SYNOPSIS: - Signature Vacations (Sunflight), Skyservice. - Fun Royale/Tropicale, Puerto Plata, Playa Dorada complex. - It's still getting better. - The new beach bar is going to be THE talk of the beach. - The hotel is a nice place, plain and not fancy. - The facilities may be a little dated, but they're SUPER CLEAN. - We had no complaints about the food. - It's pretty good, simple and not gourmet. - The selections didn't particularly suit 'my' tastes this year. - But I never left the table hungry. - There didn't seem to be as much use of the carvery station this year. - The staff is extremely friendly and obliging. - They remembered us from previous visits. - Management seems to care and responds to positive criticism. - The entire "team" seems stable from year to year. - Most staff have been around for years. - Marketed as 3.5 star hotel, don't expect a 5 star. - expect a few "rough edges". - We are looking forward to our next visit.

THAT COVERS MOST OF IT, DETAILS FOLLOW: This was our sixth trip to the resort. Each trip has been two weeks, so if each week can be considered as one trip, I guess this would be trips 11 and 12. Obviously, the place still suits our needs and we were more than happy with what we got this time. Since previous reviews are still posted, there is a risk that something may be repeated.

The flights were on Skyservice. Yes, the airline everyone loves to hate! Well, they seem to have pulled up their socks this year. We found the trip (both ways) quite pleasant, including check in and the inflight service. The seats are still a little cramped, but there did appear to be more legroom than last year. Either that or I shrunk. Not a likely scenario!

OK, on to the hotel. First, I'll never be able to refer to the beach bar as 'rustic' again. The new one, currently under construction, is going to be the talk of the beach. They were hoping to get it open while we were there, but that didn't quite happen, alas. We did have a small, "unofficial" christening party on our last day at the resort, but the official one is still a little time away. In lieu of our beach club, we had the use of the beach club next door which actually was for Caribbean Village. It wasn't designed to stand the load of two hotels sharing the facilities, but they were able to cope with the extra people reasonably well. They did occasionally run out of essential things (like beer, rum and ice) but when this happened, they managed to restock quickly.

The hotel is still Dominican owned. The executive manager is Italian. There are a number of women (about 50%) on the executive staff. Bravo! The staff is quite stable; except for some promotions there has few executive changes in the last year. The total staff numbers about 300 and most of them have been around for years too.

It's still 'only' a 3 and a half star hotel and yes, the rooms are a little plain, but quite functional. We were in B wing and we had the same room as last year, by our request. It was super clean and there was lots of hot water. We were at the far end of the wing and it was a 'little' distance to the hot water tank, so it took a short while. The room was comfortable and everything worked. Towels and bedding were changed daily (yes daily) and the floors were swept and mopped. The one remaining intermittent light problem that we reported last year had obviously become a solid fault and had been remedied. I had nothing left to fix (OK, I adjusted the latch on the patio door and one on the closet door - got to fix something!).

We even got wash cloths most days; a rarity in the DR (but getting them might have been due to our repeater status). My advice would be to take your own just in case. We did, and of course they mixed in with the hotel's, so today somebody is probably using one of ours.

The bathroom was equipped with a hair dryer and had a wicker basket with shampoos, conditioners and a sewing kit. The mattress on the bed was very thick and very comfortable. The linens were of good quality and changed daily. The towels were also changed daily, but some days there was a short period between having the old towels removed and the replacements arriving.

This year the renovations budget seemed to be mostly directed to the new beach club, which as I stated previously, is going to be spectacular (or at least very very nice). In the interim, we used the facilities of the beach club next door. The club seemed mainly staffed by Fun Royale personnel, and we were pleasantly surprised at how it handled the double load of serving two hotels. We also noticed a fair bit of repainting and renovation work around the property as well.

In addition to the main buffet, which was quite good, we also enjoyed the two specialty dining rooms (Brazilian and Italian/Mediterranean). The food and service were excellent. The only problem is that they are small and fill up rapidly. If you haven't made a reservation by 7:15 am, it's probably best to forget it. Oh, and the wine served this year is vastly improved over last year. They obviously have a new supplier and dispensing system. For a house wine, it was pretty good. Higher quality bottled wine could also be purchased if that was your want.

The main buffet restaurant and the Brazilian are open to the outside air, but the Italian one is closed off and air-conditioned. In the main buffet at breakfast and lunch, the black birds are pretty bold and will filch the food right off your plate if you leave it unattended. I even witnessed one take a sugar packet from the sugar bowl. Fortunately, they are pretty clean and don't leave too many messes. Actually, watching their antics as people shoo them away is somewhat amusing.

