| | Playa Dorada, Puerto Plata, P.O.BOX5, Dominican Republic
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Overall Community Rating: |   6.9 (based on 3 user reviews) |
 Occidental Grand Flamenco Puerto Plata: Brilliant Holiday everyone so Friendly by Kim Boxall |
| Posted 18 September 2006 about a visit in August 2006 | Overall rating: 9.9 |
My partner and I have just returned from a fortnights holiday at the Occidental Grand Flamenco and had a wonderful time. We were wary after we had read the reviews on here but were happily surprised by what we found. The hotel was so clean and tidy, the rooms were spacious and always spotless. The food was varied and very enjoyable. The people were so friendly and helpful. We went on five excursions including Ocean World where my partner paid for a dolphin swim for my birthday. It was an experience of a lifetime.Everything was well worth the money and Thomas Cook were always very helpful on any information we needed.
I cannot find fault with anything about the holiday or the Hotel. I would suggest this hotel to anyone who wishes to visit the area.
This review is the opinion of a diytravel.co.uk user and not of diytravel.co.uk. |
| 1 of 1 users found this review helpful. Did this review help you? |   |
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 Occidental Grand Flamenco Puerto Plata Reservations |
| Occidental Grand Flamenco Puerto Plata: DO NOT BOOK THIS HOLIDAY ! by Clare Perram 1 |
| Posted 03 July 2005 about a visit in May 2005 | Overall rating: 2.8 |
I have just come back from an 11 day holiday at the Occidental Grand Flemenco with my boyfriend. I don't want to start by saying we had an awful time but I'm hoping that you will read this report BEFORE you book this holiday !
The staff are very helpful but can't speak a word of English. When we first arrived we were shown to our room which had been advertised as having a mini bar - it didn't ! We then discovered that our room smelt of mould, the bathroom light didn't work and the ceiling was leaking onto one of the beds. We couldn't do anything about this at the time as we arrived at 3am but the next morning we reported it to Reception where we were just stared at. We eventually managed to speak to someone who spoke a bit of English but none of the problems were recitified during our holiday.
We were looking for a quite couples resort which is what it had been advertised as but to our horror it was like a childrens camp. We believe that the staff who work in the hotel get their families, friends in etc at the weekends as as a reward for working their so as you can imagine the place is over run with foreigners and children. The main pool is quite big and I must say very clean but to get a sun bed you need to be up by 6am and put your towels on a sunbed to ensure you get a bed. Once you do have a bed be ready for not stop children all day. They have something called a Fun Club for the kids but it is mainly situated around the pool so for those of you that want a relaxing holiday, don't go to the pool. However the beach is a 2 minute walk through the resort which is quite nice and a bit quieter, you don't have to pay for your sunbeds and you can enjoy all non-motorised watersports down there. Be careful of people selling you things on the beach, all you need to say is No Thank You and they will leave you alone but be warned they are at the end of your sunbed every 5 minutes. If you walk along the beach towards the reef there is a lovely hotel and some nice views but beware of the coral it's very sharp !
Coming onto food, we thought we had booked an all inclusive deal. We did but it wasn't all inclusive. The buffet is open for brekfast, lunch and dinner and there are 4 other restaurants BUT you have to be up at 8am to stand in a queue until 9am to be able to book any of these restaurants, you then may not be able to get in as they are already fully booked and you are only allowed to visit each restaurant once a week which leaves you with having to eat in the buffet. We found this quite upsetting as nine times out of ten you couldn't get into the nicest restaurant which was called the Oriental. Children are not allowed into the Oriental unless they are over 16 too. The Oriental needs to be booked on the day that you want to go but all the other restaurants can be booked for the rest of the week. A tip that we discovered towards the end of the holiday is to go to the Oriental at either 7pm or 9pm to see if they have any cancellations, some of the people we talked to did this and got in.
Outside the resort is quite upsetting there are horse and carts and the horses are literally skin and bone, this was quite upsetting as they are dragging tourists round Playa Dorada. However there is a shopping centre called the Plaza outside which is about 3 minutes away, this is quite good as they have all your shops etc. One tip, get your lilo's, water etc from here and not in the hotel as it costs a fortune we were charged £12 for a lilo and £4 for a bottle of water in the hotel. They have a Pizza Hut which believe me is quite nice when all you are eating is the Occidental food, a lovely seafood restaurant called Al Fresco's and a bar called Hemmingway's where you can also get food. We ended up here for 3 nights of our holiday. The meals are quite reasonalble, in Al Fresco's it cost us about £30 for a 2 course meal with wine and beer but belive me it was well worth it !
Be careful to also hire towels from Occidental, we hired these (free of charge) but you need to keep your eyes peeled as they seem to go missing and they the hotel will then charge you 30$ per towel.
We also went to Ocean World to swim with the dolphins which was a great day out and also Columbus Tour, both well worth doing.
I could go on and on about this holiday but if you read this before you book, do not book, it's advertised a 4* plus hotel but all of the hotels in the Playa Dorada area are no more than a 3*, we were told this by a rep and I don't want you to be mislead like we were and like a lot of the other English people we spoke to were. All in all we were very dissapointed with this hotel !
This review is the opinion of a diytravel.co.uk user and not of diytravel.co.uk. |
| 3 of 5 users found this review helpful. Did this review help you? | |
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| Occidental Grand Flamenco Puerto Plata Reservations |
| Occidental Grand Flamenco Puerto Plata: grand flemenco by Christopher Rist |
| Posted 10 August 2003 | Overall rating: 8.0 |
stayed here in june 2003,with 2 kids[8&11].only 1/2 an hour from the airport,this hotel was formerly known as the flemenco beach resort.Dispite worries about the food it was very good & varied,far better than anything you could hope for in spain or greece.the rooms were clean,but some of the furniture was in need of repair,also it was a squeeze with 2 double beds.The air-con & cable TV in the room was excellent.good pool & even better beach,free sun beds & towels.very friendly staff.good kids club.no queues for food of drink.overall very good,would go again.
This review is the opinion of a diytravel.co.uk user and not of diytravel.co.uk. |
| 4 of 5 users found this review helpful. Did this review help you? | |
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| Occidental Grand Flamenco Puerto Plata Reservations |
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