Ocean El Faro - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9586 reviews

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  Skip this resort

  Ocean El Faro, is an okay resort, theres lots to do and overall is clean and welcoming. However, during my families stay we experienced many unfortunate circumstances. The first one being our luggage was lost during our flight down to Punta Cana, this wasn't the resorts fault but what the resort did in order to help us track our luggage or at least point us in the right direction was absolutely nothing. All we received was lie after lie, and no one seemed to even communicate with their other employee's. After 2 days we received our luggage, because we went through a different company in order to get information. Once we got to our room, our room smelled strongly of mold. Further inspecting the room (for bugs) we found the mattresses were covered in mold. We asked the front desk to either switch our room or our mattress but all they did was place an air purifier in our room that didn't work 90% of the time. This was our first experience with how un-useful and how little the staff at this resort care. Next, on our last couple of days at this resort we had noticed 50$ CAD missing, which we thought nothing of (maybe we misplaced it), then 90$ USD was missing, this is when it seemed suspicious. Later when we were packing we noticed an additional 150$ CAD missing, this is where we drew the line. All of this money was in the bottom of bags zipped up in wallets meaning the housecleaners dug through our bags and went through our stuff. When we discovered this we immediately went to the front desk to ask for police and a manger. When, we got to the front desk Roman was working and told us there was nothing they or the police could do and he can't write an incident report but he will send security. Security never showed up, so we called the police and they seemed a bit more concerned. The manger (Werolo) also eventually showed up 3 hours later, and asked why we didn't use the safe. (we didn't think our bags were going to be dug through, so didn't think we needed to put CANADIAN money in a safe). We also have travelled to many countries like the DR, (for example Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico) and never once had issues with not using a safe. Overall, the staff is no help, nor friendly. The food makes you sick and is all processed or under cooked. Drinks are cheap and rooms need maintenance. Many other reviews talking about getting stolen from. Ocean El Faro we hope you consider these cases and take a look at your staff. As you ruined our impression on the Dominican and our holiday.

  Dec 31, 2025
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  Underwhelming food and subpar experience

  I want to start off by saying it’s hard to be unhappy when you’re in a tropical paradise with a beautiful beach and unlimited pina coladas . With that being said , there were a bunch of small things that added up to a less than desirable experience . I also want to say I have also stayed at the majestic mirage in Punta Cana so I had something to compare to and the majestic was 10 times better . It is worth paying a little more . Here is my full review Check in: I was a little disappointed with the check-in experience . I felt like they were less than helpful. They did give us a free upgrade to the adults only (el beso) resort which was nice but he was fairly forward about how he was expecting a tip for the upgrade. When I stayed at the majestic mirage , the check in experience was personalized . They had food and drinks right there so you could start relaxing from the moment you get there . They have your butler give you a short tour and escort you to your room. We had to stand in a line here (with no food or drinks) and we were not shown around . We had to find our room ourself and then we had a problem with the room Accommodations: I found the rooms to be average for a 5 star resort . I don’t have any specific issues but the equivalent that I had at the majestic mirage was much nicer and roomier . Food: this is where the resort really falls short . We had horrible service at multiple restaurants. The Italian place was so bad that we had to go to the buffet for more food . I felt like the wait staff needed more training and they were not attentive . This was a huge bummer . Blue moon was the best in my opinion Beach and pool: the beach was beautiful but the red no swimming flag was out all week and they were enforcing it. The current didn’t seem that strong. I was very disappointed in this . The pool was very clean and well maintained . It was a bit noisy and chaotic around the main pool where the entertainment staff does their thing . The music was too loud for my liking. It had a wild spring break party vibe rather than a relaxing paradise vibe . I also have two huge complaints 1. The lazy river is horrible . They have about 10 tubes and they let people hog them and use them outside of the lazy river . They should only be allowed in the lazy river . I saw people hoarding the public tubes at their chairs . They need to have staff to enforce this and ensure that more people can utilize the tubes 2. The pool chairs! If you are new to the resort then you won’t realize that you have to put towels down on chairs by 8am to “reserve” them or you won’t get chairs . There are signs saying do not reserve chairs but everyone does . I’m convinced there were chairs that had towels on them for hours with no people . I think there should be staff that monitors and takes towels if they are unattended for more than an hour. I was very disappointed in this Overall, i was disappointed and would not return this resort . It wasn’t bad but there are much better options around .

