After spending a year alone with my husband in Iraq, all I wanted to do was sit by the pool or crystal clear, blue water on a lounge chair and veg out. This trip was nothing like that. The price of the trip was amazing. That was the deciding factor for us, $1400 for 7 nights including plane tickets.

Check in and first day:
We paid $50 each for a hotel transfer in an airconditioned bus. We were greeted by many people out of customs offering us rides but we just said "no" and looked for the sign for our guy. The bus was very nice. I figured out why they include curtains on the bus windows because if you are afraid of dying in a car.... don't look. People drive all over the roads... it can give you a heart attack to see a huge truck coming right at you only to get back over at the last second.
We checked in and ended up in a room all the way on the other side of the complex.... next to the staff wash room and dorms. It stunk as well as it was next to a farm. If you get building 26 ask for a room change. We requested a change and while they could not provide that day, they did give us a new room later the following day. It was right next to the main building, pool, and other places so it was great. We were definitely happy.

As other's stated, the air conditioning in the rooms sucked. I don't know what it was but it was ok during the day (some days) and then at night got very hot and humid. I am a huge air conditioning person so it bothered me. Other people not so much.

The beds were horrid. I do mean horrid. They were two full size beds on casters shoved together so don't plan on cuddling too much unless you want to end up on the floor during the middle of the night.

The water in the showers left a film in my hair so even when I tried to do it it felt like it was still dirty. Make sure you use the plugs in the tub at night. My husband woke up to a 3 inch cock roach in the tub he figured it climbed up the drain... once we pluged the drains when they weren't in use there weren't anymore. This is not a big thing.. no one else reported this nor did we see any walking around the resort.

The beach was very dissapointing. It was rocky and the water was no where near blue or clear. A lot of seaweed even on the Mambo side. There were a lot of ants on the beach so be careful. And locals do come up and bug you about getting your hair braided, etc. We only spent one day on the beach.

The pools were awesome. They were never crowded, even when they were doing water aerobics or snorkling lessons you had so much room to do whatever you wanted. Lots of lounge chairs everywhere.

Drinks were tasty although not strong at all, I do suspect them of watering down the bottles of alcohol. I drank a lot and only got a small buzz by the end of the night. Even after 3 "shooters" I felt nothing.

The food was great. If you are a foodie, then you would not like it but I am very picky and found so much I could eat. It was repeatative but not terribly. You'll want to try the Italian and Steakhouse "restaurants" once but it'll get old after that. The food there was good too. The snack bar was a joke it had burgers and fries. Again I am very picky and hated both because they were very grissly (spell). I hate biting into bone while eating something soft. yuck.
If you are a seafood lover, you will be dissapointed, they had some fish and calamarie but that was it. No crab, lobster, shrimp, etc... not even at the special restaurants.

We did an excursion on the Tip Top catermaran for $79 each. It was so great!! They said the boat can fit 75 people on it. If there were more than 30 people I would have not liked it at all. We had about 20 and it was perfect. While driving out of the shore, you can lounge on the nets or just chill out. No drinking until after the snorkling of course. The crew played music and was very entertaining. The snorkling wasn't the best. It was just about 50 foot deep water and only had one thing of coral. you could see about 100 yards away, very blue water, which is a sign of awesome coral reefs... I don't know why they didn't take us there. You could not travel very far... they had us roped off haha.

Back on the boat they took us to a very small village of about 50 locals. It was very primative there and they offered you cocolocos which were so refreshing... nothing like a freezing cold fresh coconut with a straw in it and a splash of Brugal rum.

We treked through the village and ate a dominican lunch of rice and beans and grilled chicken... there was also some potato salad stuff but I did not eat that. It was awesome! So good!

You could either swim to and from shore to the boat or you could take the dingy... I am not in the best of shape and I chose to swim. It was a nice swim. Take your time and you'll be fine. It felt good that I could accomplish that.

The other excursion we did was the ATVs... we went through our travel rep and it was through the local town. It took us to a very very dirty beach where people were harrassing me to buy stuff from him. He didnt realize I could understand him when he was talking about me after I said "no" to him.
They then took us to a very dirty river where the locals were eating lunch. You have to realize that these people don't believe in trash cans. The whole country is full of litter so don't be surprised.
After talking with other people, the other ATV trip which was through the Scuba Shop (located on the meringue beach) was much nicer. I had a very very fun time as it was my first time on an ATV, but I would try the Scuba Shops as they take you through the forrest (which was the site of the film Jurrasic Park's scene where they are flying over the island).

Now for the animation team... pleave give these people the credit they deserve. I was never once approached to come up and do whatever with them... if you didn't wanna go they left you alone... they could tell who was going to be annoyed and who wasn't. They get there about 9am and are there until 1am most days. And never have I seen them without energy and smiles.
The shows were very corny and often annoying but whatever.

If you like it the nightclub was nice... there wre a lot of people on the dance floor and you didn't have to wait a long time for drinks.

I would think this would be a great vacation for families esspecially teen agers. Although they do have what looks like a great kids program, I am pretty sure you have to pay extra for it. I could be wrong.

I wanted a quiet vacation where we would be pampered every second of the day and this was not it. There were no waiters getting drinks, no 24 hour food, no room service, and no crystal blue water. I did not like the city of Puerto Plata and the people were very pushy... if I met one more person who said their name was "Mr. Cheapy Cheapy" I would have screamed.

Again, this place would be great for a family with teens or younger kids. I would not recommend this for older people, young couples, and I did not see may singles at all.

