A water lover's paradise, Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada features expansive golden beaches, lagoon-style pools, towering columns and an atmosphere of relaxed luxury. This region is steeped in history and offers the Caribbean's largest dolphinarium. Tucked between majestic forested mountains and the shimmering blue ocean, you'll find Iberostar Costa Dorada. With a seemingly endless shoreline, the resort is a haven for divers, snorkelers, sailors and windsurfers. When your time on the water is through, relax under the shade of the towering palms and thatched roofs overlooking spacious tropical gardens
Location
Puerto Plata - BeachProperty information
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Resort details
Hotel advisories
General policies & fine print
Convention Policy - Individuals attending a convention cannot book this property for their stay. If found attending a convention, guests may be subject to higher room rates upon arrival.
Hotel Spring Break Policy - This hotel cannot guarantee a spring-break-free environment.
Transfer Policy - A price may display when children stay free, if your vacation includes transfer to your hotel.
General Information - Room taxes and service fee are included in vacation price.
STUDENT/YOUTH GROUP POLICY - In order to maintain a family oriented environment, Iberostar Hotels and Resorts will be implementing a policy at student/youth groups. Students/youth All student/youth groups must be pre-approved and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Upon check-in, each group will be required to make a refundable cash deposit of USD $200.00 per room for any charges or damages that might be incurred during the stay. In the event that any member(s) from the group engage in inappropriate behavior disrespecting Hotel Staff and/or other guest or causing physical damages to facilities, the hotel management reserves the right to expel the entire group without reimbursement or refund of the remaining nights.
Customer ratings & reviews
TripAdvisor traveler rating
9847 reviews
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Nov 21, 2024Good bang for your buck
We went to Iberostar Costa Dorada in November for a family vacation with two adults and two teenagers. Right after we got checked-in, a concierge took us to the buffet, which was a kind attention after a day of travel and we were all quite hungry and tired. We got a two bedroom family suite, which allowed us for more space. We were on the ground floor of building 8. It was convenient during the day, but noisy in the morning. We often got woken up at around 9 am by staff having loud conversations just outside our doors, which is always unpleasant on vacation. But other than that, the staff was always friendly and helpful. The beach was great, the sea was warm, and there was always enough place to sit. There was a yellow flag at the beach all week, so a lot of waves, which is great fun for older kids and teens but would not have been for little kids. My teens had a blast in the waves. I recommend bringing inflatable rings. There were a lot of Dominicans visiting the resort during the weekend, and it's great that they also get to enjoy the hotels and beaches in their beautiful country. We were worried about the weather before leaving, but it was quite fine. It rained on on arrival day, on our departure day, and only one day in the middle. The food was fine, nothing to write home about, but we always found something we liked and we did not expect a gourmet experience. We took a city tour excursion and it was great to get to explore a bit of this charming city. I highly recommend taking one, it was a highlight of our trip. So if you want to book a luxury resort with brand new everything and gourmet food, this is not the place for you. If not, you can have an enjoyable vacation in the sun here without having to pay hundreds or thousands more.
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Nov 19, 2024Don't go - involuntary downgrades, rude timeshare pushing, low quality food and alcohol
I could not recommend against this location more. I had multiple negative experiences. Some of which could be considered one off experiences that might not impact the majority of guests but others of which do impact all guests. For the items that would pertain to all guests: They pour very low-quality alcohol. Yes, it is included because it is an all-inclusive location, but you are drinking garbage. This is why the mixed drinks are mixed with tons of sweeteners, to mask the quality of the alcohol. Just as an example, I took a look at the red wine they were pouring for dinner. I forget the name, but I looked it up from the table. It was a $4.49 bottle. They do have a “sommelier” that walks around selling additional cost bottles. Those bottles are decent but marked up exorbitantly. For example, they had 19 Crimes wine that you could buy. This bottle retails for $14.99 in the US. They were selling it for $50! They advertise a fully stocked mini bar that is included in your room. The mini bar consists of 2 bottles of coke, a bottle of sprite and 2 cans of low quality beer… that’s it.. that is the mini bar. The only restaurant worth eating at was the Mexican restaurant. If you have a reservation at this location I would first recommend you cancel.. but if you can’t cancel at least plan to eat at the Mexican restaurant. Both the Japanese restaurant and the Italian restaurant were absolute garbage. The chefs at the Japanese restaurant put on a nice show but the food quality is not good and the “sushi” is horrible. The only good thing about the buffet is the breakfast. They do a nice job there and the guy making the omelets is easily their best employee as the omelets are very good. The beach was dirty. During our 4 day stay they did have it cleaned once. But even when the sand was clean, where their physical location is does not get the nice clear waters. The water has a ton of algae and is dirty. I brought my own snorkel gear and was never able to use it. Note: the resort does have free snorkel gear that you can use but, again I brought my own and didn’t even go snorkeling because there is not going to be anything worth seeing at the