For any of your followers interested in this propety, FYI that Karisma announced a few weeks ago that the Azul hotel is being absorbed by Margaritaville. The Azul side is now Margaritaville Wave and is geared toward families. The Margaritaville side is now Margaritaville Hammock and is adult only. Not exactly sure how the restaurant and bars work...I am hearing that Hammock guests have access to all but Wave guests have limited access. My wife and I are going mid-November (booked since March), so I can post an update after I return with more info.

Great content. Your break down I truly appreciate for all the information.👍

Thank you for sharing your vacation with us and great video as usual! 👍🏾

Great review! I love watching your videos, because you get right to the point and talk about the things that matter most to people on a vacation. I can't wait to see you rank the hotels by food. I also think you should do a video ranking the hotels on best entertainment and/or night life. Thanks

Here because I'm a travel agent & I LOVE seeing new places that my clients ( & myself ) may love :) & this place looks great!! I've looked at it in pictures but it for sure looks even better in this video. Thanks for all the info & I loved your video. I'm now a new subscriber

Thanks for the info. Never disappoints!

Love your videos! Thanks for sharing. 👍🏻

We are going here in August so thank you very much for sharing this!! Looks great!

Great tips ! Great Video !!

Thank you so much for showing this on your actual vacation.

Wow James! Great review! I'm changing my birthday plans because of this video! Thanks! I hope it's also close to excursions and nightlife in Downtown Punta Cana.

Hello James Excellent as usual review. I really like seeing the properties,drinks,food and keeping it real. 💯 appreciate your work. I, too, been traveling. Thanks C

We went about three weeks ago. AMAZING!! Really enjoy it. Rooms were so nice and it was not crowded. The steakhouse is the best!! Oh, and the popsicles you get when you check in are soooo good! Haha

Can't wait for your thoughts on Secrets Cap Cana on Juanillo Beach ! We love Secrets Cap Cana 😎👍🥂

I’m going to Excellence El Carmen in September and I can’t wait. I hope it’s as good as Excellence Punta Caña 🤞🏾

Great review, I was lost once I saw the beach.

Love your video, very informative and attention to detail is perfect. 2 questions 1. Do you know if you get access to both azul and margaritaville if you stay at either? And if you stay at margaritaville adult side can you also go to the fun side you mentioned? 2. Do you think the beach is like that all the time, with the seaweed like that or was it just the time frame you went?

The video was awesome. Thanks for always being brutally honest. Can you try out a few hotels in cap cana? Tsr cap cana.

Dude!!! I'm so thankful you shared this with everyone! I've been wondering about this place since I found out it was being built! Lol. I have stayed at Azul Beach in Negril and it is beyond amazing! The staff is incredible and knew us by first name by the end of the second day. We had staff member we had never even met saying hello to us by name there. The beach is to die for... I mean, it's 7 mile beach! It can't and doesn't get better than that. The clearest and calmest water I've seen in my life. And every room is literally steps from the beach and water! Also, the beach butler would ask us each day what we wanted to eat for lunch from their beachside Cafe and bring it to us when it was ready! I have never been anywhere better! ❤️ Glad to know you liked your stay here also. Sounds like it might compare... Minus the beach situation... But I know not much compares to the beach in Negril! 😁

Thanks James. Always enjoy your opinions on the properties you visit. The beach was really sad! Thanks 😀

Going in 2 days! Can't wait!!

looking forward to your video ranking all the hotels by food quality

Wow very unexpected, might have to give this place a try this summer.

Love your videos, would u ever go back to Punta Cana or the DR?

Just came back from a fantastic week at the Margaritaville in Cap Cana. Agree with you. The beach needs work and they are working on it. Other than that the stay was perfect!

Im so happy we have a beach vacay at Costa Mujures next year, and i heard they're building a Moon Palace but opens in early 2024. However, we're now booked a swimup at this resort. I'd love some info on how to get into parties at other resorts, Iove dancing and even doing trending video's at the airport 😅 Thanks again James , for your awesome review.

