Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

This place is changing a bit, and not for the better, but it remains a happy place for me. The main pain point for me is that it's supposed to be in a Reserve, meaning a quiet place where you can feel free. Dorado is getting overdeveloped, and you can't walk or bicycle along a road for ten seconds without having a car in your way. It's worse than many residential neighborhoods back at home. They are building many more condos and thinking of building a JW Marriott hotel which will be large and probably turn the area into a circus. Here's a list of things the hotel you used to provide that it no longer does: hammocks at the pool, snacks in the gym, foam rollers in the gym, little bottles of sunscreen, dishes by the outdoor showers in your room with amenities such as soap and shampoo. I wish they would bring back the breakfast buffet. I found that sending a pre-order through my butler helped speed up breakfast although I still had to wait 15 minutes for my food to be brought to the table. I figure it's only a matter of time before they phase out the popsicles you get upon arrival. The Spa Botanico remains a wonderful spa but do you think that $375 for a one hour massage might be a bit steep? I prefer the upstairs rooms because you have more privacy instead of everyone walking by and looking at you in your room. Amex Platinum gives you a "property credit" and you figure that you can use it at the spa or at the restaurant at Encanto beach club. You can't. The credit is only good for the 2 hotel restaurants and room service. They have a promotion giving out $500 property credits for 2 night stays and I"m wondering where anyone is supposed to spend the credits except at the two restaurants. All in all, a room here costs about $3,000 a night, which is about the same as a junior suite at the Cheval Blanc in Paris. That's probably a good comparison and along those lines, the price is right. What you do get here is AC in your room that works and stays on all night, fruit and treats in your room upon arrival, electricity that doesn't go out when the rest of the island does, a beautiful pool area with a heated pool and a jacuzzi with a pretty ocean view, butler service, a calm beach for swimming due to the breakers (which is very hard to find anywhere else), a good 24 hour fitness facility, a water park with 2 slides and a lazy river, a decent gym that also makes good smoothies, bicycles, probably the best food on the island, and a gated community with very upscale living 35 minutes from an airport with lots of flights at good prices.

Having traveled all over the world in my quest for the perfect beach resort, I had never considered Puerto Rico as for some reason I didn’t think it was exotic enough. I had recently returned from La Samara in St. Martin and believed I had finally found my nirvana . My son told me that he had recently experienced the most fabulous vacation at Dorado Ritz Carlton reserve so although I didn’t think anything could surpass La Samana I thought I’d give it a try. Dorado not only surpassed La Samana but was even more spectacular than my trip to Lake Como Italy. Many resort beaches are lovely but none are as dramatically breathtaking as the beach at Dorado . Boulders in the water create coves for swimming while providing the beach goer with a display of crashing waves. The several vanishing pools are pristine and the jungle like plantings with massive palm trees and other lush shrubbery and trees make a visitor feel that they have entered paradise. The rooms are so close to the ocean that you can hear the waves as you sleep- and the rooms are exquisite with stone bathrooms that have magnificent indoor and outdoor showers . And the food was fit for a gourmet’s taste.The staff must all take happy pills as they are always looking for ways to please you. To be fair all this vines at a price but it is well worth it. One caveat - check in is at 4 and checkout at 12- as we had a 6:10 flight back to New York we asked for a late checkout. We were told this was not possible - I’m sure housekeeping couldn’t clean all the rooms at the same time so it would seem that 4 hrs would be sufficient to allow people with late flights to check out later. This was the only negative. Two staff particularly stand out as going the extra step to make guests happy- Walter and Ingrid-bravo

The setting for the entire property is absolutely exquisite. I have stayed on the West Beach and the East Beach. Objectively, neither one is better than the other. They just offer different experiences. If you are staying with family and would like direct access to the beachfront, the West Beach is a great choice. If you want the same ocean vista but are comfortable with the more rocky surf, you get a ton more privacy on the East Beach. The entire resort is structured so that everywhere on property is convenient. I have stayed in a large 2 bedroom suite and on a separate trip a deluxe ocean front room, each with a pool. The rooms have every amenity needed to ensure a comfortable stay. From a fully stocked bar and pantry to the bathroom amenity packages just about every need is cared for. Service is also proactive and highly attentive. The butler teams manage everything from dinner reservations and spa appointments to any off property excursions. Trent was devoted to our suite during our earlier trip in April and when we returned in December, he remembered us and treated us with extra bonus attention. We definitely felt spoiled rotten in the very best way. The restaurants are all amazing. I wish I favored one over any of the others but they were all fantastic and offered different culinary experiences. The pool and beach areas are nice. Unlike other resorts where it is hard to find space when the property is crowded, this was only the case on one of the days and the beach and pool staff handled it professionally and worked extremely hard to make sure all guests could be accommodated. We reserved a day bed for two days and found that it was worth the price to have a certain spot to go to each day. I would recommend the day beds which are available at the beach and by the pool. I really can't say enough about how magical a place this is. We are already planning our return trip this spring.

This was our third trip here. It’s beautiful and the service keeps us coming back. However, this was the first time that we were denied any pool or beach chairs. So for $6K/night, unless you wake up at 8am (earlier if jet lagged) and go reserve your chairs, you won’t get ANY! It seems that if we want to sleep-in on our vacation, and go enjoy the pool at 11am, that for $6K/night it should be a given!

Last minute trip to get out of the cold. Resort beautiful. Rooms are great and large and comfortable. Butlers attentive and respond quickly to requests via text. Property beautiful. Positivo Asian restaurant is amazing as well as the servers super friendly. Resort felt very empty despite being Christmas week. Couple of negatives. Requested turn down service nightly at 8:00. First evening there no turn down service provided. Coa for breakfast I would not recommend. Went first day and bird poop on all the chairs outside and birds and poop all over tables. Waitress put towel on chairs to cover the poop so didn’t sit on it. Service was lacking and left dirty tables that were attacked by the birds. Hotel needs to do something about the birds- completely unsanitary. Some Mexican hotels have trained hawks keep birds away they should look into. Went to La Cocina for coffee the rest of the stay was great with great cookies. Service at beach slow. Ordered lunch one day. After an hour we complained and waiter said food was attacked by birds while bringing to us and remaking it. They did right thing and comped the lunch. Tried to get couples massage and had zero availability throughout the stay. You would think they would extend spa hours festive week. On day of check out as Bonvoy gold member requested 3:00 check out being that there were at least three of my category rooms available online that day but of course they claimed high occupancy and made us check out by 1:00. Manager made no effort to accommodate us despite many unsold rooms in same category as ours. For $7000/night for a room the hotel should not have this many negatives.