Blue Beach Punta Cana-Luxury Resorts — Hotel in Higüey

We relied on everyones reviews for this place and chose it based off of those reviews. Unfortunately we did not have a good experience and here is why. 1st they say they have certain things such as a daily zumbar, discovery kid zone, no beach food service area (only a small bar), etc. It was a disappointingly quiet resort with no activity going on except quirky little things like dance lessons, bad yoga, etc. 2nd you drive straight though a “residential” area to get into the resort- most would consider it a ‘slum’ outside the gate. Our view outside our room was the wall around the resort and the poor residents on the other side, makes it hard to really enjoy yourself when you see how they have to live on the other side. That also meant you couldn’t step foot outside the resort, even the staff said it was extremely dangerous. Thirdly, the beach was awful, it was full of sea weed and while you are sitting there they are running a skid-steer scooping up all of the washed up sea weed, so you can’t swim in the ocean. They have a beautiful pool split in three sections but the deepest is only 3 feet. Two days while we were there the main section was green and full of algae and therefore closed. So we couldn’t swim in the pool or ocean. 4th and most importantly, service was horrendous. My friend is Puerto Rican, we chose to not let anyone know she is bilingual and could understand all the conversations. The 2nd night we went to the reservation required Moma Japanese Restaurant. It took 45 minutes for them to come to our table and take an order for drinks and food. We sat for two hours and still had not received our food. 5 families had already yelled at the servers and left, after two hours we finally left and ran to the buffet before it closed. Moma opened at 7 between 7-9pm only 3 guests got their food, after waiting for 3 hours. The 3rd night we went to the Brazilian Restaurant, it’s like a Brazilian Steakhouse so they just bring you what they cook. It was really good! After we were done eating and chatting we got up and left to our room. My friend heard the server get angry and start complaining to others that we were rude for leaving the table before he picked up our plates!? The following day, we were ignored by almost everyone. We felt invisible and very disliked. We went to the bar and ordered three shots, she decided to take and fill the orders of three families that walked up after us. 30 minutes later she finally poured 3 shots. We sat down for dinner and two servers came up and were asking to take us out dancing when Winston-the server- turned around and made a comment about my friend, calling her fat- she finally used her Spanish to let him know she heard everything he said. He didn’t even apologize, just ran away and avoided us. Another server there was extremely inappropriate with his cat calling every single time he saw us. Another woman from Canada that was here with her daughter came here based off all the good reviews. She confronted the manager and asked if he had looked at all of his guests and realized everyone was unhappy, he just said she was wrong and walked away. A couple last things: They let vendors in. They were super pushy and one asked me several times to look at his merchandise. I politely said no thank you five times and walked away from him and he YELLED “Don’t be a jerk! Just come look at it!”. They water down their alcohol A LOT. It’s a girls trip, four twenty-something aged girls. I wanted the non existent all day smoothie bar and the other three would have liked to get a buzz just once. Even their beer on tap is watered down. Example: They had 2 shots of ‘tequila’ 2 beers and one mixed drink each in 1.5 hr, didn’t even get the slightest buzz. They also ran out of there beer three times, vanilla for their specialty drinks, mint for mojitos twice, and gave us rancid champagne. This place was ill prepared for guests and service was just awful. They were mean and really made you feel invisible. I would never suggest this resort to someone. I don't know how it's gotten...

NEVER COME HERE ! WORST HOTEL ! sure it looks like its pictures, BUT.....

Let me being with our check in experience, while we waited for our room the check in concierge asked us to upgrade our room for 50 USD a night , my boyfriend and I and said no that what we have paid for already was what we wanted ( again under the impression that we had a smoking room with balcony), at approximately 3:30 we went back to the front desk requesting our keys we were taken to a room with no balcony and non smoking room, and told that if i smoked in the room i would be charged a cleaning fee for the entire building, and when we went back down to the front desk to figure out why we didn't have what we had paid for they simply stated that we would have to pay the additional 50 USD per night if we wanted a balcony, our room was always suppose to have all of those thing included in our original price. I was told in a whisper that we could get the room for 30 USD extra per night , I wasn’t having it as we had already paid in full for what was advertise as a smoking room with balcony. Through my frustrations my boyfriend made a deal bargaining down to and extra 20 USD per night for a room with a balcony. I don’t think they realized that we were together, because it seemed as though they were just throwing out random numbers to see what or whom they could catch to squeeze money out of,

I was not given or allowed to have water, my boyfriend and I don’t drink alcohol, its simply a choice we have made so we choose to drink water, or soda water instead, every day was a constant battle to receive as simple human right to WATER! As I’m sure you are aware the tap water in the Dominican is unsafe to drink so bottled water is a necessity, every day I would have to literally argue and fight for basic water or soda water and when I would ask for a bottle I was told that I should drink Beer and alcoholic beverages because thats what people do on vacation and when I specifically stated that I didn’t drink they would laugh at me and say “ what are you pregnant lady, don’t be stupid drink beer its good for the baby”, and I would reply with “ no I’m not pregnant I would just like some water please” they would literally refuse to give me a bottle to the point were I would have to physically reach other the bar counter and grab a bottle my self.

