Dreams Onyx Resort & Spa — Attraction in Higüey

Just got back spending 9 nights at Dreams Onyx. Below is our experience broken down into different areas:||Check In - We booked a Preferred Club room that had the private pool. We arrived from our shared transportation provided by Nexus and were taken to the Preferred Club check in that is different from the main lobby. This process was so nice and easy as we were given a glass of champagne while doing our check in process. They went over everything from dining options to activities. Then we were taken to our room and our bags arrived about 15 minutes later. This was one of the fastest check-ins we have experienced.||Room - very clean and was located by the Preferred Club pool We had the private pool and it was great to be able to hangout in our pool or just walk about 15 yards to the Preferred club pool. It was so nice that if we decided to hang out in our private pool that we could still get drinks from the pool staff. We did have one issue in our room that was promptly addressed within about 15 minutes. They even followed up to make sure that everything was taken care of. Kudos to the front desk and maintenance staff. House keeping kept the room cleaned and they were very quick and our mini fridge was always stocked with drinks and snacks. In fact the staff that restocked would leave extras of the ones we liked.||Restaurants - Being in the preferred club was nice when it came to lunch and breakfast because you could sit in an AC area if you wanted that provided waitstaff service where you could either go to the buffet or order off a menu. We visited all the restaurants expect for the French on the Dreams property and found all of them good with several different options. The bonus benefit is that you could visit the resort next door, Dreams Breathless, and you have access to them. We went to a couple different ones and the food is just as good over there and the menus do vary so they are not the exact same so make sure to visit them too. It is a easy walk to the property or you can catch a golf cart ride from the main lobby. This was a bonus and we never had a wait our entire time there. We usually ate around 7:00 PM. Our butler, Angel, got us our reservation to the Japanese Steakhouse and that show was awesome along with the food itself. The buffet food was good and the best part is that they did have different options daily so it was not the same everyday. They also had a section for kids if you have little ones with you.||Pool/Beach - we mainly stayed at the Preferred club pool which is more of our taste. This was a great place to just rest and not a party scene at all. The entire waitstaff at the Preferred club is top notch. We were never without a drink and they would have different drinks each day they would bring around to have you try. Never had an issue with finding a place to claim for the day and they have staff that are making sure that only Preferred Club guests are using that area which is nice so it keeps the overcrowding down. The main pool was fun too as that is where the entertainment staff is most of the day and if that is your scene then you will really enjoy the fun. That is not our thing. We did visit the waterpark to see and the lazy river was really fun to sit in a tube and float along with a drink in hand so check it out. The beach area is really nice and kept very clean but you will notice the seaweed but they do the best to keep it clean but that is nothing to complain about if you do your research.||Spa - we had a couple massage and it was amazing. If you book a massage then you get the use of the water therapy before your massage for no charge but if you want to do the water therapy only you can pay for it. The Spa is shared between the two properties but we had no issue on booking when we wanted and we did that through our awesome butler, Angel.||Overall, we would recommend the Dreams Onyx resort to anyone and would love to visit again. Do you research and do not go off of just one negative review. Are there going to be issues when you travel, yes but if you are looking for things to nit pick then you will find them. There are always things that can be improved upon but our stay was great and we...

My husband and I just returned from a long weekend. We are UVC members, and by far, this was the least friendly and accommodating of all properties we've visited.

Upon arrival, there is usually someone who gives towels and champagne. We had a delayed flight, arrived close to 8 pm and felt like we were checking into a cheap hotel in the US. We were first brought into preferred for check in and quickly removed when they realized we aren't "preferred level" (which is insane, considering we've paid over $12k into UVC)

As silly as it may seem, every other resort we've stayed at has treated us well, despite being the "pearl" level of UVC. At this resort, we felt like an afterthought. We always had banners on the door and other things to denote our UVC status, including cakes, champagne, and other things depending on the occasion. This time, on our wedding anniversary... nothing. We were given a time for an appointment the next morning to collect our "coupons." The coupons were a joke... they gave a discount that could not be combined with the 25% off you already get on spa service, so we didn't use them because25% off was a greater discount. Coupons are for show. This is disappointing at best, considering the massive investment we've made into UVC. As a criticism of the Unlimited Vacation Club as a whole and not necessarily this resort, "Preferred" status should be extended to all club members as a base line benefit. It's crazy that people can upsell regular customers to this status but it's not available to the customers that literally paid over $13k into the company. We will not consider renewing membership due to the fact that our status as UVC members means something different at each resort.

Some notable pros from this resort: -beautiful grounds and beach -drink service to room patio if you have a swim out -WiFi is good, we were able to stream our laptop on TV and the service was uninterrupted -Food was better than most other resorts we've stayed at -we loved having access to Breathless -plenty of lounge chairs. Previous resorts, we've had to wake up at 6 am or reserve cabanas to guarantee seats by the pool -as a vegetarian, I fully appreciated the options in each restaurant and fully designated area of the buffet. -our room location in building 5 was very good and central to most things. We appreciated the swim out not being connected to the main pool.

