We stayed here 28th May - 11th June 2007 and no way is this a 4* hotel. We have stayed in better 2*'s in Gran Canaria!

We arrived in the middle of a thunder storm and when we entered our room it was raining in the room all over our daughters bed! Their solution to this was to push the bed over so only half of it got wet! The next thing that hit us was the smell (urine) it was disgusting. Their solution to this one was to turn the air conditioning up high. So the choice was ours -put up with the smell (no way) or freeze to death. The patio door didn't close - nothing done. Light in the bathroom hanging by a wire - nothing done. Then to top it all the toilet broke!

When it rains, this place is a death trap. People slipping over and lots of broken bones and heads needing stitches. Also the drains are overflowing and the smell of human waste wasn't very nice to say the least.

We are not fussy eaters but we didn't think much of the buffet. The al a cartes (when you could get into them)weren't great but were better than the buffet.

The service everywhere was very slow but we put this down to bad management, not the staff. Having one chef in the beach bar at lunch time is a joke! Allow at least 2 1/2 hours when wanting to eat there. Also only having 2 bar staff at night doesn't go down very well.

There was also never any paper in the toilets. We found the wavepool area to be very dirty. (A piece of pineapple on the floor was there for days.)

The wavepool was very hit and miss. Some days it didn't come on at all. It also didn't help that on 4 occassions it had to be closed because some disgusting person kept using it as a toilet! This also happened in the activity pool.

On a more positive note the Wavelength club was great. Our daughter (11) had a brilliant time and made loads of friends.

We had 4 days of rain but then the weather was lovely - it got hotter every day.

The highlight of the holiday was Ocean World. It was fantastic. We did the dolphin and sea lion encounters. Take plenty of money because you will spend a fortune but it is well worth it.

Overall there were no major problems, just lots of little ones, that when added togeter resulted in a big disappointment. We all made the most of a bad situation and had a nice holiday but really for what we paid it should have been fantastic!

We stayed in May 2008 and it was our honeymoon/1st family holiday. We went with our 1 year old and 2 friends who haven't got kids. My review is mainly a good one with a few exceptions. The food is fantastic although becomes quite samey if you are there for 2 weeks. The waiters are briliant and kept my 1 year old amused every meal time so we could enjoy our meal without him becoming frustrated. The resort is spotless. The rooms are cleaned well with the fridge restocked daily. The beach is stunning although the sea does get quite rough so we tended to stay by the wave pool which has plenty to keep the kids entertained. The nursery is well equiped and ran, the staff are really helpful and tried to settle my little boy, but due to teething he just wanted to stay with us. We didn't make the most of the evening entertainment, but the kids hour was nice for our little boy as he craweled about the stage after the older kids.

My only moans would be...

The first room we were given wasn't really large enough for 2 queen size beds and a travel cot. When we moved rooms we couldn't ask for more, we just wish we'd done something before all the problems with the electric. The travel cot was a bit flimsy but did the job.

Electric or rather the lack of it! The first Saturday night we were there the electric went off in half of the complex leaving us with no air con or fridge (vital when you have young children). I went to find out what was going on and was reassured by the rep that it was a common problem and would be back on within the hour and managed to get them to provide me with a torch. Nearlly 3 hours later we still had no signs of power, I went back to find out what was happening and found that all the reps had vanished from site! After a long, sticky sleepless night I had another trip down to the rep office and after complaining I was treated very rudely by the rep and given no answers or reasurance, he even tried to say the whole island didn't have electric. I manager to get him to move us to a room with electric, which was a much better room! The electric failing seemed to be a problem every Saturday which we heard rumours was to save cash!

It was a great family holiday with more good than bad memories. It is a hotel for kids and I wouldn't recommend it to couples on honeymoon without their kids!

We have no complaints at all about this hotel and had an excellent holiday there.

The room was clean, the staff were excellent and very friendly.

The wave pool was good with no hitches.

There was one group of people that were complaining that they had become ill after eating the food there, however we soon discovered that it was more to do with the fact that they were drinking all day and until the small hours of the morning - can't expect not to be ill then, can you?

This is advertised as four star accommodation it was taken over by First Choice and used to be called Jack Tar Village for adults only and was only 2 star.

In my opinion it is still only 2 star with regard to food, rooms, entertainment of which there was none but First Choice are advertising top west end shows! Also the resort and rooms were not cleaned properly especially the public toilets. My husband and I were both ill with sickness and diarrhoea.

Our room flooded in the rain up to our ankles and the bed and our clothes were smelly and damp.

The glasses were dirty and not cleaned properly especially as there were lots of people ill. The food was not hot and repetitive - you would have the same for lunch as for evening meal. The restaurants were a little better. There was no where comfortable to sit, especially when it was raining there were no tables and chairs under cover so you had to go back to your room, which was damp and had rain coming in through the roof and French doors.

