty much the same at other resorts.

Found on site shopping limited but not too over priced. Ownly buy things price marked as we found if you had to ask they made up a high price expecting you to pay. This is not the resort doing this but the store employess. Be careful. They will pocket the extra money you pay. Make sure to negotiate with street vendors. Ask price and then figure they will accept at least half so offer a 1/4 then go up. Friends bought a painting at Thursday night street market for $40 US that was priced at $350. Barter, barter, and barter.

Don't get me wrong we had a great time and will return to the Majestic again. Its a great place and I now know what to expect.

Just got back from a lovely 2 week stay at Majestic Colonial. We had a lovely time and evrything was perfect. From the airport it was a nice drive about 35min. Check in was smooth and our room was ready upon arrival.

We are too single ladies and we felt so safe on this resort. The staff went out of their way to tend to us.Their english may not be perfect but who cares, their smiles light up the sky.

Beach is to die for, just breath taking.

Food: Exellent allot of varity

Restaurants: Lots of choice and reservations available Bar Staff: really friendly and always smiling, Ari was our favaorite and took us around the town. Animation: Great group of people working all day and always providing fun fun, Juan was a joker and kept the party going.

My wife and I stayed at the majestic from 1/19 thru 1/26. This was our first time at an all-inclusive. We have cruised many times and felt like it was time to try something else for a change. we had a great time with a few minor issues.

I’ll try not to repeat previous reviewers

Positives: the resort is beautiful (night+day) and well laid out. We liked the fact that everything was within walking distance. The dining and bar staff were very friendly and efficient (virtually no waiting). The bathrooms (suggetstion-install paper towel dispensers) and other common areas were clean.The beach is very nice and there are plenty of chairs at the pool and beach. We loved the relaxed atmosphere of the entire resort. The room was beautiful (especially the shower) and well laid out. The check-in and out was very efficient. The Punta Blanca golf course is next door and was a very nice lay out (will be above average once the course matures).

Negatives: the room cleaning was poor,it seemed like all they did was empty the trash,make the bed,supply new towels and gave the sink and countertop a quick wipe-down. It would have been nice to get fresh sheets at least once during the week. Also extra towels would have been nice. The bed was pretty hard. We were on the first floor and the hallway was pretty noisey. If you like to sleep in,request 2nd or 3rd floor. None of this was not really a big deal with us but I think they should have more supervision in the housekeeping staff and try to make the beds softer (maybe egg crates on the mattress).

Food: stay away from the beach buffet,the hot dogs and hamburgers are awful. The regular buffet had better food and was only a short walk away,well worth the walk. The Japanese,Chinese and Steakhouse were very good. The seafood restaurant was average. Did not care for the Mexican/Dominican restaurant,although many people liked it. The main buffet restaurant was pretty good (on the level of most cruise ships we have been on),can’t go wrong with the made to order food. One piece of advice-the Chinese was in the same dining room as the Japanese and did not require reservations.

Casino: pretty small if gambling is your thing,I would go elsewhere

Bars: very nice,great service. My opinion- I think they should supply all of the bars with premium liquors and provide more than just Presidente beer on tap.

Special thanks to the sports bar “team” that us up for the NFC and AFC championship games,they really did a great job.

Also thanks to our new friends from Edmonton who saved us seats.

I visited the Majestic Colonial from 12/31/06-1/6/07 with my boyfriend. We went for a relaxing holiday, and that’s exactly what we got.

Airport: Arriving at the airport went surprisingly smoothly. The small outdoor airport is adorable, and we got off the plane, picked up our baggage within 15 minutes, were through customs minutes later, and easily found the Turiner Tours representative we were told by Cheap Caribbean (who we booked through) to look for, who took us to a air conditioned van to drive us an one other couple directly to the hotel. The roads are filled with potholes and there are not any street signs, stop lights, or stop signs, however there are also hardly any cars on the road (you probably see more mopeds) so this wasn’t the “scary” drive we had envisioned from all the reviews.

Room: The hotel rooms were impressive. We had the “garden/pool view” regular room, which was large with a king sized bed, a big balcony, and a wonderful Jacuzzi tub. The shower was enormous and the air conditioning and ceiling fan worked well to keep the room very cool. We requested the “2 block” of rooms on the second floor, which faces the pool, and I think our location was perfect being about halfway between the 2 main dining halls, and not far from the beach, but very close to the pool. Rooms in the “2 block” on the first floor have a Jacuzzi tub outside as well, but we preferred being higher up with a view since we already had the Jacuzzi tub. The 1 block has views of a chain link fence to the other resort next door, and the 3 block faces the garden. The 4 block faces undeveloped land. Each of those blocks has a few rooms on the end which are facing a beach view.
We did have some mosquitoes in our room, we got about 5 bites each during the week and saw a mosquito in our room about once a day. We brought repellant but it didn’t work well. The TV had lots of English channels, and there was plenty of closet space, although the closet did have a musty smell. We brought candles but found the room smelled fine. The pillows were thin, but not as bad as we had envisioned.

Pool: The pool was very grand and long, the way people describe in these reviews. We parked ourselves far from the “animation team” who were loud playing games with the guests most of the day. This is geared toward more of the younger crowd (although we’re in our late 28’s, we had no interest). We were able to avoid this scene altogether pretty easily. There are palapas by the pool and the beach, which was very nice, and there are areas of the pool that are shallow so you can put your pool chair in a few inches of water. On some days it was a bit tough to find 2 chairs together when the pool was busy, but we were always able to.

Beach: The beach was GORGEOUS. White fine sand, clear blue/green warm water with some waves, and tons of palapas and chairs. It was the highlight of the trip. It was never hard to find a place to lay out even though the resort was at capacity. It’s really nice to walk to the right of the resort down the never-ending stretch of beach, and check out all the other resorts.
The “shops” you hit after about 45 minutes are nothing special, just mostly junk souvenirs with pushy sales people. Walking to the right of the resort is mostly just desolate miles of beach without resorts. Gorgeous.

