Majestic Colonial Punta Cana - All Inclusive

“Still as Nice as it Gets!”

We were here from Oct 24th – Oct 30th. This was our second trip and here are my honest, general thoughts on the resort, our room, and a few other things. I’m sorry in advance it’s so long but I guess nobody is forcing you to read it LOL. This is only my opinion; your experience may have been or ma… more

We were here from Oct 24th – Oct 30th. This was our second trip and here are my honest, general thoughts on the resort, our room, and a few other things. I’m sorry in advance it’s so long but I guess nobody is forcing you to read it LOL. This is only my opinion; your experience may have been or may be totally different. I’ll do a general overview then more detailed stuff following for anyone interested. Overview: This resort is still the nicest we have ever been to, we did Jamica last year and while the country was amazing, the resort didn’t come close to this one. The people are professional, they want to help anyway they can and go out of their way to make sure you feel welcome. It had been two years since we had been here, and I was surprised how many of the staff remembered us. Luis, a bartender said when he saw me “Ah…Mr. Jack & Coke, nice to see you are back,” LOL. The grounds are as close to perfect as you can get in appearance, housekeeping does an outstanding job, cleaning going on everywhere you look around the resort. While we were here the beach had very little, if any seaweed and they kept it cleaned up great, the beach is beautiful! We were on the Club side, there is a portion of the beach just for adults that we enjoyed, plenty of chairs and loungers, there are also beds by the adult pool area, and some were always available during our stay. I had no problem with Wi-Fi anywhere on the resort. I think all the restaurants have good food and I can’t imagine anyone not being able to find something they like. Everyone’s taste is different, there were some we liked better than others, but we both found good meals at all of them. It’s not Five-Star Dining but you aren’t paying for that either. The bars had good quality liquor, drinks were not watered down, and the bartenders are great at mixing whatever you might want. As I was sitting in the lobby bar it occurred to me, the only sad faces I saw all week were those of people checking out to head home. Everything to love and not much at all to be disappointed in. OK, here is more if you are interested. Check-in: We arrived about 2:00pm on a Thursday, check-in took less than 20 minutes, that includes being escorted to the private check-in area because of being on the Club Side, paperwork, all that good stuff. We were served a glass of wine and offered some snacks, then we were escorted to our room by our butler. If your room isn’t ready when you check in, there is a bar right there and you can get a drink or two while you are waiting. Room: We had a 1-bedroom suite, they are all on the 4th floor, our room number was 3413, actually this is the second time we had this exact same room. This room was HUGE, it had a separate living area and bedroom area which works great for us because I am a morning person and my wife isn’t, so I don’t wake her up in the morning while I get some work done. It had two balconies, one along the front overlooking the pool area and then another to the side that had a private jacuzzi and sunbathing area. I am told there are only a few of this kind of room with the private jacuzzi area. Plenty of hot water, comfortable beds, frig restocked each day with water, sodas, and beer, towels big enough to be used a blanket, and housekeeping was great. AC kept the room at a comfortable 70 - 71 degrees but you should know that if any of the sliding doors are open, even 1/16th of an inch, the AC shuts off. There is a sensor letting it know there is an open door/window and not to cool the outdoors. There is a safe in the room that you set your own code on, and it is big enough for a laptop and several other items. They also have coffee makers (use the bottled water) and coffee like everything else is restocked daily. Restaurants: At the buffets and all restaurants for that matter, I think almost anyone can find something they like. When I do an all-inclusive, I am not expecting 5-star dining. Be honest, for the price you pay, there is no way they could afford that quality of food and stay in business. Everyone’s taste is different, our favorite this trip was the seafood and the steak restaurants that are on the beach, but again, they are all good and I would think anyone can find something they like at all of them. The buffets are typical, a huge selection regardless of what meal you are eating and a great option for grabbing a quick bite. All the restaurants have great service, they go above and beyond to serve you and make your meal enjoyable. If you want reservations at La Gourmet or Matsuri I would recommend making those the day you arrive. If you are on the Club Side, your butler can help you with reservations. To address some of the comments I have read at times in the past, nobody I talked to here has become sick from the food (other than eating too much), My wife and I drank the water served at the tables and didn’t experience any issues. Bottled water is available all over the place and is also restocked in your room daily. If