On the plus side, the hotel still has 24 hour all-inclusive which seems a little unusual for a 3.5 star. So this feature is obviously a success!

On the down side, it seemed to me that the buffet was a peg lower than last year, at least to "my tastes", but still very good. The quality seemed about the same as last year, but the carvery station seemed to be used less, and I missed that. But there was always a good selection of broiled fish, steakettes, chops and chicken. If all else failed, there was always the pasta bar. Like last year, in the mornings, bacon was served only about twice per week, and ran out about 8:30 am. When a fresh tray appeared, it was like the vultures showed up; it emptied quickly! Sausages were available the other days, and they were very nice sausages. The best part about breakfast was the omelet and fried egg station. One of the other guests referred to them as killer omelets and I have to agree. They were great.

PHOTOS:

http://www.bobfromcanada.com (virtual tour - slide show)

http://www.worldisround.com/home/dungan/index.html

GENERAL: It's a three and a half star resort, so don't expect anything fancy. The Royale section consists of hotel rooms arranged in 4 blocks (labelled A through D) while the Tropicale section consists of multi-unit villas.

There are no marble floors or walls, but the buildings are "standard" Caribbean construction that consists of stuccoed concrete block, terra cotta tile floors, and very plain ceramic tile in the bathroom. It wouldn't have been my colour choice, but ......

THE ROOMS: The hotel rooms are basic, but serviceable. Most rooms, say 60 per cent, have balconies or terraces while the rest don't. If it's an issue for you, yes you 'can' get a balcony, but you have to be persistent. On a previous trip to another 4 star hotel, we noted that all the rooms had balconies; they were rarely used. In our case, we like the balcony and we like being out in the fresh air, so it's important to us.

Our room had two queen size beds, a bedside table between them, a phone, a large balcony, a bureau with large drawers, satellite TV and a large closet. The bed mattress was nearly brand new, firm and very comfortable.

There was bottled water in the room. You DON'T drink the tap water; for that matter, you don't even use the tap water to brush your teeth. This is the first time I've heard the guide on the bus going to the hotel recommend this. Usually they just tell you to not drink it. Some people even advocate keeping your mouth tightly closed while showering.

We never turned on the air-conditioning except to verify that it worked. As usual, we opened all the windows since the AC really wasn't necessary. The room remained very comfortable over the entire two week period.

As I said, it was clean. The maid service was excellent; the room was cleaned and the bed linens and towels were changed daily. Most of them were of high quality, but some had seen 'a little use'. No big deal; I wouldn't throw out a towel just because it had a small hole either.

When closed up for a while, the room seemed a little musty, especially in the dead air space by the closed door, but this cleared within minutes when the patio door was opened. Remember, this is the tropics, so the humidity is a little high. I didn't spot any mildew, and I looked.

Like most of the hotels, you have to insert a coded card into a slot in the wall to enable the room power. The slot was illuminated so that it was easy to find in the dark. There was also an interlock on the patio door that inhibited operation of the air conditioning if the door was open. Considering the price of power in the DR, this is a reasonable solution.

THE GROUNDS: Fun Royale / Fun Tropicale is a very nice and well maintained resort. There are three swimming pools. These are the activity pool (read NOISY, but not as noisy as last year), the quiet 'adult only' pool and one near the kids club, nominally reserved for children, but generally used by anyone who wanted some peace and quiet. They appeared clean and well maintained. There was some chipped paint in the shallow end, but repairing this would require the pool to be drained, so I can't see that happening soon. There is a small army of grounds-keepers that are constantly raking, pruning and cleaning. I even noticed them using a floor scrubbing machine with soap and bleach to clean the sidewalks and patio.

The beach is nice, but not spectacular. There's a "bit of coral" in the sea in front of the beach club, so some caution is required. A short walk in either direction leads to hazard free swimming. You don't have to swim in the hotel's area since the entire beach is public. However, if you go too far, it's a long walk back to the bar! As mentioned, a new beach club is under construction, so we used the facilities of the club next door.

It's an easy and scenic 6 minute walk to the beach from the hotel (I timed it) and if you don't want to walk, there is a frequent shuttle service. Something like a Caribbean hay ride. We took it a few times just for the fun of it.

