My hotel was the Casa
Marina Reef, which was linked to the Casa Marina Beach Hotel. Basically
they are the same complex, so book whichever one you like, my preference
would be for the Reef. The hotels have 2 buffet restaurants and 3 A
La Carte restaurants (Italian - Luigi, Sea food - Sea Escape and Mexican
- Jalapeno). Reception give you a book of vouchers for each week you
are staying and you can make reservations for these restaurants any
day between 09:30 and 11:00. I found the the Italian and Mexican the
best, even though I love sea food.
The entertainment's team were all very friendly and pretty good at getting
people involved. At night from 21:30 for an hour there was a good show
put on in the Amphitheater (Reef side), mostly dancing and miming but
sometimes to live music. For the 2 weeks I was at the hotel, there was
a different show on each night. (Latino, Pirate, Broadway, Dominican,
Hollywood, Tropical Cocktail etc.)
A word of caution though, when it rains, there are few places to go
to shelter from it and not a great deal to do - except drink!
Despite some bad press from time to time about
these hotels, I would recommend them, bearing in mind they are 3 Star
only.
Most of the UK travel companies will have you believe that all the hotels
in the Dominican are All Inclusive, however, it is possible to get very
cheap accommodation via the www and just get flights to the island.
A word of warning though, to eat out may seem cheap, but most places
add on the tax 16%, then service charge - you could pay 25% more than
the listed price!
You will find the people mostly very friendly, but be prepared to be
hassled quite a bit whenever there is something to be sold and that
can include market stalls being set up in the hotels just by the restaurants!
