Casa Marina Hotel

Sosua, Dominican Republic - November 1998

Booking.

Before I visit the Dominican Republic, and even before I buy my plane tickets, I like to have a confirmation in writing, as I’ve had problems before at various hotels, where they had no record of my reservation upon my arrival. I had already toured the resort on my last visit and inquired on prices but since Richard of TA Tours was a representative and frequent poster on the DR One message board, I thought I’d give him the business. Although he was able to get us a better price than I was able to get on my own (about $65 vs. $75 per night, per person, all-inclusive), it took lots of phone calls over about a month and it was like pulling teeth before I actually received a written confirmation stating my arrival and departure dates, the type of accommodation, and price. Richard indicated he was having troubling obtaining such a written confirmation from the resort. I took more calls and e-mails over about another month to finally get a written confirmation that the room had been prepaid. It was very frustrating to call and never be able to talk to a live person when I called. Instead, I always had to leave a message, many of which were not returned, at least within the several days I'd wait before calling again. Next time, I’ll save the stress and book direct.Arrival.

We arrived via Puerto Plata Airport and paid RD$150 (about US$10) for a taxi to the hotel. We were handed punch drinks immediately in reception and check-in was quick, except they had not given us the room type that I had confirmed, a first floor room. They changed us to another room, and we had to hang out a bit in the lobby while they confirmed the room was ready (it was 4pm). We walked down to the room, but there wasn’t any way to lock the safe in the room, so it was back to the front desk. I was a little annoyed they hadn’t offered this at check-in.

The safe key cost an extra US$3 per day, so I just paid in cash. We were given papers about the various restaurants at the resort, but it was not very informative. There wasn’t any information about the 9am-1pm reservation time requirements, nor much about the resort at all. Knowing that the a-la-carte restaurants are usually of a bit higher quality than the buffet, I wanted to make a reservation for any one of them. No way. You have to make a reservation between 9am and 1pm, so those who arrive the first day have no choice but to eat at the buffet.

The Room.

The room was a standard sized hotel room but lacked some very basic amenities. There wasn’t any remote for the TV, no tables, no ice bucket or water pitcher, and even the balcony had no table. The TV had about 6 channels, 3 in English. The dresser, which held the TV and a lamp, had 3 drawers, so with 2 guests there wasn’t enough space to put our stuff. This meant keeping most of the clothes in our suitcases and there wasn’t a suitcase stand. With no table, there was very little space to place things. There wasn’t even a chair, so TV watching had to be done from one of the two queen sized beds.

The beds were comfortable but the pillows were inconsistent. Two were nice and comfortable and two were like rocks. The room lighting was inadequate. The lampshades were black opaque covers, so with all the lights on, we could only obtain a dim glow. We improvised by removing the shades. It was better to have some light and stare at the bare bulbs, which I estimate were 40 watts. The balcony had two plastic chairs. Drinks had to be set on the floor because there wasn’t a table.

The air conditioner worked very well. The sliding glass door locks were broken so we could not lock the room. I reported it right when I checked in, and 3 more times over the next two days but it wasn’t until midway through the 3^rd day of our 4-day trip that they actually fixed the locks and we could lock our room.

The Resort.

The resort was quite beautiful. It was set along the shore, part of which was beach and part of which were rock cliffs. Winding throughout the resort and through the rock cliffs were cement sidewalks. The rock cliffs were substantially wide and contained numerous cement platforms at various levels with beach chairs spread throughout. The layout of the resort basically consists of 2 buildings, each set in a horseshoe shape with the opening facing the water and a giant pool in the center. We stayed in the new building, which was the one closest to the reception. The older building was closed and being renovated but we preferred to hang out by its pool, which was a bit nicer.

The Pools.

There where actually 3 pools, but one was real small. The other two were gigantic and beautiful, with plenty of beach chairs. With so many guests hanging out along the cement platforms of the cliffs or on the beach, the pool areas were never crowded in the least. Some of the beach chairs around the pools were comfortable (about 1/3) and the rest were the uncomfortable cheap plastic kind. With half the resort closed, we never had trouble finding free chairs of the comfortable type and never had to get up early and to reserve them with beach towels, but if the resort ever were to fill up, I predict major shortages.