My sister and I just returned from a 5 night stay at the Riu Mambo. Nothing but good things to say. We enjoyed our stay. The food was fantastic. The pool and beach and scenery were great. The staff was friendly. Only negatives were that the bed was not that comfortable and our request for a closer building wasnt given to the hotel prior to our checkin. The bathroom and shower were great--the shower was great. The manager, Susy is fantastic. She gave us a new room which we loved and vouchers for massages at the spa! We booked a city tour through Mel Tours at the end of the beach which was HORRIBLE. Upon our return home, we realized we were not taken to see the lighthouse or the real amber museum. Our tour guide didnt show us any of the architecture and the fort was supposedly closed on the day of our tour. DONT USE MEL TOURS. I feel cheated. Otherwise, the trip was great and the DR is beautiful as are the people. We will be returning, perhaps to Punta Cana or Santo Domingo (to view the architecture).

my fiance and i were forced to take this holiday 36hrs before departure because thomas cook overbooked our hotel in egypt that we booked a year previously and this one was the best of the options available that fitted our annual leave from work and other requirements. first impressions were not that great - dont know if it was the disappointment of not being on the original holiday we paid for - we found it very humid, to the extent you stepped out of air con rooms and you were immediately drenched, on arrival at the hotel we were given our room keys and we had to make our way to our room with out any assistance - room was at the very back of the resort opposite the staff store room.

the room was basic, 2 beds pushed together, one of which dipped down in the middle, reported this to reception after i noticed beds being removed from others rooms, but this was never sorted so it made sleeping very uncomfortable, also the aircon didnt seem to work properly, the ceiling fan only seemed to circulate the muggy air. the minibar in room wasnt that great, we got 3 bottles of beer and 3 bottles of pepsi every other day, the local spirits on the gantry were like parafin and after our litre of jack daniels from duty free ran dry we had to egt drinks from the pool bar to take back to the room while getting ready to go out at night.

the buffet -breakfast and dinner - became very boring after 4 days despite the mexican and dominican theme nights, it was basically a choice of fish, beef or pork.

the a la carte steakhouse and italian were basically the same restaurant but with a difference in main course, it did provide a nice change in that your food was brought to the table for you.

the biggest problem i found with this hotel was the animation staff, we booked our holiday to egypt because we wanted to relax by the pool/beach, top up our tans and have a few drinks, we have been to cuba before and the reason we settled for this hotel is because we - wrongly - assumed it would be like other caribbean resorts, relaxing and chilled out, dont get me wrong they work long hours and are very energetic but when your lying, having a wee siesta on a sun lounger and you get woke up by people pulling at you and screaming to play horse racing, even after you have repeatedly told them you just want to chill out, then you can imagine it becomes very annoying, started to feel like butlins in the caribbean after a few days.

we went on 2 excursions, one to santo domingo and the columbus ocean discovery boat trip.
having been to havana, santo domingo pales by comparison, we were constantly followed by street children offering to polish my trainers, and men selling the same meregue cds and beads despite saying no thank you tens of times we were followed from we got off the coach until we got back on and it frankley ruined the trip, the columbus ocean trip however was fantastic, at $55 more than the catamaran trip it is billed as being more exclusive. it was brilliant we travelled by coach for 2 hours - around 20 in the tour compared to 2 coach loads on the catamaran - we then board a yacht ,on board we helped ourself to a breakfast of bread meat and fresh fruit, we were brought drinks and constant refills by the crew for the 2 hours on the boat, so you can just lie on deck and chill out, we docked in a beautiful bay - very similar to one of the greek islands, were we could jump in the warm ocean, we were then offered drinks on a floating bar, it was great to be sitting on a float in the ocean drinking cuba libres, when we got back on the boat we were offered champagne and oysters, before we went ashore to a private beach were we were offered coco locos - fresh coconuts cut open and filled with rum - and we had our delicious buffet lunch, you also had the option of a banana boat ride, all of which was included in the price, the trip continued with a ride on a speed boat across the open ocean to a sandbank, where you can sit on the white sand and drink all you want from the open bar, or you can join the snorkelling tour on the reef, which is excellent.

one point about the weather in the dom rep, while we were here for the last 2 weeks in may, it rained heavily for 5 days and it was cloudy ever other day, i know it is approaching the hurricane/rainy season but i have been informed it is like this most of the year in the dominican.

the dominican people in general are not the friendliest i have came across, i understand they are a developing country, but we were constantly badgered for tips and although we did tip often and when we felt it deserved, we rarely received a thank you and as the saying goes manners dont cost anything

overall i would say this hotel is good for a last minute holiday - if i had booked this holiday a good while in advance, i would have been really disappointed - but if you want a typical caribbean holiday, with beautiful white sand beaches - fyi the beach here is very gravelely and in parts the sand felt like broken glass - you would be much better going to cuba!

I don't understand how people can complain about this complex. The Brits must be far more tolerant. As we are not used to air conditioning at home, the air conditioning at the Mambo was more than adequate.

We ate three very large meals a day and did not feel the need or have the room to snack between meals!

I cannot believe that people rely on hotel toiletries. Most people take there own brand shampoo and conditioner.

The ground between the three hotels is very flat, so walking is very kind on the feet and scenery breath taking.

The hotel staff work 14 hours a day for very little pay and always have a ready smile and are willing to help.

The rooms are exceptionally clean and the fridge full.

We would recommend the Monster Truck excursion, but take an umberella, as the trip ends with a water fight between the trucks!

We are in our forties and have two daughters aged 10 and 14 and always stay at Riu hotels. We feel that the Mambo compares favourably with other Riu hotels stayed in.