beach by the resort. There are really no activities to do in poor weather. It rained 2 days we were there and there was nothing to do during the day. They have a small game area with pool tables and air hockey but… it cost extra to play those games. They have ping pong which is included but in heavy rain the little tent you are under is not enough. The entertainers were “OK”. Not great but also not bad. It seems like there are more locals there on Saturdays so it seems the entertainers don’t do as much those days. Of course, I was only there for one Saturday and can’t speak for every Saturday. Now for my personal experience which may not pertain to all guests: I paid extra to have a pool view room. When my wife and I got to the resort they gave us the keys to our pool view room and sent us on our way with a Bellman. When my wife opened the door we saw other guests luggage in the room. We were taken back to the front desk and it was ultimately explained to us that the room was supposed to be our room but they mistakenly gave it to someone else and since they already gave it to someone else they were not going to ask them to move. So, they gave us a new room. The room they gave us was a clear downgrade. It was at the far end of the pool where you could only see a sliver of the pool if you lean out over the balcony. It was mainly a garden view room. There was no compensation offered for this downgrade. Upon checking in we were met by a person claiming to be our personal concierge. In reality this was just a person assigned to sell us a timeshare. We told her we were not interested and went about our day. The next day she cornered my wife and basically explained that she needed to make the appointment for credit so she could get the money for doing a sales demo. She said she understood that we didn’t want to buy, but if we met with her the next day she would just sit with us at breakfast, do a 30 minute presentation, give us a $70 credit and we could both be on our way.. us with a $70 credit and her with her appointment that she needed to get paid. So, feeling bad for her we agreed to meet with her the next day. When we got to the lobby to meet with her we learned that she was not even working that day and her colleague was going to handle the presentation. Also, instead of walking us to breakfast as she said she would do, her colleague wanted to talk in the timeshare office. At this point I wanted nothing more to do with it so I decided to leave and go to breakfast. The colleague then very loudly made a scene and called me rude simply because I wanted to leave. These are just the big things. I am sure the review is already way too long so I am not going to go into the smaller things (like the TV audio stopped working the last day of the trip) because that would make it way too long. Just do yourself a favor and do not book this place.
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Nov 12, 2024Stay in Puerta Plata
Visited the Ibearostar Waves Costa Dorada in Puerto Plata for the first time in November 2024. The resort was very clean and the staff were great. The food was delicious. The transfer from the airport to the resort was pretty fast. We were the second stop. Got to try all three restuarants onsite - the Japanese, Mexican and the Italian. Food was really tasty at all restaurants. The buffet was good for breakfast and lunches. Really liked the omelettes. We stayed in a Junior Oceanfront Suite and it was plenty of room. We requested two beds but these rooms supply only a king bed. The couch turned into a pull out bed which the staff made up promptly into another full size bed. So, we got our two beds after. The entertainment was good. We enjoyed all the shows in particular the Michael Jackson one which was excellent. The weather was mixed we had a combination of sun/cloud and rain. The rain did not spoil our trip. I really missed the straws for my drinks so I remind you to bring your own straw if you like them. Also. bring an extension cord for the room. This was helpful as not many outlets in the room. The flies were busy after the rain so recommend insect repellant. The resort supplies a water filtration system outside the rooms for drinking. Would recommend bringing your own drink bottle for water but the hotel does supply reusable ones that they reclean onsite. The pool was beautiful. The beach was nice but not like Punta Cana. Overall enjoyed the stay here and would book again in the future. Great find!
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Nov 09, 2024Good value, good food.
Food selection and taste in buffet was great. However rooms were in different state of disrepair. First room had AC only on/off without thermostat. Second room had leaking roof. Third room shower barely dribbled. Hotel didn't have hot water at 7am. Beach has lots of garbage washed up. People are super nice and extremely friendly. For the price which was around $900 for a week with airfare, i think it is a great value.
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Nov 08, 2024
Go elsewhere!
This has been the most terrible resort experience ever. We came with a group of 24 people, occupying 11 rooms. Our rooms were not ready by 3pm, as we were told, most were ready at around 4:30pm, with the last one being ready at 5:30pm. One of the rooms had a problem with the air conditioner, forcing us to move to a different room 2 days later. The hotel staff is very friendly, unless you need them to resolve a problem. I wanted to apply the $100 resort credit I had, to a massage. It took over 1.5 hours for the staff to do it, sending me back and forth between the spa and the reception. In the end, they overcharged me by $10, and refused to refund me the money. It took over 30 minutes for the staff to call the manager, as the manager was ‘busy’. The staff member in question, a kid of no more than 22, was very rude and unprofessional. The worst, by far though, is the ecological disaster on the beach. Garbage is found everywhere, and it is not cleaned up at all. If you venture for a walk in either direction, the amount of garbage is so extreme, that it’s repulsive. We’ve been to DR many times in the past, and have never seen anything like this.