Beach: Fabulous! Lots of room, nice swimming area. My 2 teenage boys and I kayaked each day. Beware that topless sun bathers will be seen. Funny, my 15 yr old kept wanting to walk the beach!

Pool: Absolutely amazing! The temp was perfect, they have 2 very large pools, the college/high school spring breakers hung out in one, and we vacationers hung out in the other. Both have a swim up bar with great service. Very clean. Chairs were hard to come by but lucky for me my husband is an early riser and always grabbed us 4 chairs.

Service: Great! We had maid service and then a turn down service which was nice. She would bring warm towels again at night, along with chocolate :) All the staff were friendly and the Apple rep will help you with anything you need. We stayed in Villa 5 where the Apple reps were setup, so that was nice. We requested just diet soda in the fridge and the maid didnt understand so the Apple rep took care of it for us.


Apple put on a special BEACH BASH dinner on the night before we went home. It was FABULOUS! I included a picture of the setup. Beautiful! They had entertainment and a special buffet with a pig roast. Apple sure knows how to make your vacations memorable!

Food: Love the row of restaurants all together. We ate in Route 66, which was ok, son loved the ribs. Also the Italian restaurant was very good and the Mexican was just ok. The Buffet always had plenty to offer and they did a theme each night. Our favorite waiter was Hansel. Always remembered us each day so we made a point to sit in his section. There was one large buffet area with 2 separate sides of seating. There was also a smaller buffet at the beach with a large variety of food. Mikes coffee shop had excellent Peach smoothies and sweet treats for a great snack!

Rooms: 2 queen beds and a pull out sofa for my husand and I and our 2 boys, ages 13 and 15. Very spacious room, walk out patio, but we had a horrible view, wish we had a pool side view but we got the other side which was a fence and another resorts building. Oh well, we didnt spend much time in the room anyhow! Nice bathroom with a jucuzi style tub. Villa 5 was a GREAT location though, you walked right out to the pool. And, you can catch a shuttle golf cart up to the lobby and buffet, or walk to get your exercise.

Entertainment: I thought the shows were great! The Michael Jackson show they have is outstanding! There were a couple of just dancing and music shows that my teenagers were bored with, so we didnt stay. Very nice theater. We played bingo a couple days at 5pm, very few people play. We won 3 bottles of rum and 2 canvas pictures We took the free bike ride tours which actually take you into the small town area and let you stop and shop if you want. Also ride by 2 other resorts. It was fun, we did that 2 mornings for exercise. We used the kayaks also, which was really nice. The entertainment staff were all very friendly and a fun bunch.

Excursions: This year we chose the zip line which was something none of us had done before. It was raining when we got there but we still had a GREAT time! We did 12 zip lines and it was a work out! We booked this at the Apple desk. The other excursion I did was the snorkeling with the stingray and Nurse sharks. Im sorry I cant remember the specific name. My younger son (13) and I did this one while my older son (15) and husband did the deep sea fishing. The snorkeling tour was great! I included a picture of my son holding the stingray (less the stinger abililty). We saw alot of brightly colored fish and they fed them so you could almost reach out and touch them. It was very cool.

Would I return? Yes. But like some other reviews, I would like to try another resort. If you have not been to Ocean Blue though, I would highly recommend it.

Your service: OUTSTANDING! I have used your travel agency twice now and have not been disappointed. You guys keep us informed and worked hard to find us our flights because Detroit was so limited.
I would recommend your service to everyone!

Thanks Again!

Beth and Family

03/29/2012-7NTS 

Hey Karin,

I know you sent this email when we got home, but this is the first chance that I have to reply to your email. With Easter and the kids being home it's been a bit hectic. Sorry but better late than never.

Overall our vacation was great and we enjoyed Punta Cana again. We had a few issues but nothing that ruined our vacation or stopped us from enjoying ourselves, just a bit annoying.

