Dominican Republic hotel Be live Collection Canoa in Bayahibe (La Romana) full review with photos. Distance to airport

Hotel be live Collection Canoa in Bayahibe (La Romana) Dominican Republic ( Dominican Republic) was not a favorite when determining a vacation spot in the Dominican Republic in October. But after reading reviews about hotels on the ocean coast with its algae and waves, the choice fell on the Caribbean Sea in the Dominican Republic. The trip in October was a little scary, since during this period the rainy season ends and the holiday season itself begins in November. But looking ahead, I’ll say about the weather in the Dominican Republic in October that it rained three times, twice at night and we didn’t see it, and once during the day at about 16-00. And it was a tropical downpour for 40 minutes. The rest of the time the weather was excellent, no rain, the air temperature was 30-32 degrees and the water temperature was 29 degrees (we didn’t measure it ourselves, but an hour spent in the water was slightly cooling). And so all the details about the trip and the hotel be live Canoa in Bayahibe Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic).

• Pulkovo Airport St. Petersburg
• Punta Cana Airport Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic)
• customs and passport control at the airport of Punta Cana Dominican Republic
• be live Collection Canoa hotel room in Bayahibe (La Romana) Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic)
• what kind of sockets are there at the Canoa Hotel in the Dominican Republic? photo
• hairdryer and more in the hotel room bi liv collection Canoe

You can mainly get to the Dominican Republic from St. Petersburg or Moscow by plane. The flight from St. Petersburg to Punta Cana Airport in the Dominican Republic takes 12 hours, and Return trip takes 10 hours. And accordingly, we also flew by plane from Pulkovo airport to St. Petersburg.

The flight was operated by Pegasus-avia. Our flight was in 2-30 minutes, so there were no traffic jams. Since Pegasus Air was only a brand, the airline company was from Krasnoyarsk under the name Icarus. Icarus is missing electronic registration on the website and, accordingly, if you want to choose seats for the flight, then arrive earlier and take a place in the queue.

Pulkovo Airport check-in for flight to Punta Cana

After check-in and baggage check-in, we move to the passport control area, since we did not have things to declare, we chose the green corridor.

Green corridor

After passing passport control we find ourselves in the Duty free zone.

After getting acquainted with the assortment and cost of the goods, we moved to the waiting room. Since the flight was at night, there were two flights wandering around the airport.

Pulkovo Airport Saint Petersburg international waiting room

We were pleasantly surprised by the presence of a phone charging stand.

Pulkovo Airport phone charging

The flight took place on time, without delays. The plane was Boeing, but it was old with narrow seats. Not any individual media monitors, but if you take your headphones, there was one channel with classical music. After gaining altitude, the stewards gave us juice, soda or plain water and almost immediately began giving us dinner. Dinner is modest, but quite normal for a charter. For the second course, fish or meat, cabbage salad, cookies and bread.

Dinner on board the plane

Dinner on board the plane After dinner, the whole plane fell asleep. After about nine hours, the salon came to life, most of the people began to stretch their legs, and the outside blossomed, so that one could see either the clouds or the ocean through the porthole.

Punta Cana Airport Dominican Republic

Overboard view

They quickly offered us breakfast of a sandwich and coffee or tea, and there were two hours left to look forward to landing at the warm and so distant airport. And here it is happiness, earth...

Dominican Republic

The plane landed softly and drove along the concrete road to the parking lot.

The airport has two terminals, a new one and an old one, as it seemed to me you arrive at the old one and fly out from the new one.

Dominican Republic airport Punta Cana old terminal

We were taken from the plane to the airport by bus and everyone lined up to pay $10 per person. The procedure is very simple: one counter and a person takes 10 dollars and issues a payment slip. Take dollars, since euros are accepted 1:1 in relation to the dollar, but sometimes they remember that they are not equal.

Approach the officer, present your ticket and passports, and they give you back a stamped passport and a form in which you fill out who is going where (I was very surprised that all the fields had a Russian translation), after filling out the form you give it back to the officer and he takes the form and sends you off further towards the exit. You are all in the Dominican Republic, we run to the conveyor belt and look for our luggage. The conveyor belt is small and upon arrival big plane the belt becomes clogged with luggage and the airport employee throws it on the floor, so go to the luggage dump, maybe your things are there.

Dominican Republic Punta Cana Airport luggage belt

The arrival airport building does not have air conditioning, since there are no solid walls; a roof made of palm leaves and ceiling fans protect from the heat.

Dominican Republic Punta Cana Airport baggage claim area

Having received your luggage, we go further, pass the exchange office and the store, and there you are met by a representative of the tour operator Pegasus, who tells you which bus to go to to go to the hotel. And you head towards the exit towards the parking lot. The airport in the arrival area is small and it is impossible to get lost.

