Tropical Casa Laguna Hotel

We arrived on the 14th August for a 14 night all inclusive holiday and returned on the 28th. We were a little worried after reading some of the "reviews" previous. Check-in was very smooth and we were in our room within 5 mins of arrival at the hotel. Our room was very spacious with more than enough room to hang clothes and cupboard space to spare! The maid cleaned our room every day and provided clean towells each time. We stayed on the beach side and found we had the use of both pools and jacuzzi to ourselves most of the time. We also used the casa laguna side and found the gardens and pools very well kept and clean. The bars were occasionally busy and did close at 11pm, but generally getting a beer or rum wasnt really difficult. Resturant staff were friendly and efficient, I had a drink with 2 mins of sitting down most nights. The "dangourous" road that some "review" refferred to was busy twice during our holiday, both on the sunday. Other times there were cars and bikes on there but easy to cross, even after plenty of the local rum!! The beach was reletively uncrowded, but local sellers will approach you each day with the same old goods, but after a while realise that they are wasting there time. A good tip is to have sunglasses on and pretend to be asleep, they soon get the message. The breakfast was superb, lunch and dinner was good, but a little repetative. Never really saw any problems with insects. Just like eating outdoors in the uk, you will get the odd 1 or 2 but thats understandable. Ate on the beach 3 nights, the Irish bar once, and the resturant just before the irish bar, sorry forgot the name. Both places were excellent. Watch out the the bushwacker cocktail in the irish bar!! I really believe that if you come on holiday to enjoy yourselves you certainly will. For the price we paid for 2 weeks all inclusive, I felt we had a much better holiday than what we were expecting and would return again in the future. As mentioned by others, the entertainment team were superb. Worked very hard and long hours, but the smiles on there faces never dropped. Special mention to Lucis and Miss Kenya! Enjoy!

Upon arrival we were shocked to see the hotel so close to the main road, once we walked through into the hotel it looks better, check in was good receptionist was nice and organised. Our room was a good size 2 single beds pushed together although we didnt have a simple essential thing in the room like a bottle of water (other rooms did) When we asked at reception for a bottle of water it took around 5 hours to recieve. I notice that other reveiews state how clean the rooms were. we didnt think it was that great, our room wasnt cleaned everyday, underneath the beds look like they havnt seen a brush or mop for weeks and the wardrobes have weeks and weeks of dust on the too we had to dust and clean the wardrobes before we could put any of our clothes inside. we also had a couple of days when we returned to our room and had no towels. The restaurant and breakfast was nice and lunch was ok however dinner in the evening were never that great lots of flies infact it was that bad for flies one night they had to close down the middle section with all the salad and cheese on it there were just too many insects. some of the meat was undercooked some was over cooked and burnt, some of the meat did actualy smell old and made me feel sick just at the smell and I had tummy pains after just 2 days of eating there and for the rest of my holiday i had bad tummy and diarrhoea for 12 days of the holiday even the tablets I took didnt help, we couldnt figure out if it was the way they cleaned the plates and cutlery or the way the food was cooked I wasnt alone with this problem there were quite a few other holiday makers who had tummy problems also and if they didnt have that they were being sick!! Restaurant service and bar service is terrible theyall need to go on some sort of training course, when you ordered a drink in the restaurant the staff didnt look at you and listen so they would often return forgetting what you ordered and needing you to repeat the order making you wait a long time for a drink, you were even lucky sometimes if they came back at all, as well as the restaurant and beach bar and pool bar the staff are usualy too busy flirting with each other to serve you or taking personal calls on there mobile phones, in the evening you can be waiting at the bar between 20 min and half an hour after 10pm and the bar closes at 11pm and even if they are half way through pouring drinks for you as soon as its 11pm bar closes wether you have all your drinks or not so they say yes to pouring your drink and if time goes they close and leave you standing. When I challenged tha bar supervisor regarding the drink situation he wasnt interested they shouldnt say yes and accept an order from you if they are going to leave and walk away not giving you what they agreed. On the last eveing there on 27th of aug, my wife and I were trying to get a drink for ourselves and 2 friends we went over with for over 20 minutes again and we were noticed by another female holiday maker she saw we had waited for a long time so she even asked for them to serve us wich was very nice of her but then she didnt get all the drinks she had asked for he then left again the staff are terrible they have no manners at all, the bar and restaurant share a simple item like a blender so someties you cant have some drinks because they havnt got the blender behind the bar because they are too lazy to fetch so cocktails go right out the window, also most of the bar staff dont even know how to make the cocktails that are on the menus they constantly had to call other parts of hotel to ask each other how to make absaloutly crazy, The entertainment staff work very hard especially louis he is an Awsome guy make sure you ask him about Columbus park its great if you mention Nigel 1 and Nigel 2 to him he should remember us. while on the subject of staff they are that great there that three members of staff got sacked while we were there!! Our Friend had a birthday whilst there and we were told he would have something nice arranged at the hotel my friends wife also emailed the hotel before we arrived to remind them and they did nothing. Also keep your eyes pealed lovely cockroaches near to restaurant or in your room its fantastic. weather was fantastic and there are some great trips to go on im glad to be home eating normal food in a clean environment my tummy feels much better already Oh yes how could I forget when we wanted to complain to manager guess what no where to be seen.

