Iberostar Costa Dorada Reviews

This is a fabulous hotel and it is definetley worth the 9 hour flight to the Dominican Republic. We travelled in a group of 13 people (4 children and 9 adults) and without a doubt everyone had a fantastic holiday. The hotel is spotless and the rooms are cleaned everyday by the very hardworking chambermaids (a small tip does go a long way and they always left fresh flowers and towels in the shape of swans, elephants etc on our bed). All of the staff that work here are very friendly and courteous, they will always go out of their way to please you and the star friends and the entertainment team put on a great show most nights and always with live music. It is difficult not to over-indulge in the fabulous food and drink on offer. The standard of food, the choice and its presentation in the buffet restaurant is superb along with the more intimate setting of the a la carte restaurants which are also excellent. Ladies please note that the weather is very hot and rather humid at times which will effect your hair, especially since the standard british 240 volt hair straighteners cannot work over there! However, the hairdressers and spa on-site are brilliant and not too costly because of the good exchange rate with the dollar. The beach is lovely and the constant breeze helps to make the hot afternoons more bearable along with the very chilled out beach bar on hand for the essential 'cuba libre'. The holiday rep was informative but was filling in for our rep as she was in hospital for the duration of our stay?! Do not book your trips with them though (especially diving) as they are half price elsewhere in puerto plata. Also the Bravissimo show isn't that good and certainly not worth what the reps are charging for it, but we would recommend the Ocean World excursion which is brill and the dolphin encounter was great and worth every penny. There is so much about the hotel and the area that it is difficult to keep the review brief. A great holiday, we would go back in a second. If you have booked up already - dont worry ... you will love it :)

Travelled here 27th may 08 for a fortnight with a group of 21 (19 adults and 2 kids- age 2&3) went out here for my friends wedding and boy were we not dissapointed!!!! Travelled with thomas cook from glasgow and some of the party had upgraded to premium seats......dont waste your money! the planes have had a lot of seats removed recently and leg room is excellent! Where do i start to tell you about this holiday!

Check in was done on the bus transfer to hotel and took approx 25 mins to get there, got your room card, towel cards for pool towels and general info about hotel. On arrival at hotel our luggage was left with the bell boy to deliver to our room! Fantastic! Within 10 mins of being in our room our cases arrived! Tipped the bell boy $5 and he was very happy! We stayed in block 2 on 2nd floor with a pool view which was brill! Rooms are big and have either 2 queen size beds (which we had)or 1 super king size bed. Tv, coffee making facilities and mini fridge with beer, water, coke, diet coke, fanta & sprite! This was re-stocked daily! We left the maid a note asking for extra diet coke and beer at start of our holiday (along with a small tip!) and always had plenty of it! Please note......Bottle opener is in the bathroom!!!! Air con and fan in room are great! in fact some nights we had to turn off fan as it was too cold!!! Buffet restaurant is excellent! plenty of choice! none of our party ever went hungry! Breakfast especially good! Man making omlettes of your choice and frying eggs! one making fresh waffles! and one making fresh pancakes! Along with a lady making fresh fruit smoothies and all your usual breakfast stuff! Tried all 3 speciality restaurants on more than 1 occasion! All brill but mexican was our favourite! What can i say about the drinks! Well found a lot of reviews saying drink was watered down! i would say no way are they!!!!! cocktails just amazing! just remember to as for a pina colada....with rum!! and you get plenty of it! sometimes too much!!! Pool area fantastic and alwasy plenty of beds! Never lay on the beach but yes it does have a lot of seaweed but not exactly fault of hotel! It is the ocean after all!!! Staff work extremely hard here! Star friends always had something for you to do throughout the day! games in the pool and on the beach. the same star friends do the shows at night and are very proffesional! Do not miss the lion king show! Its amazing! Table service for drinks during shows so you dont miss a thing

Just arrived back from 2 weeks at the Iberostar and first time in Dominican Republic. Great holiday would definitely go back but rooms in need of refurbishment and the pool needed to be cleaned more frequently.

This was our 2nd time to the Caribbean and we were a bit disappointed because St. Lucia is very Caribbean but DR is very Spanish, not the look of it but the people. Having said that everybody was polite and friendly. Food was excellent. Lots of choice for everyone and unlike most hotel food we didn't get bored of it. One complaint though we hated the hard plastic cups which were rather old looking and scratched, which were used in the daytime. Throw away ones would be alot better. We went end of April and not alot of children were there so the kids club in the daytime was non existant so luckily our children weren't bored with us. Kids disco every night but the same songs and dances for the 2 weeks but some children were involved in the shows which mine loved. Definately recommend a trip to Ocean World for the day and a snorkelling trip to Sosua because there's not alot to see snorkelling at the beach. Be warned, we flew with first choice and none of the tellys worked on the way and only three quarters worked on the way back and apparently this certain plane is known for it ( very long flight with children ) All in all a lovely holiday and we would recommend it but personally prefer St. Lucia. P.s be careful of the hot tub because it was extremely hot some days.

There is so much to say about this holiday and especially about the hotel it's hard to know where to start.

Well this was our first all-inclusive holiday to the Dominican Republic so as you can imagine we was extremely excited.

We left Birmingham on the 3rd July and although we booked with First Choice our operator was Airtours and the flight was with Thomson fly. A little confusing but didn't cause us any problems.

The hotel through Airtours is a prestige holiday so you had pre book able seats making sure they were together and use of the VIP lounge so we could relax and drink as much as you wanted before the flight and enjoy snacks and news papers which were free.

Once on the plane i must say i was quite impressed. Im 6ft 4"; tall and the standard legroom was 33"; which was more than plenty. The seats were leather a 7"; tv in the head rest in front. You could watch tv, films and plenty of games which kept you occupied. With 2 meals on the plane the 9 hours flight went really quick.

