Dreams Punta Cana Review

[TammyDez]

Let me start by apologizing for not submitting my review sooner to the forum. Also I was not an English major so please excuse my grammar and spelling. I was married at Dreams Punta Cana May 2008. I had 50 guests and we booked with apple vacations.

First I would like to list my complaints and warnings so then I can go on and tell you about my fabulous wedding at dreams.

When you arrive you have to take a 45 min ride from the airport to the hotel. I think our driver was out of control driving very fast and dodging potholes. I have to admit I was a little scared but we did arrive at the hotel in one piece.

When we checked in it was late. We checked into a honeymoon suite in building #8. Our room was outdated and smelled like mildew. My husband didn’t care but I wanted plush sheets, fluffy pillows and cleanliness. So first thing in the morning I went to the front desk and told them of my concerns and they switched us building #6 and what a difference.

They have several restaurants I thought that they were all great but a lot of my guest thought that the portion sizes were small, service was slow and all the food tasted the same. I would recommend that if your really hungry to get a plate at the world café before dinner and if your looking for 5 star dinning don’t book at an all inclusive.

The hotel and wedding coordinators are not as concerned as you are about your wedding day. They are very laid back and already know that everything will be great. I was so worried about meeting with Juliana and it was like 3 day before I could even contact her. Finally she had a note put under our door and we met with her and in two hours all the wedding day arrangements were made.

Some rooms are kindda falling apart, small, and need upgrading. Buildings #6 and #7 were clean and upgraded (new linens and paint). Other rooms were not so nice and no one seemed to have working refrigerators. I took into consideration that the resort had just changed names and no one really cared that much in my group.

Don’t bother getting travelers checks. You can’t pay for hotel services including wedding packages and extras in traveler’s checks. They will exchange them for you in to pesos and you end up losing out. However apple did allow us to use them to book excursions.

This may be a coincidence but 4 of my guest that used credit cards at the resort had a situation were someone in Florida had used the card that same week! AS IN IDENITY THIEFS!

The pool floats around the resort do get taken fast so bring a few of your own and bring them out each day that worked great for us.

The vendors are like seagulls at the beach at lunch time and they will stalk you and I didn’t think they were very nice. I would buy my souvenirs in the cigar shop!

With that out of the way I would like to say that I thought the resort was amazing! The grounds are beautiful. They are clean, lush with trees and flowers, and there is wild life all through out the resort. We stayed for two weeks and had our wedding on a Friday at 6 in the evening. Apple was amazing! They made all of our travel arrangements to and from the hotel smooth providing us with accurate arrival and departing times for us as well as our guest. This made handing out our welcome bags easy because we were able to greet all our arriving guests in the lobby. I just wanted to add that the two apple reps were amazing they spoke great English and were very knowledgeable about the resort, excursions, and Punta Cana in general. Not to mention they are very friendly and courteous. So we stayed in building # 6 and the location was great because it’s closest to the beach and pool bar were for some reason I kept finding my guest. The beaches are picture perfect! The water is warm, clear, and calm. We snorkeled with hotel equipment right off shore and saw more fish then we did on our snorkel excursions. (We put bread in a water bottle and let a little out at a time and it attracts the fish like crazy) My mother-in-law also saw a sting ray along the booie line. The sun is very hot and for all the people who think they’ll be fine without sun block think again because my daring guest got really burnt. I wore sunscreen and still got a nice tan. The beaches really aren’t that crowded and we got lounge chairs everyday with a group of people. We also enjoyed the beach barbeque. They have it every day and it’s nice because you don’t have to get dressed to go to one of the indoor locations. The resort has many activities to keep you entertained and the entertainment staff themselves are great. Each evening the resort gives you an agenda with following day’s events for adults and children. We didn’t have any children with our group but from observation the Explores Club looked great. The children were well attended to and looked to always be having fun. . I enjoyed all of the restaurants and thought the servers were entertaining. If I had to choose food wise I like Himitsu’s food the best. All of the bars are nice and the drinks are strong! I thought the night time shows were corny but fun. And the stage was right next to the sports bar which was nice they have basket ball, pool, air hockey, foosball, and TV’s with sports live from the USA. The disco was fun, open the latest, and the music is different each night. I would highly recommend dinner on the beach it was the perfect set up and the best service at the resort. We booked our dinner at 7 and we saw the sun go down it was beautiful and sooooo romantic.

