Stayed at the Casa Marina Beach and Reef Resort the second week of July. Was a little worried about it being hurricane season, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous the whole week and we had a green flag ( calm seas) the whole week. We were given two rooms overlooking the pool, even thouigh we paid for the cheapest category possible (gardenview). It was only $10 more per person total to have the second room because we were travelling with two teenagers. Well worth the $40 to have our own room and they were given the room next to ours. Rooms are basic, but everything seem to be in working order and no bugs. The bathroom plugged up once (bad plumbing) but maintenance came within 20 minutes of calling them. Food was good (if your looking for fine dining, this is not the place) and the 3 a la cartes were average. They have a snack bar open from 12 to 4 which offers hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken wings, fries and pizza if your kids want some American fare. They have 2 large pools (reef and beach) reef has the activities during the day and beach is quiet. We were overlooking pthe beach side pool. There is also one smaller pool which is only 4 feet deep. The bars don't open until 10 AM, so until then you can only get juice, milk coffee or water and there was no pool bar and no bar close to the rooms. Everything seems to be located near the beach. The grounds were immaculate. There were always people cleaning, mowing, cleaning pool, etc. Everyone seemed pretty friendly and rooms were cleaned daily, although sometimes not until 6 pm. They let vendors in 3 times during the week around dinner down. It is impossible to avoid them. You need to really haggle with them, because they will try and make you think they do not make commission, but if you check the gift shop (which has many of the similar items) you will see that the vendors will start at double or triple what the item is worth. So don't think you are being cheap. As far as tours were concerned, we booked with Linda of Mel Tours (down the street from the hotel) and she offered the same tours as the reps at the hotel at about 1/2 the price. She really cares for her clients and made sure all of us had a good time. The travel tour rep will try and make you think you have to book with him, but this is simply not true. We also felt very safe walking in Sosua during the day with our kids, just be aware that the locals all want you to go in there store to buy things. Be firm and say no because if you say later, they will remember you and harrass you. Finally, if you keep an open mind ( you are on holidays after all), for the price, this hotel is good for families.

I just got back from vacation 2 weeks ago and wasn't going to write a review but after seeing some of the bad comments being made I decided to write one. I went there with my girlfriend, 2 brothers, sister, 2 cousins, and 2 aunts. We did not want to come back. FOOD The food there was GREAT and I am shocked to find that anyone would say otherwise. Some of the food was repetetive if you're planning on staying there for more than a week, but as far as taste goes, it tasted great. We couldn't stop talking about how good the food was there. They have options for vegetarians, meat eaters (myself), a good variety of deserts (try the flan). This was the best thing about the resort. STAFF The staff was very friendly, always trying to get everyone involved in the daily activities that they have going on. We did not encounter one single staff member that was not friendly they were all interacting with the guest throughout our stay there. ROOMS We had an oceanview room and the view was amazing. The rooms were very clean especially the bathroom. The TV reception was a little poor but who goes on vacation to watch TV. The air conditioner worked great, but you can't leave it on while you're not in the room since it requires you leaving your room key inside a card holder when you enter the room in order for the electricity to turn on. We had one issue with the toilet where it stopped flushing because the chain inside the tank came off (it's happened at home too) so we let the front desk know and they fixed it immediately. RESORT The resort is very beautiful and is kept very clean. I see the staff cleaning from at least 6AM every morning and again cleaning after 10PM. We were pleasntly surprise without great the resort looks from the inside. From the outside we were a little concerned when we first saw it because it looked to be a lot smaller than we expected, but once you get inside it is beautiful. ENTERTAINMENT They had nightly shows at the theater which were very entertaining. The multiple daily activities that they have going on (volleyball, water polo, shuffle board, other contest) were very entertaining especially if you participate. The game room was disappointing they have just pool tables (very old), and a few other games. OUTSIDE RESORT This is my only complain. The merchant would consistently hassle you every time you walk a couple of blocks from the resort. Some were worse than others. They wouldn't become nasty with you but it's the constant asking you to go in their stores that will get to you. As you walk further away from the resort it did become less of a problem, it's just the 2 or 3 block radius near the resorts that are the problem but once you continue to walk away from the resort and more towards the area where the restaurants are at it becomes less of a problem or not a problem at all. I was originally born in Dominican Republic so I know spanish and I was able to defend myself but if you don't know spanish it could be a big hassle dealing with the merchants. My advice to you is don't go in the shops near the resort because not only will they harrass you but they will try and sell you things at 3 times the amount they're really worth, but they will drop their prices pretty quickly if you bargain with them. Also all the shops sell exactly the same thing so if you don't find what you want in one of them, then you won't find it in the others. Overall we had a great time and did not want to come back, me and my girlfriend are going back in November and are once again staying at Casa Marina.

right i will get the bad stuff out the way,i can recomend booking your days out through your rep we only booked one trip through the people in the hotel and it was awful,deep sea fishing it was a joke the transport was filthy and the boat was a wreck everyone got sea sick they were a proper cowboy outfit.food,takes a bit of getting used to but its not that bad,use your tickets at the a la carte they are very good,try the steak its the best i have ever had.dominican people,the hotel staff are very nice the ladies who clean the rooms work hard and if you are going to tip anyone tip these they deserve it.but when you leave the hotel everyone is after a tip or trying to sell you something well over what its worth,i will give you an example someone tryed selling me a football for 50 dollars that is for sale in the on site shop for 3 dollars ha,they get very pushy when you dont buy i can only recomend ignoring them when you are out the hotel.right everthing else was awesome trips we did that i can really recomend are,swimming with dolphins[ocean world its a good day even if you dont swim with dolphins],river rafting was really good,monster truck safari was a long enjoyable day.but the best experience for me was the on site diving school.i have never dived before and all i can say is absoulotly brilliant the staff at the diving place are a decent bunch really helpful.i found the whole experince at the hotel briliant really relaxing,i would definatly go back to this hotel i could carry on writing for hours about all the goo things we did.