Live Aqua Punta Cana — Hotel in Higüey

The Live Aqua Resort deserves a solid 8.5 out of 10! The staff were super attentive and friendly, the grounds were extremely clean, and the variety of food and entertainment was just perfect. Another huge reason we enjoyed this resort is that it is adults only!!

Pros: Customer service was 10/10 The main lobby smells incredible.. you instantly feel relaxed when you walk in, this really set the tone for our trip and is much appreciated The manager checks on guests a few time during stay to learn more about what would make our experience even better. He followed up by letting us know what he intended to do with our feedback which I thought was nice. The evening theater entertainment was awesome, specifically The Star Legends Show on Christmas!!! They had performances of Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Adele, Beyoncé (even Blue Ivy!), Rihanna, Shakira, Bruno Mars, an illusionist show, retro hits, and more! They provide each guest with bathrobes, slippers, flip flops, and best of all… a wicker beach tote! The beach tote was a game changer!! Plenty of beach towels and pool/beach chairs available Everything felt very clean and tidy.. you didn’t see lots of empty cups, plates, and trash anywhere. The spa was everything. Milagros gave me a wonderful 50 minute Swedish massage, it was so perfect. I really enjoyed the shower products, specifically the scent of the products, they reminded me of a spa. The TV package this resort has is very good for anyone hoping to watch sports. We travel here during college football bowl games, so it was nice to have ESPN and other cable networks to watch these games. We have not had that same experience other places! GO IRISH☘️🏈 Food was decent, my husband liked the food better than I did but still deserves 8/10. The biggest thing that would’ve made my rating higher is if they would swap their buffet breakfast and buffet dinner set up. Breakfast buffet was indoors and had so many options, yet the dinner buffet was outside the main dining hall with just one long line of tables for food and few smaller tables for appetizer/desserts. The food at dinner felt very dry and like it had been sitting out or on the grill for a while, so it didn’t always feel “fresh” to me. However, dinner meals are more important to me than breakfast, so understand this is just what my personal preference would’ve been. The dinner buffet was still decent, but didn’t feel as fresh as breakfast and didn’t have nearly as many options as breakfast. The pools at this resort have been my favorite of all resorts we’ve been to. They had a large main pool with music, but it wasn’t blaring all day long which was nice. Then there were smaller pools that had no music at all for a quieter experience. The staff kept our drinks filled too! The beach was gorgeous, very clean. We didn’t have any seaweed during our trip so that was nice. The staff kept our drinks filled here too. Air conditioning in room was very reliable (bring sweatshirt for post-sun shivers) The staff did a good job of keeping local merchants from bothering us on the beach.

Cons: Our first morning after checking in the night before, a staff member outside breakfast was already trying to sell us a vacation package, I think? He mentioned us signing up for a presentation and we’d get something free out of it and believe me we’ve fallen for that before. Just didn’t appreciate this on our very first day there. Depending on where you’re trying to access WiFi, it can be a little spotty but it definitely wasn’t enough to stop us from streaming completely. There were a few meals on menu that were an up charge (Lobster mostly). It would be really expensive for the resort if every guest ordered lobster at every meal, so we understand the up charge. However, as an “all inclusive” resort.. it would have been cool if every guest could have 1 voucher for a lobster meal so everyone could at least experience it once included in the price we’ve...

We visited for 8 nights in mid-December and stayed at a pool view swim-up. My partner had stayed at an all-inclusive previously, but this was my first experience at an all-inclusive. We booked a package including the stay, airfare, and transfers through Costco.

To be honest, I am somebody who likes to explore a lot when I travel so I was skeptical of going to an all-inclusive but we were overall very happy with the quality of our stay at Live Aqua Punta Cana. In doing a lot of research on different resorts in Punta Cana, Live Aqua consistently was mentioned as having great service and we found that to be true.

Our room was great. I like to sleep in a cool room so I was a little worried about whether the air conditioning would be up to the task and we never had an issue. The double-size shower was very nice, although the semi-private toilets in the room aren't entirely ideal. The bed was very nice and had different options for scents and different pillow types that we did not take advantage of. We did not have any issue with smells or dampness or anything like that.

When you tell somebody that you went to an all inclusive, frequently the first question they will ask is how the food is and we were happy with the food. Some of my family members with very high fine dining expectations may have been disappointed, but my partner and I visited each of the restaurants and liked them all. I think our favorite might have been Miraflores for ceviche at lunch. I especially appreciated that the breakfast buffet had Dominican options.

The pool layout is very nice--this gets brought up a lot, but in addition to the swim-up pools they have a main central pool with a swim-up bar that frequently has entertainment, music, and parties, and then four smaller pools for a quieter vibe. We were always happy with the party action in the central pool and on some days it was extremely lively. The pools are not heated and the temperature in December was fine during the day and a little chilly at night.

