We are the owner of a Blue-Green timeshare and booked through an RCI exchange. I was concerned when booking with what seemed like many negative reviews. Overall I enjoyed our stay. We were able to schedule complimentary transfers via email from the Puerto Plata airport to the resort before we arrived.
We never did figure out the wristbands as we were given a blue RCI wristband. We had access to most places we wanted to go except for maybe the waffle restaurant which is for owner circle members only. Julissa at the front desk was always very helpful and Francisco would take us anywhere we wanted to go via golf cart.
They have a shuttle bus that runs throughout the resort which is necessary as it is very large and set up as multiple smaller individual resorts within the large resort. The shuttle runs fairly frequently, and we never had an issue getting on. We were told that this was a slower time of year. Also we had access to the VIP golf carts and those were very handy as well and readily available.
The Presidential Suites is located a little ways from the beach and is hard to see any water view unless you hae a room on the very top floor. We requested a ground floor room as there are no elevators and they were able to accommodate our request. The Presidential Suites has a smaller pool compared to the other resort areas. It does not have a swim up bar or poolside service. But there is a bar just out of the pool. You are given a card for a poolside towel and you just return your towel and get your card back when you're through with it.
The Tropical resort has a nice view of the ocean and the pool looked much larger with a swim up bar. The Tropical resort area was generally larger throughout.
The Presidential Suites room is by far the most spacious I've had anywhere with a large living room, two large bedrooms, three bathrooms and a full kitchen. One bedroom with a king bed and the other with two queen beds. The balcony was huge with a hammock and other furniture. The Wi-Fi is available in the Presidential Suites area, but outside of the Presidential Suites I was not able to access it. I used Facebook Messenger to communicate back to the States for phone calls without any issues, instead of opting to get a more expensive overseas roaming data plan.
Our fridge was stocked with Pepsi, 7UP and water. Midweek we were given a cheese tray, cereal, yogurt and milk.
The maintenance of the resort was fairly good overall. We had hot water and electricity throughout our stay. The water pressure was a little less than desired. We did have an issue with a leaky kitchen faucet. We told maintenance and it was fixed that same day.
We tried to avoid the tour, but did get suckered into doing it and was told it would be 60 minutes. It was 2 1/2 hours and it is a typical timeshare presentation/sell that you will find anywhere else.
The excursions appeared to be cheaper if you book them at the resort rather than book them online beforehand. There is excursion desk near the poolside.
They do have entertainment every night in the Coliseum. We only made it one night for the International show which is a dance competition by individuals selected from the stands. The show was average compared to other places we've stayed. The entertainment at our other resort All Inclusive stays was nonexistent or very limited at some places all the way to excellent entertainment we saw at the Excellence in Punta Cana.
Overall the restaurants were very good and the food was very good. In comparison, All Inclusive resorts I have stayed in the past were at Excellence Punta Cana, Secrets in Cabo San Lucas, two other resorts in Costa Rica and one cruise and the food was very good in comparison. The presentation was not as nearly as spectacular as other places I've been, but the food overall was very good. The desserts however were just average.
Upon our arrival we were given a prearranged reservation for the Asian restaurant Indochine. We got soups, shamari, fried rice and beef yaki noodles. The food at Indochine was very good.
The next morning we were able to book reservations for dinner for the rest of our stay which worked out well even though I did end up changing two reservations later in the week without any hassle.
Other restaurants we ate at were the Rodizio which is the Brazilian restaurant. You have a buffet appetizer and then they come around with the meats at your table for you. It was difficult to get seconds as they did not come around enough to get a second helping.
The Mexican restaurant Trapiche Paradise as probably being our favorite. The deep fried quesadillas for the appetizer was the best thing we ate on our stay and the fajitas meal was excellent as well.
We also ate at the VIP simply gourmet and found the soup, surf & turf, and rib eye meals very good.
For breakfast we ate at either the Blues which is located in the Presidential Suites area since it was convenient or at the Casablanca at The Tropical resort which is much larger buffet than the Blues. The Pearl was suggested as an option, but it is similar in size to Blues and smaller than Casablanca. It sounded as though it pretty much had the same food as the Blues.
We did eat at the Bellini for buffet lunch, the buffet was smaller than the Casablanca and we would probably just eat at the larger Casablanca buffet next time as it was not worth the extra trip.
We also tried the Crepes, Scoops and the Zen Sushi restaurant at the VIP beach and found those all very good as well.
The VIP beach has the best drinks by far with Pina Coladas, Mud Slides and Banana Mamas being excellent. The VIP beach also has beachside service for food and other drinks. Elsewhere the drinks throughout the resort were average compared to what I've had elsewhere with VIP beach being the lone exception.
We found the staff throughout the resort to be very friendly. Speaking English did not seem to be an issue with any of the staff.
Covid protocols are followed by the staff with most masking. Guest are not required to mask.
