Casa Marina Beach Hotel

My boyfriend and I booked this vacation, extremely last minute for my birthday. Since both of us had never been to d.r. before we were extremely nervous assuming we'd be staying at a motel 6-like dwelling. But we were absolutely shocked, casa marina is absoutely beautiful and quite spread out, and the staff was eceptionally friendly. There are lots of activities to join if thats your thing....and of course the beach....it is very clean and found that there were always plenty of beach chairs availible at all times(I've been to other resorts where you almost had to fight for a single chair!) The restaurant buffets always had lots to offer, and food was always fresh, and drinks at the bars were always refeshing and not overly spiked. My only complaint is the moment you get to the hotel make reservations for the a la carte restaurants, they book up really quickly, and my boyfriend and I were only able to get reservations for one evening(we stayed at the resort 4 days!!!) Also if you do wish to go on any excursions do it outside the hotel. My bf made his reservation thru the hotel for a deep sea fishing trip and paid $60, and I (the typical NY bargain hunter!) went just outside the hotel gates (literally just a few feet away) and paid $40 for the same trip...however when it comes to souvenirs the hotel gift shop has the best prices overall....I found that we overpaid dearly by buying from the local vendors!!! Overall casa marina beach and reef was one of the best vacations I've been on, and definitely one of the best values going (we stayed may 9th-may 12 @ $521 p.p. incl airfair,transfers) there isn't a deal like that going anywhere, and believe me I've checked! As a matter of fact my bf is going back in august and i'm going back in october..

this was the best holiday i have ever been on, i went with my mum and dad and my best friend we all thought it was great the two hotels were clean and there was lots to do the food was great but im quite picky so i didnt like it as much as everyone else. the best thing was the staff me and my best mate made friends with all da staff they are loverly and welcome you straight away we made great friends with paddy and antonia they are great and very funny. If you are having trouble trying to decide what hotel to go to i would definatly recmmend you to go to the casa marina reef or beach they are both wonderful. hope you have a great time when you go!

My boyfriend and I just came back from vacation on July 7... and we had a wonderful time. The hotel was clean (only one minor problem with leaking). The staff were always friendly and helpful... The entertainment and food was always great!!.. They made sure that we were feed well... We had an amazing time and will definetly visit again in the near future

We just got back from a week long vacation at what I would call the most holliday-like reasonably-priced place in the world! We paid $630/person for a 6 night all inclusive package, including roundtrip airfare from Baltimore and hotel-airport transportation. For this much money, we were hoping to get at least a decent place, but we got a lot more than expected.First of all, getting through customs was a breeze. A hotel shuttle waited for us right outside the airport and promptly took us to the hotel, where we barely had time for the welcome drink while being checked in. We were at the beach in no more than 10 minutes after arrival!The beach is perfect. It is surrounded by natural reefs on both sides, so it is only accessible through the hotel. There is not a single sea shell ot a piece of stone on the sand or in the water - the sand is smooth like salt and the water is perfectly clean. There aren't many trash cans at all near the beach, but hotel employees constantly go around picking up empty cups and anything else. The beach is extremely clean, so is the bottom of the ocean.There is something for every guest - beautifully decorated swimming pools, seats under the palm trees, even hamacs hanging under the trees...We like the sand on the beach the most!There are three restaurants in addition to the free buffet. Every guest gets a free dinner at each restaurant, but you need to make reservations. They are fabulous, especially the seafood one, located right on the beach itself. The food was also perfect - lots of it, great taste and variety, any time. Free drinks, of course...great variety again.We ventured out into the town every night and we met with some very nice local people. We spent the most time at a bar, called Meringue - the staff there was really friendly and the bar is in the open. We got two beers and a coffee one night for what is $2.As soon as I found out about the massage place, I started getting one every day. The best and cheapest massage I have ever had! For $10 you get over 1 hr of very good massage with oil. The place is in the hotel and you need to make reservations, as there are a lot of customers.I did get my hair braided, but following advice from this site, I got that done at the hotel salon. Much more expensive - I got a haircut and braids for $50 - but they did a fantastic job and completely safe - no oils or glue, as you may get on the street.The only negatives that I experienced, were getting water from staff at the buffet. If you want something, go get it yourself...you will wait forever otherwise.Don't overcomplicate your sentences in English...chances are they don't understand you anyway. Keep talking really simple and down to the basic words. I speak Spanish, so I didn't have a problem with this...but I saw people who did.The maids don't knock on the door before entering to clean the room.The umbrellas aren't free, but they are only $2. If you are going to lunch, leave your towels on the chairs to reserve your umbrella (opposite to what the instructions tell you, this actually works great).The banana boat - if you get on it, ask that you are not flipped over in deep water (unless you want to be). They pull the banana very fast and always drop you in the water...then the boat returns and picks you up. That didn't look very safe to me.Do some free snorkeling, just make sure they disinfect the snorkles before you get them.Do not give in to the high pressure selling - I come originally from Eastern Europe, so I have an experience with high pressure anything ...and yet...it was tough. They are really aggressive and always start the prices really high. Then they tell you that they are "cheepy willy" and that you "always get the cheepest from cheepy willy" and that you look like their sister! They love this one. I am Slavic - blonde with light skin, and yet I somehow looked like all their sisters!!!Be firm when you say no.Don't let people on the street braid your hair.Have fun!It was the best vacation ever ever!

