Melia Caribe Tropical Reviews

i would not go to this hotel with kids , choose a hotel with first choice run kids clubs the hotel run kids clubs are very poor they do not look after your kids very well any one can enter or exit any time most of the time they left the gate open and we had to stop some little children running off most of the time the kids were bored pool area not 5 star very poor no slides and nothing for kids to do shame in such a nice hotel just not for kids rooms we had four people 2 ad 2 child but only had 3 beds 1 single and 2 3/4 doubles no good for 2 adaults to small in 1 room witch also are no good for familys the rep said best thing 2 do is 2 push the 2 beds together and share with our little 1 who was nearly 3 years old and we paid full fare for her

this hotel was brilliant. the dominicans are so friendly. the minute you step off the plane you feel relaxed. the staff are exeptional and will bend over backwards to help you. the only downfall is that you get constantly pestered by the concierges about a timeshare type scheme, but if you say no they will respect you and not ask again. the complex was quite big, but there are 'trains' to transport you if required, personally it was a pleasure to stroll around after your meal on a beautiful warm evening. the best restaurant for us was the thai although there are many to choose from. we went royal service, so check in for us was very quick and was in our room within minutes along with our luggage. the staff where constantly maintaining the gardens and washing the paths down. the pool was cleaned and tested regulary, the maid would come to your room twice a day, during the day and in the evening to change any wet bath towls you use that evening. the staff dont expect tips, but in my opinion they work so hard to make your holiday special, it gave me great pleasure to give them a small token of our appreciation. the mini-bar is constantly re-stocked even if you havn't used all of it, it gets removed and replaced with new! i can't find a fault with this hotel.

A large impressive hotel. Looked after very well and food very good with lots of choice.

Couple of minor points:

- The hotel did not seem to be expecting us. In reality they were, but they did not give us that impression. We arrived at reception and had to provide all our details again, even though the travel company have been provided with everything. After a days traveling you feel there must be an easier way. It took us over an hour from arriving to get to our room - not the best first impressions....

- If you wanted anything and called through for it from you room, you normally had to ask them three times before your request was actioned.

Having said that, if you saw someone face to face, they were fantastic and overall we had a great holiday.

This was my first time going to a AI hotel so me and my partner didnt know what to do, the hotel staff were great and so was the holiday rep they recomemed trips drinks and where to eat, the hotel shop is a little bit pricey but there is a mall about 5min walk way from the hotel which is good, if you can have a meal at the hard rock cafe. The Hotel it self was lush we were luck where we stayed as the pool was less than a min walk and the beach buffet was out side our room door which then lead to the beach. i didnt really spend much time on the beach as we stayed by the pool where the bar was. the staff always came round to see if you were ok or see if you wanted you photo taken. if you want to out and about you must do the outback safari where you learn about the island and its people you end up at beach which is to die for and every 5 mins is happy hour.

this hotel was fantastic. there are loads of restaurant, swimming pools and bars.

i stayed for two weeks and could have stayed longer!

there is a casino in the hotel.

the evening entertainment is a bit dodgy, as they always are on all inclusive holidays!!

We upgraded to the royal service which proved to be the best, but we booked with first choice holidays and NEVER again first we were left at the airport no reps on hand to help you and had to get a taxi to the hotel total chaos at the airport no help and they all pretend not to understand you the last thing you want after a long flight, the room was NOT five star at all been to better in egypt whatever you do do not ask for tea in your room they do not know about the milk! had cockroaches and loads of mosz in room the restaurant for the RS was brill as was the pool and beach area and all the grounds if you want a posh room as we were led to belive you have to upgrade we did get the taxi money refunded after loeads of paperwork oh and also a change of reps at hotel ment the schedule in the book anything goes!! not usually one to moan but thought that other travelers should know all about first choice they have a lot to live up to if they want to merge with Thompsons!

Well, Just back from two weeks at this magnificent Hotel / resort.

I recently wrote a review on my recent holiday to Mexico which was the best ever, well guess what this holiday was even better. Yes it was excellent value for money, Staff very friendly and not only looking to be tipped.The choice of eating out at night was superb so many restraunts to choise from. The bar staff, no ALL staff could not do enought to please you and thank you for choosing the Dominican for your vacation.Only down side was the pestering from the group within the complex who tryed to get you to go to a meeting to sell you either time share or join a holiday club, be firm if not interested just say NOT interested. There is no rush to claim a sunbed on the Beach as there are so many to choise from, What a beach, locals wander along the beach but do not approach you to sell you anything. Very lively beach, Speedboats, Windsurfing, parasailing, Pedalos, Canoes, ohh i could go on and on. Be aware Peacocks and all wildlife on the complex have the final say. Give this place a tyr you will not regret.

