Melia Caribe Tropical — Hotel Review Rating: 3.0 Pearls

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Oyster Hotel Review

Reporter: Dipayan G.
Updated: January 29, 2010

 Scene

The Melia Caribe Tropical is part of a well-known Spanish-owned chain, like most of the Dominican resorts. But unlike the others, the Melia Caribe definitely has an extra gloss of luxury with its extremely fashion-focused restaurants and bars. Walking through the spacious lobby with its golden murals and choice curios is immediately soothing -- I felt like I'd wandered into a billionaire's living room.

Guests at the Melia also seem a tad more genteel -- hard-boozing spring breakers have been replaced by families and groups of adults reclining peacefully on the resort's plentiful daybeds and divans. But with enough alcohol, guests dance pretty dirty on the dance floor.

At 1,145 rooms, the resort is much larger than daunting Bavaro Princess, though not as over-the-top ginormous as the Gran Bahia Principe. The resort is roughly divided into two parts by a swath of mangrove forest and swamp that cuts right through. This is a common feature of beachside resorts in the Dominican Republic, as the government forbids the cutting of mangroves and the draining of their ponds. Shuttle buses shaped like toy trains are constantly winding their way up and down these boulevards, ferrying guests to their rooms or out to the beach. Past the mangrove thicket, the paths start curling up on themselves and shooting out branches in seemingly random trajectories. The street signs and maps don't quite match up to the reality on the ground either, which makes things all the more confusing. Even more unsettling is the fact that the resort's pools and two spas are built to be practically mirror copies of each other.

 Service

Despite the large groups of guests all bused in at once, the staff at the front desk dealt patiently with each group, fielding even the most tired and cranky of the bunch. When my turn was up, they quickly filled out the necessary paperwork and apologetically told me that I'd have to wait a half hour for my room to be ready (they directed me to the bar). Really, I'd arrived an hour before the check-in time, so there was no need for the apology. Sure enough, within 30 minutes, the front desk attendant came through with the keys to my room. In the meantime, I'd given my bags to a porter who happily offered to deliver them straight to my room.

The restaurant staff was equally professional, and I was never stuck waiting at a dirty table at the buffet. Still, mostly because of the high demand, guests might have to wait around a bit to get seated at an à la carte restaurant, even if they made a reservation in advance.

 Location

Forgot a bathing suit? The Palma Real shopping mall -- perhaps the biggest of its kind in Punta Cana -- is right at the doorstep of the resort. With international brands like Puma, it's a draw for most tourists, though many complain that clothing is extraordinarily pricey.

 Beach

The Melia has a very long, broad white-sand beach (a little like Miami Beach), that has the fluffy, powdery quality of which dreams are made. It's a slower slope into the ocean than at some other Dominican resorts, so guests can see their feet through the clear water several paces in.

Unlike some other busy beaches in the D.R., the Melia's beach is relatively empty, with no thoroughfare of guests from neighboring resorts going back and forth across the sand. Everyone made sure to steer clear of the small, romantic wedding down the shore.

There's a water sports center on this beach with canoe and catamaran rentals.

 Rooms

Like most all-inclusives, the Melia's rooms are grouped in squat buildings all around the property on side roads off the main boulevards. I recommend getting a room far away from the swamp as it's a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Yup, I learned the hard way.

The Melia has three types of rooms, the junior suites, family suites, and the master suites. The junior suites and the family suites are both 450 square feet, but the latter has two pull-out beds with "themed children's bedding" for the kids. The standard 512-square-foot master suite has all this plus a Whirlpool tub, while the one-bedroom master suite has a separate living room and a full-size, two-door refrigerator.

My junior suite was large, and soothingly decorated in cream and off-white, with a few dashes of blood orange to liven the scene. The rooms are fairly similar to cheaper alternatives like the Gran Bahia Principe Ambar and the Occidental, but while all three share approximately the same floor plan, my room at the Melia lacked the others' careful decoration. With plain white walls, the room was easy on the eyes, but far less personal.

All rooms come with a comfortable king-size bed. Unfortunately, the standard tube TV on the other side of the room is a little too small to watch from the bed. Thanks to the full array of international channels -- plus one that just played Top 40 pop hits - I was thoroughly entertained!