What a beautiful property. The hammocks, beach, cool spas were all wonderful. The service staff for the most part was ok, Francisca was a dimond in the ruff. Truely relaxing environment during the day. I would suggest staying in rooms toward the back of the property. The end rooms are quite loud and the noise goes on past 2am, even though the free bars close at 11pm.The food left much to be desired. Everything was over cooked and bland, with the exception of breakfast...fresh omletts were wonderful. The dinner menu is at best two star. It is worth the $7 taxi ride to Cabarette to eat on the beach each night.

My boyfriend and I took our first vacation in the DR May 4-May 9, 2003. We thought the for a 3star hotel it was great! Food was good, people were friendly. I love their Casa Marina Song. Really wished that I have a copy of it. There's enough to do around the tow hotels that you really don't need the excursions.We did try out two excursions. The fun-bike thing at Mel-Tours and Paradise Island (with the guys wearing yellow shirt by the pool-table area). Paradise Island was great, only because I have never been snorkling before. Feeding the fishes bread was awesome. I don't know how to swim but there was still plenty to see in shallow water. However, we did find better ways to enjoy snorkling at half the cost or none. Down at the public beach, you can rent life jacket and fins for about 100pesos per hour. Swim out about 50 meter from shore and look down and enjoy. If you look close to the surface of the water you'll see some cute needlenosed fishes. These fishes love bread or bananas (Bananas are easier to carry and they last longer). On another day we signed out the equipment from the Aqua Center at the hotel and snorkled around the Casa Marina beach area. Here you can see some schools of fishes as well. We couldn't swim out too far because the waters were too choppy. So if you can't swim very well, use the life jacket when snorkling!!!

this was me and my girlfriend's first vacation and we had a great time.... many comments in these reviews does provide a accurate account for my actual stay at the hotel. keep in mind that this is a 3-4 star hotel. everything is basic, only soap is provided, the tv does not have a remote. the room is clean and the maid does a good job in straightening up everything. we found that the best a la carte restaurant was the seafood restaurant called seascape...because of two dishes, the calamari and the shrimp with champagne sauce (cost around 7-8 US dollars), the next was the mexican, and the italian wasn't great. remember to book the restaurant immediately as many tourist we encounter could not get reservations because they have delayed. we found the buffet at the reef to be less festive and quiet, and the beach buffet to be more fun. the food gets repetitive after a while. sure, they have different themes like BBQ, Mexican, etc. but basically everything is the same but made slightly differently. There's a snack time at the seascape restaurant i think from 11-4. they make different, and in my opinion better food. one afternoon they served battered fried chicken wings...it was delicious. make sure to check that out. we were also adventurous people as we trusted other tourist's reviews to go out on town and book excursions through mel's tour. he's also a good place to get currency exchange compared to the hotel. they have two offices off the entrances of both beach and reef hotel. mel's office is actually in the beach side. he is a very animated person and very friendly. we actually haggled and received better deals on the excursions we went on (even though mel already offers the lowest price) because we came in with a group of 6. the excursions are safe and definitely fun. we went on the funny bike tour where we drove around the city and countryside in ATV bikes. you get to ride your own or ride with someone. you get to visit countryside, a river to swim in, a different beach. one really important thing here's sand, dirt, and dust flying everywhere...we were lucky to bring our swimming googles that kept the dust away from our eyes...it wasn't pretty...everyone else had fun but this was definitely a big complaint.... if you go to this trip dont bring more than 30-50 peso. the next day we went on the jeep safari tour...there we visited 7 levels of waterfall...it was a beautiful site...the waterfalls aren't exactly big...but it was still fun...we slid and slide on this trip and also jumped the waterfall...it was so fun. my girlfriend and i didn't know how to swim well, but it was ok cause they have people to swim you across...you then visit a clay rock craft factory, and later a part of a village. they have opportunity to buy things but....THIS WAS THE ONLY COMPLAINT WE HAD ABOUT THE WHOLE TRIP...THE DOMINICANS ARE POOR AND THEY TRY REALLY HARD TO GET YOU TO BUY THINGS...WE THOUGHT WE GOT GOOD PRICES FOR THE ITEMS WE BOUGHT...BUT BE SURE TO GO TO THE HOTEL'S SOUVENIEUR SHOP TO CHECK ON PRICES...WE FOUND THAT WE PAID UP TO 100-300% MORE THAN WE SHOULD'VE...MEL LATER TOLD US THAT YOU NEVER BUY FROM VENDORS THAT DOESN'T NOT HAVE PRICE TAG...THEY START OFF HIGH AND THEN YOU THINK YOU GET A DISCOUNT...BUT YOU FIND THAT YOU GOT RIPPED OFF...BE SURE TO HAVE A REFERENCE ON THE PRICES BY CHECKING WITH THE HOTEL'S SHOP...DONT LET THEM TRICK YOU...if anything dont buy from these vendors...we did the snorkeling trip...through the hotel...the price went up from 15 to 20....i talk to the hefter dude with a mustache and a gap in the middle of his teeth and got him to drop the price 5 dollars...the banana boat was fun...the peddle boat was the worst....dont let the wave pulll you away or else you'll be out there in the ocean for awhile...this was a great vacation lots of activities if you go to these excursions...lots of fun...dont expect luxury...be smart...be safe