We have just returned from the Dominican, we stayed at the Tropical Casa Laguna Hotel. Having read reports before we went we have some reservations. when we arrived we were very pleasantly suprised, the check in was very efficient and we were quickly shown to our room. This was quite large and spacious, a double bed for us and a single for my 11year old son. The back balcony was overlooking the neighbours piece of land which was quite unkept, but the front terrace more than made up for that, we overlooked the main pool and the stage area, but could also see the bar area and the lower pool. We dropped our bags and went to explore, the pool and the gardens were kept immaculate at all times. We crossed the 'main road' easily but at times it can be busy and you do need to watch out for the motorbikes. The beach is lovely, the sellars do approach you on a regular basis but a polite 'no thankyou' and they move on. If you buy from them barter with them they ususally drop the price by 50%. The food at the hotel was OK, yes as others have said a bit repetative, but you are in another country and you can not expect home cooking, we went with a very open mind, took everything in our stride and had a fantastic holiday. The animation team are brilliant, very amusing and very firendly. Anyone going, please give Luis, Christopher, Wellington, Kenya, Ellie and Sexy Boy our Love - Phil, Judith & John. We also went on some of the trips- many available, we booked through Hurra Travel on the main street - cheaper than the reps. The rooms are cleaned every day and the maid are very pleaseant, people that did have small problems with rooms or air condiditoning units, the maintenence team were quick and effective to repair. We simply did not want to come home at the end of the 2 weeks, other families did though. It would not be everybody's cup of tea- but if you go to enjoy yourself - you will. We did not go out in the evenings but some of the younger couples did and had a ball by all accounts - coming back at 5am from the clubs. Talking to other holiday makers there were more people that had a good time than the few that did not enjoy the holiday. If anyone wasnt to know anything further or more photogaphs, please email me - I am more than happy to help if I can, I could write for ever, and would go back tomorrow. Thanks

when we arrived at the hotel we were pleasantly surprised as we had read a few reviews, and were not expecting much! But we were happy with what we got, plenty of space in the room for myself my husband and our son. there was a television that had plenty of chanels in english (including nickelodeon etc). The maids cleaned the room every day and changed linen and towels every day as well. The food was a lot better than we were expecting as well, it was ample and well cooked. But the best thing about this hotel is the staff, especially the animation team. They were WELLINGTON, SEXY BOY, LOUIS, KENYA, CHRISTOPHER AND ELLY, they were more like family than staff, and we were all extremely sad to go home, as were they. They provided us with the entertainment throughout the days and the evenings as well. Whatch your trainers with sexy boy though, hahahah, he told a friend of ours that he likedm his addidas trainers and he would never be able to afford any like them, so our friend gave them to him near the end of our holiday. A few days later we found out that he had been given a couple more pairs of trainers the same week, although we didnt mind because it was so funny, and they really do work hard for not a lot of pay. Oh yeah the friend that gave his trainers away was SCOTTISH TOO! We left them a few bits and bobs too including trainers, but sexy boy didnt get them. hahahha We booked a trip with Raymond on the beach to paradise island, and it is what it says, PARADISE. We had a great time and hope you do too, enjoy!