FANTASTIC, definately lives up to its 5* rating. On arrival at the hotel, which is approx 20mins from airport. We were meet by bell boys who take your suitcase's and deliver them to your rooms. The reception/check in staff were very friendly and spoke very good English. We were asked if we would like our room close to one of the pools ( which i recommend anyone who goes does as the resort complex is HUGE). Our first impressions of the reception was WOW, it was very grand with shiney marble floors, comfy sitting areas and indoor ponds with tropical fish.

After checkin we had to catch one of the two trains to take us to our room. The trains run all day and night ferrying residents to all parts of the hotel free off charge, as the complex is very large. However the grounds are amazing, with landscaped gardens, more ponds, palm trees and much more to see if you take a leisurly walk. You won't be able to miss the peacocks and flamingos who live freely in the gardens. By night you can have a ride in the horse and carriage.

Our room was great, we had two large beds, sitting area, large dressing table, coffee make, iron/iron board, fridge with drinks refilled daily, movie channels and our bathroom complete with power shower and bida was decorated with fresh petals on arrival.

The pools were the best we have ever seen, with jacuzzi and swim up bar. We never had a problem with others leaving their towels on beds as there was plenty everyday. You have towel cards given to you on checkin so need to even pack a towel. The beach is fab with miles of white sands and clear turqoise waters, with plenty of daily activities and water sports to do.

We didn't take our little girl, but if we would have she would have loved it. They had a whole area for children complete with swimming pool, park, soft play, indoor supervision and their very own restuarant ( all in the flintstones theme ). Thay have kids clubs and I think they have babysitting too. Saying that though we only saw a few young children, throughout our whole stay.

They have 3 buffet restuarants and approx 9 a'la carte, which were all up and running. Our favorite was french and chinese, but i can honestly say we didn't have one complaint about the food it was all amazing, so much choice, we just didn't stop eating. You can book for the ala carte restuarants up to 24hrs in advance. We were usually offered 6pm or 9pm as the best times are generally given to the Royal service guests (explain in a mo). But if you turn up to resturants early or late or basically anytime they are more than happy to let you in. They do have a dress code, but my partner wore, smart tshirts and shorts with trainers and it was fine, pretty much every other person did too, as it was far to hot to wear trousers and shoes. The service in all restuarants, bars and casino is brilliant. You can pretty much have any drink ( even champagne ) that you want from all bars including pool bar.

The resort has two spa's, equipped with, sauna, gym, beauty palours and hair dressers.

All in all this was the best holiday we have ever been on and would recommend to anyone. However if I went back again next year I would like to upgrade to the Royal service for an extra £27 each per night. This includes: Private transfers to and from airport, jucuzzi and plasma tv in your room, kitchen facilities in room, 24hr room service, mini bar stocked with alcohol, piority bookings in all resturants, driven around resort at request on a golf buggy, private pool and bar.

I would also STRESS to anyone traveling from Britian to take an electric transformer as their electric is 110 volts and ours is 230 volts, needless to say I didn't know this and couldn't use my Ghd's and had to walk around for the whole holiday with a poodle head, NOT A GOOD LOOK.

We only took US dollars, even though their currency is peso's. Most People there use dollors.

We went on this holiday a bit concerned about the bad reviews we have read (on UK + American sites) but the bad feelings we had were put at ease straight away.

The airport arrivals hall was really basic but you only need luggage carousels and toilets, which were fine, so we weren't bothered about that.

Transfer was quite short (about 20/25 minutes) on a coach, the reception in the Hotel was lovely and you're greeted with welcome drinks when you're checking in. We found none of the staff to be rude, which was noted on other review sites.

A mini-train or luggage carts take you to your Hotel block as some are quite far away from reception. The complex is HUGE so there is a mini-train which operates every 15 mins (24 hours!) all round the complex. Your luggage then follows not long after by the bell boys.

Pool towel cards are given so you don't need to take beach towels with you.

The pool area and sunbeds were fantastic and there is a swim up bar in each of the two large freeform pools, the staff in there are really friendly too.

There is sometimes a language barrier as they speak Spanish in Dominican but you can't expect to go all that way and everyone speak perfect English! (some people did think that should happen and were quite rude to the staff) but the staff try their best if they don't speak good English and the majority of them do anyway.

