C'est le minimun pour un 4 étoiles, tout est bien mais sans plus, un bar dans la piscine serait un plus mais pour le prix $900.00 c'était très bien et j'y retournerais n'importe quand.

Mon amoureux et moi avons beaucoup aimé notre expérience à cet endroit, pour le calme de la place. Pas trop de musique latine et pas trop forte non plus. On pouvait lire en prenant un bon cappucino au Lobby. La piscine est très grande et la barboteuse et plus éloignée laissant tout l'espace aux enfants de s'amuser en masse, sans déranger ceux qui s'y reposent ou lisent. La plage est formidable et assez longue pour faire une belle marche et même du jogging. Il y a parfois une accumulation d'algue, mais elle est vite ramassée. La nourriture est juste correct. Un peu redondant à la fin de de la semaine, mais c'était correct. Le personnel est courtois, serviable et parle français. Un seul point négatif: ce sont les vendeurs de petits cossins un peu partout sur le site qui essaient toujours de nous accrocher pour nous vendre quelque chose... un peu désagréable... à la longue. Sinon, c'est un bon endroit pour se reposer et refaire le plein! En plus, il a fait beau toute la semaine!

A smaller resort that was the perfect size for my family of 4. My children 12 and 13 were free to walk safely around the resort. The entertainment staff were great and encouraged my son and daughter to participate in many of the daily activities. Staff was friendly, food was good, the beach was wonderful. A bit of a language barrier with other vacationers, many europeans and french, but staff spoke english well. Beware of the upsell to Cayena Beach, but be firm and they will leave you alone. All in all a good vacation.

Went for quiet and relaxation and this resort was great. We paid for a renovated room and we were totally satisfied. Be aware that the walls are paper thin though so ear plugs are a must especially if you are a light sleeper. Beds are on the firm side, but not unbearable. Beach is amazing. If you want a sun shaded area by the pool or on the beach you MUST get up before 6am or your chances are very slim as they do not have enough to go around, but we simply asked others to share and had no problems.

Gorgeous beach and palm trees - and thank goodness for that! The hotel not so good. Paid extra for renovated room, room was ok but had issues with a/c, no hot water, electricity going on and off etc. Food at restaurants very bland, and had food poisoning from the seafood. Rating says it is a 4 star - but not even close. I have to rate this as a 2.5 at the most. But again, the beach is what makes it worth going.

Beau site calme. Pour la nourriture on mange bien mais il manque de variation. Les chambres a occupation doubles se sont des lits simples donc un peu moins alléchants. Fait surprenants les employés parlent presque tous en français, c'est le premier endroit ou je vois ça. A notre arrivée on n'avait pas une chambre au premier mais ils nous ont arrangés ça toute suite. Donc dans l'ensemble c'est a recommander mais un peu cher quand même. Mettons qu'un 100$ en moins serait a recommander.

We stayed at the VIK for two weeks, March 5 – 19. It was our second visit to this resort. To begin, if you are thinking of choosing the VIK, keep in mind that it is a budget friendly resort. If one understands this, then one will find the resort to be good value for the money. Do not expect five star accommodations, facilities or choices.
The VIK is an older resort; one of the first to open in PC. The rooms are very basic but kept clean. The furniture and beds have never been replaced and show their age. The mattresses are very hard and I found them to be very uncomfortable. However, the only time I spent in the room was to wash and sleep. The condition of the furniture and bedding didn’t bother me; I just would have preferred a better bed. Building four has been renovated and is more modern. It’s more expensive. The intention is to eventually renovate all five buildings. We stayed in building five, closest to the beach. The
The pool is very large and kept clean. It could use a new coat of paint, but that would mean closing the pool. The beach is, simply put, one of the world’s best - the major reason I choose P.C. for vacation.
As elsewhere in the world, the recession has affected the property. This was most obvious in the quality of the food. It was not bad and there was choice; however, it was better and more varied when we were there in 2009. For example a wide variety of quality cheeses were no longer available. In addition to the buffet, there are two a la carte restaurants – Italian and Sea Food. The Buccanero grill/bar is located between the beach and the pool. It’s a great spot for lunch. A small buffet is set at lunch hour and pizza, burgers, hot dogs, chicken and pork chops are available until late in the afternoon. In addition there is another beach bar.
The nightly entertainment is typical of any all-inclusive resort. Some shows were good; others were not. In the evening, most activity took place in and around the reception area. Its comparative smallness is conducive to meeting people. Striking up a conversation was very easy, and we made several new and interesting friends. I like that the VIK is built to a human scale and is not a mega resort.
Even though it has a four star rating, it would not compare too well to other more expensive and newer four star resorts. For example the two more costly neighboring four star resorts, the Caribe Club/Tropical Princess and the Ocean Sand/Blue, have superior accommodations and facilities.
All told, we enjoyed our time at the VIK. It is unpretentious and gives good value for your money. If you select the VIK be aware of what you’re getting, and you won’t be disappointed.

