Better off elsewhere

Posted by Marc from New York City on 1/20/06

We just got back from our vacation to Puerta Plata. What a dump this area of the Domincan Republic is. Casa Colonial is has nice rooms, but BEWARE. It is by no means a true luxury hotel. They try, but its not. 1. The rooms are only Ocean Front, all rooms are blocked by trees, so the Ocean View is minimal. This really pized me off. 2. We asked for the hotel to arrange for a rental car. Eventaully Ramos shows up and takes me with him to his shack office to rent me the car. Needless to say, the hotel must be getting a kick-back, or Ramos is the owners brother. The car had 100,000 miles on it. Smelled like azz. Had a broken radio. Worn tires (one of them actaully blew out on the second day). We got another car from his fleet (lol) and that one was even worse, the air con didnt work. 3. Several times over the stay we could not get hot water out of the shower. Other times, it would take upwards of ten minutes for the water to get hot. 4. The food is good, but over priced. I ordered room service one day, got charged a 10% service fee (as i would had I eaten in the restaurant) and also got charged a $10 room delivery fee. And they messed up the order. Go figure? Small bottle of water, $5. Rip off. $40 Salmon? not worth it. 5. If you try to ask for things, good luck. They dont speak english very well. Never got a lounge chair for my balcony (as the other rooms had). Couldnt get hot water out of the Jacuzzi. You are really much better off going to Cabo San Lucas or somewhere else. Its just not really that nice of a place.