Reviewers Rating: 
Good
December 2002 Casa Del Mar /“ Is definitely not a 4 star resort. I’ve read all the reviews on Debbies DR (excellent site) and TripAdvisors.com and had positive expectations of the place. I knew it would be no Iberostar but at the end I was very disappointed in the final result over my week stay from Dec 14-21, 2002. Don’t get me wrong I still managed to have a good time and there are a few positive points of the resort. I’ll try to outline them below and make some comparisons to the other resorts I stayed at in the DR.
People often get confused when reading reviews and I think why you get such varying opinions is due to people’s expectations or past experience at all inclusive resorts. For some people who have never stayed at an all inclusive or may be comparing it to different locals such as Cuba or a 2-3 star in the rest of the Carribean etc.. yeah Casa Del Mar is a treat. But my biggest problem was that I had just stayed in the Iberostar Dominicus Hacienda in La Romana 6 months ago which is supposedly rated a 4 1/2 to 5 Star resort. So in comparing the Casa Del Mar to Iberostar they are in a different league - and there is no comparison with respect to the facilities, rooms, food quality*** and service. I’ve also stayed at the Coral Hamaca in Boca Chica 2 years ago and this place was rated a 4 star. Based on my observation and experience, DR is the best value with the highest standard in the Carribeans. Bahamas and the rest of the Carribean is too pricey and if you pay equiv to DR you will only get a 2 star instead of 4-5. Mexico (eg Cancun is slightly more in price- I still don’t trust the water there) but there may be more to see and do there culturally and if you like partying. As for Cuba /“ a 4 star there is prob a 3 star in DR and a 2 /“3 star in the Bahamas/Caymans.
To compare these resorts: If Iberostar Dominicus Hacienda is a 4 ½ - 5 ***** and Coral Hamaca is a 4 **** then Casa Del Mar is at most a 3 to 3 ½ ***. Don’t get me wrong, it does have all the facilities as the others but just not at par. For the little extra it costs to upgrade to Iberostar I would go for that resort in an instant even if it would cost up to $200 more per person. If you do get a great deal on the Casa del Mar then go for that. It’s your standard fare and you can’t go wrong given what you paid for it. It all depends, if food is important to you and service then pay the little extra. It’s like comparing a Hilton vs a Holiday Inn or a McDonald’s hamburger to a homemade burger!
POSTIVE POINTS + (Casa Del Mar):
Nice wide beachfront property
Lots of Chairs at beach and pool
Fun outdoor atmosphere near beach
10 min walk to Bayahibe fishing town (save$$ on scuba diving /“ I went to Scubafun which is also alias Scubadoo /“ 2 tank dive in the national park nearby is $49US + $9 for equip. If you want to go to Saona Island or Catalina you must add $30 US as you must participate in an excursion in addition to your dives /“ includes lunch & booze. In my two dives there were lots of coral gardens at Dos Cocos Reef and Guaroguro Reef- both were shallow dives at 14-22 metres)
Nice air-conditioned TV lounge /“ but no bar there!
Sanoa Grill for lunch has good pizzas (made to order). Prob one of the best food on the resort
Lots of outdoor tables to sit at by the pool/beach/bars
Amazing sunsets /“ sit by the beach or stand by the pier or Saona bar and watch the sun go down every night (6pm during Dec)
Excellent snorkeling off the beach. Bring your own equip if you can. Every time I went I either had ½ chewed up fins or mix and match fins (luckily I brought my own mask and snorkel). You will have to swim out to the white poles which is a good 5-10 min swim out. The reef is quite extensive and is fairly shallow /“ some parts too shallow to snorkel over. Bring banana to feed the fish and you’ll have literally hundreds of fish eating from your hand. Don’t worry the needle fish won’t poke. Look carefully and you may see some yellow and black spotted moray eels (you have to look for them), or sting rays on the sandy bottom. There is a lot of fish there /“ parrotfish, damsel, huge cowfish, big eyed squirrelfish, blue tangs, tiny trunkfish, yellowtail, and even squid, and schools of yellow grunts and sergant majors. I went every day and this was great! There’s a fair bit of soft coral in addition to your elk/brain coral.
Good mix of people 30% German, 20%UK, 10% French, 5% Canadian, 5% Belgium, very few American, Locals on the weekend (quite a few). (Note: at Iberostar Lots of Spanish, Italian, French /“few German)
Maid changed towels twice a day in your room!!! Bonus. (but the beach towel service refused to do the same!!)
Grounds are keep well
NEGATIVE POINTS - (Casa Del Mar):
Now for the endless flaws of this resort.
Food quality was bad in comparisons with Iberostar. Main theme entrees like fish/roast beef are always cold or overcooked and dry. Beef always seems to be tough as a board. Anything grilled like kebobs or skewer seemed to always be raw chicken/pork on 3 occasions at the cook station /“ so beware.