  Dec 31, 2025
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  Ignore any 5 star reviews. Go at your own peril!

  I wrote a catchy title. There is no way any non-paid serious traveler gave this a 5 star review. I read the reviews and wondered - am I staying at the same place as those people?? If you have standards on food and service - this is not the place for you. As always, I am an American so this review may not apply to you. First, check in time was the most god awful check in experience of my life. 30 plus minutes to check in. That computer mirrored the apple 1. Second, the dinner app for reservations does not work. It “opens” at 8. I was on at 8. They had “nothing” for dinner. This was a constant complaint among other travel groups I spoke to. I checked at 825 as soon as I could run down and “only reservations on the app” even though I explained it wasn’t working. Food: Margarita - D-. Chips were stale. Service was abysmal. Fajita steak - no seasoning. Route 66 - D-. Should be titled “what BBQ tastes like in hell”. If that was “smoked brisket” I’ll be a monkeys uncle. Ocean Burger. F. There wasn’t a single thing here worth eating. Should be called “Bland Burger” International Buffet. B. Ok lots of options and lots of little food stations. Most of it was…to be kind…edible. Vast improvement. Sports bar. No food. Sounds of games not on. This was all odd to me. If you have children, you cannot eat at two spots. That means you have the buffet, Mexican, and Route 66. Service: Service was herky jerky. Some good. Some awful. Non excellent. Listen, I get it, I’m in a foreign country. Lack of English was pretty rough. People who wait on you should switch around if they do not. Again, I get it. It’s a Spanish speaking country. I tried my best with Google Translate. Room: Dated. Not unclean. Just dated. Lots of broken pieces in wood. I would say “holiday inn express” level for you Americans. Do I have anything good to say? Yes. I really really like that all the restaurants are right in a row along the main interchange and you don’t have to go hunting for them. This gets my only A of this review.

  Dec 30, 2025
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  3 star hotel not 5 star as paid for

  On arrival, being the evening and dark, first impression was like Butlins. Hotel room was no way a 5 star hotel, although very large and comfortable, the rooms were really tired, shower room and toilet was very grim. My daughter’s bathroom flooded because the drain was blocked and when our rep came to see, the light felI from the ceiling just missing them! would rate our rooms as a 3 star hotel, although I have been in much better 3star hotels! The complex made us feel inferior to others, a huge area of the complex and beach was adults only, not what we was expecting! The food was good, with plenty of choices, restaurant was very loud and again there were separation areas for adults only, and premium guests! Never have I felt this segregation in a so called 5 star hotel! Staff were ok! TUI, you did not make our magical Christmas come true 😡 and at £2200 Each including two 13 year olds and one 15 year old, whom we also paid full price! You should definitely question who rates your hotels.

  Dec 30, 2025
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  Discussing Food

  We are currently staying on the resort with our family of 8. The food has been awful and sometimes completely inedible. The service has been sub par for a 5 star resort except from our concierge. We have had to walk into the back area to find a server at a restaurant only to find them all just hanging around. The servers at the restaurants don’t come around to take drink orders and have repeatedly forgot some of our meal orders. At the coffee shop we have had to wait 45 mins to get a tea. At the spa we were directed to wait in the change room for our masseuse’s which our masseuses were confused why we were just sitting in there and why we weren’t given robes. We were not advised that we were able to use any of the spa services that were included with our massages (cold bath & sauna) and didn’t find out those services were included in our Premium package. This is completely unacceptable for a so called 5 star resort and very disappointing due to how much money my family spent to be here

  Dec 29, 2025