Sanctuary Cap Cana

We spent a week at Sanctuary to celebrate our 20 year anniversary. We stayed in the castle section. The service was amazing! Our butler Camacho made reservations for us, let us know what daily activities they had as well as an excellent tour of the property. If we needed anything he was there! Most days we relaxed by the pool. The bartenders (Cristian, Miky & Jose) were great! Elvis found us spots by the ocean and pool & made sure we were taken care of. House keeping cleaned our room too to bottom every day as well as excellent turn down service. Our room was spacious. We enjoyed breakfast on the patio each morning. The food had several options and we were always pleased with the quality. For dinner we ate at the steak house and Italian restaurants. Both were amazing! Lunch at the Blue Marlin on the ocean was spectacular. On our 1st night we had awesome pizza! After dinner we had drinks at the Love bar and enjoyed talking on the patio looking at the stars. Very relaxing atmosphere with a chill vibe. The pools are amazing. The oceanfront beach area is quaint but still nice!

We just got back on Monday 9/16 from our 10 person party in the DR. The Sanctuary staff are hands-down, and from top to bottom, the best I've experienced anywhere. Camacho was our host and Major Domo for the week and he was invaluable. Attentive, courteous, professional, warm, always responsive within minutes. Our group took a goodbye photo with Camacho and a hostess from the Buffet restaurant named Yaniris, and I literally had tears in my eyes because as we were all hugging each other it felt like I was saying goodbye to family I wouldn't see again. Have you ever HUGGED anyone at a resort??? Anthony taught Merengue class, I saw him leading the Bike Tour, and some other activities. He was everywhere, and a pleasure. "Happy Boy", Jose and Elvi were there in a flash to reserve lounge chairs at the pools, AND at the beach if you wanted a set-up there, and serve drinks as well. The restaurant and bar servers were uniformly excellent. Illuminada kept our villa immaculate, and we shared more hugs when we said goodbye to her as well. FAMILY. Our reservation process was overseen by Carmen and she was a dream. She met us when we arrived and was warm and gracious and extremely helpful getting us in. And she blessed three of our couples with an upgrade to beautiful villas. Check-in was the fastest I've experienced at an all-inclusive. That usually takes a while, but we were in and out in 10 minutes with a tropical welcome drink in our hands and a golf cart ride to our front door. You are always acknowledged by everyone with a hand over their heart and a bow of their head, and most importantly a warm smile. I wish I could remember everyone's name. Sadly the only other one I can recall (but won't say) was a waiter in the lovely steakhouse whose clownish manner was more appropriate to a cheesy Carnival Cruise. Intrusive, silly and didn't read the table, wanting us to sing the last two notes of the old shave-and-a-haircut melody. I wanted more elegance from that dinner. That was our first meal, but we needn't have been concerned. All other servers at every restaurant and bar were very classy and respectful at all times. Friendly and funny, without being silly. All made sincere efforts to remember names, led by Camacho who had us all memorized immediately. Every inch of the property itself, both inside and out, was immaculate. Not a thing out of place. The landscaping was stunning. The architecture exquisite, the public area furnishings all plush. We ate one night in Sanctuary Town. Many had recommended the pizza shop. They undersold it. The pizza was insane!! The resort day-time activities we participated in (Cigar making, painting, basket weaving) were all fun and informative. One attendent suggested we come a half-hour early to the painting class because there were 8 of us and the class accommodated 10. But we thought once we got there they would start the class. They didn't. But by the end of that half-hour we felt like we had 3 more friends; like so many people from the DR, these kids in their early 20's were warm, polite, opened up about themselves and their lives. All wonderful. We saw most of the shows: Magic Show, Elvis Show, Dominican Night, Caribbean Beach Party. All energetic and superb. The magic show featured significant, real illusions. The Elvis impersonator (from Mexico) was spot on with his movements. And the band was live!! I did two excursions: Sunshine (Booze) Cruise with snorkeling and ocean pool; and then a longer one which featured zip-lining, cultural discussions, monkey interaction, a typical Dominican lunch (wonderful!) coffee/cacao education and tasting; and ATV's. It was a full day of adventure. While not that cheap, it was well worth it considering all you did. Included RT transportation, and an excellent guide, Baldimar. I would be remiss to not share a few opportunities. The villa we stayed in backed up to one of Cap Cana's private beaches. This beach was not part of the resort whose beach you reached via the path out the front door. While the view over the private beach onto the Caribbean is breathtaking, the beachfront was not maintained. Seaweed piled up over the course of the week creating a smell that made sitting on the beautiful back deck very unpleasant. Note: the resort does not own this beach and has no control. But if you're thinking of upgrading to a Villa, just know that 1001- 1006 are a definite mixed blessing. Inside is heaven. Outside the back is pretty smelly. (I would add that the standard Junior suites in other parts of the property, from the descriptions of my friends who were in those rooms sounded glorious. They don't typically come with butlers like the suites do. Camacho was able to help our whole group though even if they weren't supposed to have him. Just a great, great guy! One of the reasons why Marriott is top of the line. ) The other opportunity is the lack of outdoor evening entertainment at the beach. Beach bars close at 6:30. Thereafter all entertainment is indoors. The Love Bar is a big room, but a small bar. We were there in the down season. Had the resort been full I would've had a problem with that. But there ARE plenty of drink servers everywhere. The piano bar never had a live piano player while I was in there. The Disco bar doesn't start serving until right before the start of the 9:30 show. It does stay open until 1:00am though. (The bar at Melia Paradisus in Punta Cana was right AT the beach and open until at least 1:00am under the stars and surfside which is nice). The Sanctuary overall gets pretty quiet after 7:00pm. Finally the food: each restaurant was better than the last. The Hibachi restaurant was closed for repairs which is fine with me. I find Hibachi restaurants annoying as hell for numerous reasons. The CasaBella buffet, was outstanding for breakfast and lunch and Dominican Night. If you had something grilled, or fresh pasta or something from the wok, or a morning omelette it was piping hot. Food from the buffet was varied and delicious, but typically warm when hot would have been preferable. The pizza as I said was excellent. We ate at the steakhouse twice and loved it both times. We had a group dinner in the Italian restaurant called Capriccio. The food was beautifully presented and all delicious. These few "opportunities" by the way, did nothing to spoil an absolutely magnificent stay. The Sanctuary is a gem and must be experienced!!

