honest thorough review resort husband stayed melia caribe tropical december 22 29 2003. weather perfect day windy, sun bright shining light breeze kept cool not uncomfortable sweaty, time did not experience humidity dominican republic infamous, rained night quick tropical showers passed.the grounds beautifully manicured cared, grounds vast, walk lobby end beach end 15 minute walk uneven cobblestone roads, trolly/train runs 15 minutes wait, easier just walk, stayed building 29 caribe 2 sides caribe tropical close pool beach, tropical kids pool kids families side.our room spacious tidy cleaning lady clean just basically make beds change towels, counters wiped shower time, tipped cleaning lady day fresh flowers replaced didn t extra towels unless asked numerous times.service place awful, checked gave map place info check need turn towel cards beach towels given, n't given, went lobby ask said n't need, day went towels man said needed towel cards, told desk told said just said ran, make trip lobby remember place vast not short trip gave cards, people did speak english convenient, example vendors wanted buy no communication problem needed problem ignored did n't understand, asked extra towels day came, ceiling fan making noises said fix week went n't looked at.food awful, breakfast buffets n't bad typical breakfast foods, lunch worst, lunch buffet food 2 places beach barely edible, lunch buffet italian place decent, dinner hit miss, french restaurant good spanish bad international bad, told guests avoid mexican place got sick, japanese best dinner make reservations lobby 9:00 11:00am, want reservation wait lobby 8am, reserve day not advance.as food bad wasn t food service worse, example n't ask wait 15 minutes, case point typified experience restaurants asked diet coke, 15 minutes later came 2 colas, asked diet, minutes confusion understanding question basic gets restaurant finally said colas regular, said ordered diet coke asked bring, talked service person minute pointed soda said diet, shocked regular coke magically diet asked bring diet coke tasted course regular, nobody remedy, waiting close 10 minutes flagged waiter practically begged diet coke, 10 minutes later got, exaggeration 40-45 minutes time originally ordered diet coke time received, just example, cases this.we tried tipping better service did n't work restaurants, waiter really 1 attentive tipped 2 happy shook hands told rest week, bartenders understand tipping little better, tip bartenders tend waiting drink.the beach not clean crystal blue cancun, lot black stringy seaweed type stuff washed shore, little waves close shore, beach chairs comfortable.we went snorkeling tour based property 15/person, n't fish, went excursion called aquatic tours speed boat went snorkeling, lot fun, 60/person right door horseback riding 20/hour adults like stuff.there occasional ants spiders lizards room saw cockroach outside room remember tropics, shows night cheesy lot lip syncing acts, casino small occupied night, dealers slow not right paying careful, hand shuffle opposed motorized card shuffler machines takes lot longer not winning money goes lot longer places atlantic city las vegas.we met lot nice people trip general consensus place, people met time spent away stressors daily life nice weather relaxation vacation nice food service huge disappointment, rated 5 star hotel say 2 star best, glad away tropical place winter not place return nor recommend people, booked trip melia caribe ca n't change make n't set expectations high,  
honest thorough review resort husband stayed melia caribe tropical december 22 29 2003. weather perfect day windy, sun bright shining light breeze kept cool not uncomfortable sweaty, time did not experience humidity dominican republic infamous, rained night quick tropical showers passed.the grounds beautifully manicured cared, grounds vast, walk lobby end beach end 15 minute walk uneven cobblestone roads, trolly/train runs 15 minutes wait, easier just walk, stayed building 29 caribe 2 sides caribe tropical close pool beach, tropical kids pool kids families side.our room spacious tidy cleaning lady clean just basically make beds change towels, counters wiped shower time, tipped cleaning lady day fresh flowers replaced didn t extra towels unless asked numerous times.service place awful, checked gave map place info check need turn towel cards beach towels given, n't given, went lobby ask said n't need, day went towels man said needed towel cards, told desk told said just said ran, make trip lobby remember place vast not short trip gave cards, people did speak english convenient, example vendors wanted buy no communication problem needed problem ignored did n't understand, asked extra towels day came, ceiling fan making noises said fix week went n't looked at.food awful, breakfast buffets n't bad typical breakfast foods, lunch worst, lunch buffet food 2 places beach barely edible, lunch buffet italian place decent, dinner hit miss, french restaurant good spanish bad international bad, told guests avoid mexican place got sick, japanese best dinner make reservations lobby 9:00 11:00am, want reservation wait lobby 8am, reserve day not advance.as food bad wasn t food service worse, example n't ask wait 15 minutes, case point typified experience restaurants asked diet coke, 15 minutes later came 2 colas, asked diet, minutes confusion understanding question basic gets restaurant finally said colas regular, said ordered diet coke asked bring, talked service person minute pointed soda said diet, shocked regular coke magically diet asked bring diet coke tasted course regular, nobody remedy, waiting close 10 minutes flagged waiter practically begged diet coke, 10 minutes later got, exaggeration 40-45 minutes time originally ordered diet coke time received, just example, cases this.we tried tipping better service did n't work restaurants, waiter really 1 attentive tipped 2 happy shook hands told rest week, bartenders understand tipping little better, tip bartenders tend waiting drink.the beach not clean crystal blue cancun, lot black stringy seaweed type stuff washed shore, little waves close shore, beach chairs comfortable.we went snorkeling tour based property 15/person, n't fish, went excursion called aquatic tours speed boat went snorkeling, lot fun, 60/person right door horseback riding 20/hour adults like stuff.there occasional ants spiders lizards room saw cockroach outside room remember tropics, shows night cheesy lot lip syncing acts, casino small occupied night, dealers slow not right paying careful, hand shuffle opposed motorized card shuffler machines takes lot longer not winning money goes lot longer places atlantic city las vegas.we met lot nice people trip general consensus place, people met time spent away stressors daily life nice weather relaxation vacation nice food service huge disappointment, rated 5 star hotel say 2 star best, glad away tropical place winter not place return nor recommend people, booked trip melia caribe ca n't change make n't set expectations high,  