Hi! I just got back from 2 weeks at the Melia Caribe Tropical resort in Punta Cana. We were there for a friend's wedding. Here are my thoughts on the trip:

-The resort is absolutely beautiful! I definitely thought that it deserves its 5 star status.
-While a lot of the staff did not speak a lot of English, they were all friendly and made an effort to understand us. I did not find the language barrier to be a problem.
-The food was awesome: lots of restaurants to choose from, ranging from international buffets to more formal a la carte restaurants. Reservations are only needed if you like to eat later (like after 8pm).
-Quite a few of our group (12 of us) did get sick at some point... I am not sure why, we were careful about the water, not crazy with drinking, and no particular restaurant seemed to be the culprit. My best guess is that our digestive systems just reacted to a few new things that we were eating. From talking to other people, I can definitely say it is not just at this resort, or even just on this island. Take a package of Immodium and Pepto Bismal, and you should be fine.
-The wedding was beautiful, and everything went totally smoothly. Anyone who is looking to have a wedding in the Caribbean should look at Melia Caribe! The wedding coordinator (Herman I think was his name) is friendly, has great advice, and knows exactly what he's doing. The wedding is held in a big white gondola surrounded by lush scenery, and the bride and groom are brought there (seperately) in a horse and carriage. The bride and some of the guests had their done very professionally at the resort spa for around $30. After the wedding, we ate at the French restaurant (very fancy) and had drinks, etc. They also saved a lot of money on photos, and you get to keep your negatives.
-TOURS: Personally I thought the Bavaro Runners tour was a waste of a day. The sugarcane was kind of neat, but I found the tobacco museum to be boring (just some photos and a gift shop basically). The horseback riding at the ranch was a sad, sad sight; and we were all turned off of the lunch when we saw ants in the buffet food. The main thing we wanted to do was give some toys to the local kids, but the tour operator would not stop the bus! He told us to give all our toys to the bus driver, "because he has kids at home". Not quite what we had in mind!
-I highly recommend the Marinarium excursion. They take you out snorkelling in a coral reef, and then into an enclosed area with nurse sharks (vegetarians!) and sting rays. It was an awesome experience! The tour leaders are multilingual (English, French, Spanish) and very very friendly.

My only complaint about Melia Caribe is the lack of motorized water sports. There was no water skiing, and jet skis cost $120 US for an hour of use!! No one seemed to be able to explain this high price (in English), but I think it had something to do with insurance costs.... I imagine it may be like that at the other resorts too, so if it is important to you, ask ahead of time.

All in all the resort was amazing, and I highly recommend it! Leave a post if you have any questions at all.