One thing about the pools was that both were 4 ½ feet deep throughout, with no shallow end, so for those of short, your only choice is the staircase or the long platform that slopes down into each pool. I found the platforms dangerous, as they were slippery and steep enough such that I almost wiped out a couple times as I carefully negotiated them into the pool. None of the pools had a beach bar or any means at all to get a drink. If you wanted a drink, you had to walk over to one of the two beach bars, which weren’t real close. There weren’t any tables anywhere around either pool (or out on the cement platforms), so your stuff and your drinks had to go on the floor. Around the pools, there wasn’t any type of service at all. Even the towel exchange was a good walk from the pools.

The Beach.

The beach is one of the better in the area. The sand is a coarse dirty/golden brown so it isn’t very pretty. This is typical of this part of the island. The beach area of Casa Marina is deep and wide, with a heavy surf crashing onto it. Snorkeling was non-existent here. I took my snorkel stuff out into the water there, which was difficult with the waves crashing in, and saw nothing but sand. It gets deep fast. Within 10 yards, the water was about 20 feet deep.

On one day, the waves were as high as 12-foot and averaged about 6-foot. I had a great time playing in the waves but some of them were too big even for me, and I was slammed down a few times and got some sand scrapes. Not too many people seemed to go into the water. There was only a single boat for the resort and when I wanted to water ski, it was either out with scuba tours, or scheduled to go out. I inquired about jet skis, but was told it wasn’t allowed in Sosua anymore. I believe them because I never saw a jet ski out anywhere in the area for the whole trip.

Instead, I walked over to Sosua beach where I hired a boat for some water-skiing. It was bad because we couldn’t find a smooth area and the boat was too slow, but I enjoyed it anyway. We just about capsized when he dropped me back off at Casa Marina as the boat almost got thrown over sideways by the surf. Note that the surf seemed a bit stronger than when I visited in July.

Sosua Beach.

Sosua beach is a 15-minute walk from the resort and is much bigger and public. The back of it is lined, wall-to-wall, with shacks selling every possible trinket, with some tiny bars and eateries mixed in. It is one of those areas where the tourist cannot just walk by without being hassled every few feet to buy something. The beach is wide enough though that you can walk it and be clear of the shacks. The beach is in the shape of a big half-circle, with cliffs at either end. There are no hotels or businesses of any significance on Sosua beach. The only bathrooms are the public ones at one end of the beach, which was OK, but they had signs up saying it cost 5 pesos (about US$0.33) to use. Nobody ever charged me. There were also some shack porta-potties behind some of the shacks, but they were really disgusting.

Food.

The food at the Casa Marina buffet was severely limited and not too good. In fact, the food at the $30 a night hotel next door (Sosua by the Sea, from my visit a few months prior) was superior. I’ve eaten at a lot of places in the DR and the buffet here ranks among the worst. I could have gotten by, but Veronica was disgusted by it. Service was non-existent as well.

We decided to eat at the place next door called the Waterfront. This place was not part of the resort but one can walk literally from the resort into their restaurant. In a word, the Waterfront gets 4 stars, stars which I don’t give out easily. It was beautiful, set along the rock cliffs overlooking the water and coastline, had tremendous attentive service, a great menu selection, and the food was excellent. Everything from atmosphere, presentation, taste, top shelf liquors, fabulous coffees, etc. was on par with what I would expect from a top notch resort. It was too bad it wasn’t part of the resort.

In the morning, there is only one place at Casa Marina open for breakfast and that is the buffet in the main dining room. It was bad. There weren’t any cooked-to-order eggs available. Instead, one had to settle for severely under-cooked scrambled eggs with do-it-yourself toast using stale bread. The juices were all from a mix. There was only one selection of meat per day, such as bacon one day, a resemblance of sausage the next. I opted not to try it. The breakfast buffet for this whole massive resort consisted of about 6 pans of food. There was fruit that consisted of unripened watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, and papaya. There were trays of lunch meat and cheese too.