Awesome content 😳👌

Booked my honeymoon for Margaritaville - can't wait and it looks like we made the right choice.

Great review (as always). I agree with your beach review as we stayed at the Hyatt Zilara in Cap Cana in November and I walked down to Margaritaville and the closer you get to the Sanctuary and Margaritaville, the worse the beach itself gets by the water. More rocks (large and small). The beaches from Secrets to the two Hyatts to Margaritaville are not like siesta beach, the caymans, jamaica, Phuket, seychelles, etc.... They have little pebbles and are not a fine sand like the others i mentioned here, if that matters. Great privacy and security in cap cana resorts. In November the Cap Cana resorts were not busy at all, which was nice for us, including margarativille..

Nice vid

Love your videos 🙌🏽 please when you go back to punta cana review The Hyatt

Ive been to Azul Beach Mexico and it was amazing.

The Azul Beach in Jamaica is legendary you heard right! I would love for you to do a Jamaica series! I have a few resorts you will love!

Hi I love your videos. I been in Margaritaville cap cana in January and the beach was good not like you show now; walking to all beach next door hotels Secrets and Hyatt and was nice. I love the hotel was a great vacation. I hope to come back to Punta cana again soon. Try to check Sanctuary Cap cana next hotel from Margaritaville. Greetings from Colombia.

Just remember it’s seaweed/sargassum season in the Caribbean from April to October!

Excellent review as always, I cant wait for you to go to Hiatt ziva & sanctuary

Can you do a rundown of which hotel has the best buffet?

My suspicions were correct! You teased in an earlier review about booking a brand new Cap Cana resort that you wouldn't be doing a video on. I figured it was Azul/Margaritaville, and I was hoping you would break your promise to yourself and review it anyway! Thank you for doing that. My wife and I are booked to stay on the Margaritaville side in November. Your video matches what we have seen for most reviews...great food, great rooms/grounds/service, good drinks, good pool scene, terrible beach. But everyone is saying it is a 5 minute walk to a much better beach (shorter walk than getting to the beach from the rooms at the Hard Rock). That isn't ideal for sure, but I suppose not everything can be perfect. Being longtime parrotheads, we think this place will check off all other boxes for us. And I suppose someone from the midwest that is 1000 miles to the closest beach will care more...but we live in the Northeast only 20 minutes away from the ocean and can enjoy it for that week and a half in August that the water is warm. :) So we can forgive a poor beach scene a little easier than most. Thanks again, James! Great review!

I just saw someone post that the Azul site and Margaritaville were just combined into one brand, it's all Margaritaville. I looked at the Karisma hotels site and I no longer see Azul listed. I think that will make things simpler.

Hey what is the model number of those rb shades you are wearing?

Hi there, excellent content yet again we just returned from Ocean El Faro a H10 Resort in Punta Cana… don’t know if you’ve been but take my word don’t bother… thanks for all your reviews

Love your content. We’re at punta cana trs Turquesa now for about 9 days. Hoping the other properties on this island are better. Prob won’t be back to this one.

do you only stay at 5 star resorts?

It’s Mother Nature seaweed season all over the Caribbean at juanillo beach now right now no sea weed just amazing clean …

What is the requirement to enter Punta Canna? For example covid test and vaccination?

Hilton La Romana...Dude, gotta try it in Punta Cana!

Is the beach playa Jaramillo?

I stayed at Margaritaville in March, everything was amazing (except the beach). We didn't have to pay for JWB's, I don't know if it's included with every Margaritaville or just for their Prestige Members (which we are). I have to say that one of our favorites meals was at Landsharks, the appitizers there were off the charts. My only complaint was that the night entertainment wasn't exceptional...it wasnt bad, but I sort of wished there was a bit more variety. I would go back there in a heartbeat.

Seems a good place with being able to visit the other side's pools. I am more pool then beach.

I think this maybe a good option for hubby and I ... i like the action but he likes to chill.