Dominican Republic Punta Cana airport exit to the airport

On the way to the bus you can stop at a small cafe.

Dominican Republic Punta Cana Airport cafe

The buses are all new with air conditioning, so it’s not hot on the way. Our bus was the smallest, since we were not going to Punta Cana, but to Bayahibe before reaching La Romana, and some further to Boca Chica. In total, we had 10 people on the bus.

Dominican Republic Punta Cana Airport parking

The journey to the hotel from the airport took 1 hour. The roads in the Dominican Republic are good, because we drove on a toll road, but maybe not because of that.

Dominican Republic roads

Hotel room be live Collection Canoa Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic)

We are approaching our hotel. We are greeted by two signs for the be live Collection Canoa hotel in Bayahibe (La Romana) Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic).

Dominican Republic hotel sign be live Canoa

As it turned out later, the hotel operates on a club system, so many people go to Canoe Veraclub. In general, this is one hotel; only Veraclub members have their own buildings and a dedicated beach area with special areas for sunbathing by the sea.

Dominican Republic hotel be live Canoa main entrance

The bus stopped under the canopy of the hotel entrance and we moved on, but then the hotel representative suggested leaving things at the entrance at the counters (pictured on the left side) near the Bell boy and going further to the reception.

Dominican Republic hotel be live Canoa front desk Bell boy

At the reception, the Pegasus representative established contact with the administrator, they immediately gave us a welcome cocktail and explained how to fill out the guest card and informed us that the rooms were not ready and we needed to come to check-in by 15-00, and the time was 10-00. This would have caused a storm of indignation if not for the Internet and reviews from tourists who warned that it was not always possible to settle earlier. And a large sign at the reception said Check at 3:00 pm.

After filling out the forms and putting the bracelet on our wrist, we went to have breakfast.

After breakfast, we took bathing things prepared separately in Russia, changed clothes in the toilet at the reception, went to get acquainted with the territory and went to the beach for a swim. Things were still standing near the Bell boy drain, although there is a luggage storage room and it is free, we used it when checking out. When we returned at 15-00 there were a lot of people at the reception, there were both French and Americans, so there is no need to say that only Russians are oppressed. At 15-00 our room was not ready, it was given at 15-20. As it turned out, the hotel has a quick check-in service that costs about $10, but we didn’t know. I would like to note that the next day tourists arrived from Moscow, and they were accommodated at 11-00 without any additional payments, so we were out of luck. It became clear why they were settling in this way when they started living, the rooms are cleaned until 17-00, which is extremely inconvenient and hanging a sign about cleaning does not affect the speed of cleaning. As we saw, there is only one cleaning lady on the floor, and if she starts cleaning from your end of the corridor, then you will get a cleaned room before lunch, if from the other end, then how will it turn out. That's the whole point of late check-in.

Hotel room be live Canoa in Bayahibe Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic)

We were placed in building (block) 16, but this is a little different, since building 16 is the second floor in building 15.

Entrance to buildings 15 and 18

Our building was connected to building 18 (block)

Hotel be live Canoa view of buildings 15 and 18

View of building 15 from the entrance, to the right in the top photo and view of building 18 in the bottom photo of the be live Canoa hotel.

View of building 18

Our buildings consist of three floors. The first floor has a balcony exit to the street, and the second and third floors have closed balconies or open balconies.

Hotel be live Canoa balconies on the 1st floor of buildings 15 and 18

The buildings are three stories high, but there are no elevators in them, so be prepared.

The entrances to the rooms are located on one side of the corridor, and the other side is open and opens onto the road outside the hotel, but very rarely anyone passed there. The road is separated by a fence and barbed wire and a video camera installed.

View from the corridor of building 15

And so we go into the room. In order for the light to turn on, you need to insert the key card into a special switch. I would like to note that in a hotel, when you remove the key from the switch, the air conditioner does not stop working, as in some hotels. This way the room is always cool.

Dominican Republic hotel be live Canoa entrance to the room

The room turned out to be spacious, just free for two people. There is a large bed and on the opposite side there is a TV with 82 channels and not a single Russian one. For children there are 5 channels with cartoons and 3 channels with music.

Hotel be live Canoa room general view

I was not pleased with the lack of a table with a chair; there was only a pouf and a shelf that sometimes served as a table. But it was easier with a chair; we took it from the balcony, but there wasn’t enough table to work with a laptop. There are nightstands on each side of the bed. On one there is an alarm clock with a radio.

Cabinet and clock with radio

From another phone.

On each side there is an individual sconce and a switch for the ceiling fan.

Ceiling fan

The room has a door with access to the next room, because of this there was quite good audibility of the neighbors. A family with a small child lived in the next room, but they did not disturb us much. This is convenient when a large family or large group is staying. There was also an interesting solution with glass doors to the toilet and shower, and a large glass window from the shower into the room, although it was frosted, it was somehow unusual.

