A very late review, but I figured better late than never~!

Me and my husband visited this okay last year, we travelled with First Choice....who I found fantstic, we are travelling with them again this year!

Samana airport was very organised, very clean and the staaff were very helpful. We were not there for long, which is what you want on a holiday!

The coach trip to the hotel was not too bad, though the roads are abit rough, and perhaps a little scary at times....but we arrived safely.

On arrival to the hotel we were greeted by dancers and fruit punche.....slush which was very refreshing.

The porters were fabulous, especially Teo- they work so hard, your luggage is labelled very clearly, you are issued with your room keys on the coach....as soon as you get off the coach you are given a drink and you can go to look at your room.....luggage arrives shortly after. I think it's always polite to tip the porter a reasonable sum, after all they work so hard for such little money.

The room we had was absolutely amazing, we could not have wished for a better room....I think we were in room 401 (ish), the bathroom was very luxurious, the wardrobes were huge, and the bedroom area was very clean and very comfortable, whilst being very stylish. The best thing about the room was the view....it was beautiful (see photos). We have ocean/beach/pool and garden views.......it was just perfect!

The pool and loungers at the hotel was lovely, the pool was ALWAYS very clean, and the loungers are very sturdy and comfortable- not too many of them neither. Because this hotel is fairly new, it was very quiet which meant that you could ALWAYS get a lounger.

The swim up bar was lovely, the staff were very helpful and the drinks were scrumptious........I spent alot of my time at this bar, Banana Mama and Banana Mambos are highly recommended!

The jacuzzi area and snack bar was a beautiful area to relax, though it was such hard work to get up and down the steps- we often took the buggy! The jacuzzi area was very quiet, very peaceful and very luxurious!

The beach was nice, but we didn't really spend much time there, if any.....I loved the pool so much!

The hotel and lobby area was in good decorative order, and was very very clean, though........it was very dark in the corridors. The biggest frustration, and scariest thing was all of the lights in the toilets are on sensors.........you'd enter the bathrooms and the lights would be on, but by the time you're washing your hands the lights go out.....and it went PITCH BLACK, which I found very scary.

The worst thing about this hotel, and possibly the reason I would not go back was the entertainment- though definately not the entertainment team- the problem was the facilities......the entertainment team were very good and did the best they could. Most of the entertaainment is in a seperate building which is decorated very poorley and isn't very clean.....whilst not being air conditioned, I think that the best thing this hotel could do is to make an outdoor area for the entertainment!

The only other thing with the hotel was the food......generally the food was good, though it was almost ALWAYS cold. No matter how many times you complained about this, nothing was done! In the hotels defense the hotel was very quiet....BUT in my opinion that shouldn't have affected the quality of food for the guests it had.

If you are British and you want a good time......then you will get it here. First Choice are the only British tour operators that do this hotel, they only do flights every 2 weeks.....so the people you arrive with are the people you spend your holiday with.....in our case this was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC and this is what made the holiday so wonderful! Each night 30-40 of us would sit in the courtyard drinking, or in the pool...........and better still many of us went on excursions together.

This brings me on to my next and final point.......excursions, I would highly recommend Raymond ffrom the beach, if you walk to the end of the beach and ask for Raymond he will give you a good deal on some really good excursions. We went on the Jeep safari which was excellent, and we went on the Playa Rincon tour, both were very good and excellent value for money, I would go with Raymond every time......despite the holiday reps in the hotel advising against it. His English is very good, and we found him to be extremely ttrustworthy!

If you have booked this hotel then I hope you have a fantastic time, if you are considering booking it......I would recommend it!

Despite the few problems I have mentioned this was the best holiday I have ever had.....and I have been on a few nice ones.

This year we are going to the Riu Montego Bay in Jamaica......so if anyone has any good stories about Rius or Montego Bay I would love to hear them.

Simone and Chris

We stayed at the Cayacoa April 21 - 28th, 2008. Our check in was quick, we arrived at our hotel at 11am and check in wasn't until 3pm...We arrived to dancers and a fruity cocktail which was a nice warm welcome. They told us to grab some lunch and they'd have our room ready, we were checking out our view by 12:30 at the latest.

The hotel is clean, classy and has the most beautiful grounds and views of the Samana bay. The pool area is fantastic, we always got a seat on a comfy elegant lounge chair, they did not cheap out we actually fell asleep one afternoon - it was so relaxing. Our room was very nice, we had a suite however they had given us a large room in the main building, which we were very pleased considering the Junior Suites were a bit of a walk to the main buffet, bars, and beach.

The entertainment staff was amazing. Very friendly and they work very hard to make sure you're smiling and having a fabulous time, whether you're hanging out in the pool or taking dance lessons from Danny & Alfonso.

The food was always fresh, fresh tomatoes, spring mix, spinach, onions, peppers - I read someone mentioning that there were no mushrooms... It is very difficult to grow certain foods however during our stay they did incorporate mushrooms into certain dishes and on pizzas/pastas. The bacon was not great, however I have rarly been to a forgein country where its even comes close to our Canadian Bacon, and the pancakes were a bit tough... although they had yogart, fresh fruit, and real fruit juices, cereals, oatmeal, crepes/french toast/ pancakes, eggs/omelettes, toasts, muffins, croisants, hasbrown/home fries, sausages and other breakfast meats/potatoes to choose from so it would be repeatitive if you chose the same thing to eat everyday, however there is variety. I did not enjoy our al la cartes as much as I though I would. We went to the Gourmet that was fine, but not great - I had the 5 pepper beef, nice size, but a bit tough, and he had the surf and turf which was the same beef different marinate and some shrimp.. nothing much to fuss about, it was tasty. The Italian restarant was not great, lighting was bright, no music, food was so -so. I think we ordered the wrong items so we deciede to eat at the buffet especially on the specialty night where they would set up a sushi bar, or shown carvings of the fruits that they display around the buffet. The buffet is nicely set up.. many seats, spectacular views of the ocean.

