SYNOPSIS: Sunwing Vacations, Sunwing Airlines, Fun Royale/Tropicale

My original intent was to just dust off last year's review and being somewhat lazy, just update it where required. But, oh what a difference a year makes. Let's just say that I was somewhat disappointed this time around. And most people that will read this review already know that I have been a strong supporter of this hotel for many years. This was trip number 11 which says a lot.

Not to say that it was all bad, but there were significant issues this year. It seems like trouble comes in sets, just like at home. You know, when the refrigerator dies, the stove, the dishwasher, and likely the TV go out in sympathy. Suffice it to say that this year there were a LOT of equipment failures. I didn't see any sign that these equipment problems were being addressed and it appeared to me that the accountants didn't want to sign the cheques necessary to replace the broken equipment. So, to start, I'll list the failures.

The chicken rotisserie BBQ at the beach club is deceased. I saw the carcass out behind the club. At first glance it didn't look too bad, but on closer examination, it was apparent that the unit was beyond reasonable repair. On the plus side, they did prepare BBQ chicken at the hotel and send it down to the club. This transformed the 'to die for chicken' to merely 'very good chicken'.

The tractor shuttle to the beach club is broken down. They are using a chartered bus as a replacement. Not near as much 'class'. I also suspect that it's costing more for the bus than it would be to fix the tractor.

The toaster in the buffet dining room is deceased. They are using a sandwich press in lieu. It does a reasonable job, but it's not a toaster. I'll say it again, it's NOT a toaster. It did a great job on grilled cheese sandwiches though. Enough said about that.

The BBQ grill station in the buffet dining room has rusted out due to exposure to the weather. The area is currently boarded up with plywood. I didn't see any sign of work in progress, but they say they will be closing in the area so that the new grill won't fail the same way.

The large grill area (formerly used as the egg station in the morning and a grill at dinner) is gone. They have moved the pasta station here.

There is now a small grill / egg station in the area where the pasta station used to be. The arrangement is not very good. It worked much better as a pasta station. It is very awkward because there is no place to go once you have put your omelet items on the small plate and given it to the chef to prepare your omelet. So there's almost always a group of people standing in your way when you want to select the ingredients for your omelet.

The bar at the quiet pool is no longer 24 hours. This function has been moved to the pizza parlour next to the main pool. The bar is setup each night about midnight when the main bar closes. In my honest opinion, this is a bad idea. Shouting drunks can be heard at 3 am. At the old location, the noise was isolated from any of the guest rooms. Repeat after me. This is a very bad idea. This is a very bad idea .....

The menu at Popeye's Pizza has been expanded for the late hours food. It is now the 24 hour portion of the all inclusive, including the after midnight bar. There is no pizza served at that time, but the menu has been expanded to include hot dogs, burgers, fries and salad. This is quite acceptable except for the noise issue. See above.

The specialty restaurants are running at about half of their more normal schedule. Miranda's (the Brazilian restaurant) is down to 3 nights per week and the Italian is down to 4 nights per week.

To top it all off, the last week we were there it rained 3 days in a row. So people were already in a bad mood. Then a water main broke in Puerto Plata. The entire Playa Dorada complex was not being serviced, so it was necessary to truck in water to fill the cisterns. The hotel had been ecologically conscious and to avoid lots of plastic bottles being discarded, installed a very sophisticated reverse osmosis / ozone water purification system on site. This system provided for drinking water, but not the tap water. However, some VERY BAD water got trucked in and virtually overwhelmed that system. Many guests got sick. To the hotel's credit, once the problem was identified, they took immediate action. They shut down all the soda fountains in the bars and immediately started serving bottled pop and water and bottled water on the dining room tables. They sent the doctor (no charge) to visit anyone who had complained of being ill. They didn't get to them all. If you weren't in the room when they called, they likely didn't call a second time. But I know he knocked on my door and had a substantial stack of medical report forms in his hand.

I expect that there will be a pile of bad reviews posted for this time period, especially from people who got sick from the water. I didn't get ill, but several members of our party did. I also found myself defending my previous reviews. As I said, things change in a year. I also expect that this situation is temporary and it should be resolved by now.