Shared room is different

The place where the sink is located has no doors at all.

Canoa room washbasin

Hygiene products are provided at be live Canoa. Shampoo, conditioner, gel and soap. During the stay, funds were replenished and there were no problems with them.

On the other side of the sink there are napkins, glasses and a cosmetic mirror.

Like many people, they didn’t immediately bring towels upon check-in, so we had to catch a cleaning lady, and as we remember, she takes a long time to clean, but at 16-00 she was still on the floor cleaning the room. We approached her and asked her for towels, but she didn’t have any towels. To solve this problem, we used the guest desk and the Russian-speaking girl at the reception, and the next day we got a foot towel. We didn’t have any further problems with the towels, but I can’t say how often they were changed, since they weren’t thrown on the floor, and there was no obvious dirt on the towels.

Toilet room

The bathroom was without a brush and had a good hood, which turned on when the light in the toilet was turned on and it hummed very loudly. The shower room is simple and apart from the faucet or shower there is nothing, not even a shelf for shampoo. When taking a shower, water pours onto the floor of the shower room.

Be live Canoa room corridor view

Opposite the washbasin in the hallway there is a large closet. There is a mini bar in the closet. The mini bar consists of two cans of beer, 7up, Coca-Cola and 1.5 liters of plain water, of course this is free.

Hotel be live Canoa room mini bar

There was also a coffee maker next to the minibar. There were also bags of tea and sugar, and of course Dominican coffee.

Dominican Republic hotel be live Canoa coffee maker

In the large compartment of the closet, in addition to the hangers, there was a safe.

But the hotel safes are paid, $3.5 per day, and in order to use them you need to get a lock cylinder at the reception and from the day you receive the lock until the end of the period, payment is due. It is not allowed to rent the castle on special days.

There was also a hairdryer in one of the drawers, under the minibar.

Hairdryer

In the small compartment of the closet there was an umbrella, an iron and an ironing board.

Umbrella and iron in the room

Comfortable temperature is maintained by air conditioning, which worked around the clock. The control panel worked properly and the temperature could be adjusted.

Air conditioner remote control number

What worried us most was that we did not take an adapter to connect to the outlet in the Dominican Republic, but as it turned out, the hotel had universal American plus Euro outlets installed.

Dominican Republic hotel be live Canoa electrical outlet

Thus, you can use local devices with a flat plug and ours.

For ease of work, we take a regular tee, since sockets can be very loose, and on phone and laptop chargers the plugs have thin pins and do not connect well to the sockets. In such cases, a new tee saves the day, since its plug has thick pins and the sockets do not loose.

Number of electrical sockets with tees from Russia

Many are worried that in the Dominican Republic there are 110 volts, but this is not scary, since most of the radio equipment produced has an operating voltage of 100 -240 volts, so as not to rebuild production to produce equipment for different countries. So look at your power supply and you will see that you have 100 - 240 volts, but if the device is very old, then there may be problems with operation.

Laptop power supply

From the room we move to the balcony.

Dominican Republic hotel be live Canoa view 2 from the balcony in the room

Overall we were pleased with the size, equipment and service of the room. It was clean and calm, but the balcony doors were single, so if the hotel staff were dragging a cart along the alley, you could hear it. We took a fumigator with us, but it was not useful to us. We did not open the balcony in the evening and slept with air conditioning. If you sleep with the balcony door open, I think there will be mosquitoes. I would like to note one drawback of hotels in the Dominican Republic: the lack of free Internet. The hotel be live Canoa in Bayahibe Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic) turned out to be no exception, the Internet is only paid and at the reception too.

Saona Island in the Dominican Republic Caribbean Sea starfish beach and photo

The island of Saona / Saona is called the calling card of the Dominican Republic, you can even hear the expression that not visiting Saona in the Dominican Republic is the same thing...