We went to Cayo Leventado (Barcardi Island) which was beautiful, you can catch a boat ride over down at the snack bar at 9:00am sharp and for 15$USD they take you to the island and return at about 1:00pm. No lunch is included, however when you get to the island you can purchase drinks, food, etc. for a reasonable price. We also went to El Limon for 55$USD - it is a must! I couldn't even begin to explain the amazing views, although I would only recommend to people that are more active because it is a bit of a trek though the jungle to get there.

Samana was an amazing place and unlike anywhere else, it has not been "americanized" like mexico, montego bay, etc. so I would suggest seeing it now before they starts putting up McDonalds/Starbucks, etc. I would suggest brushing up on your Spanish because there is a huge language barrier if you only speak English. I would most definatley recommend this little taste of paradise to anyone it was relaxing, stimulating and gratifying all rolled up into one wonderful vacation!

Ciao.

I just returned after a five night stay. Excellent service. The rooms were a surprise- big with a great view (and I was in a standard room). Food was surprisingly good with a variety of choices each night. The hotel is absolutely beautiful inside and out and the elevator to the beach- what a blast. The staff was the absolute sweetest. If you are looking for a quiet, beautiful, place to go. Go.
G, J, And O

We (my ten year old daughter and I) loved this hotel. Just returned last night from a one week holiday. Other than the bus ride from Puerta Plata (which was not exactly fun since the air conditioning wasn't working on the way to the hotel), we had an excellent time.

Staff: The staff (other than the reception staff who were not entirely friendly) were fabulous and the service was quick and always with a smile. We especially would like to mention Oscar, Dulce, and the guys from the omelet/pasta bar who were all especially lovely.

Food: Delicious! The desserts, as you can tell from our title, are made for chocolate lovers. There is, at every meal, a wide variety of delicious chocolate desserts. We ate at the Italian and Gourmet restaurants (fyi the Italian restaurant is also a snack bar that is open all night). The service at both was very good and the food was fine (not super, but fine). The buffet had really good food for the most part and lots of variety (pasta, pizza, fish, kiddie items, etc.). Being a red wine drinker, the vino tinto was a bit less than wonderful but the cava/champagne was lovely. There is also a snack bar by the quiet little pool with sandwiches, kiddie items, etc. As with everywhere, the service at the snack bar was fast and friendly.

Views: To die for! Beautiful gorgeous and picturesque from every window (there are many). The elevators (the beach elevator and another are glass so you have great views going up and down) were fun.

Beaches: The main beach is okay (nice when the water is calm but not so nice when the weather is rough) but watch out for the little jellyfish as my daughter got stung. There is another beach down by the quiet pool that is much nicer and lovely when the water is calm (usually it is if the weather is sunny and there hasn't been a lot of rain). We spent a lot of time at this beach and felt like we were on a deserted island with the lovely palm trees and views all around us.

Rooms: We had a room on the 5th floor of the main building and a nice view of the bay and the tiled terrace. The rooms are beautiful with a king sized bed (comfy), a bathtub with jacuzzi jets, and a mini bar, coffee maker, etc. which are always nice touches. The only problem is that the safe is not included and costs $30.00 US for the week to use.

Pools: The main pool is fun with a swim-up bar and a jacuzzi to the side (not hot in case you're like me and like a hot jacuzzi). There is always entertainment at the main pool which is fun if you like that kind of thing (we enjoyed playing a game with some new friends one afternoon). It gets kind of loud at times though and it can get a little tiresome with the same songs, etc. every day. The quiet pool down by the Golden suites is a sweet little oasis where you can relax and enjoy the view. The pool is shallow with three mini jacuzzis (also not hot and sometimes not turned on). The bar down by this pool has great service and a good variety of drinks (margaritas are especially recommended).

Excursions: There are theoretically many excursions you can go on, but it is really a feat to find someone at the tour desk to book anything with. We were with Signature and wanted to book the El Limon excursion but our rep told us it wasn't safe with children. We wanted to get another opinion but no one was ever at the other tour desks to ask about it. We did go to Bacardi Island for one morning (you don't have to book it in advance you just show up at the dock at 9am). It costs $15.00 per person. There isn't much to do there but it is fun to drink out of the fresh coconuts and pineapples at the beach bar and the beaches are more typical of what you'd expect in the Caribbean if you haven't been there before (white sand, clearer water). You can get your picture taken with different animals and birds and there's stuff to buy if you're so inclined. From what I can tell the snorkelling is good there. We didn't venture out too far but we saw many fish even very close to the beach.

All in all, we would recommend this hotel for people who like to relax, swim, eat chocolate and drink champagne in peace and quiet (except for the main pool in the afternoon). One tip for those going with Signature Vacations on the long bus ride from Puerta Plata is bring lots of water because the drivers don't speak English and don't understand when you're dying of thirst and if the air conditioning doesn't seem to be working that's because it isn't so don't hesitate to roll down the windows!

We would return, however, even if we had to do the bus ride again. It was a fantastic holiday all around.