Casa Marina Beach

this resort was chosen by a friend for his dream wedding abroad, unfortunately the holiday company sold this to him as a 3 and a half star resort in idealic surroundings. The truth is far different from the waffle they put in the brochure. firstly this is supposed to be an all inclusive resort, which it is up until 11pm then you have to start paying for your drinks. if you want security in your room you have to pay for the safe key, this is not a deposit you do not get your 30 US Dollars back. The food was attrocious and rarely changed from one day to the next. The rooms are small and dingy with power saving bulbs (not a bad thing) and matt black solid lamp shade through which light can not permiate. I apprecaite that the dominicn republic is a third world country, but I did not like being constantly approached to buy thuings I had no interest in, to make matters worse, the resort let local traders in 3 times a week, they set stalls between the appartment block and the restaurant so you had to run the guantlet at least 6 times in any one week and you can bepolite for only so long until it becomes too much and you tell the local exactly what your thinking, only to face a torrent of racial abuse because you don't want to buy the tat they are trying to hard sell all the time. at this resort we also experienced power cuts, not just every now and again, but 6,7,8 time a day, on excursion I psoke with other holiday makers who had never experienced this in there resort. And it doesn't stop there, you are acosted at the airport on the way in with porters physically trying to snatch your bags and then demanding a tip. and the way out of the country is no better, the porters are even more pushy and you have to get quite rude almost threatening just to get them to let go of your bags. and the authorities are just as bad, departure tax is payable in US dollars or Dominican Paso's however, because the dollar is favoured by the locals, the exchange rate differs from the rest of the island being 30 percent lower and in favour of the governement. generally speaking this holiday has put me off travelling to the dominican republic ever again, i know its not fair to the rest of the country to judge them buy this one bad experience, but what else do I have to go on, for a score out of 10 this resort would not register.

This is easy, none

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