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| Last Updated:
19 November, 2009 |
| Blue Bay Villas Doradas |
Cheryl ~ Ontario Canada |
November 2009
Arrival:
This is a small compact resort Rooms were keep very clean (our made loved bleach) The staff always poke to you in a very friendly manner and went out of their way to serve you
Rooms:
The rooms are small but efficient
Restaurants and Bars:
The 3 a la carte are very good - small but never cramped - service is top notch and food is very good - even the wine is good - the buffet had a good variety - we loved the smooties at breakfast. The service at all the pools was good - I loved the non smoking pool area
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Beach is nice but could use more loungers
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Didn't do any activities or tours
Other Comments:
This resort does cater to adults only - it is evident in the seating arrangements - 2 to a table - you are not forced to sit with someone else
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| Blue Bay Villas Doradas |
Jennifer ~ Ottawa, ON |
September 2009
Arrival March 2008:
I would recommend this hotel to anyone. Before going, we read a lot of reviews, some of which were negative, but the majority were very positive. We were very happy and satisfied with the resort, food, entertainment, service, etc.
Rooms:
Small, but for the time you stay there, it has everything you need. You can be upgraded to a suite for a cost.
Restaurants and Bars:
3 restaurants - Seafood, Chinese and Grill. All were very good. The buffet always had fresh food and a great variety.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
2 pools, one with an in pool swim up bar. The grounds were extremely clean, workers were tidying up every morning. the beach is a short walk over a bridge. It can be a bit dirty after a storm, but they cleaned it up quickly.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We visited a nearby town. Fun, but don't think I would do it again.
Other Comments:
I was wondering why this resort was not mentioned before.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Wendy ~ Ottawa |
June 2009
Arrival: February 8 to 15
A quick drive in a large air conditioned bus and then we were guided into the lobby for a cool cocktail and cold cloth. All of the public areas have about 3 story high ceilings and a there is a 'zen' like atmosphere in the lobby with it's high canvass 'walls' and huge morroccan lamps.
Rooms:
Our rooms (2) were located just beside the large pool with the swim-up bar. We were on the ground level and across the hall from one another. One of the rooms had 2 queen sized beds and a small bathroom and the other room had a king sized bed and a huge bathroom. Both rooms were kept very clean and on random days had lovely animals crafted out of our refreshed towels. Each evening the jumbo sized beach towels were also replaced. Even though there was only one small dresser, there were plenty of hangers to hang clothes.
Restaurants and Bars:
We went to each of the restaurants once and found the Oriental one the best. I had chosen it as the one that I wanted to go to on my birthday and my friends secretly told the staff and had ordered me a cake. It ended up being my favourite from the buffet and it even had Happy Birthday and my name on it. It has been my experience that chicken, pork and fish are done well in the carribean but that they have a hard time with beef. This was true of this resort also but they did marvelous hamburgers at the beach bar. Speaking of the beach, it is a substantial building on the beach with a seafood restaurant on one side of the bar, and the grill restaurant on the other. During the day (actually 24 hours) the 24 hour snacks are hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, chicken wings, and nachos. The restroom facilities at the beach are in a separate building and are marble lined. In the evening during the restauant hours, the paper towels are replaced with rolled hand towels. The buffet
was great. For breakfast they had a fruit smoothie bar each morning and also several jugs of fresh juice on the bar behind. You had to make sure that you got a glass of juice before the ice cubes melted and watered it down. For lunch there was always a pasta area where you could pick what you wanted for your choice of pasta. For both lunch and dinner there was a low fat selection that appeared repetative, but I didn't sample much from it - I was on holiday! At dinner they had a spanish coffee 'cart' at 1900 and we developed a habit of picking one up at the beginning of each evening meal!
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The grounds were immaculate and the pools well taken care of. One of the nights they had floating candles on the main pool. Cupid (cute employee with a huge diaper) handed out red paper hearts on Valentines Day, 2 lovely ladies in Vegas style dancer outfits posed for pictures, and at the beach a vampy nurse was collecting names for activities.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We did go on the tour of the city which for the most part was a washout because of a rainstorm. There is a small mall a short walk away and it wasn't until the bus ride back to the airport that we realized that we could have walked an equally short walk in the other direction to a fairly large casino.
Other Comments:
We were quite impressed and are planning a 2 week return visit to this 'zen' like resort.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Mark ~ Kilmarnock, Scotland |
June 2009
Arrival: May 26 - June 9
We were greeted off our bus at reception by a welcoming committee of dancing girls and hotel staff. We were then led through to the outdoor entertainment area/theatre where we were seated and provided with a welcome drink and a cold towel to cool down our necks and foreheads. A member of staff then gave a 5 min presentation on the complex before bus boys led us to our rooms.
Rooms:
Ideal. 2 large king size beds, fridge with a couple of beers, sprite, coke and large container of water. TV with plenty of english speaking channels. Bathroom was perfectly functional, only slight gripe was issues with water temperature in the shower sometimes.
Restaurants and Bars:
Excellent. I could have survived at the buffet alone, however visited the steak place twice, fish twice and oriental three times. The bar service was excellent, never more than a minute would you wait for a drink. The 24 hour beach bar was handy and did get visited late on a few times during our stay.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Beach fantastic. Lovely clean sand, although I now understand the beach's are public in the Dom Rep. That said, the guys that looked after the sun loungers were also straight to you if you arrived and there were no spare beds. They would ask where you wanted yours and pull a couple out. Pools, I was only in the hotel pools twice and both times purely to cool down. I found it too hot during the day in the hotel areas so spent my time mainly on the beach where the breeze kept me at the right temperature. Grounds - excellent again. Constantly being tended to, though the workmen were never in your way. Grass constantly being cut, gardens tended too, pool area re-grouted at night. Sunbeds during the day were like gold dust, especially by the quiet pool. Not a major issue for me due to my preference of being on the beach however on the last day we wanted to make the most of our last few hours in the sun were by the quiet pool by 6.45 am and there were already towels out. Over the next hour we watched people come from their rooms to lay towels and head back to bed. Not on in my opinion, and the hotel should have done more to enforce their own rules which stated that beds could not be kept if not in use. The lake with the family of ducks which sounded like cows was great. Made my wife's day if she spotted the ducklings on our way to and from the pool.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
One of the big highlights of this holiday was an Entertainment team that were actually good and made you want to get involved, something I have NEVER done on any previous holiday. Firstly I should say, a quick "no thanks" was all it took if something was happening that you were not interested in but within the first week I had been a judge on a Sushi making contest, a competitor in the darts tournament, hoopla tournament and cocktail making contest. Rambo, Eddie Murphy, James Bond, Teddy and Lorenzo really are a fantastic team and work so hard to ensure the guests had a great time.
Tour wise, we went on the Catamaran trip aboard Freestyle 2. An excellent day of snorkelling, sunning and rum drinking. Also we went to Paradise Island. While I enjoyed the day (a special mention to our rep Willis who was great) I found 2.5 hours on the island a wee bit too long especially as there is no toilet. The speedboats were fun, lunch tasty and the bus journey interesting. Seeing various parts of any country always interests me. The stop to see the cigars being made was great and resulted in me buying a nice pack of vanilla flavoured Don Alejandro to bring home.
Other Comments:
A brilliant holiday. My wife and I now have a rum addiction, a couple of great new friends (hey Chris and Victoria!!), I have a wee taste for cigars ;-) and 2 weeks of memories that we will never forget. I spent my honeymoon in Mexico last year and thought I would never enjoy another holiday as much as that.... I was wrong!! Roll on October and a return to the Blue Bay!!
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Michelle ~ England |
May 2009
Arrival: 20 April - May 04
Photos on arrival collected our cases then we were off on the coach to our hotel which took about 30 minutes with 3 stops on the way.A cocktail and 15 minute briefing on arrival at the hotel. Nice and relaxed.They didn't have our room allocation but 5 minutes later all sorted.
Rooms:
Basic but functional. We did move room but purely because i requested a balcony as i am a smoker and dont like to smoke in the room.Arrived on the Monday, requested a move on the tuesday and got moved on the wednesday. Nothing was too much trouble.Reception and bell boys fantastic
Restaurants and Bars:
Good choice of bars with many cocktails.If you wanted them stronger you just asked for mucho and they willingly obliged without having to tip.We tried all the a la cartes and thoroughly enjoyed all of them.The young lady who seemed to be the maitre d at 2 of the a la cartes was fantastic and treated you all as a good friend from the minute she met you.Food we found more than adequate at the buffet.Always plenty of choice. Majority of the waiters were excellent and humourous.Customer service at this hotel is the managers no 1 priority and it shows. Best staff ever.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Everything was spotless.They spent more than an hour cleaning each room which is why they sometimes dont get to some rooms till the afternoon,but i would rather have a clean room than worry about a maid being in our room at 5 o clock. Just go to the bar and have another couple of drinks!
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Good fun games etc every day,they did not hassle you if you did not want to join in. All crew worked extremely hard all day.We went on the catamaran tour arranged by Thomas cook and would definately recommend but please tip these guys as they are fantastic and on our boat the day we went not many people tipped which i thought was a real shame as they go out of their way to make your day memorable.Also did Ocean world, again highly recommended.Will do both trips again when we return.
Other Comments:
We have been to many all inclusives in both the caribbean and Europe and some 5 star and overall this was best value for money by far. Am looking to return in September even though it will be another 10 hour flight! The staff are a real credit to Oscar Lora the manager.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
John ~ Halifax, N.S. |
May 2009
Arrival: April 12-26
April 12 well they were supose to great us with a cocktail and didn't
recieve that very rude employees when we arrived.
Rooms:
I had 2 other people staying in the room with me and the room was small and
smelled like pee and we requested a new room and didn't recieve this.
Restaurants and Bars:
The buffet food was not that good. The food was burnt and the service
sucked. We ate mostly at the beach bar. The beach bar was alright but the
bar tenders were tring to flirt my friend all the time became annoying.
One night we went to the beach bar at 3am and all the staff was a
sleep and it was supose to be 24 hour bar so we had to wake them up. Unexpectable
i was a little mad.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Well the grounds were well kept and pools where clean so it seemed.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
The activities were ok after 11pm it sucked no disco or anything we did the
disco tour and man it was awful all the locals were asking for money for
drinks and to each girl 5 dominican guys were on them. We did the cable cars
and rum factory which was awesome.
Other Comments:
We had a bad time the 3 of and we had another group come down our second
week 25 more people. they arrived in on sunday at 10pm at the hotel and they
were tired from there flight. On the monday we all got together laughed a
carried on had a few drinks. Danced around the pool and were told to keep
the noise down at 2pm in the afternoon. They said people were complaing
about the noise. So we went around the pool and asked all the people and
they said no you guys are very entertaining and we enjoy your company. I
think they were made cause we took the attention away from the entertainers.
If you think you are going to have fun at this resort well your in for a
surprise its more like a resort for 50 yr old plus. One our last day I had
$150.00 stolen from my locked up safe that was locked. And others had purses
with just make up and stuff stolen sweaters and sneakers.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Katherine ~ Halifax, N.S. |
May 2009
Arrival: April 12 - April 19, 2009
We booked via GoTravelDirect and had a good flight down; a short 20 minute trip to the resort from the airport; fresh drinks awaiting, and a quick check in. I was not pleased about having to pay an extra $220 Cdn. on the way down and $36 US on the way back for luggage overage, but what can you do? That was no fault of GoTravel or Blue Bay Villas. Our travel rep from GoTravelDirect, Megan, was very sweet and helpful. Especially on our way back. We were scheduled to leave on Sunday at 9:15 pm and we found out early that morning that our flight was delayed due to mechanical failure on the plane. We were told we would be shuttled over to another resort down the road (a 5 minute walk). That wasn't so bad as it turned out to be an extra 18 hours in the Dominican, and although the second hotel was sadly lacking, it was a very nice beach and we ended up getting a two level apartment for four of us as two of the girls were staying on for an extra week.
Rooms:
My room # was 6104 and it was just across from the main lobby on the back side so it was quiet in terms of location. My friends stayed in 7108, 7111 and 7112. None of our party of six women (45 to 50) were impressed with the rooms. They were adequate. At first they put my friends in the series 5XXX rooms just across from the main lobby in the back. But within 5 minutes we quickly realized the rooms were overlooking some sort of a sewage system and by evening, they had their rooms changed to the 7XXX series. I stayed by myself in room #6104, and again, nothing special. The bed linen had a stain on it; the curtains were hanging off the runner and looked dirty. The room was incredibly noisy in terms of I could hear the guy and his wife next door watching TV every night; and I could hear him snoring. In fact, the walls were so thin, I could even hear some of their conversation, talking about the villas there that the high pressure sales guys tried to sell. Other than that, everything in the room worked, the overhead fan, air conditioning, iron and no problem with the hot water. Room cleaned very nice every day with pretty flowers, etc. One thing all the rooms lacked were shelves and dressers with drawers. In fact, I left my clothes in my suitcase for the whole week! Fresh beach towels were supplied and old wet beach towels were picked up daily. No problem with my key to the room not working.