And now for the cons: -hospitality level is inconsistent. There are some very friendly staff, and many others are cold and unfriendly. We've been to many countries and this was surprising.

-rooms stink like sewage and mildew mixed with air freshener

-underneath our bed may not have been cleaned in months

-room service was spotty. We had to request it twice due to it coming close to the end of the day and our room not having been cleaned. Our mini fridge was not restocked a single time on our visit, nor were the toiletries.

-we were given a choice of breakfast or chocolate strawberries for our UVC anniversary perk.. we chose strawberries and then recieved chocolate covered cake balls?

-slippery grounds. Very slippery. Sometimes they were marked, others not.

-the hallways were LOUD.

-there was no spa music in the spa or during our massages, which was very strange.

-patio tub took an hour to fill. Leaked all over when it emptied.

-AC in room is fixed at a certain temperature and cannot be lowered. It's warmer than we prefer.

-lunch doesn't begin til 12:30 at the buffet, and prior to that, the beach snack options don't cater to vegetarian. Only choices available are shop snacks (which always looked old) or room service.

We did not bring our children on this trip, but were not bothered by the presence of children. Maybe because our children are young and we're used to the commotion, but there were many families with children. The water park looked fun.

Overall, we won't' return to this particular resort. The frosty welcome and lack of attention as members really put us off, along with the inconsistent levels of service throughout. Beautiful...

We just stayed at Dreams Onyx Oct 12-19. We did a lot of research on their website before booking to ensure we booked a specific type of room - we wanted adults only and swim out pool. The website (and hotel map) is very deceiving as it appears that booking a "preferred" room with swim out pool is adults only, which is NOT the case. We got to our room after check in, and realized we were on the all ages side, in a room that is closest to the beach (which you THINK would be the best), however, these last buildings by the beach's swim out pools are CONNECTED to the larger all ages pool... It was absolutely disgusting. We walked out onto our deck which had an old rotting muffin smashed right into the deck, a huge plate of dirty left over food and cigarette butts..indicating they don't clean/ check the balconies/ decks between stays - OR that someone from the pool just threw their food onto it since its WIDE OPEN to the larger pool.. It was chaotic, loud and LOADED with kids. So even if you HAVE kids, I would highly recommend asking for a room with a swim out NOT connected to the larger pool. None of this is described as an option on their website so I'm assuming you'd have to call to ask for it specifically....which is frustrating. We went back to the front desk to ask for a swim out on the adults only side, which we were then informed is a "private pool swim out" and cost us almost $1000CAN extra that we obviously had NOT planned for. If we would have known the price for the room we originally wanted, we probably wouldn't have booked it in the first place since it was outside of our price range, but we could not stay in the original room... We had to wait until the next day at 5pm to move..so we had almost two days of our trip in the first room. Once we moved, the "private pool swim out" room was amazing. They're absolutely beautiful and that whole adults side is very nice. The pool is quiet and relaxing, and the service was excellent. HATE that they don't have bracelet room keys. They advertise this like a good selling point but in our opinion having to ensure your key card is with you at all times is SO ANNOYING. My husband lost one in the water park on the second day, and we got locked out of our room another time. The bracelet keys is wayyy better option. Also, we are used to having coloured bands so that staff can distinguish which side of the resort you are on. We realized we could have 100% paid for a normal room and used the "preferred" adults only pool every single day and probably the food places as well as there is no identifying way to know you're not preferred.. The food was decent, very "hit or miss". Overall would rate a 7/10 for a 5 star resort. The service was excellent, alcohol had great options and the wine was great too. Nelis at the adults only pool was the most amazing server we've ever had and definitely deserves a huge shout out! She made our day seeing her each day :) sooo kind, funny and fast! Victor Ortega (whoop whoop!) at the lunch buffet and dinner steak restaurant was also a favorite. He made us laugh every day and was super attentive in his service. The butler service is useless, absolutely not needed and didn't use. The beach was beautiful, loved that there were lots of palm trees over the chairs for shade and beauty. However, lots of pushy hustlers on the beach that constantly bug you to buy things/ get massages and are rude when you decline. Coffee shop, ice cream parlor and burger joint are all nice touches. The arcade for kids is amazing although a lot of $$.. The water park is bomb! Even for adults we had a blast on the water slides and lazy river. Overall, great resort but wouldn't do it any other way that the private swim out room adults only side. Wish their website had better descriptions of the resort layout and the room options. For a couple that want absolutely nothing to do with a kids resort, that's the most important thing to us when finding our getaway...