Amstar Dominican Republic — Attraction in Higüey

Had a 7 day all-inclusive stay at Secrets Cap Cana primarily for a wedding and there were over 20 of us in attendance. We had an absolutely beautiful wedding, and had a beautiful stay at Secrets Cap Cana. However, the experience with Amstar really put a damper on our overall stay. We didn't want our Dominican Republic experience to end badly but it did. All it took was one bad experience and lies to make it better to sour our vacation.

Me and a group of our men paid for an excursion through the Amstar representative Yoel. This was a celebration for a wedding that happened at the Secrets Cap Cana. The men all paid $91usd each for a total of $1,092usd.

The excursion that was promised by Yoel was as follows :

-experience to start from 1pm bus pick-up at the hotel. After the experience, the bus was supposed to pick up the men at 4pm at the Bavaro to bring them back to the hotel.

-the dunebugging was supposed to be a FULL 2 hour excursion off road.

What actually happened was:

The men were picked up at 1pm and driven to the Bavaro Adventures. Upon arrival, they were told that no buggies were available. The men waited for 1 hour and 40 minutes for dunebuggies. The men received their dunebuggies only around 3pm. The men only rode the dunebuggies for 20 minutes. The rest of the experience they were taken to gift shops and a pond to look at, which was not what they paid for. They were taken to gift shops and were constantly being pressured to buy things. The men paid for 2 hour dunebugging experience and only rode the dunebuggies for 20 minutes. Yoel promised that the experience would be 2 hours and it was only 20 minutes.

Once they were finished, the pick-up from the Bavaro Adventures was supposed to be at 4pm to come back to the hotel. However, at this time there was no bus to pick the men up. They were told they had to wait until 6pm to come back to the hotel. This was unacceptable. The men had to pay $40usd Uber to get back to the hotel. The men arrived back at the hotel at 6:20pm.

When the men arrived back at the hotel, they tried to speak to Yoel about the experience. Yoel was very dismissive and refused to offer any compensation whatsoever. Yoel even called the men liars and that he never promised a two hour experience. This is untrue, he explicitly said 2 hour dunebugging experience. Then Yoel ended the meeting with the men saying "I don't have time for this" and he walkedaway from the men. Yoel walked away and left the men standing in the lobby of the Secrets Cap Cana.

We asked for a refund from Amstar after many back and forth emails outlining our disappointment. The representative from Amstar named Silvana promised us all a refund only to ignore my emails right after. It's been many weeks now and no refund and no response from Silvana at Amstar DMC, or Secrects Cap Cana (who are all under the same umbrella company formerly Apple Leisure Group and now Hyatt Hotels Corporation). Our group spent around $40,000usd to stay at Secrets Cap Cana and so the refund was solely out of principle.

So, beware of the excursions and false promises at...

Saona Island Tour

It’s a shame they have ruined such a beautiful place. We have done excursions in Cancun, Cabo, Belize, Tulum…. And this is by far the worst. It is a shame these giant excursions companies focus on profits and not service. We usually book excursions through local guides or recommended travel companies. This excursion was free through our Hotel Secrets Cap Cana.

To start… we were picked up at the hotel in a 15ish person van. This was nice. Boarded and expected to head to Playa Bayahibe. Not the case. Maybe we have been spoiled with private or small excursions but it’s all about hurry up and wait for a sales pitch. After pickup, we stopped at a second location and told to get off our van and get on a bus with like 60 other people. They separated us from our Hotel group. Now, I know Spanish so I understood what was happening but even then there was very little details given. If you didn’t know the language good luck… you have no idea if you are even going to the right place and much less be returned to your hotel. After boarding the bus, you then head to Bayahibe were you are overwhelmed with sales persons and more sales pitches. Now we were a group was about 60-68 people. Way too large to have any kind of decent experience. If you don’t speak English or Spanish good luck. We had a few French speaking folks with us and they appeared lost the entire time. You board a boat that is falling apart and then is way over capacity. There was not enough life jackets for people on board. “Open Bar” is someone going around with a bottle of coke and rum. Not big drinkers so don’t really care for that. You stop at waist deep waters that are some of the bluest water we’ve ever seen. Just a beautiful place… but it’s all hurry up and wait. You get about 40 minutes there and then head to Saona Island. Hopefully you are not the last boat there because you'll be waiting to dock for half an hour or more. The staff at Saona just appear to be over it. Overall, the Dominican people were super friendly but here they seemed put off by the tourists. Anddd the food… well lets just say my dog eats better food then the “buffet” they provide. The transportation back was crowded, stop at different points to stop and buy souvenirs… it’s all just a tactic to squeeze money out of you. From start to finish it took 12-13 hours. And you get about 3 hours or actually being at Saona Island and enjoying the beach. It is a beautiful place and do recommend you go just make sure it’s not through Amstar and make sure it’s either a private tour or small group.

Shoutout to our guide Jose Luis.. he...

Poor Service / Long Waits / No Comfort

Used Amstar transfer to Dreams Royal Beach. It was horrible. They put us in an uncomfortable van bus filled with diesel fumes. We waited and waited. Driver spoke no english and wasn’t there. After 20 min, another family was brought in. 20 more minutes wait… in hot smelly bus. The parking lot filled with diesel fumes and no one cared. Then, bus left. Clearly wait was pointless as they were just trying to collect people from different flights- for almost an hour! Literally public buses run better service. This was expensive and ridiculously bad.

Amstar sold monkey land tour. They basically brokered it. The tour is horrible, 3 hour needless commute to what should be 30 minutes. Picking up other tourists and then 1 hour wait in shady gas station (again in uncomfortable small bus filled with hot diesel fumes). Everyone was upset, begging to just be let go and go back. Didnt even want the tour after that! Amstar is well aware of the horrors and admitted tourists complain. But they shrug shoulders saying its “far”. But its not far! Its mismanaged, and tourists get no comfort, courtesy or care. Amstar takes money and looks the other way, promoting the tour at hotel lobby.

Dolphin tour- not much better. Brought to the place, seated on uncomfortable benches and made to wait 45 mites- needlessly! This country doesnt care about tourists of wait times. They take money, lie, and look the other way.

Amstar reps are nice, they take your money knowing that the tours and transfers are of poor service, long needless wait times. The tourist is a cash cow that they just put through conveyer belt. They dont seek to eliminate bad tours, they promote them!

Tour pricing is not straight on. Its based on them estimating your wealth and country you are from. They will easily overcharge.

I’ll never trust Amstar and recommend to never book through them. They can get better buses, they can be more efficient and faster, and they can demand the tour places to be better. The wait times, discomfort- all in Amstar power to fix, but they refuse to. They charge hefty fees that are higher than USA, and still deliver crappy service.

It really changed here, and its no longer a company you can trust. Its not customer centric, more like shameless...