Secrets Excellence Punta Cana All Inclusive

By Bill Andrson from New York • Honeymoon Paradise

Overall Rating: 10   Location [10] • Room [10] • Service [10] • Value [10]

Service (not digging for tips although they never hurt), and amenities

Very romantic, romantic, romantic!

The service is excellent, the food is very good (but better if you ask for what you want specifically, they will go all out for you), the views are beautiful. Although the "been there done that" look of the Caribbean resorts is present, special touches such as flowers and aromatic candles in the room make a difference.

Well worth the money, full relax, fun, and romantic, romantic, romantic!
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By All-Caribbean User from Philadelphia, PA • Excellente!

Overall Rating: 10   Location [10] • Room [10] • Service [10] • Value [10]

We spent eight days at Secrets from 12/24/05 to 01/01/06 for our honeymoon and it was absolutely perfect. We loved spending Christmas there -- they put on a huge show -- the entertainment is great -- and New Year's was even more spectacular. The weather was incredible, the people and employees are wonderful and friendly (if you can speak only a little Spanish they are very receptive!) We also used the spa a lot which was very reasonably priced and of superior quality. The massages were wonderful -- better than we've ever had in here in Philadelphia. The beach was incredible, food was great, we can't say enough good things. It was expensive but well worth the money. The only thing that I would definetly suggest NOT doing would be going "shopping" in Altos de Chavon, a faux Tuscan village made for tourists. It's across the island, and they take you in a small bus, through HORRIBLE roads (way worse than we've encountered in Jamaica). It's overpriced and not worth the carsickness. Anyway, just be wary of the trips the tour operators try to sell you, you may be happier staying at the resort!
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By All-Caribbean User from Centerville OH • Good Value-Good Trip

Overall Rating: 8   Location [8] • Room [10] • Service [10] • Value [10]

We stayed at Secrets from 6/28-7/5. We went with 2 other couples and had a blast. A few negatives/advice. My husband and I booked an oceanfront which ended up being an ocean view (more Apple vac. fault, I think) We looked over the swim up pool bar and though were upset at first, it proved to be nice since we spent most of our time there. Next time I would probably save money and stay in a 1st or 2nd pool view room. Book the horseback-riding asap- it fills up! Some of us do still have some GI problems. Though the food was great in the restaurants (Seafood was good) and we drank only water from bottles, perhaps they wash the lettuce/fruit with tap water. The rooms are great (bed a bit firm though), plenty of activities all day. The staff really goes out of there way- We loved Dionel (at swim up bar), Martin (mainly beach bar), Sandra and Luciano (he does some of the activites). We relearned a lot of Spanish from them. Though it says you don't need to tip we still found ourselves tipping our favorite ones (especially after some drinks) They don't make much there- you'll see the poverty on the drive in. And they appreciate it so much! We took the Con Tiki tour- not really worth it. The Apple rep said it was a 45 min drive- but was 1 hr. 10 mins. We hated to drink too much on the boat knowing we had an hour+ bumpy drive back. Overall we had a great week and would recommend Secrets!! We have stayed at Sandals and while we loved it- Secrets is a great value!
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By All-Caribbean User from Chicago • Secrets is the place for if you want to be pampered

Overall Rating: 10   

We just returned from Secrets for our Honeymoon and i miss it terribly. The Resort was beautiful, clean, friendly, and FUN! The night club had theme parties like toga-night or pajama party. We even watched the Tyson fight. The staff really knows how to take care of their guests. Everyday our bed was turned and we would have red flowers scattered in the room. We have been to all-inclusives before and worried about the quality of the food at first, but Secrets ended up having wonderful gourmet dishes! And with seven restuarants, it was hard to get tired of the food. And with 24 hour service, we shamely found ourselves eating 5 meals a day! But with a good size gym, we were able to work off the food. We had a junior swimout suite on building 1 which we highly recommend. It was a treat to be able to jump in and out of the lagoon pool anytime we wanted. Best of all would have to be the honeymoon package. I compared this resort to others and you just cannot beat the special treatment you receive at Secrets. We are planning to return to this lovely resort. Just one advice....DO NOT PLAY CARRIBEAN KENOon your credit card in the casino....there is a 16% tax
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By All-Caribbean User from Boston, MA • Absolutely Beautiful Hotel

Overall Rating: 10   Location [10] • Room [10] • Service [10] • Value [8]

My boyfriend and I went to Secrets April 2nd-9th. We had an amazing time. The hotel is beautiful, and the grounds are just as nice. We had a room with a garden view. It was pretty, but we would have liked an ocean or pool view. Service was amazing. You dont get that kind of service at a nice restraunt in Boston paying over $100.00 a meal. The food was pretty good at most of the restraunts, and our favorite was Quisqeya (sp). The chateau-briand was delicious. The least favorite of ours was the Italian one. The food was not bad, just very bland and boring.

The ride from the airport was an hour or so, and bumpy and hot. Not too bad though. You get to see the real Dominican not just the beauty of the resort. I thought that Boston drivers are carzy, wait till you ride with these drivers.