Upon arrival at the hotel, I had quite a shock. It is set back off the Caberete main road and looked initially like a bit of a hut. I was worried, but after walking through the little garden area, and seeing a glimpse of the sea and the beach, the worry subsided-the hotel was generally quite good looking. We checked in quite smoothly both the receptionist and the porter were lovely. Our room was nice, decent sized clean and bright. Our balcony was a good size but our view wasn't too good - we overlooked the front pool, and the back of cafe and a back road used by the locals. The buffet restaurant was ok, although repetitive - I was extremely ill off the foods there though, which is not suprising as there are a huge number of flies on the buffet food - be aware! The Mexican restaurant was nice though, and a welcome change. We ate at a couple of other restaurants along the beach which were lovely and would recommend doing so. Crossing the road, is quite an adventure not just for the road but for the number of street-sellers and women trying to braid your hair, this is the same with the beach - even when you are firm with them, they are really pushy and difficult to get rid of - after a few days, we avoided the beach and crossing the road just to keep away from these people!! We found though if you went out early morning/after 5pm you could happily walk around without being pestered!!! We made friends with the English owners of the dive school on site - they were lovely and really happy to chat to other English people!! Both pools on the beach side were nice, clean and not crowded. The front one is quite secluded and has a jacuzzi. We didn't really venture over the other side, however we did see the pools there and they looked great - a little more crowded but more family orientated. The only major problem was a tropical storm on one of our last days, it rained like I have never seen rain before! The pools overflowed, water was coming down the walls in our room. The ground floor rooms all flooded, including their toilets - you can imagine the mess!!! It then flooded the whole of the ground floor so you had to wade through the water to get anywhere in the hotel! However, within an hour of the storm stopping, everywhere was back to normal! You have to commend the staff! You wouldnt have known anything had happened - the people from the ground floor had been moved and everyone was back to enjoying their holiday! This holiday was the best beach holiday I have ever had - your hoiday is what YOU make it! The hotel is not fantastic but perfect for us besides you get what you pay for! x

I spent a week in Casa Laguna, Cabarete (21st March until 28th March) with my mother for my 30th birthday. It wasn't my first choice destination wise but we managed to get a good deal so went for it. After a very long flight from the UK (over 9 hours) we took a half hour drive and arrived at the hotel at about 8pm. As I expected from the previous reviewer, the road outside the hotel was very busy. Check in didn't take too long and we were taken to our room on the 3rd floor (the hotel is split into different apartment blocks). Our room was a good size with two large single beds pushed together, a fridge that had seen better days but worked and a tv. The bathroom was large and clean and a balcony. The balcony light didn't work this didn't bother us for the week and I'm sure if we'd told reception they would of got it fixed. My first night wasn't great due to the noise outside the hotel. Our room was situated very close to the main road and the traffic noise was quite bad especially the mopeds continously beeping. The next day we asked if we could move and we looked at another room on the 3rd floor in another apartment block at the back but this room and bathroom didn't compare to what we had. The room was so much smaller, very dark due to lack of windows, the balcony was smaller and there was a great big hole in the bathroom ceiling. We decided to stick with what we had and hoped things would get better noise wise. During the rest of our stay we had good and bad nights but my ear plugs definetly came in handy!! We were on the b&b basis and I'm glad we didn't go all inclusive. Breakfast was buffet style with cereals, fruits, ham, cheeses and various hot dishes (eggs, sausages, potatoes). Whilst the selection was okay both my mother and I were in the Bahamas in September of last year and couldn't help make comparisons including breakfast which was nowhere near as good a selection or quality as where we stayed in the Bahamas. You could have dinner on a reservation basis in the hotel or have a buffet dinner each night in the sister hotel across the road (The Tropical Beach Hotel). The buffet changed each night - Oriental, International. We ate here twice and wasn't impressed at all with the small selection. The rest of the week we ate at a few different places including Ocean Taste which is on the opposite side of the road from the Casa Laguna turning right. They have a large selection of seafood, meats and pastas but will generally cook you a meal of your choice. The food was very nice and the staff were great. They sang Happy Birthday to me whilst I was serenaded by two singers with guitars - Very sweet! Casa Laguna gardens and pool area are very nice and pretty to look at. Due to Easter alot of the excursions stopped towards the end of the week but for my 30th we went to Ocean World which is a park of animals including Dolphins, two Tigers, Sharks, Birds, Sea Lions and Stingrays. You can do several different "Experiences" but I did the "Sea Lion Experience" where you get to stroke and play with them which was great. Ocean World also has a man made beach which was great for a bit of relaxation. I was under the impression that Easter was very important to Dominicans and I don't mean to offend anyone, but to me it seemed just an excuse to party and make lots of noise either with music or tooting of mopeds until all hours of the morning. Whilst I appreciate it is important to many I didn't see the religious side of it at all!! Cabarete is definetly for the young and is very much a kite surfer, windsurfer kinda place and at times didn't feel very caribbean but we both had a nice time. The weather was fantastic, the people were lovely - especially the guys :¬) The major downside for me was the mosquitos - they absolutely love me so I had quite a few bites, with some looking quite horrible when they came up. Would I go back? - maybe one day. Would I stay at Casa Laguna again? - probably. Enjoy your holiday.

