Occidental Caribe

This is the worst down-south resort that I have ever been to. In general, the facilities were not very nice. It was very noisy everywhere we went in the resort. And, there were crazy line-ups for almost everything, including just to eat a basic meal. I do NOT recommend this resort to anyone. It was so bad that we even moved resorts after one night (best decision ever)! [Details]

The room was ok but the food was terrible. And the service is also not that good. Choose not to go [Details]

Beautiful hotel. Clean. Older character charm. Check in was fast. We arrived in the evening with one other group checking in. We were escorted to our room. It was a basic room. We had a king size bed. Clean and sooo comfortable. The pillows were amazing. Damp smell but not unexpected given the humid environment. The air conditioning would only go as low as 24 but compaired the temperature everywhere else, it was relief. The toilet would not flush until the morning. Took a minute for water to run from the shower but after that it was fine.
The breakfast buffet was great. Fresh eggs and omelets. Bacon for the first 3 days. They did run out as it got more busy. But the sauasage and cold meat selection was plenty. The bread was so fresh. They had a pinni press grill to make toast and sandwiches.
Lunch and dinner buffet, again delicious. Always something to eat that you liked. Pasta bar was awesome. Fresh grilled meats and fish. Salad bar was plenty.
The beach was amazing. So clean and lots of palm trees for shade. No issues finding chairs.
The pools were nice. Could be skimmed more often but the staff had a hard time keeping up with rude people who littered in the pool. The swim up bar was dominated by the spring breakers but we always got in to get our drinks and went back to a relaxing spot in the water. The second pool was the quiet pool. Very clean and relaxing.
The bars and drinks were good! Some inconsistencies with the drinks as not all staff understood English.
Staff were friendly and always trying their best. Sometimes you had to ask twice for something when it was busy.
Overall I was not disappointed. I will definitely return. [Details]

Run far away from this hotel! It look good but from the outside only.
Nous avons passées 5 jours moi et mes deux adolescentes. Nous n'avons pas été capable de dormir pour plusieurs raisons (jeunes étudiants sur le party toute la nuit, toilette qui se met soudainement a couler et aucune aide pour remédier à la situation). Nous avons pris la chambre supérieur ocean front et les chambres étaient les mêmes que les régulières. Bruit de la vaisselle très fort à minuit car nettoyage, musique forte et spectacle correct. Porte patio difficile à ouvrir, chambre vieille et peu rénové. Soyez prêt à attendre longtemps avant de pouvoir y avoir accès. Nous devions l'avoir pour 15h00 mais ca été plutôt 18h00. Une fois arrivé, nous avons dû changer car ce n'étais pas ce que nous avons payé (chambre vue supérieur ocean front). Donc, nous avons dû attendre à nouveau avant d'obtenir la bonne chambre mais malheureusemant ce n'étais pas mieux. Pour les deux piscines, pas de place a l'ombre. Nourriture prêt de la plage médiocre et l'attente pour les drinks est très longue. Soyez prêt à marcher beaucoup et avoir beaucoup/beaucoup de patience pour le check in, check out et la réservation des restaurants à la carte. Pour les restos à la carte nous avons eu seulement 2/3 restaurants et seulement à 9h00 le soir. Lors de notre départ un autobus arrivait avec que de jeunes étudiants et ca été ceci tout le long de notre voyage. Des jeunes qui consomment trop, se chicane et même de la bataille. Mes enfants ont été témoin de certains incidents de la part des jeunes étudiants. En générale dans la vie, je ne suis pas difficile ou compliqué et j'ai eu la chance d'aller à d'autre endroits mais celui-ci je n'y retournerais jamais et d'autres voyageurs de mon age ont également fait le même commentaire. Si vous avez la chance prenez le temps de lire tout les commentaires surtout ceux dans le dernier mois et vous allez comprendre. [Details]

Upon a late arrival at 12:30am, we walked into the lobby which felt a nightclub. The music was loud and pounding and the lobby was filled with 50 drinking students.
We asked front desk at check in what was going on and they told us in their broken English that it is holidays for students.

