| | Villas Del Mar,, Juan Dolio, 4750, Dominican Republic
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Overall Community Rating: |   9.5 (based on 1 user reviews) |
 Barcelo Capella: Outdated Review... but might still be applicable! by Tony White |
| Posted 18 March 2005 about a visit in October 2001 | Overall rating: 9.5 |
I visited this resort quite a few years ago, and am surprised that there have been no reviews to look at. I thought, in the absence of ANYTHING, I would write about what I found at this resort some time ago. (It's better than nothing, right?)
I found the Hotel very clean, the staff very friendly.
Food was absolutely marvellous. For the most part it was self-service buffet, but once you'd obtained your food, the sit-down experience was rather like a normal high-class restaurant.
There was always a good array of choice, and the presentation shockingly well done. At the time of my visit, they obviously had some resident 'artiste' who was a real phenomenon with Ice sculpturing, and every evening there was always a large scale sculpture of some animal or other.
Evening entertainment was also very good, with lots of colour, good music and good dancing. My cousin who travelled with me got rather sick of "Merengue", but if you love Latin music (like I do), I never tired. [Well, ok, maybe a little bit!]
The cocktails on offer at the bar are some of the best cocktails I've ever had from anywhere in the world. The bar staff were a real marvel. Very fast and efficient too!
The only drawback sometimes at the bar, was that they seemingly assessed your "quality" on deciding whether or not to give you a drink in a proper glass, or in a plastic variety....
I went on an all-inclusive basis, and sometimes this can be a let-down in terms of available snacks in the day, and the quality/amount of booze available.
This resort was prolific in the assortment and amounts of everything on offer. Everywhere I have been has always been measured against my experience at this resort.
Even now (some 8 years after my visit, back in 1996), it still rates as my best holiday experience ever.
The number of available tours on offer was also good. I went to Saona Island, a beautiful, unspoilt (at the time) natural park a couple of times. To me, it was like the old Bounty Adverts - where someone walks ashore to a deserted and unspoilt beach.... I could have been in the advert!!
Also took in other tours: Surf n'Turf - where you visit a different island resort and later go horseback riding. [The horses left a bit to be desired, as they looked a bit gaunt and over-ridden.]
Can't remember the others, but nothing I went on was a disappointment.
I'll mention a bit about the rooms.....
The first room they put me up in was a disappointment... in that it was a little cramped, and there was one double bed that I was NOT going to share with my cousin! [I think some people already had suspicions that we weren't really cousins... and were in fact gay! I wasn't going to add fuel to the gossip!]
Eventually we were moved (within about 20 minutes), to a block at the very rear of the resort. I think these blocks were usually reserved for American tourists.
They appeared to differ in that they were larger, had huge walk-in wardrobes, and were generally an apparent completely different class of room.
They were farthest from the beach and entertainment but this was more than offset by their quality.. Also... if you wanted to get some decent rest at night and not be disturbed by the nightly disco until 2 a.m., it was also a plus point.
I would recommend the Dive School that is there too.
My cousin and I both signed up to go diving and do a PADI Open Water course with Miguel the instructor. Miguel was a great instructor. I passed as his first 100% correct exam candidate!
The diving around the area is fantastic, and especially if you also go on their own arranged trip to Saona.
Oh, one thing I forgot about the trip to Saona....
On the way back, the boats stopped, apparently in the middle of the sea, and they suggested everyone get out....
You wonder what's going on, and then you realise there is a sand-bar beneath your feet. The guides uncover instruments and bongo drums and set-up a bar on one of the boats. You then proceed to have a big dance-off in the middle of the Carribean... you guessed it... more Merengue!
I'll sign-off now, as I've probably written enough.
I'd love to hear from anyone else who has visited the resort/area more recently, as at the moment it still ranks as probably my best holiday ever. I'm looking to take my new wife back there one day soon (if it's not been spoilt.)
At the time of my visit, the resort was owned by the "Renaissance Group", not the Barcelo group. I hope the change in ownership hasn't brought about a lowering of quality and standards.
I look forward to reading any more reviews available out there!!
Come on someone, write a review from post-1996 please??
- Tony.
This review is the opinion of a diytravel.co.uk user and not of diytravel.co.uk. |
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