Ocean El Faro El Beso, Punta Cana

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Ocean El Faro - The Complete Review.

Came to Ocean El Faro for my birthday the week of June 01st with a few friends. The weather was lovely during our stay with no day being less than 25 degrees Celsius. Resort Ocean El Faro is a nicely established resort in Uvero Alto. It is secluded from other resorts so there is plenty of privacy and room to maneuver, especially on the beach side. Guests are welcomed by a grand, spacious and luxurious lobby with high arched ceilings, ambient lighting, comfortable chairs and tables, reception to the right, an interactive map by the exit, restrooms, a Lobby bar that sits under the skeleton of a marine animal, and a fancy Piano bar. A big thanks to Hector at the Lobby bar for making us some fancy Mojitos! Upon exiting the lobby are all the restaurants which are lined up on the right side. To the left are the souvenir/convenience shop, gym + spa, game zone, bowling alley, theatre, sports bar, and club. To the end, is an outdoor public space with patio tables and chairs called the Plaza Central where live performances, dancing, karaoke, and mobile games like Bingo take place! There is also an outdoor ice cream shop in a gazebo that serves custom cold treats served daily from 5pm! The building suites are located after the Central Plaza. There are several buildings located throughout the resort with different views, ex. garden view, pool view, beach view, etc. Each building is three storeys high and is equipped with stairs and elevators. The landscaping in and around the buildings is nicely done and gives a little Miami vibe. Toward the end of the resort and next to the beach side, is a giant lighthouse structure that is accessible to everyone. Guests can take the elevator up to an outdoor guarded walkway that circles the top of the structure. This is a lovely place to take photos and catch some nice views with some Dominican breeze! Where the resort falls short, is with the landscaping and availability of shade in certain areas. Areas around the pools and the lighthouse could certainly use a lot more palm trees to act as shade canopies. We noticed that while walking around these premises, it would get hot very quickly, making us run to areas with available shade. The landscaping around the lighthouse is especially bare, with not one palm tree in sight. It looked flat, and almost desert like. Hopefully management takes this into consideration as it would greatly enhance the natural beauty. Suite We got the Junior Suite with Pool View on the ground floor of Building 1 (Rm. 1124). The room was perfect! Spacious, clean, sensibly laid out, well-lit, air conditioned, and conveniently located close to the Central Plaza and pools. The closets had more than enough storage room for luggage, coats, umbrellas and extras. The suite was also equipped with a coffee maker, mini bar fridge stocked daily with water, Sprite, Coca-Cola, and their local beer, Presidente, and a PIN safe for all your personal valuables. We loved the ensuite bathroom! It was spacious and had everything we needed. It was equipped with double vanity sinks, a pull-up vanity mirror, private water closet, private walk-in shower, and a soaker tub with jets. Toiletries such as bath and hand towels, toilet paper, tissue napkins, hand and bath soaps, were provided and replenished when needed. The interior finishes of wooden accents paired with the decorative white + teal tiles gave a Dominican colonial atmosphere which we really liked! The only minor issues we dealt with were one of the faucets for the vanity sink had a lower flow than the other, and the drainage cap in the shower and soaker tub were loose so just a couple adjustments to be made there. Our bed came with a king-sized mattress and four pillows which were super comfy, and made everyday thanks to Juana and another housekeeper. Conveniently placed in front of our bed, was a flat screen TV with a plethora of channels in English and Spanish, hung over a credenza with more storage. The suite also has a living space provided with a work desk, chair, loveseat and table. It is secured with a sliding glass door that steps onto a little patio with a swinging chair, which sits next to a garden terrace with views to the main pool and towel station. This outdoor space can be viewed to and from the public, so make sure to have the sliding door locked at all times! Restaurants The resort offers a variety of ethnic cuisine restaurants: Sakura (Japanese), Margarita (Mexican), Dolce Vita (Italian), Blue Moon (French), Steakhouse (American), Route 66 (American), Ocean Burger (American/Beach Food), Villa Marina (Caribbean), El Mercado Buffet (varies throughout), and Mikes Coffee (sweets & beverages). There are a few others that are only for El Beso (Adults) and Premium guests, therefore we did not care to visit them. Three of the restaurants require reservations: Sakura, Dolce Vita and Steakhouse. Our favourites in order: Sakura (live cooking offering sushi, egg fried rice with chicken, beef, shrimp, and mixed vegetables), Margarita (enfrojiladas + quesadillas), Blue Moon (rack of lamb + ratatouille), Villa Marina (grilled salmon over rice), Route 66 (chicken sandwiches + fries), Buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner (especially the Dominican lunch serving paella, fried rice, chicken stew and mangos, and for their nightly desserts!). Mikes Coffee was incredible!!! Hands down the best hot caramel mocha and iced lattes! The banana bread is also fire! Just be wary of the lineup as it can get long, and there is generally only one barista on site. I want to mention the staff who went out of their way for exceptional service: Kritzia (Blue Moon server), Aneujrisio (Buffet Server), Live chef (Sakura), Edwin (Villa Marina Chef), and Clara (Mikes Coffee barista). Pools The resort offers four pools with swim-up pool bars, conveniently placed between the building suites. There is also a childrens pool with slides and a bucket drop, as well as the popular lazy river, which was our favourite! The pool grounds provide more than enough chairs and shade canopies. There are