Bee Live Collection, Dominican Republic, Bayahibe, October 2019

• Overall rating - 2/10
• Service - 3
• Food - 2
• Accommodation - 1

This hotel is simply ugly. Recommending it to anyone is a crime against humanity. Please, if you have the opportunity to go to some other hotel, do not book Be live collection canoa under any circumstances. There are already so many reviews about trashed rooms, disgusting food and rude attitude. They are all 100% true. Be live collection canoa employs unscrupulous people whose goal is to deceive guests and scam them out of money. Be carefull! The staff is deliberately misleading you. But let's start in order. We did not see any advantages in the hotel. The standard rooms are bad, very old and tired, smell damp, the plumbing works poorly, be prepared that it will be very difficult to flush. The coolest thing is the air conditioning. I have never heard such sounds, don’t forget your earplugs, otherwise you won’t be able to sleep. The food is worse than in the canteen; it was delicious once in a Japanese a la carte restaurant. The main restaurant is open air, so there are a lot of flies inside that crawl on the food. Due to the fact that there are a lot of birds on the territory, they often fly into the restaurant and walk right through the baked goods, which is just near the entrance. The quality of the dishes also leaves much to be desired; our dishes were divided into 2 categories - “tinny” and “so-so”. Due to the fact that the restaurant is essentially open air, it becomes very scary that in such heat the food can quickly spoil and no one controls it in any way, because no one cares about you. The cocktails are very sweet, not tasty. That's okay. In our case, the epic happened when leaving. The hotel has free Wi-Fi, which practically does not work. My husband urgently needed normal internet to resolve a work issue. 1 day of paid Internet costs $10, but for some reason it is no different from free Internet. When registering to use this Wi-Fi, your last name and room number are indicated; payment, as expected, is made during check out. We used this internet for 1 day with 4 gadgets. When we checked out we were presented with a bill of $40. While throughout the civilized world, people living in the same room can use paid Internet from any gadget, at the be live collection canoa hotel you will have to pay every time you access the Internet from a new device. This is not written anywhere and no one talks about it unless you ask. In response to our bewilderment and arguments that this was not said anywhere, the reception staff (photo attached) replied that these are our problems, they are not obliged to explain anything and if we do not pay the bill right away, they will call the police. 40 dollars is not that much money. We were incredibly upset that they treated us like that. It would seem that apologize, promise something and that’s it, the issue is closed. Instead, threats, rudeness, unwillingness to delve into the situation. How do you like this attitude towards guests? We are very glad that we took a ticket for only 7 days, because there is absolutely nothing else to do in this hotel. It was our first time in the Dominican Republic and to be honest, the impression was spoiled.

Be Live Collection, Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, January 2015

• Overall rating - 10/10
• Service - 10
• Food - 10
• Accommodation - 10

Pros: Excellent hotel with updated rooms.The entire territory is carefully guarded.Large veranda in the main restaurant.There is a SPA center and an amphitheater.Attentive staff.Each room has its own maid.The meat is cooked amazingly.There are dietary products. The warmest sea. The beach is illuminated in the evening.

Minuses: Some algae on the shore.

Anatoly

Bee Live Canoa Hotel, Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, April 2014, Paroy

• Overall rating - 8.3/10
• Service - 9
• Food - 8
• Accommodation - 8

Pros: The number can be changed if desired.The area is spacious.And pleases with its beauty.The refrigerator in the room is regularly replenished with drinks.The food is good.Lots of fresh fruit.Fresh juices for breakfast.Several restaurants with cuisines from different countries.A romantic dinner can be arranged on the beach.Friendly bartenders.

How it was and how it became... (Impressions of the holiday).
We vacationed from December 24, 2016 to January 6, 2017. The composition of the vacationers is a married couple. We rested in this hotel second time. The first time was a year and a half ago, so comparisons will be made as necessary. The tour was purchased from Coral, the tour operator was Anex.
Why did you go to this hotel a second time?
The first time there were no particular complaints. And the price tags of Iberostar and Dreams were significantly inferior to Bee Liv Canoa.
In my review I will touch upon the work of not only the hotel staff, but also the work of the tour operator, because... I believe that he should directly participate in the recreation of tourists, and not just take a commission for the sale of tours and sell excursions. I will also evaluate the work of Azur Air, because... This airline belongs to the Anex group of companies and is “tailored” to work with this particular operator.
So let's go...

Flight. Part 1.
The vacation began with a “pleasant” moment - the flight was moved from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. I’ll immediately warn that a number of tourists will be indignant about the charter, etc., but this is not the case here. On December 24, 2016, the entire Catholic world celebrates Christmas. We, as Orthodox people, are required (at the request of the tour operator, supposedly in the Dominican Republic this is mandatory requirement) paid for this celebration at the hotel. Accordingly, when we arrived at the hotel, the celebration was in full swing, and when we checked in, it was coming to an end. (Although we could have waited - we chipped in). This is such a service; if possible, I advise everyone to demand its inclusion in the package. Azur Air will help you take advantage of it to the fullest.
Dear Anex-Tour! I will take the liberty of making a statement from the entire Orthodox world with a request to include the celebrations of Kurban Bayram, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, etc. in the cost of tour packages. It “costs us practically nothing - only 7,000 rubles per room,” and it’s a pleasure for you and the hotel. In addition, your flight map is extensive, there are countless nationalities and holidays (free marketing tip).
But seriously, in the Russian Federation this is called imposition of services. We need to work with Dominican partners, and not listen to their demands (unless, of course, this is their “trick” and not yours). It is you who are breaking the law in the Russian Federation.

