Sanctuary Cap Cana, All-Inclusive Only Adult Resort

“Anniversary trip”

My husband and I visited this resort for our 8th anniversary. We booked an ocean view Castle Junior Suite. Upon arrival, we had a piece of Black Forest cake, Dominican Cacao, and bottle of Mamajuana waiting in our room to celebrate. Our butler was Eric, and he was the BEST! He took us on a tour of… more

My husband and I visited this resort for our 8th anniversary. We booked an ocean view Castle Junior Suite. Upon arrival, we had a piece of Black Forest cake, Dominican Cacao, and bottle of Mamajuana waiting in our room to celebrate. Our butler was Eric, and he was the BEST! He took us on a tour of the resort, and alerted us daily of activities and restaurant selections available. He was available via What’s App for any concerns or questions we had. As stated in other reviews, the beach is not clear blue water, but we knew that going in. I grew up going to “dirty Myrtle” so it wasn’t an issue for me. The seaweed is better on some days than others, but they have a crew that works their tails off raking the beach and trying to contain it. I also suggest water shoes and small steps because upon entry there are some large rocks and dips, but once you get out a bit, it is no longer an issue. The pool areas are great, and there are several to choose from. Someone was always willing to grab your towels and get you set up in a nice spot. Drink service was on point, we never had to wait long between rounds. Although tips are “included”, I would suggest bringing a little extra for that. I saw how hard the employees work, most in long pants in incredible heat and humidity. I would rate the restaurants 4/5. The first night at Blue Marlin was not good. I think our order was lost in translation. I put that on myself, for visiting a country where I don’t speak the language. I could have used Google translate. I would suggest that if it seems you are not being understood. I won’t name the waiter because again, that’s on me. In contrast, Bladimir and Danny as servers at the Steakhouse were great. That was our favorite restaurant so we ate there twice. We also had a nice dinner at Capriccio. The Casabella lunch buffet had a nice daily lunch selection, and you can also visit the smaller restaurants in Sanctuary Town, a small area across from the main hotel which has pizza, sushi, beer, and ice cream/sweets. The Wok was closed on our visit so we did not get to try that. Overall, there is a large selection to choose from and room service is available 24 hours with a $10 service fee. We enjoyed our first stay in DR, and would definitely consider rebooking this resort on a return trip.

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“Overall, the BEST trip of our lives!”

I planned this trip for over 6 months and read every review. This trip was for our 34th wedding anniversary. I really wanted to stay in the Castle, but our airfare from Colorado ( and a sick dog) really ate into the budget so we didn’t upgrade from our Junior, Ocean-front room. The location of our … more

I planned this trip for over 6 months and read every review. This trip was for our 34th wedding anniversary. I really wanted to stay in the Castle, but our airfare from Colorado ( and a sick dog) really ate into the budget so we didn’t upgrade from our Junior, Ocean-front room. The location of our room in building 1 was perfect! Quiet, close to the pools and most of the restaurants. We were on the third floor. Our air conditioner kept going back to 66 degrees ( BRrrrr! ) even though we had maintenance come and my husband tried to re program. That was a bit miserable. The rooms were very basic, ( except for the shower!). The mini bar was silly- soda and water and some low end beer,( think Budweiser or Coors). But the PEOPLE!! AMAZING! It didn’t matter where we stayed, we were treated like VIP’s. Eduardo at Casa Bella and Capriccio’s was an amazing server! Loved hearing about his sweet family. Katia at Casabella was the sweetest hostess as was Ginette. Happy Boy at the pool made sure we had our same poolside chairs with towels everyday and when he finally had a day off, he passed us to Felix, who took great care of us also! Hats off to Nathaniel and his wonderful bike tour and his help with the night time entertainment. We are already planning our next trip back! Do yourself a favor and book this resort. I would have given 5 starts BUT the administrative staff was rude and also didn’t acknowledge our anniversary though I told them several times. A couple in the Castle got flowers and a cake for their 10 year.