also towel stations at a select few pools where the attendant provides fresh blue towels and can even pump your inflatables if you ask! Tip: Come early in the day to reserve a chair with your towel. We never encountered anyone taking our spot, but we also came extra prepared with locks to secure our belongings that were left unattended. The lazy river was the highlight of our trip. It stretches about 2km and loops around to a common pool area with a swim-up pool bar. The current produced by the jets takes guests along the path without having to do much swimming of their own. The boulders, vegetation and waterfalls added a nice Amazonian effect. Where it fell short was a few of the water/sprinkler features (water guns, bucket drop, main rock canopy waterfall) were not working. Also, a little more management with the cleanliness of the river from plant leaves, debris and drink cups would have made it that much more enjoyable. Regardless, it was the daily go-to pool for us. Make sure to bring your own floaty as the ones provided by the resort will not be enough for everyone! The souvenir shop sells these for $15-$20 USD. Shoutout to the Lazy River Pool Bar Gang Raymundo (NLE Choppas doppelgnger), Omar and Dany for making us the best drinks. We loved the Miami Vice, Tequila Sunrise, Tom Collins, Caipirinha, and Daiquiris. Beach Our least favourite part of Ocean El Faro, is the location. Perhaps Uvero Alto is not the ideal location for the beach since it faces the untamed coastal Atlantic or this resort sits on the worst location in the city next to the beach. Pros The sand is clean, beach chairs and shade are plentiful, and the water is nice, warm and clean with little to no seaweed. You can also find small various seashells for collecting and taking home as souvenirs. There is also a bar and the Villa Marina restaurant within steps from the beach if you are looking for a drink or bite to eat. Cons Ocean El Faro is an isolated resort, with the next resort being more than 10km away. Therefore, the natural properties adjacent to it, leave the beach ends with nothing but rocks and seaweed accumulation. These areas are virtually inaccessible and makes the beach area appear small. The accessible shoreline is probably 1.5km long at best, so it does limit walking along the shoreline. There was also only a handful of people swimming in the water. Third party sellers of products/services also frequent the beach side and are not shy to engage with guests to get them to purchase things; from beaded jewelry, threaded bracelets, wooden figurines to hair braiding, wrapping, massages, and excursions. Id recommend to visit World-Mart for souvenirs, as they offer a greater variety of the same items at a fraction of the cost! Overall, we enjoyed the beach for its cleanliness, availability of chairs for napping in the breeze, dipping our feet in the water, and collection of seashells, but that is as far as it goes. If you are looking for that soft white/golden sand free of seashells and rocks, with rows of palm trees towering above the beach chairs, and turquoise blue water where there is full visual transparency of everything that lies under, then you will not find it here. I recommend finding a resort in the east or south coast like Bavaro, Punta Cana best beach ever! Tips/Other I highly recommend to tip individual staff who you like and become familiar with earlier than later. This will establish a relationship that will benefit you and them. You will get consistent, if not, better service and they will see an incentive to provide quality service to you during your stay. My group noticed this with the housekeeping staff who are generally assigned to clean the same suites daily, and also with the servers. We were told that these people, depending on their position, make anywhere between $200-$600 USD on a monthly basis. The bartenders, baristas and servers rely heavily on shared tips to support their lifestyle. Be generous with the gratuity - it will go a long way for them and for you! There are stray cats that freely roam certain parts of the resort. A family of a few adult cats and kittens can be found playing and napping under chairs outside of Mikes Coffee. An adult cat with two grey kittens can be found playing and napping in the garden of building 1 (which is where we stayed). These little guys would greet us every morning in return for some snacks and water (which we did provide). They were all quite the center of public spectacle, and seemed to be friendly to those who are gentle with them. If you are looking for some gifts and souvenirs, head on over to World-Mart! An off-resort market located just 20 minutes away, and arranged by the resort staff. The market offers a vast selection of goods for purchase: stationary items, novelty items, fun and fine jewelry, magnets, wooden figurines, painted ceramic pieces, tees, tanks, shorts, beach bags, cacao + chocolates, cigars, lighters, and more! We ended up buying some bracelets, magnets and the Dominican milk chocolates, priced 3/$10 USD - they were So Good! The market prefers cash so make sure you bring good quality bills as they will not accept ones that are torn. Make sure to also tip the drivers to and from the market! The Verdict Ocean El Faro delivered us what we had reviewed and expected before booking. It offers good customer relations and service, cleanliness of resort grounds, modern and comfortable suites, variety of restaurants and food/drinks, pools, fun & entertainment, and safety & security. I believe every resort offers something more or less compared to other resorts. In most cases you may need to compromise. For us, since we did not have high expectations for the beach, it did not disappoint us. The variety of pools and the lazy river alone were more than enough for our entire vacation. We will definitely return with a larger group, and with kids! With love from Toronto, Canada!

Excellent service

Emmanuel/excellent entertainer/water aerobics. Very good activity super excellent animation Very good an service good

Volley ball heaven el beso

Volley ball heaven with sexy chocolate at the el beso pool He is great and loves his job with the guests