I'd have to say the most annoying/surprising thing was how many "high school" kids that were there for Spring Break. There were many kids that were out of control, they took over one of the pools daily, a lot of underage drinking and yelling/partying all hours of the night! We were totally surprised that the resort would allow this and to this extent. At first we thought they were college kids (not to say it still wouldn't have been a problem) but soon found out that they were high school kids. We saw a few sets of parents with groups of kids, but the amount of kids by far out numbered any adult supervision. If we would have known this was a such a popular resort for high school Spring Breakers, we wouldn't have chosen to stay there.

Another annoying part of the trip was the constant trying to sell time-share pitches from specific H-10 employees (H-10 property). Once they realized that we really weren't interested, their demeanor/attitude changed from exceptionally nice to a bit short/rude.

Flights: The flights there were fine and on time no problems at all. The flights home a different story, the plane to Punta Cana from Newark was over an hour late due to the traffic in Newark, which Frank well knows, our initial layover in Newark was tight to begin with. We BARELY made our connecting flight (along with 5 others), but we made it, a bit stressful running through the airport, thru customs and immigration! Then to top it off, once the plane closed it's doors and pulled out onto the runway we sat for almost an hour before take-off, again due to traffic.

Transfers: Great we shared a van with another couple so there was only one stop before our resort. A bit different than going with Apple Vacations and boarding a huge bus with multiple stops before getting to your resort. On the way back to the airport we had our own van which was very nice.

Beach: The beach was nice but not as nice as last time and it may have to do with our location?? They didn't have any of those grass huts to lay under and the endless palm trees that also provided shade if wanted. They had limited white covers and not many palm trees for shade. The beach was sandy white and soft however, when walking many areas were totally covered with some sort of brown needle type things (not sure exactly what it was). Last time we were there it was totally clean with nothing but white soft sand as far as you could see or walk. The great thing about this resort with regards to the beach was the walking distance. It was a very short walk to the beach and we were able to go back to the room or pool very quickly which was nice. At the last resort, it was a LONG walk to the beach or we had to take a trolley type thing.

Resort grounds: Beautiful, clean and well kept.. employees constantly working and keeping it clean throughout the day.

Service: Outstanding and the people couldn't be more friendly. Every one was constantly cheerful, funny and had a smile on their faces which was so nice and welcoming.

Food: O.k. There were not as many restaurants to pick from as in the past and the quality/variety wasn't as good. A reservation was never needed except for the steak house. In some ways that could be good but also bad. The restaurants were "first come first serve" and since they were small we waited most of the time except for once....we soon found out why...the Caribbean restaurant was not good at all (reason for no wait). The buffet was o.k. but always had the exact same food for breakfast and dinner was o.k. with some variety nightly due to themes. We really enjoyed lunch every day at the restaurant on the beach, great variety and great quality. That was actually the restaurant for the Privilege guests for breakfast daily.

Rooms: Good size but we were not happy with the first room. We had broken drawers in this small dresser that was not enough for 4 people so we had to keep things in our bags. The sliding glass door was broken and wouldn't lock plus the view/location wasn't the best. They were very accommodating and changed our room the next day after some people checked out. There was confusion as to the time the room would be ready and after a few visits to "check-in" it all worked out. Once we were settled and unpacked in our new room it was fine, they actually gave us a better room with a pool view that we all enjoyed.

Entertainment: Terrible.... the theater was pretty much empty with only a few people and it was a far cry from a "show". Very surprised at that!

Would we return: Yes to Punta Cana but not sure to this resort.

Your service: Good as always this being our 3rd trip with your company.

Would I recommend your company: Absolutely

Oh....we did the Cap Cana all day excursion which was wonderul!

After being there two times and comparing the two different resorts that we have stayed at, we all agreed that we enjoyed the Bahia Principe more even though it was a larger resort. It had more to offer all around and was more impressive (ie: lobby, beach, pool, restaurants, rooms etc).

Thanks for everything and I will be contacting you again for our next vacation!

Rita (& family)
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