Maybe this is a weird place to start a travel blog written by people who claim to be ‘wanderers’, but bear with us. First of all, this trip was what we’re calling a mini-moon. We got married a little over two weeks before leaving, but in reality this was a reward we gave ourselves for getting jobs after 6 months of unemployment (yes we were both laid off about the same time). Reasons aside, let’s move on. 

We all need a break sometimes. Knowing exactly the kind of trip you want to take is so important to getting the best experience possible. For example, we’re not really the excursion type when it comes to beach vacations. If we’re paying for 5 days at a beach resort, I don’t want to spend 4 – 5 hours of a day away from the resort I’m paying for. I want to sit by the pool with a beer in hand. Then later I’d like to go sit on the beach with a beer in hand. You get it. If we’re talking about resorts, we’re talking about resorts, not so much about the country in which its located. 

The Resort

A resort by Melia in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Duration of Stay: 5 days, 4 nights (Dec 4th – 8th, Monday to Friday) 

Experience Type: All Inclusive

Accommodation Type: Standard Junior Suite, The Reserve

Occupancy While Staying: 57% (we did get some mixed feedback, but this was the number that struck)

Melia is a Spanish hotel company and the largest hotel brand in Spain and in the top 20 largest in the world. They have many different sub-brands of reports and hotels that have slightly different offerings. If you’re familiar with all inclusive experiences, especially in Mexico or the Caribbean, you’ve probably noticed that brands have many properties in the same general area. Paradisus is just one of the many Melia brands. It has 5 locations: 3 in Mexico, 1 in the Dominican Republic and 1 in St. Augustine.

What is The Reserve?

The Reserve is the adults only all-inclusive offering specific to the Paradisus by Melia resorts. We discovered The Reserve while booking our stay at the Paradisus Cancun. Initially skeptical, we took the chance and were blown away by the service so we had to try it again. If you’re a couple traveling without children and can spare the extra cost, we think its worth the money.

To clarify, the resort as a whole is not adults only, but The Reserve provides you a room in a separate section of the resort, a concierge to make your dinner reservations, exclusive pool and beach areas, a private check-in lounge, and an exclusive restaurant.

We never had to dodge children at the buffet. Every meal (including breakfast) is served a la carte, and you’ll never have to get up from your pool or beach lounge to to get a drink at the bar- unless you want to take a walk.

You’ll also have access to mid-shelf liquors like Luna Azules Tequila (which is a solid step up from the *gags* Cuervo or worse you’ll get a lot of places), and if you’re a scotch drinker like me, Johnnie Black.  

Pools

Number of Pools: 4

Reserve Exclusive pools

Two of the pools are exclusive to The Reserve. They have bali beds you can claim if you’re at the pool early, and a server or two making rounds and taking drink orders.

The pool areas are quiet with ambient music playing jazzy covers of popular songs. There are no barriers physically blocking other guests from entering the area, but its well enforced nonetheless. Your resort wristband indicates the level of accommodation you’ve purchased. On a couple of occasions other guests were politely reminded that the area they were in was exclusive to guests of The Reserve. 

All-Access pools

One pool is adults only but not exclusive to The Reserve. This one does have a swim up bar, is huge and was virtually empty while we were there. 

The last and largest of the pools is for all guests and has the main, more active swim up bar. They were playing louder music, and definitely catered to the more party focused guests. There is a small section of this pool that is marked as adults only and sectioned off by large gazebo-like structures. We spent enough time for a tequila shot and one beer in that pool, and moved on. Not our vibe, but it wasn’t crowded at all and could have been enjoyable had we stayed longer. 

Pro Tip: be weary of reviews for any resorts that were written from 2020 through mid/late 2022. Many of these resorts had the same issues filling staff positions as businesses in the US. Rely on the aggregate largely and filter if you can from mid 2022 on.

Beach

Oh the beach. There is something about sitting on a beach by the blue Caribbean water that is just perfect. I’m the kind of person who needs a little cabana or umbrella to sit under. I’m pale and I burn easily. Aside from floating around in the water for 20 minutes every now and again, I like to sit there and catch the vibes. 

There is a roped off beach area exclusive to guests of The Reserve. A beach server will keep tabs on you and bring you drinks anytime you need. There is really no reason to get up if you don’t absolutely have to.

The beach itself is nice too – the sand is super soft and fine and the water is pretty. There are resorts on either side of your beach section, all of which belong to the other Melia properties as far as we could tell, but they aren’t obtrusive. For someone who grew up going to crowded beaches in New England and Florida, this is pretty blissful. 

