beach was swept and cleaned every day people were always cleaning where ever you went always with a smile and a "ola " i would visit this resort again

As above all conditions were appauling and I would never visit here again even if someone offered me 2 wks for free !!!!!!

Sosusa is meant to be safe to walk around, although I personnally found the locals to be "in your face" with trying to get you to come into the shops.
A "No Gracias" was usually enough and we managed to watch the locals playing baseball without being hasseled and the locals were only too willing to talk about the sport.
Didn't venture onto the public beach or the local bars although we would recomend the ice cream parlour.
Thomson excursions are expensive compared to local operators.
We would recommend the Monster Trucks and Ocean World, but avoid the Deep Sea fishing unless you have good sea legs, it gets very choppy!
Try the Taxi's and ask for Raymond as your guide $20 for the day plus the taxi fare, he gave us a great tour of Puerto Plata.

A good selection of free and payable water-activities on the beach, but definitely not overcrowded - you could still swim in peace !
Plenty to do during the day, though they leave you in peace if you just want to chill. Kid's club was run by a German guy, so was mostly in German while we were there - he started to cater more for Englsih children as we left, when there was a big influx of English holidaymakers.
Theme nights, hotel bars and the Pacha Nightclub were the evening entertainments. We never heard a thing though, even though our room was quite close to one of the bars.
Ocean World was fantastic - the dolphin Encounter was better than the Swim. You are in waist-high water surrounding the deeper water the dolphins swim in. With the Encounter, you are constantly with the dolphins, touching, feeding, kissing, hugging, etc., whereas in the Swim, you are waiting while each person swims out from the edge, then gets towed back to the edge by 2 dolphins. You also get to feed, touch the dolphins, etc., but get less time to do so, as you are waiting for each person to have their tow.
The horse-riding at Rancho Lorilar is fantastic - we went back for a second trip. The half-day takes you round the countryside, rivers, etc, and the full-day includes lunch and lagoon swim. Well worth it !
If you go to the Amber / Larimar museum, definitely buy your jewellery elsewhere. I bought a Larimar bracelet here for 4795 pesos (£85), and everywhere else, even the officially guaranteed places, were selling them at around 1900 - 2000 pesos, around £50 cheaper...!!
We also did a glass-bottomed boat trip from Sosua while on the Puerto Plata/Sosua trip. We haggled with the boat tout for a discount (1000 pesos for 4 people, when he wanted 1600 pesos), and gave the extra to the guys on the boat, who have to take whatever cut the tout gives them. Sorry we couldn't stay longer in Sosua, the beach was lovely, and the water so, so clear.

We always go somewhere different each year, but this year we all wanted to re-book to go back to Dom Rep, and probably the Mambo.

All in, we would definitely go back to the Mambo, and the Dominican Republic !!

Not much to say other then there was no complaint to make about anything. Spotless clean where ever you went these people work very hard to make sure your holiday as you expect. Beach was very nice few crabs along the way sea crystal clear and warm. This complex is rated as 4T it should be rated 5+.

The resort was spotless apart form the bach this could do with being tidied during the day not just on the night.
Bech towles were also provided.
The gardens are beautiful, there was a pond with falamencos and peacokcs roamed arrond freely.
The entertainment was excellent. There are lots of different activities on during the day by the main pool and also on the beach including windsurfing, kayaking, banana boat and snorkeling. This hotel has its own horses which are also free to ride.

We did not go on any trips this year but have previously visited ocean world to swim with the dolphins. This is a great trip and well worth it.
The journey from the airport is about 45 mins and you do see some very poor areas on the way so be prepared. Also there will be quite a bit of hooting and you will possible see an average of 5 people on a moped!!!!
This is a poor country but the people could not be friendlier!!

There was no real resort here as the riu complex of the 3 hotels was the resort.

I didn't feel safe outside of the complex, and when we went on the monster truck safari kids lined the route for sweets etc... but some made a rude sign with their hands if they didn't get anything.

It would be fair to say that this island didn't impress me. I have been to 43 different countries and this was the one I would not go back to. Although it was extremley lush.

If you haven't booked and want four star/five star go somewhere else... CUBA for example...

the beach is wonderful although the sea at times was quite rough and has a strong undercurrent.the hotel has a free bus do.wn to the local town which runs until 1pm. the shops down in cabrete are cheaper than in the hotel or even over the road and be prepared to haggle and put up with 'cheepy cheepy and asda price'

We went to ocean world which is a must for anybody who is going to the dom rep,we did the dolphin encounter due to our little boy only been five he loved it.We went to the shark encounter and watched the sea lion show which was very funny.We didn't go into the resort much as our holiday was all inclusive,there is alot of poverty in this country and as your going to your complex you see how they live and think how lucky you are.I would go back to the mambo and recommend it to anybody.It was a brilliant holiday and that was due to the very hard working staff and all the people who arranged our wedding Thankyou RUI MAMBO XXX