BlueBay Villas Doradas

We had a very relaxing vacation ... an all inclusive is something we had never done before. We were looking for warmth and a place to really rest. The most disagreeable part of the trip was the 'front desk service and information desk'. The employee at the information desk was very rude, and provided no or bad information ... when she was even at the desk. The hours that were posted were rarely maintained. In particular was the need for 'reservations for dinner' at the restaurants. We were more than once told the restaurants were full and that we couldn't get reservations. However, every night we were there (10 days) the restaurants were almost empty.. and were able to walk in (without a reservation card) every night!!! Not to mention that a couple of times we were told a restaurant was closed... only to walk there and find it open. The service at the restaurants was wonderful!!! A complete lack of useful information regarding the surrounding areas... I understand you don't want guests to leave the all inclusive unless on one of your tours but if asked it seems like your staff could be a little more helpful. For instance... anyone wanting to go to Puerto Plato but on a budget... there's a great little bus that runs every 10-15 minutes at the main road for approximately $1 a person. (we were actually told that we overpaid and it should have been $1 for two persons). Perfectly safe, fun and left us with extra money to buy a bottle of wine at dinner. We thought the house wines were terrible!! We couldn't even drink them.. although we noticed other people didn't seem to mind. The other drinks and alcohol (and all the bartenders) were wonderful!!!! And we didn't mind buying a bottle at dinner, as we could take any unfinished wine back to our room... and there was a varied choice of bottled wines ant different prices. Charging for a safe deposit box seemed a bit ridiculous. Especially when we were told not to trust the staff and not to leave anything of value in our room unless it was locked up. We had a great room on the back side of one of the buildings so we didn't hear the outrageous noise of the loud speaker and didn't have drunk guest parading by our room. We really lucked out. If we had been facing the pools we would have either requested a room change or left as there was no peace for those rooms. We enjoyed the palm tree shade at the beach, we didn't use the pools(too loud most of the time) ... loved being at the 'end' of the all inclusive hotels... it will be a different experience when the high rise next door is completed. :( I loved the kayaking... wished the stand-up paddle boards weren't so expensive And lastly... we were in the Dominican... with the exception of conversing with some of the fun beach vendors, and a few staff members, it seemed as though they really didn't want you to experience the DR or Puerto Plata. Telling guests that it wasn't safe unless you paid for their taxes and excursions. The history is fascinating, the town and beaches and restaurants were safe and interesting, and everyone we met outside of the hotel was informative, and helpful happy to see us. We are glad we went ...

We did not like the service and our room . We paid extra for the suit, which smelled very bad like mold . It also had mosquitos . We checked other 4 rooms they were all smelly and had outdated furniture. We had bagged for basic things like drinking water . We complained to the front desk many times. Nothing was resolved. The only positive thing was the beach. I would never choose this resort again!

Positives, the people were very friendly. The resort cleaned the beach area every morning of any seaweed or debris that had washed up. Our room was comfortable and the resort was kept clean. They did provide activities that you could participate in or not as well as a simple show in the evening. Negatives: The mosquitoes and no see ums were very active and I would recommend Off or other bug repellent. The hotel only would provide one key per room which was off putting but after complaining and begging they did finally give in and gave us a second key. The key also controls the AC and they don't want you to keep one key in the AC and the other with you. The WIFI is only good for one person in each room. We weren't able to get around that. The food was not great, and their is basically very little actual alcohol to be had. None in the wine unless you purchase a bottle. You don't need to worry about hangovers. Check out is at noon, however for us they cut off the WIFI at 10 am and the water for our room sometime between 11-11:15 am. Important information to note, bring cash most places outside of the resort do not take credit cards. There is a little mall maybe a quarter of a mile to the west of the resort, it has a few shops and also some booths where you can book excursions much cheaper than in the resort. But again everything is cash. If you play golf there is a golf course right across the street that looks nice. We did the waterfall excursion and it was exceptional. Also did the snorkeling but the reefs are not really very good if you've snorkeled other places.

We simply had the best time for the price paid. The water was beautiful the people super friendly. We've decided we are going to return to Blue Bay every December - that's how much fun we had. Low key, quiet...relaxing...really exactly what we wanted to experience. WHAT WE LIKED: 1. Very compact resort. From our room if we went to the left, we walked past two pools and into the buffet area. If we went to the right we walked through the tropical forest area and on to the beach. If we went behind us we were in the quite spa area. 2. When booking we made a note that we were celebrating our anniversary. We arrived to find our door decorated with a sash, we received a complimentary bottle of rum and fruit plate. 3. Room was perfectly adequate. Bed was firm, tv had English speaking channels (Weather Channel plus Miami and NYC channels w/ local news). 4. Grounds crew does a great job keeping the place clean and walkways dry. 5. Food/buffet crew were delightful. Always cheery and remembered our names. Beach bar lead Franklin is a class act. 6. Food hit the spot. Omelettes made fresh to order, lunch always had a good variety and dinner had good selection. We loved the fried chicken at the lunch time snack bar. WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: 1. The timeshare people. I know they have a job to do but no means no. It was unsettling to us and we weren't willing to give time knowing that we would not be buying any timeshare packages. 2. Cigarette butts - lots of opportunity to put your cigarette out in the proper spot but found a lot of butts in the sand and on the grass. Grounds crew were busy keeping up with this. 3. Room bathroom - toilet was very small and cramped. No vent in the bathroom.