Excursions: We took the $29 US dollar trip offered at the activity center at our hotel to go snorkeling. You go in a small boat out about 20 minutes to a small reef, and they provide gear. Then you head back. The ride itself was a bit bumpy, but a great way to speed past all the other resorts along the beach and get a good view of Punta Cana. The snorkeling wasn’t great, there were fish here and there but nothing overly impressive. But the price was right and it made for a nice outing.

Weather: Although predictions said it would be stormy, it only rained heavily at night. It was pretty windy on our first couple of days, but died down later in the trip. However it was cloudy a couple of the days we were there, with light showers that lasted just a minute or two. The days that were totally sunny were picture perfect. It was about 80-85 degrees during the day, in the 70’s at night, not humid at all.

Food: This was the one downfall, although I am told this may be true of many of the resorts in the DR and Caribbean. We found little we liked at the buffets, and I would not consider myself a very picky eater. The pasta bar was what we stuck with, which got boring after one trip, and we only ventured to try the most basic marinara sauce since the other options were creamy or full of fish. The fresh fruit and cheeses were nice and we ate those daily, but many of the dinner and lunch options were heavy, oily, filled with chunks of calamari and fish that looked like it had been sitting out too long, etc. The Hibachi (by reservation- if you don’t have one, just go and see if there’s any no-show’s this worked for us 2x) was the best. It was similar to Beni-Hana. The Chinese, which does not need a reservation, was pretty decent. Le Gourmet was not good at all. The presentation of the food was nice, but everything was overcooked or tough, especially the lobster. However we did not get sick from any of the food.

Facilities: The gym is small, with just a few machines. However I enjoyed daily “beach aerobics” (about 30 minutes, easy level and fun with good music), and “pool step” (similar to beach aerobics but with a step and by the pool). The “disco” is tiny, and more like a pool hall with pool tables, and the casino is very small as well mostly with slot machines. But we didn’t go on vacation for any of those things so it didn’t bother us. There is only one tennis court and it was either booked, or wet the whole time so we couldn’t use it. If you want to play tennis, make a reservation at the gym ahead of time. The “theater” is a gorgeous huge outdoor theater with really nice cushioned seats, and a great sound system. We saw the Michael Jackson show which had good dancing and was very entertaining. The other shows were not nearly as good, some of them were more like “games” where they called members of the audience up, and the 70’s/80’s night was not very good.

Staff: Contrary to what I read on this site, most of the staff spoke pretty good English. I’d try to speak to them in my minimal Spanish, and most of the time they’d reply in English. It was only the maid’s that didn’t speak English, and this would be common anywhere. The staff was very courteous, and helpful, customer service was excellent with everything. At the restaurants they were constantly refilling your drinks, the check in was a breeze, the bellboys came quickly etc.

I just returned from a one week trip to the Majestic Colonial TODAY. This was my 16th all inclusive resort, 6th time to Punta Cana. I have used Debbie’s reviews in my selection of hotels each time. Punta Cana is getting so built up with so many resorts, it was hard to choose this time!! We choose the Majestic based on a very good price and great reviews that most gave on this web site.

Go to this resort with an open mind and an attitude that you are not in the US or Canada.

Rooms: Make certain to ask for a quiet room. We were just there during Thanksgiving week (November 18th- November 25th from the USA), and they “upgraded” our room to poolside, but there were many children there and the pool was noisy. We were very disappointed in our room, as the ceiling leaked water in 3 places. The noise of the water dripping at night plus the pool getting families with kids out there by 8am made it a noisy room overall. We had an outdoor Jacuzzi on the back deck, however it was only a few feet away from the pool with lots of people there so we didn’t use the Jacuzzi. Our room had many bugs in it, so bring the bug spray. I typically am not one to notice bugs, but this time around there were bugs in the room everywhere. We had to call room service the first night to have them change the sheets on the bed since there were a few bugs on the bed sheets. House keeping is very good, but slow. It took about an hour or longer each time we called them for towels or pillows for them to get to the room. There is no room service for food to the room, but they do stock the bar in your room with two small beers each day, 4 bottles of water and a few sodas. All are local Dominican beverages. We had to move rooms by day three since the leaking of the ceiling got worse and starting gapping inwards. Plus the water leaking was so loud we couldn’t sleep at night. It was very musty and damp in our room due to the leaking. They moved us on day three to a room with an ocean view that was MUCH BETTER. It was quiet and only 20 steps to the beach, so we were very pleased with our second room. It was not an upgrade room, but we preferred the less expensive room since it was quiet, no leaks in the ceiling and no musty smell. There were still plenty of bugs in this room though. You have a nice porch with lounge chairs to sit on, and we enjoyed our back porch. The shower is great, the openness of the Jacuzzi in the room is kind of odd, and we didn’t use it since it had sand in it from previous guests and was never cleaned for us the entire 7 days there. That was fine as we didn’t spend much time in the room at all.