tres propre belle plage ,belle grandeur de site ,vielle hotel mais propre et bouffe correct,restaurnt a la carte illimiter sans reservation,parle beaucoup francais employer de bonhumeur,c est un petit 4* mais souvent dans les moin cher,quand on le sais c est parfait,recommende pour ceux qu il veule en tenir compte,au meme prit que cuba et superieur a cuba.

We travelled during the March Break from March 10th to the 17th. Like many others, we read a lot of reviews before leaving and were getting a little concerned about the choice we made in staying here. If you go to this hotel with an "open mind" and thinking that the beach and pool will be where you're spending most of your time...then you'll be happy with this resort.

The service from the staff was good, but not excellent. Almost all of the staff only spoke Spanish, so communication is challenging most of the time if you don't speak the native language. Alot of the staff seemed more comfortable getting by in French than English. With that said, everyone smiled and was pleasant to deal with. There did seem to be a large percentage of the guests that were either French or French-Canadian, but I'm sure this fluctuates based on the time of year.

The food was from the buffet was mostly bland with not alot of flavour...either sweet, savoury or spicy. We did however, really enjoy the "meal stations". Breakfast had an omelette bar and supper had a soup station, pasta station and the most popular being the stir-fry station...there was always a long line-up for this one. At least at these places you could control the amount of spice you put in your plate. The snack area seemed really popular throughout the day, serving pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs and everyone's favourite...french fries. It wasn't uncommon to see people walking around the pool area with a mountain of french fries on their styrofoam plates! There were always plenty of options for salads, both pasta, bean and leafy, but the fruit selections seemed limited.

We're not big drinkers and agreed with everyone else that the "fruity" drinks seemed really watered down. It wasn't until the last day that I tried the cocktails and started to really feel the "buzz"! If you go to these places to get tipsy, then drink the "hard stuff" 'cause you're not going to feel it drinking Banana Mamas, Pina Coladas and Blue Lagoons. Opt for the Stingers, Black Russians and Tequila Sunrises ;)

We booked and payed for an ocean-view room, but were placed in an older room when we got there because of over-booking during the March Break...plus we arrived just after midnight. After 2 days, our Sunquest representative made arrangements for us to switch with no hassle. The room was "okay", but nothing to make you say WOW. It had an outdated feeling. We had problems with our deadbolt, a loose tile on the floor, our patio door was "finicky" in that you had to play with it for a while to trigger the air-conditioning to come on. They fumigated the room once while we were there and they gave us a one-day heads-up. My biggest complaint about the room was the bed! I swear we were sleeping on the box-spring the mattress was so hard, and my wife didn't like the pillows, finding them very lumpy. One thing I found odd too was that you had to pay to get the key to the in-room safe. Every other hotel/resort I've stayed at, the safe is included?? We only had issues with water pressure and no hot water only once during the week and it didn't last too long. The resort is smaller, so getting around and familiarizing yourself didn't take too long. You could easily walk from one end of the property to the other within 3 - 5 minutes...depending how relaxed you are :)

The beach is absolutely beautiful!! The sand is white and never heats up and the water is a beautiful blue. The only thing that bothered us a little during our stay is that it was constantly windy. It was still warm...but even the "regulars" at the resort said this was unusual....but not something the resort could control :) Like everyone else mentioned, you have to get to the beach or pool area before 8:00 a.m. to reserve yourself a good spot under a cabana or preferred location in a lounger.

