tvt's Dreams PV review

[tvt]

Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa 10/30/08 - 11/7/08

 

Disclaimer – I’m an event planner by trade, used to travel 300+ days a year and have seen my fair share of events/resorts/hotel staff/etc. So take that into consideration when reading the following…

 

Dreams PV – C

 

Overall

Dreams is located in such a pretty area. The lobby staff was very friendly and the bellstaff took great care of all of our bags. We checked into 1401 and it was pretty smelly. It smelled like ammonia and the restaurant right below it. We checked with the front desk to see if we could switch rooms, and they told us we could the next day. We ended up in 1507 – king bed no balcony. We stayed in this room 2 nights. The AC was so bad that the entire room was damp. I would wake up in the AM roll over and my cheek would hit a damp pillow. We then moved it 1617. King bed, balcony and an AC that worked! This is where we stayed the rest of the trip. My parents had 1816, king bed, and balcony and an AC that worked.

 

We origionally booked an upgraded suite which we didn't recieve because we found out a couple weeks before we left that the entire new tower was under construction. We did receive a voucher for a free week stay in an upgraded jacuzzi suite sometime between now and Oct 2009.

 

Dreams is located a little further from town than we had expected but this turned out to be a good thing as our whole group was always together, and we really had the entire weekend together before the wedding and by the time the wedding came everyone knew each other and were hanging out together and it was one big group as opposed to little groups of people that don’t know each other like many weddings are.

 

Our guests really enjoyed being at an all inclusive. Many of them had never gone this route before and everyone commented that it was the way to go. Plus everyone drank a lot and this makes many people pretty happy!

 

Entertainment

The first night there were some cirque type performers that were pretty cool. The next day was Halloween and they had pumpkin carving and the kids did face painting and went trick or treating around the resort. That night they had a REALLY great band. Our whole group was on the beach dancing and singing and the drinks were flowing very freely. It was such a great time. One thing that people kept commenting on was how good the drink were. Not stingy on the liquor at all.

 

We also released little baby sea turtles. It was such a cool experience and everyone was talking about it. They did it every night of our trip at 6pm.

 

There was also Monday night Football, casino night, karakoee night.

 

Grounds/maintenance/housekeeping

The grounds are really well kept, and they keep the beach very clean. Maid service is great, the rooms could use some updating, but things are kept very clean. No bug issues what so ever!

 

The negative

Dreams PV is the most unaccommodating resort I have ever seen. 90% of the questions we asked the staff received a “no” answer. Have a group of 9 that want to eat dinner together? Going to have to get 2 separate tables. The largest table they can do is 8. And even for 8 they have to ask the restaurant manager for approval. You can’t sit at the end of tables because of the “walkway” and 9 at a table is just “too hard for the chef”.

 

80% of our group went to Oceana the night before the wedding, we had 35 people going. We went early to get some tables. We had to fight for everything. At one point the restaurant manager came over to me and said “you have 27 now, that is all we can take of your party” WTF?! These people are paying to stay here, at an AI and you are going to TURN THEM AWAY? I don’t think so. Plus the resort is at 50% capacity max – the entire new tower is shut down along with 1 restaurant. You’d think they would want to be a littler more accommodating. Nope.

 

We also had some serious issues with a family that didn’t stay at Dreams PV but came to Dreams to meet up with people to go shopping into town. The guards followed them like hawks, took their drivers license and told them “you have 10 minutes before you must leave” it was crazy. Then we asked about day passes. Keep in mind that they arrived at Dreams at 5pm. At 5pm a “day” pass is $100 dollars. The front desk said at 7pm they could come back and it would be $40, which was a discount from the normal $55. So we said “ok, lets do that”. We had to pay the “chief concierge” but he would not honor the $40/person discount the front desk manager had given us. It’s a long drawn out story, but you get the point.

 

 

Overall, I would not recommend Dreams. Dreams is a good place for people that don't travel a lot, or have not stayed in higher end resorts. It is not a good place for large groups or experienced travelers.

[amyh]

How frustrating Tara! I really had higher expectations for Dreams PV. But the more and more I read, I realized that its not really a resort I want to visit.

[1elephant]

tara, i'm sorry you didn't like it. we had such a great experience there, and the staff was very accomodating to us. the eating together part was a PITA, but we didn't do it often and honestly, we didn't particularly care if we were all at the same table.

