In December we travelled to the Dominican Republic and stayed at the Dreams Punta Cana Resort in Uvero Alto. We travelled as a group of 8; ranging in age from 1 to mid 50’s! We were travelling from Gatwick, UK and flew with British Airways. The flight was quite long (Approx. 9 hours) so it was good that the transfer wasn’t too long the other side. It took about 40 mins in the taxi.

The Resort

Upon arriving at the resort we were greeted by staff who unloaded our luggage and handed us welcome drinks. All of the staff were very friendly and showed us to our rooms on the golf buggys. The resort is beautiful it has a really tropical feel with lots of palm trees and plants around. The grounds are so well kept. There is even a flamingo lake which Zac loved!

The Room

We were kindly upgraded to the honeymoon suite and “preferred club guests”. Being part of the preferred club entitles you to certain privileges around the resort. Including:

•  Upgraded mini bar in room
•  Upgraded room service menu
•  Pillow menu in room
•  Access to the privilege lounge which has a bar with premium drinks and some light snacks
•  Access to some extra restaurants for lunch

We were in block 6 on the first floor. All of the upgraded rooms are on the 1st and 2nd floors and regular double rooms all seemed to be ground floor. The only downside to this is that there are no lifts so we had to carry the pram up and down each day, but it wasn’t too difficult with both of us.

We were really impressed with our room, it was perfect for us. The room was all open plan, there was a lounge area, bedroom, dressing area, toilet and even walk in wardrobe! We had a large king size bed which was decorated with balloons on our arrival (we were celebrating my birthday while we were there!). There was also robes, slippers and a beach bag laid out on the bed.

We had quite a large balcony which also had a whirlpool. It was really handy having this as Zac loved having a bath in there each night.

The room is the perfect size for a family. Our parents were in double rooms on the floor below and I feel that these rooms would not have been spacious enough for us and it would have been very cramped with a travel cot in there.

The room had lots of lovely amenities, from Colgate toothpaste, razors and earbuds to a mini sewing kit.

The room service menu wasn’t vast, but there was a few options on there such as hot dogs and pizza. The room service is 24/7 which was perfect for when Zac was hungry in between meal times.

The Beach

We spent our first few days at the beach. The resort has its own private beach which was lovely. It is on the Atlantic side of the country so it isn’t “Caribbean blue sea” but it was still really lovely. As preferred club guests we were able to use the cabanas on the beach and had waiter service for drinks. This was perfect for us as it provided lots of shade for Zac.

The Pool

We then spent the next few days around the pool. It was a really big pool and even had a swim up bar which was great. However there isn’t any children’s/kids pool which is a little disappointing. When booking the hotel we saw pictures of a children’s pool with a large pirate ship. But this is in the kids club which you aren’t allowed to use. Only children age 3+ can use this, and only if they are staying in the kids club not with parents. Zac saw the pirate ship every day when walking past and wanted to go in, so it would have been good if this was open to everyone. So he could only use the large main pool – luckily it has a shallow edge going around some areas of the pool where Zac was able to stand/sit and play.

The same applies to the photos you see of outdoor play equipment and slides. These are all inside the kids club. You are able to go into the in there with children to view and “try” the area 1 hour a day between 9:30-10:30am (except the pirate ship and pool).

The Food

There are 9 restaurants you can eat at, however these are not all open every night. A few of these are also more “snack” places like the pizza station and café.

For dinner there is a:

• Buffet restaurant
• A la carte grill
• Pan Asian
• Italian
• French
• Seafood

The A la carte restaurants are all really lovely. I would really recommend the French restaurant which serves the BEST French onion soup and steak (But this is adults only!) and the Pan Asian. The Pan Asian service amazing food – the Wok Triology was delicious! You can go in there with children but if you want to sit at one of the teppanyaki tables you need to be over 12 years of age.

The buffet is nice, it has a couple of hot station where they are making pasta and meats fresh to order. There is also a pizza station every night. The children’s buffet is very limited – it is mini hotdogs and burgers for lunch and dinner every day so not much variety. This wasn’t much of an issue for us as we would just get Zac food from the adult section. One thing I did notice is a lack of chips – I know this is a really uncultured and British thing to complain about. But on nights where Zac was fussy or playing up some chips would have been handy!

The Spa

The resort has an onsite spa with jacuzzi, pool and hydropool. . As we had Zac we wasn’t able to spend the day here but we did have a lovely couples massage on the beach. For 50 mins it approx. $60 USD per person. The massage took place at the far end of the beach where it is very quiet and relaxing.

Overall we really enjoyed our holiday here, the grounds were lovely and our room was perfect for us. There are some areas were improvement could be made – mainly the children’s facilities. I think if you have small children under the age of 2 or 3 who don’t require a lot of entertainment/facilities then this isn’t an issue but I can imagine older children may get a bit bored (unless you are willing to send them to the kids club each day). The other main complaint I had was the vendors around the complex. Of an evening the hotel allow outside sellers to set up stalls around the resort selling jewellery, painting cigars etc. They can be very pushy and persistent.

Additional points:

• Good Wi-fi- around the resort
• Good evening entertainment each night ( we didn’t watch it often as it started quite late so Zac was asleep and it is very loud and busy in there)
• On site Casino (Small but still good to visit one night)

Thank you for reading my review!