Do you usually travel solo? Considering booking a solo trip because I'm mega burnt out from work and need to relax but can't find anyone available. Was curious of your thoughts.

Thanks for the great review James. This place sounds excitingly. Since I have knee issues and going up and down stairs is a problem wirh me. Does this resort have facilities in place (elevators, ramps, golf carts etc) to help me get everywhere I might want to go? (ie: from room to restaurants, beach, pool etc..) Thanks so much h, Steve S

Brother you need to visit laterena

Too bad about the beach! The rest looked fantastic. Pretty fine tan you got going there. 😎

are the room service included? only went to hyatt ziva with the upgraded tower and all the room service were included like the premium liquor.

Thank you for all the insights. Question...For folks staying at Margaritaville do we have access to JWB? to make reservations...do we walk up to them?

THis was great I'm unable to send u a direct message. Will you be visiting and doing a video of The new Temptation Hotel in Punta Cana

Hello I’m going to punta cana for Fourth of July 🇺🇸. I have a question! If you had to choose one hotel that you like and recommend which one will it be ?

Jet pack with booze? Where do I get one? Too bad about the beach. I like to walk along the beach daily when I am on vacation to help burn off the extra calories. Great video. Keep up the good work.

One thing the DR is missing is a sandals resort..... they have them almost everywhere else in the caribbean, barbados ,jamaica ,st lucia ,antigua ,grenada ect ect

Did they charge you extra $206 upon check in despite already paying online?

Hi James, loving your videos, my husband and i are trying to decide between Margaritaville Cap Cana and Lopesan Costa Bavaro (hadn't even heard of it until your top 20 video). We are looking for chill (but not boring) day times and then tribute acts and shows and fun entertainment in the evenings. What would you suggest? (I know its all subjective, but can't find a great deal on the organised evening entertainment).

Cual es mejor hotel entre el Royalton Bavaro y Margaritaville?

James, i just booked trs turqesa yesterday. This video came late. Next time, will book this one.

Dang it James, I saw your video on excellence…..booked it last night…..do you think I will have as good of a time fun and vibe wise?

I'm Dominican and I have no clue of how many hotels resorts we have in DR.

Please be advice everyone that cap Cana is man made including the beach cap Cana it’s just amazing just like Miami fl .

Its Margaritaville the new number 1?

You went to Cap Cana and selected the worst of the 4 on Juanillo Beach. Secrets Cap Cana, Sanctuary cap cana and the Hyatt. Great job 👏

When is the new rankings coming out?

When are heading back to Vegas?

A few year ago my husband and I stayed at Barcelo Bavaro Adult only. Best hotel so far, we compare all to this one and they are lacking.

Coolist, this or the Majestic Mirage?

"YER KILLIN' ME, SMALLS!!!" --- James to Margaritaville/Azul Beach Sandlot ;)

What do you mean you had Ike 16 hotel arm bands on your arm in one night?

Hey im 22 years old and i want to travel to Puta Cana from Switzerland. i will travel alone and want to meet people at my age, what would be your hotel recommendation? Thanks :)

Cancun next?

I like the idea of partying for a bit.....then sliding over to the qiet size for a rest.

Ever stayed in Barcelo Bavaro Palace ?

Where to next?

Which site are you using to book? I tried Expedia and they took money out my account from American Airlines &1100 and Delta $900 Expedia $15. I NEVER GOT A ITINERARY OR CONFIRMATION. I had to call Expedia and both airlines and no one knew why this happened. I had to call my bank to dispute the charges! I just want a legit place to book a package trip without all the drama! Please recommend

Best part of this resort is that is 15 minutes from the airport.

