Secrets Cap Cana Resort & Spa — Hotel in Higüey

We really enjoyed our stay here as part of the Preferred Club. The resort was a bit bigger than we thought once we arrived, but as we were here just out of season there was plenty of space and you were able to easily get a lounger by the pool or on the beach. So during peak times it could be a little harder to get the loungers.

The service at the pool or beach could be a little slow and there seemed to be a preference for some people getting better service than others. I think this came down to whether you tipped the staff or not. As there was a huge American presence here and tipping being in their nature then they were ahead of the queue.

The dining options were good and as a Preferred Club member you had more options of where to eat at breakfast than the other guests. Then in the evening there were plenty of dining options available of which my favourites were Portofino (Italian) and Himitsu (Asian).

We never used the main pool while we were there preferring to use the pool for Preferred Club members. Really because it was so loud at the main pool, the music we can deal with but not people having conversations by shouting at each other from 2 feet away, especially at the swim up bar. Again the American contingent.

In the main we really enjoyed our stay here the staff were cheerful and we enjoyed our breakfasts at Oceana where Melvin and Co. looked after us most days.

If you're after a rest and relaxation then this a good place to be. However if you like to be doing a lot of activities then this probably isn't the place for you. Plus due to the location of the resort you can't just pop out and do things. Although the staff do try to lay on games at the pool and beach.

There's always entertainment on during the evenings whether that be live music or karaoke in the lobby area or theme nights in the Showtime bar where you can listen to the Secrets band performing songs by Queen, the Beatles and Motown then there are Alicia Keys and Beyonce nights.

During the day and early evening there would also be live music round by the main pool. Which you could hear from the beach or the Preferred Club pool as well.

But there are some things to be aware of:

The sea really isn't that great for swimming in as there is so much seaweed in the water and then the water is quite shallow. They've put a boom in place which we assumed is to stop the seaweed but there's actually more of it inside the boom than outside of it. Then whilst the sand is soft it is very packed down in places and can be hard underfoot.

The Preferred Club lounge bar is so small it's ridiculous as the area doubles up as the reception for the Club. It really needs to be thought out as it's a nice place to enjoy a drink in aircon surroundings before dinner. But we gave up in the end and ended up going to the Sugar Reef bar near the pool for a more relaxed pre dinner drink.

We're all aware of Brits abroad, so be warned of Americans abroad. It seems to be a mission for a large proportion of them to drink as much as you can all day every day then become so loud it's difficult at times to listen to your music or read your book. Then on top of that the language is what shall we say is very fruity at times but the staff seem reluctant to step in and ask them to wind it in and show respect for other people around them.

We only did the one trip which was the Marinarium one with Amstar and we don't recommend this one at all as it no way lived up to expectations and was £200 badly spent. We regretted not doing the Saona island trip.

Ensure that you have everything you need with you from painkillers, sun tan lotion, after sun, indigestion relief, tummy upsets, etc.. otherwise if you run out of anything it costs a fortune to buy some more like $6 for 2 paracetamol, $30 for sun tan lotion and so on. Even a bag of crisps is $8.

In summary this is a great place to stay if you just want some R'n'R and not wanting to be overly active and happy to...