Well we have just returned from our holiday. We flew out on 16th Feb 2005 and returned 3rd March 2005. All I can say anybody planning to go to this hotel don't waste your money. We had read alot of reviews before we went, our travel agent would not change our accomodation to one which more suited us a family with 2 children aged 4 & 7 (Our daughter has an autistic spectrum disorder). So as you can imagine the reviews of this hotel and, very busy road to cross were stressing us out before we even left the UK, and they were spot on. On arival at the Casa Laguna they put us in a room up three flights of stairs, a box room I should call it, actually the truth is it looked like a prison cell, a small square window in the top right hand corner, a small double bed for me and my husband, and a single bed, (We had booked 2 adults and 2 children) no bed for my other child. We refused this room immediatly, and were told we would have to wait another 4 hours. We found the small restuarant but was not alllowed in because we had not booked. My heart sank I knew then that if I wanted to feed my children we would have to get them across that road to the restaurant. If I had thought about it would should of packed gas masks. A few steps out of the reception and there we all were standing by this road. My daughter was now tensing up and starting to panick, we had no alternative then to pick our children up and run, trying to dodge cars, truck,moped, anything and everything. By this point I wanted to burst into tears, but as a mother you need to keep it together in front of your children. We sat down at the nearest table we could find, I took my daughter to get some food, and my husband took my son, once we were all seated we began to eat what we had put on our plates, within 2 mins by daughter announced in a very loud voice " I'M NOT EATING THIS ITS DISGUSTING". On this occasion I had to agree with her, and we let swiftly. By midnight UK time they gave us another key to a different room, 1 double bed, and 1 single bed, could they not see I had two children, back to the reception, another half hour went past and they carried a baby's cot in for my son who was now asleep. He will be 5 in June and is not a small boy, we sent for the manager who did not know what to do, another hous passed and they carried a bed base in and a mattress with some sheets. I made the bed. We now all had beds but could not move around the room. We were exhausted and fell asleep. As you can gather from this we did not want to stay in this hotel any longer or even Caberete. It was not a suitable place or hotel for a family with young children. If you are going to the Domician Republic for surfing,kitesurfing, and you have no children then you could have a good time there, its a party place full of surfers. I have attached the view that greeted us in the morning when we woke and one of the pic of the road.

