Wanted to think about this a bit before posting it.
The resort is huge and very beautiful. There are multiple pools, great gardens and the beach has both an area with a bar and chairs and a more natural area with just palm trees.
The cliffside rooms all have a balcony with a great view and are really large. The bathroom itself in our room was huge.
A lot of the time we were there there was strong wind and waves and although you could swim in the ocean we wound up spending more time in the pool.
The staff are very nice and the manager, Patricia will take care of things right away. One couple let her know that thier mattress was too hard and they had a new softer mattress the next night. Patricia's brother Jerry is the chef there and the food is excellent. You order from a short menu and we were never dissapointed.
The entertainment staff at Caliente Caribe are lively and the evening shows were very entertaining. Pool volleyball games were spirited and fun.
The free airport transfers were a plus and the ride to and from the airport was comfortable.
Part of the time we were there Colettes was open and it is run very well. Colettes is just up the hill from the resort and is very new. It has a bar, a dance area and a beautiful deck area with view over the cliff under the stars. The only downside was that the really nice hot tub at Colettes was not heated. Some of the New Orleans Collettes/Caliente Tampa staff were at Colettes organizing it and providing the music. They had a contest where they gave away to free trips back to Caliente Caribe, which was really nice.
The resort was at approximately 10% occupancy during the week we were there. There was a small group of visitors there and we had a really good time. As we were leaving the resort occupancy dropped down to a handful of "owners" who own timeshares/units there.
One downside(or upside depending on your viewpoint) of the resort is that smoking is allowed everywhere. The beach was littered with butts there were butts in the urinals. There the dining room lacks non-smoking areas in so you just have to scout the dining tables for active ashtrays and try to pick a table strategically. Fortunately, with the occupancy at less than 10% this was not a big problem.
The other thing some guests had an issue with is the size of the resort and the fact that the dining room is at the top of the hill and the beach is at the bottom of the hill. If you have a cliffside room you have to hoof it down the hill to get to the beach, but if you have an ocean side unit you have to climb the stairs for dinner. I think there are 59 steps to get up/down the cliff if memory serves correctly.
Another oddity is that the resort power gets switched off twice a day. Air conditioner settings neet to be reset and smart chargers need to turned back on twice a day or they stop working.
The wireless was very spotty and at times almost impossible to use. One guest who had to get some work done actually took a cab to town so he could get a reasonable internet connection one day. To add injury to insult his email account was hijacked by a spammer while he was there. That is not the kind of stress you want to have on a vacation. Make sure you are using a secure (https) connection on your email if you are going to be checking it while on vacation.
So, overall, we did have a really good time. The Dominican Republic is a really beautiful country and Caliente Caribe is a great resort. This place does have a lot of potential.
If you are going and want a bigger crowd/party then go with a group and confirm the number of people who will be attending with the group organizers. We were happy to mostly relax and enjoy the amazing weather.
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