we enjoyed our stay but would note this as a 4 star hotel, not 5 star. Felt like for that sticker price should’ve been a little more of the 5 star touch. I do think the rowdiness of some wedding parties impacted our view of this, but trying to parse out the difference elements. Yafreisi, our Conceirge, was great Really appreciate all the work they’re doing to maintain the beaches from the sargassum. We were able to go in the ocean each day we were there, and only cut our swim short 1 day from the sargassum. spa was nice, but also expensive. confusing where you can buy some wine by the bottle, but some places get it by the glass. We didn’t drink much so didn’t really figure it out until the end. The grounds are very clean. (Walk ways, plants, rooms, etc.) -basic gym not sure what preferred side was about and overheard some timeshare pitch but they never approached our group about this. Maybe I misheard. Unfortunately, a lot of the guests smoke cigarettes everywhere, as non smokers we found the wafts of smokers annoying. Could have just been our timing all the staff is very kind and friendly The walls are so thin, if you have a loud neighbor coming and going in the hall, you’ll hear everything, despite the nice do not disturb buttons for the room, if your neighbor is up, you are up. The check in process was way too slow for a 5 star. Arrival was nice with hand towel and bubbly, but it took us 45 minutes from arrival to get to our room, and there wasn’t anyone else in front of us/not a full check in area. We should have packed our suits in our hand bags so we could change and not wait for luggage delivery. They do an excellent job with allergens, always asking, particularly gluten free awareness (celiac level). At all the restaurants and educating the staff. The menus are marked completely wrong, which I’ve seen before, but when you talk to the staff they actually understand what is and isn’t gluten free and why. (Cross contamination, corn vs wheat flour, etc.) there’s also a gluten free station at the lunch and breakfast buffets. (The muffins are good, the bread is a good brand but needs to be heated up to be enjoyable and the crackers are awful. Not sure what they are. So many gluten free options I won’t list them all!) The rooms very very clean, that was nice. The AC was really strong in the rooms and restaurants. Their definition of ocean view is really just partial ocean view at any other beach/resort place we’ve been. So you get some ocean view which is nice, but it’s not full in what I’ve experienced in the past in Cancun and Turks & Caicos. The food: we picked this resort of the other “top rated cap Cana” because people said it was well known for its restaurants. I think it’s just because they have so many restaurants. The buffet for breakfast and lunch is the best part because you can see what you’re getting. But the food/flavors just miss the mark way too often at other places. It seems that what they call things is not what they’re actually going for. The dominican food options are so good though!!. The restaurants are pretty and nice variety in ambiance, but the food isn’t good at all of them. I think they should try to do less and get that right than have so many options. We often didn’t finish our food and resorted to fries and bread. The staff did ask for our feedback and was super, super kind so definitly think they are always improving. The resort is a wedding factory. There were 2 weddings a day when we were there. Which was fine but took away from the nice vacation vibe and experience of the place. Maybe this is well known about the DR, but it was news to us. they had live music a lot and great shows and activities.

Overall we had a great trip I just wouldn’t call it 5 star resort as it was listed...

We went to Secrets Cap Cana for our 20th wedding anniversary. We were in awe of how beautiful the resort lobby and atrium looked. It was super inviting & we spent a lot of time in this area during our trip.

After check-in, we were greeted by our concierge, Christian Moronta. He was genuinely kind, helpful, accommodating, & upbeat. We felt looked after & cared for by him. He surprised us one evening & had our room decorated to celebrate our wedding anniversary. On several occasions, we requested specific items such as drinks we wanted in our fridge, a wine bottle opener, etc. All were immediately brought to our room. The trip would not have been the same without his desire to make the trip perfect for us.

There were several other staff at the resort who like, Christian, were extraordinary at their jobs. This includes the activity directors, Coco, Queen, and Mini Mi. They were genuine in their joy for spending time with people, encouraging & recruiting folks to join in the fun and engage once gathered. Their energy was contagious & super entertaining. We also joined for yoga on the beach daily and loved their yoga instructor, Karen. She made us feel comfortable and relaxed. We also discovered sea kayaks & Hobie Cat boats that we could take out on the water for free. We even got a crash course on sailing from the boating staff.

While at the resort we went to the 4 evening shows 4. Every show was multi-sensorial with stage lighting, costumes, singing voices, high-quality musicianship, humor, dancing, and a super festive vibe. The performers were extremely talented & looked like they were having a great time.

The servers in the cafes, bars, buffets, and restaurants were friendly kind & fun to talk to. They made every breakfast, lunch & dinner memorable. Staff also did their best to remember details about us to make our stay special. The variety of food was mind-boggling. The choices were far beyond anything I expected. It also struck me that I never saw a single employee interacting with a mobile phone except for the concierges, as that was an important form of communication with guests. No phones said a lot to me about the care with which they want to treat their guests.

One of my favorite surprises about eating at the resort was their piano player. He was a younger slim gentleman, impeccably dressed, and played a wide variety of genres. It added to the ambiance in a way that was especially gentle, beautiful, and relaxing.

The property was immaculate & well-groomed and except for the beach itself, daily landscaping was done without any motorized machines. We got up most mornings to see the sunrise & were surprised at how much work their staff put into cleaning and grooming the beach before guests headed outside.

Several other things that were a pleasant surprise included the fact that the resort was not packed with people. No one was grabbing chairs at 6 am. We could lazily find open chairs on the beach or poolside any time of day. We were immediately seated for every meal. The other surprise was the wide age range of couples at the resort. There were lots of young newlyweds, parents with school-aged kids, up to couples well into retirement. We found that to be very refreshing.

We only had 2 negatives about the resort and all-in-all they weren't a big deal to us; 1) the hard sell at check-in to go to a timeshare presentation, and 2) our swim out was very buggy (fruit flies & mosquitoes). In hindsight, we would forego the swim-out garden view room and opt for a beach or pool view room where there is more of a breeze coming through.

We had an amazing trip! We'll be...