Food: I must say, I am NOT a picky eater but I was disappointed in the food. I have been to many all inclusives, including the Riu”s in Punta Cana, Palladium, Paradius, Club Med, Natura Park, and Barceló and this food at Majestic was only average. The food at the Riu hotel and at Palladium hotel as well as Paraduis and Club Med in Punta Cana is MUCH BETTER. The Taiono restaurant at Majestic is Caribbean food and was basically fajitas, nachos, tacos, etc. and was not nearly as good as the Mexican food that you get in Mexico or the states (no salsa or guacamole). We did not care for this restaurant. We ate at the Japanese restaurant and this was very good, but it is hard to get reservations in here. The steak is very chewy though and could not be ate at any of the restaurants. We also ate at the buffet, and I had read reviews about the fruit selection being limited and was sad to see that this was true. Dominicans like a lot of meat in their diets, so there are always plenty of meats to be found at each meal at the buffet. Fruit and salads were limited at each meal to iceberg lettuce and pineapple and cantaloupes and usually oranges. The juices disappointed me since I usually love going to these resorts for lots of fresh juices and fruits, and their juices were all canned with LOTS of added sugar in them. Too sweet for me to drink. Breakfast was the best meal, as it was lots of eggs, crepes, etc. If you miss the buffet breakfast, there is a continental breakfast at the beach restaurant which has great atmosphere but very limited selection of ham, yellow cheese and white starchy rolls for breakfast. We also ate at the beach front seafood and steak restaurants, neither which are reservations. I liked the atmosphere here, but the meat was very chewy and I could not eat it. The seafood side of the restaurant was good (steak and seafood are in the same building but on 2 different sides), but limited to 4 choices each night of seafood pasta, calamari stuffed with bread crumbs (was gross and I love calamari), grouper (the best) and snapper. Don’t even bother with the lobster as it was 2 ounces of lobster and it was brownish green and smelled old. They tend to overcook their seafood and meats in the Dominican but this resort goes to an extreme to overcook them. We ordered a bottle of red wine at the seafood restaurant (not included) for $30 and it came out freezing cold. They store their red wines in cold ice so the red wine is cold there.

We also ate at the French restaurant and there was no French food on the menu. The atmosphere was nice there, men need to wear long pants, women dresses. I had filet migneon and this was ordered medium rare and was about as well done as any meat I have ever seen. Very tough and chewy. My friend had chicken and this too was very over cooked. We went to another restaurant after to eat the same night since we could not eat the overcooked meats at the French restaurant.

The Chinese restaurant was surprisingly good and had some nice shrimp dishes on the menu. There were about 10 selections on this menu, so we liked that there was more of a selection than the French, Caribbean, Steak and Seafood places. We ate at every restaurant at the resort and this one was my favorite. I am not a big fan of Chinese food typically, but it was served fresh and never crowded and great atmosphere. It is in the same location as the Japanese place but does not require reservations. Don’t go there if you are in the mood for fresh veggies or salads though, as there were none offered at the Chinese restaurant – only wonton soup and fried egg rolls for appetizers. But the entrees were good there.

Overall, the food was only average compared to the other Punta Cana resorts I have stayed at in the past.

Beach: Of course I LOVE this beach, this is why I keep coming back to Punta Cana. It really is a great beach, wide and lovely, white sand, clear water. We lucked out this week as the weather was perfect everyday, so the water was calm for snorkeling and kayaking. I love water sports so we did all of these. We did the snorkel tour from the beach, and if you pay the boat driver $10 extra he will take you to 2 other snorkel spots not on the trip. We snorkeled 3 times in total and loved it. The only thing that is annoying, which is at all resorts, is that people come down early to put their towels on chairs so by 10am there were no chairs left and we sat on the sand each day. The walking is great – vendors on beach about a mile down to your right, breezes resort and Barceló next door to the left then miles of nothing but white sand. I took a 2 hour walk each day and enjoyed this. We had no waves the week were here at the resort, so the water was perfect clean, clear and calm for swimming, snorkeling, kayaking or just to sit and look at and enjoy the beauty of this incredible beach. You can’t beat Punta Cana’s beaches!!! Incredible. There was no seaweed, very clean beach. They play Dominican music most of the day, and we did the beach exercise classes from 10am-11am most mornings, and this was fun! They have aqua exercise class right on the beach near the water each day at noon and we did this most days too. The staff works HARD that is for sure!! They are friendly people always with a smile. There were games in the pool each day in the afternoon. We did swim in the pool each afternoon and enjoyed that.

Gym/Tennis courts/Spa: We went to the gym to lift weights and it is small and in the back of the hotel. Not a great gym. The tennis courts were always full, so we walked over to the resort next door each day to play tennis. The courts were better at the resort next door and lite up at night. It gets dark by 5:30 this time of year, so we needed lights! The Spa is pretty, but small. You can swim up to it right from the pool. We didn’t do any spa treatments as it was expensive and nothing struck our fancy to try. The spa and gym at the Riu hotels is much better. We noticed tiles falling off the walls in the spa and the Jacuzzi jets were only one in each Jacuzzi and the bars were rusty getting into the Jacuzzi. They need to maintain the spa better. We spoke with other people and they got a massage for $100 US dollars and enjoyed it. The weather was too nice though to be spending anytime in a spa or gym, so it was ok that neither was that great. If you enjoy spas and gyms, go to the Pallidium resorts – their spas and gyms are amazing with infinity pools and all kinds of neat Jacuzzi’s and steam rooms for free.

Pool: The pool is gorgeous. Long and clean. We spent every afternoon in the pool. This week was Thanksgiving week so there were LOTS OF FAMILIES there with lots of kids, so the pool was busy and loud. This was ok with us, but if you are looking for a quiet time by the pool, this was not the place or the week for quiet. Loud music, plenty of drinkers, kids splashing everywhere at the pool. Nice pool bars and swim up pool bar, which we always like. Lots of palm trees swaying poolside makes for a lovely atmosphere.