Restaurants and Bars:
The only restaurant we went to was the seafood near the beach and none of us really liked our meal that much. The service was great, the staff very friendly, but the fish didn't taste like fish. It was too fishy for us. I couldn't even eat the muscles and the salmon was awful. Otherwise, nice atmosphere and beautiful setting but the food was not good. We were very happy to go to the buffet everyday; including the beach restaurant which had a VERY nice supply of food if you didn't feel like walking up to the main buffet.
However, I would have to say the best part of my trip at this resort was the buffet food. I was not disappointed. Always fresh, a wide variety every day, overall, very pleased. Staff very friendly at accommodating a table of six and were very efficient with the water, wine or drinks, etc.
The bar staff were great, very friendly. I always asked for mucho Brugal rum & diet coke and they were pleased to accommodate! The bartender at the beach bar was very friendly and always happy.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The beach was beautiful, cleaned everyday and VERY long. You could walk for hours in either direction from the resort. I went for a walk four out of the seven days and got some of the nicest pics and videos of the whole trip. The sunrises and sunsets were just incredible. There are A LOT of vendors on the beach that can drive you nuts if you let them but if you just say 'no gracious' once, they will go away. They may come back again later, but just keep saying 'no gracious'! Not a lot of beach chairs and we discovered we had to get up by 7 am and grab our chairs for the day. You can't just put a towel over your chair and take off for an unlimited amount of time either as there is someone on the look out and after an hour they may come and take your chair. We never had any problem though and we had six chairs altogether every day in the same spot.
The water was beautiful and we went swimming everyday. Never had any problem with too much seaweed or murky water at all. The waves were just the right size (very small) and safe to swim in and not a lot of rock underfoot.
The pools were always kept clean. The main pool by the main restaurant and lobby entrance was a good size and plenty big enough for us. There was also a swim up bar here. We preferred to lay at the beach everyday and lounge at the pool later in the day.
The grounds were kept very nice and constantly cleaning or repainting something or other.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
This was our third year to this area so me and my friends were familiar with things. We went into Sosua a couple of times and had no problem getting a cab in and back. Do remember to barter with the cab driver. We didn't go on any tours otherwise as we were content to lay on the beach all day.
There was a plaza about 5 minutes down the road and we went there a couple of times and made a few purchases.
Other Comments:
It was unfortunate that I was unable to get a room next to all my friends as I was a single supplement. Even though we wrote to the general manager and another friend of mine five months in advance, it still didn't do us any good. When I finally did ask to be moved next to my friends three days into the vacation, they put me in a room that smelled so bad, we almost got sick just standing in it for 5 minutes. The rooms all smelled very musty, it was disgusting.
The staff, however, were ALL very friendly and accommodating. Enrique, Carlos, Ramone and a few other select people were great. Glad to help us anytime with our bags or whatever.
We enjoyed the availability of two wireless laptops to check email back home which were located in the front lobby. There is a 15 minute maximum which was perfect and kept people from hogging the computer.
The night life at the resort was VERY cheesy although the staff did the best they could. We could only bring ourselves to go to one or two shows and after that we knew better. The beach party was no better, again, although staff did their best. It had a different atmosphere too being outside on the beach and all so was refreshing.
Overall the resort was sparse and I found lacking in a more of the finer touches but we had a GREAT time, again, despite the less than stellar rooms.
I would not recommend this hotel but if you are looking for something on the cheap and are prepared to go to a mediocre 3.5 star AT BEST, then this is the place for you.
I would be happy to respond to any inquiries. Please feel free to drop me a line anytime! Thank you.
kathrine@ns.sympatico.ca
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Jill ~ Halifax, N.S. |
April 2009
Arrival: March 19 - April 2
Only a 15 minute bus ride from the airport and a quick check-in. Arrived at 10 am but room wasn't available until 3:30. We had prepared a beach bag of stuff, so it wasn't a problem.
Rooms
The room was spartan, but more than adequate and the bathroom was large and nicely done. The constant smell of sewage off our balcony rendered it useless.
Restaurants and Bars
We found the mixed alcohol drinks to be inconsistent from one bar to the other. The wine was definitely watered down, as were the fruit drinks at the breakfast buffet. The food at the main buffet was very attractively presented, BUT it was very bland. Anything containing beef was inedible, it was so tough. The Steakhouse a la carte was fabulous. The beef was tender and tasty. The Oriental and Seafood a la carte had a great atmosphere and service, but the food was only so-so. We can only compare this place with other resorts we have visited over the past 14 years. We found it lacking.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
There are 3 lovely pools surrounded by some of the nicest landscaping I have seen. The beach area is a bit small, but adequate for a resort of this size. It is raked daily and we used it a lot. However, the entire resort has a serious lack of chairs and loungers. Three days of our 14, we were unable to find seating at any of the 3 pools or the beach! This is unacceptable. The Guest Relations person shrugged her shoulders and said there were more loungers due to arrive in 2-3 weeks! This is a serious problem that a lot of guests were complaining about. Also, the beach vendors and time-share staff were relentless. You would be saying "no, gracias" every 5 minutes, every day. Tiresome.
Other Comments
Sadly, I do not feel this resort came close to our expectations. It has fabulous curb appeal, but there were too many issues for us to recommend this resort. If good food, and comfortable relaxation are important to you, don't go. This place does not compare to other 4* resorts we have visited.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Marie ~ Ottawa |
March 2009
Arrival: Mar 1 to 8
All went well on arrival... our bus waiting ... short ride to the resort
Rooms
we originally had a regular room but upon request we were upgraded to a suite and it was extremely roomy and had a few chairs which was nice... the other rooms had no room for chairs... blow dryer and iron and ironing board in room... stocked bar fridge, for first load it is free if you get additional top up they charge you 10.00... so don't drink the stuff there, there is always a bar open.. the rooms are cleaned daily... we had no complaints...
Restaurants and Bars
we ate in all three a-la-carte and they were all fabulous... the food at the regular restaurant was really good too... no complaints there either
Beach/Pools/Grounds
Although it rained 4 days while we were there the staff kept the grounds and pools extremely neat and tidy. They were always sweeping and cleaning around the pool area and walkways to the beach.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
There is much to do at the resort and are anxious for you to try what they are up to... you know all the crazy games... also darts, bowling and that type of stuff.. there is a guy in the lobby that you can book any tour with... we did not book with him... the guy (Cookie) on the beach that they tell you not to use is usually about 20-25 cheaper.. we rented a driver and took our own tour... went to Puerto Plata, Sosua beach and a local school... that was a humbling experience... although we brought with us pencils, paper, crayons, candy and the like we all left feeling we needed to do something more...it was a Haitian camp and was extremely poor... We got the address of the school and we will try to sponsor some of the children sho had no uniforms to go to school... I did not like that...
Other Comments
while you are there be sure to visit the disco ... only a few minutes walk from the resort...Coco Bungo... that is an experience in itself ...lots of locals dancing .... fun to watch and participate in... if you go be sure to tell Enrique I say Hi....
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Helen ~ Ottawa |
March 2009
Arrival: Feb 8 to Feb 16
Fanatastic greeeting, we were welcomed to the hotel by lovly hostesses that handed out refreshing cool towels to refresh ourselves. then we were given our packages, with our keys and hotel info and a drink then invited to have lunch while our rooms were readied.
Rooms
Very clean, I had a large kingsize bed, with a beautiful swan towel to welcome me. the bathroom was amazing, nice towels and lots of hotwater any time of the day. Oh and every evening our fresh beach towels were brought to our room. No running trying to get your card ar trying to get fresh towel early in the morning
Restaurants and Bars
3 al a cartes, the Chinese was our favorite, the seafood was good and the brazillin not so brazilin beef chewey as anything, Great service everwhere. the buffet restaurant was excellent. I would have been happy there any night. there was always something good no it was not like at home but if I wanted canadian cooking I would have stayed in Canada. Hey your on an island of a poor country the quality is not what we get at home.
3 great bars and we tried them all it was fun to sit in the pool watching people havein a drink in the cool water. 2 different sluchie drinks to choose from hurray. Rum rum and more rum. Yumm
Beach/Pools/Grounds
beautiful, It rained the first 3 days so we stayed mostly by the pool area as we could run to our room or lobby or the entertainment are to hang out. Lots of places to get out of the sun both beach and pool. there was not as many flowers out but I think it the time of year and all the rain they had.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
We did a tour of the city it rained so we mostly went from shopping area to shopping area also saw the rum factory and sampled more rum. the fort would have been nicer in the sunshine and we could not go up the cable car due to the rain. The activities were limited due to the rain. Only 3 in the activities planning they were pretty lame most of the time. really the only negative of the trip. the magician was amazing. I have been to lots of resorts and found this to be the poorest activities.
Other Comments
This year I left thinking I should have done 2 weeks. I could do 2 weeks here no problem. Usually I am quite ready to go. this was a great resort if you go to relax and have fun. No where will have the food of home so go with an open mind try different things and have fun.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Racquel ~ Montreal |
February 2009
Arrival: January 24 - 31
Flew in with Sunwing. Loved their service. Flight was on time. We quickly boarded the bus and were taken to our respective hotels. Check-in was smooth, with a refreshing cocktail. They proceeded to a group check-in, while siting in the lobby with a cool towel. Great! They asked for 5 volunteer rooms to move to the Victorias Resort next door as they had flooding issues from the previous day (It down poured the day before... Actually, they had to close the airport for a few hours). They offered compensation and it was all very well done.
The staff was very informative, very professional and our luggage arrived at our room 2 minutes after we went to it!
Rooms:
Rooms need some touch-ups. Nothing major. There are some damp spots along the ceiling, walls and curtains but hey, the humidity level is above 80% all year round!. They were very spacious. Bathroom was large with shampoo, conditionner,body wash, shoe shine, shower cap and sewing kit. TV had lots of channels. Mini bar was restocked with water everyday. The water is free. The beers and sodas are free the first time around only. In room safe for 15$ a week. 2 chairs with table. hair dryer, iron & board. The beds are VERY hard. That's the 1 thing I didn't like. The beach towels were in our room and changed everyday. Turn down service was wonderful, every evening. VERY clean.
Restaurants and Bars:
Honestly, they were all very good. Main buffet: They seat you, so no need to look for clean tables and cuttlery. You glass is refilled often and the service was excellent. it's very pretty. Breakfast: egg station, breads, meats, fruit, fresh smoothies. Lunch: pasta station, sandwich station, salads, desserts, etc. Dinner: different theme every night. Lots of choices. Truly enjoyed them. I saw the Chef and staff constantly mpnitoring the food, temperature, etc, etc. All 3 Ã la carte were very good. Seafood: Mahi Mahi- Grill: Chateaubriand- Asian: Curry chicken with fried ice cream. Excellent choices. No problems getting reservations. Would recommend all three. 4 bars. great service. We always tipped our wonderful bartenders. Ask for Brugal and you shall receive. They local brand is Normandy and that well, is just alright.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
We stayed mostly at the beach. There were definitely not enough chairs or shade. We had to play the towel game. Unfortunately. However, it is well groomed and the beach bar and grill are right there. The water is not crystal clear as it is also mixed with some fresh water from the mountains that are right in Playa Dorada's backyard. beautiful!!!! It's a nice walk to the left and there are great spots for swimming as well as a flea market at the end of the beach. Vendors are doing their jobs. A simple no, gracias is enough. 2 main pools seem to have alot of activities but we're not pool people. We did go to the spa pool one afternoon to relax and boy, did we ever. great relaxing atmosphere! grouns are very pretty. Extremely well-kept. We did a couples aromatherapy 50 minute massage. It was fantastic :-) Prices were reasonable. $126.00 for the both of us.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We did the Freestyle Catamaran and the Outback Jungle Safari . Well worth every penny. Informative, fun and would recommend both.
Also, for the partyers... There is Coco Bongo, a 2 minute walk from the hotel. it was happening after midnight and lots of fun! But mostly R&B, dance, etc... There was also a club called Spice and that was mostly Salsa, merengue and Bachata. Nice! it was not very full but we had a blast, with service for ourselves, and the DJ honoring pretty much any request we had! Drinks were approx. 4$ each, plus tip. Scotch was a little pricier. Like 7$. There are a few other clubs, mostly rock in and around the complex. We bought some of our souvenirs at the Plaza. Yes it was more expensive but we did not have to pay a cab to get downtown... There were our savings! 8$ for a bottle of rum and 3.50$ for coffee. 2$ for a magnet.