If you want to participate, the activities at the pool are terrific with a great activity staff. The speakers have been aimed away from the residential areas, which helped reduce the noise level in the hotel rooms. There didn't seem to be any organized beach activities. Beach volleyball was a pick-up, do it yourself operation. At the activity pool, there's usually something going on from 10 am to 5 pm, lots of fun every day. Other activities with the all-inclusive package include free horseback riding, mini golf (7 holes ???), shuffleboard, ping pong, Spanish lessons, darts, pool basketball, water polo, water aerobics. There was usually a bingo (extra cost), a coin operated pool table and organized tours to casinos, discos or into town (all at a nominal cost which seemed quite reasonable).

There is entertainment each night (outdoor stage, weather dependant) which varies between dance shows and some audience participation. The shows mostly consist of dancing and lip sync to recorded music, which some people would consider cheesy, but the dancers are pretty good and put a lot of effort into it. The shows were pretty much the same as previous years, so we found something else to do. From what we saw, most of the audience seemed to enjoy the performances.

I talked to several guests who thought that having a small local group play near the 24 hour bar in the evenings would be a great idea. Things like a piano bar alternating with a small dance band or local music would do. Personally, I too would like to see some more local entertainment. I suggested this a few years ago, but the response was that it was deemed to be too expensive. Somehow, the hotel we visited in December managed this. It was quite popular. But, then again, it was a larger hotel and a little more expensive.

The food, facilities and public areas were all good. The public washrooms could use a bit of a facelift. The toilets seem to get plugged up a lot; that makes you wonder what people are throwing down them. In the DR, there's lots of water to flush, but the systems do seem to have trouble with paper. Usually, all paper is put into a wastebasket. We do the same thing on our boat; Jake the plumber insists!

The main dining room (buffet) is very attractive. It gives you a choice of three eating areas, including a non smoking section. The first area is inside, but open to the air on three sides, the second area is also covered in with a translucent ceiling, and the third is outside with tables under umbrellas. These overlook the golf course and one of the ponds. The tables are candlelit at night. Very attractive. We didn't even see this feature at the 4 and 5 star hotels we have stayed at.

FOOD: The Italian and Brazilian restaurants were very good. The buffet was also quite good. The food was excellent, plain but not fancy. They did a pretty good job of avoiding repetition. During our stay, we had various kinds of fish, roast suckling pork, pork chops, chicken, ham and various types of stews. With the addition of the BBQ station, the carvery was not used as much as in previous years. I didn't see any whole carved turkey this year, but may have missed it since we ate at the specialty restaurants 4 times and off the resort twice. My wife especially enjoyed the cooked-to-order pasta dishes.

Wine is available by the glass (red and white) and you simply help yourself to what you want. The wine was different this year, and as I noted, it was much improved over last year.

Personally, we liked the food better here than at some of the four star resorts we have stayed at on other trips to the DR.

BEACH CLUB (temporary until the new one opens): The beach club serves lunch and snacks daily. They served fish, burgers, hot dogs, pizza and chicken every day. Plus each day they also have a selection of one or two of items off the grill. This was accompanied by some salad, fresh fruit, french fries, rice or pasta, and deserts.

SPECIALTY RESTAURANTS: The two specialty dining restaurants (reservations required, no extra charge) consist of an Mediterranean (Italian) and a Brazilian restaurant. The Italian one is inside, closed off and air-conditioned. It was excellent this year. We managed two trips there. As usual, the Brazilian restaurant was a meat eater's delight. Everything was cooked over a genuine charcoal fire. You get a little of everything (chicken, sausage, pork chop, roast pork, ham, liver, roast beef and yes BBQ pineapple) all carved off of a sword onto your plate. It adds up to a LOT of meat. Go there hungry! Vegetarians, go somewhere else! We went there once during the two week period. We were ready to go again, but just plain ran out of time.

Oh yes, in case you get 'hungry' during the afternoon, there is a pizza place near the main pool that serves quite good pizza. It's different from what you get at home, but good. Note that you don't get to order what you want; they make pretty much what they want and you take whatever slice(s) look appetizing to you.

MISC: (in no particular order):

It's still a very friendly hotel. There are a lot of 'holas' from the staff. We had no real language problems with the front desk, waiters or bartenders. The grounds keepers and maids didn't speak much English, but we had no real problems communicating with them either. In a pinch, sign language works well!