There's a lot to do...we opted for 2 excursions which we'd highly recommend. We did the Saona Island one-day trip and the Santo Domingo one-day trip. Both were amazing experiences and enriched our week-long stay in Punta Cana tremendously!! It gave us a great appreciation for the culture and history of the island. The trip to Santo Domingo basically made our trip for us.....if you enjoy learning about history, then definitely take this trip. A big shout-out to our tour guide Kelving, for doing such an incredible job!! The Saona Island excursion is all about enjoying the sun, Carribean Sea and tropical island beach. This is where they filmed Pirates of the Carribean, and the Animation Staff on the catamaran was generous with the famous Brugal rum and Pepsi or 7-Up on the way there and on the way back :D

The entertainment each evening was hit-and-miss. The best shows were the Michael Jackson Dangerous Show and the Variety/Circus-type show. The rest of them were audience-participation and bordered on the "adult-oriented" making the people on stage dance and do things that I wouldn't want my young child to watch?!

The vendors are quite persistent. We were approached daily to look at the Cayena Beach Club time-share properties. By the end of the trip, I was getting a little annoyed with their approaches on the way to the buffet. If you know you'll be going off the resort on excursions, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THE VENDORS ON THE PROPERTY!! Most things you buy off them can be purchased at the Columbus Plaza's located in each major city/town centre at significantly lower prices. Unless you're really good at haggling price, avoid these vendors completely! Also, don't buy excursions from the vendor's on the resort. If possible, get them from your travel company. The prices are usually better and they "approved" by your vacation representative and company.

In conclusion, we'd rate this resort a 3.5 stars and now that we've stayed here, it makes us only want to book 5 star hotels from now on. It's not a bad place, but when you pay this much money, the little bit extra in money could mean a really big difference in experience. If value is what you're looking for and you don't "sweat the small stuff", then you'd be happy staying here. We still had a tremendous time...but the excursions made the trip for us :D

p.s. And yes, we did notice right away that there were A LOT of smokers in and around the entire resort. If you're a non-smoker yourself, this may be distracting and "in your face". I don't know if there's such a thing as a smoke-free resort, but this certainly wasn't one of them!

Nous sommes satisfait de notre voyage, le site est de grandeur ideal pres de tout lobby piscine plage peut importe dans lequel des 5 blocs.Le site est bien entretenu et propre, le service est très bon, personnel souriant. La piscine est très bien et la plage magnifique un des plus beau coin de plage sur plusieurs kilometres, nous avons marcher longtemps de chaque côté. Nous avions une chambre non rénové et c'est très bien et propre pour ceux et celles qui désire être tranquil éviter le bloc 1, beaucoup de bruits puisqu'il est proche du lobby et de la discotheque et comme pas hasard, il envoit tout les jeunes dans ce bloc. Pour la tranquillité aller vers le bloc 4 et 5. La nourriture est correct , cependant pas trop de variété.Les spectacles le soir soit bien , il est interessant d'aller voir le casino à 3 minutes de marche.Nos déceptions sont plus du côté ambiance, c'est la première fois en 6 voyages qu'il n'y a pas de musique sur le site le jour à la piscine ou à la plage .Le seul moment ou l'on entendait de la musique c'etait lors des activités 2 fois par jour 30 minutes, manque un peu d'ambiance. Une autre déception rien dans le frigo de la chambre j'ai toujours eu au moins des liqueurs de l'eau ou de la bière à tout mes 6 voyages cuba et république , mais à cette hôtel rien du tout, un peu tannant.En bref, je recommande cette hôtel, mais ne payer pas plus de 1300$

We are a couple and picked this resort based on the good reviews. We were very impressed! The food was great, lots of selection in the buffet and the waiters were always around to offer a beverage. The a la carte restaurants were really nice too and it's great when you want your own space and to get away from the buffet.