The restaurants was the only thing that we were disappointed with as half were closed for refurbishment which we weren't told about before we arrived. The ones that have been refurbished though are stunning so I think they will all be of this standard when they are finished. You have to book for the A La Carte ones so we just rang when we woke up each day and never had a problem with the time and restaurant we had chosen for that night.

The beach is lovely there aswell and the Hotel runs activities on the beach (football/ salsa dancing,etc).

We did two excursions, the helicopter trip for half an hour which was WELL worth the money- I can't explain how good it was flying really low over the sea and hotels.
The other which we did was the speed boat trip where you have your own speedboats for a while ( following each other in a line), then all meet up for snorkelling - this one was good too. People we met went on jeep safari which they said was really good.

I hope this review helps, we would go again to this hotel if we were going to that area but we normally don't go the same place twice.

returned july from Dominican republic and i can say i will not be going back.We stayed at the melia caribe tropical a five star accomodation with first choice and i can say this is not a five star accomodation 3 star plus to 4 starr tops.

The gardens and grounds are truly world class and the beach superb but the service is awfull the buffet restaurants are like cattle markets and the food is very poor getting a drink or clean set table is almost impossable.
The bar staff in the lobby bars only serve spanish speaking and ignore the americans and english, even the waitresses ignore you unless of course you tip them.

The rooms are ok but again not 5 star the safety deposit box took three days to get fixed and the air conditioning dripped through the light fitting this took two days to fix.
I answered the door one morning to two men one holding a machete one a large knife i asked what they wanted and they just walked off imagine if my wife had answered the door.
Dont get me wrong the grounds pool and resort are buitifull but the staff are arrogant and ill trained all they want is tips.The reception staff just say yes yes it is ok now but it never is when you complain.
Trying to get a booking at the restaurants was fun if you dont ring at 8.00am you either cant get in or you get a booking time of 9.30 - 10.oo what they dont tell you is that the spanish get priority booking forms at the table to book in advance so all the best times are taken.

Our rep told us at the end of the holiday when everone was complaining that they knew that there were problems at the hotel and had moved a lot of people during the year so why is the hotel being advertised next year at five star when it definatly is not.

Steer clear go to the ibearostar some people that were moved said it was a different world there.
One final word of warning the check in at the airport they try to charge everyone for excess baggage even if your not over on the way out you will be on the way back suprisingly enough so dont let it go argue eventually they give in.

I see that another reviewer went to this hotel and thought it was brilliant. We went and thought it was only average, and most certainly NOT 5 star standard.

After a 3 hour delay (Excel airways - apparently this often happens to them) and 9 hr flight, we finally arrived in reception with about 8 others to check in. That's wher the problems started. There were a couple of people already at the desk and one person on duty. after waiting around 10 minutes with no sign of any progress I asked 'Exceuse me, do you have any other staff that can check us in?'. He said he was sorry, and I replied that I'm sure he was sorry, but that that wasnt the question, ie do yuo have some more staff as we are very tired. As if by magic, he went out the back and 4 others appeared and we were all checked in. But why weren't they already there?? At check in I asked if our room was near the building work, to which I was told that no it wasn't.

Got to the room, opened the curtains and looked straight ontto a new block being built. I phoned up and the room was changed next day. But why lie to me?

Went to the buffet restuarant and the buffet was very poor - hot food only warm, and not particularly good quality. I asked a waiter for a drink. Finished starter, halfway through main course, no drink, asked another waiter, still no drink whilst eating my dessert. Finished the meal, very very tired and finally went to the bar area and 'did my nut' at them, telilng them to give me my drink as they seemed incapable of bringing it!

The timeshare reps are a real nuisance, and I don't believe you go on holiday to be hassled, so a very firm NO is required. Even then they ask 'why not?'. I found the best thing is to get quite loud and tell them you don't want to be hassled - when yuo are loud and others can hear it messes them up for the next person, so they let you go.

Despite what it says in the Thomas Cook brochure, yuo have to book for all a la carte restaurants. This is aggro, because if you want a decent time to go you need to book about 8am - otherwise they will tell yuo that it is full or only 6pm booking is available. Despite this, all the restaurants were only about 1/2 full, so wht they try and tell you it's full I've no idea, unless it's to get yuo to eat the cheap and nasty buffet food.

The a la cartes were all good, except for the steak house, which was of poor quality. The seafood restaurant was very good.

The rooms and beds are decent size but we found the hot water supply to be only warm at peak times.

The pool areas and beach are lovely, and there are loads of sunloungers. No waiter service around the pool - again not 5 star!

A word of warning - this hotel complex is very spread out, and because of the heat you need to take the train that runs every 15 mins or so, and at peak times this can be full, so it can take you 1/2 hour to get from your room to reception for example.

our rep, Jae, was excellent, although we did not do any trips.

