Lydia C.
Google
Astonishing to me that somehow this is a 4-star resort.
Check-in: one of our connecting flights was canceled due to weather, so we ended up arriving a day late. I emailed to let the resort know what had occurred. Regardless, we were told upon arrival that because we hadn't arrived the day before our room had been given away. We had to wait about 20 minutes for them up find a new one, but they did provide drinks while we waited.
The room: outdated, and downright dilapidated. There's paint splatters on nearly everything. There is one awkwardly tiny outlet on each side of the bed that a regular sized phone charger doesn't fit all the way in, and I had to unplug the bedside clock to use. It didn't really matter though because the outlet failed entirely on our second day, so I charged my phone on the bathroom for the rest of the time. My husband's bedside lamp never did work. The pillows are actually pretty nice, but they only provide 3 for a king sized bed. The mattress was incredibly hard.
The bathroom: very small, with a tiny 1-person shower. The floor of the shower is cracked and spongy, with peeling paint. The water was reliably hot. There was mold in all the grout (no bathroom fan), the step on the tiny rusted trash can was broken, and the handle on the toilet was badly cracked, so if we didn't flush carefully it would hook on the cracked part and the toilet wouldn't stop cycling.
The food/drinks: mediocre, all the way across the board. The drinks are unlimited but don't have much alcohol, and are pretty flavorless. The buffet food was standard for a buffet. I never ate anything that struck me as particularly good. Very few options that seemed fresh or local.
We also ate at the Italian restaurant and the seafood restaurant, which were moderately better than the buffet. The food was what you'd expect from a budget restaurant serving that style of food in the US: nothing you'd rave about, but okay.
The pools: there are 3 of them, and they're very beautiful and well-maintained. There are lots of chairs and poolside beds, and we didn't have much trouble getting to use them. That being said, many of the chairs had bottoms with major tears, which made them uncomfortable and difficult to use.
The beach: also beautiful and very clean, with lots of chairs and beds, although we were never able to get one. The water is SO warm and pleasant. One of the nicer beaches I've ever visited.
The entertainment: honestly, my husband and I are young parents looking for a quiet getaway for a week, and this was the wrong place for that. The music at the main pools is constant and loud, with activities and loud shouting into the microphone at varying times throughout the day. The activities included a water zumba, volleyball tournament, disco/boogie parties, and bingo, so mostly not activities geared towards the younger adult crowd. This made sense, as I'd say about 80% of the other guests were about 60 or more. Every night there's a loud event at the stage next to the buffet from 9:30-10:30. It seems to be well attended, but again, just not the experience we were looking for. To their credit, the resort is very quiet after that.
The staff: this was one of my biggest let-downs. I've traveled a lot throughout Mexico, and visited Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Belize as well. In all of those places the service was always warm and friendly and welcoming. Here, and across the DR as far as we can tell, it's quite the opposite. Most of the staff don't speak English well which was a surprise, and you very much get the impression that they're just trying to get through their workday. Not much eye contact, not many smiles, very little conversation or engagement unless they're in a role hired for that purpose, like the entertainment group.
In short, I'll be quite happy if we never return to Bluebay Doradas. There are so many other places to visit in this world and around the Caribbean that are better maintained, take pride in their food and their culture, and seem to enjoy the fact that they exist. This place does none of that.
