Grand Memories Punta Cana — Restaurant in Higüey

Memories Splash Diamond Club Review - A generous 3 Star

I’ll preface this review by stating we do not have kids and only came to this resort because of a voucher. First thing I’ll say, if you DO NOT have kids, avoid this resort (and the linked resort Royalton) at all costs! You will not have a relaxing vacation.

Service 5 out of 5 There were a few staff at the resort, mostly in the restaurants, that seemed indifferent but overall, service was very friendly and accommodating. Our concierge Felix was great at sowing us around and was always asking us if there was anything we needed, he was awesome. Friendly staff was found wherever we went. Jorge at the Diamond Club pool, Victor from Entertainment would always sit down with us for a chat, Lenny at the Beach Bar was fantastic, there are too many others to mention.

Room 3/5 With the Diamond Club upgrade, we had a large jacuzzi room on the second floor of building 7. Building 7 is a great location, it’s close to the restaurants and the train stop, it’s very convenient. Room was very big and was cleaned well everyday. Balcony was nice, but with any resort the views wasn’t great. Bed wasn’t that great either, not soft at all. Very large walk-in shower was fantastic. I was very pleased with the room, but the biggest problem was the noise. I considered rating the room a 2-star for this reason alone. Halfway through our stay a family moved in above us and were incredibly loud, no matter the time of day. We asked if there was anything that could be done and apparently it was discussed with them, but the noise continued. REQUESTING THE TOP (3RD) FLOOR IS A MUST

Food 2/5 Two out of Five is being very generous! The food here is bad if you have somewhat of a discerning palette. Buffet has fewer selections than comparable resorts in the Caribbean and a large portion of it is usually overcooked. Mexican restaurant is an insult to the people of Mexico. Under the Sea is OK, you can have some small lobster tails and a decent piece of beef, but the appetizers/sides are not good. The saving grace and the two stars are basically from two places. Bella Cucina Italian restaurant was nice. Pasta cooked very well, a nice selection of meat/cheeses to build yourself a nice starter and a good pizza made fresh.The other place to eat is at Opa on the Royalton side. As a Memories Diamond Club member, you have access to Opa, but only for lunch. They serve a very large mixed grill which was our go-to place to have lunch. Shrimp, Lobster, Beef, Chicken, Octopus. We did not eat at the Royalton restaurants. Diamond Club Memories has access to them for a $15pp fee. I wasn’t convinced that the food would be any better there and after already upgrading there should have been at least 2 or 3 included in a Memories Diamond Club upgrade. Cafes on both sides are excellent, serving good coffee, pastries, snacks and frozen yoghurt.

Pools 2/5 There are only a few pools on either side of Memories/Royalton and although there are designated “activities” pools, the amount of kids on the resort makes every pool and activity pool. The Diamond Club pool was a nice area and sometimes relaxing, but even there, parents would let their kids run amok regardless if they saw just wanting to relax. Jorge was always coming around asking if you needed a drink and would often come by with small snacks. The nicest pool looked to be on the Royalton side. A beautiful, adults only pool. However, your Memories Diamond Club doesn’t get you in.

Beach 2/5 Two stars for basically having beautiful sand and nice waves. There is a designated area for Diamond Club Members and they have nicely padded loungers and some beds to hang out in. Good luck trying to get a bed however and for those who did, they are basically stack on top of each other. You essentially get the same thing, campers that leave there stuff there for the day, kids running back and forth kicking sand and screaming, it’s packed. Apparently there is drink service in this area, but we didn’t see it ONCE. Luckily the beach bar is a...