The currency exchange on site is run by a real bank, not the hotel. The exchange rates were about as good as you could get in town. The posted rates while we were there were 34.25 pesos to the $US, 23 pesos to the $CDN - so when it comes to the $US vs $CDN debate, you do the math!

For Canadians, if possible don't tip in loonies or toonies. We order a large quantity of $US one dollar bills at our bank before we go. The banks there won't take 'noisy' money. So, they're stuck with it until they can exchange for bills. We obliged by trading some and as a result, carried home a fair amount of the heavy stuff (again, this is becoming a habit)!

At breakfast, for the most part, the fruit juice wasn't pure juice. But if you went back to the juice/fruit bar, there was usually at least one dispenser of real juice.

The mini golf and shuffleboard equipment has seen better days. The shuffleboard quoits seemed to be an indoor type; they were far too light. Considerable effort was required just to reach the end of the court. Interestingly enough they repainted the shuffleboard courts while we were there. They replaced the traditional triangular scoring area with a square grid, so I have no idea what they have in mind. The grips on the golf clubs were also saturated with sun tan oil and starting to disintegrate. They were not pleasant to touch!

I still can't believe the number of people that treat the buffet like a cafeteria. They get their food, then run around looking for a table. Then they complain that the food isn't hot. Geez, get a table, then go get the food!

OK, sometimes the food was lukewarm. The cooling trays for the stuff that was supposed to be cold sometimes worked too well and the food was frozen to the serving dish. The heating trays were not quite as efficient, but kitchen staff were constantly relacing with full dishes from the kitchen. The food serving stations were all equipped with sneeze-shield, just like a buffet restaurant here.

WHAT WE LIKED: No real complaints. It's a nice place and good value for the money, unless you are really fussy. The food is pretty good. It's nothing gourmet, but there's lots of choices. The ice cream is better than we get at home! All the bars are still serving Presidente beer. The house wine is vastly improved.

WHAT WE DIDN'T LIKE: I missed the BBQ chicken at the beach club, but the good news is that when the new facility is completed, it will be available again. There was not as much bacon at breakfast as in prior years, but the sausage was good. The Dominicans usually do a pretty good job on pork products. Their beef is a little chewy, but with good flavour.

Would we go back? In a word, YES! We are already planning our next trip.

QUESTIONS: email robertdungan2002x@yahoo.ca (anti-spam remove the X)

OFF THE RESORT STUFF:

By design, we were fortunate to have our trip dates correspond with some good friends from Hamilton and Norm Feig (pen name Snowbird on the bulletin board) and his lovely wife April. Norm is a strong supporter of Fundacion Patria, and since the hotel manager is one of the directors of FP, our school supply donations were directed there. We all carted down a load of supplies. We got to personally deliver our supplies to the Los Rieles school in the community of San Marcos. The teachers distributed them as they saw fit.

This was a real eye opener. The community is only about 5km outside Puerto Plata, but it is a very poor community. Most houses (if you can call them that) have no electricity or running water. The tiny three room schoolhouse handled 280 students (140 morning / 140 afternoon) and they have nothing in the way of facilities and supplies. One of the classrooms we visited had 80 students. One of our group is with a school board here in Canada, and she stated that some of our teachers and students should visit. They would never complain again!

We also managed a day trip into town to visit friends who winter over in Puerto Plata. Yeah, I know, life is tough. We had a delightful lunch at Nelly's Restaurant Bar in Long Beach (on the Malecon). Nelly is Swiss and makes a wiener shnitzel to die for. Believe me, you won't go in for the decor, but the place is very clean and food is all homemade, first rate and reasonably priced. This was followed up by drinks at "The Irish Tavern" at the far end of Long Beach. The establishment used to be called "Cheers" and was a real dive. But, the new owners that have taken over are really Irish (Jimmy McFarland and Karen O'Shea) are really nice people and have cleaned up the place. It's quite pleasant to sit there, chat, have a few drinks and watch the world go by.

Speaking of the Malecon, the government has spent 220 million pesos on the Malecon. There are new guardrails, embossed sidewalks that look like interlocking stone, new pavement and believe it or not, pavement markings.

We also managed a second day trip arranged by our friends. We visited Cabarete and Sosua. We managed to find the Checkpoint Grill and met Colleen. Mark unfortunately was a little under the weather that day, so we missed him. The prices are very reasonable and it's a nice place to visit and chat. We didn't manage to find Phil's new place, but maybe next time. We finished this day with a late lunch in Puerto Plata followed by a few brews at the Irish Tavern.