Nightlife: We loved sitting outside each evening listening to the jazz music that was live. We would get out pina colodas, sit by the live music and enjoy the stars. This was my favorite! The sax player is really good – you will enjoy this each night. The lobby is buzzing at night with lots of people at the bars, and is a great atmosphere. It is a gorgeous lobby and has a bar downstairs and upstairs. We enjoyed our evenings here. The shows at night were really good, better than most other all inclusive hotels. The first night (Saturday night) there is a show with trapeze and acrobatics that is just great – best resort show I have seen so if you are there on a Saturday night, don’t miss this show. Then Sunday night the show was Michael Jackson, a traveling Dominican tour group, and the dancing was really great. I was impressed. Monday night was a “battle of the sexes” show, and that one was silly. Tuesday night we missed the show as we went to Santa Domingo, Wed night was a show on 70’s and 80’s music that was not good at all. Thursday night the show was “ideal couple” and we didn’t understand the jist of this show so we left it and went to the casino. Small, but fun. Nice bar in the casino and few slots machines, poker games. The disco was small, nice bar in there and you can view sports games in the disco, which we did each night after the show. The crowd in the disco is young (I am in my 30’s and I felt old). Music was all American music at the disco. Tiny dance floor. We saw a wedding in there one night.

Excursions: My friend wanted to do the Santa Domingo excursion, and knowing that it was a 6am bus ride for 4 hours to get there, I was hesitant. The bus ride was long, but worth it. Santa Domingo is full of history, the oldest city in the new world. We visited 2 churches, very European gothic, Christopher Columbus’s house and son Diego’s home – amazing artifacts and history. We visited Christopher Columbus’s burial place as well as tombs of unknown soldiers. We also went to an Amber museum and Taino art museum and that was nice as well. Great tour guides. We stopped for lunch in downtown SD and they had a local show for us of Spanish and Dominican dancing. I really enjoy this. We had 2 hours to walk around the town, visit shops, museums, the colonial district on our own, and it was a neat city to walk about. I enjoyed this trip more than I thought I would. It is a long day in a bus, so go on a cloudy day so you don’t miss out on a great beach day. But the history of the city of 3 million people is worth the trip. City is dirty, so be prepared for that, but it is rich in history and culture that you just don’t see outside of Europe or Asia. I have traveled all over Europe and Asia for many years and really loved visiting Santa Domingo and exploring its’ history. For the “tourists”, there is even a stop at the new Hard Rock Café.

We also did Saiona island, my 4th time there!! We had a perfect weather day for it, ocean water was calm and not a cloud in the sky. You take a bus an hour away to a Catamaran and sail to the island. They have changed this trip to be more of a rum drinking and Dominican music trip, so it is not as relaxing as it use to be. You now take a speed boat back in the afternoon from the island. No snorkeling on Saiona island anymore and it is getting so touristy that it is no longer a rustic island. Lunch is included on the island and they play music and have games there too. It is a beautiful sailing trip, but again it was a long day as the Majestic hotel is at the first stop for the excursions on the bus to pick up, so you spend an hour going to all the other hotels in the morning and evening to pick up and drop off, which makes for a long 12 hour day. We were picked up at 6:45am for this trip and dropped back off the hotel at 7pm – all for about an hour of sailing. I wouldn’t do this trip again. And the price has gone up to $100 US but you can negotiate it to $90. Gorgeous trip, but long day for just a little bit of sailing.

IslandViewer: Visited on Oct 28 to Nov 4, 2006. The MajesTIC is fantasTIC, romanTIC, and authenTIC; their staff is enthusiasTIC; and the Animation Team is energeTIC!!!

RESORT: New, beautiful, and a very well-planned layout. BEST pool we’ve ever seen (sparkling clear and no chemical smell). Plenty of lounge chairs and palapas at the pool and on the wide beautiful beach. Grounds are meticulously maintained. Walkways between and within the buildings are covered in case of rain. Nicely lit up at night – especially the pools and the walkways.

EMPLOYEES: Courteous, happy, helpful, professional. Every staff member (at every level) that we met would smile and greet us with a friendly “Hola”. The service at the bars and restaurants was excellent – they always made sure that we were well taken care of. Majestic Mike at Guest Services is a hard working, very knowledgeable professional that we now consider to be a great friend. And our new friends on the ANIMATION TEAM consisting of Jose, Taison, July, Fernando, Mariel, Nelson, Samuel, Sandy, Willy, and Pablo (hope we got all their names here) were incredible!! They have activities starting every morning at one end of the pool and on one section of the beach, continuing throughout the day, then they perform in the nightly shows, and even join us in dancing at the disco late at night. We don’t know when they stop and rest! They would always give us a big hello whenever they spotted us. A great Team!

FOOD: Very good overall. Fresh omelets and crepes at breakfast and pasta made-to-order for lunch in addition to a large variety of buffet offerings at both mealtimes. Wonderful dinners at all of the 7 restaurants (two are reservations only). We loved the Japanese restaurant and the steaks at the Rodeo steakhouse. Great friendly service at every meal.

DRINKS: 8 bars and we ‘hit em all’!!! Very nice & clean and a good selection for an all-inclusive package. Again great service – always with a smile. Their Majestic drink is good with rum or vodka. Men – try the MamaJuanna. :) The in-room mini-bar is restocked daily and the bottle of champagne was a nice touch.

ROOM: Large, clean, beautiful. Cherrywood doors, digitally-controlled AC, nice balcony, double sinks, a large shower, terry robes, and a jacuzzi. We had a comfortable 4-poster king bed and extra pillows. The maid service was excellent.

ENTERTAINMENT: A different show every night. Some have audience participation (and we ‘purticipated’ - LOL). The Michael Jackson show was well done. Talented dancers/acrobats. Again, cheers to the Animation Team!! A great sax player often fills the central area with nice sound at night. The disco rocks and we heard that it stays open till ~7 AM. (We ‘crashed’ by 2:00 or 3:00 each night).

We honeymooned at the Majestic from September 23 through October 7. This was our second visit to the resort and our eighth visit to Punta Cana. As many detailed reviews have been submitted since my first review of this resort back in May, I’ll try to keep this short and sweet.