We were escorted to our room 5407. Right away we noticed there was only one king size bed but 4 of us. Back down to the lobby we go to complain as this is not what we paid for. They told us that the hotel was full and this was the only room available until further notice. They would bring us an extra single mattress.
One person had to sleep on the floor with a mattress and 3 to the king bed. (Not ideal) Music outside our balcony was pounding till 2:30am.

Over 800 spring breakers arrived from the US. Fraternities and sororities, rivalry schools. Things got loud and disrespectful very fast. We noticed breakable furniture being removed and security started to carry batons. Just when we thought we were done counting them, 500 more arrived.

We noticed 3 companies around the resort, SpringBreakU, go blue and student city. We did some research and discovered that these 3 companies sponsor Occidental every year to put on this event. We were so disappointed and angry that there was no disclaimer regarding this. We never would have booked at this resort had we known. There was nothing on Occidental website, through Air Transat or through our travel agent.

Day 2- still no new room available but they did bring us an extra mattress so now the 2 kids were able to sleep on the floor with a mattress and parents in the bed.
Room was cleanish, outdated, dusty, crooked pictures on walls, bathroom door was hanging on with one hinge and did not shut. AC worked. Our view was beautiful. Outlets were loose but still charged our phones. Water sprayed everywhere when we used the shower. Our toilet worked but not well. Burped everytime we flushed and usually wouldn't clear the whole bowl in 1 flush. Bed was comfortable and large, but pillows were lumpy and unsupportive.
Still no sleep at night due to loud pounding music coming from outside.

Day 3- Still no new room available till Wednesday. Another sleepless night.

Day 4- 7 Finally a new clean upgraded room with 2 double beds. (What I originally paid for) on the “quite” side of the hotel. We were so much looking forward to finally having a good night sleep.
The rooms deadbolt didn't work leaving us feeling unsafe and vulnerable. The maid staff often didn't leave enough towels.

Food: BUFFET SUCKS. The only consistent food was omelette in the morning if you choose to wait in a very large line up for it. Most food didn't even look edible. Fruit lacked flavour, cereal for kids crumbled to dust. Kids lived on chocolate doughnuts every morning.

A la carte restaurants were good. Japanese - best food and experience was cool.
French- was alright but small portions.
Italian - The food didn't necessarily look great when it came out but it tasted good.

Pizza restaurant was the best but we didn't find out about it until the last 2 days of our trip because it was near the party pool which we tried to avoid because of the overrun of spring breakers.

We also did not have an issue booking the a la cartes. My husband woke up early to be there for 6:45 and there were 2 people in front of him.

Husband got sick on day 4. Most likely from food. It lasted 2 days of runs and feeling nauseous. I got the runs on the last day and children caught colds on day 5.

Staff: Most of the staff around the resort are friendly and usually greeted with a smile and hola but the language barrier was very minimal.

Entertainment: the nightclub, beach and pool parties was loud as fuck. Not in a good way.
We never experienced the nightly shows because we purposefully avoided the resort at night as we didn't want to expose our children to the unacceptable behaviours of the students.

At any given time of day there were chairs available to sit on at the beach and pools. (I saw a lot of complaints on here about reserving chairs but we never once had an issue).
The beach is beautiful and kept clean. Little to no seaweed. Rough waters not ideal for younger kids. Lots of beach to play in the sand, tan, read, exercise, etc. We loved spending time at the beach. Pools are also beautiful and mostly kept clean but we felt that we had to stay at the “quite” pool because again the spring breakers overran the other pool that had the swim up bar and close to the beach grill.
The behavior and level of disrespect from these students was unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. There was yelling and fighting at all ungodly hours in the halls. We were woken up by puking every morning, they'd puke over their balconies. These students littered the beach with garbage and threw their empty cups into the ocean and pools. The already bad food became even worse as it was extremely picked through and mostly snack food. They would smoke or vape in restaurants while people were eating. I never once saw them tip the very hard working staff. Wait times at bars were minimum 45 mins because they refused to move once they had a drink. We heard that drugs were everywhere. Female butt cheeks were sticking out of their mini dress and breasts were overflowing out of shirts.