Other Comments:
We really enjoyed our stay. The staff is very attentive to details. The GM, the Chef and everyone was around, asking guest about their stay, monitoring service, etc. The service was wonderful. Would we go back? Yes we would! But for the moment, we are not ready to start returning to the same hotels yet. We will, eventually though! Their repeat customer business is incredible! the majority of guests we ran into were repeat customers! So they are definitely doing something right!
racquelschubert@yahoo.com
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Chris "Captain2002" & Nenita ~ Oakville, Ontario |
February 2009
My wife and I (53-59) stayed at Blue Bay January 13-27th., 2009. We booked our vacation last summer for a very good price through Sunwing. We booked early because 'adult only' was very important to us due to last year's debacle. Our flight was delayed a little due to de-icing, but not a big problem. We paid the extra money to pre book our seats in Elite class and was it was well worth it, with extra 10 KG per person, lots of leg room and express check in both in Toronto and Puerto Plata.
Check in. Very efficient and fast, we were approached by a staff member with a tray with a Canadian flag on it, two warm towels and a glass of ice tea. 5 minutes later we were in our room (#7112). Within 10 minutes of being at Blue Bay my wife's first comment was " this place is civilized"
Room. Very spacious and to our surprise a sitting area with 2 very comfy chairs for reading or watching TV. King size bed, dresser, 20" TV, huge closet with room safe ($30.00 for 2 weeks) and 3 drawers below. The closet had 4 doors and a light in it which turned off when the doors were closed. Marble and tiled bathroom with hair dryer. Never had an issue with water temperature or pressure, and we did shower at different times. Our room was one minute from the main buffet and pools, and also the quiet bar and pool, 2 minutes to the beach. Beach towels were in our room when we arrived and were changed every day or second day. Housekeepers were efficient and did a good job.
Food. Excellent, plenty of variety in the buffet for all 3 meals. There was an egg station at breakfast, along with a smoothie station. Lunch and dinner the pasta bar will make to any dish you like. A different theme every night for dinner, roast beef, pork, fish, turkey, you name it and was very good. We ate 3 times each at the El Pescadores (fish) & the El Dorado (steak) al a carte restaurants. The Mahi Mahi and grouper were excellent and the Argentinean steak and Chateaubriand for 2 were so tender you could cut them with your fork. We ordered medium rare and that is what we got. The best appetizers for us were the shrimp and avocado salad, breaded calamari and shrimp and grouper lasagna. Service was wonderful and they had a name tag on our table--nice touch. The snack bar at the beach was great for burgers, sausages, chicken, pizza and fries. How some people say they could not find anything to eat, blows me away.
My wife does say that she would like to see an alternative to the hot cereal (oatmeal) offered at breakfast and that is the traditional Caribbean cornmeal.
Bars. There are 4, swim up, pool/entertainment, quiet and beach. Like most other resorts (Riu's) the main brand of liquor is Normandy, which well how can I say it nicely-- not top or middle shelf (a euphemism for awful), but with a smile and a por favor, you can always get Brugal(3 grades) & Russian Vodka. That is what I did and all was good.
Grounds. Well kept and maintained. Statues and romantic dinner set up were really a nice touch.
Tours. We have been going to the DR since 1989, so we have done them all previously.
Entertainment. We watched two shows, the Cirque du Soleil, and the water ballet. Both were good and worth the time. At our age we did not participate in any games, and after the first day of saying No Gracias, they left us alone and concentrated on the younger set. The animation team do work a long and hard day, and are always smiling and laughing. I got tired just watching them.
Pools. There are 3, the 3' deep swim up, the 4' sports activity pool and the 4' quiet pool (very small) All were clean and well maintained. A wee bit chilly for the first 30 seconds but great after that.
Beach. Clean and well maintained from what we could see, as we spent our time at the pools.
Staff. Very helpful, from Sr. Oscar Lora the G.M. to the groundskeepers. Many a time we saw management helping out in the restaurants, cleaning and setting tables for more guests to use. Sr. Lora has his finger on the pulse of this resort and it carries over to the staff.
Overall. All my comments so far have been very positive, however, we all know that no one resort is perfect. Here are my thoughts to enhance the positive:
More shade around the pool areas along with small tables to put your drinks, book, or camera down.
Umbrellas for every room, believe me we did need them. Perhaps candles in the buffet for dinner. We were asked to fill out a questionnaire while sitting at the back of the buffet restaurant one night and could not read it from lack of lighting.
A proper lounge or lobby bar would be a good addition, since the only bar open after 11:00 PM is the beach bar so there really is no alternative. At other resorts, we used to enjoy a drink or 3 relaxing in a nice lounge bar with friends after the entertainment is over. Housekeeping should clean the room at the same time every day, so guests can plan around that.
Now having said that, would we go back? A big YES for the first time. we have never gone back to any resort we've been but are planning a return visit to Blue Bay in 2010.
Any questions contact PM me - Captain2002
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Sylvia ~ Ottawa, Ontario |
February 2009
Heavenly Holiday at BlueBay
My husband and I just returned from our 4th 2 week holiday at BlueBay and again had a fabulous vacation. Our stay was from January 15 until February 1. While at the resort we met many former guests, some with whom we were acquainted.
Since we were at BlueBay last February we noted many positive changes:
The majority of staff remain at the resort and a great number of them show personal growth. They are more confident and have learned to speak more English, French and probably German. All staff are committed to providing guests with a good experience while on holiday.
The food is varied and of excellent quality in the buffet and three specialty restaurants. BlueBay has earned the Cristal Award of Excellence for 2008. A detailed description of the Cristal food safety risk management program can be found on the following website which is worthwhile reading:
http://www.checksafetyfirst.com/en/standards.php
The General Manager, Manager of Food Services, the head chef and others are constantly surveying the food stations ensuring that high standards are being maintained.
Our room was cleaned well every day; towels were changed twice a day. Durng the first week of our holiday our room was cleaned at irregular hours. At the beginning of the second week we were asked when we would prefer to have the room attended to and we requested before noon. From then on that's when it was done. There was a problem with water pressure for a period of time but this was due to a system failure in Puerto Plata and not the fault of the resort. Any small problems with plumbing etc were dealt with immediately. Later in the day we received a call to ask if the problem had been resolved. The lumpy pillows have been replaced with ones which are very comfortable. The new towels, inlcuding the beach towels, are thicker and fluffier.
The spa area is now a smoke free zone. Yea!
Thanks to the gardeners and maintence staff the grounds are beautifully kept. During the heavy rains staff members worked non stop to keep the walkways and public areas clear of water. However, it was impossible to keep up with the demands of that job.
I can't comment too much about most of the entertainment as my husband and I prefer to walk in the evening and visit with other guests rather than join in on the fun, However, we did enjoy the water ballet, circus and magic show. They are all not to be missed.
When we went to the beach it was nicely groomed and we always managed to find a lounger or a place to perch. However, we're not beach people and only went very early in the morning to walk or late in the afternoon to watch the waves. Beach staff will remove personal belongings from loungers if they're left for too long so beware of reserving places and disappearing for several hours. There are signs indicating this rule.
Room for improvement:
The resort could use a few more umbrellas around the pool areas. It was often difficult to find some shade.
Perhaps the next time the pathways are painted a non-slip paint can be used. The paths are extremely slippery when wet. That being said, Crocs are fabulous when it rains. They may not look elegant but they sure help keep a person upright.
Summary:
BlueBay is a fantastic, reasonably priced resort with staff dedicated to providing excellent friendly service. Guests can be assured of having a fine vacation and meeting wonderful people from Europe, Britain, Canada and the US. We certainly did.
If you would like any additional information do not hesitate to send me a personal message.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Sean ~Near Ottawa, Ontario |
January 2009
14 of us (from 25 to 55 years old) went to the Blue Bay PP from Jan 18 - Jan 25. Overall we had a good time. Here is a summary of our vacation. We all noted that it is more like a Good 3.5 star but would be a fair 4 star at best. No major problem..but a bunch of small situations.
Flight: SkyService - OK
Arrival: We were very late getting in due to delays at the airport. Had no food for us. No reception and minimal to no information on arrival.
Meals: Overall we found the food good - quite acceptable. The buffet was good and the head chef was often seen on the floor taking care of the presentation and quality. We all agreed that the buffet overall was good. We took in two of the three a la cartes (Beef and Sea Food). We enjoyed them both very much and the service was excellent. We did not try the Chinese.
Rooms: Acceptable rooms with some good features and some weaknesses. No chairs or dressers but a large closet with a safe for $15/US per week. The bathroom was very nice. Water pressure varied from good to fair. We had a huge rain storm while we were there and several of our rooms leaked. The quality of cleaning varied: some of us received very good service and some fair only even though we all left tips and gifts everyday but it didn't seem to matter.
Excursions: We only did a catamaran due to the weather...we all loved it, even those that felt a bit of motion sickness. Booked from Cookie on the beach (no problems). However, the food was not up to our expectations..most of us didn't even try it.
Beach: The beach was nice and safe for walking, running, etc. There are many venders on the beach that keep asking you to buy. Look these are locals trying to make a living. We had no problems with them. Bought some of their stuff the first day and the rest of the time they left us alone..other then to say "Hi".
Entertainment: OK...A few really enjoyed the entertainment and some felt it was just OK. We all agreed that the CREW try really hard to make your time fun...but could use more professional guidance, especially for a 4 star resort. After 11pm there is no on site entertainment. The resort basically shuts down. (Bar remains open)
Staff: The staff overall is friendly and respectful. Watch out for the time share saleman in White. They will take up a whole morning / afternoon of your time...for a free t-shirt and cap. That being said one of our brothers went and indicated it was informatiive and a good deal if you are interested in such an opportunity, he wasn't and they respected that.
Overall Summary: The 14 of us had a great family vacation and we spent a lot of quality time with each other. We enjoyed ourselves very much and liked the DR people. We all agreed that there was more good about the resort then bad but this is not quite yet a four star resort. It was a good deal for the price we paid but we were glad we didn't spend more.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Angela ~ Walkerton, Ontario, Canada
|
December 2008
Your Arrival: Nov. 3 - Nov. 10, 2008
The lobby is comfortable and well decorated. We were given a package of the hotel's information and then had a quick booking in. We had time to have dinner at the near by buffet and it was great.
Rooms:
The rooms were simple and clean. They had everything you need and if you needed anything it took a short will and it would be delivered to your room.
The cleaning staff was good. You could hear people in the hall, but that was only for a few minutes and then it was quiet.
Restaurants and Bars:
Wonderful staff at the restaurants and bars. Food and drinks were great. They even had a section in the Buffet for healthy food. The only thing I did not like is the beef...it was very tough and chewy, but there is so much else this was not a problem.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Clean and well, very well kept grounds and pools. The beach is darker sand and the venders come up and ask if you want anything while on the beach...this is not a problem because you would say no and they walked a way.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We took the Outback Adventure trip and it was the best. The tour guide was funny and we went to many places and the history was interesting. They included your lunch and drinks all day. We also took a cab tour into Puerto Plata and it was also good.
Other Comments:
There was time share people on the resort that approached you shortly after you get to the resort. They would say things like we would like to set up a welcome tour and give you a gift. If you don't want to do this tour just say no. They do leave you alone. One of the best things about the resort is the entertainment crew. They keep you busy if you want to join in and will leave you alone if you say no. The games are great fun. There is a quiet pool away from the main pools and this is for relaxing.
don_55@sympatico.ca
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Johnny Fearless ~ Burlington, Ontario, Canada
|
November 2008
I traveled to Puerto Plata and stayed at BlueBay Villas Doradas between October 26th and November 2nd. I usually travel with a friend, but nobody had any time left to take off for this year, so this was my first vacation going by myself. I booked with Signature Vacations through selloffvacations, and the flight over was pretty good.. about 3.5 hours or so on Skyservice. After quick baggage retrieval and a 20 minute drive to the resort, we were greeted in the lobby with hot towels and iced tea while we were assigned our rooms.
Originally, I stayed in room 7104, which would have been perfect if it weren't for the fact that it was located next to some kind of a maid closet, and there was plenty of banging around and loud noises with their trolleys at 6:30am. I heard a number of people complaining about a leaky roof in 7105, and as soon as they moved the people out of there, they would put a different group of people who would also complain not long after. I asked to get a different room, and I was placed in 6102, which was located conveniently near the front entrance, and it was fairly quiet aside from some road noise here and there. I did have an adjoining door to the next room, and it wasn't a bit of a problem until my last day, when a Canadian couple moved in and were "doing it" very loudly in the bathroom, while the woman was blow-drying her hair. Kind of amusing, but you really can hear everything that goes on in the other room.
The staff is extremely friendly, and I can honestly say that I haven't come across nicer people in my travels.. they work hard and go out of their way to make your stay an enjoyable one. As for tipping at the bars or the restaurants, I don't really think it made much difference in terms of service, but tipping the guy at the bar a dollar or two per night will definitely get you the top shelf Brugal rum, and not the regular Normandy stuff they give to everyone else. My only strange experience is that for a couple of days, I am pretty sure the maid was setting the clock in my room 15 minutes behind (or perhaps the clock was defective?). I always try to synchronize my watch with the room clocks wherever I go, and this almost caused me to miss the Outback Safari excursion which was on a Wednesday because the alarm didn't go off soon enough.