In all the years I've been visiting this resort, I've not seen people get sick like this. A few years ago, one of our tour reps told us that "people don't seem to get sick at this resort". That's something the hotel has always been proud of. So, it just shows that it happens despite their best efforts. Hey, it's happened here at home too. A certain local meat packing plant leaps immediately to mind, not to mention an Ontario town that had a similar water problem.

This year we flew on Sunwing Airlines again. The flight times were changed once after booking. They rolled two flights into one and we had to return via Punta Cana. With the exception of de-icing in Toronto, the flight down was on schedule and the flight home arrived 3/4 hour early. The in-flight food and service was good and the seating was adequate. To be fair, both flights were quite pleasant.

It should also be noted that Sunwing isn't precollecting the departure tax, nor are they covering the tourist card, so both have to be paid at the airport. No big issue as long as you are aware of it.

OK, as I said, we're in double digits territory. This was trip number eleven to this property, and it just wouldn't seem like January if we didn't go. Creatures of habit or what? This year we were accompanied by several friends we met several years ago. So there were ten of us to party on. And we had a "few" parties.

Oh, both weekends we were there were holiday weekends, and there were a lot of locals staying at the resort. With very few exceptions they were just like the other guests and were a pleasure to have around.

They (the hotel) market themselves as a 3.5 to 4 star property, and in my opinion they have slipped to 3 stars with all the equipment that needs replacing. I'll discount the water issue as a regrettable one time event that won't be repeated. I hope ....

The facilities may be a little dated, but they're SUPER CLEAN. We had no complaints about the food; good, simple and not gourmet. I missed the rotisserie chicken at the beach club, but the chicken served was still pretty darn good. At dinner there's lots of choices and I never left the table hungry.

We had our usual room and as usual it was well maintained and clean. Yes, it's a little dated, but everything worked, sort of. There wasn't a bug to be found, not even those little ants that seem to be found everywhere in the Caribbean. The fluorescent fixture in the bathroom was intermittent. Of course it worked perfectly when they came to fix it.

The staff is extremely friendly and obliging. Oh yes, they still remember us from previous visits. After all these years, they're like family now. I'm already suffering withdrawal and miss those hugs and kisses in the morning and at dinner time.

In addition to the main buffet, which was quite good, we also enjoyed the two specialty dining rooms (Brazilian and Italian/Mediterranean). With the reduced hours, it was more difficult to get a reservation. As per the usual, we found the food and service were excellent in both restaurants.

At breakfast, bacon was served about three or four times per week and sausages were served the other days. The smoothie station is still gone. I miss that. The best part about breakfast is still 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.

The beach club serves lunch and snacks daily. The selection is a bit limited due to the small serving area. They serve chicken, fish, burgers, hot dogs, great fries, salads and fresh fruit every day. Lunch is also available at the main buffet, but we only ate there once. It was similar to dinner.

In the dining room, wine is available by the glass (red and white) and you simply help yourself to what you want. The wine wasn't vintage, but it was quite drinkable.

In summary, the food was good, 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 (cooked on a spit over an open fire, see the photos), pork chops, roast beef, lamb, veal, turkey, chicken, ham and various types of stews. The carvery seemed to be used more often than in previous years. Interestingly enough, the roast pork leg was somewhat tough this year. That surprised me since the pork is usually pretty good in the DR. The carvery served up roast turkey twice while we were there and it was excellent.

As I previously mentioned, this was our 11th trip to the resort. Most of these trips have been two weeks. Obviously, the place still suits our needs and despite the issues I reported, we still had a good time. Honestly, we know a high percentage of the staff by name and they are just like family. They also know our wants and are eager to please. For example, you are supposed to get your own coffee, juice and wine. Let's just say that it was a rare event when I had to.

Again this year, 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 nothing came of it.

I still would also like to see more use made out of the beach club in the evenings. A steak and seafood restaurant, even if it was extra cost would be nice. It seems such a waste to have that nice facility being there and not being used. It would be so nice at night. Even if they opened it a few nights per week for drinks and snacks would be an improvement.