Flight. Part 2.
To the Dominican Republic.
Almost verbatim message from the captain of the ship: “Dear passengers! Our flight takes place at an altitude of 10,000 meters, the temperature outside is -50 C. Due to this, the water in our systems has frozen, and we will not be able to offer you tea and coffee, and there may be interruptions in the water supply in the toilet.”
What kind of heresy is this? What kind of airline is this that flies at such a fucking altitude and in such cold? Why weren't passengers warned before departure? Yes, you have to pay the “northern” premium. The same Emirates floats gently over the sea at a comfortable above-zero temperature in the rays of the setting sun, and they have tea and coffee, although the beer is warm.
Captain, in such situations you need to say the following: “Dear passengers. Our flight takes place at an altitude of 10,000 meters, the temperature outside is -50 C. With these two misfortunes, some kind of crap has fallen off, without which for some reason the water does not flow. Therefore, on behalf of our airline, I advise everyone to stop drinking and not get their hands dirty. Pleasant flight". What do they teach you there?
Before landing.
Announcement over loudspeaker: “Dear passengers! We are missing 3 more blankets. We urgently ask you to return the company’s property to avoid delays in disembarking passengers.”
Who is threatening like that? Learn:
Announcement over loudspeaker: “Dear passengers! We are missing 3 more blankets. A huge request to return the company's property in order to avoid the shooting of the innocent sixth row of passengers. Thanks for understanding".

Flight. Conclusion.
Take-off, landing, flight attendant work - everything is fine. Food – you can eat. The chairs are uncomfortable, there is little room for both legs and shoulders. I will describe below about the purchase of luxury seats.

Accommodation. Part 1.
Last time we noted that the rooms were not just tired, but very tired. It needs repairs and not just cosmetic ones. But we only spend the night in the room, so it’s not critical. This time everything did not go so smoothly...
We arrived late and were not kept long at the reception. The room was given in the seventh building on the third floor. The room is standard. There were no questions during check-in. But the room had a connecting door to the next room, which did not let us get bored.
As it turned out, an additional option for our stay included a LONELY, EVER DRUNK CANADIAN NEIGHBOUR. There is no soundproofing in this room as such. Usually he showed up in the room around 3 am and it began... This Canadian was shuffling along the floor like an old skier. Moreover, it felt like his ski track ran in close proximity to our bed. He turned on the light in his room, it was dawning in ours. He watched TV, we listened to him. He brought women into the room, we tried not to interfere. He fell, we sympathized.
After the first night, the decision was unanimously made to change the room, fortunately the next day we met with the hotel guide. There are no questions for the Canadian, he came to rest and does it as best he can. I didn't want to make a scandal.

Hotel guide. Elena. Part 1.
The only goal of a hotel guide, and this is not news, is to sell you something. We were in the Dominican Republic for the fifth time, we attended all the excursions and more than once, so for the Anex employee we were of the same interest as for Putin the opinion of Honduras on Crimea. The hotel guide, as it turned out, has been working in the Dominican Republic for only 4 months, and does not speak Spanish, so newly arrived tourists asked our opinion about the need to purchase this or that excursion, what and where is located in the hotel.

Cost of excursions.
All excursions in the Dominican Republic are made up of nothing. And should be perceived simply as adding variety to beach holiday. I can’t recommend anything else besides Airborne Safari, and that’s only thanks to the charisma of the Dominican Republic’s chief paratrooper, Cuban Harold. I assure you that half of the time of excursions purchased from a hotel guide you will spend at “super farms” and “super stores” where you can buy “thanks to” the guide real, genuine and at “unique” prices cigars, coffee, cocoa, larimar and so on, so on… Do you need it? Almost all excursions in the Dominican Republic require a high school level of knowledge of English (Spanish) to order drinks and ask where the toilet is. You will understand that there are palm trees and the sea around you even if they tell you this in Japanese.
For example. The cost of an excursion to Catalina Island for 1 person with guide Anex is $99. The price includes lunch. OK. The cost of the same excursion at the hotel itself is $50. I don't know if there is lunch there. But... There are local small travel agencies in the village of Bayahibe. The cost of the same excursion…35 dollars!!! We went out of curiosity and compared. There is no lunch. There is rum, soft drinks, fruit. We arrived, were picked up from the hotel (individual transfer), returned, and everything was done at a good level. The group is only 12 people. Conclusion - the cost of a lunch of rice, chicken, etc. when purchasing a hotel guide excursion for two people it costs 130 dollars (10,000 rubles). Modestly)))) All for you, dear tourists. For reference. We had lunch at an Italian cafe in Bayahibe. The cost of the lobster dinner with alcohol was $44.