The bathroom are tiny, particularly compared with the huge bedrooms, but charming. The tub and shower are awkwardly shoved up against the side of the room behind a cheap curtain. Still, the unpolished stone paving the bathroom gives it a somewhat spa-like ambience.

Rooms come stocked with four bottles of water -- two by the coffeemaker and two in the mini-fridge. However, unlike most resorts in the D.R., the mini-fridge had water and soda but (gasp) no beer! Sacrilege!

At the far end of the room, right by the glass doors to the large balcony, is a generous sitting area with a sofa and chairs. I spent most of my downtime there, taking refuge from the cold-air blasting through the air conditioner by the bed. Now, you may ask why I didn't turn the air conditioner off, or put it on a lower setting. Simply put -- I had to freeze out the mosquitoes! The second I turned the dial down, even the slightest, the room was filled with mosquitoes. I must have killed about 10 in just a half hour, and I clearly wasn't the only one -- the otherwise spotless walls were (on closer inspection) spotted with smashed mosquitoes, smacked at by previous guests. Clearly, this is a long-standing problem. Take my advice: Request a room as far away from the swamp as possible!

 Features

The resort has two pools at either end of the beach that are basically mirror images of each other. Both are lagoon-shaped and have swim-up bars and large patios with a thick cover of palm trees overhead. While they are in the standard lagoon shape that many Dominican resorts prefer, they do seem a little worse for wear -- with grayish plaster and colorless tiles. The day of my arrival, a rainstorm meant that the pools were filled with leaves and sand. Scouring the Web, I couldn't find anything besides the standard back-and-forths over pool quality, so I can't really say how great they are on a normal, sunny day. Then again, the cleanup crew I saw in action suggests that they are taking care of water.

The Melia has two spas, both of which are, once again, mirror images of each other. There are tents in the gardens for massages, several treatment rooms, men's and women's lockers, and a co-ed hot tub (flanked by pseudo-Grecian statues). Only one has a gym however. Fitness buffs will be happy to know that the gym is a fairly large room with perhaps the most extensive array of cardio and weight lifting equipment in Punta Cana. Impressive!

Lastly, the Melia has an actual money exchange counter where you can exchange pesos for dollars, and vice versa. Very few resorts offer this (most only covert dollars to pesos, and not the other way around). Pretty much every ATM only doles out money in pesos, yet cab drivers overwhelmingly prefer being paid in dollars. In other words, the Melia was a lifesaver.

 Casino

The Melia is one of the few resorts in the D.R. with an actual casino that's more than just a tiny room with slot machines. This one is a large space with several tables and, yes, the requisite slot machines. There is also a lounge to the side with couches and several flat-screen TVs turned to sports channels. Definitely one of the major draws for guests, the casino was full and buzzing well into the night when I visited.

 Entertainment

The Melia's "Flintstone Band" performs at the theater adjacent to the casino. While the scene I observed was strictly PG, some guests told me that it can turn into a meat-market, with singles looking to get lucky when the band winds down and the DJ starts spinning some disco.

 Family

Definitely a good place for a family to stay, the Melia has large rooms with cribs (by request) and pull-out sofas. There's a limit of two children and two adults to a room, though, so larger families will have to book an additional space.

For some reason, the Melia has made the Flintstones the hotel's mascot. This means that the kids' club is Flintstones-themed with boulders and dinosaurs aplenty. The club was well-staffed with a bunch of friendly counselors, and the kids -- for the most part -- seemed to be having a great time posing for photographs with their parents and zooming down the slides.

When it comes to kid-friendly food, the buffet restaurants have burgers, mashed potatoes, and plenty of colorful desserts. But there aren't really any healthy alternatives for kids... or adults, for that matter!

 Cleanliness

Maybe it was a result of my room being so close to the Mangrove forest (or should I say swamp?), but my room filled with mosquitoes the second I turned the air-conditioning down from arctic to merely freezing. Dozens flooded in, and despite turning the AC all the way up, I was left swatting mosquitoes all through my stay. It wasn't just me either -- the walls were splattered with the corpses of suckers squished by previous guests. Then again, guests in buildings further away from the swamp didn't have any problems with mosquitoes in their rooms. Just my luck.

 Food

The Melia has three buffet restaurants, two out by the beach and one around the corner from the lobby in the "Restaurant Market Place" -- a corner of the resort where you'll find the resort's nine à la carte restaurants and three of its bars.