This is a family resort. We cannot believe Occidental allows this. I feel awful for anyone that was also there with children or teenagers. The atmosphere began to feel very unsafe. We did not pay our hard earned money to partake in sex drugs and rock'n'roll. We paid hard earned money to relax and have a good time with our family. [Details]

We just came back from a 14 day stay at this resort (14-28 February 2024). Unfortunately, our experience overall was not very positive. First, it took forever in line at the the reception and to get to our room. Once we got there, it was pretty bad: the toilet did not work, all the drawers to put our clothes in were broken and on the floor, the safe was not working and we did not get the room with a view of the ocean as we had purchased, I immediately went downstairs and requested a new room especially considering we were staying for over two weeks. Once we were assigned a new room (with a partial view of the ocean) we waited for the bell boy for over 30 minutes. He never came, so I decided to carry our bagages myself up three levels since the elevators did not work. In our new room, we constantly had an issue (again) with the toilet not working. (I had to fill the tank regularly and reconnect the valve every second day in order to flush). One early morning, (after a rain night before) the bathroom floor was completely flooded, i had to clean it with our provided towels which were not replaced. (I had to go and get them myself). The bath and shower were stained and dirty, although we did have hot water throughout our stay; an other morning, the deadbolt on our door was broken, and we were unable to open the door and to leave our room. It took over two and a half hours to get someone to come up and help us. Also, our safe had to be completely repaired as it did not work at all. Service overall was lacking and frustrating. [Details]

We had a great vacation at this resort . Everything was perfect: weather, friendly staff, good food, clean room and all amenities around the hotel. So a big thank you from us . We will be happy to return in the coming years as well. [Details]

Ok so it was decent for the price unless you get stuck in room 3214 or 3215
The grounds and beach are beautiful
Food was ok. It wasn't great but you won't go hungry there's lots to choose from. Bring spices and seasoning from home

Two from our group were is room 3214 and the toilet flooded in 3215 and that toilet water flooded into our friends room. Repeatedly. and took management and the front desk three days to move them.
It should not take three days to change rooms due to toilet flooded. Like that's real gross. The walls were actually soft in places. At one point the water was high enough to touch the bed skirt. And Management seemed annoyed with the need to switch rooms. Our rep told us to find him later ( thanks bud [Details]

I'll start where this resort shines.

The beach, the pool, the layout is quite good. The gym is pretty decent. The cleaning staff are wonderful. [Details]

Resort was beautiful a little dated but still great!
Beach was stunning [Details]

When we arrived there were no towels in our room. We complained to the front desk at 11 pm and was told they would bring them up right away. We went to get something to eat and when we returned....no towels. When we called again and was told they would bring them. We waited until 1:45 am and still no towels. When we called again we were told housekeeping services closed at 2 am so could not give us towels til morning. We waited until our Briefing with Tony from Air Transat and complained to him. He went directly to guest services and told them that we had paid for superior service and got less than that. The Manager said she would go up by 4 pm and check the room herself. When we returned to the room at 4 pm we found a bottle of rum and tickets for premium drinks but no towels so we went to her and told her we were getting very tired of the run around. She came with us to our room and phoned housekeeping and told them to come see her in our room immediately. Finally we got towels along with robes and slippers. We were also given an extra reservation for the a la carte restaurants. Other than that a few staff issues our stay was pleasant and enjoyable. [Details]

My 19 yr old daughter and I stayed here for 8 days Jan 2024. Over all we had a great time. [Details]

The rooms are run down and broken items
The bathroom is in desperate need of renewal
The grounds are beautifully kept, the beach is fabulous, the food is very good and plentiful, drinks are excellent and staff is great and friendly [Details]

