We visited Dominican Republic and we had a great holiday in paradise. We stayed at the Caribe Delux Princess hotel in Punta Cana and I want to share our experience from the 5-star hotel we chose. This is a perfect place for your next beach holiday to relax and enjoy the beautiful white sands and palm trees. The hotel offers spacious rooms, excellent food, great service, beautiful wide sandy beach, well maintained hotel grounds and a range of activities to choose from to complete your holiday.
Deluxe Princess: Beach front location Sandy beach with palm trees Village-style hotel 5-star hotel in Bavaro, Punta Cana is recently renovated. The hotel is very close to Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ), meaning a short transfer time.
The Hotel
The hotel estate is huge! There are two main areas – reception area with the amphitheater, coffee house, ice-cream parlour, some restaurants, a church, 24/7 bar with food, mini market etc. and the main area of the hotel where the villas, swimming pool, beach, lake, main restaurant and bars are.
The two areas are separated by a massive mangrove which makes for a lovely walk. During the day you can wander around and admire the plants and animals. We saw a lot of iguanas, turtles and variety of birds in their natural habitat. They even had flamingos!
If you feel lazy like us on most days, you can use the hotel shuttle bus to go from one point to another. It’s super convenient to hop on and hop off at your desired place. The shuttle bus comes very often and we never waited more than 8-9 minutes.
The Lobby
The reception and lobby area are spacious, open, beautifully decorated and with comfortable furniture. The check-in experience was smooth and straight forward. We were were given a map of the hotel and our all inclusive bracelets which were also the keys to the room. How smart is that!?! Arriving late at night we were impressed to see so many people were in the lobby area. Later we realised this is the main place to hang around in the evening after the evening entertainment.
Reception staff were friendly and happy to answer any questions. Next to reception is the Guest Relations team who helped us with all reservations. If you booked a package holiday, next to reception is an area where you will find your TUI Rep or other agency representatives and information boards.
Room Overview
The hotel offers 355 rooms to choose from including honeymoon and executive suites, Caribe Deluxe rooms and suites. We went for the standard Caribe Deluxe room. The the room was spacious and with lots of day light coming through. We had a king size bed and a sofa in the room. The sofa was extendable, so technically could accommodate more people. I found the bed to be comfortable.
We had all the usual and necessary things in the room to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable. The room was beautifully decorated and featured a 50′ smart TV. In addition, the room had AC, hairdryer, mini bar, safe box and coffee making facilities. There was plenty of storage with multiple chest of drawers and spacious wardrobe with shelves and hangers. Iron, ironing board and an umbrella were also provided.
The bathroom area was different than most hotels we have been to. As you enter the room, you have a large mirror with two sinks in an open space, separate shower area with rainfall shower and hand held shower and a separate toilet.
Standard toiletries were provided – soap, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and shower cap. We found that these weren’t always replenished, however if you asked someone they were happy to give you more.
Towels were changed on a regular basis, as a whole were really impressed of the level of cleanliness throughout the hotel and the room was no exception – the floor was mopped daily and it always smelled of bleach giving us reassurance that the areas were properly cleaned.
Food and Drinks
One of the reasons we liked the village hotel is because you get a lot of restaurants and bars scattered across the hotel grounds with plenty of options to choose from. This hotel didn’t disappoint us with the food and drinks places and we were spoiled for choice
The hotel offers 9 restaurants in total to choose from. This includes: Main buffet restaurant, Beach Club Snack, A la carte restaurants: Italian Tex Mex Asian/Teppanyaki, Brazilian, Dominican Special a la carte restaurants which are only available to platinum members (charged extra). In addition, there is an ice-cream parlour and a coffee house. Caribe Delux Princess is an all inclusive hotel and i was very impressed with the choices available.
Food Market (main buffet)
This is the main restaurant where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served. There is plenty of seating area to choose from. The main buffet area is air conditioned, however the seating area is open plan and ventilated with ceiling ventilators. You will find a great selection of salads, hot and cold foods, bread and pastries and desserts here. In the morning, there are special sections for eggs and omelette and freshly squeezed juices.
For lunch and dinner you will find different areas to choose from including fish section, meat section, freshly made pizza and pasta zone, desserts area with crepes and ice-cream. These are in addition to the buffet area and are great! Overall the food was fresh and tasty and we really enjoyed it. Some of the highlights include the perfectly cooked pork chops and beef roasts, grilled fish and seafood selection and the freshly baked breads.
On an evening they have themed nights which meant different food items to sample – we enjoyed the theme nights.
Beach House
The Beach House was a real highlight, we really liked the concept of the beach house. As the name suggests, this is at the beach and offers lunch and snacks options, beach bar and a top floor bar with beautiful views. We went to the beach house a couple of times for snacks, we however used the bar almost daily as it is next to one of the pools.
Being by the beach and one of the swimming pools, the dress code is very casual and you can walk in your swimwear unlike the dress code in the main restaurant. Another thing we enjoyed here is the table service and generally the staff attitude.