Food variety is limited even for dinner. Only maybe 7 trays of hot items + 2 featured items and 2 of these hot items are always black beans/cooked bananas and rice. Note: Saturday night’s buffet has a better selection but still mediocre quality. The food is local products unlike Iberostar which imports lots of their food from Spain like proscuttio, cold cuts, cheeses etc. Limited seafood on menu at Casa Del Mar (always the same grilled fish everyday) /“ whereas the Iberostar had 3 types of fish everyday, prawns etc and was cooked to perfection usually.
The wine is undrinkable. Sour and/or watered down. Of course you can order real wine for extra $$$
A la carte restaurants
They tried but fell short to deliver on quality.
Micheangelo: Pasta is same as buffet (not bad), Soup was like the buffet. Pizza is not good /“ Sanoa lunch pizza is better, Grilled seafood looked good (mini mini lobster, fish, squid and shrimp) but all very overcooked. Grilled Steak was tough. Tarimisu was not too good and the cappaccino was not like the real mccoy. Iberostar made the best cappacinno/expresso.
Sanoa Grill: Nice ambience sitting by the ocean! The cesaer salad had bread cruton (soft not even toasted), the Ranch soup was Campbell’s vegetable soup, there was a cream of potato also but nothing exciting. The Filet mignon that everyone raved about was so “thin/” wrapped with a slice of bacon. It was somewhat tender but not like real Filet Mignon- Mine was overcooked (despite ordering medium) and was just not the real thing. It was a small portion and only came with a broccoli and 2 tiny halve potatoes (I was still hungry after this meal). The filet Mignon at the Iberostar was aged and tasted like Chris Ruth’s or Morton’s /“ juicy and 2 inch thick.
Asian: Looking at the menu, I had good hopes. The waiter Julio was great he showed me that the cook was indeed Chinese /“ this made me more confident of what is to come. Then when the waiter brought out a basket of bread and bread sticks I started to wonder!!!!! Hmmmmmm. Chinese don’t eat bread!!!! As for the appetizers, the wonton soup was a wrapped up meatball wrapped /“ it should be made of shrimp. The seafood soup had zero seafood only tofu but tasted ok. The appetizer plate contained a chicken skewer (ok), a deep fried shrimp /“can’t go wrong, and a spring roll. Then came the disappointment. Note: you can order more than one entrée per person. This is the real way of eating Chinese. I’m CHINESE so I should know. We ordered 4 entrees and shared them. All other folks ordered one dish and ate the whole thing by themselves and shared some rice That would be boring eating only one dish and I would also starve under that way. So for 2 of us we order beef & brocolli /“ ok, sezchaun shrimp (6 shrimps /“ strange taste but ok), chicken and black bean (tasteless and gluey), and steamed fish in soya sauce (overcooked /“ like a rock). There was steam hard rice and chicken chow mein as side dishes. For dessert we had a choice of Chinese cheesecake, Chinese chocolate cake, or Chinese Flan (I joked with the waiter /“ Chinese don’t eat these!). These were all the same desserts from the buffet 7 days a week 2 times a day. They could have tried to make it a bit more Chinesey. Overall not a great meal. But they tried. To compared to Iberostar they had a Japanese Benihana style restaurant which was amazing with SUSHI and SAKE too. This is the difference I’m talking about!!!!
Overall, the quality of the a la cartes seemed to be the same food and quality as the buffet, it’s just that you are served. A bit of a disappointment there.
Service /“ Dom Rep is one of the friendliest countries in the Carribean. And the staff usually are super smilely and say “Hola/” every time you walk by them and that ‘s everyone including the janitor. I found this to be with the two other resorts I stayed at. But of course not here at Casa Del Mar. Maybe 30% of the staff smiled or said hi and actually went the extra mile for you here. I really don’t know why this is so /“ maybe it’s the management style. This resort is a Dominican Republic company whereas in others they would be Spanish or German Owned properties. I found the front desk people very grouchy and completely disorganized /“ there’s no line up and people bud in. This is what I read in a few other reviews. A few things that pieved me was they couldn’t even give you a remote control until 1pm the next day!!! Go figure!!
At the buffet it was sometimes impossible to get a drink from the waiter or they would forget your order. It took forever to request or get a baby high chair that after a while I just gave up and dragged one over myself every time in the buffet. This is pretty bad. At other resorts they would have it to you in an instant.
At the bar by the beach /“ this is usually only one bartender in the prime time and there are 5-8 people lined up. Oh yeah what others said about the wasps and flies are true at the bars. I guess it shows the cleanliness of the bars. There’s tons esp. at the beach bar
Watersport area /“ these guys were not helpful at all and just sat on there chairs and talked to each other and ignored you.
Saturday night and Sundays are filled with locals coming onto the resort. This can be noisy as large families come and rowdy kids. But they check out Sunday afternoon and then leave. The advantage is that this adds some spice at the disco on Saturday night as they love to party and dance!