Hotel guide. Elena. Part 2.
After the sale of excursions, the guide receives a unique offer to purchase a luxury seat for the return flight. Attention!!! The guide's cost for this service is $100 per seat. On the official website of Azur Air, the cost is indicated at 1,500 rubles. What is this??? When asked about the cost, the answer was: “I don’t know, these are the prices in the Dominican Republic.” Dear CEO Azur Air, in my opinion, good money is passing you by. There is no need to thank you for the information. Your Pavlik Morozov.
We go with our guide Elena to decide on changing the number. The receptionist promises that he will solve this problem only for her sake, but at the same time utters a terrible word for any foreigner in the Dominican Republic “mañana” (which is translated from Spanish as tomorrow, from “Dominican” - never). I tell Elena that the issue will not be resolved. I laughed. She said that if the issue is not resolved, then you need to call her and in general she comes to the hotel every day. This is called high self-esteem and ignorance of the country in which you work. Guess what happened the next day?

Accommodation. Part 2.
“Yesterday I told you to come tomorrow, but you came today.”
Tomorrow has arrived. Thanks to my Canadian neighbor, the night was interesting. I'm going to the reception. What are they telling me? Right. Today the issue of changing the number cannot be resolved, come back when? Correct again. Mañana. I swear with the reception staff and guest service. Useless. What does hotel guide Elena do? She's great, she takes care of her nerves. She is not at the hotel and does not answer the phone. We didn't give up. We call on hotline Anexa. Let's explain the problem. They promise to help, perhaps even today, but most likely “manyana”. They said they would call back. Nu-nu. Did you call back? Let it be a secret)))
Another night has passed. The neighbor became suspiciously quiet, apparently saving his strength for the gala concert. But now the passion for sports has begun to play within us. Announcement of the fight “Russian tourists against everyone.” I'm going to the reception. They ask you to come at 14:00. The issue is resolved. They show some kind of printout, where opposite our room number there is another number. Apparently, where they want to move us. Just in case, we call the Anex hotline. They confirm that thanks to the dedicated work of all office employees and their family members, we will indeed be relocated today. We wait.
Fanfare. We go with a hotel employee to the third building to look at the room. I’m happy, my wife is happy, Anex’s employees and their family members are happy, the Dominican is smiling too.
“Americans are stupid” (M. Zadornov).
To this day, neither I nor the hotel employee can understand why American tourists did not want Russians to share their rooms with them. Why didn't they join in our joy? For some reason they waved their hands and said that they lived here. And in general, this is not Crimea and it will not be possible to move in based on the voting results. We don't know anything. By the way, we have an official printout from the reception. Friendship won. The Dominican goes to call somewhere. Anex employees begin to hiccup.
The Dominican returns. Let's go to the fourth building to watch another number. We approach the door on which hangs a “Do not disturb” sign))). We open, no one lives, the room is naturally not cleaned, but we don’t give a damn. We decide to move.
I don’t know what kind of people lived in this room before us, but together with the residents, the home port was changed: hair dryer, umbrella, TV remote control, plugs for the sink and bathtub, and even light bulbs. With all my heart I would like to applaud them and say a big thank you to them. My wife no longer swears when I take tea bags home from the hotel. The refrigerator is naturally broken. A fairy tale, not a number.
The absence of things and the presence of breakdowns are revealed gradually. Every time I go to respechen. My feet are starting to hurt and my flip-flops are starting to wear out. The reception staff begin to gradually forget when I appear English language, then Spanish, they begin to suffer from excessive modesty, trying not to get noticed. Ha. That's not all. I forgot 2 flash drives in the safe in the previous room. When I voiced this again, the receptionist turned greenish, uncharacteristic for a Dominican.
I returned the flash drives.
The move is complete. Thanks to him, 3 days of rest passed unnoticed.

Numbers.
The rooms require renovation. The declared 5 stars don't suit it at all. Everything worked. The new TV remote control I brought turned out to be universal. What he turned on and off remained a mystery to us, but the light came on when pressed. Beauty! We decided to leave it. That's why we watched one channel. There are no Russian channels. Hotel administration, AU!!! Russian tourists there are a lot in the hotel. In my opinion, the problem of connecting the Russian channel is not worth a damn.
A new refrigerator was delivered on the same day.
The minibar is replenished normally (beer, water). Tipping still plays a role in this. Beer used to be in 0.33 liter cans, now it's 0.2 liters. (You are on the right road, comrades. The economy should be economical and so on.) There is room for improvement. Gel, shampoo, soap without question.
The number of towels cannot be logically explained. Apparently depends on lunar calendar. We didn't have it with us. Couldn't check.
Cleaning. The floors are washed and the bathroom is cleaned. Don't expect cleanliness like at home, it's not possible. Bed linen is changed.
No theft was observed.
Safe is paid. Naturally. This is 5 stars. You need to get the lock for the safe at the reception. For 13 nights we paid 46 dollars - not cheap. But there is no need to be greedy; solving the problem that has arisen will be much more expensive. Yes, I almost forgot!!!
First day, first room, just checked in. There's a knock on the door. I open it. A hotel employee is standing there. Security. He explains with gestures that he must take the cylinder from the safe, supposedly it is the cylinder from the safe of another room. He doesn't speak English. It's just some kind of p...c. I pay for the safe, and after half an hour they take away my identity. It doesn't matter what kind of metal box this mask is from, they fit everywhere. Well, take it, give another one in return. Fuck it. And anyway, what does the security guard have to do with it? Maybe this is his personal identity? He probably rents it out to the hotel, and when he goes home after his shift, he takes it home to lock up the apartment for the night. I'm going to the reception. They don't know. They shrug. It takes 20-30 minutes to resolve the issue. They give out a new identity. This is a service, this is what I understand.
Internet is paid ($60 per week). The price is as if the hotel is located in Cuba. There is a free one, but it’s like in the DMB movie: “Do you see the groundhog (Internet)? - No. “And he is.” Local legend says that the Internet should be used at night and early in the morning by the pool, and only if there is no wind and there is a full moon. We'll make do. Thanks for taking care of me.
Yes. Try not to take rooms on the third floor. During rush hour you will have problems with water pressure.

