Flight: Flight left Toronto half an hour late which was fine. SkyService is very no frills, plane on the older side. Served a small meal (sandwich, water and a fruit bar). Arrival in Dominican went well, Customs was fast and smooth and the transfer from the airport to hotel was fast. Check-in was great, we had our keys within 10 minutes. Remember to ask for your safe key and lock when you check in, it will save you from having to walk back to the front desk.

Hotel/Resort:
Room: Actually quite surprised how nice the room was, we had two queen beds, and a really large bathroom. The room had recently been renovated. The fridge was stocked daily with two large bottles of water, pepsi, 7-up and beer. Our air conditioning worked perfectly. Our room was in 46 block, close to the front desk area, the buffet and the activity pool and wave pool. The walk to the beach was about 10 minutes. Like most of the reviews on Trip Advisor have mentioned, the bulk of vacationers at this resort are Brits (which was fun).

Pools/Beach: The resort has four pools; the activity pool (main pool), a kids pool, wave pool (with water slides) and the Royal Suites pool. We spent little to no time at the pools, they were really busy and it wasn't something we were interested in doing. The beach is beautiful, tons of palapas to sit under and tons of loungers, we never had a problem getting loungers on the beach. The water is clear and clean, the sand nice and white. The water was a bit rough at times, and the wind seemed to pick up in the early afternoon. We spent 95% of our time on the beach. There are tons of vendors that walk the beach selling various items (fresh coconuts, souvenirs, hair braiding), and if you say no thanks they tend to leave you alone. There is a market to the left of the hotel, be ready to barter because they will always high-ball you with their opening bid.

Excursions: You have the option of attending a meeting the first morning you arrive put on my Signature/First Choice...we didn't go, but apparently they outline all the trips/excursions that they offer. We opted to book a day trip through Manuel on the beach, the price was a bit lower. We went on the Paradise Island trip ($70 USD). A bus picks you up at the front gate of the resort at 7:30am...its about a 2.5 hour trip through the Dominican outback. You get to see how people live in the rural area. Once you arrive at the beach, you are taken by speedboat out to Paradise Island, which isn't really an island but a large sand bar. Once you arrive, a breakfast of fresh fruit is served and then you are taken on an amazing 30 minute snorkeling tour. Total time on the island is 2.5 hours. Once done, you head back to the mainland, stopping at a National Park Mangrove forest and then off to a restaurant for lunch (not the cleanest place, we were a bit worried about eating there). Bus trip back is long and you stop at a gift shop where you can watch two guys make cigars. A great excursion. Heard from others at the resort that the Catamaran trip is also really great.

Food/Restaurants/Bars: This would be my only complaint about the resort, the food isn't the greatest. The main buffet is alright, there are tons of options but by the end of the week it got kind of boring. We tried two A La Carte restaurants, the adults only Caribbean on the beach and the Japanese. We gave up with them, both were disappointing (especially the Japanese). This might be because both of us are super spoiled being from Toronto where we have a ton of great restaurants. One main observation was the lack of seafood at the buffet and at the A La Cartes. I was expecting to eat fresh seafood all week and was reduced to eating white fish and really fishy calamari. The bars are good, bar staff are nice for the most part (except for the day time bartender on the beach, he was super surly!). Beer on tap is Presidente, a Dominican beer. They make all the typical mixed drinks.

Resort Activities: You can rent (for free) boogie boards, kayaks and snorkeling gear on the beach. At the activity pool during the day there are tons of activities you can take part in: water polo, darts etc. There is a business centre in the main lobby if you need to check your email/surf the web (prices are reasonable).

Nightlife: Another big downside to this resort. Nothing to do once it gets dark, there are shows but they are not too good. Karaoke in the adult bar in the evening. There is nowhere on site to go dancing. Other young people (under 35) said that they went off site to two bars Hemmingways (and another one I can't remember the name of) and that they were fun.

Flight Home: We had a late flight back and had to check out of our room by noon, meaning we had nowhere to go to escape the heat for the majority of the day. The hotel does offer courtesy rooms (essentially gym locker rooms) with showers etc. Transfer from resort to hotel was good, immigration went quick. Flight was delayed by 1/2 an hour. Duty Free in Dominican is cheap, but be warned, the prices vary form booth to booth, so shop around. Flight home was okay, small meal was served.

Overall: For the price, it was a good vacation. Would I go back, probably not only because I'd rather go to a resort that has better food and more to do in terms of nightlife. This resort is a great place to take kids, but wouldn't suggest it for singles/couples in the mid to late twenties/thirties.

We have recentley returned from the H.V and we had a great time.
There was 12 of us, 6 adults and 6 kids ages from 18 months to 15 years old. No one was dissappointed.

The hotel was clean and our room was nice and fairly big. we had hair dryers supplied and if you put a couple of dollars in the fridge for the maid she will leave you a couple of extra drinks.

We was just across from the wave and slide pool which was good because I was out every morning at 6.15 am to put towels any later and you would struggle to get 2.
The wave pool has a little pirate ship with slides for the toddlers and the big slides are manned by life guards allday. The pool was clean and the waves come every hour the kids loved it.
The second pool was where the reps would do the activities during the day that pool was alot more noisier. They had a dance (chocolatey) that they would do every day and the kids would join in it was very catchey.
The pool bar served meals from 1230pm to 3pm but it depended who was as to whether it was nice. Look out for a waiter called Vincent he was known as Happy hour he was very funny and great with the kids when they went to the bar to get a drink he did not ignore them,like some did. Get the kids a mickey mouse, it is lemonade with red grenadine in it, they think it is great and it is actually quite refreshing.