The timeshare guys can be annoyingly persistent, but I was able to elude them for most of the trip. They wear white shirts and are always hanging around the tour group orientations like vultures. They always open with a line like, "Heyyy! Remember me?". They seem friendly but they're just going to waste your time. Run. Don't walk.
The rep from Signature Vacations, Guy, was also very helpful with advice and information on tours and just about everything else in Puerto Plata. He went out of his way to book an excursion at the last minute for me; the reps at other hotels in other countries would never have done that.. sometimes they won't even show up!
There is free (but spotty) Internet access in the lobby, with a laptop on either side of the front desk. It seems to cut out here and there, but when it's running, you can use it as much as you want. They simply ask that if there are other people waiting to use the computers, that you limit your session to 15 minutes. I used it quite a bit during a spell of two days where it rained endlessly.
I was the whitest person in the Dominican Republic when I got there, and partially because of the weather, I was still the whitest person when I was leaving. There was a torrential downpour for two straight days, and I'm glad I had done all of my excursions before then. I had never seen rain like that before in my life.. the walkways had almost two inches of water in them, so I ended up staying in my room for some of the time, or I went to the lobby around the corner to abuse the Internet access. Aside from that, the weather was great.
I would typically identify myself as a beach person, but I wasn't overly impressed with the beach here. There wasn't anything particularly bad about it, but because it's a bay, the many boats and catamarans anchored in there (along with the many ropes) kind of took away from the atmosphere. The beds on the beach really are a nice touch, though.. some might find that there weren't enough beach chairs or umbrellas.
I tried to stay by the pools whenever I could, and I never really had any problems finding a lounger or an umbrella at all. The pool with the bar is surprisingly shallow, and I had heard of at least two injuries from eager arrivals who couldn't wait to dive into the pool. The animation staff always has something going on by the two main pools, be it games, sushi lessons, or something else. I usually don't participate because I'm shy, but they managed to drag me off my chair one time for a game that we ended up winning.
I tried all three of the a la carte restaurants, and here were my impressions:
Jade: I ordered the salmon here, and it was very good. A huge fillet; I wasn't sure I would be able to finish it.
Steakhouse:
Here you start off with a salad bar, but I noticed a beetle crawling on top of the tomatoes, so my visit to the salad bar was very brief - I decided to eat bread instead. After that, I got a French Onion soup which was not that great; it looked like it was made with cooking onions. I then ordered the chateaubriand, and I got a huge platter of it that was meant for two people.. it had baked potatoes and vegetables - easily the best thing I ate on the resort, even though I couldn't finish it all!
Seafood Restaurant:
I ordered the mahi mahi here, and I seem to recall that it came with rice and some vegetables. It was good, but nothing spectacular.
The buffet food was pretty good as well, but if you show up too late for the dinner buffet, some of the food can be cold. As for the breakfast buffet, I found that some of the items were undercooked, like the breakfast sausages and the scrambled eggs (which were watery). But that's where the made-to-order omelettes come in and save the day! And if you've missed any of the buffet services, you can always go down to the beach bar and order something there at any time of the day or night.
I did the Outback Jungle Safari and we had a crazy Steve Irwin-esque guide named Jesse, it was a pretty fun day overall. They take you to a plantation and a school. After stopping for something to eat, they take you out to Cabarete beach for some boogie boarding.
I also did the city tour with the cable car trip up to the top of Mount Isabella De Torres (not the regular city tour). The views were amazing, but then the clouds started to roll in. Other parts of that tour included a visit to the Brugal rum factory, the amber museum, and a stop at Puerto Plata's city centre.
I tried to keep to myself for most of the trip, but I did meet a few people there.. even some people that I recognized from the Internet! There were plenty of couples there of all ages, and only a few singles or groups of singles, like the two crazy girls from Barrie (I tried looking for you guys at Coco Bongo; someone lied to me about the cover! drop me a line if you read this). Most of the people at this resort seemed to be Canadian or English, with a smattering of other nationalities.
Aside from the excursions, I didn't venture out of the resort often. I went to the plaza once to have a look around, and I didn't go to Coco Bongo because someone told me that the cover was $8 and it wasn't all that great. I had spent all of my money by the last night and when I finally found some people who wanted to go there, I didn't think I could get in. I ended up going later on, and while it looked like the locals were paying and getting wristbands, a giant 7-foot tall police officer kind of grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me inside the club. I guess it's free for the people staying in the resorts. The club was very crowded, and was populated with 95% locals. The music was pretty decent; typical of a Caribbean nightclub.
I took a can of Deep Woods Off! with me, but still got a few mosquito bites here and there. Seeing that there was a bridge going over a swampy area to the beach, I was worried that I was going to get eaten alive - but it never happened.
I enjoyed the resort and would probably come back again.. in fact, we're looking at booking a trip for April 18th of next year, and I'm already trying to push BlueBay Villas Doradas as the destination - Unless the new BlueBay in Punta Cana opens before then.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
USA |
July 2008
We stayed at the Blue Bay in June 2008 and booked it through Apple Vacations. Landed at the airport and was meet by a bellman who noticed our apple tags on the luggage and brought us to the apple rep. who loaded our luggage and we were the first drop off resort from the airport about 15mins. Check in went find. We were given a room on the third floor over looking a drainage area and a tractor and aske for a second floor room over looking the small pool area. This area was nice very quite.
ROOM, Room was plain with a King size bed. Nice shower with great water pressure. Mattress was hard. A couple times we did not get any clean towels called the front desk and withing 10 mins had clean towels. This happend twice. Room was clean air cond. work great. For what we paid for the vacation we were pleased with the room. (would have been nice to have a chair in the room only the bed to sit on.)
FOOD. Food was good at the buffet but towards the end of the week started to look the same. But we did not get sick and I say the food was better than the Bareclo in Costa Rica. We ate at the SeaFood rest. it was ok nice part was it was air cond and we were waited on, sevice was very good. After I was done eating they asked if I wanted more.
BEACH/POOLS the beach was great very cleaned and racked every night, You had to be out by 9:00am to get a chair under the huts. Its a adults resorts so maybe most people did not get up to early from the partying the night before. Same with the pool. 3 pools one with swim up bar, another bigger pool and a smal pool. all pools were very clean, the ground were very clean. Do take insect rep. for the beach.
SERVICE it was good plenty of smile and Hi's. rooms were cleaned by 4:00 pm and then aroung 10:00 pm they came with clean towels but not consistantly. Take small currancy, we did go to the casino next to our resort and they would break a $20.00 down for you in US. we did that a couple of times.
TOURS we went to Ocean World and really enjoyed it. left at 8:00 am and was home by 5:00 pm maybe a little long. My wife did the sea lions encounter and swam with the dolfins and including the park admission was $190.00. I did the sea lion encounter and with admission was $75.00. We also did the Puerto Plata tour and cable car ride it was nice, did shopping went to the rum factory great prices on rum, amber mus.and lunch for $45.00 per person.
Conclusion. It was nice it was a adults only resort. We really enjoyed it for the price we payed and we would go there again and would recommend it
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
S and D ~ Ontario |
May 2008
Rooms
Very basic but clean. You can see that there have been some renovations by a fairly modern faucet and ceiling fan, electronic air conditioning system, and an electronic safe. Having a drawer would definitely help you stay organized. Without it, you have to manage with your suitcases and a bit of shelf space in the small closet. You have a small TV and a minibar but the minibar is only stocked with water every day. You get a couple of beers and a couple of soft drinks complimentary upon arrival but if having it restocked is important to you, you can pay $10 for the week. Not a big deal for us as the resort was small so bars were a short walk away.
Beach and Pools
This is actually the primary reason why we decided to provide some feedback and are surprised that nobody mentioned anything. As soon as we saw the beach, we were looking at the planes flying away.
You have to decide how important this aspect is for you in relation to everything else. We go to the ocean because of the beach, not because of the pool.
Shortly about the pools, you would expect as an adult resort that the pools would be like pools here. The total depth of the pools varies between 3 and 4 feet throughout. So, oversized bath tubs as far as we are concerned but that’s seems to be ok by many.
Not going to comment much on the beach bar/restaurant. You can get some food before around 4 pm (after that you have to ask to get some variety beside leftovers), you can get your drinks, as you would expect. Unfortunately if the beach with an blue ocean view is critical to your vacation, this is not the place. The beach is in a bay. Bays can be nice simply because they are bays, but this one holds the catamarans and the boats that are used for various activities that are marketed to the whole complex. Lots of ropes and two of them converging at the Blue Bay resort. Given that it is a small resort, its beachfront tiself is not very deep nor wide. So these ropes do kind of take away from the atmosphere and surprisingly do interfere. The view seems congested due to these boats and the water is fairly murky. The sand is granular, fairly compact and could be sifted to get rid of so much little debris that can stick into your foot and cut you.
Thankfully, we have been to Playa Dorada before and we knew our way around. We packed a bit of a light snack and drinks and made a daily trekk towards the east (left of our resort) past two peninsulas to get to the stretch that starts with the Paradise Beach Hotel. (You can shorten this 15 minute trip to about 7 minutes by exiting the resort and walking by the road.) The difference between the beach and the view is like night and day. The beach has much more depth, the quality of the sand is much better and the water is much clearer and less cluttered. How can there be such a difference? Apparently a few years ago that stretch of the beach was renewed by sand that was brought from the ocean, so really, if someone closed your eyes and took you from one beach to another, you wouldn’t think you were at the same coast of the same island, let alone the same complex and less than a mile away.
This is the way to compensate for the beachfront, but then you are losing your access to the bar and food if that is very important for you. In other words, if a nice beach is very important to you beside all your resort amenities, this is NOT the place to be.
Restaurants
The buffet restaurant was actually quite good in quality and variety. One measure for me is that typically desserts look good everywhere but the taste doesn’t complement the appearance. Here, they tasted as good as they looked and I would rate overall food the same way. It was very good considering that we were in Dominican Republic. We see people often being amazed by the omellettes, but let us say that we haven’t been to a 3.5-4 star resorts where we have not seen the same thing. You can only differentiate the speed by which these guys work and the guys we had, were not the speediest. Same goes for the pasta bar. But we will say that the variety of meats, pastries and desserts was notably good and a taste test for us is whether desserts taste as good as they look - I think many of you will know what we mean! They looked great and they tasted great! So, variety at dinner and taste were good.
The service in the buffet restaurant is pretty good as well. The staff is attentive and responsive. The only minor negative comment is that all the tables are for four. So, if you wish to have a private dinner for two, depending on who the buffet supervisor is, you may get seated with strangers. However, people stagger themselves well so this happened to us only once. The supervisor asked us ahead of time when the restaurant was empty and we told him that we would prefer not to especially since we would likely be finishing before the prime time. Nevertheless, he brought some guests anyway even though the vast majority of the tables had only two people sitting. It seemed like he wanted to make some point that did not need to be made. Our companions unfortunately could not speak any English besides the greeting pleasantries and we unfortunately couldn’t mix English and French to the point where it would be intelligible German.
With the a-la-cartes you are getting a bit marginally cozier atmosphere and better service which you would expect due to the lower numbers of guests. However, besides the cooks being able to present the food better on your plate and getting it as soon as it is ready, we found that the quality of food is not necessarily superior to the buffet.
Bars
As we are not big drinkers, can’t comment on this aspect. We were able to get served for our non-alcoholic beverages quite readily, as one would expect.
Grounds
Small resort that is kept clean. Not much more to say than that.
Activities and Entertainment
Typically we like to attend the nightly shows when we are down south. But, the location of the nightly shows here was such that it really took away from the atmosphere of being down south. The stage/theatre is tucked on the side, and very narrow. It just didn’t seem like much of a show could be put together, and without a good show the atmosphere of sitting in open air was not there in our opinion, so we stayed away from them. One time they did move the show into the pool area.
Tours
You know the routine if you have been there before. Also, we should note that during the check in “introduction” and the meeting with your tour operator (Sunwing in our case), most of the information provided related to the tours and very little to the resort. Therefore a bit of waste of time if you’ve traveled before. Your tour operator information is in the binder with all the others, and other than that, grab the map of the grounds and figure out where things are yourself. Rushing and keeping track of the scheduled meeting with the tour operator was a waste of our time.
Conclusion
The few 5-star resort comparisons made on this site are completely out of the question. This is a clean, quaint, resort with basic rooms and good service. The food is relatively good quality and variety and all these things combined could talk us into a 4-star rating between the choice of 3.5 and 4. However, if the beach is very important to you, you may be very disappointed like we initially were. Thankfully we found a way to compensate for it but with a sacrifice that wasn't that critical to us and in the end, we would say that it is a good value for money under $900 including taxes, etc.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Bev |
April 2008
My husband and I spent the week of March 11th at this resort. We woulh highly recommened to stay here.Best service of the many resorts we have visted. Food excellent,staff great. We are in our late forteries and have travelled to Mexico,Dominician,British Virgin Islands and have never had better service. Highly recommend The Blue Bay Doradas. 5 star ++++++++
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
William |
April 2008
We travelled from Ottawa to Blue Bay a few weeks ago. We were very happy with everything and heartily recommend it to others. There are a few things that I would like to add: first the staff is second to none! Everyone was helpful, eager to please and always with a smile. Salvador, for example, heard that I was not feeling well one AM. He went off to the bar and prepared a concoction of various foul tasting liquids which, after choking it down, really did work. This is the best reason to go there although the food and accommodations were good as well. The rooms are modest, but clean. The best for us old folk were near the spa where things were less noisy than elsewhere. Candles around the pool at night were a nice touch.