Bars
There are 9 bars to choose from including the 24/7 Sports Bar. By each of the a la carte restaurants there is a bar to get a drink before dinner. For platinum members, there is a special bar where branded alcohol is served as well. There are lots of soft and alcoholic drinks to choose from and a great selection of cocktails and mock-tails.. We took advantage of most of the bars but here are our highlights
The Lobby Bar
This is the place is opened all day however, most people go for a drink in the evenings. It’s located in the lobby and offers comfortable seating and relaxing atmosphere. In the evening this place gets really busy as it’s right by the amphitheater, two of the a la carte restaurants, the coffee house and ice-cream parlour. We spent most evenings here.
Beach House Bar and Beach House Rooftop
We went to the beach house on a daily basis and enjoyed drinks from the main bar. There is also a rooftop bar on the 2nd floor which is adults only and opened from 4pm.
During the day, we also enjoyed staying at the rooftop bar and admiring the views towards the sea. Simply grab a drink from the beach bar and take it upstairs. We also went to the bar in the evening many a time and we loved the atmosphere. The bar staff were really friendly and helpful.
Kanalla Sports Bar
This bar is behind the reception area and next to the amphitheater. It is air conditioned so if you want to cool off, this is the place to be. As the name suggests, you can watch sports (there are so many plasma screens all around!) or at an additional charge you can play bowling, air hockey, pool and some machine games. Other all inclusive hotels we have been to these facilities have been free.
This bar is opened 24/7, so if you are feeling peckish, you can grab some snacks made to order. We tried the buffalo wings, crispy chicken strips and chips. We really enjoyed the atmosphere at this bar.
The beach
The beach was amazing! Exactly as seen on the photos – wide beach, white sands, palm trees and plenty of sun beds to choose from. We were really impressed by the fine sands and smooth entrance to the water. The beach front location makes this a hotel a great place to stay in Punta Cana.
Swimming Pools
There are 3 swimming pools to choose from. The main swimming pool of the hotel is where the pool bar is, by the beach, This is where the animation team organises lots of activities during the day as well, so if you like going to the pool, this is the place to be. By the pool, there is also a towel station, so if you didn’t bring your own towel, you can get a beach/pool towel from the hotel when you present the beach card.
There is another pool by the Beach House which seems a bit more relaxed. You can also take advantage of the pool at the sister hotel Tropical Deluxe Princess where there is an aqua park for the kids. We moved around all the pools -depending where we could get a seat. What was great is that there are toilets and a bar by all of the pools.
Entertainment and Activities
During the day there were a lot of activities to choose from. There was yoga on the beach and competitive games organised at the beach.In the main pool there were a lot of games, aqua aerobics, foam parties etc. as well as boccia, archery and table tennis competitions. We felt during the day the animation team was good and organised lots of activities. we did however prefer the quieter pool.
In terms of sports, there are plenty to choose from e.g. tennis, golf, archery, table tennis, gym, and lots of board games to choose from. If you are into water sports, head to the beach and choose what you want.
Hotel Facilities
The hotel offers a range of services and facilities including a medical centre, spa, casino in the nearby sister hotel, kids club and teens club, hairdresser and conferences and events facilities. By the reception, you can also find a commercial area with a boutique, gift shop and mini market. To be honest, the prices were really high in the shop and if you want to get any gifts, it’s best to go to Bavaro or Punta Cana or wait for the Dominican market which takes place at the hotel once a week. There you can negotiate the prices with the local sellers. This is the first hotel where we saw a church with religious service. Every Sunday there is a mass taking place, should you wish to attend it. The church is small, nicely decorated and with very comfortable seats.
Our Experience at Caribe Deluxe Princess Hotel
Overall we had a great experience at the hotel and would definitely recommend it. We were impressed by the beautiful beach, well maintained hotel grounds (including all the animals that live there) and overall the facilities the hotel has to offer. Being fairly recently renovated, the hotel is very well maintained and tastefully decorated. Our room was spacious and comfortable with lots of storage space. Internet was available everywhere and even at the beach you get Wi-Fi signal. There were some intermittent internet issues but nothing major and the speed was definitely better than expected.
Final Thoughts We were really happy with the Caribe Delux Princess hotel, i would say it is the best hotel in Punta Cana. I would certainly recommend this for your next trip to Dominican Republic. With a wide range of bars, restaurants and amenities, the hotel is designed to satisfy every type of traveller. We believe rhe hotel Caribe Deluxe Princess is suitable for couples, families and solo travellers. It is a also a great destination for a honeymoon or special celebration. In our opinion, hotel Caribe Deluxe Princess is a strong contender for one of the best hotels to stay in Punta Cana and the amazing beach is just one of the reasons to choose this. We would recommend and would happily return again.
I absolutely love going abroad and trying out different hotels with different facilities, this one i love.