Ocean El Faro, Punta Cana

review

Super nice resort! Emmanuel was the best!!

2nd visit and we will return.

Our second visit to this resort. Since our last visit in November 2023, we have seen improvements. Check in was a breeze. Fresh face clothes to freshen up and our bags safely stowed. They accommodated our request to have the same room as our last trip, which was a nice touch. Thankfully, this time the concierge team didnt continuously ask us to buy in to the hotel, or however that goes. I guess once they realized we were returning guests they left us alone. The room fridge was stocked daily. Plenty of bottled water, beer, and pop. Fresh towels daily and the room was always freshened. The air conditioning wasnt the coolest but we managed. The overhead fan on over the bed helped. The only negative with the room would have to be the balcony. We didnt use it because it was always full of spiderwebs and bird poop. This is a bit nitpicky because I am someone afraid of spiders. We utilized the main pool on the el faro side. No issues with getting fresh towels from the hut daily. If you have floaties, the gentleman at the towel hut will blow them up for you free of charge. An upgrade around the pool would be the new overhead shades they have installed. This combined with the umbrellas ensure you have lots of area to be shaded. The pool bar was great! Lots of drinks, alcoholic and non alcoholic for all ages. Domingo and his coworkers are great! Excellent service and always friendly. The ocean burger restaurant had great burgers and hot dogs. No complaints. Juicy burgers close to the pool for that afternoon snack. I did notice they had an ice cream machine but it wasnt operating. Likely because it was slow season? The lazy river was great! Lots of fun and clean. Yes, the beach had seaweed but that is no reflection of the resort. That my friends, is Mother Nature. They did have staff out cleaning the seaweed. We watched locals fish from the nearby lagoon. We did have vendors try and sell us things but with a no thank you, they moved off quickly. Lots of chairs and umbrellas. It was quite a slow time at the resort and we didnt mind this. The weekends became much busier with locals and others coming for weekend stays. The food was plentiful. Bluemoon, steakhouse and Route 66 were our favourites. The buffet was great too! Fantastic food all around. Lots of bacon, eggs, bread, juice, fruit, sweets at breakfast. You wont have any trouble finding something to eat. I will say, while we loved the Italian last time, this time it wasnt good. We seemed to get a quick downpour of rain at night. Never bothered us and it seemed to cool things down a bit. The entertainment crew in them main outdoor area out on great shows and managed to work around the rain. Those shows were great! The talent here is amazing. I went to bed early one night and my partner and friends saw a tarantula. One girl was playing with it on the pool table. Our friends saw another one at the entrance to their room on the first floor on el beso side and another dead in the grass. As much as I hate this, it is what it is. Im glad I didnt see any! But as someone who is very scared of spiders, it hasnt stopped me from going to this resort and I will return. The bowling alley does need improvement. The balls are in terrible shape and definitely need replacement. Still lots of fun to play but dont expect your skills to shine. The balls have a mind of their own. Our friends stayed on el beso side. Guest services graciously allowed us to visit that side and see what it was like. It was quieter than expected. We encouraged our friends to come along and they loved it! They stayed el beso and have been back for two other times since! We will also return next fall and cant wait! Hopefully same room (excellent location) and same great service. We love Oceans El Faro!

El Faro is Kid Friendly

Brought the family to El Faro for Spring Break. When we printed the contract prior to leaving, we noticed they had us down for one extra night. I emailed asking to change our departure date and after receiving communication back and verifying our departure date, I was ghosted. When we called, we were told they would make the change at the resort. When we arrived and tried to make the date change, we were told we had to call customer service. A hold was put on our payment for all the days (including the day we didnt want) and customer service told us that we couldnt decrease our days since it was in March & April and then later because it was Easter Weekend. None of it made sense so we got charged for a day we werent even there. Lots of little hiccups: -couldnt get two rooms with double beds. Kids had to sleep on couches I heard the were over booked and shipped guest to other resort(s) -food was inconsistent from day to day -no privilege lounge like other H10 resorts we have been to -staff, although friendly, didnt jump, run, or anticipate needs/wants -no umbrella in one room and only one in another -phone cord was broke when we tried to call customer service -resort is a bit dated and could use slight remodel to fix broken things. -tile outside main lobby is SUPER slippery!!! Highlights: -Kid friendly lots of kids -Jhon and Jonathan at the pool bar were amazing!!!!! -Juan was a fantastic butler!! - lazy river is a lot of fun but not lazy at all! -lagoon is wonderful!!! -sports bar is a nice place to watch the games We as a family have decided that we will try other places instead of going back

Excellent

Amazing people and fun times. Carlos animation Roberto