I spent less time on the beach, but wanted to point out that if you walk five minutes north to the beach outside of Breathless there is rocks and a reef right off of the beach that you can snorkel on if you bring your own gear. It's not A+ snorkeling but for being a couple of feet off of the beach, it is hard to beat!

In terms of nightlife, my research made it seem like Live Aqua was a bit more mature and toned-down than other all-inclusives but honestly, there was always something happening at Live Aqua and we were never bored. In addition to the planned entertainment that happened every night, there was almost always a good crowd at the bars. We were very happy with the quality of drinks. Although we had access to the nicer bar at the VIP lounge, we did not really use it.

One of the standout parts of Live Aqua for me was the sports bar, Compton Street. We visited early in the trip to see if they would have a football game (they had it on--they get a whole lot of channels and it is also a good way to meet other guests!) and it quickly became one of our top spots at the whole resort for getting a drink before dinner, getting a drink after dinner, or chatting with the people that we met at the resort. The food was also very good for snacks or pizza when somebody wanted something more substantial. The Compton Street team of Vanessa, Helen, and Moses were some of our favorite people at the entire resort and they all provided A+ service.

As I mention, it really seemed like there was a focus on service that went above and beyond at Live Aqua. Some of our other favorite team members were Anthony, Ishmael, Nathaniel, Juan at Horizon, Jhony the bartender at Seishin, Adorys at Chez Rose, Miguel from Miraflores, Brandol, Cristina, and Fernando.

Overall we had a wonderful time and if we return to an all-inclusive in Punta Cana in the future, Live Aqua will be at the top...

The property/room/facilities: beautiful from the driveway and lobby - but it doesn't match the rest of the resort. the buildings for the hotel rooms look all the same from the exterior- nothing special.

It was very strange that the hallways had no lights (even at night). Our room was fine - although the light switches didn't always work for the bathroom. I was quite disappointed to find a dirty tissue in the hotel provided beach bag. Our room was relatively clean otherwise. Was pleased with the large balcony that had a jacuzzi (didn't use), day bed (didn't use) and chairs & tables. Our room overlooked the pools. The beds and pillows were comfortable.

They are doing construction on the lot next door - it is unpleasant to look at but it didn't disturb us much.

The hotel gym was nice although it is a major safety hazard that someone was mopping the gym bathroom floors with no slippery sign or warning leaving us to walk around with wet shoe soles.

The beach is nice, kind of small but not crowded.

Check-in: The staff at check-in were not the warmest, but it was fine. We were provided with delicious iced tea - was refreshing after a long flight.

Staff: The majority of the staff was rude and unhelpful. Some examples of this include: no one would help set up beach chairs for a large group (10+) no one serving food or drink on the beach // the pool bartenders ignored us the staff arguing with us regarding dinner reservations (again for a large party) and then barely apologizing when they realized were correct. at dinner the first night (at Sheishin - the japanese/hibachi restaurant) the waitress didn't provide plates for the appetizers - even though asked repeatedly, wouldn't take our drink order until she was done conversing with peers, never explained the menu. most restaurants had minimal servers - making everything incredibly slow.

Food: The food here is not good. We did not expect it to be the finest dining, but it was overall mediocre at best. Food service here is incredibly slow. There are also no menus for beach service. At the mediterranean restaurant - they told members of our party they "didn't have hummus" even though others in the group had just ordered it and received it to go and then when the other half saw this - they called out the server and then they said oh you can have that.

Drinks: also not great and took forever to come. We asked for water bottles numerous times and would get enough for maybe half the group. Would have to ask over and over or go get ourselves. There were instances where we ordered drinks (alcoholic or not it didn't matter) and they never came.

Room service & housekeeping: we ordered room service a few times and it took forever to come. We had several encounters where the operator didn't speak anything other than Spanish, which made it difficult to order. Housekeeping was also slow - extra towels requested, took over an hour to come and on our last night the mini bar was not restocked.

Activities: we didn't participate in many of these activities because we did not know where they were held. The spa was pushed heavily on us as was the live entertainment in the evening.

Despite all of this I would like to shout out three staff members we encountered during our stay: Red (Entertainment Team), Miguel in the breakfast restaurant, and Manuel at ATL (Mexican restaurant). These were the only 3 employees who I really felt looked after us and were invested in our experience. Particularly Manuel who verified each course we ordered, even the drinks, hustled to get plates out and constantly checked on us.

Overall, I absolutely would not recommend coming to this resort. They market themselves as a 5-star resort, and perhaps they are in the amenities they offer - but in service - ABSOLUTELY NOT. Please believe the reviews that tell you how poor the service is, and how terrible the food...