Ocean El Faro - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9595 reviews

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  A fun holiday

  A fun holiday with a family of 4 adults and two children. The entertainment was great. There was pool aerobics, water polo and beach games. The pool was great for swimming. Also there was a quiet pool. We loved the lazy river. The rooms needed updating especially the bathroom. The food was varied lots to choose from. Nothing outside of the hotel. The beach was lovely and had a safe cove. The entertainment team were really good and great fun day and evening.

  Jan 14, 2026
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  Would not return. Would not recommend. I remembered to post this even a year later! Not worth your money!

  Where to start.....Reception was not helpful and actually was a little antagonizing when I asked to be upgraded to privlegde. I have been to ocean coral spring in Jamaica with my daughter a year ago and was upgraded to privlegde (not the room) with all the other options for $120 US for 7 days. I was told that I was getting a "good price" at $460 US for me because normally my daughter would be charged too. This is laughable seeing as the hotel already charged full price for children and children don't drink alcohol nor eat that much food. Peter at reception basically laughed that I wouldn't get any where near that price which is ridiculous considering I really was only looking to upgrade so I could have access to premium liquor. I am not going to drink anywhere near $400 US in liquor. There should be an options to upgrade the liquor without everything else. And staff should be doing a better job than to be offering "not to pay for the child for a week of privlegde ". Jamaica is a more well established country economically and they were able to give privledge status for $120 US. Reception was not helpful and didn't seem to care either... stating "this is not Jamaica". I feel that staff are more concerned with cleaning the tables and getting plates cleaned up than actually helping you and using common sense. Many times I would go back to buffet and I would leave my cutlery in a position that show I am not done... or leave my chair not tucked in also and my food would be gone! But I can't always leave my child at the table when I need to take her with me to buffet. One time I even told someone I would return and my food was gone. So much food is wasted at a buffet so to take food that is being eaten and I have to now go get the same food is nonsensical. Staff was normally not very friendly except Wanderer each day. All that it seemed like was that staff concern is to clean clean clean. Smiles and having the same person service the same 1-2 tables each day goes a long way to establish rapport. Not one person doing coffee and one cleaning and another bussing tables. I am a pescetarian. I was not satisfied with the food. There was a lot of meat options yes but not a lot of vegetarian, vegan and pescatarian options. I was extremely unhappy with the snack bar only having burgers for the pool area or fries. There should be way more options outside for people like salads.... pasta salads.... fish burgers!!! Or veg burgers. I feel like this place mainly caters to meat eaters which is problematic in this day and age. There can be more seasoned up vegetables as well (look to Jamaica for some ideas). Food was sometimes cold/ cool or it was rock hard from sitting under the heat (eg. Plantain and churros). The entertainment crew I guess tries their best but I think they could do a better job of having games and fun. The music is part of the problem. Luis played the same songs everyday around the same time for 5 days straight. I heard many people complaining about it. I asked him to play other music and he told me he wasn't allowed he would get in trouble when I ask him to play reggeaeton, he said he couldnt because of lyrics. I told him to look up same song but "clean version" he said he wasn't allowed to play reggaeton. Meanwhile the last 2 days of my stay I saw a a different DJ and they played bad bunny clean version. This was frustrating to say the least hearing same music over and over for days. At night the activities for children were repetitive and also late! 8 15 pm for children's to start activities is too late. Children go to bed sometimes around that time. For a family hotel this makes 0 sense to me! The shows at night were not that great either. I have been to Barcelo Bavaro and Grand Bahia punta cana before and their shows were amazingly done- especially Michael Jackson. Hotel el faro looked like they were creating shows on an elementary school budget. I excepted much more from a 5 star hotel in terms of entertainment. Overall I don't believe this hotel is a 5 star. I have stayed in many 5 stars and for service and entertainment and attention from staff this place is about a 3.5 star. The hotel itself is beautiful but service is a must to be exceptional when it is a 5 star. Things like music and options for food and helpfulness from staff are crucial. I also do not understand why the adults side "el beso" is beside the only place where children can swim - the laguna which also makes no sense that it says "not allowed to swim ". I took my daughter over there to swim not noticing that there were privilege signs- I thought that some of it (not all) was for privilege status). Which also wouldn't have made sense considering again that was the only place for children to swim without waves or undertoes! I put my bags down there and went for a swim... I came out and was there for a few minutes and was approached with major attitude by Mackenedy and told I had to go. I said I would go in 5 minutes after my daughter finished her snack. No one else was complaining and I also saw another child and a baby too. Mackenedy came back probably after 7 minutes to harass me that "5 minutes had passed". He is rude and aggressive and this is not how you approach people. Maybe he doesn't have children so he doesn't understand but his harassment and the fact that someone made a huge error in which side they put the "adults side" on makes 0 sense when even the staff member agreed that children would not be safe swimming at the main beach! This hotel needs to work on many things to make it a 5 star. People pay a lot of money to go on vacation and they want to feel special and given attention and service and to be listened to an approached with kindness and understanding. Overall beautiful hotel but falls short in many areas. I will not be returning to this hotel again and will not recommend it.

  Jan 13, 2026
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  Service at the hotel is not good

  I came with family of 6 adult and a 2yr granddaughter ,we came to celebrate her 2nd birthday together, we find the staff is not helpfull at all ,1st of all there is language barrier, than it seems at the restaurant nobody is bothered to help even no smiling faces ,anything we ask at the restaurant they either say it's finished or we been told to go and get it ourselves..I would say the service and the people who work here are not trained or are not committed to their jobs they really don't know how to treat the guess but the reps try to sell you the privileged package because they know the standard has not good service ,the hotel ocean al faro is good but I would say service is 3rd class

  Jan 13, 2026
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  BEST TRIP THIS DECADE!

  Roberto & Carlos were the highlight of My trip! The entertainment staff was next level and the service exceptional! This is the first time I’ve travelled to Dominican and I can’t wait to return! From the food to the rooms to the pool & beach and service! All top notch! The experience over all 11 out of 10!

  Jan 12, 2026
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  Buena estadia

  The only 2 employees that went above and beyond to made us feel welcomed were Roberto (from my mom) the blue team and Alex (bar at the lobby). Blue Team Stephany, Special Roberto

  Jan 12, 2026