The majority if the people there were couples over 40. My boyfriend and I are 31 and 24, and the disco they have there was quite cheesey for us, but the other guests seemed to have a good time. There is nightly entertainment in the main lobby, and we only caught one performance while we were there, a magic show, which was actually pretty good.

One bad thing I will mention is that we are beer drinkers and they only had Presidente beer in most bars with the exception of the lobby bar which had bud light most of the time. But Jose, the bartender at the lobby bar made us laugh all nite. You have to go see him. He is always saying "Happy Birthday" to anyone who orders a drink, and he is always smiling and attentive. he was our favortie staff memember. All the bartenders at the lobby bar were excellent.

Rooms were amazing! Super clean and beautiful. There is a turn down servce which is just beautiful. They put rose petals on your sink, and chocolates on your pillows. Like everyone else is saying, the beds are a bit hard, but not unbearable.

As far as the ocean, it is a bit rough, but our favorite thing to do while we were there was to body surf. The waves are perfect for it! There were alot of people who were doing it, so even though they have the red flags up that mean no swimming b/c of the rough surf, it is not forbidden and we had a great time. For the watersports you have to go to a nearby resort b/c of the rough water, and we went parasailing. Not worth the $120.00 we paid. We also went on an excursion to Saona Island, where they filmed the movie Blue Lagoon. That place was so pretty, those crystal blue calm waters were relaxing. Good time, they take you over on a catamaran, and back on a speed boat, and then you stop in the middle of the ocean at a "natural pool" where the water is only about 3 feet deep. The ride was very long out there, that was the only bad part. It took us about 1 hour 30 minutes to get to the catamaran, and then another 45 to get to the island.

We had an amazing time, it was so romantic and every room is like a honeymoon suite. The rooms, I think, are my favorite part of our trip.

They have a list of daily activities in the main lobby, and they last throughout the day until 10pm. The hotel at night was even more beautiful under the moonlight.

We will definitely be going back there in the future. I would recommend it to a11 couples, of all ages. You wont be dissapointed.
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By All-Caribbean User from Indianapolis, Indiana • maretch@sbcglobal.net

Overall Rating: 10   Location [8] • Room [10] • Service [10] • Value [10]

	Exclusive feel, Excellent staff, Excellent Food
	None

We were at Secrets in April 2005 for our 10 year anniversary. This was our first trip to the Dominican and we will be back.

The resort is spotless, the staff is extremely friendly, the pools are nice and the restaurants are EXCELLENT.

If your considering going to Secrets one word sums it - GO!

E-mail me for pics/additional questions if you'd like.
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By A.C. from New Jersey • Great vacation

Overall Rating: 10   Location [8] • Room [10] • Service [10] • Value [10]

	Very relaxing
	none

We were at Secrets from Feb 2 until Feb 8, 2005. Excellent vacation. Very pretty, well-kept resort. Everything was in good condition. Beautiful beach. Great if you like to walk on a wide,clean, white sandy beach for a long time without a lot of other resorts nearby. Food at all restaurants was either very good, or excellent. Adults only, therefore a calm, relaxed crowd.
Staff was very friendly and accomodating. Tips of 1-2 dollars was very helpful and appreciated, but certainly not expected.
Don't go here if you need a lot of evening entertainment. The beach was great, but the water was rough (and you were not allowed to go in) It appeared that the red caution flags were permanantly up.
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By Melissa from St. Louis, MO • I tell EVERYONE about Secrets!

Overall Rating: 10   Location [6] • Room [10] • Service [10] • Value [10]

	privacy
	none

The people were very friendly. The food was excellent. There were so many choices and if you didn't want to leave your room, room service was available 24 hours. The employees were friendly and you never had to worry about a language barrier. Also, the nightly entertainment was amaxing.
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By Mark from NY, NY • Not for wine drinkers

Overall Rating: 8   Location [8] • Room [10] • Service [10] • Value [8]

	Well managed, well trained staff, very good food
	none

Beautiful property, no kids allowed, very quiet and relaxing, nice clientele, very good food in the seven restuarants, good staff. BUT, considering they provide premium brands of alcohol like Johnny Walker Black and Stolichnya in the all-inclusive, the house wines are Concha y Toro and Reuinte, which, if you mainly drink wine, are low end, not anywhere near premium. You can buy better wine, but then why go to a high end all-inclusive?
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By DF from Cuyahoga Falls, OH • Very Nice!

Overall Rating: 8   

Our original resort was over booked and we were asked to upgrade to Secrets Excellence, at no additional cost to us. We found Secrets to be one of the most relaxing places on earth. The resort was amazing. We loved our vacation there. There were a couple of things we were not impressed with. The service in the restaurants and bars was not top of the line and the shows were poor. However, it is still a very nice place and if you are into relaxation this is the place to be!
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By Sherry from Cincinnati • Just got back

Overall Rating: 10   

The most beautiful friendly place I have ever been. The service was excellent. The weather was beautiful. More tropical than the Bahamas. The food and drinks were top of the line and I hope to go back again!
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