Majestic Mike, whom we met on our first visit in April, went above and beyond in making sure our honeymoon got off on the right foot. He saw to it that cold cervesas were awaiting us on the bus at the airport, which was a fabulous treat after a long “Skysquish” flight. He had another surprise waiting for us when we arrived at the hotel; not only did he personally decorate our room with flowers and rose petals, he also made up a special card for us which several of the staff had signed to congratulate us on our marriage and welcome us back to the resort. It was a wonderful surprise to start our honeymoon with and we really appreciated the extra effort he took to welcome us back. Mike goes out of his way to make sure that everyone is having a great time and he is a huge asset to the Majestic – be sure to stop by the guest services desk to say hello if you visit the resort!

The food was just as good as we remembered from our first trip – the quality and selection was a big factor in our deciding to return for our honeymoon. We dined at all the a la carte restaurants during our stay and also enjoyed the buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For those of you who like to sleep a bit later, a continental breakfast is held at the beach restaurant from 10-12 each day. After seven mornings of big breakfasts, we decided to give our waistlines a fighting chance and started eating a smaller breakfast at the beach restaurant. Their selection consisted of an assortment of rolls and croissants, a few different kinds of cold cuts and cheeses, sliced fruit, juice, and yogurt. A hot beverage station was also set up for coffee and tea.

One treat we enjoyed on this visit, which we missed on our first stay, was the beach party. Weather permitting, the party is held once per week at the restaurant that houses the steakhouse and seafood a la cartes. The presentation of “food art” alone was amazing and the food was delicious – I would describe it as a mixture of the best of each a la carte restaurant at the resort. There was a live band performing on the beach and an area was cleared for dancing. The beach party is a definite “must do” if they hold one during your visit.

We had perfect weather during our stay; days full of blue skies and hot temperatures followed by rainstorms most evenings that cooled things down a bit. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.

We made use of the Internet centre a couple of times during our stay. The cost was $5US for 30 minutes or $8 for an hour. The connection was very fast and reliable each time we logged on. The room was air conditioned, too, so it was a comfortable way to spend your net-surfing time. One tip – if you need to type out an email address when sending a message, you get the @ sign by holding down Ctrl + Alt, then pressing the number 2. Spanish keyboards are slightly different from our North American ones!
Given that we were spending two weeks in paradise this time around, we figured we’d better make sure our pants still fit for the ride home. We used the gym several times and were pleasantly surprised with how well equipped it was. Two treadmills, a stepper, an elliptical trainer, and several stationary bikes were available for cardio workouts. They also had free weights and several weight machines for those who wanted to do strength workouts. The gym was open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. every day. I would suggest getting your workout in early in the day as the air conditioning left a little to be desired. It was comfortable enough at 7:30 in the morning but after a half hour on the elliptical, I was melting. I can only imagine what it must have felt like in there by lunchtime (unless they crank up the a/c as the day progresses…we always went first thing in the morning so that may well have been the case). Regardless, if you want to keep up your workouts while on vacation, the gym was more than adequate to do so. Towels and shower facilities are available there, as well as a purified water station – bring a bottle from your room to refill during your workout.

Housekeeping came around the same time each day and always left our room spotless with the odd flower decoration here and there. If you want something different in your mini fridge, a few US dollars along with a note specifying what you want goes a long way. We usually left $1 with a note for ‘mas cervesa y agua, por favor’ and would return to find extra bottles of beer and water in there. Bottled water is also available at every bar in the resort so you can always grab a few extras to bring up to your room as well. We forgot to bring our travel alarm clock but the front desk was always on time with our wake-up calls. They must have sensed that we’re not morning people, as they often would phone again five minutes after their first call!

As with our first trip, the only trip off the resort we took was to the Don Lucas cigar factory. We were both blown away when Kelman, one of the guides, recognized us from our previous visit in April – now that was a real surprise! Don Lucas is a great place to go for your cigars, obviously, as well as coffee, rum, and clothing. 1-pound packages of coffee were 2 for $8 US and sarongs were $12 each or 2 for $20 US. They no longer carry Brugal rum but we did purchase a large bottle of Barcelo 21 year old rum for $50 US and a smaller bottle of 7-year-old rum (more suitable for mixing drinks or using in baking) for $12 US. They also carried 12-year-old rum for $25, so there was something for every price range. Artwork, statues, cocoa and vanilla were also for sale. If you’re interested in visiting the factory, Majestic Mike can arrange for (free) transportation there and back, as can the front desk. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon off the resort and we were able to buy everything we wanted for what we feel was a good price, so we were very happy with our trip to the factory.

For those who wish to purchase jewellery at the hotel, there is a Harrison’s on site where you can find a good selection of beautiful jewellery. All of their pieces come with a certificate of authenticity for your peace of mind. I tried on a white gold ring with a larimar chip and a small diamond chip in it that had a price tag of $465 US; a white gold chain with a small larimar stone on it was going for $250 US. You get what you pay for, though, so if you want to purchase high quality jewellery, this is the place to do it.

To sum up, our second visit to the Majestic Colonial was every bit as wonderful as we expected it to be. Service was top notch across the board, as always. There wasn’t much to improve on from our first trip but everything seems to have become just a little more refined and well run; it was especially neat to see the huge changes five months made in the landscaping of the hotel. We highly recommend this resort and will likely return for a third visit sometime in the future – the Majestic Colonial truly is majestic in every sense of the word.

I’ll try to keep it short and get straight to the point, since I know that it gets tiring reading long reviews.

We have traveled to the Caribbean extensively; all-inclusive places only. Destinations include Riviera Maya, Punta Cana, La Romana, Jamaica (Montego Bay and Negril.)

It was 4 of us: 2 adults and 2 kids (ages 10 and 5.)

Hotel is 45 min. from the airport, could be more if they stop to drop others off before you.