you need some bottled water, just stop by any of the bars and tell them how many you need, they will be happy to give it to you. The food is prepared safely as far as I could tell, cleanliness appears to be of upmost importance, I just saw no issues like I have read in a few reviews. Bars: All the bars had great service, they have good quality liquor, drinks are NOT watered down, and the bartenders were all very friendly and knowledgeable of drinks. I’m not sure how many bars there are at the resort (many) and all the restaurants serve liquor also. You don’t have much of a walk at all to get a drink. My drink of choice is pretty simple, Jack & Coke, but I saw some amazing looking drinks, they can set you up or just let them surprise you with something. It turns out my non-drinking wife is now a fan of the Dirty Monkey and the Blue Hawaiian LOL. Evening Theater Entertainment: This is the only place I am critical of, and it’s not directed toward the on-stage talent. Overall, the evening entertainers are good. Among the many hats I have worn in life, I have performed music professionally since the age of 13 (I am 61 now), and while I never made it “big”, I did play backup and opened shows for several performers that did. I have some idea of what it takes to put on a show and what a show should sound and look like. All of the shows had a decent amount of talent on stage, and they worked their butts off trying to entertain the guests. The resort either needs to get someone trained on running their sound board or contract with someone that knows what they are doing. It did the musicians and singers a huge disservice, they were better than they sounded. With a permanent theater setting like this one, having good sound should be a no-brainer, the venue conditions don’t change from night to night like with a touring group and it’s the same shows weekly on a rotating basis. Just program the sound board for each show…really, it’s not hard at all. During the “Rock Show,” about half of the audience left by the 5th song. That said, overall, if you are looking for something to do at night, it’s worth checking out in spite of the sound issues, support the entertainers. The theater itself is very nice and has its own bar. This was the only issue I was critical of when I was here 2 years ago, and it has gotten worse. Come on Colonial, show some respect to your entertainers. Suggestions: - Our room didn’t have many plugins, so a light extension cord or two might be a good idea if you have several electronic devices. - A large cold cup that will keep your drinks cold is handy, they are happy to fill them for you. - I would recommend downloading WhatsApp before you get to the resort if you don’t have it already, your butler uses it to communicate with you as does Go Majestic transport if you use them. - Bring PLENTY of 1’s and 5’s for tipping. These people work their butts off to make our vacations memorable, they work long days and do it with a smile. Show them a little love. - If you are traveling with someone you want privacy from when bathing or changing clothes, I would suggest some of those stick-on hooks and a light-weight plastic shower curtain. The toilet and shower have privacy doors, but the bathtub and changing area are open to the rest of the room. BTW, at least in our room, the shower was really large, if it’s not wet from being used, you could easily change in there. - For your refrigerator daily restocking, we just left a dollar bill under or attached to each thing we would like to have more of. A dollar under the Coors beer tab or under an empty can in the frig and I had 8 beers when I got back to the room. A dollar bill under an empty Oreo cookie package and we had about 6 packages, they understood and took care of us great. Same with my wife wanting more facial wash clothes, when she left the tip on the bed for housekeeping, she would just lay whatever she needed more of by the tip, they were great. Other Stuff Transport From/To Airport: We used Go Majestic again this time; they are affiliated with the resort, and they are great. On time, professional, very clean van, private transport, exactly what you would want. When we landed in Punta Cana, I had a message on WhatsApp from one of their representatives that included his picture and directions to the Go Majestic counter in the airport. I can’t recommend them enough. Excursions: Last time we were here we did a few excursions through Go Majestic, and they were great, I highly recommend them, and you can wait and see everything they have available and book here at the resort, they are in the lobby area. This time we decided to do something different and hired a local private driver. Manuel (Manny) took us to do some shopping in local stores, we ate at a real Dominican restaurant, and he even arranged a tour of a public school, my wife is a retired schoolteacher, and she loved it. We also got to see more of the real Dominican Republic away from the resort, it was a great day. He picked us up at the resort at 9:00am and we got back about 2:45pm and it cost $240.00 USD before tipping. We never felt unsafe, and he took great care of us. It’s well worth it if you want to get off the resort but don’t want to do a group tour that might include some things you are not interested in.

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