Bathrooms /“ as I saw 3 rooms out of my visit, it was pretty evident and consistent that the bathrooms not at par to a 4 or even 3 star hotel. Looks like something out of a 2 star hotel. The caulking/grouting in the tub/shower is disgusting and the finishing off all plumbing fixtures are either tarnished or rusting (I guess from the humidity). The water pressure would occasionally die for a 10 sec. and the bath drains would all be clogged up that you’d be showering in an ankle full of water. My sink faucet rattled like a machine gun when turned on. (in comparison in Iberostar everything was in marble /“even countertops and the plumbing fixtures were of top notch quality.
Entertainment /“ I was exhausted every night and turned in early but managed to go out one evening to watch the Animation people lip sing Micheal Jackosn, Grease songs, and Queen. It was so bad and amateurish that we left after ½ hour.
Rooms /“ Many people complained about paper thin wall but I noticed it was concrete and wondered how could that be. But low and behold it was pretty bad. Didn’t have any neighbors having sex as others -fortunate/unfortunate reviews but my neighbour had the tv on at 6:30 am and it was loud. Don’t know if it’s the echo effect but even a sneeze sounds like the person was next to you. If you don’t like noise at night avoid poolside views in building 3 & 5. But these two buildings are the most convenient/central building. Had nice room after moving 2 times 3324 (pool view and ocean view) but noisy as hell with the music at the bar then the nightly entertainment at 10pm then the disco at 12am. Keep complaining and you will get a good room otherwise they stick you in Building 7or 2 which are in no mans land. You can email the resort ahead of time for your request. Third floor is best also as you can see the ocean better.
One other note: strange but the bed always seemed to get damp in the middle of the night. (hope there are no bed bugs /“ but there are pesky mosquito that eat your feet/leg. This didn’t help me sleep well at night as well as the soft bed.
The mini bar is stocked with literally 1 coke, 1 sprite, 1 tonic water and 1 1 litre of water. Pretty skimpy!! I asked for 4 bottles of water and sometimes they remember.
Our soap dispenser did not work in the shower nor was it filled up. So no shampoo is provided. They may replace the odd toiletries but there was no consistency. The courtesy room I used on the last day did have more toiletries but the soap dispenser still didn’t work.
Pool/Jacuzzi/Beach /“ The resort skimped and put up these stupid meg-shift vinyl canopies by the pool and make everyone sit closely together if they want shade. Could they not have put up individual umbrellas or straw umbrellas? It’s like you have no privacy if you want shade!!! At the beach they have 3 big straw umbrellas that everyone must squeeze under.
As for the Jacuzzi /“ the first half of the week it was not hot then they made it hot in the latter half. The most disgusting thing was there always seemed to be a film of guck in the middle of the jaccuzzi and it would float near you. Gross!!!!!
Health. Yup the DR belly did hit on the 3rd day of my trip and on the 5th day for my wife. It was somewhat controllable but I would have to go maybe 6 times a day. Took Pepto Bismo but don’t know if helped. Here’s the scoop. I have a weak stomach and almost always get a bad stomach when ever I travel to a 3rd world country. Similar problem at Coral Hamaca. At Iberostar in May it was a landmark trip as I had no stomach ailments what so ever during that trip. This probably says something for the food preparation handling and water purification system at the Iberostar!!!!
Summary:
I guess I haven’t said too many good things about the resort. But you be the judge of my review and like I said it really depends on the reviewers expectations and past visits. But do remember I did still manage to a good time basking in the sun/beach, drinking pina coladas (ask for dark rum as it doesn’t give you a headache like the white firewater) and snorkeling but just dreaded the food everyday. Food should be a highlight in an all inclusive package as all you do is drink, eat, and sit around. So that is why I do not recommend this resort for someone looking for service and food! If quality and variety of food is not as important and you want good value then maybe Casa Del Mar is for you. But for the incremental $$ I would go for Iberostar which is 15 min away!!!
COMPARISON:
Casa Del Mar /“ Bayahibe (out of a 10 rating scale)
Facilities = 6
Food = 4
Service/Friendliness = 5
Beach = 7 (good snorkeling)
Atmosphere = 7.5 (fun)
Activities = 8
Shows = 4
Iberostar Dominicus Hacendia - Bayahibe
Facilities = 9
Food = 10
Service/Friendliness = 9
Beach = 8 (powdering sand)
Atmosphere = 9 (relaxed)
Activities = 8
Shows = 6
Coral Hamaca /“ Boca Chia
Facilities = 8
Food = 7
Service/Friendliness = 7
Beach = 8 (extensive shallow beach)
Atmosphere = 7 (livelier)
Activities = 8
Shows = 7
If you have any question you can contact me at namabeer@colosseum.com or namabeer@hotmail.com
Note: if you want to read my reviews on Coral Hamaca (http://www.epinions.com/content_23662726788) or Iberostar Dominicus Hacienda (http://www.epinions.com/content_65812926084) you can visit my epinions reviews
or go to my personal website if you want to check out my other personal travels (India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Micronesia, Philippines, Tanzania, Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, All over Europe, the US, Canada, Hawaii, and the Carribean (Cuba, Cancun) /“ which include my experiences and great travel tips, you can check out my personal web site at:
http://members.fortunecity.com/namabeer/index.html
Dave
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