Felix is the unofficial tour guy on the beach at Blue Bay. He is a great guy and he will give you the best prices on tours that will be suited to what you want. His prices are less than at the desk and don't worry, tours are the same - licensed etc.
I think we supported Cookie and his entire extended family with all the purchases we made on the beach. He was as entertaining as he was a good negotiator.
One sour note was the "villa upgrade" presentation. It smacked of time share, but they insist that it was not. We showed little interest so we never did get the whole story.
In short, go you will enjoy it!!
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Wendy |
April 2008
I just got back from a great stay at Blue Bay Villas. Except for a few minor problems with the room I found that the hotel was very clean, the staff great and the food good. If you want a great horseback riding adventure get in touch with Lorilar Ranch or see Franklyn on the beach. The best taxi service to use is Tecni-Taxi. Our driver was Andre 809-344-6836. He is very resoanable and gives free Spanish lessons. He can't pick you up inside Playa Dorado but you can meet him at the entrance. We had a great day with him.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Diane and Vincent ~ Gatineau, Canada |
February 2008
This was our 15th visit to the Dominican Republic and we have stayed in 3*, 4* and 5*. Blue Bay is sometimes classified as a 3.5 or 4*. But if the resort was classified for it's service, it would definitely be a 10*, if such classification existed. We were there February 9th to 23rd.
I will not write a very long review of this resort, since we agree with every positive review on this website and disagree with every (but very few) negative ones posted here. We loved everything at Blue Bay: food, drinks, grounds, pools, animation, exceptional staff, bars, beach, rooms (basic but extremely clean), service, etc. When you go to a 3.5* resort, don't expect a 5* and considering the price, it's excellent value for the money you pay for this vacation. You also have to keep in mind that this resort is not a new resort, but it has gone through extreme renovations, not just touch ups, like in certain resorts. This is the best 3.5*- 4* we ever stayed at. Last year, our friends were at a 4.5* resort in Punta Cana and except for the room, they said that everything was better at Blue Bay. This is my opinion and I would recommend this resort to any reasonable traveller. You have questions, you can contact me at: dianeetvincent@sympatico.ca
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Sylvia and Ian |
February 2008
Fantastic Holiday at Blue Bay
My husband and I stayed at Blue Bay from February 9 to the 23rd. This was our 9th holiday arranged through Go Travel Direct. Flights were on time and as usual all staff was efficient and good humoured. Taryn, our in-house GTD rep, made sure all special arrangements were well looked after.
Check In
It was a pleasant surprise to be presented with our welcome package including bracelet, room key, specialty restaurant cards and information booklet while en route to the resort. Once at Blue Bay (1:30 PM) we were greeted by staff who offered everyone a cocktail and cold towel. Because our rooms would only be available at 3 PM we were encouraged to have lunch, relax with a drink and then return to reception after which we would be escorted to our rooms.
Room
We were delighted to be assigned the same quiet, comfortable room facing the spa area that we had during our last stay. Our room was appointed with a king sized bed, bedside tables, credenza, TV, coffee maker, fridge, two comfortable chairs and coffee table. Our cupboard was outfitted with a safe, iron and ironing board, an umbrella, shelves and small dresser. Being on the ground floor we had a patio with a table and 2 chairs.
Staff
The staff at Blue Bay is second to none. Each member of staff is dedicated to providing friendly and excellent service. Oscar Lora, the General Manager, personally ensures the resort is running smoothly by being present around the property during the day and evening. In the buffet servers provided guests with beverages and cleared the tables as quickly as possible even when the dining room was at full capacity. To single out a few Francisco, who usually mans the Oxigen Bar at the spa, always had a surprise for us in the morning. Each day he would flavour the water in the cooler with fresh fruits. My favourite was the refreshing lime/cucumber combination. At the end of yoga class at 11:30 AM, hollowed out fruit shells with juice were passed around to yoga participants and others who were in the area. Juan, at the swim up bar, never let our drink glasses go empty (Hic!). His margaritas were incredible. Pablo at the beach bar would see us approaching after our morning walk and would immediately start preparing our cappuccinos. Other staff members were equally attentive. Be sure to attend the Manager’s Cocktail Party on Tuesday evening to meet Oscar and his team of managers.
Food
Because the resort was 100% full there was sometimes a short wait for a table in the buffet but that was an opportunity to have a pleasant chat with other guests in line. Food selections at the buffet and specialty restaurants were always fresh, plentiful and of excellent quality. When traveling I usually have a sensitive stomach and even after eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies had no problem whatsoever. At dinner in the buffet there was always something interesting served at the grill and carvery areas. On Monday evenings (Oriental Cuisine) don’t miss the Peking duck and on Saturday (Seafood) there was lobster in the paella. Yum!
For a special occasion do book a “Romantic Candlelight Dinner on the Beach”. ($150) You will be treated like royalty.
Pools
At Blue Bay there is the option of spending time at either the main pool area where there are lots activities provided by the Animation Team or at the quiet spa area described earlier. The pools were cleaned, tested and treated daily.
Grounds
The gardeners and cleaning staff work diligently keeping the grounds immaculate and attractive.
Beach
The beach is close at hand and accessed across a bridge. Food and beverages are available at the beach bar. Loungers and 4 poster beds provide spots for sun bathing and relaxing. In cooler parts of the day it’s pleasant to walk the beach in either direction. Staff work hard to keep the beach clear of debris brought up by the waves and left by guests.
Entertainment
Daytime activities and evening entertainment are for the most part provided by the Animation Team. There are also outside entertainers including a water ballet (Tuesday evenings), a magician, and bands to enhance the programme.
In summary, a resort is never going to meet the needs of every guest. We enjoy Blue Bay because we can be assured of a reasonably priced holiday in a compact, clean and attractive environment, good food and excellent service between check in and check out from personable staff.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Canada |
February 2008
We just spent 2 weeks at the Blue Bay Villa Doradas resort. They claim that it is a 4 star resort. It is not. The food was average. The buffet was small and did not have a good variety of food. The food was bland and almost everyone that I talked to was sick during their stay including myself and two of our freinds that went with us. The ala carte restaurants had a limited menu and if you wanted lobster of Peking Duck you had to pay extra for it. There is not a good selection of liqour and we wondered if it was watered down. We asked four days in a row for extra pillows befor we recieved them. Our first room smelled bad and our second room the safe did not work. They said that they would replace it and after three days of asking for a new one the said that they could not get us one and nor could they offer us a new room. When we asked for a refund they said that we needed a reciept. They did not give us a receipt. After three trips to the front desk they finally refunded our money. The pools were dirty and small and only 3 feet deep and there is no golf shop on the resort as they claim. The entertainment was average and allways too loud even though we and other guests complained several times. The fridge in our room had 2 bottles of beer one coke, one sprite and a bottle of water. If you wanted them replaced it costs and extra $10.00.
The gym was small and had little equipment. Some of the rooms still leaked from showers above them. TV's were old and had poor pictures. This was our fifth trip to the Domincan Republic. I love the island, the people and the wether but you would be much better off to stay at Sun Village beach resort which put Blue Bay to shame. We were hounded constantly by staff trying to sell us time shares. The only good thing about our trip[ was that the animation staff was very freindly and fun and the Playa Dorada golf course whos club house was across the street was great.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Debbie ~ Ottawa |
February 2008
Arrival -
I was at his Hotel Jan 5th to the 12th 2008 with my husband and another couple. I returned on the 26th Jan for another week with my mother and another friend. Every thing went smoothly as we arrive to the front desk. Staff were very helpful and friendly.
Rooms -
We had a standard room with two queen size beds.
when we requested a cot for the third lady that was with us they did not have cots at this hotel.When Oscar Liar the hotel manager had the staff move a queen size bed from another room to our room I was blown away. We would of been ok with just a mattres but he had them move the bed as well. This was a huge surprise to us. I never seen this kind of service in my 9 times to the Dominican Republic ever.Oscar and Gemma his partner went way beyond the customer service we could of ever expected.
Restaurants -
There are three A la cart restaurants.
My favourite was the grill awsome tender steak you did not need a knive.They also have a seafood,as well as chinese.
Bars -
There is a 24 hr bar by the beach another bar near the quiet pool
and a bar near the main pool as well as a swim up bar. The bartenders
are all wonderful people and eager to please. My favourite bar tender
is Juan he works the swim up bar. My drinks were ready before my glass
emptied. Juan kept everyone happy we all loved him. Then there was David the bartender that worked the beach bar. He would also serve you on the beach. Just lay back an relax and David would come and take your order well you soaked up the sun. I have never been served on the beach in the Dominican Republic before.
Beach and Pools -
The beach was cleaned daily. There was always enough loungers and the hotel was full. The pools were kept sparkling clean.
Grounds -
The grounds were clean and all trees trimmed beautifully.
Activities -
We joined in the activies everyday. There was dart tournements. Cooking lessons,cocktail lessons, ping pong tournements as well as volley ball in the pool and the beach volleyball. You could go for yoga lessons and pool arobics. There was lots to do if you wished too.
Tours -
I did not take any tours this year because I had done alot of them on other visits to the D.R. The outback Safari is a all day tour and is a must if you want to learn about the dominican culture. The guides are very knowledgeable and speak good english. Your drinks and food are included in the price of the tour.
Conclusion -
I would recommend this hotel to anyone. I have stay at some 5 star hotels in the D.R and the blue bay was a lot better then that. The food was amazing. The selections were plentiful.
we love the wings,burgers and fries down by the beach.
The buffet had great soups fresh baked breads of all varieties.The pasta bar was very good. The selections were of fish, beef, pork and chicken every day. They would have theme nights and we loved the Mexican night. I have no complaints about this hotel and can not wait to go back again. I will definately return to the Blue Bay Getaway in the Playa Dorados complex. Thank You Oscar and Gemma, Tony,Odaly,Juan Sexy Robert,David, Elsavador,Olinda,also all the staff were wonderful people. Miss you already.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Ken & Lynne |
January 2008
BEST KEPT SECRET IN THE DOMINICAN
Just got back from spending Christmas and New Years weeks at Blue Bay Villas Doradas. This was our 15th. Visit to this resort, from when it was Villas Doradas. We have also been to many others, including several 5 Star. Since Blue Bay took over, it has become a 5+ Star Resort at a 4 Star price.
The new manager, Mr. Oscar Lora and the staff he has surrounded himself with, is the reason. The waiters, waitresses and all the supporting people are so well trained and courteous that it’s almost impossible to do anything for yourself. Even at the buffet, we never had to get up to refill juice, coffee, tea etc from breakfast on. Wine was poured from the right side and that was not boxed wine, bottled wine. Even at the beach snack bar, the service was the same. The bar help, once they made one drink for you, knew what you drank and were a step ahead of your order. Even the sweeper and maids were a pleasure to greet.
Now for the meals……… We were there for 4 gala dinners. The choice for main course had the following choices (each night); Lobster, Center cut Lamb Chops, Carved Turkey, Carved Roast Beef, a whole Pig, Ham, Salmon, and Smoked Salmon. You could have had as many Lobsters as you wanted. Of course a sushi Bar appeared several times. Oh yes….How could I not forget my favorite, Oysters. In fact at the special brunches following each holiday, my menu was Garlic bread, Oysters for a salad. Oysters for my main course and Oysters for desert. Speaking of deserts, I have a bad sweet tooth and during the 14 days, I had just 2 deserts due to the food that was served. The food at the Ala Carte Restaurants was just as fabulas. Try the Peking Duck at the Oriental Restaurant. It’s carved for you at the table, the first cuts were rolled in crepes, the remainder was removed while you ate and was served over rice and specialality vegetable. I have to stop talking about the food, I’m getting hungry again and I’m trying to lose what I gained on vacation.
Now for facilities….The décor is very nice, no crystal chandelier etc. but I only see these coming and going. Maybe that’s why it’s only rated 4 Star. The cleanliness, my main concern was excellent. The rooms were immaculate. The grounds were manicured. I’m an early riser and am on the beach at 6:30 every morning for a walk. I see the myriad of staff cleaning, raking, washing down the pathways, pool, wiping down the chairs etc. As for the Pools, all 3 Pools look like they were filled with gin. They are kept immaculate. Every AM, thee Pool attendant scrubbed down even the rim of sun tan oil, every filter was cleaned and the bottom vacuumed. He tested each pool at least 3 or 4 times per day. The beach boy every morning is out on the beach picking up the straws, cigarette butts, glasses and trash that the users could not carry to the trash cans or carry their glasses back to the bar. Also when you dine, as soon as you finish with salad, they remove the plates immediately, the same at breakfasts. My wife’s used tea bags were removed just as quickly. It may be a little thing but it sure makes for pleasant dining and shows the level to which the staff has been trained. Another thing that I have not had any other place we have been is being waited on with drinks while you are on the beach.
