New Yorkers (2 adults traveling with a 14-month old) visiting DR for the first time and stayed at Sun Village Resort & Spa in last week of May 2008

Hi All,

only because I had read a lot of the reviews about this resort before I booked and after I bookeThis is actually the first time I'm writing a review, but figured it's worth writing -d. I thought the reviews were mixed and now I know why. I actually had buyer's remorse after I booked it, but stuck with it (even though I had a few days left to cancel without penalty) despite being nervous about all the warnings about the stairs and steps throughout this resort. I'll share with you my expectations /concerns prior to our travel and then the reality.

Price/Value:
I checked numerous websites incl. Trip advisor to determine what this resort generally goes for - and I thought I got a steal when I booked it with bookit.com for almost $500 less than what I would have paid thru Expedia. So this alone was an incentive to book this resort. The reality is that I think we got more or less what we paid for for a standard room, it's not much, but if you factor in the fact that it's all inclusive and we roughly paid$150/night for 2 persons, that's not bad. I wasn't quite sure if this was a 3 star or 4 star resort and I've seen it mixed it various websites. My opinion, definitely not a 4 star. Maybe it was rated a 4 star for the resort grounds. I would rate it a 3 star, my husband would rate it a 2 star.

The Standard Room:
It's clean, but I kept getting a sense that we should have upgraded. We requested more kleenex and water (they give you 4 bottles/day), but we got neither, so I think that's their protocol, however, I had to wonder if we had stayed in the superior or higher tiered rooms, would the person servicing our room have declined or ignored our request. More towels would have been nice since we practically showered about 3x/day - however, I think that was too much to ask.
I would recommend that if you can fit it into your budget, try to go for a superior room instead of the standard. Also, note that the standard room (as this is the only one I can vouch for), has tiled floors, not ideal for toddlers who are still wobbling around as they walk, our toddler fell on her head several times - she's OK. On the good side, they do service your room upon a telepone call - as we slept in late one day, and called mid day to get it serviced, and they sent someone over right away. I still wish they would have given us more tissue and toilet paper as my husband and daughter were both under the weather and had used up all the tissue/toilet paper daily supply - so you would think the cleaning lady would have figured to provide extra.

The resort grounds
This was really nice and well kept, there was always someone working and cleaning and grooming. It was pleasant to be surronded by this landscape and resort. The BIG Negative which was my biggest fear since I was traveling with a 14-month old - is that there are a lot of stairs (NO JOKE) - - I would strongly recommend if you have infants, toddlers, strollers, elderlies, members who need walking canes or wheel chairs, to really seek out another resort, this one is not for you. This is the best advise I can give. No matter where you turn, you will come across stairs and steps or steep inclines and declines. The designer/architect really should have invested in elevators and have handicap/accessibility in miind, to encourage repeat visitors.

The Pools:
This was another plus, very clean and plentiful, one for each family member. Kids will love the slide and some of the waterfalls they have in several pools. My daughter loved the one by the Oasis bar (which I called the main one) - because she met a lot of other vacationers there - she's a little social bug. *Also, note, that we were there from Tues - Sat, and the place was like a ghost town, there were maybe no more than 10 people in the pool at a time (per pool), I spoke to a worker down by the beach and they had explained that May is their low season and it's like that till about October sometime. So on the one hand, if you want a resort all to yourself, this is a good time to go. A negative about the pool area, there never seems to be enough of the blue pool towels to go around.

The Restaurants:
OK at best. I think that was what I had expected based on the reviews. Citrus: was our first dinner, didn't like it, the pace was too slow for us, considering we have a 14-mo. old. The food was not all that great considering that we had to wait such a long time for each course and there weren't that many of us to begin with dining at the same time. The staff was very pleasant.
Lemongrass: our second and third dinner - as you can see, since we went back a second night - we liked this place for dinner. One course quickly followed the next as we were done, which is more of our speed. The food was tasty and hot (temperature), so everything was very delightful to our surprise. The staff was excellent.
The buffet: we ate there for all breakfasts and lunches during our stay and ate dinner there one night (seafood night) - the buffet is OK, but the only reason why we kept going back because it felt as if this was our only choice for breakfast and lunch. The food was more on the cold or room temperature side as it seems as if it was sitting there for a while. I think this may be because of the low season syndrome. Whenever we ate something that was hot or warm, my husband and I would make a point of telling each other. I very much enjoyed the smoothies I had every morning at the buffet and the fresh fruits - loved the papayas.
The Sonora cafe was closed during our entire stay for maintenance -so no comment. This unfortunately, limited our choices to the three I mentioned above for dining options.

The Beach:
we didn't even bother, since it seemed so deserted with it being 'low season' - but the beach reminded me more of Coney Island or Jones Beach and not the blue/green that I've come to associate "The Carribean" to be.