The main dining room (buffet) is very attractive. It gives you a choice of two eating areas. The first area is well inside, but open to the air on three sides, the second area is also covered in with a translucent ceiling. There used to be tables set outside, but they appear not to be setting them anymore. The number of candles seems to be diminishing due to attrition and guest filching. Best to take your own candle.

Would we go back? Despite the issues, YES!

Notes / Suggestions:

The staff is the high point of this resort. Without them the place would be nothing. With the current state of the economy, I know the entire Playa Dorada complex is suffering from low occupancy. There have been a lot of staff layoffs in the complex. Kudos to the hotel for keeping the staff they have, even if they had to reduce their hours.

The mini golf and shuffleboard equipment is way overdue for replacement. Holy cow, those putters have short handles ....

The minigolf course has had a new paint job and the indoor outdoor carpet has been replaced with a painted surface. The fountain still wasn't operational.

The fountain at the pizza parlour is also deceased (still).

Let people amuse themselves at the beach party. Let the animacion staff be around as dance partners or to just get things going. Dump the silly party games.

Make use of the beach club as a specialty restaurant at night.

Make some sort of quiet dance area around the 24 hour bar at night. Move the 24 hour bar back where it belongs and away from the accommodation areas.

New this year. On Dominican night, they had the BBQ set up in the main quadrangle between the pool and the buffet restaurant. The pigs were cooked over a real wood fire, Dominican style, on wooden spits. It required constant attention since the spits were turned by hand. Great idea for a more Dominican experience.

At the activity pool during the day, you might have a small group of people playing darts or some other game. I've always wondered why the ongoing scoring of this event is broadcast to the several hundred people around the pool. They obviously don't care, else they would be playing the game themselves. Just play music and keep the scoring info to the participants.

It might be an idea to restore the repeater's party. It's only a small token recognition. It's a short party, drinks (at a resort where drinks are already covered), a free t-shirt or hat. For that matter, why not give every guest a t-shirt or hat with the hotel logo on it? Seems to me that it would be pretty cheap advertising.

All the hotels in POP are having a tough time. The ones that survive are going to be the ones that are very good and stand up from the rest. I've always liked this property. In the past they've aimed at 3.5 stars, but tried to make it the best 3.5 star property you ever saw. Hopefully they can maintain this.

For a video slide show, see my web site at http://www.bobfromcanada.com and select the presentation. If you don't already have the Photodex presenter installed (free from Photodex), you'll have to install it to open the show. You should be prompted in this case. There is also a link to this year's photo set (here on Worldisround). In either case, select Fun Royale/Tropicale - January 2009

QUESTIONS: Email me. There's a link on my site.

VERDICT: Slipped to three star, basic, clean, food good, 5 star service from a great staff. Somewhat disappointed this time, but will return.

ADDENDUM (February 4, 2009):

Since I returned, I've run into numerous people, including one of our moderators on Debbie's travel forums, that have the exact same symptoms as the people who got sick at the hotel while we were there. These people were not within a 1000 miles of the hotel. It appears that it may have been a coincidence that the outbreak and the trucked in water (broken water main) occurred at the same time. It was more than likely a flu bug carried in by a new guest. In my honest opinion, in the face of an apparent water problem, the hotel did THE RIGHT THING in switching to all bottled water, just in case.

ADDENDUM #2 (February 28, 2009)

The following is an edited post from user "almost8" (mainly spelling and capitalization) from Debbie's Dominican Travel Forums:

"This is for all readers of this site but mainly for Bob. I just returned from the Fun Royale on Feb.25. The chicken barbecue at the beach has been replaced with a new one. The chicken is super great there but that's because it's farm grown chicken used and not force fed chicken like we eat here in North America. The tractor has been fixed for the beach shuttle. There is a new toaster in the breakfast buffet. There was nothing boarded up in the buffet area like when you where there. There was 3 grilling stations going and the pasta station. Everything at the Fun Tropicale was fantastic and can't wait to go back again. Anybody who has anything to say bad about this resort was either too drunk or on drugs to enjoy themselves or this resort. It's a fantastic place to go on a holiday. I will be posting my review in the forums in a little bit."