Now the entertainment that was available ranged from Karaoke to Water Ballet, there were several live bands. Real Bands, who didn’t just play Dominican Music, everything from Elvis to Big Band, Disco, and Country. We had a ball.. And of course, on New Years Eve, there were Noise Makers, Hats, Tiaras, etc. followed by Fireworks, both at the Pool and another one by the Hotel Assoc. in front of the resort. Dinner that night was around the pool.
Another thing that the manager, Mr. Lora started is his Cocktail Party in the Lobby once a week. The hors d’oeuvres drinks, etc. that were served are great, but the best part is that he introduces to the guests, everyone on the Executive Staff and explains their responsibities, so that if you have any problems, you know who to go to. He then introduces the rest of the staff, the ones we deal with every meal, bar, or activity. I think this says that they are proud of the resort, and don’t have to hide from problems, if any happen, which are rare.
Now I saved the best for last. The resort since Blue Bay took over is children free. I have nothing against children, I have 6 Grand children, and my wife teaches figure skating but when you want a romantic getaway for rest and relaxation, it’s really nice. Relaxing on the beach without the screaming and running around is pure heaven.
Well I guess that sums up my feeling. In fact we are booked to go back for 3 weeks in March and April when the rinks close. We are going back to “Our Home Away From Home”
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Sylvia and Ian |
December 2007
On our second visit to Blue Bay from December 1 - 15, 2007, we were treated royally by all the staff. Some staff members even remembered our names, which is amazing since it was a full year since our last visit. Every employee we encountered was exceptionally friendly and devoted to service, often exceeding expectations. Our accommodation was pristine and well appointed. Food was excellent in the buffet and specialty restaurants. And, it was great to have the option of spending time by the lively larger pools or to retreat to the serene quiet of the spa area.
This reasonably priced vacation was a wonderful opportunity to relax and be pampered. The resort and beach met all of our needs. During our stay we met many wonderful people from all over the world who truly enhanced our experience.
Special thanks to General Manager Oscar Lora. His special attentions made our holiday a very memorable one. Oscar really appreciates his staff and guests and does his best to ensure everyone enjoys their stay at Blue Bay.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Claudia ~ Cambridge, ON Canada |
November 2007
I wanted to sent a little note about the Blue Bay Resort in Puerta Plata Dorata Complex. I have just spent a week there with 3 of my girlfriends for our girls week away, and I must say that the resort was beautiful and the staff amazing. First off we fly with sunwing which was a great experience from Toronto airport right to the Dominican Republic. We arrived at the resort and the staff welecomed us with punch and did a brief meeting to let everyone know where thing where and then had our luggage taken to our room. We had a few minor problems which where resolved quickly by the front staff, I must say that I have not been to any hotel where thing were taken care of so quick, my thanks go out to the front desk staff who made sure that any problems with our rooms where taken care of right away.
The food at the Blue Bay resort was always good, fresh and readly available from the buffets to the al la carte and the 24 hour snack bar. The grill was amazing I would recommed the Chateau Briand for 2. All of the Bartenders from pool side, main bar and beach bar were great from making drinks to even delivering and taking orders for drinks right from our lounges.
We had the best entertainment crew around, from daytime to evening shows, Happy Boy, Tinto, Olivia, Tony, Cassovone and Sexty Robert make our vacation worth all the fun we had, it was certainly entertaining most of the time even if you did not parpicate. This entertainment crew will keep you happy and send you to bed with a great show and a smile on your face.
The only drawback was when we wanted to book a exercision with our rep he could not accodamate us, but don't worry we had the best guy on the beach FLIX is the man, We booked 3 excersions with him and had a fantansic time from doing paradise beach, to shopping and the rum factory to visiting the amazing waterfall and Santo Domingo with the cigar factory and horse back riding all were breathtaking and worth the drive.(some time the bus ride was a little long) I would recommend Flix to anyone and he is usually cheaper then your rep.
Overall I would say this resort although it is rated a 3 and half, I would rate at least a 4-5 star and being that it is an adult only resort make it even better if you don;t want to be around children on your vacation. It was a vacation me and my friends will never forget and we will take the amazing staff and the beauty of the area with us everwhere. Thank you for reading my review and I hope you go and check out this fantansic resort.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Jon & Andy ~ Kent, UK |
October 2007
I stayed at Blue Bay with a friend from the 6th to the 20th of Aug 2007. Our visit was mainly for the local diving which we did on most days. This took us up to lunch time, the remainder of the time was spent on the complex. As I have stayed on this coast a number of times before, I had expectations which needed to be met. Especially during the school holiday season!!!
We had also read the reviews on this site, so were prearmed!!!... This however was not necessary...
The facilities were excellent, everywhere was scrupiously cleaned and tidied every day, and the staff were friendly and helpfull. The food was surperb and plentifull. The entertainment was 'entertaining' and enthusiastic. The weather was brilliant (all be it briefly incleament due to the passing hurricane).
The resort was quiet and peacefull, especially due to it's over 18 status, and a couple of visits to hotels that shared our length of beach showed the difference this made. They could only be described as 'war zones' with screaming kids everywhere, accompanied by stressed parents and staff members.
The whole 2 week experience was a delight, and it is throughly recommended to all who wish to be without the hassle of kids for a while.
If i was forced to find a negative about the stay it would be the Mosquitos, which were viscious in the evenings, but could be kept at bay with regular applications of repellents, which are expensive if not brought with you.
The all inclusive service is 24 hour, including the food, which is not always the case, and the majority of the facilities and beach entertainment (not involving an engine) are free as well.
The diving (if that is your thing) is well run and of good quality, with well maintained equipment and friendly staff. It is also reasonabably priced and they are willing to do a deal for $$$.
Blue Bay do have a reputation for being swingers resorts, but we were told on booking that the Dominican one is not, and that the entertainment is clean and not adult based. This we found to be true, but some of the people we spoke to there had been told otherwise by their operators and were therefore disappointed. Thomas Cook were however 100% accurate in their description, and their rep was excellent (apart from being ginger!!!).
Overall money well spent and would love to return there.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Asabi |
September 2007
My lover and I spent a week there from August 12 to the 17th 2007.
We loved this place. Its was clean, the food was great, the entertainment was fun, the people and staff their are very nice and friendly to everyone.
For the price, it is truly worth the value. You can eat here 24/7.
For excursions try the outback safari, its the best and so much fun..
Can't wait to go back next summer.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Michaela |
August 2007
Just returned from blue bay, me and my partner spent 3 weeks from 25th july - 15 August. What can I say, absolutely brilliant resort, spotlessly clean, superb food the buffet was that good that we only went to the Chinese al a carte didn't try the fish or steak restaurant.
Staff were great, tried there best at everything.
brilliant having no kids around it could be a lively place or a really relaxing place, we had the best of both started off involved in everything then by week 3 wanted to relax.
Our room was very large and at the back of the complex, so good if you wanted an early night, it was only a standard room but very big and clean, had everything we needed. The only warning is that all standard rooms have an interconecting door near the bathroom and you can hear everything that is going on in the other room, it wasn't really a problem for us as my partner used ear plugs to sleep and I can sleep through anything.
The weather was brilliant for the whole 3 weeks, a few showers in the evening i think 3 times and a couple of days of cloud which was greatly appreciated as it was stifling hot, was under shade most of the time.
Beach was nice but not the best I have been too, but the breeze or should i say wind by 12 noon was lovely just watch out for sand flying in your face.
We were told not to book trips in the plaza but we did half the price, we did catamaran (Dont do if you get sea sick, did catamaran in cuba was fine, did catamaran here was sick, spoilt mine and partners trip and my partner was sick, 30% of people sick, other 70% had a great time wish I was one of them. Did paradise island a long way for a bit of sand if the middle of the ocean but if you like snorkeling could be good for you. Our best trip and i recommend 100% was the waterfalls, if you like a bit of adventure great trip and only $30 pp from the plaza, cheapest and best trip ever.
Well I think I've said it all a definate 4* resort, would be a 5* if it had a decent gym, so if your not interested in gyms it's a 5* resort for you, but if you like a gym its a 4* with 5* service.
Anyone going will love it.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Cathy ~ Canada |
August 2007
i had a great trip at blue bay getaway. i found the staff to be friendly and i looked forward to seeing them all, every day. i had no proplem with theft on my trip. i did not leave things hanging around. the staff and also the quests were great. i am planning to go back for the third time, this year , in october. i think that if people did not like this resort, i do not think that they would like any resort.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Kathy ~ Canada |
April 2007
I have to support the two reviews written who had their vacation ruined and their liking for Puerta Plata diminished by having staff at the resort steal from them............ My wife and I had the same negative , intrusive thing happen to us. We used the safety deposit box and still had our money stolen. Staff at the beach bar would ask for tips and who wanted a hot tub in the " elderly , sleepy section"
Drinks were scanty and selection poor.
Reception staff ignored our theft reports and tried covering it up. The manager who wandered about shrugged it off as well.
This is our 6th time in The Dominican but never again at this resort. Punta Cana is our destination from here onward.
Who wants a vacation where the staff are thieves, bugs are waking you at night and staff begging for tips??? Not us.....
For those who had a great experience...... Good for you but if you had your money stolen... I think you would feel differently............. !!
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Pete & Katie ~ Connecticut |
April 2007
After reading the last two reviews on Debbie's Dominican with regard to Blue Bay Getaway, I had to take the time to write one myself...
I have a hard time believing the last two negative reviews I read could possibly be written about the same resort my wife and I visited (from April 14-21st)...maybe much has changed in a week or so...
Anyway, let me start with the negative and work toward the positive...
The Negative:
Some water dripped into our bathroom from the shower above...
The phone in our room wouldn't let us dial 1-800 numbers That's pretty much it...
Now the Positive:
Cleanest resort we've been to in the Domnican or elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Staff were excellent...professional, adept at their jobs, and NEVER once did we have any staff ask us for a tip....nor did we see any staff member ask any other gues for a tip...NOR did we hear of any other guests being asked for tips..and we're pretty social and might have heard that if it happened....
Food was EXCELLENT....I have worked in many restaurants in my life, and the quality of the food and the preparation really stands out at Blue Bay...the manager constantly roams the buffet and restaurants...watched him checking food temperatures over and over, inspecting floors, surfaces, etc....I was very impressed by this.
The rooms....not 5-star but fine...we had a standard room....I heard the superior rooms were a little nicer, with a jetted jacuzzi tub and they are one-floor villas....we were on the 1st floor of a 3-floor unit and like I said, had some water drip into our bathroom from the bathroom above...that being said, the bathroom was lovely, recently remodeled with marble tile and a glass wall shower....maybe the shower pan is too small for the way the shower is built, and that allows some water to spill out, or perhaps the water travels under the glass wall, but it's nothing a little caulk or design change can't fix....the A/C was great, although you have to leave your key card in a slot just inside the door to keep it on (energy savings) so we asked for second key card and kept it cranking....sorry, but I like it cool! The room was nice and large...two double beds pushed together for a massive bed (would rather have had a king, but didn't request one, so I blame myself for that)...closet space was good, but only about ten hangers...we read up early and brought a dozen more from home....no dressers, but that's usual for DR...just some shelving above the safe....not a problem, though. TV was fine...didn't watch much, but they had local programming, plus BBC, ABC, CBS, ESPN, CNN and Playboy and one hard core porn station, for those of you into that stuff. Reception was good if you wanted to catch some telly.
We heard of one guest having money taken from their room....they regretted not spending $15 on a safe....DUH! You're staying in a poor country, and leaving cash out? Tsk Tsk Tsk! My wife left a pair of LL Bean water shoes outside our door overnight to dry and they were gone in the morning....being that she has a size 9 foot, I'm guessing they weren't taken by a local (most Dominican women have very small feet...) but it's our fault for leaving them out there....
In the future I would stay on the top floor....no chance of water from above and you have a balcony....YES, YOU HAVE A BALCONY....I read two reviews saying there are no balconies...virtually ALL rooms at the Blue Bay have an outside terrace (as our first floor room did) or a balcony...every room I saw had one!
Bugs? Yes, there were some tiny caterpillars that had hatched and I found one on the tile in our room, but we get them at home, and they'll crawl through a small space (as in under the door)...If I was that concerned, I could have put a towel at the base of the door....
No cockroaches...not in my room, nor any of the couples we met this week....I asked about any bug problems....