In summary, this is an excellent hotel but it is badly managed with no imagination (such as never laying on a poolside BBQ for example) and poor staff training with surly staff - unless of course you tip - which we did. Everything such as changing the room or changing a restaurant booking was a problem until you flashed the magic $2, and then it was simplicity itself to get whatever you wanted.

In my opinion, this hotel is NOT of 5 star standard nad should be downgraded.

For the money we paid, we could have gone to a 4 star AI in Cancun, and having been there, Cancun would have been a much better bet.

There are two sides to the hotel, Tropical and Caribe. They are both mirror images of each other, we were lucky and was inbetween them both. The hotel is huge and it took us 15 mins to walk to the a la carte restaurants and lobby each night. The walk was very pleasant though as the gardens are very well kept and there are peacocks and ducks roaming around and also some flamingos. If you don't fancy the walk then there is always the trains (wally trolley) that run to and from the apartments to the hotel reception.

The a la carte restaurants were very nice but service does tend to be a bit slow. The restaurant we enjoyed the most was the Japanese, it was lovely although difficult to get booked. The French restaurant (Ma Maison) was also very nice. The organisation for booking the a la carte restaurants was appaling, we had to spend 1 hour each morning queuing to make a reservation and sometimes we walked away without a reservation. On our last few days they were changing the way you make reservations so the system might be more organised now. Whatever you do don't book over the phone as we did this one day and the phone was engaged constantly for an hour.

We did go to a couple of the buffet restaurants which were ok but nothing special, the service in these restaurants were terrible. We had to ask 3 times for some water and another 3 times for some wine, in the end he got fed up with us asking and gave us the bottle! The beach buffet restaurant was the best for lunch, they had the best pizzas!

We all had bad tummys whilst on holiday, we spent a lot of our spending money on Immodium but it didn't spoil our holiday.

The bars in the Melia are aimed at the Spanish and do not play English music. All the nightly entertainment is Spanish and after 2 weeks the Spanish music really does get to you. The Fun Pub also played mainly Spanish music, we did ask the DJ to play some English or American music and he did on occassions but only 6 songs then back to Spanish again. One night just us 3 girls went in and asked for some English music and he let us play what we wanted all night so it might of been because we were 3 girls on our own!

The casino was good although we did not know what we were doing on the slot machines as it is all written in Spanish.

All the staff at the Melia are very friendly but do not speak very good English so it might be helpful to take a small phrase book with you.

Our rooms were always spotless, the maids did a very good job and would come in daily to replenish our towels.

It is a good idea to take quite a few $1 bills for tips, we didn't tip all the time but in the a la carte restaurants we did cause the service was much better and we made sure we tipped our maid at the end of the holiday.

It was one of my friend's birthdays whilst we were on holiday and we asked whether a cake could be arranged for her birthday in the Japenese restaurant, they did this at no extra cost and it was a lovely surprise for her!

We did three trips through our hotel rep, we did the Monster Trucks Safari; James Bond for the day (speed boats) and Sasou Island. They were all fun. The monster truck safari was really good although quite upsetting to see how the people live. The children there were getting excited over a pencil they were given, its a real eye-opener to see how the less fortuate people live. Before we left we gave a load of our clothes and flip flops to our rep to give to the poor children and we know it was greatly appreciated. Sasou Island was a good day although when we went it was raining so probably not as good as it would of been on nice day.

We did a few free activities that our hotel provided, we went out on a catamaran which was good fun and we also did a bit of snorkalling. If you are going to do snorkalling from the hotel walk left all the way up to the multi-coloured house and do it there, the fish are lovely colours.

There is nothing to do outside of our hotel so if its a lively holiday you are looking for then Bavaro is not for you. We wanted a fairly lively holiday and although it turned out to be a relaxing holiday we still thoroughly enjoyed it!

Well - What can we say!!!!! After having this holiday booked for a year - we have just returned from what we can only describe as Paradise and Luxury at the most. After booking this holiday I have constantly searched websites and other forms of reviews to find any feedback on this hotel - and I can honestly say I was disappointed to find so many 'poor' reports enough to make us a little uncertain about the holiday before we went. BUT.......... I honestly can not understand what the bad reports were all about - In our years we have been on some fabulous holidays and visited some wonderful hotels - we never stay below a 4* plus or 5* as we both like our luxories on holiday - this hotel definitely comes at the top of our list for All Inclusives!