To top it off, each morning we arrived at about 9am and we, along with some other guests, were left wondering around because there weren’t any tables available. The place was overflowing. I don’t know what they do when the place is full. Lunch wasn’t much better.

The next night, we decided we’d try the Italian restaurant, which I reserved early the second morning. It was real bad as well. Only a few wines to choose from (extra cost), several pasta dishes, and pizza. No meat of any kind was available. I had the ravioli. It was fair. Veronica has some other pasta dish but said the sauce was awful and couldn’t eat it. After these experiences, we decided to skip food at the resort for the rest of the trip, with the exception of some light snacking around lunch.

The 3^rd night we also ate at the Waterfront and had a repeat experience. Great food, great atmosphere, and great service. It was priced accordingly. We averaged about US$50 per person per night, including appetizers, drinks, dessert, etc. Their desserts and after dinner drinks were wonderful tableside productions. I can’t say enough about the Waterfront restaurant. It ranks in the top 5 places I’ve ever eaten at in the Dominican Republic.

The last night, we decided to try the German place ½ block up the street from the Waterfront restaurant. It was called Little Deuseldorf. The food was OK, the service was OK, and the price was moderate, but we wouldn’t do it again. They ran out of their only white wine during our meal. It was more of a German diner, but not bad. Too bad they aren’t open for lunch because it would have made a good lunch spot.

Activities.

We had been interested in doing a Jeep tour. I went down to the activities desk at the resort and the guy was arguing with someone on the phone. It seems he had reserved a spot for some guests on an excursion, but the excursion people didn’t haven’t it down and now they were full. He went on and on in Spanish for about 5 minutes. After he got off the phone, I asked him in English about what I overheard, but he denied it all. I guess he figured I didn’t speak Spanish. Then, I opened his tours book to a page the described a water ski tour. I was very interested. Then he told me they still did the tour but without the water-skiing. The Jeep tour was an 8-hour tour, and since weather had been rain every other hour so far, I decided to skip the organized excursions and this guy I just didn’t trust. Across the road from the resort but still inside the compound, there were several tour desks arranging excursions that seemed a lot more competent at what they were doing, so I’d go there if I were to consider one in the future.

The Bars.

The bars at the Casa Marina were pretty bad. They were poorly stocked, except for the one bar located right on the beach, but that one wasn’t included and we had to pay cash. The other bars had about 6 bottles of liquor in their entire stock, and even fewer mixers. We went to the disco every night at about 11p, but we were the only people in there, so we didn’t stay.

We wandered over to the bar next door at Sosua by the Sea. There, we had a great time. There were only a handful of guests around the bar but it was set up real nice, their bars were fully stocked and included all top shelf and brand name liquors, and the bartenders were very friendly and chatted with everybody all night.

As we were leaving the resort to hit the town, we were offered a ride to Casa Marina’s new bar in town and the offer came with free admission and a free taxi ride there. We went, but didn’t stay more than a minute. It was dark, overcrowded with Dominican men, way too loud to talk to the person next to you, and I didn’t care for the type of music being played. Now I love loud dark crowded bars, but this place was TOO loud and TOO crowded. It was making my girlfriend very uncomfortable, so we went across the street to a place called Merengue bar, an outdoor place, and just watched the crowds on the street.

I had already been to the discos in town on a previous trip, but we never made it out after this visit because of the long and wonderful nights we had dining at the Waterfront restaurant.

Puerto Plata/Café Cito.

I decided to take a day trip into Puerto Plata. After the traditional stops such as the old forts, the amber museum, the town square, the shopping, etc., we decided to go a place that I had found on the Internet called Café Cito (http://members.spree.com/cafecito/). It had been described as "A little cafe hidden away
down a narrow alley in a shaded courtyard under a towering mango tree with jazz in the air and a gas grill where we prepare delicious Caribbean and Mediterranean specialties day and night." We walked down a street, through a slit between two buildings, and entered a tiny courtyard.