No mosquitoes...didn't get bit but a few times when I stopped to chat on the footbridge over the lagoon/swampy area....I would expect to find mosquitoes around the standing water, so I wasn't surprised...but didn't get bit the rest of the week, not at the beach, the pool, or in my room...my wife and I both thought this was the "least buggy" of resorts we have stayed in in the DR, Virgin Islands, Keys, etc....I'm a "mosquito magnet" and they didn't get me, so I don't think it's a problem there.
The bars....and the bartenders....great.....no, it's not top-shelf liquor, but if you're that into your booze, then take a five minute walk to Playa Dorada, where booze is relatively cheap, and get your peach schnapps or other libations...the Presidente beer is par for the course at DR all-inclusives, and I think it's quite good....always cold at all the bars and fresh-tasting. The rum is the standard Brugal....I'm not a big rum drinker but found the pina colada and the Banana Mama just fine...didn't try the wine or any other booze, but the other guests seem to drink it all up just fine with no complaints that I heard, save a couple about the whiskey....I think, it was late and I had a few Presidentes.....the bartenders are a joy to behold...they were (almost all) jovial, happy and seemed honestly to enjoy their work.....not one asked for a tip...although I did tip on a fairly regular basis (I believe in tipping as a "thank you" for good service, and one hand washes the other....you're thanking somebody for good service, and providing some incentive for continued good service...work in the food service industry for awhile and you'll feel the same way...)
The food at Blue Bay is fabulous....didn't try the Asian or Seafood ala cartes, but the buffet was the most incredible one we've seen at any all-inclusive, and the El Dorado (steak) ala carte restaurant was so good we went twice...the Chateau Briand is absolutely wonderful and the grilled vegetable medley and baked potato are far above average restaurant normalcy..they really are delicious....the staff at the restaurant, just like the staff at the buffet, were conscientous and polite, constantly refilling water, drinks, etc....never asked for a tip, either, although they got one when I left.
The pools are spotless. Can't say that enough....spotless.
THERE IS A HOT TUB by the quiet pool....maybe another reviewer didn't ask or didn't walk around the resort...can't figure that one out, but it sure is there....we didn't go in it, but heard from others that the jets were powerful and the water was nice and warm.
Speaking of hot water....our shower was hot every day, every night, never lost hot water nor did we lose electricity....you read a lot about rolling blackouts and cold shower....not at Blue Bay in our seven days did that happen....
Night life.....okay, maybe there's no disco or huge drunken party at night, but there were LOTS of people down at the beach bar at night....I don't know if it's "night life" enough, but if you want, you can walk five minutes to Roadway or Hemmingways or Crazy Moon and get as crazy as you wish....we found the quiet night life at the resort just fine for us...there is no disco at the Blue Bay, but the last DR resort we were at had a disco that was plain old lame, so I didn't miss it.
The quiet of Blue Bay resort is its big draw...no kids jumping in the pool or whining or crying....hey, I love kids, but I left mine home for a romantic anniversary trip away with my wife, and that's what you get at Blue Bay...maybe it's not wild and crazy enough for some, but if a beautifully clean resort with happy workers and great food works for you, then you'll appreciate Blue Bay....
I'd also like to mention that the staff were so friendly in taking care of our "problems" when we arrived.....the small puddle in our bathroom and our lack of pool towels...not only did they fix both problems immediately, but they called a few minutes later to again apologize and ask if we needed anything, and guest services came up to us the next morning and apologized in person for the inconvenience...this was so appreciated.
If you want 5-star luxury, spend a couple thousand US dollars per person and be pampered.....if you want a 4-star resort with 5-star staff and food, and get the best value in vacations (we paid $816 US per person including round trip airfare from New Jersey for a seven-night vacation) then try Blue Bay...
I would recommend this resort to my best friends and family without a moment's hesitation...for us it represents the best vacation resort we've been to in many years...we came away rested, relaxed and with the satisfaction that we vacationed at a beautiful resort for half the cost of so many more, and were thoroughly impressed.
Bravo, Blue Bay! Keep up the great work!
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Ken & Lynne |
April 2007
After reading some of the negative reviews about this resort, we felt we had to write about our fantastic vacation. We never had a thing stolen from our room and we left some money on the side board. We also never saw bug’s in our room. They were always checking for everything, so here is our review of the resort.
GREAT RAVES !!!!!!!!!!!! After going to Villas Doradas, now Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas, for the past 13 years (3 to 4 weeks per year), we have vacationed with 4 different companies running the resort. Blue Bay Getaway has turned this resort into the GEM of Puerto Plata. In fact, it was even better than the 5 Star Resorts we stayed at. It was the BEST vacation we have ever spent.
The resort has been completely renovated. Every room has been gutted and re-furbished. Every room includes a refrigerator. There is now a new pool and a Jacuzzi (that really works with good jets). This is in the quiet area, with a bar. Already they are expanding the lounge chair area, adding tables and umbrellas etc. as this has become very popular. As for the resort being like the Blue Bay in Cancun, Mexico, forget it. There was no vulgarity, or exhibitionist except for one female who was not able to control her drinking. As far as topless, there was actually less topless women this year than in all the previous 13 years. The place is class…..approaching Sandals.
Management/ Managers were constantly roving the property and keeping a very tight rein on the staff, nothing was cut short.
First, the cleanliness was outstanding. I get up at 6, due to my hip problem, and there was many staff cleaning the grounds, pool area, and beach etc. The rooms were immaculate, and spotless. And they continued all day maintaining the resort. The pool is the cleanest of any resort I ever have been at (it look like gin). It always was the best and they kept the same pool attendant who is meticulous at his job.
The staff, was always terrific and always greeted you with a smile. Who ever trained them should be complimented. Wine, water, coffee, etc. was always poured from the right side. The table setting was a full setting (English Style) with 2 forks, 2 knives, dessert fork, and spoon, goblets for water and wine. As soon as you finished a course, the plates were removed. Courtesy prevailed.
The Rooms were totally redone. All the furniture replaced. Every room has a refrigerator, safe (extra cost). The only thing lacking was drawer space. A small dresser for personal items, camera, etc. would solve that problem
As far as the food, it was excellent. In all our years in the DR, at every resort we ever stayed at, the one complaint was the beef, it was Argentinean (I think they grazed on the Andes). It was always tough by American standards and always over cooked. The beef here was great and for the first time we ate the beef. At the Grill Restaurant, the Chateau Brieant, the Argentinean Style Steak (my favorite), and the Strip steak were all delicious and tender. They were cooked to order, medium rare was medium rare. The Pork Tenderloin was very tender, and done perfectly. At the Buffet, the food was also great. I tried everything as in the past, many item were only so-so. The vegetables were always cooked right, never overcook (mushy) at every meal. The Oriental Restaurant was redone and the food was also great. When my wife sat down, they brought out a pillow for her feet and removed her shoes. Sushi (not the raw fish part) was served with wasabi sauce. One piece of advise, the little green pea shaped balls are actually ground wasabi, so if you don’t like hot stuff watch out. Every meal is served with fried rice, not white rice. The Sea Food Restaurant is on the beach, enclosed and was being air conditioned as we left. The food was delicious. They have calamari, fresh fish and conch. Some guests were not used to those delicacies and were not impressed. They wanted fish and chips, fried shrimp, etc. My wife had the lobster dinner and when it came she could not believe her eyes. It was a 2 pounder and she ate it all by herself. Well worth the extra cost .
The one thing that really impressed us was the buffet, where even for breakfast, the water, juice, tea, coffee, beer and the wine was poured at the table. The wine was bottled wine and not box/bag wine. At all the resorts, including 5 star that we have been at, you always had to go up for your, wine or beer at the buffet, not here. Last year the wine (box) was poor, especially the white. The wine this year was quite nice, not vintage but very satisfactory.
One thing that did not appear on the web or in any of the brochure’s is that the resort is wired for wireless internet. In fact the resort had 4 laptop computer’s for guests to use so you can check your e-mail’s, reservation’s, flight etc.
As for the beach, there is plenty of shade for those that don’t want to get burnt. While we were there, they added 12 more thatched huts, plus they opened up the area next to the beach bar so that there is good shade from the palms and Banyan trees. Missing was a ledge on the hut pole or a small plastic table for you glasses of wine, beer, soda, etc. Putting them in the sand or on you flip/flop was a problem. Some tipped over, or got sand in them as people walked by or blown by the wind. I’m sure they will correct this in the near future. While we were there, there was a storm that settled over the island and the rain came down so hard, you could not see 15-20 ft. in front of you. It caused horrific flooding in the mountain decimating 3 villages and the debris would up on the beach.., it took 3-4 days to clear the beach and a lot of people got the wrong impression of the beach and the DR. They even said they were going to file complaints with their tour company. They should try Mother Nature.
All in all, the resort, in my opinion should be rated as follows:
Cleanliness and Housekeeping 5+ Stars
Hospitality and Service 5+ Stars
Food/ Restaurant 4 ½ Stars
Entertainment can’t judge as we didn’t see many of the shows. Seen way too many over the last 13 years.
Rooms 4 ½ star (a dresser would help)
Beach 4 Stars
Facilities 4 ½ Stars
Management 5+ Star
Staff / Help 5++ Star
To sum it up, as I previously said, this was the best vacation ever.
My concerns last year when we heard that Blue Bay Getaway was going
to take over the resort, were totally alleviated. The new Director /
Manager is really turning this into the best resort on the North Coast.
We are already booking next years vacation and are looking at going
Down for Christmas and New Years as soon as airline tickets become
Available. This is a resort worth looking at.
PS. No children !
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Dave ~ Ontario, Canada |
April 2007
Would definitley not go back......... This resort has little to no entertainment. The animation team tried but that's the extent of it. They need to invest in some serious lessons for them ........
The bar drinks selection is almost non-existent... no irish cream, peach schnapps, champayne, no wine selection but house wine, no port, no khalua, no tia maria, no shooters, oh my God.... just the local Brugal rum, whiskey and vodka.
The food was great but service was poor. Staff asked for tips...
Be careful of your money and possessions as folks had their room broken into and their money stolen. It was believed to be stolen by staff who repaired their telephone. This takes away your relaxation mode and puts a sour taste on your vacation.
Stay away from this resort as it is very limited in services, accomodations, staff and friendliness.
There is not a hot tub, rooms without balconies, poor drink selection, no water or coffee stands, tip seeking and suspicious staff, bugs in your rooms, no drawers for clothing, no nightly entertainment after 10:00 p.m. and most important to remember is that there are staff who you need to keep your possessions close to the chest to keep them from stealing them.
I would never go back and would not recommend it. Go other places on the beach for the same and get more for your money and relax as staff will not be seeking tips and your possessions and cash.
This is my 6th trip to Playa Dorada Beach and my worst experience..
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Canadian Couple |
April 2007
Horrible experience. Had a break-in to our room and all of our vacation money stolen. We suspect that it was by the staff as they were very uncoorporative in taking our theft seriously and would joke about it amongst themselves and avoided doing an investigation until we called our Sunquest Rep. and went to the police. They still rationalized it and tried to downplay it. It gave us a very unsafe feeling and ruined our trip.
We have travelled to the D.R. 8 times and this is the first time that this has ever happened.
The animation team leaves a lot to be desired and night life is non existent after the show that ends at 10:00 p.m. The beach bar and grill is open 24 hrs but there was never anyone only our 2 selves.
The bartenders , maids and grounds staff are nice but as for the others they are somewhat rude and inexperienced.
The steakhouse was great but avoid the seafood. They advertise the lobster for $10 u.s. but upon check-out we discovered that it was $27 u.s.
Staff ask for tips which we were appauled at.
The beach is nice but with a week's rain we were hard-pressed to spend any time there.
The rooms do not have balconies, have bugs and we even had a cock-roach visit our sink area!!!!!!!
The buffet food was great and some of the best we have had in the D.R.
We would not return or recommend it........
Playa Dorada is super but avoid this spot please.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Pauline |
April 2007
We( 2 couples in our 40's) had a nice stay at Blue Bay Getaway, week of Mar 17th - Mar 24, we booked with Go Travel Direct and were very pleased with this company. Our flight was with Zoom, Airport check in was quick and so was room check in.
We did get alot of rain that week we were there, this is our 8th trip to DR, and this was the first time we had sooo much rain. We were grateful that we had nice sunny mornings to walk the beach, I must say the new beach in front of Paradise and up to the Orange Huts looks amazing what a change.
The resort itself is nice, new furniture and updated bathrooms, we found the rooms comfortable, but noisy, since we had so much rain our neighbors partied alot in their rooms and the echo carried through the build. But they were having alot of fun. The maid service did a great job, but were inconsistant, so we had our room cleaned 5 out of the 7 days, and twice at 5pm, what's that! Most places I've stayed, our room is usually cleaned around the same time each day, not here. Rooms are poorly lite and no drawers, I would have found this to be a pain if we had been there for 2 weeks. Bring a flash light. Good air conditioning and fan. The resort grounds are keep very clean and well layed out.
