chaznkat

July 3-10 at Sunscape. Reading mixed reviews. Food is "Great" to "Horrible" Beach and property "Beautiful" to "just acceptable,..." Traveling with wife and three kids,b7,g7,g7 and hope to have enjoyable, fun time. Help! I know everyones pallate and expectations are different but I like to make intelligent info with as much info as possible. Any honest info is healpful.(good and/or bad)

chaznkat

Sorry- I want to make an intelligent decision with all the info. Duh!

Dolores

Go ahead and stick with Sunscape. This place caters to the American tourist as few other do. You will be king there. <BR><BR>The views are lovely, they have lots of play area for the children, and even a special pool only for adults. They have movies at 7 pm in English on a big screen for the kids, and adult entertainment after 9 pm. <BR><BR>And the place is just the right size so you can let your kids roam by themselves and they will find their way back easily to your room, if you please. It's a very family oriented place with some very lovely views from the restaurants. <BR><BR>Can't see how someone can complain about that beach, and the food is varied and good. And the price makes it all so value-packed as most vacations in the Dominican Republic are.

chaznkat

Dolores,<BR>Thanks for your reply. We will keep a good attitude... and yes you are correct- we have paid much more money for a weeks vacation. We will have a blast!!!! Thanks<BR>PS How long ago did you vacation at Sunscape? Thanks

nina

I'm interested in this too. We are currently booked at the Fiesta Bavaro, because of the suites and there are 6 of us, but I'm considering the Sunscape. Trouble is, I would have to pay an adult rate for one of the kids and get 2 rooms at the Sunscape. I'm trying to decide if it's worth it and I keep changing my mind! I just read the last few reviews of Sunscape which were horrible, so I feel like I shouldn't pay the extra money and just stay put.<BR><BR>The Fiesta Bavaro is also on a beutiful beach, but the rooms aren't as nice as Sunscape's. It supposedly has fantastic kids program and lot's of activites. Every few days I change my mind! Those night and day reviews on Debbie's website almost don't help!

Diana

We've just got back from Fiesta Bavaro and were very happy with everything-great ,great beach, beautiful ground, clean room, excellent food & service.Sure,the staff speaks very little or no English(except for front desk and guests service,but that's all you need)and the beach is very topless!But we don't travel and expect things to be like home,why go to Sunscape to see a whole bunch of beer guts sitting around watching ESPN for when you can just step down the streets...Fiesta Bavaro -great resort ,great value !

nina

Glad to hear you enjoyed it Diana! We decided to stick with the Fiesta. I don't mind that most everyone speaks Spanish, my sister and I are fluent and the kids have been studying for years, so it will be a great opportunity to practice their Spanish.<BR><BR>I'm still not quite sure how I will deal with the topless issue with preteen boys. Maybe I should just act like it's no big deal in a foreign country and hopefully they won't think it's a big deal either!

chaznkat

Hey Diana,<BR>I'm not sure I understand your point: "why go to Sunscape to see a whole bunch of beer guts sitting around watching ESPN for when you can just step down the streets.. " <BR><BR>You must have lucked-out not choosing the Sunscape. I'm certainly far from perfect but who are you to say Sunscape is for sport fans w/ guts. <BR>Either way... we are going to Sunscape to enjoy, relax and be with the "nice" people from all over the world. Sorry you can't join us! (LOL)

Diana

Dear chaznkat, We SAW what we saw at Sunscape's. It's like being at any of these hotels in Cancun... as far as the crowd that we're talking about. Just being honest! However , if that's your scenes then you will enjoy it . We were certainly glad we picked the right one for us - the tropical paradise Fiesta Bavaro , with the interesting groups of people from all over the world , mostly Europeans...By the way that was our 4th time to the DR ,( Melia , Riu, Sol de Plata , and were happy with our previous trips too.) and Sunscape was just never our choice.Have a good trip!

nina

Diana, I'm curious, how does the Fiesta compare to the Melia and RIU? I was looking into those properties as well but we thought the Fiesta might be best for the kids.<BR><BR>I also didn't particularly want a resort advertised as being built by Americans for Americans, because IMHO, the more diverse culturally the better, but to each their own.

Diana

Hi Nina - All these resorts are very kids friendly , plenty of activities to keep them busy all day , the ones who get the most fun out of the programs are probably 4 to 7 years old.Ours is too young to join (under 3) Melia has the pretiest rooms of the three hotels but it's also more expensive.Food&service were great at all three.You may want to count Riu out, since they don't really give discounts on children,(they will have to pay third person in room price) and the beach there also a little rougher (some big waves !) Punta Cana beaches all are topless due to the largest group of tourists come from Europe,it's a very common ,natural things for them (some grand mothers do that too !)and trust me ,you will relax & forget about it after 2 minutes there.I would say Fiesta Bavaro for the best value and also a little more laid back atmosphere.The beach at Fiesta is a 10 plus.Hope this will help .Enjoy!

nina

Thanks Diana. We are going to the Fiesta. The RIU's don't seem to have as good facilities for kids, plus we all couldn't fit in one room as you said. I hate paying full rate for the kids! Melia is booked the week we want. Can you recommend any of the a la carte restaurants or menu items? Was it difficult to get reservations at the a la cartes? <BR><BR>We'll be leaving 4 weeks. I'll write a review when we return!

Diana

Hi Nina, Fiesta resorts let you use facilities including dinning places of all their hotels(F Palace,F Beach , F Bavaro and Club Lookea,there're free transportations almost around the clock to take you from place to place)You have 9 choices of dinning places to eat from 7AM to 1AM. 24 hours in advance for a la carte restaurants,no limit how many times you use them,no extra cost ,the buffet menues rotate every 2 weeks,different theme each night.The gourmet restaurants each course has 5,6 items to choose from,so probably it's best for you to go to guest service desk and learn all the menues on your 1St day there to make sure you don't miss out on your favourites.The Mediterenean rest.(at the Palace)and Arrecife(by the beach)both were yum !The Tex Mex we did not try because the buffet one night was Mexican night (great!,oh don't miss the French night if you love pastries)Living in Wash Dc we certainly have our choices of eating and we did not miss anything there. The gourmets serve the regular appertiser,soup,salad...then you have 1st course and 2nd course (which like 2 entres!Hope you have room for all that)then dessert.By the way ,the food is more Europeans also ,but at the lunch buffets , there is always a section for burgers,hot dogs if the kids have to have them.The pizzarias we went to one ,it's pretty good but different from US,anyway the choices for food are endless here,the bigger your palate is the more you will enjoy it.If you have more questions ,feel free to write me at [email protected],I probably shouldn't take this whole section to write about Fiesta resorts.

nina

Thank you so much Diana. Maybe you shouldn't take this whole section to write about the Fiesta (why not?, some of us are interested!), but I'm sure glad that you did! I really appreciate your responses. Since it is a mostly European resort there aren't as many reviews in English available.

chaznkat

"Sunscape- Punta Cana...Should we reconsider?"<BR><BR>Thanks Diana and Nina for your opinions on "Sunscape" or was it Fiesta Bavaro. It great to hear that there are a number of acceptable locations for people of all kinds. I'm still hopeful that Sunscape will deliver what require!

nina

Your welcome, I guess, but I didn't really give an opinion since I haven't been to either place yet, 3 more weeks. Have fun at the Sunscape, I hope you enjoy it!

Diana

Have a wonderful time with your folks Nina,bring sunscreen 25 or higher, hat ,comfortable shoes so you can enjoy your walk ,cause the ground is huge and very pretty.Don't hesitate to ask me any more questions you may have.Bon voyage!