The resort itself really isn’t that big the layout is nice and there isn’t really a bad location. I would prefer to be in building #6 or #1 because they are closest to the beach. The pool however surrounds the whole resort. And incase anyone is wondering about those huge spiders I managed to spend two weeks at the resort and never saw one. One thing I found really important is that the phone messaging system is really nice and easy to set up to keep in touch with your guest and it only cost $1 a minute to call the US.

Now about the wedding stuff! They must have about 2 wedding everyday and they were all different sizes. The two locations available are the beach or gazebo both were beautiful and we chose the beach. At either location the other resort guest can see you but the beach was a little more private in my opinion and we paid an extra 300.00usd for that. After being there for a few days I was able to meet with Juliana the wedding coordinator. We planned the whole day in 2 hours so I would advise everyone not to worry she will meet with you and everything will be great. For the wedding day itself everything was amazing. I didn’t use the spa but other people who did loved it and my mom had her hair done and I am picky when it comes to hair and hers looked great. The spa only does a natural manicure that means NO FAKE NAILS! I would bring back up press-on nails because after 5 days in pool and ocean water I was so thankful I did. A few people did get massages and said they were ok.

I got ready in our room with my girls and my husband got ready in his parents room. Juliana told my husband when it was time to be on the beach and when every one was seated she came to get me and my bridesmaids. I had hired a photographer from the US that stayed at dreams so I don’t know much about the resort photographer. I know you can use an outside photographer for $75usd. We did however use a videographer from the resort and he did an excellent job at capturing the whole ceremony.

Our wedding was at 6 pm and the setting was perfect the wind was a little rough but the lighting and temperature was fine. The arch was very pretty and we had burnt our own cd with the wedding music so they played that just how we wanted it. The ceremony was very pretty and you can do anything you want. We had a reading by a family member and did the sand ceremony. We also wrote our own vowels. After the ceremony we took pictures and the sun light ran out fast so we went to gazebo and took pictures there as well. The lighting was very nice at night in the gazebo and the pictures turned out great. We chose not to have a reception because we had a big one planned for at home. In stead they sectioned off a part of the world café and served my group of 50 privately from the Italian restaurant. The food was great they decorated a little with candles and severed our cake. I was very satisfied with the dinner and it didn’t cost extra. My guest also commented on how nice it was. After dinner we all went over to Veranda an outside bar that serves coffee and drinks and hung out for the night.

We had gotten a free wedding package for booking more then 7 nights in a honeymoon suite. Off the top of my head that included pressing our wedding attire, my flowers (so pretty), champagne, cake, Juliana, and a couple other things. Over all the only thing we paid for was the beach ceremony, the service of the judge, and the video. We did see a beach reception set up and also a reception on the Bordeaux balcony and both were private and very nice. It also sounded like a lot of fun was going on.

Over all I would recommend this resort for a destination wedding. Some of my guest thought you could get just as nice of a stay at other resorts in Punta Cana for cheaper but as far as I am concerned they met my expectations and I had an amazing wedding and vacations at the Dreams resort.

I hope this helps future brides planning their wedding in Punta Cana. I don’t think I’ll need the best destination wedding forum any longer however I will check back in once in a while and answer any question I can. So thank you to everyone! I will continue to recommend this forum and good luck to all future destination brides.

 

[dainanewell]

Congrat's...and thank you for writing a review...I'm so excited now....my wedding is in three months...cant wait to get married at Dreams!!!!

[S2BLennon]

Congrats and thank you for the review! It is very helpful!

[S2BLennon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dainanewell Congrat's...and thank you for writing a review...I'm so excited now....my wedding is in three months...cant wait to get married at Dreams!!!!

Wow your wedding is approaching quickly! Hope the plans are going well!

[Danniellou]

You look so beautiful! Great review and congratulations!

[TammyDez]

Your welcome and best wishes you're going to have an amazing experience!

[chika]

Thanks for posting your review - it was really helpful! I am so excited about our wedding at Dreams, and hearing your positive (and negative) experiences has made me even more excited.

 

Congratulations!

[Thomasjsgirl]

thanks for sharing the good and the bad. My wedding is at Dreams too and it's so helpful to hear what it's like from someone who's been there, done that. Even the advice on which buildings to book in is appreciated. Thanks again and all the best to you and your new hubbie!

[rdhbride]

awesome review, i'm leaning towards dreams in dr.