Beach. Sea. Pool.
The entry into the sea has changed. Moreover, in negative side. A year and a half ago, entry into the sea was almost perfect. Now there are stones. This is a minus.
A good place on the beach must be reserved in advance. Around 7-8 o'clock. Tourists from all countries do this, not just Russians. I feel like there are fewer sunbeds, but there are enough. The condition is normal. There are no tables for sunbeds.
Women who smoke thin cigarettes, do not show them off. The locals will torture you to “shoot”. For some reason they are not indifferent to them. One day, the wife stopped an attempt to steal a pack of such cigarettes by an employee cleaning the beach. He was pardoned and awarded 1 cigarette.
The beach seems to be clean, there wasn't a lot of trash noticed. Leaves periodically fly from palm trees, but there are not many of them.
From observations. Some Beach Chief comes to the beach. A distinctive feature of bosses is gray T-shirts. He starts screaming and sputtering. Employees responsible for cleaning the area appear, sweeping something, making diligent faces. After 3 minutes, music starts playing, the Beach Chief begins to dance, and his subordinates gradually join him. That's it, the cleaning is finished. And so it is in everything. The Dominican workers are like gov….. Well, they don’t work very well.
There are 2 bars on the beach. In fact, one. One of the bars is located on the right at the edge of the hotel territory (if you look at the sea). Who placed it there and why is apparently a mystery even to the bartender working there. There is no one there at all, since there is no entry into the sea. I suspect that when one of the hotel employees messes up, he is assigned to work at this bar, because... Lack of communication for a Dominican is one of the most serious punishments. The bar located in the center periodically fails to cope with the influx of sufferers. The line is sometimes 20 people long.
Bartenders. The guys are cheerful, responsive, don’t skimp on alcohol, and don’t know how to make cocktails.
We didn't use the pool. But it's really dirty. For 2 weeks we never saw the bottom being cleaned.