If they only had a better beach and when people come to these resorts.. they want Beach 1st by far.... . 2nd they want quality in how nice the resort looks itself in atmosphere.. drinks,food,bars,restaurants... 3rd I would say is rooms.. everyone wants a clean and modern room.. but most stay in their rooms 25% of the time only for sleeping 6-8 hours. and to change for dinner.. I would think last would be the pools.. We all like pool bars, so if the resort has more than 1 swim up bar, that's great. especially to mingle or people watch... we also care about 1 active happening/party pool and at least 2 quiet pools to relax.. Still.. people come from Canada (40%) Europe, Latin Ameica and some Americans and they want BEACH.. BEACH .. BEACH.. so they really need to 100% improve they beach. Of course overall everything come down to price.. and I'm sure it's not 1 of the top 20 cheapest prices there... so if they can improve that beach.. many will book it. Thanks for your great review.. next trip.. do 10 days... 2 Resorts only.. 1st Riu Republcia 5 nights.. maybe Thursday till Tuesday to experience the pool partys you didn't see.. then next 5 days go to your favorite, relaxing resort.. maybe this place? Enjoy!

Updated version of Hyatt Zilara

Best bro 😎 make more me subscribe

@ 5:05 I heard those Dominican women will do it to ya! Ha!

I stayed at this property in February … there were definitely more people occupying both sides which might be why my experience was much different. The drinks were amazing when they actually had the alcohol in stock. They ran out of so much alcohol …No Gin and aged rum for days…then Gin for two days and they ran out again…no Malibu for most of our stay…etc etc I could go on and on …you could not order a consistently good favourite drink because they would have to make it different everyday due to missing something they needed…juices, fruit, mix etc. I have never had that at an all inclusive. The restaurants were busy as well and were hit and miss…more miss than hit…again they ran out of things all the time so half the menu items were not available or were some concoction of what they had in stock. I had great shrimp sushi one night and loved it..went back two days later and they gave me bad veggie sushi…no shrimp…they ran out. This happened in every restaurant and the buffet…tons of missing items. Besides items not being available I would say the restaurants all lean super casual except for one fine dining experience on the Azul side…even that was a bit of a miss but mostly due to staff just sitting you down and just giving you food…it is a set menu. Room service was hit and miss when the hotel was busy…they would forget half your order or you waited 1 1/2 hours for your surprise meal which was airline quality except for a few items. If you like a beach do not come here. Also something to consider in coming here is if you like the hustle and bustle of the Punta Cana bavaro beach area you will be disappointed there is nothing like that in Cap Cana. If you want to feel like you are not in the Dominican Republic this property is for you,..no latin songs…dances…entertainment…and very little Dominican food. Would I go back to this resort? No!

i hate seaweed . looking for resort without it!

I just got back from the Margaritaville resort very nice the one thing I want to warn you about is the bartender and juice bar goes by the name Denny's me and my girlfriend at the time got in an argument he got her drunk she never came back to the room that night found her phone log and they were talking back and forth and I believe they stayed together just be careful don't know how many other women he's done that too

We love a boring quiet pool scene.

I have emailed the corporate office pictures of the phone logs told them what happened they have never gotten back to me so I would like to warn everybody about the bartender at the juice bar

Hi James, love your reviews, however I have to disagree with your review. We were there last month, all adults. Resort, pools and rooms were very nice. Food was ok which we thought would be better. Two of our guest (out of 6) got sick which was identified later when we got home as having E-Coli. I did share this to the hotel staff to help improve their resort. Not having meatballs or Chicken parm (is that an Italian American thing?) on the menu at the Italian restaurant for fussy eaters, was disappointing. Buffet was good. We have been to the DR 5 times (Hard Rock, Finest, Melia Caribe and Iberostar). This resort would be at the bottom of the list due to average food quality & choices and poor beach. The staff and resort (rooms, pools, etc) were excellent which makes not going back a shame. If you are a beach person, please walk down to the left towards the Hyatt and enter the water. It’s a 3 to 4 minute walk. Looking forward to next years trip (Cancun, Aruba, etc.?) Keep the videos coming.

Where are the people? Hotels Look empty. Beach sucks. That’s a shame

Looks great, we stayed at the Margaritaville at Orlando in the Jimmy Buffet Suite Check it out on our channel It’s big enough to live there..