The Spa:
I enjoyed my experience at the spa and would recommend this - I felt this was more upscale and delightful- it's a shame I didn't get to take it in for the whole day.

The Staff:
The staff was very pleasant, specifically in the dining places. I didn't find the front desk to be particularly helpful. The gentlemen at the front that greet you when you arrive are very pleasant and helpful. I was under the impression (through my travel agent, reading expedia.com, and word of mouth from other vacationers) that there are free shuttles to Ocean World (one of the reasons why I booked this resort), but when I asked the concierge, she replied no. Additionallly, when we asked one of the gentleman in the front area, on our last full day, about a shuttle, he also did not volunteer any information about times, and if there was a free shuttle or not, and as we were trying to get this information, a 'taxi guy' came over since he had overheard our interest in going to Ocean World, offered to take us there and then some. We opted to go his way, since the staff member we were speaking too, at this time, was slowing stepping away from us as to give the taxi guy room to do his pitch. We were sold and we actually don't have any reqrets - it was quite enjoyable. We paid him $25/pp RT to take us to Puerta Plata - where we visited the Rum Factory, we drove by Ocean World, visited a couple of souvenir shops, jewelry shops, the Fort, the Church, etc, and saw the heart of Puerto Plata. Ate lunch at a place he had recommended, it was quite good. We wrere the only customers there - again, "low season syndrome" This taxi guy - turned out to be our personal tour guide for 1/2 day while another person was behind the wheel - which is a good thing as the driver really needs to focus on the road.

Our main gripe about how 'tourists' are treated in DR/Puerto Plata:
It really started to bug us how we started to feel that we were getting 'ripped' or that everyone around us was trying to make some quick and big 'tip.' The moment we landed, we had to pay for a tourist visitor tax $10/pp, which we also had to pay for our 14-mo. old. Then we had gotten one of the carts to help us manage our luggages, my husband was pushing this while I was pushing the stroller. The minute we got to the exit area, we saw our 'man with the sign for our airport shuttle' - he told us to follow him, and then another man, literally, grabbed the cart out of my husband's hand, as he was going to help us to where our shuttle was parked - even though we obviously didn't need his help - anyway, my husband, had to tip him $20, because he didn't have any small bills and he was asking for one. Then our shuttle guy, who I thought was our driver, turns out to be a guy, that was only going to direct us to where the shuttle was parked to pick up passengers, he loaded the bags into the van and stuck his hand out for a tip after we were seated, at that time, I had already given my husband some small bills and my husband, gave him a few singles, and he said he wanted more, I think he finally put his hand away after my husband gave him another $5, all that time, he was staring at my husband's $50 that just happened to be the bill that was wrapped around the smaller bills. He then told us that we had to tip the driver. *Note, our driver, turns out to be the only guy, that was hungry for tips - at least he didn't ask for one, but of course, we did tip him. I will give it to the resort staff for not being pushy or aggressive when it came to tipping, so that made it a much more comfortable stay. When it was time for us to leave DR, the JetBlue counter person told me that I had to pay $12 to add the baby info. into her system, since my 14-mo. old was traveling on my lap - is this bogus or what! She probably pocketed the money. Oh, prior to reaching the counter, we were again hounded by an airport porter and the same guy who I originally thought was the shuttle guy, to help us out with our bags, we tried to say no, but they insisted, they are very persistent, as they will literally reach for the handle of your bags. So we gave in, but seriously, we didn't need both of them. After the baggage scan area, the 'pseudo' shuttle guy tells my husband that we have to tip the porter $20, my husband had already planned to tip him - so he did give him that amount. The pseduo shuttle guy followed us to the jetblue counter and wanted to follow us to the point before entering the bldg, but my husband kept saying 'we got it from here' especially, because we had only one carry on. He then told my husband to give him a tip - and my husband said he had already given his share to the porter - but again he stuck his hand out, so my husband gave him a few $ and told him to go back to the other guy to get his $5. When we got to the gate, we saw that there was a booth that said "Departure tax" - you have got to be kidding - but, of course given our experience throughtout our trip, this has become an expectation, but to our surprise, we didn't have to pay, since we were flying jetblue, so I do feel sorry for those who were flying American or Delta, because these folks did have to pay a departure tax, I think it was between $10 - $20/pp. So all this tipping requirement vulterous-style, left a bad taste in our mouths about the people and culture of the land as I can see most tourists would probably feel the same way - no one likes to be hounded.

The weather was very nice - it did not rain or storm while we were there!
One other plus I did want to point out was that there's a Kids Club which states for ages 4 and up. However, my daughter visited there for 1 hr and she was the only one there with the attendant and she had a great time.

If I left anything out worth mentioning, I will repost.

Hope you enjoy your stay at Sun Village or another resort at DR.