Nutrition.
Citizens, do not complain that there is little seafood in the hotel. You don't need them. Dominicans don't know how to cook them. And never learn. Because they don't understand how they can eat it. The level of the hotel does not play any role here.
In general, we have no questions for the hotel regarding food. We are not capricious people in this regard, everything seemed to be enough.
However, there are a few but...
The juices are unnatural. Remember "Yupi"? Fresh juice for breakfast - depending on your luck.
No tomato juice. (The secret is in the lobby bar).
Bad coffee in the Dominican Republic is nonsense. But in this hotel it is possible. Where did they buy it? At breakfast in a five-star hotel, are you waiting for the coffee to arrive? In vain. Go yourself. Don't spend 30-40 minutes on this.
It’s probably hard not to agree that almost every person loves freshly cooked scrambled eggs or an omelet for breakfast. And so you sit down at the table. Op. Trouble. Not salted.
The quest “Salt the Fried Eggs” begins.
Take a salt shaker and start shaking it. No, you can’t complete the task that way. Humidity.
Walkthrough. Turn the salt shaker over and take out the rubber stopper. Then we lean it against the hole, leaving a small gap so that the rice does not pass through, and gently shake it. That's it, the quest was completed under the puzzled looks of foreign tourists who were waiting for the replacement of the fourth salt shaker.
But seriously, I can’t understand why the cook doesn’t salt the scrambled eggs, as is done in all other hotels, incl. in the Dominican Republic. What is this, some kind of proprietary feature? If so, then I didn't appreciate it.
We went to a snack bar for lunch. The choice is not rich, but there is something to eat. There is soup. Therefore, if you don’t really want to go to the main restaurant, you won’t lose much.
Gala dinners.
There is nothing to say about Christmas dinner (see above).
New Year's dinner. The day before the New Year, a letter was placed in the room asking us to come to the lobby and make an appointment for dinner. We came and signed up. They also offered to buy an upgrade for New Year's dinner. There are two types of them: 20 and 30 dollars. It seems that by the pool you can taste overseas squash caviar for this money. I apologize for paying money to the tour operator. Yeah. For New Year's dinner. But it turned out that it was kind of New Year’s, but not quite. But New Year's. But not 100%. Some kind of bullshit. They didn't pay.
Retreat. New Year We celebrated with two other companies Moscow time on the beach. Who said that the import of food into the Dominican Republic is prohibited? It may be prohibited, but if necessary, then it is possible. If you don’t carry a box with 20 kg of tomatoes under your arm, then no one cares. We brought with us:
- caviar (butter and bread in a restaurant),
- Olivier in Bonduelle jars (mayonnaise, sausage and eggs in the restaurant, dishes in the same place),
- tangerines,
- Sakhalin smelt.
The guys brought 5 bottles of champagne and a whole watermelon. Believe me, our New Year's table and atmosphere compared favorably with the hotel's main restaurant. Since Vladimir Vladimirovich P. did not want to adapt to the operating schedule of the hotel Internet, his congratulations were heard over the phone and to the shouts of “HURRAY!!!” celebrated the New Year 2017.
What was 7,000 rubles in the main restaurant? As always, just decorated. If it’s a salad, then it’s in a pineapple, if it’s a waiter, then it’s in a cap, etc. There was a lot of seafood, but little use. Shrimps, which for some reason were pinned with toothpicks to a structure that apparently was supposed to mean a Christmas tree. Gentlemen, this tree stinks, and not at all like pine needles. The wife took the lobster, it turned out to have seaweed inside, the meat was brown, and after smelling it, for some reason she refused to eat it. Capricious. After that, they didn’t pay attention to oysters and mussels.
Even for a festive dinner, the concept of the main restaurant in serving drinks has not changed. The waiter will offer you red and white wine, as well as a New Year's drink - beer. For the rest, if you wish, go to the lobby yourself, or financially interest the waiter. Comfortable. The management wrinkles its forehead and thinks, the waiters don’t strain themselves for free, you relax.
We didn’t go to ala carte, we went last time. There's nothing to do there. Uninteresting and tasteless.
In terms of nutrition, everything seems to be okay.

Village of Bayahibe.
I'll explain in detail how to get there. Let's go to the beach. Turn right towards the lighthouse (Iberostar Hotel). We pass a mini market, a row of hotels, a lighthouse, and walk along the beach past Iberostar. Behind Iberostar there is another mini market. We don't need him. Behind the market is the municipal beach, where the local population relaxes. Here we turn right into the interior of the island and go out onto the asphalt road. You can't go wrong - locals who come to the beach park here. To your left is the hotel fence, to your right are thickets and some kind of swamp. After 150 meters the road turns left. We walk another 300-400 meters and we are there. There are a lot of restaurants, shops, local travel agencies. If you want to save money, go, don't be lazy. Price range: lobster (delicious) 20 dollars, cigar (good) about 10 dollars (at the hotel the same 25 dollars), magnet 1 dollar, etc. Bargain. Here you can buy rum, coffee, cocoa in the store. Prices compare favorably with hotels and duty free.

Territory.
Nothing remarkable. Medium size, everything clean and tidy. There are many different birds that take great pleasure in relieving themselves on the sidewalks.

Animation.
Present. For me, that's good enough quality. But it is far from the level of the same Iberostar. We didn't go to the evening performances. Since everything is the same - Michael Jackson, hocus-pocus, etc. Artists migrate from one hotel to another. We don’t go to comedy performances and various competitions because... you don’t understand anything, everyone around you is laughing and clapping, you, like an idiot, are also clapping, but only with your eyes.

Greed.
This is the first hotel where we encountered locals vacationing. The hotel management apparently decided that selling weekend tours to the local population, he will not only earn money, but also strengthen friendship between peoples. Gentlemen, I am not a racist, but I will still express my opinion. If a dark-skinned Dominican can afford to pay for himself and his family to visit an all-inclusive hotel for 1 day, he automatically ranks himself among the host of celestials. You have to see how they behave. But he's cool and he doesn't care what they think of him. They are the loudest, they are the most demanding, they need the most space, the queue at the bar is not for them... In general, this particular hotel has this problem.

Well, the weather.
Everything is as usual. Rain at night or early morning. Then it’s dry, warm and everything is fine. The only cloudy day before lunch was January 1st. But January 1st is the same in all countries, things get better by lunchtime))))

P.S.
I am a fairly positive person, I try not to notice all the unpleasant little things. But this vacation somehow got out of the general order.
All of the above pleasures cost us 320,000 rubles.
With your permission, I will present the conclusion in a fictitious dialogue.

Will you come to our hotel again?
- Certainly.
- When?
- Manyana.

All. Thank you all for your attention, good luck and have a good rest.