Check-in was fine, smooth. I was able to get a very nice room, close to the beach, on the side adjacent to the pool, 2343, 3rd floor, with essentially a direct ocean view.

Hotel is new, opened last December. Rooms, pool, lobby are magnificent. Pool is over 4000ft long, about 4ft deep throughout, with a huge whirlpool area, as well as several kiddie pools.

Beach is fine, lots of chairs, but if you want shade, then need to be out there before 8am to reserve.

Ocean -- NOT GOOD! Water is way to rough. At times reminded of Jersey shore water. The weather was great, no winds or rain. The reason has to be the physical location of this hotel. It’s much further up north, relative to other Punta Cana/Bavaro hotels, away from the Caribbean waters and much into the Atlantic ocean. Early morning and late afternoon were better. However, overall this water was unsuitable for us and especially kids.

Food – Mediocre. Notable absence of a wide variety of fruits, Buffet selection is very poor. Same salads every day. (We were at Riu Negril last year; the selection at buffet restaurant was several notches higher.) Steakhouse/Seafood restaurant is not bad, but it won’t fill you up. Japanese is ok, try it only if Hibachi is a novelty to you, otherwise, skip it. French, didn’t go (don’t allow kids under 12), heard very nice reviews though, so go; Caribbean – didn’t try.

Kids club is a grandiose castle/fortress with water slides and its own pool! But it is completely misplaced and located near the lobby very far away from the beach and the pool. Weird.

Entertainment – usual – they try hard, but skill level is low. On the positive note, the saxophone player across from the buffet restaurant entrance is a very nice idea!

Service – average. Waiters are slow and tend to skip your table quite often. Bar service is ok, no problems there.

absolutely amazing resort. Food was great, no complaints about any of the food. They have 5 restaurants, 2 you need reservations.

The beach is beautiful and well maintained, as is the pool.
The service and all of the staff were wonderful.
The rooms were very clean and a very nice setup. Each room has a whirl pool bath tub tub in the middle of the room and some rooms even have jazzuis on the balcony. Bar fridge and coffee maker in each room. .

It even has what looks like a very nice children's area.
Entertainment was top notch. They have something every night. We especially enjoyed the sax player who played every night at the outside bar, but you could hear him from pretty well anywhere on the resort.

Lots of activities around the pool and on the beach every day. The spa is amazing.

We returned today from a 7 day stay at the Majestic Punta Cana (8/16/06). The hotel was beautiful, especially the main building. The pool was great, it was large enough to accomodate everyone. There were parts of the pool that families with children seem to gather, the volley ball net was close to the swim up bar and water activities, etc... The beach was large and very clean. The Playa (Beach) Steak House was awesome and seemed to be a favorite among other guests we met while there. The food at the buffet was good. We ate at the Chinese restaurant two nights and had good food and great service (Otho is a wonderful waiter, he is at the Playa/Beach restaurant during lunch and the Chinese restaurant in the evening). The Mexican restaurant food was HORRIBLE. They offer Mexican food on the menu and the buffet is Dominican. The service was equally as bad....my suggestion don't even waste your time with that one! We weren't able to go to the French restaurant because they don't allow children under age 12; however, I heard from several people that the food was excellent. You need reservations for the Japanese restaurant (book as soon as you get there because they fill up quickly) and French restaurant. Unfortunately, overall the service wasn't that great. As I mentioned previously, Otho was a great waiter and Felix was a bartender at the Playa/beach bar and he had our drinks ready the moment he saw us coming up. The Majestic could use more employees like them. I'm not saying all of the other employees were bad but enough to say the service wasn't the greatest. The rooms were nicely decorated. However, we had our 2 children with us and when we got to our room there was one king size bed. They agreed to bring up more beds but then they only brought one bed and it took a little while to get a second bed. Another family traveling with us never got their extra bed after calling several times, they had three tenagers in one room/one king size bed. We experienced similar things with towels (i.e. 2 towels left for 4 people). The rooms also had mosquitos (literally everyone we talked to had mosquitos on a daily basis in their rooms). I have read other reviews that suggested bringing bug spray, I didn't realize they meant for you room. My suggestion, bring bug spray and some kind of anti-itch cream.

Overall, it was a nice vacation and we would consider going back to the Majestic.

First let me say that I have traveled to many places, bermuda, aruba, st. thomas, antiqua, st. john, martinque etc. cozumel twice and I chose Punta Cana for the main reason of relaxation. We were there July 19th through July 25th 2006. I speak absolutley no spanish and my husband can only recognize a few words. This review will hopefully help others understand a little about the Majestic as well as the Dominican Republic!

Hotel: Like others have stated, it is GORGEOUS! We had a room on the west side with a horrible view but spoke to the front desk and were moved to a room near the wet bar at the pool with a view of the ocean. Tremendous! The room, along with everything else there is gorgeous but did have some minor flaws in construction but we could of cared less. The rooms are very spacious. You have to get a little creative with drawer space because there is not dresser. So I had my stuff in drawers throughout the whole room. There are cabinets, refridgerator, and a safe for you belongings. The shower is huge. We loved it.

Things to consider with the rooms that we did not care for: I am a BIG bath person and it takes about 45 minutes to fill up the tub with the low water pressure. You are only given 4 towels and no wash cloths. Rooms have somewhat of a "mildew" smell but not a huge deal. We brought an air freshener. The bathrooms do not allow a lot of privacy. You do have a door but it is open at the bottom and at the top. Last is the noise and the maid service. We had some people above us that would move furniture around constantly and were so loud and the maid service usually knocked on our door each day around 8. They started earlier and you can hear them yelling to one another as early as 7 am! Not fun when you want to sleep in a little. Also be prepared, they don't give you a lot of time after that first knock of room service. I was caught by the soda guy just stepping out of the shower with my towel w rapped around me.
Note to guys: my husband loved the fact that they had telelvision with cable in English! After a long day at the beach it was nice to come in and relax to watch the British Open!) We also found internet access for 5 bucks for 30 minutes.