What we found hardly resembled the picture on the web site. It was more of a two story shack with seating for maybe 15 by my estimate (although he said he had a private party of 20 coming later). We were the only guests besides a few people carrying on with the owner, who seemed to be friends of his. The owner is a scruffy looking Canadian named Tim Hall, a 15 year ex-pat. He sat down with us and chatted for quite some time but we were in a hurry. The food took a long time. The owner does everything himself.

The food was wonderful, but the atmosphere was nasty. From the rusty can napkin holder to the view of rusty rooftops of Puerto Plata to the shack-type joint we were seated in, this place needs a major fixing up. We had a good time, but wouldn’t go back and were glad to get out. I must repeat that the food was great and the owner whipped up some dipping sauces that were out of this world. And the fried vegetables were excellent. Of course, it really isn’t a restaurant. It’s the owner’s "hobby" as he calls it. Give it a visit if you favor flavor over atmosphere.

Playa Dorada.

We stopped by Playa Dorada and toured the Victoria, Gran Ventana, Jack Tarr, and Paradise resorts. We had a trip planned for Christmas and had pre-booked Jack Tarr. We wanted to check the place out and on the advice of an ex-employee of the area, asked which were the best resorts in Playa Dorada. But after seeing Jack Tarr, we cancelled. It was very unimpressive, especially at the $220 per night per person they were asking. $75, maybe, if the food was good, but my agent had warned me otherwise.

The Victoria was a nice little hotel, but was a little too budget for the kind of place we were looking for to spend the holidays.

We thought the Gran Ventana and Paradise resorts were very nice, and had they been available we would have switched to either of those resorts for the holidays, but they were booked solid Christmas through New Years. We might go back some other time when the prices are lower, but cancelled the whole Christmas trip for now. The entire Playa Dorada area just wasn’t any nicer than where we were already staying was significantly pricier. The beach certainly wasn’t anything great. I have to wonder about all the great trip reports I’ve read about the Playa Dorada area being so fantastic. Those people must not get out much. The area was good and at least the Gran Ventana and Paradise resorts were very nice, but nothing to rave about. Since our advisors had told us the remaining resorts were just must of the same only less, we didn’t tour any other of the hotels at Playa Dorada.

Cabarete.

We also did a day trip to Cabarete. They have a really great beach, but I think of it more of a day-trip destination unless you are into wind-surfing. My girlfriend remarked that the town seemed like the kind a place you might backpack into and just hang out. We toured the Estrella del Mar on the beach of Cabarete, and again, were unimpressed. It seemed OK, but nothing spectacular. It is supposed to be the nicest place in Cabarete, and probably is. Cabarete is mostly low to moderate in style. Its lodging and dining options tend to be on the casual side of things, with the main strip and beach being lined with small eateries, bars, surf shops, and small hotels. Their tourism development is much more mature than other parts of the Dominican Republic I’ve visited, complete with modern multi-floor beach shops and bars and restaurants built for hanging out at along the beach.

Departure.

Departure from the hotel was uneventful and speedy. It took minutes and cabs waiting just outside the door as always.

Summary.

Casa Marina is a beautiful and massive resort with an excellent location on a nice beach, bad food, bad bars, and poor service at a reasonable price. While not as good of a value as Sosua by Sea next door ($25-35 per room per night vs. $70 per person per night at Casa Marina), it still is a fair overall value. If you like really nice pools and want to be on a nice private beach, or if you enjoy hanging out in the sun undisturbed, this is a very pretty place, but plan on eating, drinking, and enjoying nightlife elsewhere and don’t expect any service. This resort could easily become a world class resort by overhauling their food and beverage services, increasing staff, adding more seating areas for dining, putting tables out by the pools, balconies, and in the rooms, adding some attention to details, and going the extra mile in amenities. As it is, I can only give it a fair to good rating. I would probably not return here, since guests of Sosua by the Sea get a nicer room, a much lower price, better food and beverage service, yet have access to Casa Marina’s beach and beauty.

Jim Hinsch

JimHinsch@CSI.COM