The staff, the lobby staff, very friendly and very helpful, so was the guest services, our rep from Go Travel, Lise was there often and very helpful. Bartender at the Beach Bar was very friendly and pleasant to talk with.
The food at the buffet was really good, probably the best I've had as far as freshness and quality, typical DR buffet but above tasty and presentation, but I found the service to be very poor, we really had a hard time to get coffee after a meal, which I found very disappointing since I love DR coffee, but by the 4th day, we discovered we could order cafe latte's at the beach grill. They should consider having one coffee station so that we could have helped ourselves, I would not have minded that. Most resorts have a coffee spot set up some were, beach grill or buffet.
We also tried all 3 a la carte restaurants, I really enjoyed the Grill and the Oriental, I wouldn't go back to the Seafood, again we asked for coffee at all 3 and got coffee at one. Oh well!
We did get some good R & R, we did not get out much other than walking around the Complex and the Mall. Would I go back to this resort, yes, but not right now, I'm grateful we only booked a week. I really think this will be a great place in time, they just need to get organized and some experienced staff. There was very little to do, and the nightly entertainment was very poor, this will have to be improved to attract a younger crowd. And this is the first DR resort I stay at that play everything but DR music, I love DR music, I really felt cheated by that. They also could use a lounge set up with tv and games area didn't see anything like that here. Anyhow if your going to Blue Bay keep an open mind it has alot of pros and a few cons, I'm sure they will work it out. But I'm still looking forward to my next trip to DR , Have a great time. If you have any questions feel free to write, parochon@msn.com
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
|
April 2007
We had a great stay at the Blue Bay the resort is very clean and they are always cleaning
Check in was easy got there at 1 PM and they had a room ready. The staff is very friendly and helpful, always a smile and a hello from all of them.
The food was great we have been to the DR 4 times and we only have 1 complaint about the food. Went to the buffet and all 3 restaurants, skip the seafood one it was the only one that the food was not up to par.
The liquor there is all local brands and they are low grade, that is my only complaint about the place they can use bettor liquor.
Nice beach and clean pools
The animation team was fun they put a lot of effort into everything they did
I know some people complained about construction well it over so all is quiet
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Jenn & Sam |
March 2007
My Husband and I went to blue bay getaway villas Doradas, Feb 17 to the 24th, 2007... Leaving from Montreal.
The Resort is beautiful, the lobby is so fun and colorful... the pools were always clean along with the resort itself... the workers were constantly cleaning and sweeping the walk ways, also any left over glasses were always being picked up...
The food was amazing, the buffet was actually better then the a la carte restaurants... There were so many options, food was always fresh and lots of
variety. The service in the restaurants was amazing... I simply can't say
enough about the food... Along with the bars, the better you tip, the better service you'll receive. All in all the service was amazing...
I can't say the same for the front desk!! it was horrible... They were unfriendly and rude, if you asked a question, they would make you wait and talk and joke amongst themselves, it kinda' made you wounder if they were talking about you!
The rooms were very clean!! maids would clean it every day, if you wanted them too.
The beach wasn't the nicest! But if you walked down to the left of the resort, the water and sand was much nicer.
The only thing I would change is have a disco on the resort. Since after the nightly entertainment ended (10:30-11:00) there was nothing to do.
Except the beach bar which was open really late...The animation team was great, always had games going for everyone... although some of the games are a little X-rated, since it is an adult only resort.
I would definitely go back in a heart beat... I had a wonderful time.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Wendy ~ Ottawa |
February 2007
My husband and I, with another couple, stayed at the Blue Bay Getaway Villas for the week of February 16-25. Overall, our experience was great (2 rainy days - but still had fun). Here are some observations that you might find helpful...
Pros:
- The food is fabulous. Basically, it was the best I've had at a resort. The buffet was amazing - better than the 2 a la cartes that my husband and I tried. The 2 a la cartes we tried were the seafood restaurant and the Chinese food restaurant (didn't have time for the grill restaurant). I am not a fan of seafood and basically went to the restaurant because my husband loves seafood and wanted the lobster. When we booked the restaurant, we were not told that the lobster had to be ordered in advance. He was pretty disappointed - and the meal he ended up with was not good (the seafood platter - mussels were like rubber and could not be dislodged from the shell and the calamari was cold and rubbery). My meal was the cod fillet and I enjoyed it (so did my husband as I ended up giving him the greater portion, since his meal was not good). The Chinese food restaurant was a bit of a let down after all of the raving on this site - we enjoyed the buffet more.
- The staff is wonderful. They are enthusiastic and very much want you to have a good time. Especially Angel at the quiet pool bar - we went there for a 'before dinner drink' each night and enjoyed his company :) The Animacion group is a lot of fun but some found that the 'sexy competitions' were a bit too much for them - it also got quite noisy at night with the cheering. I found the afternoon entertainment to be very repetitive and loud so I spent that time on the beach or at the quiet pool.
- The beach was awesome (yes, there are a lot of vendors, but they only ask you once if you say "No, Gracias"). I never had a problem finding a beach chair or space for the chair.
- The pools are great - even the 'quiet' pool. There are lots of chairs and some sun umbrellas too.
- I felt safe going off the resort (did not feel safe at all in Punta Cana)
- The resort is small and everything is within walking distance. This is a big plus for me as I have arthritis and sometimes walking distances is painful.
Cons:
- The rooms are not that great - ours had a leak in the bathroom ceiling that dripped for the first few nights directly into the toilet. There was no place to store our clothes - the closet was very small. We didn't spend a lot of time in our room so it wasn't a big deal in the end. If you can get a Villa, do so, as they are nicer than the regular rooms and have lots of closet space as well as more counter space in the bathroom.
- You have to rent your safe - we knew this when we left but I found it strange since this was included at the other resorts I have stayed at
- You must pay to have your mini-fridge restocked - not an issue at other resorts. I suggest going to the mall and purchasing pop/beer and stocking your fridge on your own.
Excursions:
Note: We did not book either excursion through our tour operator. I was a bit leery but in the end, we saved money and had absolutely no problems.
- Ocean World (booked with the operator beside the Banana Boat stall in the mall). Had a great time and paid to swim with the dolphins. Well worth it! Lunch is not included but we paid the $12 USD to go to the buffet and the food was good.
- Party Catamaran (Booked with a vendor on the beach - his name is Cookie and he wears a Red Sox baseball cap). Booze cruise extraordinaire! A lot of fun and a highlight of our trip. We went on a beautiful, sunny day and had a great time. They actually ran out of beer and rum (lots of Maritimers on board :)) and had to pirate some from other catamarans. Note: People we met at the resort went on a windy, cloudy day and there were some seasick passengers - the ocean can be quite rough.
- Horse and Buggy ride (not really an excursion, but I thought I'd add it too) - we took a horse and buggy tour of the nearby resorts. The driver was very informative. Although the buggy looked a bit worse for wear, we enjoyed our ride (even though it was pouring rain :)).
There is a 2 story mall very close to the resort that sells booze, food, and souvenirs. It also has a Pizza Hut and some bars. It was very handy to have this so close by (especially on the rainy days :)). Also, apparently if you walk down the beach there is a flea market (it was too far for me to walk).
All in all, we had a fantastic time and would definitely return to this area, if not to Blue Bay.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Harriet |
February 2007
My friend and I stayed at the resort from FEb. 2-6 of this year. We are glad we did and will probably visit again. The property is lovely and I was glad to see constant refurbishing. We especially were enchanted with the lobby area--it is airy and comfortable. The staff went out of their way to help us when there was a problem.
Our chief complaint was that there was no place to put our clothes--only a two shelves in closet. Of course, there were not enough hangers, but they were sent when we asked.
My girlfriend and I felt that there should have been pamphlets and brochures to explain more of what was happening and how to work things. I saw no listing of tv programs and stations.
I agree with another reviewer that the animation staff did all they could to make us have fun. They were cute and spoke fairly good English. We felt they started the activities too early in the day and the music was too loud! We realize they wanted to get people involved, but many of us just enjoyed lying around the pool, reading a book, and sipping on a tropical delight!
The beach was magnificent. I felt safe and comfortable.
We ate at each restaurant and the buffet and were impressed with the service and selection. My hope is that they will dispense with the place mats that are used in the buffet area. They are not changed with each guest and therefore, have the remains of someone else's meal on them. The tables are beautiful and do not need the mats. If they want mats, why not use paper that can be thrown away?
We will return and look forward to seeing an even more accommodating and comfortable all-inclusive resort.
I can't wait to hear the Animation staff--particularly Scooby Doo--shout out "Wakey-Wakey!"
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
L&W ~ Ottawa, Ontario |
February 2007
Stayed at the Blue Bay Getaway the first week of January.
Property
Overall the resort is gorgeous. The lobby and main dining room design is very well thought through but we felt it was stark – others have described it as airy and welcoming – beauty is in the eye of the beholder! The hotel spa and gym appeared basic (décor incomplete) but arrangements can be made at other resorts if need be. The spa at the Playa Naco (walking distance) is lovely. All 3 pools are great. Friendly place, secure on/off the beach.
Rooms
All rooms have the basic amenities of a 4 star hotel and are very comfortable (clean, spacious, new bed & pillows). Approx. 30% of the rooms are separated only by a door, creating a lack of privacy. Bathrooms are beautiful. The plumbing has occasional collapses (we heard the same from a few others) but the staff is very quick to come by with a plunger etc. Our particular closet was quite oddly shaped but there was enough room to put our things away – and yes, still no dresser.
Nearby amenities
There is a mall close by (3 minute walk) which has a bank and where day trips can be arranged. This is where we found the best snorkeling deal (US $25.00) - ground floor near main entrance, Austrian owner (Bernard). Also, if you like vanilla this is a great place to buy it, as this extract is not alcohol based. I brought back two 16oz bottles that cost me 100 pesos (CAN $4.00) and it has made a lot of people very happy!
The small towns near by (Puerto Plata and Sosua) are great and safe to visit. We took a local bus on the main highway for 10 pesos and had a great ride. Taxis can take you as well for 4,500 pesos.
Staff
As the hotel is still in transition (renovating to become a 4 star) the staff were very polite – a little on the formal side and not relaxed at first. Many quickly became more open and pleasant after a day or two.
Food
The large assortment of food available and its quality was amazing - vast choice, fantastic soups, excellent sauces, fresh items to grill, great bread and desserts etc.
Specialty Restaurants
Three restaurants are available and each has delicious offerings. The Jade Garden (Asian mix) next to the Lobby is worth a taste. It was easy to make reservations to the beach restaurants but we liked the buffet food better.
Animation/Entertainment
If your room is close to the entertainment area, you will be ‘entertained’ whether you like or not! For part of the day an animation team worked hard to involve guests with games and activities – The cheering-on was ultra loud and annoying. One night a local band was brought in and we had a great time dancing.
Beach
A few minutes from the pool area, one can go for long walks on the beach. It is beautiful and the ocean floor is smooth and sandy. It goes down/deep very quickly – within 20’-0’’ feet. The breeze made sitting in the sun quite comfortable but made the water cloudy for snorkeling.
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| Blue Bay Getaway Villas Doradas |
Dianne and Pierre ~ Ottawa |
January 2007
My husband and I just returned from Blue Bay Getaway and wanted others to know about this resort. As others may know, this resort used to be Villa Doradas and was closed for 6 mths this summer for renovations. We were a little nervous about going there last week as there were only 1 or 2 reviews posted. Well, I'm happy to say that we had a wonderful vacation. This resort is definately a 4 star in all areas but we would rate it a 5 star for food. Everything was always, hot, tasty and wonderfully presented. This was also the first resort we've been to that served a red wine we really liked. It was from Spain and was very good. We loved the buffet but also went to the Chinese restaurant and the Grill. As others mentioned the chinese restaurant had small portions but hey, we ate too much the rest of the week anyway. If you're still hungry after dining there, simply sidle over to the buffet. The Grill was pretty good and it was nice to have a steak. The resort for us was just a perfect size. We've stayed at 9 other resorts in both Puerto Plata and Punta Cana and found this one to be the best lay-out. Never far to go to the beach, reception, pool or the buffet. Back to food, the beach restaurant was not a buffet and you sat down to order your food from the menu. It only takes a few minutes and you can look out upon the ocean. There was a good selection to choose from also. Rooms were both clean and no musty smells as is sometimes experienced in these climates. Staff were both friendly and everyone spoke very good English. The nightly entertainment consisted mostly of audience participation games so was not very good but that's okay. On two nights a local band was performing and they were excellent playing merengue, bachata and American music. We really liked them and the animation folks tried to get everyone up dancing. The plaza is a short 3 minute walk away if you're looking for shopping items. There were not too many guests there the week of Jan.13th-20th so the animation team had trouble finding enough people to participate in the various games but they sure tried their best. They didn't hastle you if you didn't want to participate. Because the resort wasn't too busy, we even got served our drinks on the beach and at the pool. We walked a lot up and down the beach as it was in a great location. All in all a wonderful resort and we wouldn't hesitate for one minute to go back again.
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