Margaritaville Island Reserve Cap Cana, By Karisma

I was part of a tennis group who played at Margaritaville and my family joined as well. We stayed in a family suite which the layout was very convenient. We had no handsoap, no hand towels, and the cream colored pull out couch had many stains. We ordered extra sheets and blankets to cover it so it wasn't a big deal but still not ideal. The resort was the perfect size, not too big but lots of options for pools and restaurants. The food is probably one of the strongest features of the resort, we ate at all the a la cartes, buffet for breakfast and the comfort beach hut for lunch. Ramon and his amigo at the comfort beach hut were so incredibly friendly, quick and accommodating. At the breakfast buffet one server stood out but I can't remember her name but I'll attach a photo, she was attentive and interactive with my sons, outstanding service. We mostly hung out at the family pool and the bartenders and servers who stood out were Gregorio, Rosa, Alondra, Yefry and Jeylha. We didn't even need travel mugs bc they were constantly bringing drinks which was a real treat and they make all drinks like Pina colada's, strawberry daiquiri's from scratch vs a slushie machine which was great too. The tennis courts are astroturf and are well maintained and a joy to play on.  Some negatives that stood out were the beach. If you are a beach person this is not the resort for you. Immediately in front of the resort is extremely rocky and my son's enjoyed catching crabs and discovering the tide pools. If you walk 5 min you can enjoy a sandy beach and the ability to swim but for me, I prefer the ocean closer and restaurants to be beachside. Another negative aspect was this resort is sleepy. No vibe team, embarrassing evening shows, virtually nothing to engage guests. There's live music at the main bar in the evening but that's about it. The resort was functioning at 30% so perhaps that's why. I would return again for a tennis trip but I wouldn't recommend this resort for beach lovers or single people looking to party.

Warning- Changeover Margarativille to Dreams No one at the resort really knows what is going on. No communication. No one at the resort as a result of the changeover. Pros - resort clean, nice flora and fauna - close to airport, 20 minutes - rooms clean, starting to look dated but clean - housekeeping good and consistent. Missed coffee one day but no biggie - nice pools, water cool but that is ok. No issue getting chairs with umbrellas as there were not many guests Cons - food average at best. Talked to many people who were sick - land shark brewery non existent -many restaurants not open and no communication in terms of what was opened or closed - drinks cheap alcohol used, the more you tipped the better quality booze used. Two night during shift change at main bar, I saw the bartender fill his Yeti with alcohol to take home -no communication in terms of resort activities, hours of gym, pickle ball coffee shop etc. no information in the room -workers painting scaling buildings. Swim up suites had paint in the pools. I was not staying in them but some folks were. A not on the Canadian tour operator, Sunwing Vacations. There was ZERO communication to customers wrt interrupted services and perhaps like other tour operators, should have offered clients alternative resorts or a credit for a future trip. Very Disappointed

The resort property itself is fantastic. The pools are great and the grounds are clean. other than that though, nothing about our experience was very good. We paid up for a swim-up suite. They should have disclosed that the swim-up gets almost no sun and is unheated. Way too cold to use. We absolutely wasted money paying for the swim up as we couldn't use it. The "Concierge" is there to get you to go to a time-share pitch. Once our concierge became clear that we we weren't attending the pitch, he lost interest in us. The service at the resort was very inconsistent. We didn't get housekeeping every day. We didn't always have what we needed. A lot of the servers were very inattentive. The timeshare part really left a bad taste in our mouths. We spent a lot of money to stay at this resort, and the fact that they felt the need to subject 100% of guests to a pitch to go to a time-share pitch feels really dirty. Finally, the food was not very good. The steakhouse wasn't good. The Asian restaurant was mostly not good. The restaurants closed quite a bit. Making reservations was inconvenient. We quickly got sick of the buffets.

We checked into Margaritaville and checked out of Dreams. Upon check-in we were not informed of this transition. We definitely felt the effects of this unique situation. We went to the Landshark Brewery (advertised as the only brewery in the Caribbean) but they direct have any beer. We tried to go to the Asian restaurant with a large group including several kids and were told it would be a 2 hour wait. Even when we said we were fine to be broken into smaller groups it was still a 2 hour wait. We realized they just Diane went out kids in the restaurant as they continued to seat other parties who walked in. We were forced to go to the buffet. The next night the whole hotel “ran out of beer” but miraculously had more the next day. Overall the staff was mostly friendly. The hotel failed badly on communication and expectation management. I would not recommend a Margaritaville to anyone.

Few hints for upcoming guests: The beach is not swimmable, covered with rocks ... Walking to the "assigned" swimming location is challenging, especially if you’re traveling with children, as the path can be unsafe with broken glass and far. Food is visually appealing but we got food poisoning. Not only ones, a few other families had the same experience.