The beach is absolutely beautiful. It seems this resort has one of the largest beaches and we took full advantage. Rented out some kayaks and boogie boards, it was great

The animation team is very good and the night shows were way beyond my expectation.

I really only have a couple minor complaints but I would still definitely go back to this resort. What bugged me was:
1) the wifi internet does not work so you have to use their computers
2) the house wine was really watered down (really bad) so either stick to beer or hard liquor, or you can buy bottled wine (cheapest is $20).
3) Lastly, the on-site vendors. They do get annoying but if you say no they do stop talking to you. But there really aren't as many as other reviewers say. They just have 2 different areas where they usually stand, and you can definitely avoid them if you want to

Overall, GREAT resort, highly recommended and it is also very safe. My girlfriend loved it as well. It was our first time in Punta Cana and we will likely return!

Also, we did the zip lining tour and definitely recommend it as well! The vendors say it's only 40 min but it's actually 80 min drive, but it was worth it for sure.

We just came back from Punta Cana and we had a good time there.The beach is gorgeous and the grounds and the pool of VIK Arena Blanca hotel are very nice.The room was spacious with balcony,but there was some old moldy odor. The bathroom was with glass door which is very uncomfortable since we were with two preteen girls,and the thing that irritated me the most was that every day they asked how many people we are and even though I said four they were leaving two towels.So every time I had to call reception to bring us two more towels.The hotel is old and needs a serious updade (our room was not updated). Besides that the room was clean and tidy. The staff was friendly especially the guy at the buffet who was preparing omelets. He was kind,greeting every person with a smile and props. The food was ok. The Italian restaurant was by far, the best. I didn't like the fact there was no real juices just punches at this resort. About the entertainment ,there were some good shows that we enjoyed like the Michael Jackson and Magic show. So overall we had a good experience.

Overall hotel experience, very friendly staff. Food amazing. Clean rooms. Public washroom around resort were not the cleanest and toilet paper was empty quite a lot.

Nous avons adoré cet hôtel, le service a été excellent même si l'hôtel était complet. Endroit très propre et la nourriture très bonne.

We travelled as a family of four, myself, my husband and his two daughters who are 11 and 13. We arrived from Ottawa at 2am and were shown to our room, which was small but clean. They had forgotten to put sheets on one of the beds and we were too tired to wait up for someone to come make up the bed so our first night’s sleep was uncomfortable. Our room had the bare minimum necessities; two double beds, a dresser with 4 small drawers and a closet with about 10 hangers. We paid $2 a night to rent a safe key to lock up our valuables. This was especially important as our patio door was temperamental and occasionally wouldn't lock properly (we called about this and they sent someone who locked it, but didn't fix the problem). The bathroom was very small which we really noticed since we were 4 people in the room. The window in the bathroom door was a little awkward - we covered the door with a towel for privacy.

We found the quality of the staff to be substandard. We were always served quickly, but the customer service piece was lacking. The bartenders wouldn't make eye contact when taking your orders or handing you a drink and seemed unimpressed unless you had tip money out on the counter. I didn't see a lot of tipping at the resort and staff were perhaps a bit miffed about that but our personally philosophy is that we'll tip to reward good service and don't feel that we should have to buy it. Needless to say, we usually spend at least $100 during the week on tipping and we barely used up half of that.

The food at the buffet was excellent. At our first lunch they were cooking ribs on the bbq that were "melt in your mouth". At dinner they had an Asian station where you could have a customized stir fry made (TIP - if you're going to tip, give your money beforehand because they'll take twice the amount of time to cook your food and it comes out really nice), the pasta station was also great and a few nights they also had a PHO station which I enjoyed. We went to the International A La Carte which we thought was horrible. My husband ordered the fish and his daughters ordered the chicken Cordon Bleu and both dishes looked and tasted the same. The Italian A La Carte was a bit better. The fried mozzeralla and Fetticcine Carbora were both really good. There's also a grill that opens at 11am until 6pm that makes great pizza, burgers and french fries. We snacked from there just about every day.