The other resturants was all ok except for the Mexican we waited 10 days to get a reservation and we did not enjoy it at all. It was very basic, even I could have done better and that is saying something. It does serve Pizzas allday which are nice.The buffett was nice it did get abit repetative near the end but that is to be expected. We learned that tipping is a good way to get a table for 12 and the manager would come and get us from the bar when it was ready.

The Asian resturant was amazing we went twice and on one occasion they made a cake for one of the kids birthdays and the whole place joined in to sing happy birthday, We had one very embarressed 15 year old.

The beach was clean and there was plenty of sun beds the sea was not too rough and if you go to the activity place you can hire boogie boards for no charge for a hour, which we did not know about until the day before we went home,Oh well.

At the flea market they are very pushy I got abit cheesed off with them after about the second shop and I had to be rude to get away,which I did not like doing becasue they are all so nice and freindly but also poor and they are just trying to make a buck but you can only stand so much.

The kids club is from 1030am til 1230pm and 230 til 430 which is free but afterwards they do activites that they charge for like the trapeze but they are very responsible and it is all safe. The raftbuilding is free and our 6 year old and our friends 8 year old really enjoyed it.
The First Choice reps are brill with the kids and if it rains they will keep them entertained for hours in the bar/stage area whilst you drink and watch the storm.
We only had 2 afternoons that was a washout but the staff were great doing quizes and dancing, allsorts really.

The staff also came to wave us off and say goodbye to the kids which I thought was really nice. overall we had a really good time and was not disappointed after all the varied reviews I think that it was worth every penny. I look forward to trying the H.V destinations around the world

If I could say one thing to help you along your way it would be to tip regulary to everyone they wil remember you and treat you like friends. Especially at the bar which is a bit slow,let them see your money and you wont have to queue for long. Have a good time every one.

We stayed at the Holiday Village for two weeks in June and went with my 7 year old daughter. We have been to a few all inclusives in the Carribean and Mexico and so thought we had a pretty good idea of what a 4* resort would be like.
I have to say though that this hotel should not be advertised as a 4* as to say it is a 3* would be kind. The room we had was a standard room and was incredibly dark with not enough plug sockets so you had to unplug the lights to use them for a hairdryer or the coffee machine. The room was crawling with little bugs and the sheets in our room had holes in them and overall it wasn't what we expected. The shower needed to be turned on 10 minutes before needing hot water and when it did work it was like showering under a watering can the pressure was so low. It took us 6 days to get a plug for the bath as well after mentioning this to the reception and the First Choice reps on 5 seperate occassions.
The food at the hotel isn't a great selection. The buffet serves a reasonable range of food at the meal times but it is the same thing being put out each day and it is also luke warm at most mealtimes. I am not a very fussy eater but I really struggled to find something. The kids buffet comprises of chips and nuggets or something like that, so wasn't really a buffet at all. The food in the buffet is bland and this was the same for all the other restaurants which have a very limited choice as well.
At night the entertainment is held in a stage area where you need to get a seat by 7 pm if you want to sit down, and they are plastic patio tables and chairs like you would buy from B & Q. The entertainment staff put on some good shows, but the shows that were bought in from outside like Fernando the Magician were entertaining because they were so bad!
The In 2 Action team and kids clubs were the only good thing about this holiday and I can say they work tirelessly to keep the kids entertained. There is a high ropes area outside the reception of the hotel which is great fun for kids and gives them massive amounts of confidence. The staff are sincere and caring and really took an interest in the children and remembered their names. They are all English so the kids aren't having a language barrier and they make it really fun.
Overall, we felt that the hotel wasn't for us and if we'd taken what was written on Trip Advisor to heart we probably wouldn't have paid the £2,500 it cost to go here as it was not value for money at all.
If you want an introduction to All Inclusives this may be quite good but having paid a similar price the last few years and received much better, I won't be hurrying back.

Oh dear, please don't book this hotel. It is a pure dive. We stayed here the first 2 weeks in June 2008

We arrived in our room to find the beds made but by no means were the clean!! Crumpled stained smelly sheets!! The room was made daily but not exactly cleaned.

This is a very tired dated complex and 2* would be being generous, honestly. Just things like mouldy silicone in the bathroom, not what we were expecting

We had ants/ insects crawling over our beds and walls nearly every day and the whole hotel was fumigated whilst we were there!

The food in the buffet restaurant was average to say the least, do try the Italian though as it was decent. You should try the other restaurants even just to give yourself a change from the buffet!

The kids enjoyed the wave pool though even it is grimy and slippy at the edges

To be fair the kids clubs and action teams were good and the staff at these places were fun competent and great with the kids. So at least your kids will have a good time! Just a mention, a lot of the activities are from 6 years on so a few 5year olds a bit left out.

Evening entertainment was a disco/ games for the kids then adult bingo and a show, this varied in quality but as we weren't expecting much after the quality of hotel it was decent.

On the insect bites we must have been lucky as only a few round the feet and ankles and the kids never got any. Though some guests were looking a bit sore at times.

Whilst we were there there was a break in to a couples room whilst the were in it, which was a bit disconcerting. Also were advised by the coach driver taking us to ocean world that might be ok to go outside complex in daylight but not to go out a night.

We have paid a lot less for a holiday and had far better accomadation and overall holiday closer to home. So if you have booked your holiday to here, you will just have to make the most of it and enjoy yourself like we did. If you are thinking about it DON'T.