Sanctuary Cap Cana

Emilio was absolutely amazing!!! We wanted for nothing during our stay… the grounds were beautiful and the villa was just incredible

The food was great and service was even better. We are already planking our next trip there!

The main building architecture is gorgeous and very interesting. The grounds are well maintained and the landscaping is beautiful. The pools are exceptional and well maintained. They are (all four) the highlight of the resort. The resort has a huge staff who are very pleasant and welcoming. There are no activities, other than one water exercise event in the main pool, unless you leave the resort.  Please note we stayed at this resort in July - off season. The menu items at the restaurants are quite limited. Surprisingly with few seafood options for an island.  The best food can be found at the Italian restaurant. Portions there are shockingly small by US standards but beautifully prepared and excellent. Other food venues offer food and variety less than what you would expect at a luxury resort and certainly not a Marriott.  Don’t come here for the beach. There effectively isn’t one. The very small ocean access is clogged with sargassum seaweed (peak season for sargassum is May-October).  They try mightily to clear it off the tiny beach every day but it’s a losing battle. There are two unsightly floating barriers in the water off the shore. They are ostensibly to keep out the sargassum - they don’t.  Off season, occupancy is expectedly much lower and restaurants rotate closures each evening. No one tells you which ones are closed on which night unless you can find someone who knows. Breakfast and lunch buffets are excellent and varied. They do more with pork than fish and do a good job with it. Options are not self-serve which is appreciated from a health perspective.  Don’t spend your money for a non-castle beach front room.  There is sand but ocean views are obstructed by buildings and or volleyball nets with only a sliver of ocean visible.  We paid for a so-called beach front room and were assigned the room on the end next to the dirt/sand road that accessed the beach.  There were often workers passing our unit and the trucks to collect the sargassum kicked up dust.  All this did not allow any privacy on the patio during the day and early evening.  The furniture was inexpensive and had obviously been used for a long time. One of the bed’s box springs had apparently broken through the slats meant to hold it. We did not report this until departure as we were there to relax and hopefully enjoy the resort not to experience workers in our room.  We did not explore castle room options while on site.   Recommendations: Higher floor beach-view rooms are likely to be a better choice as you should be able to see the ocean over the obstacles. You may want to try calling the resort prior to booking to ask which room types have been more recently renovated (if any) before you book.

We had an amazing time. The staff was excellent and accommodating to our needs , especially Camacho our butler who was so attentive and checked in with us numerous times a day. Felix our main waiter at breakfast and dinner was fabulous and we can't wait to come back.

Our nightmare at Sanctuary Cap Cana began the second we arrived. Check-in took an agonizing two hours, during which my wife and I were continuously harassed for more money. It was clear from the start that their only priority was aggressively upselling us at every single step, not hospitality. While the physical resort looks nice at a glance, the reality is severely lacking. The beach was foul-smelling and completely choked with algae. Both the food and the drinks were thoroughly mediocre and nowhere near the standard of a luxury collection property. Furthermore, safety and service are completely absent. I slipped and injured myself in the shower due to a faulty door that wouldn't close properly. When I called for help, it took the staff 40 minutes just to bring me ice. The absolute worst and most appalling behavior happened on Saturday morning. After breakfast, we returned to find that the property manager had intentionally locked us out of our room. This was a purely manipulative tactic designed to force us down to the office. Once there, they blindsided us with extortionate charges for a room "upgrade" we were never informed would cost extra. To make matters worse, we were explicitly told we could not leave the property until we paid this surprise fee. The managers are obnoxious, and their business practices are an absolute scam. Shame, shame, shame on this resort. Save your money and go anywhere else.