Camacho was our butler who did an amazing job!!! Happy boy and Jose took care of us at the pool!!! Everyone happy and pleasant for sure. Would be nice to have a program price that included tips vice having to tip everyone everyday.

From the moment we arrived until leaving the resort we had the most wonderful experience. We stayed at the Castle, Miguel was truly amazing and just a great guy, we are fairly self sufficient but his communication and help when needed was first class. Everyone at the resort was engaging, helpful and friendly. After just a couple of day they knew names, where we like to sit and what we want to drink. We had a Junior Suite ocean front, very clean, bed was extremely comfortable, service was spot on and view, exactly as promised. Nightly entertainment in the disco was fun, the dancers and singers were very professional. Food was good, when catering to so many you can lose a little edge as you have to keep everyone happy, we expressed our thoughts and were treated to some amazing food. I recommend trying all including Sanctury town options to get full experience. Bar service be it at the Castle, Love Bar, Pool was excellent,

The resort is Spanish style and not the typical cookie cutterstyle layout which gave it a unique experience. The restaurants/food was fantastic and the staff were incredible to deal with and friendly. The room itself was a little dated and could use a refreash on fixtures and more comfortable patio furniture. The jacuzzi was the real disappointment. The maintenance guy quickly dislodged a buttom on the back of the faucet to get the water running (so a known problem). Even after that when it hummed to life the jets sent water every where. It basically was not worth the upgrade. Other problems with the toilet and water dripping from the AC and maintenance panel in the closet we also annoyances. The room was the only reason for not giving it a five star rating.