There was a slight hiccup on the first day of arrival - the room we were allocated was beautiful but unfortunately the complex is having a 'new' block built and we were right opposite the building works - however I worked my female and English charm and we were offered alternative accommodation not just one room but 2 so we could have a choice.

In the end up we chose the room which was near the pool (one of 8) the pool bar, 2 minutes walk from one of the breakfast, lunch restaurants and 2 minutes from the most beautiful beach and sea which gives a wonderful breeze. After that well - it is so difficult to put into words how wonderful this holiday was....... The complex is huge as in the grounds are so vast you can not possibly see everything whilst you are there.

The complex is split into 2 almost identical sides - we stayed in the Caribe and must admit out of the 2 the rooms in the Caribe side are better - for anyone who wants to be near the daytime facilities blocks 24 - 33 are the best placed but all the blocks are just so spread out. There are a total of 1044 rooms across both sides and we fully expected something like 'Butlins' but wow -we could have walked around all day and night and not seen many people. The buildings are on 2 levels with approx 24 rooms to a full block 12 at either side. The rooms are huge and are fully equipped - with even an iron/ironing board - coffe maker everything you could want and of course THE INEVITIBLE UMBRELLA supplied to help with any tropical weather conditions - ours remained unopened until the very last evening when unfortunately the rain came a little earlier than normal - just as we were embarking for our evening meal. To say it was their rainy season - what fab weather we had - only one major downpour during the day in our whole fortnight which lasted about 30 mins as Steve and I sat under cover huddled on a sunbed - while the thunder and lightening hit out at sea.

The complex has a total of 11 restaurants of which 2 are the main breakfast and lunch and are situated down on the beach area - the variety on offer at both meals was just unbelievable with so many different options and types catered for - there is no way anyone could say there was nothing they liked. The evening meals well they just got better - 7 A la Cartes on site based at the top side of the complex and laid out so beautiful amongst the gardens - Sea food (not tried by us as I myself do not have a taste for sea food - but the reports we got back were excellent); the French - probably our favourite but absolutely first class in all areas.

The Japanese - what an experience a definite must for all - food cooked in front of you in wonderful surroundings and authentic style - it is a little difficult to reserve as it is very popular and due to the way they work things only have hourly settings, but make sure you get at least one visit in. Mexican; Chinese and Italian all provide excellent service, food and authenticity with the Gourmet another of our favourites. We did not venture into the Spanish restaurant which is a buffet and only visited the Main buffet restaurant twice during our stay - one on the very first night after our long day and the other following a long day on one of the trips - but again the food is first class and caters for a variety with much to offer. The A La Cartes do have a dress code (although some of our US and Spanish friends preferred to ignore this!), but the buffet restaurants allow shorts etc. A La Cartes have to be reserved in advance - usually day before or that morning at latest.

There are I think if I remember probably 8 bars in total which contain some of the best staff I have come across in the years so friendly and always ready to have fun - the bars offer every drink you could possibly think of and the barmen are always glad to prepare anything of your choice.

We could on forever talking about the facilities etc. you just have to go and take a look yourselves. The grounds are definitely something else - tropical and ecological with flamingos; peacocks; herons etc etc. all making their homes within and adding to the beauty. There is a fantastic wedding gazebo surrounded again by beauty so anyone who wants a romantic, tropical and most beautiful wedding then this is the place.

The resort of Bavaro stretches for miles upon miles with fantastic white beaches and turquoise seas - we have visited the North of the island before and well this definitely beats it - although I believe there is not much of a centre in Bavaro - but who needs it with such a wonderful complex to stay in.

For any overkeen golfers well - there is a fantastic golf course attached with the hotel (my husband managed 6 games - all complimentary with just buggy to pay for approx £20 per time. One word of advice - for anyone wanting to take up offer - if you are planning on having more than one game then take your own clubs - cost us £30 on flight well worth it because club hire was approx £30 per game!) The course is beautiful - hubby says greens were better than in Yorkshire! I managed a trip with him on the last game - whizzing around these beautiful grounds in a buggy was the best. There are residential properties on site overlooking the course - wow they just finish everything off.

Finally, may I add comments about our rep - Maread (think I have spelt correctly) - she was fantastic - Irish and full of laughs; knowledge humour everything about her was great. She has definitely been the best we have ever had - thanks Thomas Cook for employing such a fab person.

I think it just leaves us to now look back at our pictures (the helicopter trip pictures have turned out great - this is quite an expensive tour but definitely an experience to be had) and dream about a possible return in the near future. It is a defininte must if you like the best....... as for any bad comments - well the only bad we can say is that WE HAD TO COME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!