Terrible Service and rooms.
Food was nothing from great. I had rice and beans all week, and on two occasions small steaks.
Service took so long that we had to remove dirty plates and cup from tables to be able to eat. We even had to set our own cutlery, napkins and cups.
The breakfast/lunch/dining room floor was so greasy that a couple of our family almost fell several times. The chairs would slide across the room with easy because of the amount of grease on the floor.
Terrible experience. [Details]

When we first walked in it looked pretty but that's as far as it went. The staff was dazed and confused. The staff seemed very overworked and not happy at all. There were no smiles or happy faces when we arrived. We were all happy and excited to see the resort. We got checked in and went to our room, far away. When the guy opened the door the heat and the smell nearly knocked me out. The A/C, safe and toilet did not work. The ceiling was leaking water in the bathroom with a puddle of water on the floor. I was so surprised with the condition of the room I didn't take pics. We went back to the front desk to see if we could get a different room and were told the resort was fully booked. After a bit of asking, as we have water coming from the ceiling, two rooms became available. these were not much better. I was so disappointed as I did look at the information on the website and various reviews. We had a group of 8 people and we all felt the same about four plus rooms. They used a travel agent and she got us all moved to a different resort which took a day off of our trip and the stress of moving 3 times. This also costed extra with a different resort. I was disappointed that my agent did not advise this was not the best resort even at a 4 star rating. I would not recommend this resort. People need to know with the price of this resort at a 4 star rating it should not even be a one star. [Details]

Upon arrival we encountered the front desk clerk to be in a bad mood. We arrived late, took us about 3 hours to get a room. First room we walked in to find out someone else was already there, second room sink was leaking and broken, third room my boyfriend said he was going with the guy to check the room. Wasn't what we paid for but was semi ok. Most of the staff looked angry all the time. We tipped but I guess they don't like their own money as tips? Always with the longest faces ever. It was out first time in punta cana and I think it will be our last. Very disappointing with the Occidental caribe and staff. I was in the ladies bathroom and this guy just walks in to work on the wall tiles. If you're going to work please put a sign. Just no respect and privacy to us. I was very disappointed with the resort. Pictures online are nothing like what you see in person. Sad [Details]

The beach area was great. The pools are nice as well.
Rooms are clean but dated. Food was okay but the buffet was basically the same everyday. Did not have the opportunity to do any a la carte meals as they were all booked up.
Was not impressed with desk/reception staff. Not sure if they are just stressed, but not very friendly. Food and bar staff are very friendly.
Not enough loungers and umbrellas for shade around the pool.
Resort opened up to locals on the weekend and it was a mad house. Very over crowded. Long waits for food, drinks and bathroom.
It was okay but I would not go back [Details]

The resort grounds were beautiful, the beach was beautiful! Staff was friendly.

The room was ok. We had a lower level room with a nice view of one of the pools. Everything worked in our room, it was cleaned daily and fridge restocked. My only complaint is that it was very musty smelling. We arrived Sunday night and had an easy check in, and our check out was also fairly easy. We were given a room to clean up in (left resort at 6:30pm).

The food was okay. I didn't starve, but it was the same breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday at the buffet. We were able to get 2 of our 3 à la cartes and they were really good.

We went to 2 shows in the theatre area and they were really good. Sometimes the shows weren't in the theatre, there was a band that played by one of the bars. Was good, but no where near enough seating available for the amount of people and made it impossible to watch/listen for the duration.

The bad. Getting new beach towels was very difficult. There's very limited seating around the pools and the beach (a lot of broken chairs). Thursday, the resort opened up to locals for the weekend and getting drinks and food proved to be long waits, sometimes waiting 30 minutes for drinks and almost an hour or more to get into the buffet.

The wifi, it was very hit/miss. No problem using FB, and other apps, however it was almost impossible to load google or even the transat app during the day.

There was a great pool/play area for younger kids!