Me and my boyfriend stayed at the Casa Laguna resort for a week A/I on 24th January 2005. Unfourtunatly on our arrival it was raining very heavily which wasnt a very good welcome but were delighted with our room. It was very clean and spacious with a good selection of channels on the TV. The hotel had two good size pools, one with a swim up bar and another with a volleyball net. There was also a pool bar. The gardens surrounding the hotel were lovely and I agree with all of the other reviews that the Casa laguna side is much better than the Beach resort side. Yeah ok the Beach resort was on the 'beach' but it had a dirty look to it and did not seem to be as clean, there were also only 2 very small pools. The beach was average and wasnt as I expected. It wasn't very clean and now and again you would see dogs doing their business right on the beach-so I dont recommend sitting on the sand, use the sunbeds. The sea was beautiful and it was lovely to walk along the beach with the waves rolling in. My main hang up with the Hotel was the food. At first it was only me who did not like it but after two days my boyfriend agreed. It was the same every day and the only change was fish instead of chicken. Basically if you dont like rice or pasta then you will go hungry! Even the bread was stale! The best bar was Jose 'o' Shays, an irish bar located a few doors down from the Hotel. Served a range of drinks and great live music. We went on two trips during the week with 'Hurra travel' located on the main steet on Caberte. Highly recommended and much cheaper than booking the trip through you Rep as they WILL rip you off!!! The first trip we went on was to 'Paradise Island' and definitely lived up to its name. It was paradise, a beautiful small island surrounded by clear waters where you can snorkel and see all different tropical fish. You have time to sunbath and have a few drinks. The only hang up was the travelling as it took a long time to get there, around 3 hours!!! I recommend the next day you take it easy and make sure you dont book another trip for the following day. The second trip we went on was to 'Barcardi Island'. Again another beautiful Island but did not take as long to get there. This was another relaxing trip where you can swim in the sea and even go Whale watching for a small extra cost. Beware you get MANY people trying to sell things to you on the beach (hats/jewellery/hair braiding/music), anything they can sell they will. This did get quite annoying after about 3 hours as they dont take no as an answer!!! I dont recommend hiring the mopeds or cars over there as the roads are a nightmare! Very bumpy and not very safe, they dont understand the concept of driving slowly so be careful when crossing the main road to get over to the Beach Resort as they will not stop for you! Overall a brilliant holiday with some great memories and would recommend the Casa Laguna Resort. I hope this review provides you with an idea of what it will be like.

Got back on 24 Jan 2005 after 14 days all inclusive at the Beach Resort. Weather generally showery but with 3 days of almost continual rain balanced with 4 days of almost continual sunshine. Have previously stayed in large 4* hotel in the sheltered environment of Playa Dorada, near Puerto Plata, and therefore have some experience of what to expect in the Dominican Republic. Our Casa Laguna Beach Resort room was on the second floor with a magnificent view of the beach and ocean. (The downside was that we had to sleep with ear plugs as otherwise the noise of the waves, coupled with the nearby main street, disturbed our sleep). However this was a small price for having a spotlessly clean room and very good towel,sheet and room maintenance/cleaning services. When it rains the hotel has very limited facilities inside and there is no place for people to gather. You even have to got outside to the bar and get wet to get a drink. However the bedroom TV had a good selection of programmes. The food in the buffet restaurant was of an acceptable standard, but nothing special, and the alternative of the alternating mexican/italian, was not significantly different and unfortunately also became buffet style when we arrived at the hotel. Overall very good value for money. My main concern was that I foolishly trusted a beach seller of day trips/tours called Raymond (always wears a dark shirt and long trousers and tried to look smarter than the average seller of jewellry etc). I and another couple gave him money for a trip. First the trip was postponed because of the bad weather and on the revised date no coach came to collect us and surprise surprise we did not see Raymond in the following 3 days before we had to fly home. He therefore owes us some money which I hope to collect next year on my return to Caberette!!! If you see him please remind him.

We stayed in the hotel for one week only. You don't have to expect too much from the hotel but all the things you need are there. The beach is not far away and at the pool is not over crowded. The food is not bad at all, especially the things they make in the restaurant. To conclude, we were satisfied about the hotel.