The buffets served at all three locations are basically the same, and the options are a bit scarcer than at other, comparably priced resorts. Apart from an ample dessert table and breads selection, the buffet basically relied on burgers and pizza to take care of all the guests. Good for kids, but a bit dull by adult standards.

The à la carte restaurants all require a reservation in advance. Staff and guests alike said they liked the Italian La Gondola and the Japanese Hokkaido best, but were less happy with the Dominican fare at El Guarapo or the French food at Ma Maison. Having been unable to reserve a table there -- I'll take their word for it, for now. Tell me what you think.

I did get to nosh at La Pagoda, the resort's Thai restaurant. Like at all the à la cartes, I had to wait around for a good 10 minutes to be seated, even though I arrived right on time. Unlike the food most resorts, the Thai cuisine was actually decent -- not the best I've ever had, but still, definitely Thai.

 Drinks

The Melia, as mentioned, has some stunningly designed bars that take up the hallways between restaurants at the Restaurant Market Place. During the day, peacocks nonchalantly hop up on chairs and fan their feathers out by the tables. By night, posh mood lighting and the promise of premier liquor like Grey Goose vodka pulls in the humans.

 Destination Weddings

• Wedding Size: Up to 200 guests; no weddings on Sundays

• Extra Fees: $620 for a civil or Catholic ceremony; day passes for non-hotel guests are a very steep $95 (about twice the cost of a day pass at comparable all-inclusive resorts).

• Wedding Packages: The complimentary package (must book a suite for at least five nights to be eligible) covers a wedding for 12 people ($24 for each additional person) and it includes a bouquet and boutonniere, recorded music during the ceremony, three bottles of sparkling wine, cake for 12 people, a dinner reservation for 12 (just a standard, a la carte dinner along with all of the other resort guests). Alternatively, the cheapest package for 24 guests costs $1,296 ($30 for each additional guest) and it includes a one-hour post-ceremony cocktail party with cold hors d'oeuvres, a dinner reservation for 24 (also, just a standard dinner). For a private, three-course dinner reception with five bottles of sparkling wine, and decorations for 24 people ($55 for each additional guest), you'll have to upgrade to the $1,728 package and also pay extra for the open bar ($18 to $22 per person, per hour).

• Ceremony Locations: In the White Garden Gazebo for no extra charge, on the beach for $300, or in the beach gazebo for $450 (all locations are in full view of other resort guests)

• Reception Locations: The Amphitheater, the Agora Grill, the Turey Grill, or on the beach (for an extra fee)

• Photographers and Videographers: Photo packages range from $440 (for 36 5-by-7s, three 8-by-10s, and one 12-by-18 panoramic) to $2,130 (for 100 5-by-7s, five 8-by-10s, two 24-by-32 poster prints, one 12-by-18 panoramic, and one "picture video"); video packages range from $370 (recording from room to ceremony, at document signing) to $745 (recording from room through reception)

• Music Options: Options range from a musical trio ($250 per hour) to a full orchestra ($2,000).

• Food and Drinks: If you don't opt for a standard package: Hors d'oeuvres range from $9 to $15 per person; buffet dinners are $50 per person with two hours of open bar; plated dinners are $60 per person with two hours of open bar; extra hours of open bar range from $8 to $18 (depending on liquor selection).

• Cakes: Included in the wedding packages; decoration upgrades range from $50 to $70, and extra sauces (amaretto, strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, and coffee) are $40

• Spa Treatments: The spa offers bridal hair and makeup for $150, just hair for $45, and a mani/pedi for $100.

• Freebies: The standard wedding package is free for 12 people, so long as you book a suite for more than five nights. Otherwise, the only freebie is a 10-percent discount on spa treatments for the bride and groom.

• Honeymoon Suite: Most newlyweds stay in a Honeymoon Deluxe Junior Suite or a Royal Service Master Suite (both have a private balcony and a Jacuzzi).

• Airport Transportation: 15-minute, $20 taxi from Punta Cana International Airport; the resort does not provide transportation

 Bottom Line

Despite a whopping 1,145 rooms, the Melia is a quiet, fashion-forward all-inclusive with stunning public spaces and ornately designed restaurants. But the pools are lackluster and the buffets, while plentiful, aren't as varied as other chains like the Iberostar or the Occidental. With a Flintstone-themed kids' club, it's family-friendly, but it is also frequented by adults.