There's no such thing as the perfect hotel. However, the best beach in Punta Cana belongs to Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe...

I just got back from Margaritville last week. I have to say, I was VERY underwhelmed. First the GOOD:The facilities were nice. Everything is new and fresh and well maintained. They have a decent beach area, but like a lot of DR, you don't want to get into the water due to all the seaweed. We stayed in the hammock section in a Paradise Room. Our room was very nice, clean, roomy enough, with a very nice, private balcony with an excellent view of the pools and the ocean. Over all, the service was good. One of the pool servers, Aldondra, was fantastic, we never wanted for a drink. We sat in a different section one day and were constantly looking for our waitress. Alondra was the hardest worker I saw all week. The area is in a double gated community, so you feel very safe while on property and even on the beach. You will not see local vendors on the beach trying to sell you anything. The OKAY: The food. The food is adequate. Not great, not terrible. This is not just Margaritaville, this is my 3rd trip to DR (different resort every time) and it's been that way at all three places. I usually stick with seafood while in DR. They have to idea how to make a steak or do Asian, so I would avoid. The Italian restaurant was our favorite, we ate there three nights out of six. The coffee is amazing. Some of the best I've ever had. The service can be spotty. One morning a breakfast, they ran out of plates. Other morning they had no coffee cups. There was more than one day that they ran out of towels at the pool. The BAD: there is very little to do at night. There is no night club!! They will open the middle bar, Punch Bar, and play some live music, but it's not at all conducive to dancing. The Punch Bar, and Landsharks bar/brewery are the only hang out places after hours. The Landsharks bar is more like a restaurant, with a tiny bar area. Margaritaville has moved to a points system for the mini bar. So instead of your mini bar being stocked when you check in, you are given points to use at a small coffee shop/snack bar known as Joe Merchants. Your points do not go very far. We bought one beer, one coke, four chocolate bars, a sparkling water, and were out of points. When I stayed at the Majestic, my bar had three bottles of liquor, and they replaced the snacks and sodas every day. The VERY BAD: The "concierge" service. Every guest is assigned a "personal concierge". These guys are supposedly there to help you with whatever you need. Ours promised to save seats at the pool. Never happened; Was supposed to help with late checkout; Never happened (had to go the front desk and do it myself). We could only get one hour. If our "concierge" would have done it like we asked, we could have gotten the two hours we needed. And for the worst part. The concierges are there to rope you in to hearing their sales pitch for their very expensive time share. That's right. They will try to sell you a time share while you're here on vacation. They will do this in number of ways, the most popular is to "comp" a beach dinner that would normally cost $100 per person, "comp" a spa visit, or "comp" an excursion that you're interested it. They will try to guilt you into it if you say no, because the concierges get points for every guest they get to sign up, which means extra money for them. So I can say, my next trip to DR, will definitely not be at Margaritaville.

Sorry, but we have just recently returned and visited at the same time as you. 1. The larger at the brewery, is cloudy and not very nice. 2. The staff are not trained correctly therefore meals arrive at various times. 3. The rooms are TUI blu platinum rooms / Sensatori which you have stayed in - They are nice but don’t have any nice freebie’s. 4. Totally agree on beach however, you failed to say it also smells. 5. The Italian meals are really small portions. The stake house is very nice but the chefs don’t seem to know the difference between a beef rib and pork chop. There is also items missing which are on the menu, for example the deserts don’t come with ice cream. 5. The reason for the pools being quiet is due to only one member of the entertainment team being available.

Sorry. I don't know what you mean by the " pool scene" . Resorts I go to the pools are where you sunbath or have a cool drink. No adult actually goes in the water. Just children and God knows what they do in them. And what's the Point in going in a pool when you have an ocean?

This place is dead, man...

Great review I’ve been here for 3 days now at azul beach absolutely amazing from food to service 🤌🏾 only thing is no beach