Food: We did not get sick our entire stay however like others we took acidolphilous pills each day to help prevent this as well as only drinking bottle water. We also had pepto and immodium on hand. We loved the Majestic drink which you are given as soon as you walked into the hotel. YUMMY. It tastes a lot like a dreamsicle. We were told the pina coladas were good too but to stay away from too many because the coconut milk serves as a laxative. We just chose to stay away from them. The food was very, very average. The reservation restauraunts had some good food. We really enjoyed the Gourmet and Japenese restuarants. You must try the mimosa at the gourmet as well as watching the zambooka show. I wasn't a fan of the taste of zambooka but the show was fun to see. The buffets and such are very different. It was not all bad however just bland and the spices and food they use there obviously have a different taste to them. We ate pasta most of the time and that was usually pretty good. The pasta was made right in front of you as were the omlets. We also enjoyed the Churro's at breakfast. We will miss them.

Entertainment: We did not participate too much in the entertainment but I found it great fun to watch. Everyday there are some activities you can watch or if you are sitting in the general area of the leaders you would be participating. They wouldn't give you much of a choice. It was quite funny. You will see many fun games between couples, water arobics, dance lessons etc. I usually watched the dance lessons from my balcony and learned a few. Very basic but good. The activities were usually done in spanish so I was afraid to be asked any questions. I did not participate but had they been in english I would have been all over it.
WE did go to the much written about Michael Jackson show. It was absoultely wonderful. Those entertainers work very hard and put on a faboulous show. WE really enjoyed it. Be prepared, it is an outdoor covered theater and it gets a little warm. They don't serve any drinks but you can bring them from the bar.

Beach/Pool: GORGEOUS! Nice white sand and very clean! The ocean is very warm and absolutely beautiful. We never had a hard time getting a few chairs anytime of the day. It was easier at night as well. My husband and I found it VERY relaxing to walk the beach at night! We would sit and enjoy the sounds of the ocean as we looked into a star filled sky! VERY NICE!! We also enjoyed a 45 minute walk down the beach to the shops to buy souveniers.
The Pool is awesome as well. I love the fact that it winds down around the entire facility. My husband and I never had a tough time getting chairs! Very nice!

Excursions: This is where you need to BEWARE! My husband and I took 2 off resort trips. We booked both of thes through our hotel. One was the Bavaro Splash where you drive your own jet boats to a specific site and you snorkle for about an hour and then you return. This was pretty neat! Riding the boat is a blast and the snorkle area is outstanding. You feed fish and see all kinds of aquatic life! It is a half day trip. The staff was a lot of fun. We had our own private underwater tour guide for just us two. We had a great time.

The next trip we took was the Saona Island Trip. I had read so many fabulous reviews about this trip so we took it. It was aboslutely horrible. Let me first warn you that it is a full day trip and by this I mean we left at 6:00am and returned at 9:00 pm. We left our hotel and drove 1 hour in a van. We arrived at a location with about 30 others and loaded up on a bus. WE also picked up a tour guide that attempted to talk a little about the next 2 1/2 hour drive to a village where we went to the bathroom and saw some pretty sights. I am sure this would have meant a lot more if we could have known what the heck we were looking at. My husband and I would have liked to learn more about the island and the customs but when you don't speak spanish, you can't understand spanish and you aren't given the same explanations in english because it is very broken. Our bus had only 3 other people who spoke english aboard. After the village stop we then drove another 45 minutes to the beach where we got on a speed boat to ride another hour. We spent 1 hour in a cove that was suppose to have star fish but was not better than our beach at the Majestic. At this stop we were encouraged to play a drinking game of rum and coke. Again, i was not a fan. After this stop we then traveled another 20 minutes on the speed boat to Saono beach. It was on the caribbean side of the island but really didn't look much different than the beautiful beach we left back at the Majestic. We were served lunch on the island and I did enjoy a back massage on the beach for $20.00. The massage and the 2 hour catamaran boat ride back was the best part of the trip. The worst part was the 4 hour venture back on the bus with yet another 45 mintute bathroom/shop break. It was a TERRIBLE waste of a day. A 13 hour day and 8 of those hour s are on a bus! LONG DAY ! Thank goodness I packed snacks. I may never make this day up to my husband. :0)

Service: This depends. Some days it was great and some days it seemed as though the service did not really want to be there. From what I am to understand they work 21+ days and then get 3 days off so I am sure they get rather tired of what they do. I do not think they liked the fact that we did not speak Spanish. They do work HARD!! They are ALWAYS working on the grounds, cleaning, serving etc..Our room was always clean and she always gave us what we needed. WE left tip money everyday for our maid.

Summary: I enjoyed relaxing at the beach and getting away from the world. My husband and I met some terrific people from the USA and really enjoyed their company! However, if you have never been to the Dominican Republic here are a few things you need to consider before traveling: Take plenty of small bills. Tips are appreciated everywhere. Pay for your excursions with cash instead of credit cards. You will be charged additional fees for using credit cards. On your excursions, have some cash available for tipping and buying things but know that the excursions also know how to find you if you want to buy souvenier pictures or videos and you don't have the money then. I guess they have agreements with all of the hotels and track you down for the money. The resort also has people taking pictures throughout the resort for you to buy later. i believe Punta Cana is primarily a TOURIST location. THere is nothing else there but reso rts. This is great however consider the fact that this side of the island does not have any "town life" that you can visit to go shopping or walk around. You are pretty much isolated to your resort. Because of this the excursions you go on you will have to travel a pretty good distance before you arrive at you destination. 1 hour plus. Beware of the shops. Some of the workers get very hands on and pull you into their shacks! You can wheel and deal and usually get things at a reasonable price. Learn the phrase "cheapy, cheapy" :0) Last but not least consider that 95% of the employees do not speak English and even worse 95% of the tourists do not speak English as well. This made it very, very difficult for my husband and I to enjoy meeting new people and taking part in the activities around the resort. Everything was in spanish and we often felt like "outsiders" due to the fact that we could not communicate with others around us. It does not seem like a touri st location for Americans WHO DO NOT SPEAK SPANISH. Because of these aspects we would probobly not return however, The Majestic was gorgeous and the beaches were outstanding for relaxing.