The only thing to this stage that i was a bit disappointed with was that first choice did not tell us about the $10 visa entrance fee to the DR and $20 to come home. It is only £15 pounds each but it would have nice to be told. Also we were advised to take DR pesos which is there currency but only the shops at the hotels took Pesos every thing else is $. All the taxis, tipping, excursions and motorised water sports including diving on the island all take $usd. You can use pesos but you loose out converting pesos to $usd so my advise is to take majority $usd.

When we arrived at the airport the DR people will try and help you with your bag to the coaches. Guess what they want tipping its only about 30 ft and they want $2. Not a lot but over the entire holiday it will mount up when every body asks for tips. We didnt mind in the hotel as it made your holiday, But watch out for the beggars as well.

On a cheerful note when we arrived at the hotel it was a very welcoming site. The entrance is all open and greeted with a fountain full of turtles and friendly staff. We were given a welcome drink and didn't have to wait long before we had our key cards to our rooms. The bellboy took your bags while you took a stead stroll to your room. The reception area was great a pool with flamingos and bull frogs and there was even a peacock with 4 chick walking around the foyer. What a great start.

We went to our room and the bellboy came 5 min's later. The rooms are quite spacious with a king size bed, TV with satellite TV 24 channels and films every evening and night. You have a well stocked mini bar, sofa, table and chairs in the room and a fantastic view of the complex from your balcony. On the bed was a swan made with towels and flowers. We could not fault the room at all. There is plenty of wardrobe space with hangers and a safe which is key coded. We were extremely happy with everything.

We then went for a stroll down to the beach and around the complex. It is very immaculate and well after. There were so many activities during the day. Archery, Shooting, Aerobics, Water Aerobics, yoga, Water Polo, Beach Volley Ball, Bingo, Spanish Lessons, Scuba Lessons in the pool, Darts, Pool and Tennis as well a a great health spa which was all free except the massage, hair and nails, which you had to pay for but the prices was not that bad. I haven't mentioned the rest as there is so much to do it will take a while to write but we both need a holiday to recover.

The night entertainment was just incredible with a different show every night for the 2 weeks. The best shows was the Lion King, Viva Las Vegas, Black Laser Show and the West end night. The entertainers that work in the day are the same as the evening. I think they work from 7am -11pm for 12 days on with only 3 off and we complain at what we do. They work so hard and make it really special. They will have you in stitches all day and night dressing up in costumes and wigs, superman, Spiderman, Scooby doo were great.

After the entertainment they have bands and DR dancing till about 12 and if you want to carry on they have their own nightclub called route 66 open till 2am. It is fully air conditioned and sound proofed so you will never here it from out side.

The food in the resort is excellent, they have 3 speciality restaurant's which you have to book and can use once a week. However the main buffet restaurant caters for every body. Mexican, Spanish, Italian, English, Chinese and Dominican Republic food till it comes out of your ears. The soup is lovely the cheese counter is great and a 25 ft sweet counter. The waiters and chefs are great and cant do enough for you if you want something then just ask but it has everything however different dishes are alternated every day so you never get the same dishes every night. It a wonder how they do it but you cant fault the food at all. If you are hungry in the night or when you come out of the club then the Mexican restaurants open till 6am offering burgers hot dogs and steak with salad and bread etc. Much to say we never went hungry.

There are security guards all over the complex so it is very safe and quiet. They don't allow parties in rooms and even stop the holidaymakers who have left the club shouting or screaming, if there is any trouble then they will sort it out for you pretty quickly. They even stop every body using the pool after 7 at night so they can treat it. So all in all it was a very restful and peaceful holiday.

If you wanted to phone the UK from your room then you can buy a phone card from your rep if you don't want to take your own phone, which can be quite expensive to use. Just type in the following number 9, 1 809 200 8213 followed by your pin number then 0044 and your code without the 0 then the number. It even tells you how much is left every time you use it. The cost is $15 which is £7.50ish. This will give you 18 mins, however there is a 30 pesos connection charge, which you pay at reception.

If you want try your hand at scuba diving then they offer free taster lessons in the pool twice a day. If you enjoy the experience then they have a PADI diving school on site which is not free. However, for $399 (£200ish) you can get your divers licence and certification to dive any where in the world. You cannot afford to miss this opportunity if you are interested in this pass time. They are really friendly and very helpful. You can do single dives and do part of the full certification which you can take with you and finish the rest elsewhere.

The marine life is fantastic so if you can afford it I recommend it to any one.

Leaving the hotel at night is not recommended however, the complex is so big with so much to do then there really is no need to. They say its quite safe to go out in the day but if you wanted to see the island then there are many trips that you will enable you to explore this great holiday destination.

Some of the trips that are available are Sousa, Puerto Plata city tour, Paradise Island, Freestyle Catamaran, Outback Safari, Monster Truck Safari, White water rafting. All payable in $usd from the rep. And the most popular are ocean world and horse back riding, both are excellent and both our favourites. If you are adventurous then I recommend swimming with the dolphins and definitely swimming with sharks and stingrays. What an amazing buzz. The horse riding is only $40-$45 for half a day and they really look after you. Even if you have never been horse riding before then you will be trotting cantering and even galloping on these American style horses. It was truly amazing and wish we had done the full day. You will not be disappointed they even have a cow boys that ride with you if you cant ride and sit on the horse with small children.

Well what else can we say, it is by far the best hotel on the island and the service from everybody was truly amazing. They have made our Holiday to the Dominican Republic so special and we loved every minute of it. Can't wait to go again next year.

Ian and Rachel (Birmingham UK)