The room was large and clean and bed was comfortable,mini-bar was stocked with 4 bottles of water,2 diet pepsi,2 7up,1 Heinekin and 1 Coors light...after 2 days of topping up I soon discovered that to have more than 1 beer type I had to "tip" the guy who stocked up the mini bar each day,what a rip off. The corridors are noisy and not helped by ill fitting bedroom doors which have to be pulled hard to close. 95% of the time my room wasn't serviced until after 3.30pm each day,probably due to the fact I never left the lady a tip, why should I she was walking by my room to complete 12 other bedrooms each day and leaving mines..the 5% it was done before lunch time was when she was on days off. We opted for Diamond club and in truth it was a complete waste of money,I got the same alcohol in the public bars and restaurants as everyone else and I didn't need to pay extra just for someone to book a restaurant,the so called Diamond Club area of the beach,was overcrowded bearing in mind it was to accommodate 2 hotels and the so called beach concierge was helpful in finding us a couple of beds that had previously looked reserved with towels over them, maybe it was the $5 I waved at him and he then confidently told me that the 2 towels were in fact clean(read into it what you will). The Diamond Club pool area was ok,in truth the pool was cold as it was shaded most of the day and I felt the hotel could have made it a little more special for the guests. The sunbeds were comfortable but had no tables. I felt sorry for Jorge the Concierge he had a terrible job and suffered some verbal abuse from clients when he nicely informed people that this pool area was for DC GUESTS and asked that they move to the other pool area, there was no signage up informing clients. The speciality restaurants I found in fact nothing special and certainly NOT A GASTRONOMIC DELIGHT,certainly nothing like what you get in Mexico,I got the impression everything was done on the cheap. Under the sea...was as noisy as a School Dining room,we waited for 40 mins from time of order for our starter to arrive,we gave up and walked out. Bella Cucina... Menu Not very imaginative and pretty poor e.g Calzone served with just Cheese and Pepperoni in the centre NO SAUCE..very dry Mexicana..Menu again not imaginative and food quality poor and served luke warm Hunters at $15 per head I expected better,within 23 mins of arrival we had been served our starter and main and offered dessert,talk about fast food,the steak was very good,but service too fast. The buffet restaurant was ok..its All INCLUSIVE so you will never go hungry,although the hot food was barely warm, the food selection New Year week was much better than the food offered the following week. Evening Entertainment is shockingly poor due to a lack of it for adults its great if you have kids with you as they are well entertained during the day and into the evening. Lion king show is very good as they actually get some of the kids who are on holiday to participate in the show. Madona Tribute..was excellent great singing and dancing and so many costume changes. Michael Jackson..was a waste of time the guy didn't sing just danced to backing tracks. Clown show..was boring and not funny Overall if you were not waving a $ then you were invisible,I really don't mind tipping for GOOD SERVICE having been provided, NOT TO GET SERVED. Then there is the daily attempts to get you to go for a VIP BREAKFAST OR LUNCH,it is in fact for you to attend 3-4 hour meeting to tell or sell you Holiday Ownership/Timeshare Now to some good points. The grounds are plentiful with lots of grass areas. The pool activity staff do a great job. Its nice seeing the Peacocks wandering around and the Parakeets squawking away in the trees and the walk up to Royalton is a nice surprise for wild life lovers. Melisa in the Buffet restaurant very attentive with great service Jonvi around the social area,again attentive and great service Jorge around the DC...

PLEASE DON'T STAY AT THIS RESORT! I am writing this review while returning from an 8 day family vacation at Memories Splash Punta Cana. I have been to DR several times and this resort has been the worst. It is a 1 star resort and I hope this review will save a family the disappointment and aggrevation I experienced just about every day while there. I would have upgraded to the Royalton but not for an extra $1000 but after spending our last day there, it would have been worth every penny! After reading the reviews on Trip Advisor, I thought I had made the right choice by selecting Memories but that was not the case. I honestly believe 75% of the positive reviews left for this resort, are bogus. Upon arrival, we were rushed through the lobby to the Diamond club for check in. There was no greeting from the staff, nothing offered to eat. Not the usual service offered to Diamond Club guests ( as we always upgrade to Diamond) but I decided to overlook that and be positive as we had just arrived. However I should have known things were going to go down hill when the staff person that took our luggage from the lobby, actually left it OUTSIDE of our room door as we discovered when returning from eating lunch. Hmmm, ok. The room was small for 4 people, actually pitiful but again dealt with it. They need a major renovation and the AC should actually feel like an AC and not a fan. The great view from my balcony of the blue plastic tarp on the Buffet restuarant roof, was an added plus!!We were assigned a butler, and I think his name was Mr. Useless, because that is exactly what he was, useless!!! We made our own reservations, got our own drinks, towels, lunch etc. Just useless!! This was the first resort that we had been to that the staff did not greet you. I guess it would have been too much to say hello or good morning. They just bypassed us, literally could care less. Nice!! Another pitiful aspect is that they only have 3 restau‐rants and a buffet. The food and service sucked at all of them and for the last 3 days of our stay we ordered room service for breakfast, just to avoid the lousy or lack of, customer service!! There were no variations of food, the chefs looked miserable. We actually paid to eat at 2 of the restaurants at the Royalton as they were not included if you were staying at Memories.The pools were okay, however we were mostly at the pool at the Royalton more than at Memories as they offered a Diamond section for us and service was a little better. It was more livelier and closer to the beach. (BTW, it's a 10 minute walk to the beach from Memories or a 5 minute ride on the trolley that passes every 10 minutes) The nightly entertainment was decent and thank goodness because we would have been in bed by9pm since everything closed so early, including the water park which closed at 5pm!! There is nothing else offered to do when traveling with teens. There are just so many things that went wrong and not how a vacation should have been, I could go on and on but there would be no space for other reviewers to leave their review. To top it off, on our last day, the loser at the Diamond club that removed our bracelets as we were checking out, was so brut and in a rush that he cut my hand with the scissor!! Yep, that was the great ending to my wonderful stay at Memories!!! I am sure a manager of some sort from Memories will reply to this review and try to downplay / rectify everything however we expressed several times throughout the trip that we were unhappy and they did nothing to try and make it better. We are not picky travelers, we just wanted decent service and food, which we got none of! DR offers so many amazing resorts, however this is not one of them! Try the Bavaro Palace Deluxe, Melia Caribe Tropical, Hard Rock Punta Cana or Iberostar Punta Cana but not Memories Splash...