Dominican Republic

From the moment we stepped onto the grounds until the moment we left we were extremely impressed with our stay at Dreams Flora. The staff were polite, friendly and helpful consistently throughout our stay. The grounds were immaculate and staff were moving around caring for the structures almost everywhere you walked from painting the stairwells to replacing the roof tiles on buildings. Pools were clean and cool, adult areas were peaceful and relaxing. Family areas were fun and busy. Butler serve was exemplary. The food was excellent and we were never hungry. Always plenty of options at the buffet. We would not hesitate to return.

We enjoyed our stay on the resort but were disappointed in the water and beach area. We were on the adult only side and felt there was a lack of communication re: activities, services etc. Midway through our stay we were informed that everything was on “ the app”- even restaurant menus. We loaded the app but there were activities that were not mentioned. Overall, there wasn't much to do unless you signed up for outside tours which tend to be pricey.

Our first impressions were not good! Our check in was with people on the desk who clearly did not want to be there. You should have people with good English on the desk. It took us talking to several people before we got the right wifi information. Our room only had 2 plugs and we had 2 laptops. We asked 3 or 4 people if we could get a power bar, as I am a travel agent and I was working while on vacation. We were told that they didn't have any. We found a nice young man on one of the desks and he said that we would have one in our room before we got back to our room. And we did. Luxury to me means have the choice of multiple wines, not just red, white and rose. We had a heck of a time trying to get a glass of red wine that was not chilled. Again, customer facing people should be able to speak English. The worst experience was in the Sports Bar where the waitress came to our table and said "What ya want?" Told her we wanted red wine not chilled, she came back with 2 cold glasses of red wine. My husband told her we wanted wine that was not chilled and he even had the translation on his phone. She came back with one glass of wine. We told her that we each wanted a glass not chilled; she picked up my glass put it on her tray and slammed it on the counter. We had put a food order in, but after that initial reaction we left. As for the Main buffet, definitely not luxury. The chairs are all stained, as were the table cloths and food food stains on the wall. Some of the tables and chairs were in rough shape. We had to switch out chairs a couple of times as the chairs were falling apart. On the flip side, there were definitely some very nice staff and the majority of the Specialty Dining restaurants were good. If I have clients wanting to book this property, I would tell them not to expect a "luxury" experience.

We loved our stay at Dreams Onyx! Great pools, water park, and amazing beach. Friendly and attentive staff. The rooms were fantastic and the swim out room that we got was well worth the money. The food was great (for resort food). There is always something good to eat. We tend to stick to simple foods like pasta as it's cooked in front of us. We also avoid salads, sushi, seafood, etc to try and avoid any chance of getting sick...so far this has worked for us. There are a bunch of a la carte restaurants and all were great. Our favorite was the steak at the French restaurant. Delicious! The room had a dry drain smell in the bathroom. We told them an guy was at our door within 20 min to flush the drains and that took care of it. Our only complaint is that they use very strong fragrances. The room cleaner is very strong, we had to ask that they not use it (which they did and it was never an issue again). The main lobby and both preferred lounges were pumped extremely strong fragrances. Visualize a perfume department in a store then multiply by 10. My wife has a fragrance sensitivity and couldn't go into any of those rooms. I was fine in them but I also found that the smell was overwhelming and didn't like spending any more time in the rooms than necessary. I only mention this so someone else with a fragrance sensitivity is prepared for this. Let me be clear, this is only an issue in 3 rooms and we will definitely go back. It's not a deal breaker. Just hold your breath and scoot through the lobby if you don't like strong smells.

I have been to 10 All inclusives. This was the worst experience. Building: Walls crumbling and caving in, paint splatters everywhere - it looked like someone dropped a gallon of paint on each floor and stairwell, no elevators (was a 3 story), garbage piled up in the hallways, food trays and trash stowed in every corner, air conditioner sounded like a helicopter was over my head (when it worked). No ice machines - you had to call room service. No water for 1/2 a day. Service: They cleaned our room 2/7 days and that is after we called several times asking for service. We did not have a "do not disturb" on the door ever. Room service never came with ice as requested daily. Asked for soda/water to be replaced - nothing. Beach: The beach was nice but I don't really attribute that to the resort. The servers on the beach were kind and quick. The sellers on the beach were not aggressive. No chairs to be had because all reserved with towels and a book before 7AM. No towels were available even at 7am. Food: It was ok, nothing memorable and reservations were required but you could only do 2 days in advance on the app.

Nice resort, smaller & easily walkable but trolleys still run frequently. Rooms nice (average) You can't adjust the a/c - they have it locked. The pool by beach is huge w/ constant activities, smaller pool is quiet all the time. Sign at reception says no reserving loungers at pools & beach - ridiculous. Unless you're up at 5am you will never get a lounger! Great kids waterpark. Beach is pristine & feels very safe. Grill by main pool serves killer paella! Most staff were quite unfriendly. Service at restaurants can be improved. By virtue of location, a very different, quieter, more peaceful place than Punta Cana. Average guest age 60 . Overall beautiful due to location and beach.