Our party of six ( 4 adults, 2 kids) just came back from Punta Cana where we stayed at the Majestic Colonial for 7 nights. This was our first time in the DR. The resort is lovely, the first impression being the lobby. It is beautifully decorated, with cool breezes coming through. We had no problem with check in and were taken directly to our room. The room was spacious and clean, but I should warn you that there is virtually no privacy in the bath area. It is an open plan and if you are traveling with your kids, in our case our young teenage daughter, it became a problem when changing. The mini bar is stocked, but the refrigerator never really keeps things cold, just cool. People were right when they said the pillows were flat. They are, but we had no problem getting as many as we wanted.

The pool area is huge. The pool is at just the right temperature and the lounge chairs comfy. There is plenty of entertainment out by the pool area directed by the locals. They have a great sense of humor and like to get people involved in the games and such. The swim up bar is nice. We didn't spend alot of time around that. The bartenders took very good care of us, but of course, we tipped generously. Some people asked why we were getting such good service and we told them why. The drinks became very mundane after a while and you are warned not to have too many of the fruit drinks, as they will cause an upset stomach. They were right. I am not a heavy drinker, but it did become a problem when I wanted something different. I ended up with wine.

The beach is very beautiful and very clean. White sand, blue waters and not rough. Very few waves. The temperature of the ocean was perfect. We enjoyed the ocean very much, but there is no service on the beach, so we would have to pack our water or drinks back and forth from the pool area. We have always been used to service on the beach, so that was disappointing. There is topless sunbathing at this resort which wasn't offensive until you were subjected to the sight of extremely overweight, old women parading down the beach in all their flabby, saggy glory. UGH!! Happened more times than we cared to see.

Returned from Majestic on May 23, 2006. Must say that this is one of the best vacations that we had. Have absolutely no complaints about it. I'll start with the best feature- THE BEACH- if you are a beach lover. The weather was great and the beach was very clean as there were people cleaning it every single morning. Room was very big, very nicely furnished and had no problems at all with towels, water, etc and had a beatuful terrace overlooking the pool and we could see the ocean as well.

Talking about the food- it depends on what you are looking for but definitely nobody is hungry, there is enough what to eat and you have a choice of restaurants.

Just got back from the Majestic Colonial and had a great time. There were fourteen of us traveling together. We flew a charter flight directly from Boston, MA. When we got to the airport in the Dominican you have to be careful, there were locals trying to tell us that there were problems with the buses and that we would have to take taxi’s to the resort. Well, it wasn’t true, it was just a scam to get you to take their taxi (which was very costly) from what I hear. These taxi cab drivers even had signs that said “TNT” or “GWV” so keep an eye open for that. Once we got to the hotel, check-in went fairly smooth, a little bit of a wait, but all in all not too bad.

One problem with this resort is the language barrier with the staff. There are so many staff members who don’t speak a bit of English, so brush up on your Spanish. The hotel room was beautiful. We had an ocean view which was enjoyable. The pool was “AWESOME” I think it was the nicest pool I’ve ever seen. I’ve been to a lot of resorts before and have always had waitress walking around the pool asking if you would like something, but this resort you’re on your own. The drinks were okay, the beer seem to be the choice of a lot of people. The food was fair in my opinion. The Steak house & Japanese was very good. The Gourmet was just alright. Prepare to wait a while before you get any food. We were there for about 40 minutes, before they came over and took our order. Stay away from the Mexican Buffet, it was awful. The main buffet (in the front of the resort) was probably the best meals we had all week. The pasta station was extremely popular with the guests. The lunch buffet there was also better than the lunch buffet at the beach restaurant (The steakhouse) during the day. The main buffet had a variety of different food, where the Steakhouse buffet had the same food everyday, it was good, but got old after a few days.

I know there was a lot mentioned about bugs in previous emails, but honestly the only problem (which wasn’t too bad) was flies during breakfast. We didn’t see any mosquito’s at all. The price of items in the store is OUTRAGEOUS!! Bring plenty of suntan lotion, it will cost you about $20.00 US money for a 6oz bottle, which I believe isn’t even any good. My husband got burnt using their products…so bring extra lotion.

The Casino was small, but it was just enough for those of you who enjoy recreational gambling!!! We had teenagers from 14-17 and there isn’t much to do from them at night time, there is only so much walking around they can do, so keep that in mind if you have children the same age. The shows didn’t keep their interest at all. The only show I saw was the Michael Jackson show and it was very good. One important thing, keep all your valuables in the safe, my son’s wallet was stolen from his backpack in his room!!!

We have just returned from Punta Cana’s Majestic Colonial Resort. They are definitely on the right track to becoming a true five star resort. However, they still need to work out some of the bugs that any new resort must work overcome.

“ALL INCLUSIVE” usually means leave your wallet in the room safe. Most people that afford themselves these types of vacations prefer not to drink cheap liquor and beer. These are the only inclusive drinks available here. Real beer is five dollars a bottle and good liquor is more. If you enjoy lobster tail, do not expect fresh unfrozen at the French restaurant. If you want a comfortable pillow, bring it with you. If you expect a pool side chair, you better wake up early. Our air conditioner filled three trash buckets of water before we were able to find an English speaking attendan