I noticed that Americans tend to give much worse reviews than the Canadians...what's with that? I went with 4 friends to Casa Marina and it was the best vacation EVER!!! The food was great, there were no problems with the room, the staff were awesome (It's like Dirty Dancing, except the staff are actually ENCOURAGED to fraternize with guests, so it seemed), the shows were good, there were lots of pools, and the beach was so much fun. There were mostly young (20 somethings) people there, so the "Discotequa" was very happening. You can walk to the public beach and there is a great market to walk through. YOu get full cable in the rooms so you can still watch Hockey AND survivor (we were there during hockey playoffs and last week of survivor), the drinks were awesome (RON PUNCH!!!!) and I would definitely recommend this place to anyone wishing to go on a cheap all-inclusive vacation. It's totally affordable for students who are just graduating (if you save up!) Warning: If you dislike the song "Tribal Dance" from 1993 by 2 Unlimited, do not attend this resort. The animation team LOVES this song!!!!

My boyfriend and I stayed here and f you want an amazing vacation definately consider Casa Marina. We are both in our 20's and found that there were many people our age as well as older. It is like staying at two hotels because you can use the facilities of both the beach and reef hotel. Stay at whatever one is cheaper because it makes no difference, you can eat at all the restaurants and use the pools at both. We enjoyed the food more at the Reef hotel and contrary to what most people said the food is not that bad (and I am kinda picky) Definately book reservations for the a la carte dinners they are a nice change of food. We went on a day trip Jeep Saffari, definately a must to go and see the gorgeous waterfalls,but make sure you are up for a little activity as it involves some climbing. Also don't pay more than $30 US, we booked it at the hotel but found that by going on the streets there were some companies that offered it for less, around $23 US. Also I suggest doing a 1/2 day trip cause the one we did was a full day and we ended up only spending a 1/2 day at the waterfalls and then they just took us around to various stores to buy things and it was kind of annoying. Also don't fret if it dosen't include lunch cause the lunch is a little questionable anyway. We spent most of time at the resort, try the snorkelling-there is a reef not far out in the ocean that has some amazing fish to see (remember to bring some bread to attract the fish). We had the chance to check some of the other resorts and found that the resorts locatd in the Playa Dorada complex seemed more crowded and some aren't on the beach. The reason we liked Casa Marina so much was because it was not too crowded-there are lots of places to chill and tan-it was fairly low key but definaelty not boring. I would recommend this resort.

We arrived on March 27th to Casa Marina and had NO RUNNING WATER. Throughout our 5 night stay , it was a gamble as to whether we had running water or not. We never knew whther we would be able to shower, brush our teeth, or flush the toilet. The weather was perfect, beach was beautiful, food was okay, staff was friendly, room was standard. We would not return to this resort, nor would we recommend it to anyone else who is used to the normal standards of living.