[starchild]

Wow, so sorry to hear about the bad experience! Like Lauren, we had a great experience...and it wasn't my first vacation so I had a lot to compare it to. I'm glad you found some positives in there. It wasn't perfect when we went either (they lost the starfish I left for Ann, for example) but not as bad as it seems your trip was...damn

 

Not to say 'I told you so' but BDWers who have been there have posted here that Dreams does not allow outside people past the gate, even to wait in the lobby. It's pretty much never acceptable so you actually lucked out in that aspect...even if they did hound your guests.

[EricaG]

Sorry to hear that there were issues with the resort. I am just glad that it wasn't all bad.

[TammyWright]

tara,

 

i hate to negate your review but i have to say that what you are complaining about in terms of service is a little self-centered and selfish...and i really hope you do not take this wrong because i know you are a super nice person but i really think that when it is our wedding brides have a very "its my day" mentality and think that everyone else should cater to them.

 

there are actually reasons why the resort wants you to have private events for big groups. even though to you it sounds reasonable that you should get a table for 27 people at one of their smaller restaurants, it actually isn't fair to the rest of the resort guests. big groups tend to stay longer at the table and then they will not have enough seatings to accomodate other guests.

 

i know that you think 35-40 whatever number of guests you have is alot but really that is a very small percentage of guests staying at the resort...probably less than 10% so it really isnt fair to the other 90% of hotel guests to not be able to eat at the restaurant because your group monopolized it.

 

again, if you really wanted to eat together with almost 30 guests and you wanted to sit at the same table, etc. you really should have paid for a private event.

 

same thing with the guest passes and people that were not guests at the resort. if i was staying at the resort and a bunch of people that did not belong there came and took up the lounge chairs, caused the restaurants to be full, cause bar service to be slow i would be PISSED...that is why they have the high and strict day pass rules.

 

your 35-40 guests should not lessen the experience of the other 300-400 guests at the resort.

 

the stuff about the hotel room and ac not working, i would def. have complained and gotten a room change or insisted on some sort of discount.

[tvt]

maybe I should have worded my review differently, but i wasn't upset about having to pay for a day pass for our guests. and i can completely understand why they need to do that. i was frustrated that one person tells you one thing, then another tells you a different thing, and it seemed impossible to come to an agreement on what we actually needed to pay for these guests, and were willing to pay

 

and as far as the dinner goes, we all had seperate tables of 4 to 6 people. we ordered at different times, sat down at different times, etc. and we went super early so that we weren't monopolozing the restaurant. there was 1 couple eating when we got there and at least 15 empty tables when they told us they were going to turn away our other guests if they arrived. to me that's not how guests should be treated

[Jenn6603]

well, I certainly hope that I get the experience that lauren and starchild have had!! my wedding at dreams is only 3 1/2 months away...

 

I do agree with starchild - I have traveled all over and most all-inclusive do not allow off-resort guests. period. not even to the lobby... I've seen them turned away at the main gate...

 

Tara - you said that 90% of the questions you asked received a no answer... I am interested in knowing what sorts of other things they were not accomodating with... you mentioned the sitting together thing and the off-resort guest policy... what else?

 

Jenn

[LCBride2007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvt Overall, I would not recommend Dreams. Dreams is a good place for people that don't travel a lot, or have not stayed in higher end resorts. It is not a good place for large groups or experienced travelers.

I'm so sorry you had a negative experience! All of our guests LOVED Dreams, and are now looking forward to staying at other Dreams locations when they go on vacation. And overall my experience was positive, save for the WC at Dreams, who I think is no longer in that position (whew!).

But I have traveled about 50+ weeks out of the year for the last 11-12 years, and have stayed in some pretty swanky hotels. both inside and outside the U.S. And I loved Dreams! I will say that it's definitely a "Mexican" resort, things happen on Mexico time, but that's what I love about Mexico, it's more laid back. So hopefully next time you visit, if you do, you'll have a better experience!

[tvt]

we saw 3 weddings at dreams while we were there and they all looked great! we actually talked to 1 of the brides the day after her wedding and she said everything with her wedding was perfect!

 

it could totally be that our experience wasn't the norm. and we just had an off day with those guests trying to come in, and the restuarant being really rude. those were the only 2 negatives. aside from the rooms, but the front desk staff were super willing to move us around and even let us check out a room before we moved into it.