Overall, our experience was good. We arrived at the hotel at 2:45 in the morning due to unforeseen delays with our flight. It would've been nice if there had been more staff available to make the check faster. It was really late when we got to our room so we did not really take it in until the morning. The room (6002) was adequate however, the sliding door was not functioning very well and the handle was extremely loose. We did report this, but no one came to fix it for the whole time we were there. There were no screens on any of the sliding doors in the rooms as far as I can tell so you don't really leave your sliding door open because you don't want mosquitoes to come in. However, the beds were comfortable and the room was clean and the maids cleaned it every day and the service was good. The room was very clean. There were no pictures on the wall. It felt quite spartan. However, we did not spend much time in the room other than to sleep so it was fine. The room also had the advantage of being very near to the beach. The grounds of this resort are very beautiful. You can see how much work the gardeners have put into maintaining them and peacocks abound! There must be at least 20 of them on the property and they are very beautiful and not people shy at all. The resort is really beautiful at night when the pools reflect the light from the buildings and there are also ponds in the gardens that make it all feel quite magical. The plaza and the entertainment area are well appointed and quite beautiful and pleasant places to hang out in the evenings. My family enjoyed playing cards in this environment every night, and took in some of the entertainment. The food was very good. There's something for everybody. We also really liked how there were no plastic bottles on the resort and we really appreciated being able to refill our own bottles and get ice whenever we need it. The pool was a nice temperature. You could see it was being treated and cleaned each night. The beach was also very nice. It's said the hotel is settled into a cove, which makes the ocean a bit calmer, and there's a lot of effort put into keeping the beach, clean of garbage. There is some seaweed, but really nothing much to speak of. We've stayed in resorts where there have been seaweed blooms so by comparison this really didn't affect us much. The beach is beautiful because there are trees growing almost right up to the sand so there's a lot of shade available if you want it. And it makes it quite magical and lovely. My family and I are not big drinkers so we did not go to the bar very often. When we did go though we had to wait quite a while in order to be served because the lineups were almost always at least be five people deep. However, we were there during March break. Getting a chair by the beach or by the pool could be a challenge, especially by the pool. However, we did manage to get chairs every day. There was also only one kind of pillow available for the beds bed. Pillows were very thick and firm. My daughter had a very hard time with this and had to improvise her own pillows, out of rolled up towels and clothes because the hotel did not have any other options. She had a sore neck a lot of the trip. There were people there painting the outside of the resort and doing repairs so it was nice to see that the resort is being kept up and people are and they've management is trying to continuously improve it. I would say, though that the rooms themselves do need renovating. The bathrooms throughout the resort, were in pretty good shape. However, I did notice that some of the fixtures were loose door handles were loose, and that some of the driers were working intermittently. I think there could be a little bit more attention to maintenance of plumbing fixtures in those areas. However, overall, I would say that we had a relaxing vacation the weather was wonderful. We enjoyed our time by the beach. We enjoyed our time by the pool. My daughter enjoyed the beach, beach volleyball, and the archery. My husband and I tried the Pickleball courts. We liked that a lot. We also went on our next excursion for a half day to go horse riding in the country that was also a great experience.

Excellent resort the only complaints/suggestions would be more shade on the beach and the volume of the music in the lobby in the evenings. Just turn it down a few notches so everyone doesn't have to hear bad karaoke.

I stayed at the Fantasia with my family. (I was a single traveler who met my parents and brother and his family). The resort was good considering we were traveling with small children, but I would not return unless I was with children. The resort was generally nice and taken care of but was outdated and rundown in some places. My parents' room and my room each separately had a leak in our ceilings. I went to the front desk to ask for maintenance and then called again hours later when it still wasn't fixed. The cleaning staff came and saw the trash can filling with water and called (in Spanish) to ask for help. Only then did they show up to fix it. My back, sliding door was broken but I didn't bother asking for Maintenance because I knew it would fall on deaf ears. The entertainment was average. Not better or worse than I have experienced at other resorts. Drinks were delicious and strong. One bartender was rude and purposely overlooked me. Eventually I learned that if I had my tip showing in my hand when I waited, I was given quicker service. The food wasn't superb, but not bad enough that I wouldn't return because of it. The biggest problem I found, which is not a problem exclusive to this resort, is the language barrier. A very very large majority of the guests were Spanish speaking so the staff and especially entertainment crew didn't even bother trying to speak English. Games by the pool were completely in Spanish. Lastly, I arrived at night, 30 minutes before the buffet was closing so the front desk told me to leave my suitcase with the bellboys and go to eat. When I opened my suitcase, I found jewellery (some bracelets, a necklace, a jewellery bag and a lip gloss) that didn't belong to me. I returned the items to the front desk but was bothered that no one was watching my bag and things could have been stolen. Good, almost great, but not excellent. I have had better experiences at other resorts.

Our location was amazing at the beach. The 2 palm grill should not be club restaurant for breakfast & lunch as it's the only place to eat at the beach. The beach grill has no where to sit and eat it unless in your beach chair. . Beach way nicer at dreams flora and further up. Therefore itself is beautiful, gardens ect. The restaurants are nice & have great food, especially Mexican and Asian. The pools are very nice and nicely lit at night. But we did not go in as we are beach people. It does have a pool swim up bar. The resort is quite small so if mobility issues would be great, but for exploring found it a little small, but beautiful. We booked snorkeling from the beach which was fun. Did not do anything with vibes as they are more expensive. Checkin was great, lady we had was fantastic. Checkout not so much. Bunch of men working. We were waiting for the complimentary rom to change and seemed very disorganized, and didn't seem to care we had a bus to catch. I found the lobby bartenders much friendlier than the morning pool bartenders. Afternoon guy at the pool was alot happier. The coffee spot was fantastic! Enjoyed the air conditioning and cold coffee in the afternoon. Was so muggy. Lol I had one night our air conditioning did not work well. It got very hot. They did fix it the next day. Thank God.