We stayed at Secrets Royal Beach in June 2011 to celebrate my 40th birthday and our parent's anniversary. The destination was a suggestion by an Apple Vacations travel agent, since we were unsure where to go on vacation. After we booked, I went online to look at the reviews and had noticed that the resort was rated highly by past guests. It made me feel much more comfortable about our upcoming trip.

When we arrived, we were greeted by a lobby assistant and were handed a cold towel and glass of champagne, We arrived around 1pm local time and were very tired from a red eye flight we had taken. We were told that our rooms were not available at the time we arrived, and that we would have to wait until 3pm. We were also told that the room types we requested (two rooms with a king bed), were not available, but that we could be booked into one king and one double and then come back the next day to move rooms. We decided to just stay in the double room instead, since moving would mean we would be on the opposite side from our parents and take up time we would rather not have to waste. After check-in, we decided to go to the buffet and get a bite to eat. Little did we know that our room would not be ready until 5pm. It was a little upsetting since we were very tired, but all in all, we were on vacation, so we disregarded it in the end.

We booked a swim-up room, which I HIGHLY recommend. The rooms are on ground level and are a great experience! The only draw back to the swim-up room would be the mud outside from the porch. I think the grass has been removed from the area where the lounges are due to dragging them back and forth. There should be a rug or mat on the patio in order to not trail the mud through the room like we had several times. The towels were very dirty because of this. The rooms were decorated very nicely and had a separate couch and chair with a coffee table. There was an in-room fridge stocked with beer (Presidente only), bottled water and assorted sodas as well as a bag of banana chips. Nice touch! We were also greeted with a complimentary bottle of champagne & fruit on arrival (for the birthday/anniversary). Nice touches! No complaints about the rooms!

The resort had a "lazy river" around it (although it doesn't completely connect), as well as a swim-up bar. The area was always lively and the bartenders were very friendly & made drinks very well. We were in the pool most of our trip since it was so relaxing. If you try one thing when going to the DR, it's the "Mamajuana". I had heard several different reviews of it online before we went & it wasn't as bad as I imagined! We even bought a few bottles home for our friends. Think of it as the USA's "Jagermeister", only Mamajuana tastes NOTHING like that.

The beaches were pristine! The resort has several palapas on the beach for guests to sit under while on the beach. Several of them were occupied, but there were still some available when we went. The water there is exactly as you see in photos...very surreal! We only visited the beach twice during the week, but it was beautiful and kept very clean. There is the Marlin bar on the beach there to get drinks. I think someone had said there were waiters as well, but I didnt see any. We used the complimentary kayaks provided by the resort. That was a great experience and I recommend it! Beware of the peddlers on the beach that try to lure you to their "flea markets", about 20 minutes walk. We had purchased some items there and noticed that unless you are very strict in what you want to bargain or pay, everything you get in the store at the resort is better quality and cheaper than at these "flea markets". We weren't impressed and the people working in them are very aggressive.

The food was different, to say the least. I wasn't a fan of most items in the buffet, but not because it tasted bad...just that I wasn't used to the type of spices and way of cooking in the DR. I had heard this before I went, but realized that they have a completely different way of cooking, so it made more sense. If you are one who is used to a complex palette or eating foods from different countries, then you'll probably enjoy the tastes. Everything from meat to cheese and fruit was different. I do highly recommend any restaurants at the resort, however I do caution to either arrive early when they open, or late before they stop seating, as we waited for long periods before being seated and served during normal dinner times (7-9pm). They have a beachside grill that is to die for! All of the food at the grill was absolutely wonderful! We went each day to eat there. We also decided to try the Lobster Dinner on the beach one night. It was an additional charge of $40 per person to do this. I definitely wouldn't say it was worth an additional $40. The dinner was actually a buffet of lobster that was a little overcooked (rubbery). It was nice to eat on the beach, but other than that, I wouldn't recommend it since there is a seafood restaurant on the premises.

The grounds were kept very well. Nothing was out of place or dirty. The resort is definitely kept to VERY HIGH standards for upkeep and maintenance. I know that the resort has a new name/company that owns it (since March 2011 I believe), so I know that they are constantly changing and upgrading some things. We had noticed that there were several rooms around us that were being worked on. I have absolutely no complaints about the grounds; they are beautiful! The resort is also very quiet at night since this is "adults only". If you want night life and that kind of atmosphere, you are welcomed to go over to the adjacent property (they're connected actually, you would never know it was two resorts, other than being told). The NOW resort has several restaurants and a night club, the gym, spa and a casino. There is also a business center with computers and is also where you have to go if you want to purchase WiFi. I had purchased the WiFi, since using data on my smartphone would consist of a very large phone bill. I paid $25 for 25 hours (I figured I wouldn't be using it that much). The service was intermittent and slow, to be honest, but it was better than not having access. You would think at a five star resort that it would be complimentary. Maybe in the future...

The only thing I might have a complaint about is the "tipping" issue that we seemed to witness. Apparently even though you are staying all inclusive and tipping is "included", it seems to be customary to tip EVERYONE. I wouldn't say that you saw a lot of it in the restaurants or bars, but anywhere else you did. I hear people say that you see a lot of it in other countries and all-inclusive resorts, however this was the first time we went all-inclusive, so maybe that was why we hadn't witnessed it before.

I highly recommend this resort to anyone looking for a nice, relaxing stay. If you're looking for more upbeat atmosphere and some nightlife, try the NOW Larimer resort next door (same company and the resorts are connected). I took some photos there of the property and was VERY impressed about their grounds as well. I even had mentioned to my husband that we stay there if we visit again.

My apologies for a long review....hope it's informative and helps anyone looking for info. You can write to me if you need additional information that I hadn't included as well.