The kids enjoyed the strawberry daiquiris but personally, I found that all of the cocktails were just a sugary mess. The bartenders use a slush mix for all of the tropical drinks and I tried about 6-7 different ones from the menu but found them all disappointing. My husband did teach Felix, the bartender near the volleyball courts how to make Long Island Iced Tea which was good but otherwise I stayed with rum and coke or beer all week.

The beach was excellent. We didn't have a problem getting chairs each day. Sometimes we'd have to drag a few single chairs to put 4 together, but that was never a bit deal. The resort was pretty and we liked that it was smaller. The kids were comfortable going off on their own to swim or get a bite to eat.

One thing that did really impress us was the entertainment. I've been to 6 all-inclusive resorts in my life and although I'd rate this one in the bottom 3 overall, the entertainment was the best that I've seen. They seem to contract most of the shows out since we didn't recognize many of the resort staff. They had a Cirque de Soleil style show, a Circus show and a Magic show that we really enjoyed! There was also a kids disco every evening which the little ones really seemed to enjoy. It was lots of fun to watch them on stage.

This was a good resort, you get what you paid for so I am not complaining. The food was better than I expected. If you tip the staff, they treat you quite well. There are some vendors on site which can be quite pushy, but you will encounter that anywhere regardless of the place where you are staying. The entertainment was OK. The room is decent, although we tried to stay as little time as possible inside the room. They provide almost no shampoo or toiletries so make sure you bring your own. Overall I had a great time because I knew what to expect from this resort and there were no surprises.

Il est préférable de prendre une chambre rénovée. Service de l'hotel excellente.Bloc 1 et 2 plus bruyant car les services sont plus prets et il y a plus de jeunes.Nourriture bonne. Plage pas trop loin.

J,ai passer deux belle semaines belle plage tres beau site .Tres propre nouriture bien .

Glad I went, but would not go back

Perfect size resort. Beautiful Beach. We had a rennovated room which was wonderful. Food was good.

Make sure you reserve a renovated room. Had a great time.

Hôtel situé sur un des plus jolis coins de la plage de Punta Cana. Site de petite taille et très joli. Très bon buffet, abondant et varié. Chambres vieillottes, surtout dans le bloc 1, qui peut aussi être bruyant. Manque de palapas sur la plage, il faut aller très tôt le matin pour en réserver un, sinon on passe la journée en plein soleil! Restos à la carte très bons et aucune réservation nécessaire. Finalement, un bon rapport qualité-prix.

Vous ne regrettrez pas votre voyage. Le personnel est très courtois, parle en francais ou du moins ils se forcent pour qu'on se comprenne. Le site est fabuleux, très propre. La plage est vraiment belle et idéale pour ceux qui aiment prendre de longue marche. Pour la nourriture vous ne serai pas déçu non plus, il y a beaucoup de diversité, et les chefs sont vraiment amusant. En gros nous recommendont cet hotel a tout le monde.

THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL-...BUT THE WORST PART ARE THE MOULDY ROOMS...IF YOU DONT MIND THE SMELL OF MOULD...THEN THIS IS THE HOTEL FOR YOU

it was a terrible experience, the hotel was overbooked. front desk staff was anything but helpful. many people who were checking in were in the same position of not having a room even being sent away to other resorts. i have written a complaint letter.

Ne vous fiez pas aux commentaires et partez en paix. C'est un 4 étoiles et non un cinq...mais vous y passerez de belles vacances.Voyage du 21 au 29 janvier 2012.

tres belle place pour se reposer,belle plage. petit site tres bien situer
pas trop petit ni trop grand. nous le recommendon!

hotel is not bad

nous avons ete tres ageablement surpris

Average room, crowded bathroom one person only, no A/C. Good cleaning staff. Lost nice personalized jacket at one of the dining rooms. Poor bartending and service. Had to wait for managers to unlock liquor cabinet. Not impressed based on star rating and price paid compared to similar accomodations experienced by other travellers on same flight.