For the price I paid, I'm okay with it. However, I won't go back to this resort. [Details]

No value for the money [Details]

We were a 12 members of the family and we had an amazing time! Weather was awesome and the beach perfect.

Truly some relaxing and enjoyable holidays, staff and food above expectations, mostly after reading a few very bad reviews. Room was clean and cared everyday. We are definitely looking back here next February. [Details]

I really want to write this review, since I have read a few very bad ones lately.

It's a great property, certainly with some years of use and abuse, we were told the Hotel is one of the most popular in this spot, and I can attest it, over 1.700 customers, most of them, Canadian folks.

Staff must be highlighted, so kind and hardworking. Chef Minaya, Alvaro the manager, Lisbeth, Hector, Ismael, so many nice guys giving their best.

We are coming back next year if they dont close to significant revamping, at least thats the hearsay around. [Details]

Deverley Nunes on the pool grounds was very helpful. Always welcome us with a smile and went out of her way to make sure we were comfortable.
Specialty restaurants need much improvement.
Buffet must cater to International tastes.
The food was very bland.
The beef was always hard like rubber. Too much waste.
Fish having extra salt. No shrimp at all. [Details]

This was a nice resort. There were a few issues with making it a great review, but I'd definitely recommend to friends. Air conditioning was our biggest complaint. [Details]

Nice clean grounds, pool and beach. Our room was clean and bed comfortable, but safe didn't work and patio door did not lock. Seems like a lot of guests had the same complaints about the safe and patio door. Room and bathroom could use a little refresh. Food was okay, but I am not a fussy eater. I could always find something to eat. They had omelet and spaghetti making stations. Fish at the beach buffet was really good as was the pizza. Specialty restaurants were good, not 5 star, but edible. Check-in was slow, but all in all staff was very courteous and helpful. Staff wear their mask most of the time, but very few guests wore them. Mask were required to enter buffet, but were taken off right away. No other precautions taken in the buffet area; everyone using same servings spoons and breathing over food. Covid testing, provided at the hotel - $90US for PCR, was easy and fast. [Details]

we had a great time....staff were awesome
beaches were the best [Details]

The employees of the Occidental Caribe were always exceptionally friendly and caring from all levels (room service, maintenance, bar service, restaurants, front desk, management, and so on). Employees seemed to enjoy their job, and this reflects well with guests. The commitment to cleanliness was unbelievable; I cannot recall being in a resort so clean, everywhere. And sticking with employees and service, we found everyone to be very professional, efficient and effective maintaining high inner work standards that were committed to doing a good job. Check in and Out was so fast that there was absolutely no wait time.
This resort had some of the best beaches we have experienced. The food was above average with some places providing exceptionally good meals (the Mexican). Loved the pools and that the fact that all pools as well as the beaches were well supervised. [Details]

It was kind of boring ..nothing to do in the evening time.. [Details]

The resort was beautiful, the staff were friendly. 2 days into our trip the resort became overrun with 22 year olds ready to party. The staff quickly became worn down and not happy, you couldn't get a dinner reservation unless you sat in a line before 7 am. Security was not enough, one kid strung out or drunk urinated outside his own door (near mine) at 5 am. I would go to this resort again but definitely not when there is a college break. [Details]

The hotel was amazing , the staff where excellent, helpful and courteous.
We had 3 rooms, all where very clean the beds where comfortable and the pillows were great !
The food was really good especially the hut at the beach the beef was some of the best I have ever had,and the alacarte restaurants also had amazing tasty dishes.
The beach was beautiful and was only a 3-5 minute walk from all of the hotel rooms with 6 people in our party we never had a problem finding a spot at the beach or either of the two pools however I would not recommend going during American school break as they arrived the day before we left and were very loud and disruptive into the early morning
We won 300 at the casino and the free wifi worked well! I would go back for sure [Details]

The room we stayed in was beautiful and waking up every morning see the ocean was a great start of our day. The room was always cleaned when we came back from breakfast. We are already looking next year to come back again. [Details]