Also, for a resort reporting 57% occupancy, there was no competition for beach beds. I would say less that 50% were being used.

The Melia section of the beach is roped off by a seaweed barrier about 50 – 75 meters out into the water. You’ll see in the photos it doesn’t catch all the seaweed, but the water was pretty clear of it.

Food / Drinks 

Guests of The Reserve have access to everything a standard room would grant you, plus usually 1 – 2 additional options. At the Palma Real, Sante is the restaurant exclusive to The Reserve and is open for all three meals. Here are some general thoughts we’ve had on meal periods. We’ll do a slightly more in depth review of our specific meals in another article. 

Breakfast

Sante, Sante, Sante. There is no reason to eat anywhere else if you choose The Reserve, because the only other real option is the main buffet. Sante has fresh made fruit juices and standard western breakfast options to get you going for a long day of sitting in the sun. There is a small buffet exclusive to the restaurant with an omelet station and a self serve mimosa bar. We saw Franklin working every morning and he helped us out. If you see him tell him we said hello! 

Pro Tip: If you’re a coffee lover, we didn’t enjoy the coffee at Sante. Most days we opted to head to Ginger Bar for an espresso before going to breakfast. 

Lunch

Again Sante is probably your best option for a nice relaxing a la carte experience. They add wine table service at lunch for a nice added touch, and have solid menu options that will leave you feeling refreshed. We did go over to the Kanna Beach Bar for lunch one day and had some tacos which hit the spot. That option is open to the whole resort so peaceful is not a word I would use to describe it. Great service there too though, can’t really say anything bad about it except there will be youngins about and the ambience might not be to par with what you’ve become accustom to as a guest of The Reserve 😉.  

Dinner

The same as any guest, you need to have reservations to eat at the restaurants that are open for dinner. You need to make sure that your reservations request for that evening has been communicated to your concierge before 9am. Thats when the restaurants start accepting requests, and for popular restaurants like the steakhouse, you’ll want to be first in line. Don’t give them all of your requests upfront and expect that they’ll remember. Send the request every morning before 9am, even if you’ve talked to them about it prior, just to cover your bases.

Our reservations fell later than we’re used to eating, so we’d be ready early. All the restaurants and bars (with the exception of Sante) are situated in what we’ve been calling the ‘Main Plaza’. During the day it just feels like a little courtyard adjacent to a pool with a view of the ocean. At night area comes alive and has the feeling of a small village area with bars and restaurants. Its one of the nicer details of a resort like this that I’ve enjoyed. There are plenty of options to get a drink while you wait for your table, and enjoy the atmosphere.

All in all, the dinner food across the restaurants was solid, and the service was great. Ultimately, for a trip like this good food with nice drinks and atmosphere is about all you need. This place exceeded our expectations.  

Snacks

You can get snacks at any time from the buffet, and at the Kanna Beach Bar during the day. We ate at the buffet the day we arrived while we waited for our room, and honestly the food we had wasn’t bad. The atmosphere is something I desperately want to avoid on vacation, but in terms of quality, I was surprised at the options. Specifically a chicken and a salmon option, both of which were Dominican inspired, and really tasty. There are also a couple of ‘food trucks’ around the resort but I’d stay away from those save for moments of true desperation. 

Drinks are obviously plentiful. There is a lobby bar called Ginger Bar, and a sports bar called Kick’s. Ginger Bar is casual with lots of lounge furniture and usually has some music playing at night. Kick’s has a pool table people would clamor and lurk around for a turn and had Karaoke a couple nights a little later on while we were there.

So, what should you do? 

For us, the extra money for The Reserve is worth it. The lowest cost room at the moment is $1170 for 2 people at 4 nights Monday – Friday. In comparison the lowest cost room at The Reserve is about $1400. So for an extra 230 dollars you get private pool and beach areas and drinks served to you, an exclusive restaurant with excellent service, a concierge, scaled up liquor options (if thats your thing) and nightly turn down service. 

If you’re a couple traveling with no kids and can afford the extra couple hundred dollars it really is a no brainer to me. I have had experiences where the adults only options at resorts just seems like a way for the resort to up charge you without actually providing discernable service you could have gotten at a lower price. This is definitely not the case with The Reserve at the Paradisus Palma Real in Punta Cana. The perks of the The Reserve do vary between properties, so make sure you do your research if we haven’t covered the property you’re looking to go to!