Mins:

1- 4th floor without lift. All 3 lifts were broken.

2- Italian ambiance. If you are not italian you dont belong

3- Very unfriendly management

4- Animation is there just to extract something from you

5- Totally isolated. Absolutely nothing to do around, do not go there without a car

6- Very run down

7- No beach (there are nearby though)

Plus:

1- Setting

2- Very friendly dominican staff (except for animation)

3- Sunsets

This is a basic resort to just relax. We had a one-bedroom, but they put us in a suite. We stayed in it, because of the view. The staff speaks very little English. The resort is the nicest thing in the local area. They have no beach; we needed to walk down the beach to the next resort to use the "public" beach, but there are no facilities to use. The restaurant was under renovation. The onsite store is very basic. The local area, Juan Dolio, is going down in tourism and the locals don't seem to want to do anything to revive it. If you stay here, bring lots of books.

Albatross, Juan Dolio

We moved to this hotel after staying at the Plaza Real Resort, which was the right move for us.
At the Albatross we had a great view of the pool and ocean, and we just wanted to chill out for a couple days so this was nice for us. It was still early-mid Nov and the resort was mostly empty, we enjoyed the quiet time and not having to share the pool.

There is all day sunshine at this resort. This resort is located directly ocean front. Another aspect that I enjoyed of the south side of the island is that - it was not too windy there. Wind always seemed to blow from the north.

Our room had a/c, kitchette, sunshine in the morning via balcony, small fridge. WiFi in the lobby and we were close enough to get it in the room.
There is a store on campus with beer and rum for sale, among other things. We bought beer and rum and drank it at the pool but there is also a bar right at the pool.

The resort is older, I believe Juan Dolio is where resorts come to retire. We were in Juan Dolio so we had to make the best of it and this room brightened our lives a little, especially after staying at the Plaza Real Resort. Albatross was $60 per night, a little over priced I think.

There is a nice pool and a pool bar, vollyball net. I really like the ocean view from the pool. There is also sand, with some cabanas. The sand does not go into the ocean. The shoreline is sharp rock but there is a large blow hole type with sand and you can swim out to the ocean (if you got the guts). Or you can wear your water shoes and jump into the water and swim around. It doesnt look safe to be drinking excessive amount and floating in the ocean, the rocks are really sharp and jaggety.

I believe you can rent a room here for $700 a month. Nov 2011

Also reading other reivews. I also did not feel 100% safe walking up and down the strip at night. We still did because we found a nice pizza place but it forces you to have early dinners and it seems by 10pm there wasnt much night life, Im sure there is night life somewhere though.

If we were forced to go back to Juan Dolio and were looking for budget places we may stay here but overall I dont think we will ever go back to the Dominican again and if we did we would check out another area of the island.

Note: the fourth photo at the top of the page, the photo with the restaurant right on the water, that is NOT the albatross, dont know where that is.

Jenn says. "It was fine, good price for what it was, good water pressure, nice big bed, great view, a/c worked, pool was awesome right beside the water, its own private beach with that blow hole out of the rock, pool side bar and grocery store right there.

Wish to read full trip review krisritchie.com ,click under blogs

A beautiful wide beach runs from what looks like the original Juan Dolio town, east for 4 Km. The Albatros Resort is 1/2 Km east of that. The Resort has a man made beach that does not actually touch the Ocean. It is nice though.... it is like a private beach, but with no water access. The grounds are very well kept.

On Google Earth it is mostly covered by a cloud, but you can see the pool.

We chose this resort because it offered a suite with a kitchen. When we got there, it quickly became obvious that getting food to cook, was going to be a problem. Without access to a grocery store, this would be no more than a hotel room, with a beer fridge. The Resort has a Mini-Mart, and there are several more on the same street. Beyond beer, rum, hotdogs and rice... the selection is extremely limited. To make the kitchen functional, we would walk to the highway, then get a Guagua to the city of San Pedro de Macoris, then walk the 10 blocks to the Iberia supermarket. At least some Spanish is required. Based on the number of vehicles parked on the street, in front of the Resort, in the morning, most solved this problem by arriving in a car.

On first look, the room was pleasant enough. On a closer look, there is no alarm clock, no phone, and only single ceiling lights. You get two bath towels, a single tea towel, and no washcloths or dishcloths. There are only two pillows and are rather thin. You get a toaster, a coffee maker and a wind-up microwave (not digital). Three good quality pots, but hardly any cutlery. The room does come with a 5gal jug of water.

The Taxi from the Airport is $50US (even though they told us $40 when we called the resort).

In conclusion, this is either a very spacious Hotel room with numerous local restaurants within a reasonable walking distance or a poorly equipped suite that presents a problem with the acquiring of food.

Do your research. Make sure you get what you paid for, not what you thought you paid for.