the bar tender told me to and I quote “take a hint, and leave” but they were still supposed to be open for another 45 minutes.

for the entire trip we had leaks in our room, unable to figure out where the water was coming from, so much so that I had to use all the towels in my room to stop random leaks falling on my face from the ceiling literal puddles of water, it took them 4 days to bring someone to the room to check out the leaks, and they sent up 2 maintenance men who tore apart our bathroom for 5 hours, and told us that we weren’t allowed to use the bathroom or shower, not sure how I can pay $3200.00 plus $140 USD in upgrades and not be allowed to shower?

every morning we would leave the cleaning lady a tip with a note and request things like water and clean fresh towels and every day she would pocket the tip and never give us any towels or water, there were days where we had to complain 3-4 times daily to the cleaning staff and front desk managers to have our room cleaned, and when they did finally did get around to it, it would be 11:30 at night.

staff was harassing me one in particular his name in is WINSTON,

every time we tried to take something back to our room weather it was a sandwich or hamburger, the waiters would stop us and say that it was “not allowed to bring food to the rooms” and if we did we would be charged a room service fee of $7 USD per plate.

if all of this wasn’t bad enough, the day my body broke out for the first time in my life from head to toe in hives would have been the topper, little did I know that those hives were erupting because my body was having an allergic reaction to BED BUGS!

oh and the water was murly, covered with sea weed, and mushy...

Now, if you want to give away money, please donate to the St Jude research foundation or any other foundation instead of spending it in this so-called resort. So here it goes…My husband and I are world class travelers, so we are used to nothing, but 5 stars legitimate experience. We usually do our research, but we did not have time to do our usual research. We were in Santo Domingo and wanted to stay a night in Punta Cana. So, we quickly booked it without digging and investigating. BIG MISTAKE!!

PROPERTY: Heard of the saying looks can be deceiving? We sure was horribly deceived! When you drive into the property it is well kept and beautiful. There pools are huge as well. There is a side that Is still under construction and they have a long way to go. So, this is as far as it goes with PROS.

ROOM: Decent living rooms and bedrooms. Tiny bathrooms, overall clean (except for the carpet that was sticky and dirty). Sofa had some stains on it. The Jacuzzi never worked or let me say no one’s Jacuzzi worked, because apparently everyone was having the same issues with the Jacuzzi (it did not warm up). Major plumbing issues! Balcony was spacious as well but again nothing worked.

AMENITIES: NONE. They only have a gym. The end. There is someone at the front desk selling tickets for different excursions. So, if you want amenities or any type of fun in the sun you'll have to purchase them. Oh, and there is a beach. There BEACH SUCKS! Like someone mentioned here, you can’t enjoy the beach. Is small, boats dock there, you can’t snorkel, and the water is pitch black. Reason we took a cab and payed $25 to Bavaro Beach. What a rip off $25 for a cab? Since I am Dominican I negotiated a few cabs, so yes negotiate, don’t fall into a trap.

FOOD: What food? Only 1 restaurant and you can order at the beach after 11:30am. Breakfast buffet was terrible; did I say terrible?

STAFF: What staff? None existing. And when you do see them, they don’t even greet you. You will request something, and you will be ignored. Is not like the Viceroy Resorts where they are waiting for you to drop a towel, so they can pick it up with a smile and ask you if you want a clean one, now that's 5-star treatment. TO TOP it off when we ask them to send someone to heat the jacuzzi, 2 girls came in gossiping loudly in Spanish, which they thought I did not know Spanish, so they were in shock when I said, " Is the Jacuzzi ready?" Cause they were there for like 20 minutes gossiping and still left the jacuzzi water freezing. There was one staff member that when above and beyond to try and accommodate us his name is WILSON. Wilson thank you for at least trying. They need to fire the entire staff of maintenance. Period. IT GETS WORST: NO PRIVACY/SAFETY – They don’t knock before they come in at all. After numerous failed attempts to fix the Jacuzzi, we told them to cancel it and that we don’t want no one in our room. So, I came out the shower and heard someone talking in our balcony, it was the maintenance guy who just walked in without knocking or anything. I felt so violated. Imagine if me and my husband didn’t hear him, then what? He just would have walked in and enjoyed the show? It was terrible. At this point I felt we were in a horror movie and that everyone was plotting against us. Who give this place 5-stars? Ghost writers, shareholders and time shareholders themselves or family members. If you’re looking for 3-5-star treatment, then this is NOT your place. I don’t understand how this place has 4 stars, who did they pay to get that recognition. Is the same as restaurants paying to get A rating, so yes Now in days everyone can be brought. So, be aware, do your homework. My husband and I work very hard, so we when we vaca we like to be treated with smile and respect and good service. That’s all we ask for. We DID NOT GET THAT HERE!!! SO, RUN!! YOU WILL BE MAD YOU DIDN’T LISTEN TO US! AND...