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“Beautiful relaxing resort”

TL;DR: Beautiful resort that’s great for couples who want to relax. Fun daytime activities and evening shows, disappointing beach. Average all-inclusive food and delicious cocktails. ATMOSPHERE/VIBE: The design of this resort is GORGEOUS. It was the perfect mix of beachy (colorful wooden cottages… more

TL;DR: Beautiful resort that’s great for couples who want to relax. Fun daytime activities and evening shows, disappointing beach. Average all-inclusive food and delicious cocktails. ATMOSPHERE/VIBE: The design of this resort is GORGEOUS. It was the perfect mix of beachy (colorful wooden cottages, thatched roofs) and elegant (castle). The architecture was beautiful and colorful! We couldn’t stop commenting on how well this resort was designed. There was so much comfortable seating throughout the resort. You could always find a place to relax in with multiple pools throughout. We loved all of the beds around the pools and enjoyed many naps in them! We were surprised at how empty it was, but October is the slow season. This resort was very relaxing. I would not come here to party with a big group. Most of the guests were early risers and evenings were very relaxed. Only negative is the weddings they host. We were there for two and they were so loud in the evening. We could clearly hear the music in our cottage which wasn’t close. Thankfully it ended at 11. No outdoor hot tubs was also disappointing. ROOMS: There are 19 different room categories at this resort so I can only comment on the two we saw. We booked a room in the castle. It was quite large but I was disappointed with the decor. It felt like any old hotel room- not beachy or castley. We had an awesome balcony that had waves crashing up to it which we loved. However, we got a leak in our room and were moved to the other side of the hotel into a beachy villa and it was gorgeous! We loved hanging out on the back patio and napping with the sounds of the ocean waves crashing, palm trees swaying in the breeze, and the spa-like music playing softly on speakers throughout the resort. FOOD: Ehhhhh I thought it was a bit lacking even for an all-inclusive. Breakfast and dinner were pretty good but lunch was a bit hard to find anything we liked. (Note: we don’t eat seafood so maybe if you did, it’d be better). We mostly drank non-alcoholic beverages and they were delicious!! We did comment on how the alcohol selection was a much nicer tier than most all-inclusives. ACTIVITIES: The resort’s app is really great and tells you the daily activities. We especially loved all the arts and crafts. We did painting, macrame, cigar rolling and basket weaving. There’s also daily dance lessons (we did salsa). We did the bike tour (which basically just shows you the neighboring construction around the resort and another beach). I did morning yoga but skipped the other work out classes like water aerobics and beach volleyball. The activity staff is awesome and try to make sure everyone is having a great time. The evening entertainment was pretty good. We were most impressed with the magic show, fire show and jazz night. BEACH: 0/10. Sadly the beach is small so you can’t take any walks and the ocean is rocky and we had lots of seaweed when we were there (October). While I’m typically a beach girl and hardly hang in the resort pools, I couldn’t even enjoy this beach. The water is also very brown (no snorkeling). There are plenty of chairs and umbrellas for hanging out on the beach though! And the sand is soft. SPA: We enjoyed our 50 minute massage with an added on hot stone feature. Even though we didn’t book a couples massage they still put us in the same room which was nice. The hydrotherapy experience is probably pretty good if you’re into that sort of thing (sauna, cold plunge, steam room, cold pool). I did think the massages were overpriced, but we were able to find a discount! On Friday they offered 30% off. STAFF: Most of the staff was very friendly, saying hello when you walk by and offering help such as grabbing pool towels. There were a few who seemed annoyed but I suppose they can’t all be great. I’ve traveled quite a bit and this resort has had the biggest language barrier. Most employees can speak English but there were a few I struggled to communicate with. There were a few stand out employees who really made our trip!! Jefrison (Ninja) from the entertainment team made us feel right at home at the resort. He was the source of much of our fun! We were always excited to see him. Edwardo was our favorite server! Always a big smile on his face. The hostess at Casa Bella made our morning. She taught us to say our room number in Spanish and was so fun! Camacho was our butler and he was a gem and very helpful. The resort should give their butlers cooler outfits! I felt so bad for him in that hot coat.

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