Nickelodeon Punta Cana
Our flight and arrival procedure went very smoothly. We had a good ride to the resort and easy checkin. The kids were a bit bummed that they did not get slime smoothies upon checkin, so we made sure they got some one checkout. Our room was great! We read reviews that the rooms smelled a bit musty and this is true. It is inevitable for the climate and did not last long. We did not think it was a big deal, but something you may hear from another guest. We absolutely loved the layout of the room. The bathroom was huge and we liked that the toilet and shower area were behind doors so we could have multiple people in and out of the bathroom at a time. The separate bedroom and living room were also great and I loved that there was plenty of space to unpack. There were two closets and each had a set of drawers. The fridge was stocked daily with snacks and drinks. The patio was amazing and we loved the swim up. I can’t imagine any other way to do it! We also loved that we were in building 1. It is the best building to book in because it is the closest to the pool. We loved that we could easily run back to the room from the big pool and beach.
We ordered room service the first night since we were tired. The menu was limited, but the food was good. We liked that the room had a table and 4 stools for in-room dining. We ate breakfast each day at Sugarcane. We never had a trouble getting in and loved the vast selection of foods. We ate at Spacewalker one night and thought the food was really good. The service was slow though. We ate lunch at Zest a few times since it is down by the pool. We were really confused by this at first because reviews made it sound like the dress code was really strict there. After a couple of days of watching people go in, we realized you just needed to have a coverup on and not be dripping wet. Their food was great (the paella was supurb!) and we loved the buffet setup for lunch. We tried going there for breakfast one morning, but the lines were really long so we went to Sugarcane. We had dinner at Sugarcane one night and the theme was Mexican food. The food was okay. It was not what we would consider Mexican food, but it was not bad. It is a buffet setup so can be a bit hectic at night. We ate at Brgrs.PH a couple of times. We highly recommend the machete burger which is massive. It was more than enough for the 4 of us! The food and service were great! We did not try Wok Wok because Lydia is not into Chinese food, but others said it was good food. We could not get a reservation for Verdello because we should have booked it when we checked in. They were booking 3 days out. It sounded good, but we were not too disappointed. We had Aqua Bite on the day we went to the Water Park area. The food was really good, but it took Troy almost an hour to get the food. We went to the coffee shop daily. It was the only place that served decaf at night. They also had ice cream cones. We went to the restaurants each night between 6:00 and 6:30 and never had to wait. We talked with others who consistently had 1 hour waits and we think they went closer to 7.
For entertainment, our kids were too tired to participate in the evening resort activities. They swam all day and the activities did not start until 8:30. We did go to the beach party (it was fun) and the foam party on the last night. They loved that! After dinner we tended to enjoy the cool air in the courtyard area outside the restaurants. They had someone doing caricatures some nights, nightly movies playing outside with popcorn and snacks, etc. The live music was also nice. We were a little annoyed the two evenings that they had booths setup trying to sell things in the square. It was annoying because they were so forward and you had to walk past them to get to the restaurants.
We went to Aqua Nick one day and it was fun. We loved the lazy river! We spent a few hours there, but never went back. It was great, but very crowded. The kids preferred the big pool and beach because that is where their “friends” would be at. :)
Troy and Michael did archery one day. You needed reservations for this activity and had to be 10. They said it was a lot of fun. Not much activity at the sports hub and we did not go there any other time. Lydia had her hair braided in the spa (do the beachside instead because the spa was really expensive). We thought the kids would do more activities, but were surprised that swimming occupied them. The downside of the resort being so spread out is that I would not have felt comfortable letting Michael go to the sports hub without one of us. It was quite far from the pool/beach.
The main pool was right next to the beach and we loved the location! It was pretty busy, so took a bit of scouting to find chairs. You need to go either mid-morning or 1-2ish when people go to lunch. Between the beach and pool we always found something. We ended up planting ourselves on the beach most days because we did not want the kids in the ocean without us watching. We were okay with them going back to the pool as everything felt very safe. While the chairs were full, the resort never felt crowded. Several people commented on that. The pool was awesome and the kids loved the swimup bar. Kids all week learned about different cocktails made without alcohol for them. LOL! Service by the pool was pretty good, but was a bit spottier on the beach. There were lots of bars so you did not have to go far. The ocean flag was red our first night there, but was yellow the rest of the week. The lifeguard was making sure people did not go out too far. Michael loved getting a boogie board and playing in the waves. It was nice they had those available for people.
The kids had so much fun we did not leave the resort all week! We did not use childcare at all. The childcare for the resort is back by the water park. It was a bit confusing because there was a kids play area in the middle of the resort. We stopped in and asked about it but found out it was for the Sensatori resort. Weird! :)
Hopefully that helps! :) I’ll write a facebook review this week as well! You are so awesome and we will for sure use you for our next trip. :)
Thank you so much! The kids had an incredible time and would love to go back! We read they are opening one in Mexico and may want to try that one out!
Bethany