We went for our 10th anniversary and as soon as we entered the complex we wanted to come home as it is definitely not as advertised in the First Choice brochure or the virtual tour on the internet. Both are very misleading with regard to accommodation, entertainment, activities and star ratings.

We were totally disappointed and would definitely not go back or go with First Choice again. The reps were rude and very unhelpful.

We have just returned from our 2 wk holiday at the holiday village.

We cannot fault the hotel staff they are really friendly.

The rooms are nothing special,very damp and smelly. Some rooms had sewage leaking into them. The entertainment is really good for the younger children.

Whilst we were there lots of people suffered with sickness and diarrhoea including all my family,my children were very poorly> I was sick 4 days into the holiday never recovered,seeing a docter shortly.

Lots of people cut their feet in the main pool due to tiles that had bits missing in the pool.

I think this complex was opened to early,it has potential to be a great holiday village,but for my family and many others it was a great disapointment.

Hotel, fine. Food, fine. Romm, OK [remeber, the 4* rating is based on the hotel facilities, not the room facilities].

The only problem we had was that we flew with "MY TRAVEL" and their baggage allowence is only 15kg. I have a bag with two balls in it that weighs more than that.

It's rubbish. Other people on the same flight ewho had booked with other tour operators had up to 32kg. We also could have had that amount if we had either
1. paid a kings ransom for MY TRAVEL premier gold class.
2. Paid six quid per kilo excess baggage [which we did].

Even when you travel with the likes of EASYJET you get 20kg.

It is now my mission in life to get my sixty quid back from this company.

I will be totally honest about this hotel as I wish others would be!

cleanliness -
hotel was lovely and clean people constantly hoovering up leaves cleaning the bar and all the public areas,the beach was spotless and both the pools were lovely.

Yes I do know what you mean about the room smelling of urine but if you noticed it was only after the cleaner had been....perhaps the cleaning product!!!!not flees!!! Beds were made daily and fresh towels too but not a great deal else, even when we left a tip. The bed sheet was so soft it was lovely.

Public loos spot on even by the pool.

Food -
pool side pizza bar nice pizza but both got dodgy tummys after meat special one. At night it turns into a Caribbean restaurant and is delish. More variety on the menu than the others I thought.

Main buffett - nice selection especially at brekkie lovely fresh fruit and yogurts for me and lovely cooked food for my other half.

Didnt really eat there in the day or at night really.

Italian - got sunstroke that day so didnt enjoy my food was a bit cheesy even though I am the worlds biggest cheese lover.

Fish restaurant - yum yum yum yum yum. Even though I don't really like fish! In the day its a burger place which is also nice.

Didn't get drunk even though we tried very hard. I think the secret must be the dominican gasoline!! Strawberry daquories are the best!!

Location not bad own beach with access to all the others and water sports etc, near the plaza which is nice walk about 5 mins or a horse drawn carriage!

Great location for ocean world really bad for sosua bacardi island no dont do it! 3 hours on the bus and then the island itself about 2 hours with hastle to buy a hat or a shell.

The ocean world was amazing !!!! We swam with dolphins and it was brill.

The staff were lovely always smiling singing saying hello excellent. Even the cleaners and porters.

Entertainment - well it was quite quiet when we went so they were putting on performances with nobody watching but still giving everything too it so was good, dance shows mainly though.

Saturday night the locals come and its bedlam! Watch out as the bar will go up in flames. Good photo opportunity.

Yes I would go back but I did think the Standard of the hotel could do with a little more updating. But we had a great time.

Not a bad hotel by any means but the rooms are in need of modernisation. The food was of a very good standard and a great variety. The ala carte restaurants were very good especially the Italian but you need to book well in advance as they book out quickly. The service in the buffet restaurant is very poor, you normally would have your meal finished before someone would come around to offer you drinks. The service at the main pool bar at night was also terrible, not enough staff and you could be waiting 15mins to be served! The entertainers did try hard but it was very Butlins style.

Complex itself is well kept and the beach is very close by.

I would return to Dom Rep but not to this hotel, it wasnt really up to my standards, no more than a 3star

The hotel had an infestation of fleas and our room stunk of urine which shows a sign of bed bugs.

The tiles at the bottom of the adult pool were all broken and an accident occured as they were sharp.

We were sitting in the restaurant one evening when we seen a rat running along the rafters. The whole hotel went down with food poisoning and many people were taken to hospital and put on a drip.

The general maintenance on sight was of a poor standard.

Very noisy poor dated furnishing entertainment very poor now a kids club with kids clmbing all over the bar area all evening.

Food hygiene had caught a member of staff blowing his nose into his hands then seving
cutlery . Mozzies biting very bad no spraying policy.

Occidental Jack Tar village. A cross between 18 to 30 and worst behaved kids in the carribean.