Senator Puerto Plata Spa Resort - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

3094 reviews

• 

  Beware

  The resort is nice and tidy, rooms are musty and very average even with upgrade. Staff were mostly friendly. This resort needs more security at night!! Lots of people partying throughout the night not sure where they were partying but saw many people out at 5 am just coming back to their rooms. Seemingly vacationers and locals…all good but it’s a very strange mix with early risers drinking coffee and people drunk and just coming back to there rooms. There was a huge fight between couples where glass was thrown and a man was cut.. the fight lasted most of the night without any security to be seen. The phones in the rooms DO NOT work so no way to call for help. Very frightening situation! Blood everywhere .. smeared on walls on the balcony and throughout multiple hallways it was a traumatic experience for sure knowing there was no one to help! Hope the man got some help with his cuts but as far as we know he wasn’t found. I would not recommend this resort at all for kids it’s just not safe. Cheap resort, Hot sun, crappy booze .. sounds fun until crazy stuff happens and there’s no security.. not safe.

  Apr 22, 2025
• 

  Nice but get grip on the smoking situation

  We stayed at Senator from April 8-15. The resort is beautiful and very well maintained. The Pros , buffet and a la cartes were fabulous,room was very well looked after by our maid,massage on the beach was awesome Cons, it seems that there are more smoking places then not.I witnessed people flicking ashes in the pool and throwing their butt's on the pool deck,disgusting, everywhere it seems people were allowed to smoke.I can't believe that people are allowed to smoke in the pool.Its too bad because the 4 of us really like the resort and would not consider returning.Its a shame that you guys can't get grip on the smoking situation.

  Apr 20, 2025
• 

  The best vacation

  Our entire family had a wonderful time at this resort, we had such wonderful experience visiting Dominican Republic, the staff here was great to us. The cleaning ladies were spectacular. The entertainment was great, especially black boy our bartender Danielaat the pool bar was awesome, we will definitely be back. Blacky boy the best

  Apr 20, 2025
• 

  The best vacation

  Our family had amazing time! The hotel was wonderful, the food was great and most of the staff was very friendly, specially the cleaning ladies and we had the best time with Daniela the bartender at the pool, and also with blackey Boy made our entire vacation. We will definitely be back to this resort.

  Apr 20, 2025
• 

  In Our Top Five

  We stayed at the Senator from April 8th to April 15th. Check in was very easy, but we were supposed to be in a room close to our travel companions and we ended up in completely different buildings. Not a deal breaker but not ideal either. The first room we were put in was in building 7 and so musty smelling it made my eyes water. Since we request the lower floor, (due to a set of old/bad knees that don't do stairs anymore) we are prepared for rooms that are a bit damper. this one, however was the worst I had ever been in. We asked to have the a/c turned on and the porter told us "it was blowing good".... ehhh, no. We thought that maybe opening the patio doors to air it out might help, but the locking mechanism fell right off the door. Being on the first floor, for me, it is a must to have a lockable patio door. I went back to the desk and asked them to move us, which they did with very little fuss. We were put in building 10 and the room smelled fresh, compared to the first one and the door lock and a/c worked perfectly. The resort is beautiful, well laid out and for those of us that prefer smaller resorts (mostly due to the bad knees, aforementioned), this one fit the bill perfectly. Everything was within a 5 minute walk. Although we had access to Playa Bachata, next door, we did not venture over there, as everything we desired was within our immediate resort area. The food on the resort was very good. Better than a lot of resorts we have stayed at, over the past 25 years. There was a good variety daily and the choice of fresh fruit was very good. Breakfast was great because there were two "freshly made" omelet/fried egg stations and a range of pancakes, crepes, donuts, breads, rolls, croissants, cereals, yogurts and a range of hot dishes. Bacon was a commodity, but only because people often felt the need to pile their plates high, leaving little for the people coming behind them. Lunch always had the hot choices, a cold antipasto offering, salads, two soups, breads and a variety of fruits. Dinner was much the same but always had a carving station as well. We ate at the Japanese restaurant (Zao) and the Steak House (Embers). Both were delicious, but the steak was amazing. The tenderloin could be cut with a butter knife. The ONLY issue I had was that they wanted to limit you to one side, so steak and potato only or steak and vegetable only...sorry, but I am a steak and potato/veggie kind of girl. Thankfully, our waiter was accommodating. ;-) We also ate at the Pizza shop, on Market Avenue. The pizza was fabulous. We followed that up with an ice cream from the gelato shoppe, but it is really the same ice cream the buffet serves, just without all the extra toppings. Definitely no weight was lost on this trip! The pool is large and "clover" shaped, with several shallower pools off to the sides. The activity section of the pool seems to be the deepest and is where the Entertainment team do their water activities, such as water aerobics. We found the beach to be very rocky to walk into the water and not a lot of area for swimming that didn't contain sea grass or coral. We didn't spend much time on the beach. There is a 24 hour sports bar, called Legends, which made some great drinks and served ok snacks. We ordered wings (got 3) onion rings (got 4), mozza sticks (got 4) and nachos (got a whole plate of chips, but not many toppings). People complained that the service was slower in this bar...it was, but not beyond waiting for food orders here at home. You can also eat at the grill, located to the left of the pool area. They have a fine little menu and the food was good. Shout out to Julissa, who keeps the ladies' room, at this grill, spotless and the friendship flowing. It is interesting to watch the cruise ships come in and back into the dock at Amber Cove. We had a massage on the beach. It was offered a bit cheaper than the menu from the actual spa. It was very nice. The spa itself offered a far more extensive and specialized treatments. We were just interested in a massage and we prefer a beach massage. The entertainment team was great. We enjoyed the antics of Monkey Back, Speedy, Shampoo and Skinny. They kept us laughing all the time. The overall service was OK. There were a few staff that didn't seem happy to be there, but mostly we encountered cheerful, happy staff, who were efficient and energetic. We were not bothered by the timeshare or membership pushers, so I can't complain about them. Haha! There were a couple things I do take issue with but could be easily corrected. One thing is the lack of garbage cans around the property. I realize they use reusable (not disposable) cups, but there are other things that require garbage cans. The other thing is the lack of designated smoking areas. For the majority of the guests, who appear now to be non-smoking, it is very off-putting to be in a pool where people are smoking and dropping ashes and butts in the pool and walking through a cloud of smoke to get into the sports bar or the areas around the entertainment and general public areas. All in all, the Senator is a great little resort and we would put it on the list of "would return".

  Apr 18, 2025