Hotel recommendation on beach in DR?
 

It seems that many of you have a lot of experience with hotels in the DR and I've been going in circles trying to figure out where we are going to stay. My wife and I (we're both in our early 30's), my younger single sister (28) and my parents (early 60's) are going to be going to the DR in mid March for a week. We would like to spend 4-5 days on the beach. We are not constrained by money and are happy to pay top dollar for a nice place. I'd say the most important things we're looking for are:
1. beach - beautiful, able to swim in it, not too crowded, hopefully hotel right on the beach
2. quality of grounds / rooms - we don't need a megacomplex - just something which is very tasteful and luxurious; we don't want to have to be fighting to get pool or beach chairs.
3. food - as high quality as we can get - don't need an all inclusive place but that's fine as well
4. some activites: snorkeling, tennis, etc.
Given all this - would you have any recommendations??

For great info on the DR go to
http://debsdrtravels.proboards47.com/index.cgi
We stayed at Secrets Excellence Punta Cana and loved it. It's an adults only all inclusive. Some people say the water there is too rough to swim, but we were in the ocean everyday. The Iberostar Beach is also very nice as is the Paradisus.

I meant to say the Ibersostar Bavaro, not Beach.

Secrets Excellence would be my first choice. Clients have also liked the Riu Palace very much...

Also take a look at Punta Cana Resort & Club. I think it has the nicest stretch of beach in Punta Cana, and it's not nearly as far from the airport as Secrets Excellence.

This area has miles of undeveloped palm lined beaches...with a town [Las Terrenas] thrown in only 10 min away.

http://www.las-terrenas-hotels.com/ebahia.html

for more on the area: samana.net