We just got back from our anniversary trip to Dreams (We stayed here on our honeymoon too). I am flabbergasted by the negative reviews below. My wife and I took my parents and 2 of their friends with us this year. We are all different personalities, different vacationers, yet we all loved it so much.
I do not understand these negative reviews. As one reviewer below mentioned, if you are personally a rude or demanding person in your demeanor, people may treat you differently. For us, we love the staff and talk to them all kindly and we all felt it was the best service we have ever had. We made friends with many staff and our interactions with them made our trip. You can always find negatives if you are prone to looking for them. But if you read reviews, there shouldn't be any surprises...
Some Negatives (I only bring these up to show how meaningless they were)
-Our water didn't get hot the first day (Staff came right away and fixed it and showed me how. It was simple and didn't matter to us).
- Caribbean night was not great and the fire show was ok for about 10 minutes, then redundant. (I actually don't like buffets in general and the other restaurants Were open so you could go there).
- I thought I could come up with more if I tried, but can't think of any, so on to the great aspects of this hotel.
Positives:
Location: The best in the hotel zone. While other hotels have only one beach (sometimes not much of one), Dreams is surrounded on 3 sides with water. Every room is ocean view. The beaches are different for what ever your liking is. One is a fun shallow beach. It's waist deep for over 100 feet in a bay with little waves. This one is good for kids. The other is more quiet/adults mainly, with waves and a beautiful view. Both are private and secluded. There are no people trying to sell you stuff while you are laying out like on other beaches in the hotel zone. I love that.
Rooms: They are older! I don't know how people can read reviews, look at pictures and then go on vacation and be surprised that they are older. The pictures of the rooms are really what they look like. If you don't like them, they won't change when you get there. However we like them. They feel like an authentic mexican setting. Not much too them but comfortable. Not some overly posh/ American/Euro decor. They are very clean. The maid service cleaned in the morning and night and provided a beautiful turn down service every night without fail. We were always given towels when needed. The minibar is great. Bottled Sprite and Coke, Coronitas, Juices and bottled water. I had to laugh at one review that complained that the bottles were small. It's a MINI-Bar. But the coke and sprite are normal size and they are free, so if you need more, they restock it. You can also request more of a certain kind.
Food: I don't know what's wrong with me. Because while others say this isn't good food, I am not exaggerating when I say I had some of the best food ever here. And for an all-inclusive it was somethin'. This is one thing we all raved over most. There are items that are not fantastic but nothing was bad. Get the mussels at Oceana! Wow! Get the dreams roll at himitsu, it's great. Get the baked grouper. Everyone loved this. Where i live, our city is known for dining and, if asked what are my favorite things to eat, it would be things at dreams.
- Service: The Best. We had such a great time with the staff. As soon as we arrived (it was hot!) we were given a bottled water and a wet towel. There are some that are nothing special. But Marcelo became a friend. We learned a lot about him and his family. Luis (who we called Brian as an inside joke) was so fun and friendly. Angel at Oceana. All memorable. When we had wine or corona, our drinks were refilled without asking at all restaurants. We got room service for breakfast and it was prompt and good! Now here is the most special. On my anniversary night we went to dinner at seaside grill (adults only). While there, I called the concierge and asked a favor of them. They were so great! While we were out, at no charge, they put rose pedals on the floor and bed (this is usually only done for honeymooners) they made a bow on the bed from towels, pulled a drapery across the bed posts, lit a candle, iced a bottle of champagne and set up decadent desserts at the table with the champagne. They did all of this within 30 minutes of my request. When we walked in my wife was surprised and it was a very romantic night. What amazing service!
Tips: We did some different things this year. We went to Mercado 28. If you don't like haggling or dealing with the locals, then don't go, but I loved it. It is a huge flea market downtown with tons of shops. There are some real jerks there, but there are also some funny, nice people that were great to haggle with. Things can be cheaper here than in the hotel zone flea market. We got some great souvenirs and clothing.
Did the Jungle Tour. The reef was amazing to snorkel in. Such a natural beauty. It was great but snorkeling was too short. Worth the money though. To get a good deal on excursions go to the Xcaret stand at Wal-Mart in downtown. Don't trust the ones on the street. And this is much cheaper than the prices at the hotel.
Ask any questions... there is so much more that could be said.
